Teaching With All Diligence

We see the signs of the times happening, From the passage of time when the apostles were killed all through today where wrong is called right by a Supreme Court. They call it "pride" and scoff at the things of God.
(Meme used with permission of the author.)

June 22, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Well, hello out there. I hope you are doing well, still living and all. I hope your week is going well.

My week went well.

Monday, after our preparation day, we decided to go out and try to contact people. We tried to stop by a few people, tried to go finding with not much success.

Tuesday, we had an appointment early in the morning cancel. We called the youth who was to come out with us that day and asked if he could come out with us earlier. He was happy to and we met up at the church before heading to check up on the returning young couple. We helped them move a table to their basement before sharing a message about temples. We encouraged them to prepare themselves.

After that lesson, we headed to our progressing investigator. We reviewed Sunday's lesson, which was going to be our lesson that day: keeping the Sabbath Day holy. It was a positive lesson; she is still concerned about what is her own hurdle, but she is planning to press on. We, then, dropped off the youth and headed to an urgent care for my companion. He is doing well, just felt a bit sick. After hearing some good news, we headed off to dinner. We did some service later that night.

Wednesday, we headed to the hospital to check up on the person we had blessed last Sunday as well as the person who moved into the hospital. We were able to visit the first person mentioned and had a good visit. I think the wife appreciated it. We were not able to see the other person, because we made the decision to visit during the normal visitation hours. We felt as though we needed to head back into Staunton. We did so and were able to catch a former investigator. It was the elderly man who was referred to us to go and see. We had not been able to see him for a few weeks. It was an excellent visit, because he expressed some questions that he has. In our heads, we thought to ourselves, "Well, this lesson could answer that.... And that lesson could teach that lesson." We know where he is and we hope that we will be able to see him again.

After Wednesday's dinner, we headed for a meeting with the ward mission leader and the bishop. We were able to get a few things out of it. We asked if we could help with mutual, but no help was needed. We ended up checking on the guy who is in pain. We helped to encourage him to keep on going forward.

Thursday, we planned and planned and planned. We also had another lesson with our progressing investigator. We went over the baptismal interview questions and helped her to be prepared. We had dinner with the bishop. Our next appointment cancelled and we ended up helping somebody out.

Friday, we headed off to Charlottesville in time for our zone conference with Elder Perkins of the First Quorum of the Seventy (The term Seventy comes from the Bible, they are leaders in the church who may travel from place to place to teach the gospel and administer as directed in church affairs. Again, they are not paid except for traveling expenses and have regular day jobs.). It was not a meeting; nor should we ever use the term meeting. It was a "revelatory" experience, the more proper term. I gained a lot out of the conference, because I was able to gain personal insight for the area and for myself. After this amazing meeting, we headed home, had dinner with a member family, and checked up on the man who was baptized when we got here. We encouraged him and his family to go to stake conference. (A stake is similar to a Catholic diocese, a defined area that includes congregations in that area.. The conference is held in a large church building and includes speakers both locally and from the general leadership of the church.) 

Saturday, we accomplished the progress record. Then, we headed to Richmond. One of the investigators in the Goochland area decided to commit to God through baptism. She was the one who had difficulties with the Book of Mormon. We got there a bit early. I ended up sitting by Mama and kept on talking with her. It was so great to talk to her again. The baptism was great, though one incident occurred. The font was filled, everybody was ready, the talk on baptism was given, and then the baptism got pushed back. The font nearly emptied. So, they quickly filled it up while the talk on the Holy Ghost was given. By the end of the talk, it was filled up again and she was baptized. Elder Day and I gave the message on the Restoration, which we were not really told that until we got there. By the grace of God, we were able to fulfill that request. From there, we headed back up, a bit late, to stake conference. That was a good stake conference adult session.

Sunday, we got up, had breakfast, studied, and headed to the Waynesboro building. We met with the daughter of the elderly man investigator; she is a member and we got helpful information from her about her father.

Stake conference was great. There was good revelation given. Elder Dudley of the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy spoke about his daughter who held on to church standards. She saw a play on Broadway and decided that is what she wanted to do. She looked through the newspapers and auditioned. She got some parts and sometimes not. She went to BYU. She ended up in Florida and auditioned for Grease; she got the part of, I believe, Sarah Dean. She told the director that she would not smoke, which is what the character does at one part. The director agreed and the next day at rehearsal, they rehearsed that specific scene. She refused and left, because the director told her that she was either going to do it or she would have to leave. She ended up in BYU or back to BYU or something; in other words, back to Utah. The infamous musical, Les Miserables, came to Salt Lake; she auditioned and thought she did not make it. She ended up with the role of Cosette and ended up on Broadway in New York.

I love that story; because, well, it goes to show that God is looking our for us. It is important that we continue to strive to do what is right. While I may not have told it correctly, I still like the story.

With the person who was baptized on Saturday, she committed herself to stay true to the principles and to go forward. She stated that in her own testimony to everybody that she commits herself to God and to them. She has a strong testimony. We need to have a strong testimony and stick with it.

Elder Perkins spoke and quoted from hymn number 26, Joseph Smith's First Prayer, "But undaunted still he trusted in his Heavenly Father's care...." He talked about that we will have challenges in our lives, but we must always trust in Heavenly Father. He even addressed our progressing investigator's specific hurdle; she was touched. Truly, it was a revelatory experience.

Later that day, we went to the hospital to make our visits. We made phone calls to certain people. We checked up on the people in the health center in Staunton. They are doing quite well. We had dinner with a member family and the wife's brother. That was a positive visit, because we encouraged her brother to continue to push ahead in the midst of all challenges. We headed to Verona to check up on certain individuals, but nobody was home.
All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

P.S. I need to know my itinerary, because I do not think I will be receiving it. What is it? I kind of want to prepared in the end for that. Also, what do I do about shampoo, shaving cream, body wash, razors, nail clippers?

I am excited to go the temple!