Adapting to Change: Mind, Body and Spirit

For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart  that shall not be penetrated. 

-Doctrine and Covenants Chapter 1

Monday, April 13, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

And yes, I do know of an Elder Short. Since he is a Mandarin Chinese elder, he is serving in Charlottesville. That is where all four Mandarin Chinese elders serve... for the entire two years. I want to say his companion is Chinese, or at least he is Asian. If we have a zone conference, I will make sure to say hi. We are bound to have one soon.

I am glad that my card was sent. It was big and I was not sure if multiple stamps were needed. Really, really glad they were sent. And really, really glad that Dad got it in time for his birthday. Sean must have gotten his, too.

 Where am I? Who am I with? What has happened in this past week? Stay tuned and keep on reading. This week has been a fun one, because of my companions. Oh yes, I said companions.

Monday, after email, we decided to meet up with some other missionaries in our district. Elder Jensen wanted to play soccer with them. As it usually happens, I was talking to the one missionary who talked to me a while back about musicals and such. We were talking this time about general conference and transfers. He, too, was being transferred. I wished him luck with his next companion and with his next area. After our P-day, we went out to Goochland, so I could say good bye to the Bible Study host. He absolutely unloaded on the problems out in Goochland; I so wished I could do more, but I know that I did all that I could. Good luck to Elder Jensen. (And please for anyone out there: love one another; look for the down trodden and love them.)


Tuesday, Elder Jensen and I said good byes. We went to transfer meetings. There was a special musical number played, which should not have been played. This elder decided to play "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again." That is one song that should never be played in transfer meeting. It was funny; as soon as the people going home recognized it, they just put their heads down. The sisters were crying, though. Then, the

announcement came. So, I am in Staunton (pronounced as Stan-ton) in the Waynesboro Stake, bordering Franklin, West Virginia. Who am I with? Well, the missionary that I told good luck to is my companion, or at least one of them. His name is Elder Day; since he has only been out for under a six months, he still is fresh and eager to work. He is motivated, nice, and happy. He really does talk to everybody. The other elder is Elder Hansen. He has been out for ten months. He was companions with my old companion, Elder Avison, but that took him down a bit. He is a hard worker. I am trying to help him out, if anything, because I care. Our district leader's companion is my old companion Elder Taylor; it is awkward, because he does not talk to me and I try to (sort of). Part of me just wants to ask what happened, why did you do all that you did. It is difficult.  I do not see him too often.

In other news, I found some good news and some bad news. I found that the recent convert in Appomattox was anti-ed by her family; now she is less active. It is unfortunate to hear, but I have a feeling that she will turn around. I am not overly devastated or upset. Not sure why; you would think I would be.

The good news is that my other convert in White Oak [Tim Hartley; missed out on his baptism] is going to the temple. I may be able to go, because that looks like the same day I might go to the temple. I will have to talk to President about that. 

After a long ride up to Staunton and trying to help elders get their companions, we had dinner with some members and an investigator. He was going to be baptized this past Saturday. We shared "Because He Lives."

Wednesday. Now, please do not panic or call Sister Hendrickson. Buckle up your seatbelts and be still. I am alright. By this point, you already are panicking and are probably ready to lunge to the phone. The morning was good. I got up (didn't exercise due to a lack of a properly equipped gym and having to revert to non-gym exercises) and had a nice breakfast. Since I could not have usual Greek yogurt, I settled for a bowl of cereal, having a knock of "Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cereal" and "Honey Combs." That was what we had for cereal (please note it was very, very sugary); I had that about 7 or 7:30. After studies, we decided to go to Wal-Mart to pick up food for us to eat. All was good. I bought my items first and I waited for my other two companions to pay for the food. All of a sudden, I turned pale, my heart rate increased, my breathing increased, and I had lost strength. I held on to the cart, because I was not feeling that good. Plus, all of my symptoms. I had bought croutons and as soon as I got in the car, I began to eat, thinking my body needed some kind of sustenance to fight off what was going on. In fact, I thought diabetes and I needed that food. Elder Day wanted to go to the Dollar General, so we did and I bought orange juice for that reason. I called the mission nurse and she said that I either had an anxiety attack (due to the stress of transfers) or I am hypoglycemic. I noted the fact of the sugary cereal that I had; plus, I noted that when I eat (for example) breakfast and skip lunch, I start to get shaky. (You do remember that, right? You wanted to prick my finger and I absolutely refused. I stopped saying I was shaky, because I knew I would be pricked.) Signs are more pointing to hypoglycemia. I have to cut back on sugar, which is alright with me; in fact, I am cutting it out altogether and getting it from the good foods to eat (e.g. fruit). To put me back in balance, I had to eat protein, which I did. So, again, please do not panic and please do not call Sister Hendrickson. If you have any issues, please talk to me and if anything, I will talk to the mission nurse. I am alive, although sugar nearly killed me. (Okay, I had to add that exaggeration in there, because of its truthfulness).

After this circumstance, we talked to a less active who we were given to by the assistants. Not sure about this man's full story, but we will get there soon.

. 

Now, a brief break, to talk to you about Staunton. Staunton has old buildings, but not like Petersburg where things are falling apart and there are scary neighborhoods around each corner. No, Staunton is old, but it is beautiful. It is green; it is amazingly beautiful. And I can see the hills... I mean, mountains from our balcony. Plus, there are a lot of hills here in Staunton. Thank goodness we are in a car. Plus, we have a big area, some of which we cannot access due to miles. There are farms with green grass. BEAUTIFUL. And there is the Mary Baldwin College, which is an all girls college. I have to keep my two companions focused. We have some recent converts that are students in the Mary Baldwin College. One of them, we met with on Wednesday. She is dramatic, but a nice, spirited person. She is crazy (figuratively), but she is still learning.

Thursday, we weekly planned. We had lunch, we tried contacting people, and then we had a lesson with an investigator. She is a young mother and is into anime. My two companions can get along with her; I have a hard time relating with the anime stuff. I never was too much into the comics and anime, except for Batman and that one show. We talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and its importance. I believe the lesson went well. She seemed to have understanding of it and was able to grasp the concepts. After dinner, we had two baptismal interviews that our district leader had to perform. Two people got baptized this past Saturday. Both passed their interviews. We picked up their baptism suits and dropped them off to the respective persons. 

Friday, we accomplished our progress record, which has not been done in quite a long time here in this area. Not much else happened on Friday that is noteworthy. 

Saturday, we helped move some furniture and got a referral from the people that we helped. Then, chaos splattered upon us. Ms. Mary [for your information: that is what I will deem the college here] decided to put a roadblock into our path; the students had to pick their dorms at different times that were assigned to them. One of the people being baptized that day is a student of Ms. Mary, so her time was the same time as the baptism. Through much prayer, we were able to push it to four and get people to come to it to support her. But, it meant filling the font sooner than thought. So, we did that, got her baptized, and the other person baptized. It all worked out, despite the stress that was placed.


Sunday, we nearly were late to church, because we decided to pick up the now dried baptismal suits. You see, the Staunton Ward goes to the Waynesboro Ward building, but they have baptisms at the Staunton Branch building. I thought we could do it and be on time, but we were slightly late. My fault. We had church, which, for us, was all over the place. In fact, one of the more dramatic moments, I wish to tell you, but not at this time. We had a lesson with an elderly man; I was with a member while my other two companions went finding. I taught the entire lesson, because the poor member wasn't adequately prepared. We contacted a less active and shared some spiritual thoughts.

It has been a crazy, wonderful week. I love the area. It is amazing!

All is well! Tout va bien! Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Melatonin, A Phone Call, Miracle, Drunk Love

The Strange Life of a Mormon Missionary

Monday, February 9, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I have no idea exactly what is wrong with my companion. I asked why he stays up, which he says, "I cannot fall asleep." Okay... I understand that you cannot fall asleep, but you take Melatonin. "I use it to fall asleep." Okay, I understand that and I asked him then, "Why do you engage in activities [e.g. working out, having lights on] that are contrary to a person trying to fall asleep?" He simply stated, "I tend to start waking up at night, particularly at this time [9:30]. It naturally happens." Naturally? Okay, I understand that. I also understand if you use Melatonin to sleep, then use it to sleep. I wanted to repeat what I said in my letter that I wrote to him. If the Lord has commanded us to go to bed early and then to rise up early, he will help us with that, even if it seems contrary to our "natural" sleep cycles. I know that there is power to change. By the time that I go through this in my entire mind, I realize the commonality of the sleeping problem and the planning problem. Attitude. I believe he has the "Eeyore" attitude, the "whatever" attitude. If this is the case, there is little, if anything, that I can do, other than "love him." 






What I then have to do is to ensure that I do something productive, other than study and lunch, between the hours of ten to two. (I have thought of doing the area book, but I can only go so far. I can plan for people, but I cannot do it everyday.) I cannot accuse him of any attitude problems until I am more sure that this is the case. Yet the more I press, the more he is going to distance himself from me. This is where I am at now, the fourth week of the transfer. I realize that I am between a rock and a hard place.  No I have not contacted Missionary Medical. If he has depression or needs any psychological help, that has to be talked with the mission president.




Monday, we got haircuts from our Greek member, because she had offered and my companion needed it. I got one, to get mine trimmed a bit. She mainly cut the sides, but did not really touch the top of my head, only a touch. She gave us cake; she always offers food when we arrive and we have dinner with her soon. We had zone P-day and I took my usual spot on the stage. Well, there was another person there who could not play sports either. Well, we talked and apparently I have been talked about. He had heard that I liked Les Miserables, which earlier that day, in my email, I quoted to you. We talked for the duration that he was there and it was quite nice. We had dinner with ourselves and from there we tried to contact some people we have not seen. One was a less active man, but on this day we were not able to get in. The other was a recent convert and his returning-to-activity wife and sister-in-law. It was good to finally talk to them, officially meet them, and begin to figure out how to help them progress. They have a desire to go to the temple and with the bishop's challenge (to get one family name to the temple by the next ward temple trip in April), it is a big help.


Tuesday, we were able to contact our Persian family and gave them the Persian Book of Mormon. Yes, Persian is still an existing language, even if the country does not exist (Okay so Dad was a bit wrong but they do have ties to Iran and may prefer people to know them as Persians.). It is also called Farsi. Another member of the family talked to us rather than the mother and son. She stated that she and the family were Muslims, but were open to learn more about our beliefs to gain knowledge. It was an interesting visit, because there was no progress and with that mindset, she made it difficult. Later that night, we went to Goochland to contact a referral, who was not home. This referral is a member and needs a ride to church. We were unable to obtain a ride, but we discussed this in ward council, enabling a movement to get a ride from a Goochland member to take him to the church. 

Wednesday, we again went to Goochland, but for an appointment with a lady in a trailer park. She makes clay dolls and she was sculpting one as we were there. I am not sure she was even paying attention to what we were saying, because occasionally, we had to repeat what we said. She did not understand why we asked about baptism, though we talked about it several times in the lesson.

Thursday, we had zone workshop. We did a lot of role playing. We had a refocus on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what was actually restored. I had thought about that, but I was glad to hear it reemphasized. It truly is a restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it helps put Christ in the focus of the lesson and our message. We were recorded like the previous zone workshop. Later that day, we contacted a referral. We had not gone to the computers to see what information was given about this person. We talked with her, though she had no idea why she was referred. We left a bit confused. We are able to return. (As it turns out, there is no information given on the referral, but she referred her self apparently.) 

Friday, we went to one of the houses where we read the Book of Mormon with some of the people there. This is the house where the two people we read the Book of Mormon with are recent converts. From what we read (1 Nephi 11), we had a wonderful discussion on pride and overcoming it. That night, we yet again went to Goochland for a dinner appointment. In the meanwhile, as it was later told to me, there was a birthday party in Richmond where a certain woman attended as well as an elderly man, who is a member of the ward that I am in. Keep that in mind. It is important. Towards the end of the dinner, we received a call from a number that I did not recognize, so I ignored it. As we left the house, I called the person back. Lo and behold, it was the Tappahannock elders. They called, because there was a baptism in Tappahannock for the man who had a lot of medical problems, who was ready to be baptized; however, he was in the hospital when I left and was unable at that time to be baptized. He was getting baptized the next day at seven. Well, it is very, very hard to try to obtain a ride the very next day. I prayed that a way would be provided, because I really, really wanted to go. 


I talked with my companion about who to call. In the meanwhile, at the birthday party, this certain woman approached this elderly man and they proceeded to have a conversation. My companion told me some people to try and at last, we determined to call the elderly man. The elderly man answered his phone and I stated who I was. He could not hear me, so he handed the phone to this certain woman. She apologized that he could not hear and asked who I was. I stated my name and she was like, "Elder Todd? Is this the Elder Todd who served in Tappahannock?" This certain woman was one of the daughters, of the members upstairs from Tappahannock, who has lots of crazy stories to tell. I was quite surprised and stated why I had called. The elderly man could not do it and the woman said she could tonight, but it was impossible to do so. I wrote down her number and sent a text with our number. I did not realize then that this was the way. 


From this conversation, we went to another trailer to talk to this lady. She was drunk and was complimenting me in particular, or in other words, she was hitting on me. She was extremely drunk; she hated my tabs on the scriptures, stated several times that our spirits are going to heaven, and told me that I did not need those tabs or the scriptures. She even prayed that we would understand that there was no point to bury our body. I could have said several things at this point and I was not too happy as well, not because of the tabs, but because of my own love for the scriptures. We immediately left.

We went home. I got permission to go to the baptism. The member from Tappahannock called and she said that she could arrange a ride for me through another member who Elder Henstrom and I helped drag a deer out of the woods with. He was going to pick up Elder Henstrom. He called me and it was arranged. Truly, the Lord knows our circumstances, know us individually, and does indeed answer our prayers.

Saturday, we took care of our progress record and we visited the family who usually takes three hours for dinner. Luckily, we were not there for dinner. We taught her nine year old who does want to be baptized, but does not like Primary nor does he like to sit still. We read out of the Book of Mormon. We had dinner and then we went to Tappahannock. The person who was being baptized was not the only one for there was another man, taught by the sisters, that also was being baptized. Wow, it was really amazing. I was so happy and the man who I was there for was also happy that I came. I was allowed to be one of the witnesses. I told him congratulations and wrote him a note in a small book that I was supposed to sign. A lot of people were there. As the branch president stated, it truly has been a miracle for Tappahannock. In these past three years, a lot of men have been baptized, which means more priesthood holders. The branch is being strengthened and is growing. Truly, the Lord is hastening His work. Tappahannock is a testimony of that. I learned that our single mother investigator's son is going to be baptized in about two weeks. I am going back to Tappahannock again. While we were there, we saw the members upstairs. She had finished Christmas decorating in January after we left. It was really great to see everybody again.

We arrived home late (about 11:00 that night), so Sunday when we had to get up at six for an early morning meeting before Church, it was difficult. We had Church, then we had lunch with the members who sent you that picture. I bore testimony of prayer from the miracle that just occurred. I was really happy about all that occurred. I had a miracle and I had seen somebody enter into the waters of baptism, I wanted to share that happiness. It was a big meal. 

Afterwards, we went to see that less active man, who is a single father going through a rough time. He laughs at his ironic state; his ancestor is Martin Harris and here he is less active. I remembered that there is an excellent talk about single fathers by, I believe, Elder Baxter. I would love to give it to him, but I am not sure how he would take it. After we left him, we had a dinner with the bishop. From there, we tried this less active woman who plans on returning to activity and is making some necessary steps. At this current point, she is not coming to church. She is recovering from an accident that she was in. From talking to her, there were a lot of things reaffirmed in my own mind about things we have previously talked about and things I have stressed.

The future looks positive. Miracles will occur. Ways will be provided.

Alles wohl! Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Can You Overcome Your Fears?

(This post is from a letter written home and is presented here in an edited form by Elder Todd's father in hopes that this will offer some degree of comfort to others.)

In the middle of my own troubling circumstances, I write to you in full manner of happiness, expressing my own comfort from the Lord.

. . . I often wrote, I believe, about my past which has been a great sorrow to me. I often felt as if I had failed in my past (as a teenager). I did not share the gospel of Jesus Christ as I should have. I did not speak kind words. I did many gospel duties halfheartedly. I was not as valiant as I could have been. Often those thoughts filled my head . . . I too often remembered the bad times rather than the good.

I know that the Lord has forgiven me of my grievances. I have felt His mercy and I enjoy His presence once more. As a flower grows with sunlight, my soul has grown in His presence. I recognize now that I, in the end of my adolescence, had both a testimony - which has been strengthened - and a knowledge of the scriptures - which has grown. . . God has shown me what I did not see.

I recognize now two incidents in my life that would place great importance in turning my life around. Remember in, I believe 6th grade, when I read a scary story that stated I was going to die, causing me to fear greatly? I cried myself to sleep twice that night, Bria (his sister) shared a scripture that influenced me: Alma 37:37. I learned to turn to God in prayer and to seek the scriptures. It would later form a testimony. I pray that she remembers that night.

The other is the youth activity where we caroled at an elderly home. When we ended the caroling, the leaders encouraged us to talk to the elderly. I didn't want to talk to anybody, so I joined another youth, listening to their conversation. A leader pulled me a way to an elderly woman, who nobody presently was talking with her. Though I have forgotten her name, she was a member of the church and she bore her testimony. I remember, because it still lingers with these words: "I know. I know. I know." I learned the power of testimony.

I am grateful . . . My past is not as dark as I see it and my future is bright. By the grace of God I have mastered the past and future. The present is to prepare; to build upon the talents, attributes and the testimony that I have. . . I am a son of God . . . I will go forward in the service of the Lord, magnifying my callings.

Love, 
Elder Todd

Elder Todd with his Sister prior to leaving for Virginia.

"The Best Two Years - the sequel?"

(The movie "The Best Two Years" is a Mormon genre movie about male missionaries in Holland, one who is anxious to convert people and the other who has almost given up on missionary work after a friend of his goes home and marries this Elder's girlfriend. We see some parallels here but in all fairness we hope our son has compassion for his own weaknesses as well as for the unseen weaknesses of others.)

Monday, January 26, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Well, I did it. I wrote my companion a letter rebuking him for his actions that he has committed; the letter was written under prayerful direction of the Spirit. I felt that it was something that needed to be done, because when talking about sleep, his responses do not follow some of his actions. It was slightly embarrassing when Spanish elders came to our door and were wondering why he was not awake. I knew that something needed to be done. I wrote the letter, not out of anger, but out of concern. I wrote not spoke, because I would be able to write calmly. I wrote it yesterday, questioning his thinking. So far, he has not really avoided me. He has withdrawn a bit though. Yesterday, during the spiritual thought for the members who fed us, I bore testimony of the Atonement. I said what I needed to say and ended my thoughts. Silence pervaded for a while before the members spoke and then I looked at my companion, asking for comments. His reply, "Yeah, I agree." Now that I have rebuked him, it is now my task to love him even more. I pray for him, hoping things will be alright. I feel right in my own actions.

Meanwhile, I am still blind about this area; I have no clear vision. I have yet to weekly planning with him to help our companionship unity (even more, I have not done companionship study). Without these, I am blind, though I am taking small steps before I introduce the idea of weekly planning. However, I am doing all that I can to help this area grow. I have started to take note at the end of the week of those who are investigators, less actives, recent converts, those we need to visit, and potentials. It allows me to have a definite list of who we need to see, though I have no clue what each person needs unless I have been directly involved. Thus, to help myself it will do for these coming weeks of the transfer do what I am about to do next.

We have an investigator, a media referral, who is from South Africa, but has not been there in many years. His father is a recent convert in another state, hence how we got the referral. He was a bit surprised, as he told us, when we knocked on the door. Previous missionaries had tracted into him before, but they knocked very loudly and would not take no for an answer. This investigator is definitely interested in joining and finding a community that will support him spiritually. Add that to another reason why we need to do our home teaching and visiting teaching and be thankful for such program. We talked of what he needs to do in order to be baptized and we talked about the church. He already loves the Church, because of what they do for his father. We got through only two points of the Restoration, mainly about families and prophets. He loves the family aspect of the Church and connected the idea of families to prophets and apostasy. He caught on when people apostatize from the prophets, the family disintegrates. Though we do not have a specific return appointment, he is planning for us to return this week. We need to give the Proclamation to the World to him. We also need fellowship and the bishop here would be good for that. After all, the investigator knows the bishop quite well; the work at the same place, though not the same job.

We have a Persian (?) Book of Mormon for our Persian (?) family. We have not seen them this past week.

We have a set of investigators (relation unknown) who have some affiliation with the Jehovah's Witnesses, either from current or past experiences. We taught them once, though it was more of a question and answer session of opinions. It was the question of blacks and the priesthood. We explained it then and that we do not know all the reasons why it occurred and explained all that we could. The man of this set accepted our answer. We should visit them this week, though it is rather difficult. They want us come by 5 to 6, our dinner time. It would be fine if we could move our dinner appointments forward., though, we have a sliver of openings.

We have the nine year old who wants to be baptized. He is part of a family of recent converts. I am not sure what he needs, though, again, he needs visual aids. He also needs his family to help him to understand the gospel truths and teach him. I wonder if they are holding family home evening. When we have dinner appointments with this family--- which takes 3 hours (from the time we get there, the mother is still cooking for another hour or so and then an hour for us to eat)--- we need to have a lesson or attempt to.

We taught an Arabic family this past week. They were referrals from the Spanish elders and we contacted them. It was not a good time when we initially contacted them, but we gave them an Arabic Book of Mormon. We obtained an Arabic Restoration pamphlet. When we came over this week, they were curious and lots of questions. They were not Muslims, but Christians. I did not feel the Spirit as much in the lesson. They were asking a lot of questions and we were trying to understand them for at times the words they said did not match with our definitions. The wife, in the end, was more interested than the husband.

Tuesday, last week's P-Day. We picked up another set of missionaries after e-mailing and had lunch. We did our shopping and then headed to the Church. We played the game Risk, which my companion is really good at playing. It was my first time playing and I inherited the Asian continent in my first go round. If you ever play Risk, Asia is most difficult to hold onto, because you are so spread out. But, I lasted for a good while despite inheriting Asia. It was a lot of fun and it opened up my companion a bit more to me. We had dinner. Then, we had the Book of Mormon class. Nobody showed. Some people forgot. We need fliers to encourage people to come and to attend the class. It is not enough to have it announced. We need to sell it and to encourage the members to attend with friends. 

Wednesday, we had zone conference and had to pick up the biking set of elders. We were nearly late, though there were people who were later than us. It was a good conference. President Wilson spoke to me on the side and told me to love my companion. Oh, and we talked about online proselyting. Why? Well, we still have no iPads and our mission president and his wife seem to have no hope that it will come to us soon, but at least we can prepare for them (and thus, the answer to why). So, we went over that. I do not know if you know, but they changed the referral system. We still get a text from headquarters, but we receive no information. All the information is online. We no longer are calling a machine to update, but we have to go online to update our referrals. It is time consuming and I do believe it may cause a stir of murmuring from missionaries that do not have the access to technology unless they go out of their way. It is a bit of a hassle, I do admit, but it is requiring a lot more faith on our part and a lot more devotion. It is a good new system. From online proselyting, we discussed the plan of salvation with President Wilson. There were lots of questions from the elders about deep doctrine ideas. After zone conference, we called this area's single mother investigator to confirm our appointment. Well, she decided to do some research and talk with her pastors and now she no longer wants to meet with us, not even to discuss the things of which she heard.

(Surprise, like the pastors were going to tell her good things about Mormons. Or that everything on the internet is true, though we have admitted that mistakes have been made.) So, she is no longer interested. That night we had our three hour appointment.

Thursday, we volunteered at the health care center (that place I called an adult home, which is incorrect, I believe) where our Powhatan-to-Gayton recent convert is.  She was asleep when we were there. Missionaries have been volunteering there for a while. I was glad to be able to help. I helped with those there that needed help playing Bingo. It was fun. We had dinner, then we went out to Goochland (nicknamed Gayton West) with the Spanish elders. The car got stuck in mud, but through our efforts, we were able to get our car free. We tried to see a few people, but they were not home or wanting us to come by. 

Friday, we saw some recent converts. We read from the scriptures with them and helped them to understand. One of them generally understands what is taught, but the other does not. That night we were able to have a lesson with our South African investigator. 

Saturday, we did our progress record. While he did the record, I did more family history and listened to some of the things that LDS Charities is doing. I absolutely loved it. I am quite amazed about what the Church is able to accomplish. Later that night, we visited a less active who is returning and also needs help in understanding the scriptures. 

Sunday, we had church and our meetings. We tried to see some people before heading out to Goochland for dinner. It was a nice dinner. We visited the less active who has the Shiba Inu. He is going through some hard times and we offered to help him in things that he needs help. He was appreciative of that. I am trying to figure him out to see how we can help him progress spiritually.

With the situation with my companion, I have been turning to the Lord for help and guidance. I have been trying to draw on all my sources of help. As I have been relying on the Lord, I have been a lot happier. It is much better than Appomattox. Think of it this way: the people of Limhi and the people of Alma. The people of Limhi relied more on others than the Lord, which was in part why it took a while for them to be relieved of their burden. The people of Alma, on the other hand, relied more on the Lord and though their burdens were not automatically taken away from them, they were a lot happier and their burdens were lightened. I am relying on the Lord a lot more and using prayer as a strength. We have access to the heavens through prayer and it is such a strength. I am definitely persisting in not giving up and in trying to be obedient; hence, I am fighting like a dragon.

Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Fire Nation Attack: or the Midlothian Switch

May 12, 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I do not know how to say this, that rule for forty minutes for us is try to stay under an hour. We did try, but regardless, it was great talking to everyone. I hope Mom enjoyed her Mother's Day card; I meant to ask her about that. What I wrote was to remind all of the good times we had. It has been a long time, so I tried to remember what I could. There were other things that I forgot to mention, which you helped remind just now. So, remember that golden investigator, the one I was privileged to baptize? Well, I was able to get an update on him recently. His fiance dumped him and she was the one that introduced him to the church. While he was sad over that, he is still attending the church and has recently received the Melchizedek Priesthood. That was really good to hear.

It sounds like everything is busy over on the "Left Coast." Keep on doing what is right and press forward. And remember the eternal perspective. While it is hard in this life, things will turn out for the better.

So, I guess I will proceed to tell you of my week. Monday, we had zone P-day, where we headed to the stake center to have fun as a zone. This was with the Midlothian West Zone. I got to say good bye to people that were leaving, but did not really say good bye to others, thinking that we were safe. We never received any calls, so we, the people who were still there, were excited to be together for another transfer. We had played basketball, soccer, and it was a lot of fun. Tuesday, we cleaned, for it was that time of month, and tracted. We also helped with the food bank that day. It was a fairly well week thus far.

Well, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked (another reference to Avatar: the Last Airbender, just to bug his parents). So, Wednesday, it was starting off good. We just got done with studies and were about to have lunch. Then, we got the call that started the week wrong. It was zone leaders of the Midlothian East Zone. They had called a couple weeks previous for a question about a member of the Powhatan ward, so I picked up, thinking it was follow up. No, not at all. We were being welcomed to the Midlothian East Zone; I put the phone on speaker, so my companion could believe this. We were both confused and it was a blindside. We called our previous district leader, who called the zone leaders. We went about our way, hoping the situation would be resolved. When the zone leaders of the Midlothian East Zone called, I promptly told them my issues with this, thinking that they were confused. Our district leader and zone leaders of the Midlothian West Zone had no idea either. So, the East called the West and there was nothing West could do. We are now part of the Midlothian East Zone. Well, I was extremely agitated at that point. Do not worry I put a smile on my face.

While, yes, there is nothing really I can do, but smile, and accept it, I still have feelings about it. Couldn't we have a little more warning? We just had zone P-day and we did not get to say goodbye to anyone, really. I felt like I had actually found friends and was included. It is bit hard being ripped from friends without warning. My other zones I really did not get out much; that, and I did not feel that included. So, it was hard, but hey, I will make some new friends. I know it is a bit selfish to feel that way, but I made friends. Major accomplishment on my part. And Powhatan is in the middle of the Midlothian West Zone; it literally splits the zone. But, hey, I know it does not make sense, yet President is inspired. What takes the cake for me is that I have fears of not being included and the area not understood. I came into this area with the idea to tract and find new. However, six weeks later, I realize this area needs to focus on the less active members; this will be a major boost for the area. It is what it needs. Yes, we still will go out and try to find people. I am not at all giving up on baptizing people and trying to help them. I just see that this area is more geared to less active work at this current moment. If we baptize someone, my fear is that the people will want another; after all, it has been four years since they had a baptism. It is an odd fear, I know. But, this area needs to gradually build itself up, which can be accomplished through less active work. Having a sudden peak through baptism will only ensure a quick and faster descent that will hinder the work. I prayed about this and felt right about it. This area needs time; while yes, we have two investigators who are potential for baptism, they need more time. I have that fear about the zone and it is hard not knowing what is going to happen, because it is not just two people in a new zone, it is an entire area. It just is a bit frustrating to know this and having no one else know. It does not help when you receive nearly daily texts about people being put on date. We are trying and we rejoice in people's success, but as I have learned in the MTC that can really get on people and actually burden them. Another fear is for whoever comes in. Is it odd for me to feel this way? I do not think so. I have seen what this area is like and know now what this area needs. I feel right about it.  And we had basketball that night and I have been doing a bit better with defense.

Thursday, we worked extra hard and nothing came about. We received anti-Mormon material, which was a bunch of garbage.

Friday, we talked with an investigator who has been investigating for three years. We finally got down to the meat of the issue. She had a problem at first with the priesthood, but Dallin H. Oak's talk helped clarify that. Now, she has an issue with tea. She also feels more included in her church that she has been going to for the sake of her mother. At first, it was an obligation, now it is her actually taking a liking.

Saturday, we talked to our investigator who has been having issues with the Word of Wisdom, who wants to be baptized, but just actually wants a clean slate. We saw our less active who is in a nursing home. It was so awesome to see him; his brother came to get him and they and us spent time at the less active's house. We celebrated his birthday, which was back in April. (We weren't able to celebrate in April, because he went to the hospital.) And Sunday, we talked for a while. It was good day. So, our week was okay, up and down, Satan trying to get at me. I woke up this morning feeling good and ready to overcome.

And the checks.... So, I went to Well's Fargo, in the hopes I could cash them. Nope. Why? I did not have an account with them neither did Grandma. So, I looked at where the nearest Bank of America is. Three words: out of area. Which means required permission, miles, etc. I looked at Fredericksburg; also, out of my area at that time when I received the checks. Woodbridge, very dependent on members. So, it may be a while if I can see if they can be cashed. I will update you. I get to be out of the area this coming week for district meeting.

So, I am good. Happy now. I just had a lot of feelings to get out. It was great to see and talk to you. I was glad to see Joy and Bailey as well. I was glad to see Carly, Coda, and Buddy. And more importantly, Mom and Dad, it was great to see you. It was nice to talk. Things will definitely have to be done with the Spirit. Thanks for the chronology. I am almost to the epistles; Paul has yet to go on his third missionary tour.

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

P.S. Love the quotes, especially Sister Hinckley's. And do not worry over the zone issue, it is not bugging me, it is nothing that you should worry about, it will be what it is.

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