Silence Can Be Deadly

Monday, March 23, 2013

Dear Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

If you could please send out the MTC backpack (the blue one), that would be great. I still have my regular scripture case; that did not break. It has survived. I am slightly tired of carrying my scriptures by hand, though it is not at all a big deal. It still works fine. Though, for your sake and mine, I would love to carry my camera with me. I hate to leave it in the car or carry it in my pockets.

I am glad that Elder Sopp called you. I was so happy to see them, because they are from Hanford. It is like seeing kinsfolk of a land that you have not seen in a very, very long time. Plus, I can actually tell somebody that I am from Lemoore and them asking me, "Where is that?" Yeah, we received a new car this past week that barely has been driven. It has about 5000 miles on it. My companion is absolutely happy that we have a new car, instead of the car we were driving.

I may be going to baptism tomorrow again in Tappahannock for the man who I was unsure whether or not he was ready. One, I need to get a ride and two, I need to get permission. And I found out yesterday of the baptism. I debated whether or not to go, because my companion does want to work. I decided to go. It really is a tough decision, because we got slammed to the ground this past week (figuratively). It has been a difficult week for the both of us, yet we pushed forward.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Monday, we had a great preparation day. We took care of the needs that we needed to and had a wonderful dinner with some awesome members. We saw our less active recent convert-- the one that did not seem ready for baptism and is going to another church at this current point due to his father-- and there was progress. He always talks of his other church, the one that he normally goes to. But, this time, it was different. I am never sure how we got on the topic of his going to church, but we did. He recognized that he needs to come to the Church, but he has difficulty of keeping the sabbath day holy and honoring his father and mother. We discussed this and told him that he should pray and fast on it. We told him that his spiritual progression is being halted by him not keeping the sabbath day holy. He does not yet have the priesthood nor has he gone to the temple. He wants that. We will need to follow up, so that we can help him even further.

Tuesday, we contacted potentials and received referrals. We helped the high priests that night with the "March Rescue" that is occurring here in the stake. I went with one high priest (he was one of the members that took us out to dinner the night previous). We checked up on our elderly member, who we happened upon last week. Unfortunately, he has yet to answer the door nor has anyone else answered the door. We tried a do not contact. I have to admit that she was the most friendliest of do not contacts; she politely talked to us. We have no idea why she is a do not contact. My companion and I will definitely will have to follow up. 

Wednesday, I learned the difference of areas that are okay to tract and the ones that do not want you. We had district meeting and we went on exchanges. I stayed in the area and I was with the district leader. We had some spare time before we needed to do something, so we decided to tract this one apartment complex (that, like many, if not all, complexes, had a do not solicit and do not trespass sign). We went to one building of this complex, which consists of eight doors. We knocked on each door and only one of eight was friendly. If they answered, they would say, "There's no soliciting here," and promptly close the door shut. By the end of our fifteen minutes and as we were heading to the car, the management came out and asked us to leave. We told her that we were not solicting, that we would leave, which she understood. Looks like we will not be coming back to that. On contrast, we went to another complex of duplexes. We were able to find a potential in this complex. But, as we were tracting, we met this woman who asked us if we saw the signs that said, "Do not trespass." She did not ask us to leave, but do not bother anybody else. We told her that we were proselyting, we told her thank you, and we moved on. Nothing was done to ensure our removal. It is something we will have to do or else the work would be hindered. I know that there is a difference between "Get out" and "Do not bother anybody else."

Later that night of Wednesday, we went to Goochland to see if there was Bible Study. There was not. But, we helped the host of Bible Study with some sheet rocking. I got to use a drill for a while. I am still not the best. I was so happy to do some kind of physical labor that will not threaten my back. We talked to the host and was again able to gain information from him about himself. 

Thursday, we got the new car, we exchanged back, and we went about doing all that we can. We helped with the health center and tried to contact referrals. After dinner, we helped the member, whose house is not dark, understand the Book of Mormon. 

Winston Churchill

Friday, we attempted to weekly plan. We still have not accomplished all of it, though we are trying when we can. We tried to find. We helped the less active recent converts, whose house is dim or not lit, to understand the Book of Mormon. One of them, who wanted to be taught as though she never heard of this before, is understanding. We tried more referrals.

Saturday, we had appointments with our ex-Marine and our Bible fundamentalist. Both cancelled. We took care of our progress record. I helped my companion with his family history, somewhat. He was exploring how far his line goes back, which I have to admit is quite interesting. The farther you go back, the harder it is to determine whether or not it is fact. I mean, certainly Jacob and Rachel did not give birth to Zeus. It does not seem rational to me.  After lunch, I felt prompted to help our Bible Study host again. I mean, his house is kind of in shambles and he has guests coming in about a week for his daughter's wedding. Plus, he has to take care of sewing the dresses, making the decorations, and so on and so forth. We helped with more sheet rocking, which was fun. There were a lot of mistakes made, but they were not entirely my fault. We could have done more, but we were running kind of late to get back for an appointment. We had an appointment with a different Muslim family, who is from Sudan. Not sure if it is going to go too far. They are interested in Christianity's similarities to Islam and our differences. (The one major one is Jesus Christ.) We plan to give them information and they plan to give us materials. That will be interesting.

We did teach our ten year old investigator, which, my companion is right, he is paying attention a bit more. That is great news for us. His mother is still wanting to wait until May. We have ideas to help.

Sunday, we prepared and made it to church early. I love it that we come to church early. I have to admit that this particular Sunday; I was exhausted, perhaps due to the physical labor. My back, despite a lot of physical work I had to do with sheet rocking, was not hurting. PROGRESS! Of course, I am being careful. After church and lunch, we tried a few people.

Then, we went to a birthday party for Mama. Her birthday is actually on Thursday, but she had her party on Sunday instead. A lot of people from church and a few from the health center came. It was great to see her happy. We had an appointment with a less active member. We were trying to talk to her about the Atonement, but she made us feel like we were trying to push her to come to church. A lot of her answers to deep thinking questions was about church attendance. We had an appointment scheduled with a part member family, the one who is already an investigator of ours, but had been sick for the past three weeks or so. We, apparently, did not knock loud enough, because nobody came to the door.


Well, despite the flops, it was good week. My back is making progress (I know I will not be stupid), Mama is happy, we helped the host of Bible Study, and we kept on going. This week will be good!

All is well! Tout va bien! Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

#Virginia Richmond Mission

He Had Been Crying, A Friend Passes Away

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. -Revelations 7:17

Monday, March 16, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I talked to President Wilson about the soliciting and trespassing signs during my interview with him this past week. We are legally protected in what we are doing; this has been proven in the courts. If people say we are doing either of those things, we can go on to the next door. Yes, I will take precautions, but I will keep on going forward. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

I am the designated driver; it is one designated driver at a time. As for roles in leadership, it is true that is a role I do not want. It is hard to explain why. It is not about leadership to me. I rather focus on people rather than missionaries and key indicators. I like to work on a one-on-one basis with people; what makes me happy about missionary work is teaching people. I cannot fully express my thoughts and feelings about this without the right questions. But, I know this. I have made strides and improvements in my own life that has come from this. I have personally healed and became better. It makes me think of something I realized this past week. As I have been leading the area, I have been drawing only on past experiences, impeding (if impeding is the right word) the Spirit to guide me. By allowing myself to be worthy of the Spirit and focusing on spirituality, I have been able to receive revelation for the area and confidence. I know that as I keep the Spirit in my life and continue to be converted and to be consecrated, my life will be abundant. That is something I realize that I want in my own life and for my own family. I want to have the Spirit with me by putting God as a priority. Without having the Spirit at the home, we allow ourselves to be darkened, which in turns allowing the adversary to take effect in the family, damaging lives in the process.

This past week has been a great one and a step of improvement. 

Monday, I got a haircut. We tried a referral that we received from the Spanish elders. We were invited by an elderly woman (who is this referral's sister) and this elderly man came out to talk to us. We started talking about the Restoration and he was, "I am already a member." So, as we looked at the ward directory a bit later, he is a member, who had recently moved into the area. Previous missionaries had found him and, it seems, left him behind, forgetting all about him. We talked to him for a bit, before leaving. We decided to work with him, so we made plans to revisit him later in the week. 

Tuesday, we had district meeting. We then tried to see some potentials (individuals that may have an interest in our message), but none were home or too happy to see us. We tried another referral that we had received from the Spanish elders. He is an ex-Marine (excuse the "ex" Semper Fi), which changed his views on God and religion. He seemed generally interested in what we had to say. He is willing to read the Book of Mormon. We know that the Plan of Salvation will help him, especially with knowing our purpose here on earth and understanding God more.




Wednesday, we, with a member, visited a single sister, who is not a member (although her husband is a member, but less active). Lots of confidential material here that I cannot explain. (Information in this part of the letter was left out intentionally. Let's just say that one of the gifts of the Spirit is discernment of things seen and unseen.) After this appointment, we visited part member families out in Goochland. Few were home; one was a less active member, who potentially was offended in another ward up in Woodbridge. We spent a good portion of our day, trying to do this before we went back to the city to tract an apartment complex. We started knocking on doors. One lady told us to be careful, because she did not want to see us get kicked out. We went up the stairs of her part of the complex, when I noticed a man, who had his door open. We had previously knocked on his door, although he did not answer. I also noticed he had a golf club in his hands. He and I made eye contact, allowing him to motion for us to come over. I was thinking, "Oh no, here we go again." When we got over, it was evident that he had been crying. As he explained to us, he was praying to God for help and guidance. And lo, we knocked on his door during his prayer. He was happy to see us and glad we could talk with him. He explained his thinking of God and such. He believes in reincarnation, multiple Sons of God (e.g. Jesus Christ, Buddha), and God visiting the earth multiple times to help put us on the right path. It was interesting, but we started to talk to him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He enjoyed it, yet he tried fitting it into his beliefs. When we return, we will go over the Plan of Salvation.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.-John 14:27

Thursday, we did our usual service at the health center. I must say, for your information, "Mama" (for those who have not followed this journey Mama is an elderly woman that Seth had met in another area and treats all missionaries as her sons.)  was quite sad; her best friend, who was in perfectly good health for a ninety year old, passed away on Monday (and Mama saw it happen), which is odd to think. We saw her on Sunday, the day previous, and she was, as I said, in perfectly good health. It is sad. But, service was great; we helped Mama sort through the clothes of her best friend that her best friend's family gave her as well.

We did more tracting. We saw our elderly gentleman friend, that we saw on Monday, and gave him a large print Book of Mormon to read. We read some with him. 

Friday, we had interviews. We weekly planned. We tracted and contacted a referral that we received. That referral was Mama's roommate, which I am not sure what we can do with her. Not much else happened.

Saturday, we did our progress record and we started to tract. I have been carrying my scriptures, because, my book bag recently broke. It was raining on Saturday and I needed to wrap my scriptures and pamphlets in a Wal-Mart bag. We returned to our car. We had been neglecting a problem with our car and we noticed it needed to be taken care of. You see, our two front tires need air pressure in them, but the caps were metal, instead of plastic. We could not get them off and we eventually called Elder Sopp to tell him, who told us to go to tire shop, which we avoided until we saw our tires on this particular Saturday. Our tires looked slightly flat, so we postponed tracting to go to Jiffy Lube. They told us that they could not help, because, one, they do not do tires and, two, the metal caps were rusted on. We took to another tire shop and through a lengthy process, we got two brand new tires for the front of our car. We headed for dinner immediately afterward.

Dinner was great; we were listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during it. We had to share a quick thought after dinner, because we had an appointment with our Bible fundamentalist. Funny thing was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir beat me to the punch of my testimony. We were talking about missionary work and how we need to be more Christlike to be examples to others. I started to bear testimony of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Exemplar when the Choir piped up, "THIS IS THE CHRIST." Yes, thank you, choir. (It reminds me of a time in Appomattox where I was called to say blessings over the food. Prior to this, instrumental music of different movies were playing. Nobody turned it off. As it so happened to be, as I said the prayer, the music got louder and it was for an epic scene of a movie. I would have to say, it was the most epic prayer I ever said.) 

Well, off we went to our Bible fundamentalist; the bishop (pastor) came out with us for this appointment. My companion and I decided to talk about the apostasy (from the church Christ established) and reemphasize the need to the Restoration. I had been praying heavily for divine help. I am not sure how it all came about. We were talking about the apostasy and we mentioned priesthood authority. We mentioned again that it was lost. Somehow from that, we talked about the priesthoods (the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood) and how it has been on the earth for a while. We talked about how John had the Aaronic and Jesus held the Melchizedek. We talked about how the priesthood is lost. One, you have the leaders being killed off, who held the authority. It would make sense that they would quickly pass on the authority, right? Well, that is point two, you would think that, but you also have to keep in mind that even local leaders who were left in charge of the churches in the various parts of the known world were apostatizing. (See Acts 20:28-30; background: Paul, returning to Jerusalem, called for the local leaders ["elders"] of the church in Ephesus to Miletus.) For our Bible fundamentalist, it clicked. He mentioned the Catholics and their claim (and we brought up the Reformers, how they were break offs in trying to reform the Catholic Church and they were missing authority) of the priesthood, which he disagreed with. He completely disregarded it until we helped connect the dots. It gave him a lot to think about; we invited him to read Alma 13. It was a very spiritual lesson.

Sunday, we had church and we had a lesson with our ten year old investigator. We read the Book of Mormon with him, because the Spirit was not there in the house.

It has been a good, spiritual week that is full of miracles. Good things are bounding. I do believe the area will steadily progress to a steady foundation. This is week three that we have now entered; I am going to continue to push forward. It will be great.

We are working with the ward (congregation) and gaining referrals. We have been emphasizing the ward mission plan with member dinners and creating their own family ward mission plan. We have been trying to help the ward get missionary focused. We are trying to gain their trust. I do feel that we are trying to overcome the mistakes (both unintentional and intentional) that previous missionaries have made. I know of at least one family that has expressed that they are watching us (in their own way: "You know, the last missionaries said they could do later appointments, but you say five is the basis..." "When I was ward mission leader, I asked to see their planners..."); rather than worry about their expectations, we are going to focus on our vision and push forward. I find that a balance is healthy for us, because, well, if we spend all our time tracting, we burn up our energy and we neglect those that do need our help. Plus, we have Goochland. And to keep our purpose as missionaries with less actives, we invite them to attend the temple. We have now been giving time to track our temple invites. The ward is good here, but like I said, I do think there can be improvements.

Tout va bien! Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/topics/easter?lang=eng

P.S. I asked President Wilson about your idea of Skyping this next with some time with you two and with Bria, which he said is okay as long as I do split up my time equally and keep it under. They both would total together; the base is 40 minutes (I know, we really have not been doing that), so it would 20 minutes with you and 20 minutes with Bria. We will worry about this later.

Yes, thank you for the new package. We have greatly enjoyed the green bouncy balls that light up. It has been the most amusing fun.  My companion said he wants to thank you two, but I am not sure he will be able to when he wants to. It all depends on what occurs in the next couple of weeks.

I am definitely pushing forward. I say that a lot, especially in this email. My primary focus has been on the spiritual to keep my own focus to allow myself to receive guidance and help. I have seen the blessings of that. Whether or not you have my itinerary for my departure (because I have no idea when it will come or if it will come to me or you), thanks for not telling me. And this is not a sarcastic thank you. It is a real THANK YOU. I am going to focus. 

#Virginia Richmond Mission

Teach Me As If I Were New

Monday, March 9, 2015

Dear Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am so happy to hear that Tappahannock is now a ward and that things are progressing for them. It has been something they have been looking forward to for a while. Thank goodness for the missionaries that have served there, particularly Elder and Sister Van Orden. They are an amazing senior couple who went above and beyond. They tracted together, which is something you do not usually see with senior couples. 

Speaking of senior couples, we have a new senior couple that now takes care of the cars and housing. They are Elder and Sister Sopp. When I got the newest newsletter of the mission, they stated where they are from: Hanford, California. I looked at the ward directories for the Hanford Wards and they are from the Hanford 2nd Ward, same ward as the Obersts. Small world. I cannot wait to meet them.

I "sandboxed" the recent (our own family genealogy) discoveries and tried to put things together. Well, I found a possible birth year, possible parents, and when he (Seth's Great Grandfather) entered the military, which explains why a man from Michigan is down in Texas. From that miltary entry date, it puts a small window of time of marriage and when Joyce and Russell Jr. is born. If I accept the city directory information, I know that Russell is part of the military, because the city directory states that he is an employee of Fort Sam. Other than that, for the time being, I am at a dead end for now. I have reasons for hope. (And so do we his parents.)

Yes, I know, I need a haircut. I have plans on doing it today. Neither my companion nor I are the district leader. Somebody else is doing that.

Yeah, I did what I could in Appomattox. It was difficult, but I did the things I needed to do. I am more focused on what is going on here. We have some obstacles to climb.

Monday, after the P-day activities, after dinner, we visited one investigator who is still sick and his family is now getting sick. We had an appointment that night with our ten year old investigator and his family as a family home evening. It turned into more of us, the investigator, and his member brother. We went on with the plans and encouraged them by inviting them to read the Book of Mormon. We gave them a small chart to check their progress.

Now, let me summarize a big chunk of the week that we have done and one major obstacle we have to the work. We have tracted apartments and townhouses, attempting to find. We have received some

potentials and some people that are not at all interested. Then, we met our obstacles: the presidents of homeowner associations or people that have been on the board for these homeowner associations. A lot of the apartments have no trespassing and no soliciting signs. None of those apply to us until somebody tells us that we are trespassing. By continuing, we are trespassing (if I am understanding things correctly). Now, soliciting I understand usually applies to those that are selling items or trying to get gain, none of which we are doing. But, we have been accused of soliciting our word and no matter what we explain, no matter if we tell that we have ministerial certificates, they tell us to stop. Well, we have been asked to leave and much as I want to stick it to their face and keep on tracting, we thank them for informing us and leave. Granted, we had tracted a big portion of the apartments in some cases, but it is a hindrance. We plan on finding ways to overcome this.

We have also been trying to contact part member families, but not many are home when we go by. We also contact potentials, former investigators, and investigators that we have. Some people have not progressed beyond the first lesson, which we are trying to improve that to help them progress. A lot of people do not answer their doors or are not home.

Despite these setbacks, I know that as we steadily accumulate potentials and they will become investigators. My goal and vision for the area is to set up a steady foundation for future missionaries wherein growth will increase. I believe that if we have at least five progressing investigators, or a substantially bigger pool of investigators, the work will progress; member exchanges can more fully be utilized and thus, increase member presence. It is not about numbers, but helping these people progress towards baptism and eventually the temple. I have been trying to organize our efforts so that we can be more useful. We have agreed upon places. Also, expedient to our work is a balance. If we spend a lot of time tracting, we will burn ourselves out and become frustrated. If we spend a lot of time visiting less actives, then we cannot help the work progress, which is our main focus. It is a balance of the two, which is fundamental for us. In other words, if we are diligent, the Lord will bless us.

Thursday, it snowed. Well, first it rained ice and we headed to the health center to perform service for that. Then, we drove home in the snow. Seeing as I had no visibility (for I was the driver), I drove carefully, slowly, and made it home safely. My companion, who is from Draper, Utah, was like, "Oh, it is not that bad." As I reminded him, "Well, the roads are slick and oh yeah, I am a Californian who has never driven in snow." For the rest of the night, we walked. 

Friday, we had zone meeting, where I obtained the vision for the area. We agreed upon what we were going to do. We went out to find people that day. We visited with the "dark lit house" where we help the two members there understand the Book of Mormon. They are a mother and daughter (both are adults); they are recent converts. The mother understands, but the daughter is having a hard time. The daughter told us to teach as if she was new to it all. We began with the Restoration and plan on helping her to progress. We went to Goochland that night for dinner and contacted a family there. The family that we had dinner with told us that they are trying to help those in Goochland invite us over. Hopefully, that will help.

Saturday, we completed our progress record. We contacted some potentials and our Bible loving investigator, who scheduled a time for us to come by that night. We contacted some part member families, with some success, but not much interest. Well, we saw our investigator who loves the Bible and holds to the Bible. I felt prompted to read 3 Nephi 11 with the investigator, which I am not sure why. He has a problem with Jesus appearing to the people in America. He believes that when Jesus ascended to heaven, He is there ministering in a heavenly sanctuary. That he gets from the epistle to the Hebrews, but the references to Jesus and a heavenly sanctuary are there to show to the Hebrews that Jesus is the High Priest who atoned for us. Secondly, he feels as though the apostles went to all the world spreading the gospel that when they died, they passed on the commission to others, reaching down to those like Martin Luther and such until it reached the whole world. I re-explained the apostasy and we all explained the need of faith and prayer. He would not have it and stated for us to try to prove from the Bible that Jesus came to America. There is no help there. What if we were even to prove it? What does that substantiate? It does not encourage faith, which is the point of the gospel of Jesus Christ and so many things of the Bible. Well, we have another appointment with him, so we will see how that goes. (This whole argument is fascinating to his father and perhaps some reading this could shed some light. We feel our son is right in his conclusions; however, there may be some different approaches.)

Sunday, we woke up early for ward council, only to find that it was cancelled. After church and lunch, we helped some members give the sacrament to "Mama."

We talked with Mama afterwards.

After dinner, we had a lesson with our ten year old investigator. His mom, a recent convert, is considering baptism for him around April or May. She is hoping that he understands repentance and making the right decisions. We talked to our ten year old investigator and tried to help him to listen. He has not yet read on his own.

Well, things are going forward!

Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

#Virginia Richmond Mission

A New Leaf

. . .become even as my friends
 in days when I was with them,
traveling to preach the gospel
in my power . . .
Doctrine and Covenants 84

Monday, March 2nd, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I have received the Valentine's Package a couple of weeks ago. I forgot to mention that. Thank you for the package.

Yeah, the weather has been bi-polar. It seems nice one day, then it is extremely cold. Then, it snowed recently. Then, there was freezing rain. It has been so much fun driving in it.

With Elder Taylor, I am not sure. The day after splits he seemed a lot happier. But, by the end of the night, whatever it was was back. I cannot explain it. Despite this, he did work a bit more and we were able to get some work done. I talked to Elder Henstrom, who had Elder Taylor as a companion, about what he did, which he said the sleeping part at least happened. Elder Henstrom said he did not have much of a work ethic. Well, now that he is in Woodbridge, hopefully that will get him a bit more motivated. Yes, I did talk to Elder Henstrom recently, because I went back to Tappahannock this weekend. That good news is to follow.

Monday, Elder Taylor said good bye to Mama, because I suggested that he should. We helped a family that were in the midst of moving. Our dinner was supposed to help, but they had to cancel on them and, in some ways, us. They did drop off McDonald's to us, so it was not a total cancellation. At least we received food for which I was grateful. Elder Taylor finished packing that night, late at night. 

Tuesday, we headed, with another set of missionaries, to Cafe Rio. I did not get anything, because I knew we were going to have dinner with our Greek lady. A member paid for the other three and gave us a frequent diner card. Cafe Rio is miniature Utah. From there, we headed to transfers. 

My new companion is Elder Tanner Jensen, first name added due to the multitude of Jensens that are in the mission. Elder Jensen was over in Charlottesville in the country with nobody really to proselyte. His companion was going home that transfer, so he was trunky (thinking of home). Elder Jensen has been out for six months, so he is very zealous at this point to get the work done. I asked him, "Do you like to work? Do you plan? Do you tract?" He answered yes!

As we were leaving transfers, we were talking about what we were like. I told him that in high school I did two main things: study and watch television. He asked me what television shows that I watched. It was the perfect opportunity. I could then put him to the ultimate test of whether or not we could be companions. I stated, "Oh, I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender." He got excited and asked, "Have you seen, 'The Legend of Korra?'" I stated that I have only seen the first season, which is the only season he has watched too, though I know what has occurred in the second season and some things in the third season. So, yes, I do think we will get along and work together. We dropped off his luggage, rescued another set of missionaries, and took them home. We talked when we returned home and discussed some ideas. I told him about Goochland and its issues. I told him about our investigators, whom we only had seen one this past week. People are sick or not home. That night, we had dinner with our Greek lady. Her food is not bad; it was reheated, because she cooked it the day before. I enjoyed it, though my companion was more iffy on the food. It is rather unfortunate, really. As I have explored her teaching record (since she is a less active), I have read comments other missionaries have put down. She has been decried as "crazy" and her food "rough on the stomach." It bothers me a bit, probably because I think she is a wonderful lady, despite being less active.

Wednesday, we worked on the area books. I have been trying to combine the two area books. It has been a slight bear of a challenge. Both area books are thick with old names and formers. We have been weeding it. If they say they are not interested on multiple occasion, then chances are they are not interested. We have done this work on multiple occasions. The ward has been focusing on part member families, so we, not having access yet to the ward clerk, drew upon an old list of part member families to try and go see. We did go tracting on this day, which was great, though nobody answered. We are definitely in a finding mode, which happens to be a specialty of mine. I'll get to that subject in a moment. That night, we had dinner with the new elders' quorum president. And after Bible Study, we had correlation over the phone with our ward mission leader. From these two events, I noticed that the ward is painfully aware of what we do and our actions. They know the rules; they know what we are supposed to be doing. It is important for us to do all that we can to do what is right and to build trust. So, our tasks for the transfer is to build trust with the missionaries, find and contact part-member families to teach, and help less actives to be spiritually self-reliant.

Thursday, we worked at the health center. Mama was at Bingo, which is a first for me. It is good to see her out and about. She was happy to see her new son. Elder Jensen went through orientation and then we helped with Bingo. We contacted one part member family that night. The man, who as far as I can tell, is less active and he has attempted to help his wife, who leans more on the side of being "Wicken." He is a nice man, a bit of a hunter. He has ferrets that roam around; one of them tried to take the car keys. He simply told us that his wife is not really interested, though we can try hanging around and try to connect on common ground. It is a potential idea, but I do not think it is the best. 

Friday, we did four hours of weekly planning. It was great to formulate a plan for not only lessons, but what we need to do to help this area. I do believe that the work looks promising; we just need to put in the effort. We have been helping the bishop with his questions that he has as well as the tasks that he gives us. We have one unfulfilled mission that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible. Other than that, we have been on top of things. We had dinner that night with our ten year old investigator and his recent convert mom and brother. We taught the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to him with cups. It is evident that he understands the concepts and it was taught to him before. As his mother says, he needs to make the right decisions. We plan on giving a Book of Mormon reading chart to help him be more accountable. 


Saturday, we went out to Goochland to fulfill one of the bishop's assignments. The lady we talked to is not a member and from her teaching records, she has lost interest. We got what we needed to get from her. She kept on talking about her problems and animals. It was interesting. We left and headed home in order to get ready for the baptism in Tappahannock. The single mother investigator's son was going to be baptized. You might want to message Elder Meibos to tell him for he did find her and talked to the son. Hopefully he remembers. Anywho, it was a great baptism. Another missionary, besides Elder Henstrom, came down to see the baptism. He is in Prince William, my old area. He got a ride from a member who looked familiar. I did not interact too much with this member, because he was away at the time I was there until my last week. He recognized my name and was like, "Oh, hey Elder Todd, you might not know me. I am so and so while you were in Woodbridge. You snow shoveled my driveway while I was gone for my wife and kids. Thank you for that."

The baptism was great. The son was quite happy to be baptized and bore testimony at the end. He stated that he always felt a part of this church and coming here, something clicked for him, though he knows not what. I am so happy for him. The talk on baptism was done by another kid around his age. He asked the son what are some bad things he has, wrote it on a chalkboard, and then showed that by baptism, everything will be wiped away. After baptism, it is a lot harder to erase, to which the kid demonstrated by making marks on a piece of paper with a pen. The son retorted, "Unless you burn it." Or as the kid said back, "That is true, but you can also use white out."

Afterwards, we headed to the members' upstairs. The wife was like, "Oh, it was so good to see my sons." It seems I have also been adopted by her and her family as well. I am adopted. Everybody, but I and her, went downstairs to play pool. I talked to her, just like old times. I will tell you what I told her. I have had a lot of, if I may say, difficult work. Any kind of missionary work can be difficult. One of the things that I have noted is that I find, I help teach, I help people progress, and then I move on to the next area. I never really see the whole progress from point A to point B, though I am a big part of that transition. It has been difficult in that way, because you never know what will happen to the person you are teaching and you would love to see them reach point B. But, I have seen, especially in Tappahannock, a lot of people enter in the waters of baptism. I often am never sure what I really did in Appomattox, because the people that I did find fell away quickly and never progressed that far. I guess the thing that I did help with was the elders' quorum president, especially when he lost his two counselors as quickly as they came. It has been a wonderful work and I am not yet finished. I have four months to go, as sad as that is. Right now, it is a matter of getting back in the saddle and pressing forward. It is tiring, because I am tired. I am satisfied, because I bear testimony of Jesus Christ. I help people be happy, truly happy. I am happy to see others happy. Well, I do not know all that I said, but it goes something along those lines. I have worked miracles by the power and grace of God; and I have seen miracles done, which has been my greatest blessings.

Sunday, we sought out part member families. Not much else happened. Oh, and we were blessed with a dinner appointment when we had none. Which, is another brief humorous note. I have seen the fulfillment. Remember how in the MTC I was prompted to eat fish, because I would be eating fish in the field? In all my areas, I never had as much fish (in fact I hardly ever had fish) as I do here. I am tired of fish, but I grin and bear it.

Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

P.S. Glad to hear you are well.