You Can Believe That Good Things Will Come

The words of the Master help us to understand
that His will is more about doing things
as He does and would have us do.

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

May 26, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

It has been a good eight days. We have been pushing forward in doing the things of the Lord.

Monday, we headed off to elders' p-day, where the elders of the zone gathered together to play sports. Elder Hansen wanted to do that, because he liked the elders here. We had dinner with a member family that day. Elder Hansen said good bye to people. We were a bit late getting home, unfortunately, because we ran into a homeless man, who wanted to keep on talking to us.

Tuesday. Elder Day and I sent Elder Hansen off; we said our good byes. Elder Hansen is now near Powhatan, but not in Powhatan. 

After sending him off, we headed to the library to complete a survey that needed to be done in preparation

for the coming of some of the General Authorities. We headed home after that to have lunch and prepare for a member to pick us up to go to our lesson to the one lady whose son was blessed by missionaries. Well, when the member arrived, he turned off his car and started to come to us. When we went back, the car would not start. So, we took him to our car and drove off to the lesson.This member shared his own conversion story and some of his wife's (his wife is the Gospel Principles teacher); the investigator absolutely loved it. We were able to discuss some of the Plan of Salvation and invited to baptism. She did not accept, but she did not turn us down either. She also promised us to read the pamphlets we had given her. We were quite excited for these developments. 

After our lesson with this woman, we headed off to the church where we met the one less active, who we were given. I cannot figure what is his story and what is, in a sense, behind him. We talked to him for a while and helped him to understand more about the Book of Mormon. He appreciated it. After that lesson, we headed back to the member's car to jump start it. It was not necessary; somehow the terminal on the battery came loose. It was easy to fix and the car worked again. Later that night, we checked up on the family whose kids love us and the father loves us, but the mother, who we did not get to have a discussion with, is not that interested. She told us that she will call when she is ready. We will have to put that family on the back-burner, unfortunately. We checked up on the less active who has been struggling with life and with coming to church. He is in pain a lot of the time, but we keep on encouraging him. He is making progress in some ways, but still struggles.

Wednesday. We tried the one new investigator who is a young engaged mother, who gave time to have us over. She was not home. We tried to do many things that day. What ended up happening is that we visited the members, including Dan the Man, in the health center, retirement home place. With the one recent convert there, we read the Book of Mormon and she got to know us. She acted as if we were new, though we had visited with her multiple times with Elder Hansen.

Thursday, we had interviews with President Wilson. After him, we went to the hospital to visit on somebody that our investigator (the one we saw on Tuesday) asked us to go see. It took a while, and somewhat of a learning experience for us, to get in to see him; we prayed with him. He did not want a blessing, though we offered. We had lunch and did some planning before we saw the one investigator, whose son was blessed by missionaries. She actually read the pamphlets; some of it stuck, some of it I am not sure if it did. She has been running into what we term "deep doctrine," or the meat of the gospel. We help avoid going into depth and focus more on the basics. (For how can you understand the meat when you cannot understand the basics? How can you understand the flower without?) (It is not that we don't want to talk about difficult subjects but gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel will help. Some questions, no matter what the subject, must be put on a shelf until we are ready to understand the answers.) We encouraged her to discover her own testimony and emphasized salvation and spiritual self-reliance on God answering her prayers. We were a bit concerned on some of the things she said, but I trust the Lord that things will resolve themselves. Later that night, we checked up on the one family who needs to come to church and came at least once (up to this point; they have again come to church). I realize even more the importance of centering the family on the gospel and the principles of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." Without these founding principles and constantly improving ourselves, the family will encounter difficulties; it does not mean the family will automatically fall apart, but it means that there will be that need for extra effort to keep things together.

Friday, we planned. We decided to look at the entire picture of the transfer; we had transfer goals and transfer goals for our investigators. We now see where we want to be and where we want our investigators and less active and recent convert members to be. It is a big push to help things to go forward and to help ourselves to have a focus. Planning was not the only thing we did, but anything else, nothing really happened. Saturday, we finished that plan and completed our progress record. We visited our investigator who is a young mother, not engaged, but with the father. We simply got to know her, know what is important to her, and how we can help her. Honesty appears to be the key. We visited with the less active who is in pain; we set up a plan to help him to get to church. We visited with the one less active who reminds me a bit of my brother. He knows where he wants to be and where he wants his family to be. To begin this, he needs to come to church.

Sunday, before we had meetings, we ensured that the member who is in pain woke up. Then, we headed to our meetings. The drama student of Ms. Mary, who can be dramatic (who is the dramatic recent convert), called us, because she is somewhere else and is afraid to go to church (for a reason) and was wondering what to do. We did what we could do under the time constraints we had due to meetings. We then had correlation; we had ward council, but we could not attend. Luckily, things in ward council were positive and constructive. Meanwhile, we took the member who is in pain to church; we had permission from some of our leaders to do this. It has been hard to set up rides, but hey, the ward, (congregation) I notice, is putting in effort, which helps us out. And our investigator, whose son was blessed, came to church. Church was great and she loved it; she thought it was very, very caring and she did not feel alone. Also, topics mentioned or talked about in church included, but not limited to: Exaltation, temples, eternal families, Adam was baptized, animals are resurrected, we came from intelligences, and your baptism did not have the priesthood authority (bluntly stated). I make mention of this, because it was very, very interesting. We were afraid of what she might think, but she loved it.

Monday, we did some finding. We talked to our investigator, whose son was blessed and who came to

church. She asked about the temples, she asked a few other questions. She has a desire to be baptized. We went over the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and encouraged her to gain a testimony and to be rooted in that. We told her we focus on the basics, so that we have solid foundation as to what occurs. She is definitely trying to understand things.  I know when she has that testimony and gains that witness from the Spirit, nothing else matters. We had another lesson that day with a new investigator. His family is the family who needs to come to church and has started coming back to church. He has gone through the lessons, but we started over to help check his understanding. We also asked him to read the Book of Mormon. I see much good coming from him, though it did not seem apparent at the time.

Elder Day and I are moving forward in the work. We are pushing forward. I am reminded of how much time I have left (not that I think about it). I am going to do all that I can to push and go forward.

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

#VirginiaRichmondMission

Memorial Day Grave marker Event

May 26, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Speaking of ancestors and Benjamin F. Johnson, apparently, we have relations to Edward Partridge. Did you look at the Memorial Day Grave Marker event that FamilySearch did? Of course, through Benjamin and probably one of his wives, we have that relation; still looking into it, because I discovered that today.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

What We Do Matters

This is one of my favorite scriptures in preparation for serving a mission.

May 26, 2015

One of the many shows that I watched before my serving a mission-- and there is a point to this reference-- was a television show called Touch, which involved people around the world influencing the other, ending up in a giant help to the main characters of the show and the central problem. I believe it is based on string theory (Theory of Everything), but that is a theory that is quite unfamiliar to me other than the name. It is interesting to see how much the Lord uses us to influence for good or to be an aid in some way. Take, for example, Dan the Man and Moroni M. (The person who baptized Daniel, Moroni M. was recently located after years and miles of separation by Elder Todd and his parents.) That to me is quite touching to be used in a way to influence for good or to be an aid to help. In such a way, it is also an amazing effect that we, too, are changed by what we do for good or for bad.

Looking at things in an eternal perspective, we change ourselves day by day, coming closer to God or moving further away from Him. It is what we do with what the Lord has given us through His grace that matters.

--Elder Seth Todd, in a recent letter sent to his parents

The Mystery Behind Dan the Man

(Dear Reader: please read to the very end. This post has an interesting story.)

Monday, May 18, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

While doing my genealogical research, I did come across Brent Fraze and the story itself, though the reason is unknown. I do have some good news about genealogical work; it is not something that I found or discovered. It is indeed a small world after all. But, I will get to that in a moment.

Transfer calls did happen; Elder Day and I are staying. Elder Hansen is leaving, which is quite unfortunate. It was not until that happened that I realized how close to home I am. It is a sharp, harsh reality, because, well, I love it out here and the work that I do. At the same time, I realize there is a time to move forward. I have goal to work hard until the end; I am making sure that I take pictures with families that we have dinner with, so that I do not have to go hunt them down on my last Sunday.

Thank you for not flipping out for my diet, or me striving to live the Word of Wisdom a bit more. I truly appreciate that.

It has been a good week; we have been pushing hard and trying to find. A lot of the time we were finding, but other things did happen.

Monday, we decided to go out to Verona, a nearby town in the Staunton area, to go visit an antique mall. That antique mall is absolutely huge, big. There was much to see and they had a huge book section (and different pockets of book sections). We spent a large amount of time there, exploring. So many good books there. After our preparation time, we had a lesson with a Ms. Mary student who has moved from the area for good. We encouraged her to develop her testimony, which will be an anchor for her, especially for all her questions. 

Tuesday, besides finding, we had four major less active visits. The last Ms. Mary student (the drama student) officially went home, though for the summer. We also encouraged her to develop her testimony. She is strong, but still needs to remain strong. From there, we saw a man and his wife, who had not been in church for over a year. Recently, he came to church (and yesterday, they both came to church). They are from Alabama and have a son. We shared Because He Lives and encouraged them to keep on moving forward. Then, we talked to this lady, who used to be in the area (or something like that), and she chatted for an hour straight. She had a lot to vent about. For the last few minutes or so, we told her to keep holding on. Last, a less active man for the day, is a man whose family left him and he is in a battle with his circumstances. I have to be honest; his face and mannerisms, slightly, remind me of Sean. (Elder Todd's older brother.) It is strange. I was able to hear the story; he had been ignoring us for a while.

Wednesday, we had a big day of finding. Then, we helped the young couple, who had complimented us the trio, move things in their house and open boxes. Some of their items were damaged by water. They definitely loved that we had helped. It was good to fellowship them. 

Thursday, we had district meeting; it was a lot about personal study and finding our own way to study. We had a lesson that day with a new investigator (referral given by the Spanish elders). She is a young mother who lives with her sister (and her fiance). She took time for us, even though she knew that she would be late to work if we stayed long. She seemed interested; she wants to raise her child in a Christian church, because her last church was, to her, less than Christian by their deeds. We did an overview because we were short on time. Then, we helped the one lady who we gave service to (where I cleaned chairs for the duration of time). She was getting rid of her bed, because her husband needed a hospital bed. She also got a hospital bed. As she said, "I do not want to give up snuggling." How sentimental. Later that night, we visited the less active who has back pains and, as usual, needs to come to church. He was excited to come to church, even when we checked up with him on Saturday. Sadly, he did not come. 

Friday, we planned. We had a lesson with the young mother who knows the Book of Mormon is true, but needs to come to church among other things. She is still at a standstill and has yet to progress even more. After that lesson, we had lesson with another new investigator, who is in her 60s. She had some negative experiences with church, but she is still seeking for the right place. She had run ins with missionaries in the past, but more recently with her son, who received a blessing while he was ill. She was excited to come to church and excited to learn more. She will definitely continue to progress. The bishop needed some help on his farm, moving some wood off of his truck. He has a broken foot, so he cannot do much. That night, we visited the recent convert and his family (the young man who was baptized when I got here). We finished the Plan of Salvation (and later, the Gospel of Jesus Christ); he recently was interviewed to received the Aaronic Priesthood. He is definitely going forward.

Saturday, we did the progress record. We checked up somebody in the hospital; not much happened there. We had lunch with the bishop. We had dinner with an awesome older couple. We learned that Elder Hansen is leaving. It was a slow day. 

Sunday, it was a lot of saying good bye to families for Elder Hansen. Some interesting things to note. Sacrament meeting. Those who were leaving (Elder Hansen and the Spanish set) said their final testimonies in the ward. A member gave a talk. Then, the high councilman spoke, somewhat briefly about the Sabbath day observance and family history work. He shared this story about one of his ancestors, who was a pioneer and was there in the beginnings of the Church, who when traveling did not observe the Sabbath day two Sundays in a row. He had tried traveling on those days and each time, something went wrong. Finally, the ancestor realized what he had done wrong and asked for forgiveness and help. Then, he mentioned the name of the ancestor: Benjamin Franklin Johnson. I was like (and I nearly shouted it), "I need to talk to that man." So, I did and mentioned we were, in a way, related. His parents were there too, so I got to talk to them as well. They came from LaBaron's children; they mentioned, I believe, that Benjamin had a lot of posterity and probably the most. I mean, after all, he had multiple wives (7) and had 30 something children.

Then, priesthood meeting, elders quorum. We were talking about flooding the Book of Mormon and the teacher gave us pieces of paper with certain Book of Mormon people and their teachings. It was to see how we could enrich our lives with the Book of Mormon. I was paired up with our befuddled man, who is going through cancer treatments. He requested Moroni (which he kept on calling Merona). Again, he mentioned the silver plates and the little lights. I kept on asking him, "Don't you mean the golden plates." No, he was quite certain that they were silver plates. We shared our thing and finally, Merona (or as it is, Moroni) M. (last name withheld) made sense. Moroni M. was the man who baptized our befuddled man; he is deceased (the silver plates is his grave tomb and the little lights are there to lead to his grave; no wonder I will never see them). He had a son also named Moroni M., who moved to Utah with his wife. Now, parents, I need your help and this is all directed to you. Daniel, the befuddled man, asked me if I could find this Moroni M., the son of Moroni M. I did some research on friendly Google; however, Facebook may be the best resource that I can not access. So, look up on Google/Facebook "Moroni M. Utah" and send a message to anybody that pops up asking if they know a Daniel S. from either Kentucky or Tennessee; this person's father was a bishop who, again, baptized Daniel. I hope this does not take too much of your time and I do not want it to take your time. I probably should not even talk to you or request this, but I guess I am. If you cannot do it, put it on me for when I return home. Thanks. 

(Briefly, Moroni M. was located and answered much about Daniel, a.k.a. Dan the Man. Moroni M.: Yes I served in the Tennessee Knoxville mission Sept. 2005-2007. I am the one who baptized Daniel S. a.k.a. Dan the Man, as we called him. I am alive and have no grave site.. lol.. So I'm not sure what he is referring to. Daniel is a very different person and can be a bit confusing. When he requested to be baptized I had the mission president come over to meet him to make sure he felt Daniel was OK to be baptized. He said he was!!! I really grew to love Dan the Man. I lost contact with him after he moved to Virginia, which was during the time I was still serving my mission, so it has been years. I have wondered from time to time where he was or if he was even still alive. Glad to hear he is still living and that he remembers me. It would be great to get back in contact with him.)

Good week. Good things are happening.

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

A Hug a Missionary Will Never Forget

Monday, May 11, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Good morning. It was so good to Skype the two of you. I am glad that I am looking healthy. I will admit something here; I should have mentioned this yesterday, but it was not too important. I do have healthy meals. I have Greek yogurt for breakfast and salad for lunch. I have been doing that for a while now. I am able to get my protein in and follow the Word of Wisdom (reference to LDS guidance on diet) a bit more. I am still figuring how to follow the Word of Wisdom more fully and I am quite happy with doing this. Of course, one day, I will expand beyond salads. I realize there are more ways to eat meat sparingly. And no, I am not becoming a vegetarian.

I am quite happy that I am looking healthy and that most of my teeth are white. I feel happy about the

changes that have been made physically for me. I feel like I am eating a bit more healthy and I am getting back into exercising. I am so happy that I could run (which I will get to that story in a bit), which makes me want to run, though that will have to wait a bit. There are more steps that I am going to be working on, such as eliminating desserts and, eventually, snacks (though I will have some for emergencies). Please note a couple things here. I am not trying to prevent myself from becoming fat; I am not trying to be a health nut. I am trying to take care of my body and to do those things that will help me. I am trying to explore ways that I can more fully live the Word of Wisdom and it will take time. I am trying to do things better, trying to make good things become habits. The Word of Wisdom is a good start for me.

I hope this explanation makes sense. And that you will not panic. One day, I will add a bit more to my breakfast and add a bit more to my meals.

It has been a good week, quite enjoyable and definitely we had to work hard. Plus, lots of crazy little things happened.

Let us begin with Monday. Our P-day was of the normal kind. It was enjoyable. We decided to clean our car and try to fix our door. We did not do anything to the door, but the sensor is not working properly. It keeps on saying the door is ajar. We tried to figure it out and messed with another door... until the door would not shut. It is hard to explain over an email, but it had to deal with the latch to close the door until the time comes to reopen the door. We could not get the latch down, despite our attempts. We called Elder Sopp and we prayed. We called some members and while we called these members, a miracle occurred. As it so happened to be, God thankfully intervened. A returned missionary, who was visiting the Staunton area that he had served in, decided to stop by his old apartment. His father, who knew how to deal with the problem fixed the latch and we were able to go about our business. Thank you, Elder Beaton. (Fun fact: This Elder Beaton was the trainer to one of my old companions, Elder Frank.) And thus began our week.

Tuesday, we had one giant zone conference. And guess who I met? Elder Short. And guess what I did? I gave him a hug for his sister. Yes, my quest of hugging Elder Short for his sister is complete. He was a bit surprised, but I figure he was happy about that. The zone conference talked a lot about creating our own personal ministry. I like this idea, because there are people we minister to each day. There are the people in need and the people we are in contact with on a daily basis. I pondered this idea for quite a while. After returning home and enjoying dinner, we headed off to see the recent convert man who was baptized when I got here. We shared part of the Plan of Salvation and helped him to set goals, so that he could obtain the Aaronic Priesthood and go to the temple. We noted some things that he needed, so that he could have aid as he continued to progress in the gospel; some of these things were also discussed in zone conference. We realized we need to find member friends for our people and we needed to help them have assignments. We also saw a less active who usually sits all day and watches the television (due to some injuries that he is suffering through). We again applied our zone conference and it worked.

I realize even more that things work quite well when we have the Spirit more fully in our lives. As

somebody told me, "When we live the gospel harder, it becomes easier." Somebody had faulted me on that before on "the gospel becoming easier," but it means that when we have the gospel in our lives, we are able to withstand our trials even more. We do not despair; we come to know that these trials are for our gain.

Wednesday, we headed off to see the people in the health center. We went to find; then our dinner appointment called us and asked us to go visit somebody. Off to the hospital we went. We met the family and the person who we were asked to see was wheeled away for some reason. The family asked us to help in giving a blessing, but we needed to wait for the sister. The sister did not show up, and, unfortunately, we had to go. We gave them some oil (a drop of olive oil is used that has been consecrated) and headed off. We met a member of the bishopric to go to a lesson. We tried to see our elderly man investigator (whose family consists mainly of LDS), but he was not there. The bishopric member suggested that we go and try to see a recent move in. He, too, was not there. And speaking of rain, it poured while we were doing this. We met up with our dinner, who gave us money due to the fact they could not have us over for dinner. After dinner, we met up with one of the Ms. Mary students; we tried to help her to understand more about faith. After this short lesson, we headed over to the church to help with the priests' mutual activity involving the Preach My Gospel.

Thursday, we did our weekly planning session. We talked with our elderly man investigator, but not much happened in this visit. We finished off a street that we previously tracted, but nobody was home. We visited with the other Ms. Mary student, who is involved with drama. She, the next day, was going to get her patriarchal blessing... though she thought it was an interview for the blessing itself. She was surprised, nervous, because she had not realized that. We explained what occurs and the sacred nature of those blessings. She felt a bit better and even more after she had received that blessing. We had dinner with a new family that moved in. They are a wonderful young couple, very nerdy, but they are fantastic. They made some really good food. They have no furniture, so we sat on the floor, which I enjoyed a lot. Until, of course, I got up and had to hobble off. But, other than that, it was a good time. They later commented on how they loved our trio; they said we were personable and fun and we were able to bring in the Spirit. Later that night, we met with our investigator family to check up on them; the children still want to know more (they loved us) and the father is still interested. The mother, whom we never taught, is waning.

Friday, we completed our progress record. Mainly this day, we tried to contact a lot of people. Not much happened. 

Saturday, we updated the members who need rides that they have rides. Then began that 6 and a half hours of service that we did. We helped out this member who needed some items moved; she owns this shop and it has a lot of stuff. There is a back room that is one giant pile of clothes and other donated items. Luckily, there was some smaller items that I could move and lift. Somebody gave her a dog, so that she can find this dog a home. That dog tried to escape. The three of us went after it; and that is when I realized I could run. Yes! But, man I am sore after running. I had not run in a long, long time, because I was afraid that I would screw up my back even more. It did not though. Happy about that. After reclaiming the dog and returning it, we headed over to Staunton Post Office. There was a food drive going on that helps the Feed America thing going on and a food bank that is in the area somewhere. The postal service was used to make notice of this event and for the picking up of the food. Well, everybody was late. There were cans, glass, and dry goods, plus other random things. One bag of food was compiled of Cheez-its. There were marshmallows and random medicine. It was a great time, though some items were odd. We did not finish until seven-thirty.

Sunday, we had meetings and church; this time we did not lose our befuddled man. We had a quick lunch and then headed over to the people that allowed us to Skype at their place. Elder Day went first; his family was trying to figure out things, so he did not see them as much. Plus, the microphone was not working all that well. By the time I went, everything was figured out. Then, we had dinner and Elder Hansen talked to his family. Afterwards, we blessed a home.

And that is our week. Many appointments cancelled; many people were not home. But, it was great. Lots of service performed and good times.

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

#Virginia Richmond Mission

Skype - Mother's Day 2015

Contact with home for missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints consists usually of an email home  once a week and a phone or video call home at Christmas and Mother's Day. Handwritten letters are okay as well. A missionary may email or write friends back home as well. Within the mission, a missionary is encouraged to write recent converts but if it is to the opposite sex permission is needed so that the mission president is aware of the situation. The missionary communicates this way to maintain focus on what he is doing and to avoid homesickness. Even when this is the case, some missionaries do vary in the amount of anxiety and some are released honorably to come home. The majority of the 80,000 plus missionaries and their families do just fine. Some parents have created support groups on Facebook. This is a big help to those who are not members of the church but have sons or daughters serving on missions.

#Virginia Richmond Mission

Just Keep On Moving

Just Keep On Moving

Monday, May 4, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

The ipads are coming, the ipads are coming... and I am not really caring about that. Yes, the news has been broken that at last our mission will have ipads, but seeing as I am going home soon, I do not get to keep one. With this news, it means that we are going to have meetings... lots and lots of meetings.

We have a place to Skype; we, three, are working out the times. Elder Day's time it seems will be 3:15 to 4:15 our time. Elder Hansen will be at 7. So, I am most likely in the middle. I will talk to the people that allowed us to come over; most likely it will be about 4:25 when I Skype you. 

Again, expect a large package. 

I asked Sister Hendricksen about my back and after the mission. She said that when I get home, I will have a much better bed (and to have a good bed in general), so I will be feeling a lot better. Plus, I will not be sitting as much when I get home, so my back will not be under so much pressure.
I will have to keep on with my stretches. If I ever need physical therapy, then I should look into something called TENS (or something like that), which is pretty much electrodes to the back to break the pain. I should not look into surgery, unless it is drastic.

This week... well, we had a lot of meetings (or so it seems) and I had a cold. It started out as a cold and sore throat; I beat the sore throat through much Vitamin C and lemonade. Why did I not take medicine? Well, as I discovered, medicine expires. I took a Nyquil Nighttime and I took a sinus daytime (not at the same time, obviously). Then, I looked at the box and oh, Nyquil expired in September and sinus expired last month. By the end of the week, I was getting better. Though, my mucus turned to liquid and would gush out when I bowed my head. In turn, it would cause me to sneeze much. Too much. My back was crying uncle from it. Thank goodness, I found some Benadryl, which stopped it completely. I am much, much better, though I am recovering from sneezing. My back is sore, not injured further.

Our mileage suffered (missionaries are allotted a certain number of miles per month as vehicles are swapped out over time)  along with much of the zone; and also much of North America and South America.
Other than that, it was a good week. 

Monday, we went out and did some finding. 

Tuesday, we went out with the truck driver member, who takes us out to see less actives that we cannot access. Thank goodness. We were able to talk to the one less active, who we started going over the lessons with (the one who wanted to help build up his testimony again). He lives with his brother now, which is good, except his brother lives far, far way, but in our area. His brother requested that we come by and bless his home. We did so, though he was not present for it. We returned afterwards, took care of some business, and had dinner. We taught the student of Ms. Mary; or at least continued to help her as she is on the gospel path. She worried that she got me sick, because she got sick before I did. A lot of people have been sick lately, so it is expected that I would get sick.

Wednesday, due to meetings and service, we decided to have an early session of weekly planning. Afterwards, we stopped by the elderly man, whose daughter we helped out a few weeks ago. Again, he is prepared and this time, he became a new investigator. He asked a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation and other things of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were able to answer his questions and he was satisfied. He likes us to come by and to have these discussions. It is one step forward. After this lesson, we headed home to change before performing service, which was mulching, again.

Well, we got a text from the other recent convert asking if we were having a lesson in a short bit. We said no, then she flipped on us, because she had sent a text to us and that sort of thing. Well, that is our phone. We were having phone problems, because we had no record of such text or record of any texts from her in general (though we sent a text to her in the past). We were able to get that resolved with her and made her content once more. The Spanish elders needed a third male, so I went with them to a lesson. Unfortunately, their lesson cancelled.



Thursday, we had a lesson with a less active at the church. He is the man who we received from the assistants to the president and we met at the church when I and Elder Day first got here. I had to blow my nose a few times, but it was a good lesson. He knew what he needed to do in order to get back in step. Then, we had day one out of three of meetings. It was a zone workshop, so it was our zone only. Elder Short is not part of our zone, but the neighboring zone. The zone workshop was good.

We were able to discuss a new way to use the pamphlets and to introduce the Book of Mormon. After this meeting, we had dinner with a member. We talked to our African American lady in the health center and our somewhat unbalanced man. The man just had surgery for his cancer. He is doing much better... though he was talking about a Merona Manning and his silver plates that he buried that we will not see, but do follow the small lights to get there??? We were able to help another less active family, who do know what they need to be doing and what their goal needs to be.

Friday, we had a zone meeting and day two of three of meetings. We will have day three tomorrow (Tuesday) and I will see Elder Short, then fulfilling my quest of hugging Elder Short for his sister. After the meeting, we took care of our progress record. We did some finding and also saw again our drama student of Ms. Mary.

Saturday, we did service for a member, whom we had given a blessing. She needed a few things moved onto a truck for an auction. I cleaned chairs, because she understood back pains. We had a lesson with our lady who is progressing and has a child. She has a desire to be baptized, though she understands what things are preventing her. We attempted to help her to see what she needs to do, but the lesson was not all together. We will have to help her to understand some things. 

Sunday, we had church. It was stressful getting people rides, which is usually stressful. But, there was some miscommunication and people were missed. We plan on doing better.

Our befuddled man came to church, though we lost him twice. Once, because we did not have the gospel principles class and nobody told us that we were not having gospel principles. One of the Spanish elders and I went looking for him and eventually found him in the gospel doctrine class where everybody was. Then, during priesthood, we lost him, but he had gone to the restroom, unknowingly to us. Later that day, we contacted people and did some finding.

It was a fun week. I am excited for what this week holds.

All is well!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

A Redhead, A Brunette, and A Blonde . . .

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. -Albert Einstein







Monday, April 27, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

God has a sense of humor; it is something than one of my companions pointed out this past week. Remember those old jokes, "A redhead, a brunette, and a blonde ..." Here we are as a trio and we realized that we are that joke.  Elder Hansen is the redhead, Elder Day is the blonde, and I am the brunette.


Anyway, I hope that Sean received my card before his birthday. It is good to hear that he is doing well. It sounds like he had a good birthday.




I have been doing well. From stake (similar to a diocese) conference, I learned a lot, particularly some personal revelation. I feel calm as a summer's day about what will happen next. I have no idea what will happen after I return, but I feel trust and faith in God and His plan. For now, I am going to continue to push forward. One of my companions has been down trodden and the other is a bit tired, but we will help each other along.


This week we pushed really hard and seen some good things. It has been truly good.

Monday, we had dinner with the recent convert and his family; the recent convert is the man who was baptized when I had arrived. We started the new member lessons with him. Not much else happened that night. 

Tuesday, we went out with a member who is helping us to visit less actives that are inaccessible due to our

mileage limitation. We took him to a lesson with a man who has cancer. He loves to talk and talk. We were able to get to know him and what he needed. We talked about faith, hope, and charity. We are sure that it helped him out. We saw some other people; one person was experiencing divorce and had been offended by members. The member spoke to her-- he also being offended by members-- and pleaded with her to return. It was obvious that she was touched. I hope that she remembers that. After going about various places in our boundaries, we met up with one of the Ms. Mary students, the one whom I have mentioned before. She recently went back to her home and we asked her how that went (since she is a Mormon while her family is not). She is still strong and pushing forward. Later that night, we visited with this woman who lives in a health center. She, also a recent convert, talked to us about different things in her life. It was good to know her a bit more.

Wednesday rolled around. We finished off the area book and completed separating all of the records. We had to go to Wal-Mart, because Elder Day has been suffering from allergies. That has been going on plus plenty of illness. I feel a bit sick this morning, but I will get better. My allergies have not been kicking in as last year when I wanted to be rid of my eyes. I think my body adapted to the climate and pollen. Hopefully. We had an appointment with a less active man; he had forgotten about it and wanted to meet another time. Another
appointment we had fell through. We checked up on this referral from a couple of weeks ago. This referral is an elderly man (in his 90s); we had helped his daughter move some furniture from his place. We visited him and afterwards, we felt that he was prepared. It is matter of easing him into the idea of investigating. He has not expressed interest in learning more, but he has not declined. The things he said indicated preparedness to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Later that night, we checked up on a referral and scheduled for the morning on Saturday.

Thursday, we had district meeting. The zone leaders were there and they wanted to go on exchanges (for two hours) with us. Hmm... I wonder why. Possibly because one of the zone leaders, Elder Denning, wanted to come with me to be my companion again, just as he "prophesied." (He said that we would be companions in the end and said that these exchanges fulfilled that. I guess we can go with that as consideration of fulfillment.) So, after district meeting, I went with Elder Denning to go finding. First door we knock on we are let in. We talked to this lady, who seemed a bit off. She is Christian and knows things in the Bible, though she depends on what other people say. She explained all the strange things that have been happening to her. I knew where we needed to go with her; we set up for an appointment for tomorrow to talk about those things. She took up our time for these exchanges. 

We had dinner that night with a mother and her young daughter; the young daughter is our investigator who expressed interest in baptism. We went over to not only have dinner, but to teach her. She was not willing to listen, despite our attempts, and eventually quit altogether. We taught the principles, but it did not go too well. Perhaps we need to change things for her. Later that night, we checked up on a family who is always busy to come to church. We reminded them of their baptismal covenants and encouraged them to come to church. They realize it; they realize where they want their family. Some members of their family have desires to be baptized. It is a matter of being motivated.

Friday, we went to our appointment with our strange lady. She expressed that she was not interested, because she was going to have her own Bible study with somebody else. We talked to her about the Atonement and our trials in life-- something she needed-- but she was not willing to listen. The Spirit was not there, despite our efforts. We went home, had lunch, and weekly planned. We had our appointment with the less active man of Wednesday change to earlier and so we went off to visit him at his mother's apartment. He had some questions on his mind, which involved his situation. All I can say is this: He at one point had the Spirit with him, but he began to doubt and came to Satan's trap. His testimony nearly withered away, even nearly casting away the idea of a God. We began to help him, so he could come back to the point. He had not been to church in a long while, but was moving forward until his situation occurred. We are going to help him progress by helping him to feel the Spirit once more.

That night we had a lesson with a Ms. Mary student, who is another recent convert. She is moving to Texas soon. We taught her a few principles before it was time for us to go. Well, we were stuck in the place we were meeting, because a swarm of elderly people came in. I had no idea where they came from, so I was like, "Where did all these elderly people come from? Did they crawl out of the sewers?" My companions laughed. (Perhaps too much Super Mario?)

Saturday, we had a lesson with the referral contacted on Wednesday. He wanted his kids taught, so we taught the Restoration simply. It was good. By the end, the father, who we had talked to and was the original referral, had said that he and his family needed to get back into church. He definitely expressed interest. We are excited to meet with this family again. We had lunch with some members. We did the progress record. (And be thankful that it is not raining, because the Internet was down when it rained on Saturday.) Then, we had a lesson with the mother, who has a kid, and needed to get to church. SHE PROGRESSED! She had changed her job, which, with her shift, will enable her to come to at least sacrament meeting. She stated that she knew the Book of Mormon was true and she bore testimony of God. Now, she needs to come to church and get married. One step at a time. We had to visit the one woman in the health center, because she needed to be updated on her ride. We also visited our crazy man who told jokes during church.

Sunday, we had the stake conference broadcast. It was great and I will get to that. For the rest of the day, we went out and tried to find people. Not much happened in the day, except a lesson with the elderly man who has an 8 year old son. He expressed that he was not going to change.

So, stake conference broadcast, Elder Larry S. Kacher talked; he spoke about being truly converted to the gospel. He even told of a Muslim man who went to a district in that part of the world and was baptized, despite knowing the costs. Elder Kacher shared some parts of his letter. Sister Linda Reeves spoke about repentance and being truly clean. Elder Neil L. Andersen spoke about being a witness of Christ. Elder Robert D. Hales spoke about faith and strengthening our family. He repeated this counsel, "Never shut the door of your heart to any of your children."

I loved it. I realize the need to have balance in my life, wherein I can be a faithful member. Spirituality is a characteristic that I find that is most important in my life. I love having a relationship with God. I plan on living my faith and acting and applying on what I believe. People have their agency and I respect that. At USC, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, "He who once was our enemy can become our friend." It is important for me to understand people and accept them for who they are.

My questions that I pose (as given by Elder Kacher) are: What does it mean to be truly converted? Do you cherish the things of the gospel?

All is well! Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd