Easter, A Time to Remember

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am glad you had a good "Holy Week." (Somebody mentioned that in a talk yesterday and I thought it to be an interesting term.) I did receive both packages, both from the Primary (the younger children of the congregation in Lemoore) and you. Thank you for the package; I really enjoyed getting the package from the family! I will eventually write the Primary. Eventually.
The weather is indeed bipolar here; it was cold one day and the next it was warm. I have been expecting showers. On Saturday, there was this utmost beautiful sunset despite the clouds. I so wished I had my camera. It was a brilliant purple and red, with a hint of pink. As it continued to set, it turned a dark red, which was amazing to see.

My companion is recovering, thankfully. I am doing better. When did I headaches at home? I hardly remember. Why did I get them? Regardless, my companion, albeit recovering, was badly sick  on Tuesday. He needed rest, so three hours went by. And slowly he recovered from there. I just drank lemonade and my throat is a lot better. I just have a mysterious cough that does not bother me until night time and that is pretty much when it does bother me. 

I really focused on the Savior this week. I read all the gospels at the same time and worked with the Bible Dictionary's chronology. My favorite gospel is John. Luke seems to be the opposite of me; I like order and Luke puts part of a sermon of Jesus in one chapter, another part in another chapter, and the last piece in another chapter. But, amazingly everything did work out where I finished on Sunday. It was truly great to do. I read his death on Saturday and then I went to bed. It left a lot of time to reflect and grow my thoughts. I honestly felt the reality of His death and His suffering on the cross and in the garden. It really coupled with what I know about His Resurrection and the message of hope. While there is despair in the world, there is still that hope; the hope of relief, of joy, of second chances, and of so much more.

Easter was fun. We stopped by people who invited us over. I got to watch some of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform Handel's Messiah; in fact, I am currently listening to it. Absolutely beautiful. It was quite enjoyable. I woke up early before the sun rose (about 6:00 and the sun rose later) and read about the Resurrection. It was an overall good day. As much as I was trying to focus on the Savior, I could not help, but wonder, "Now what?" I thought of Peter who went fishing. I realized that this is what we witness or testify of along with the message of the Restoration. So, the answer to my wondering is now I go forth, become who the Savior wants me to be. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I plan on writing you a letter reflecting the thoughts I have.

Oh, I tried lamb this week! It was delicious! I think an awesome Easter tradition I would like to do is to have the Passover meal as my Easter meal. Have lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. It would be perfect to remember the Savior. I think it is an excellent idea. And I experimented this week with food and cooking. So, you know how to make tacos? Well, I used that idea and then I decided to add ingredients and roll the tortilla to hold it in. Do you know what that makes? Eggrolls. I was quite amazed. It just tastes like eggrolls and maybe it is due to the fact I used flour tortillas. I have no idea. Because only one of the ingredients I had (which were cabbage, red bell pepper, onion, cheese, and non-jarred jalapenos) actually is used in eggrolls. Thus, I have created Mexican eggrolls.

I realized this week, because I have been having a bit more trouble with my communication, that I speak at a much higher level than most people. I did not have any stuttering episodes or frozen tongue moments, but I think people still have a hard time understanding me. Then, I made that realization and now, I am figuring out how to make things simple. I can make the gospel simple, but when it comes to casual conversation, I, not realizing, use bigger words. So, I am slowly learning about communication. I thought about praying for the gift of tongues to make myself to speak the language in simple terms.

This week on the 26th, we have booth at a Powhatan Power Show (a coalition of churches raises money to aide community members). It is going to be good. We are doing family history, which is going to be next topic of 

discussion. 

I am really excited for family history and I do recommend doing more of it. The Church has put on a new website of sorts that is connected to Family Search (familysearch.org). It is called Puzilla.org and it is simply neat, phenomenal. The idea is not only finding our ancestors, but also finding our cousins. Well, the site is just neat to look at for us as far as I can tell. But, there is still things we can do. One, adding siblings to the tree is another thing we can do. Adding stories that other people can see about us and our ancestors. The idea of family history is not only the idea of trying to do ordinances for their salvation, but give them history. I term it as I heard about it on a video, the idea of the dash (what has happened in their life). Any information we have we should index and any sources we find should be sourced to the individual (or individuals) to whom it belongs . Have you been on Family Search recently? Again, I recommend it. Why? Well, we may have more clues, more specifically to Mom. Mom, did your father, Emilio, have a brother name Manuel Calderon Galvez (as put in Family Search)? If so, then do we have more family? I never found them or even sourced them, but they have been added for some reason. No sources for them either other than they have been added by Family Search and the Church. Do you know a Julian R. Arana? They have reserved a lot of stuff for that side. They are Mexican and do speak Spanish. Maybe you can find them on Facebook or through Family Search, find their email. Remember Spanish is required.

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

P.S. Also, our less active in the hospital went to a nursing home in another area. We are a bit sad about that. But our investigator is progressing; he just needs to quit smoking.

The Most Historical Week of All History

Monday, April 14, 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

This is the week of Easter! I am so excited for this time, except it seems everyone around me is like, "Bah! Humbug!" Everyone seems to be in a depressing mood. I am excited because this week is one of the most historical of all history. This is the week where Jesus performed the Atonement! So, this week I plan on focusing on the Savior and any spare time, any time I do have I am reading the gospels and continuing my study of the New Testament. I am a bit far from the Last Week, but I will be able to get to it, hopefully before Easter Sunday. There was an emergency email that we got from President that I thought was a great idea from the Church. I am usually the one complaining about the limitations we do have (particularly with studies), but I was really, really excited. The Church has put out a video titled 'Because of Him,' which can be found here: mormon.org/BecauseofHim. It is an excellent video and despite not having the technological capacity to share it, I wish I could tell people about it. But, again, everyone is a depressing mood and thinks that this video has come out too late and that there is not enough notice. Sigh. This video is great for sharing and it puts the focus on the meaning of Easter. It can be shared and talked about it. Man, if I had the capacity to use it, I would not only share the video, but also share the site and other "Life of Jesus Christ" videos that correlate with this last week and other discourses that are available via video. Alas, I do not, but hopefully I inspired you to at least remember Easter.

Our knee replacement less active (the one who broke his leg two years ago) went to the hospital again for pain. So, I have not seen him in a while. I made him a birthday card, but that is going to be held onto until he gets out. (We are not able, without permission, to go see him.) 

Tuesday, we had interviews with President. I went on exchanges with the district leader in Manchester. We ran into this one family, which were quite nice. Their kids gave us a tour of the house and showed us their toys. There is something always new that happens. 

Wednesday, I have no recollection of. None, because I was tired. I woke up at 4 in the morning with a migraine. It sucked. I thought by closing my eyes, I could go back to sleep and take care of it in the morning. No. My body wanted to be awake and I should have thought, "Oh yeah, I need to get medicine, because my body specifically woke me up to do that." When I have headache, I do not think, because it hurts. So, I laid there for an hour, because I did not have medicine on me for I was on exchanges and I was the only one to be up at the time. In the midst of agony, I was so kind enough to let people sleep. Finally, I woke up someone to see where they had medicine, especially after my headache migrated from the back of my head to the middle and I was starting to get cold shakes. After taking medicine, I was able to sleep for an hour and a half when I had to get up. I was tired and wiped out the entire day. Not much to say about Wednesday.

Thursday, we mainly planned. We saw one of our investigators who is progressing to baptism. He is slowly quitting smoking, which is good. We answered his questions about the Plan of Salvation. 

Friday was a day of service. From 11 to 8, we helped people. For one person, we helped her clean her koi pond. I saved a fish's life, because it somehow, as rocks were being removed, got on the ground. Later on, I noticed it (it looked dead) and the woman touched it. It wiggled and she tossed it in. She hated to have the fish removed, because she was afraid of hurting them. As we were filling it up and it got to nice level, she briefly went inside. My companion decided to toss the fish back in, because it was the only way and it would not hurt them. She came back out and was so afraid that by tossing the fish, it would hurt them. Eventually, all seven fish were back in the pond. Then, we helped another person who needed some yard work done. We had an excellent dinner with them. 

Saturday, we tried to find people that are less active, which was fruitless, unfortunately. Sunday, we had an excellent dinner with some members. It was fajitas and they gave us sangria. It was a nice meal. Then, we had a nice conversation with another member who needs help. It was a good week.

And now, my companion is sick and I have a sore throat (sort of). I woke up with a very sore throat, but I drank lemonade and my problem is pretty much almost gone. I am just spitting up gunk. Other than that, I am perfectly fine. (Well, I am not perfect, but I am fine.) My companion is just very sick. Other than that, everything is good. The apostle that is coming is David A. Bednar, which is one of my well-liked apostles. With him will be Elder Lynn G. Robins and Bishop Davies. I am excited for that. 

I am glad to hear of the thoughtfulness of the elder's on Dad's birthday. I am glad things are going well.

I am so excited for Easter. Because of Him, my joy is full. I can be clean and live again with my Heavenly Father. I can be with my family forever. Because of His Great Sacrifice, I will follow his example. As he said to those of old, to which also applies to us, "Come, follow me." I solemnly testify that Jesus is the Christ. He lived on this earth and died for each and every one of us. I know that He rose from the dead. He lives! He is Risen! I know these to be true for I know them by the power of the Holy Ghost. I know Jesus Christ. This I do testify, in His name, Jesus Christ, amen.

Love,

Elder S. Todd