Discover the Up's and Down's, the Hopes and Dreams, the Joy and Sorrow

Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.-2 Nephi 2:6

June 1, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I will be working with the bike today and ship it next week. I need to take the pedals off and work on the handlebars; by that, it will be possible for me to work on the bike. However, I will have to get tools to do that. Included with that will be a tape measure device, so I can measure the box that I have to send it. It is a process in a half. By next week, I will send it. (I obtained a box last preparation day to get things ready. It was free; hooray for bike shops. Also, it had packaging materials in it to put on the bike. Thank goodness.)

I got my "going home" papers from President Wilson this past week. It merely contained some instructions. I need a doctor's appointment set up, so that I can get a TB test. Not looking forward to a doctor's appointment. But, I learned what is going to occur in the coming days. On Thursday, June 25th, I will have to get up early and head over to the mission office (I have to be there at seven in the morning). I get to go to the temple that day and I am excited. Reason number one: I get to go to the temple! Reason number two: Even though I will not be with Tim, who is getting his endowments that day (Tim is the man who got baptized in White Oak, that I did not get to see baptized), I will hopefully see him. This is what I was hoping and expecting would. Exciting! Now I can officially tell him that I will not be with him, but I will be at the temple. I hope to see him there.

Then, at the end of transfer meeting, I will be headed to the mission home.

The student that did not make it to church had conflicts with her family.

She had waited a month to tell her parents (now I had withheld that from you). So, she has not exactly told her entire family.

There is a lot of corrections to be made with our family history; it is a matter of inputting information and synchronizing information also with Ancestry. Still working on inputting data from FamilySearch to Ancestry and Ancestry to FamilySearch, on top of finding information based off of hints. It is a work on progress that I cannot fully do at this time.

I have a lot of letters to write; I need to write to all the converts that I can (such as Tim), the people I lived with in Tappahannock, the Fuseliers, the Lemoore Ward Primary (with this, Zachary Conwell, who I believe was baptized; he wrote a personalized note with the Pictures; I need somebody's address for the Primary), the Ward Family, the Obersts, Veronica, the Scholarship people, the lady who has sent these packages (I want to say the address was quite familiar, I want to say it was Trevor's mom, whom I cannot remember names or addresses and that address is closely linked with the Ward Family), and President Wilson. A lot to write to. Working on one letter at a time, but I need addresses for those of whom I do not have access to (the ones from home; like the Obersts or Veronica).

Looking at that list brings back to what a busy week it was and how much occurred in one day. It is a good week.

Tuesday, our preparation day due to holiday. We visited a book store that usually is closed on Mondays. Some good books in there; some I noted. We rested and prepared. We had dinner with the Gospel Principles teachers and we discussed some of our investigators that we had. And I began my goal of taking pictures of everybody we have dinner with. (With the Spanish elders no longer around, we have been having many dinners and many dinners to come this month). They referred us to somebody and we checked up on that person. That person said they would give us a call. We arrived home, not knowing what to do when we received a phone call from Buena Vista to go give a blessing to somebody in the hospital near us. We arrived and they said the person did not exist. Odd... 

So, Wednesday, after contacting another referral (who was less than enthused to see us), we checked up on the person again that we were supposed to see. They still did not exist. We called the people who originally called us, who were surprised. They called the person and as it turned out, he was released before we ever even got there. We checked up on the people who were from Alabama (who are returning to church); we helped them to set goals to progress to the temple. We called the lady who does not live in the area, but works here. We need to update the missionaries that are where she lives and inform them of what is going on. Well, she again ranted and chatted and we were there for a while. It helps her to do that and we are able to know how to help her. She has been hurt in some ways from the Church, not necessarily by the Church. She is trying to make a few steps forward. We had dinner, then we checked up on the people at the health center. We then checked up on the man who reminds me of my brother, he was not too readily available to talk with us.

Thursday, we planned; it took a while, appointments cancelled, we moved and trekked forward. Other than planning and appointments cancelling, we had a lesson with our new investigator and his family (who needs to center their lives on the gospel). We realize he has a hard time relaying information, so we are figuring out ways to help him. I talked to the parents and encouraged to move forward. We will have to follow up with them.

Friday was the day of meetings. We had an especially long meeting with Elder Zwick of the First Quorum of the Seventy and Elder Hemmingway, the Director of Proselyting. Before I dive into the meeting, let me explain a rather awkward situation I kind of had. Elder Day needed water, so we got up to get water. We ended up talking to some missionaries that I had not seen in a while. Well, President Wilson and Elder Zwick came down the hall and shook our hands. Then, he continued his walk down the hall. Well, we got seated. After debating on moving, we stayed in our seats. Elder Zwick comes by and shakes our hands and realizes who we were. "Oh, I remember you two." If that was not enough, the entire mission was asked to stand up and shake his hand. What we were supposed to do? Rather than look disobedient, we got in line and shook his hand, yet a third time. He commented to us, "Third times a charm." Yeah, it was rather odd for me.

The meeting was about personally purifying ourselves and being worthy. Elder Zwick mainly talked about this. He mentioned how he served, I believe, in Argentina had one of the apostles (then not an apostle, so one of the ones we have today) as his mission president. He was asked (with his new companion who was cowboy) to board a train, buy some horses, ride those horses through a river into Bolivia, convert the people in the nearby village, and build a chapel. He talked about when building the chapel, he took many donkeys up a mountain to take the lumber needed down, and how one of the donkeys misstepped and fell to its death (which easily could have been him). Elder Hemmingway talked of how the gospel was originally spread (from individual to family to friends to family to friends to family to individuals to families etc.) and how he was asked to start online proselyting as a mission president (something that was hard for him, because he was against Facebook). There are some filters on the iPads, the mission president will know what we will be doing, and we will be going under extensive training.

Elder Day and Elder Todd - Elder Day excited about iPads,
Elder Todd prefers his paper scriptures.

Each weekly planning session there will be an auditing portion where the companions exchange iPads and look at each others posts, etc. The best filter we have is our personal testimony and the Holy Ghost. We have little booklets (that are drafts) that teach us some principles and safeguards.

They will be owned by the Church, though a fee is to be paid to use it. (Because I am leaving in so many weeks, I will be using a loaner device.) Later, they can buy it (or something to that effect). There is an app that will be used for the planner and area book (which the mission president has access to); it will produce a consistent, updated progress record for stake and ward leaders to view.

I believe it is well worth the money, even if the risk seems so high to one's own salvation. I do believe it will help prepare the next generation and make them better than the one previous. It will help sift the wheat from the tares. It will cause young men and young women to rise above. It is matter of personal training at the home; something that I look forward to when I have a family. It is a matter of the family preparing their children now to be personally worthy and to use technology wisely. It is a matter of having that missionary mindset and having a personal testimony. The time to prepare is now; prepare your children, prepare your grandchildren. Be an example daily; live the gospel. And watch how much will change. It is going to be worth it and the work of the Lord will progress more than ever.

Friday, after the meeting, we visited a less active who had poisoned his testimony with anti, which destroyed him. (He needs to be referred to fairmormon.org) It is quite sad to see. We had a meeting with the ward mission leader and the bishop. Things look like they are beginning to move forward. Saturday, we did the progress record and we checked up on the man who has pain. He was really happy, which was a contrast to Monday. It was great to see him. We had a lesson with our investigator whose son was blessed and has been coming to church. We again emphasized the Book of Mormon and we set her on date. I pray that she will continue to be encouraged. After dinner, we checked up on the people in the health center.

Sunday; the day of insanity. And the Sabbath day, the day to rest. Morning and beyond church: we studied briefly and went to go wake up the man who is in pain. Well, he was awake and ready to go. We went to church with him, because we had a meeting. He read the Book of Mormon meanwhile. We had our meeting and then we learned there is a potluck. After the meeting, we had to put some of the potluck food in the refrigerator. We had to get some information from the district leader, which in turn we had to talk to the bishop. We were able to get that squared away. We learned that Elder L. Tom Perry passed away, which was sad. People started to come. Our investigator on date came to church, we introduced the bishop to her. People said hello to her. Get a series of texts during sacrament meeting; after sacrament meeting, we have to run to the outside to get materials to deliver to bishop. Deliver materials. Go to class; it was very spiritual and our investigator has good support in the class. We head into the chapel for third hour; Dan wants to sit with us (he had been wanting us all day). Unfortunately for Daniel and us and fortunately for us, we had to meet with the youth and get to know them. After that, we set up tables for the potluck. Dan wants us to sit by him. Elder Day needs a drink of water, we get involved in delivering paperwork, then stuck in a line for food. Poor Dan was done with his food by the time we arrived. Talked to people; lots of good things occurred in that potluck. Friends were made. Potluck is over; put down tables and chairs. Go outside, try some honeysuckle; honeysuckle is non-existent. Take man who is pain home, go home to change, and rest for a moment. Church was exhausting. I will have to make sure to sit by Dan the next church meetings.

We checked up on a series of people, including this country girl (who is a less active) and her non-member boyfriend. We had not seen them in forever. He was happy to see us again. Definitely coming back to her place to help them both.

Busy week. Busy Sabbath. Oh, and I learned in the Gayton Ward (congregation)

, the ten year old investigator got baptized. And another investigator, who found the Book of Mormon dark, is getting baptized. I thought she would be a long time, but the Spirit works miracles. 

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

#VirginiaRichmondMission

Hot Chocolate in the Rain?

Monday, December 29, 2014

Hanukkah Menorah

Shalom Aleichem, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

If Hanukkah starts on December 7th next year, then I feel more so inclined to celebrate Hanukkah. I am excited. (December 7th is his birthday.) 

I honestly did not eat the Ho's Ho's.

 (A family tradition is for Santa to put Hostess Ho Ho's in Christmas stockings. This year some of them had a foul chemical taste. So we warned our son and his companion about this. Needless to say it is a tradition that has ended.) My companion, on the other hand, ate them, even if they did smell. I could smell it and I was not up to eating them. The unfortunate thought of it is even if they did not smell, they might still have that chemical in them. And who knows what is that chemical. So, my companion did not care whether or not it had it. He ate all of them. I even gave him mine. (I hate to waste and seeing that he was willing....)

I, unfortunately, understand what you mean by the immaturity of the missionaries. ( Many missionaries are still teens when they go out. Having a little fun is fine. Some pranks maybe. But we have been tired of goofy shots of missionaries.) Believe me, I understand. Some are not bad, but others are bad. I have been the victim of immaturity once or so, but I understand to act my age and when something I do is enough. Humor for me is a very hard thing to tackle. I do not understand humor and it takes very fine humor to make me laugh. Yet, for whatever reason, some people call me funny. I do not understand. (And you are not the only one that despises the text speak of which insults the finer language of English, or what used to be the finer language of English. This was a reference to missionaries writing home as if they were texting friends with their text shorthand. Most don't but some do.)

Thanks for the tip about children. I will use them for the single mother investigator's child who wants to be baptized. 

You will not believe what I discovered this past weekend. On Saturday, after accomplishing the task of our progress record, I decided to do my usual task of inputting information on Ancestry. I have been looking at all the hints I have for each person, which is a bear of a task. But, through this task I discovered something really, really cool. Let me take you back into our history. As you know, widowed Ellen Jackson Carter, mother of John Carter, after traveling across the plains, had married William Stewart Seely. Now, I had discovered this through William Stewart Seely's mother, Mehittabil Bennett, of whom I was inputting information. William's brother, Justus Wellington Seely, had a son, whose name was Orange Seely. If you go down his descendants, you will reach (and it took a while to figure this out) Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Now, mind you, I am not claiming we are related at all, but I am just noting this fact of interest. (I discovered this through a PDF file that is a document on Mehittabil Bennet, Justus Wellington Seely, and Orange Seely.) (Elder Dallin H. Oaks is an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Apostles direct the affairs of the church as a quorum, under the direction of the First Presidency and by assignment. Elder Oaks has represented the church in defending religious liberty including the controversial birth control under "Obamacare." He is a former Supreme Court Justice in Utah.) 

Elder Dallin H. Oaks (center) (C) Intellectual Reserve 2013

By now, you are probably wondering about my week. Monday, we had the usual P-day activities. I happily cleaned the bathroom; it needed it really bad. We saw our investigator of whom we are still unsure of what he is understanding. We taught him twice this week and he still has made no indications of what he understands. I remember we even asked a question about the Restoration and he stared at us with a smile. It is hard to say what will happen. We have plans on teaching him, but what to do is the hard question. I cannot say what he is interested in, because his walls are blank and empty. He has cassette tapes, but I cannot tell you what the music is. But, perhaps, it will be something that can draw conversation.

Tuesday, we had the all-day mission conference. There was many, many musical numbers and many good talks (or training sessions). One that has really stuck with me is one about hope. When we say, "I hope..." it conveys uncertainty; when we want to say we hope for something, we should rather say, "I know...." This conveys more faith and hope. It shows that we hope as a surety. I tried it out and I believe it gives more power to willpower. There was a member-- a recent convert in the lower county of the area-- who had a fever of 100 degrees. On Saturday, he text us that and told us he might not be coming to church. In reply, I almost put "I hope," but catching myself, I put, "I know you will obtain better health." Sunday, he came to church with normal temperature (may be a little sick, but he had better health).

I was able to see some old companions that have not gone home. I met the sisters who are in White Oak and obtained information on the area. After this conference, we went home. Our appointment with our "on date" person cancelled; we have not been able to see him this week and his baptism has been pushed back. Also, on Tuesday, the festivities of opening presents started. The members upstairs' son and his wife were going to Arizona for Christmas. Thus, the opening of presents began.

Wednesday, the heavens opened their floodgates and it rained hard. As much as I love rain, the rain threatened our plans for the day. We had planned, with the sisters, to do the hot chocolate stand that day. The rain could easily destroy and wipe away our plans. I prayed and felt that we were still able to do the hot chocolate. My companion, on the other hand, still had some doubt. We needed to pray. We set a time when we would make a final decision. 

In the meanwhile, we boiled water and filled up the cooler. We finally prayed as a companionship about the rain. I continually prayed. By the time we had to make a decision, it was still raining. Going on faith at this point, I said that the hot chocolate stand will go on. As it neared about noon, the rain stopped. It halted. It was more of a sign for us that God had our back and that the hot chocolate stand must go on. 

It would later rain while we did the stand. It was a successful event, full of good memories. In the beginning, I held the sign to allow people to know what we were offering and at no cost. It was during this time, I earned my dollar, because somebody felt bad for me. I later held an umbrella over the hot chocolate as it rained. I smiled and waved until my left hand, which was holding the umbrella, cramped up. That was extremely painful. I received a lot of honks, waves, crazy people, and smiles from people. It was successful in passing out the He is the Gift cards. Who knows what will come from it.

Later that night, we had dinner with the choir director of the ward. I had salmon, crab dip, and other food. My stomach was hurting a bit afterwards. There was more opening of presents. That was when I received the new suit, which is pinstripe (and I do not mind). It fits me quite well, just needs to be tailored a tad. I really like it.

Thursday, I got up at midnight. I put up our stockings and organized our presents. Then after a while, I went to bed and some time after, I fell asleep. In the morning, we opened our presents and spent time in the morning with the members upstairs. We went over to the elders' quorum president where I Skyped you. It was good to see you, Bria, and Carly. It was good to hear from my sister, Bria. And did I look surprised when Joy unveiled her big news?( She announced she was pregnant with her third.)

From there, we went to the members' upstairs family gathering. There was a "Chinese Auction" and it was a lot of fun. The festivities continued at their home, later that night.

Friday became a point of contrast. I usually recover from lack of sleep, or my own waking up, or some kind of disturbance of sleep. Last year, I felt great even after waking up at midnight on Christmas. On Friday morning, I woke up more exhausted than I have ever been before. Friday became the pinnacle of exhaustion. I did my usual routine, but during studies, I needed rest. That morning, we had to help a member floor the bathroom of our WWE fanatic's trailer for his parents. At this point, I became extremely grateful for my herniated disc and my now inability due to restriction to lift heavy objects. If the floor of their trailer and their trailer in itself was any indication that something was wrong, we rightly picked up on that hint. The toilet and the floor was bad. Now, I can only imagine, because I even seen a bad toilet myself arriving in a new area. Seeing as I was not able to do much, I stood outside, guarding the member's tools, as he so directed me to do. 

After flooring the bathroom, the member received a call from his father, who needed help dragging a deer out of the woods. So, off we went to his father and into the woods. We took a four wheeler and found his father and the dead deer. It was a rather solemn moment, if solemn is the right word. My companion and the member dragged the deer from its spot, up a hill, and to the four wheeler. Then, we headed back to the road, wherein the father took over. The deer was skinny and the hooves were falling off. The deer was diseased and its quickened death turned to be a mercy. From there, we, after cleaning ourselves, ate at a new Mexican restaurant to try it out. I have to say that I was not too impressed with the place and the Mexican rap that was blaring did not help.

That night, the senior couple had a few more candidates for baptism that needed to be interviewed by my companion. It was a tricky situation, but I did agree with my companion's decision. I felt the sustaining witness of the Spirit. Two of the three passed. This caused an upset for all three, wherein they were not baptized. This we learned on Saturday.

Saturday, we saw our single mother investigator after we cleaned our apartment and completed our progress record. We talked of revelation and told her that she needs to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. It went well and it got what we needed to say out. She asked questions and we answered. Meanwhile, her two kids were wrestling each other and going crazy. The single mom told us to ignore them; she had told them where they needed to be. One of the kids ended up crying, because she got hurt. The single mom explained to them what they did wrong, what they should have been doing, and now, we are owed apology letters. 

Sunday, we had our meetings in the morning, we had church, and we watched an Eagle Scout of Honor. We helped the wife of the members upstairs finish decorating for Christmas and we had the Christmas Eve dinner that night. Yes, Christmas was on schedule, but everything else was a bit behind.

Thank you for the pajamas and items of fun. It was a nice, simple Christmas.

Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

She Was Curious! But He Had Been In Prison!

Virginia Richmond Mission: Tappahannock, Virginia

"The words of the Lord are found in the scriptures and the teachings of the apostles and prophets. They provide us counsel and direction that, when followed, will act like a spiritual life jacket and will help us know how to hold on with both hands."—M. Russell Ballard, "Stay in the Boat and Hold On!"

Monday, November 3, 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am glad to hear that California got some rain. We got rain, too. It has been getting cold. Our basement gets cold as well. I plugged in my electric blanket and I have been keeping toasty. We should be getting wood soon to help keep the place heated, somewhat. I can already tell that the blanket will be the best of my friends. But I continue to hope that California gets the much needed rain.

Yes, I plan on sending Grandma a card. A new month means new MSF.

Speaking of birthdays and other related topics here, I do need those second pair of shoes, I guess. On the outside of my shoes, everything is fine. On the inside, the padding (sole?), I would say (I have no idea what to call it or what it is called), is falling apart after 16 months. Unless I should get Dr. Scholls to replace it. I honestly need one (uno) long sleeve white shirt. Apparently, dirt cannot come out of white shirts, despite multiple washes, including a wash with bleach. (Although, I have done it before.) As for CDs, to answer your question, no, not really. Anything else, I really do not know. Sorry, if I am not helpful, which chances are, I am not. I will think about it....( His 20th birthday is next month, plus Christmas is coming as well.)

Monday, we did the usual things. E-mail, sleep, shop, eat (not necessarily in that order). We tried to see someone after dinner, but it fell through. We went back to the apartment early and joined the members upstairs and their extended family for Family Home Evening (A special time set apart for families or groups of singles to gather, have a lesson, have fun and usually have some dessert.). We played a lot of different Halloween games. It was particularly fun. Second time I have done FHE during the mission and I love it. 

Tuesday, we feared we had to fix the car. Some of the warning lights had turned on, but turned off and has not turned on again since. We called the missionary over the cars and talked to him about it. It was, I guess, nothing to worry about and might have been a fluke. So, we tried to see some people with some success. We went over to see an investigator who has a two year old the size of a five year old. She was curious about Joseph Smith and his life (she had heard that he went to jail), so we watched the full-length movie about his life. She seemed to have a better understanding about him. We answered any other question that she had about him. We had dinner, then we tried to talk to another investigator. He was home and we were let in. But, he was sick and did not come out to meet us. I was able to meet the family; their adult daughter was home and was asking all sorts of questions. This lasted for a while before we left and tried to see more people.

Wednesday, we cleaned out our car to make it ready for inspection. We had lunch and then we went out to talk to some more of our investigators. We went to one investigator, who was watching a soap opera. She muted the television. We taught the Restoration. Part of me does wonder how much she remembers and what she had heard. Other than that, it was a pretty good lesson. We went over to the trailer parks to see another investigator, but she was not home at the time. Another investigator fell through. And a less active fell through, because he was watching baseball. After dinner, we finished our car preparations. We went over to the church, talked to people, and had our car inspected briefly. We passed. 

Thursday, we did our weekly planning and to conserve on miles, we went over to the church to do some family history. Nothing new as of yet. After that, we tried our investigator who lives in the trailer parks. We read with her from the Book of Mormon and explained the importance of scripture study and prayer. I hope she takes into heart what we were saying. We tried seeing a potential, which we were able to see and talk about the gospel. She was explaining her situation to us and how she is trying to move. From there, we saw an investigator, an elderly lady who does not mind us coming by. She seems interested. Due to her time constraints, we taught her about the premortal life.

Friday, we had zone meeting, which took a lot of our time. We saw an elderly, medically challenged less active. She learned of someone passing in her family and was reasonably upset. After that, we tried again to see the investigator who was sick previously when we went by. He was not home. We tried one more person and were able to talk to her. Then, we headed inside to organize our supplies. We were not to be out unless we had an appointment. (Halloween)

Saturday, we made our progress record. We saw the less active who was previously watching baseball. We had a nice little visit, just talking to him and sharing a small message. We decided to check up on some members in the ward and we were able to talk to them. After having dinner, we stopped by an investigator, who we usually have appointments with on Saturdays. Her two children, who are normally all over the place, actually stayed in one place. Then, we talked with her. I do not know how we got on the subject, but it got brought to psychology. She has a bachelor's in psychology and was at one time a forensic psychologist. She got out of it due to lack of money (she said that even a master's did not get paid enough). My companion knew some psychology from his year in college. I talked about what drew me to the field, which was the same thing that brought her into it. She said that I am very analytical. We talked about extroverts versus introverts. It was a very academic discussion, which I have not had in a very long time. It was refreshing. She brought up a question that allowed us to change the subject and to talk about the gospel.

Sunday, we had church. We tried to see a few people. One of them was a man who has been in prison a lot. He is a very smart man and has made some changes in his life. Not much else happened on Sunday.

All is well!

Love,

Elder S. Todd 

Virginia Richmond Mission: Decisions

Missionaries must make hundreds of decisions daily. Sometimes they receive inspiration. At other times it is not wise to be compelled in all things but to do good of their own free will while engaged in a good cause. Blessings come after a trial of our faith in God.

Monday, October 6, 2014                    #Mormon   

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Thank you for the medical insurance information. I remember reading the Book of Mormon as a family, but I did not remember it took us five years. (The last time we read The Book of Mormon together it took about 18 months) I remember getting in trouble, because I sprinkled the beginning of Mosiah with water. Every time I look at those pages, I remember reading as a family.

Thank you for keeping an eye on the recent convert. Yeah, she showed us your very long post in response to her. It made me laugh. (She is an awesome girl who loves soccer and has lots of questions. She refers to me as sir; which for some reason bugs me even though as Seth's father I'm old. Yet, just yesterday I called someone "mam." I will definitely keep your consideration in mind. Thank you for working so hard on the blog.

Somebody should be able to help Mom learn the ropes of FamilySearch. There is a lot of work to do and I am excited that God's work is truly hastening. I do not know all of the ropes on FamilySearch, but I know enough. I am excited that we have greater access to other genealogy websites. It will definitely help in this work. It is really exciting. You are lucky to have time to do it. I do it after emailing, if I can.

It was an excellent week. Monday, after emailing you, Bria, and President Wilson, I decided to go on FamilySearch and try Ancestry. You know the result of that. It truly was a joyous occasion. The rest of Monday, I had to wait for my companion to finish reading the Book of Mormon. He finally accomplished the task that night. Meanwhile, I drew and thought of different quotes. I read a bit. Tuesday and the rest of the week. I have to blend the rest of the week together, because it consists of cleaning, finding, and watching Conference. Specifically on Tuesday, we went back up to Richmond for him and another doctor appointment. On the way back, we got a couple of calls. One from a less active who is permanently stuck here (and not much we can do for her); it is another situation that I cannot explain at this present time and one that had to be explained to the bishop. The other was from the doctor for me, wherein I was able to get an appointment a lot sooner. Specifically on Wednesday, I did the questionnaires for the doctor, including my pain and what not. It needed my social security number of which I knew at one time. My mind was blank on that information. I held off and decided to call the office and such to see if I could obtain that information. By great intervention, the number was brought back to my memory with such clarity that I was highly sure it was it. Thursday, we had to take the car in for inspection and to get free engine coolant. (As missionaries, we go to the dealership for our car problems.)

Finding efforts are going okay. I decided that we go look at our area book for potentials, the idea being that we find potentials. Our area books are a fiery mess. The problem is that the boundaries have changed over the years. So, the potentials are either in our ward boundaries or in the neighboring. We are trying to weed out who belongs in which area, because it will alleviate a burden on us and future missionaries. We either make it better or we do not. In that process, I realized that Colonial Heights, Ettrick, and Chesterfield County has been tracted a lot. The street I recently tracted has been tracted multiple times. All signs of where to tract are perfectly clear: Dinwiddie. Petersburg has been tracted a fair amount and it has its fair share of dangerous areas. (I mean, they have signs that say "THIS IS A DRUG FREE ZONE BY ORDER OF THE POLICE" or "THIS IS A PROSTITUTION FREE ZONE BY ORDER OF THE POLICE." There is Mistletoe. Never should any step foot in Mistletoe.) Dinwiddie is a huge country, county bubble. We can make dents in it, but it is miles consuming, which is a problem for us who dwell in Colonial Heights. I admit that I am the one that made the decision to dwell in Colonial Heights, which hardly anyone, thankfully, realizes. I feel right about the decision and I have no idea why. Everybody asks why are we in Colonial Heights, even the bishop who says that the new subdivisions are in Dinwiddie and the ward cannot grow due to travel. (He is working hard to find us an apartment in Dinwiddie, I think.) While Petersburg had many benefits, I feel right about Colonial Heights and being here. It was cost effective, sort of, to get out of Petersburg and the apartment there. The Petersburg apartment was utterly trashed. I realized through General Conference that the members and us need to work together. In Colonial Heights, we are more dependent on the members and the members are already dependent on us. It puts an equal share burden on us and the members. It will require sacrifice, but as we know, "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven." One thing that I keep on coming to is the fact that we need to be open about the work. The members "know" we are doing the work, but we need to find a way to be more active about it. I am still trying to figure out that puzzle. Yes, we have a certificate for the member missionary of the month. But, there is more that needs to be done. I am going to explain all of this to President.

Lisa Lim on Google+, She creates wonderful Christian memes.

There have been great blessings this week. Doing family history, through reading the Book of Mormon and watching General Conference, my testimony has been bolstered. Through conference, I realized a few things. My priorities have greatly changed. I am concerned more about my future family and fulfilling my church duties. While I still will pray more on it-- because I prayed about it, yet again after making the realization my priorities have changed-- I feel that forensic psychology is the field of choice for me. I am still praying about it and understand the risks that are spiritual, physical, and mental. Somehow it feels right. Will you support me in this decision? I am trying to make the right decisions in my life, make the right decisions in the mission field. Never before, here in Appomattox, have I been put in a situation where I have made a lot of decisions. It has been a beautiful learning experience and I know that God is there and is not allowing me to fail. I admit that I do not know a lot; believe me, the Lord made that quite clear from the beginning. I need support from you and I know I have seen that in the past 15 months. I know that you will always be there, even when you pass on. Just know, that I will need that support in trusting me that I am doing what is right.

One of the great things that I have learned from this past conference is that in order to be happy in this life, we have to be obedient and follow the prophet. Whatever is coming is going to shake our testimony and we will either falter or go onward. And, not being biased, I loved Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk which nailed everything that I am trying to learn about religious freedom; I am going to get that talk as soon as possible. I loved Elder Neil L. Andersen's talk; I now have an idea for Christmas this year. I loved the welcome change of allowing the speakers speak in their native tongue. While, yes, you have to listen to the over-voice, it is wonderful to know that they are comfortable in speaking. That was made evident with the Portuguese speaker.

All is well! We have a lunch appointment soon.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Just For Girls Google+ community

P.S. Who died on Bones? Was it Hodges? Or was it one of the assistants? I understand them killing off the assistants, because they have killed a lot of them in the past or had one turn to be a serial killer. It cannot be Booth. So, who died?

Colonial Heights: Pushing Through Pain, Doctor's Appointments, Shoe on the Other Foot, Getting Along

This picture was taken in response to my mother's request that I smile more in mission pictures.
Reference is to a movie with Tommy Lee Jones.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I give. So, let me give you an update with my back. I told you last week that I aggravated it from cleaning house. I was well determined to talk to the medical officer to say, I give. I already had set plans to talk to her on Wednesday. Well, Tuesday, I had a headache, so I did my normal thing of taking Aleve. It worked not only for my headache, but for my back. However, the pain slowly came back, but not as aggressive and it was manageable. By the time I called the medical officer, I was mostly fine and I called at the worst possible time. She was going to a meeting and briefly talked to me. I told her the way I felt, meaning the way my back was. She told me not to bend and such and emailed exercises. (Of which I now have.) Fast forward to Sunday. I was doing good. I have been icing, doing exercises (except Sundays), and avoiding things that I should not be doing. I was sitting on the couch, when lo and behold I sneezed twice. By the second time, I felt pain in my back and I was like, "Ouch!" I knew very much what that meant. After morning preparation (before church), I iced my back. But, it was not long enough. Going about in church and the day, I felt the pain in my left leg and it was worse, much worse. Oddly, my thigh and hip were hurting, my calf felt sore, and I had nice needle sharp pain in my ankle. The extension of the pain went down to my foot. That was major red flag, plus I noticed my mobility was slowing down like the first time I threw my back out. After seeing one person, I went home and iced it. Icing helped alot this time, because that pain went away. I started taking ibuprofen once again. This morning, my left lower back is sore and stiff, which usually is the case, but it is more extremely sore than usual. I again sneezed and it felt like something was pushing down on that part of my back. No pain as of yet. But, I give. I am not trying to be hypochondriac or freaking out. I know what I felt and I know what I am feeling. I know I will heal, but as Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said (and I summarize or paraphrase), "Yes, get a blessing, but also use modern medicine. Get medical help." I am going to talk to the medical officer after eating lunch and tell her about yesterday. I do not know if I need a chiropractor or physical therapist. I am slightly worried about our insurance now that you mention it and I do not know how much will be covered if I can convince that there is a greater issue at hand and I need more medical help. 

I thought I told you about mission medical from the get go. It would be like me to forget. I will talk to the medical officer about a back brace. I may talk to her sooner than after lunch, just for that. I am using the medicine for emergencies or when things go awry, like yesterday.

I am not sure about television since we are not allowed nor do we have time to watch TV. I do know certain things about some shows, like Bones. Yes, I do know the ending of last season. Somebody told me. Someone tried to explain Revenge, but it was greatly disorganized and I was confused. (Then, she told me that she will update me about this season.) I heard that Sherlock is good.  And I heard about the third season of The Legend Of Korra, which sounds awesome. (Sorry, you should have seen the last one or two coming.) And I am happy to see another picture of my dog. She looks happy. And I love the two in the background. I cannot tell if it is Chloe or Buddy that is taking food from Coda, but Coda looks like she is taken aback.

Monday, we had zone P-day, which I wrote part of one letter. I finally finished the letters and such this morning when I had time. I hope that three of them will not be late and on time. Our district leader and his companion (Elder Jensen and Elder Linton) stayed the night, because our district leader had a meeting in Richmond or somewhere north the next morning. We did a miniature exchange. I went with the district leader and we met up with a member to teach a less active. It went quite well. The rest of our night after our exchange, we ended up talking. I was having fun, because the three of us (the district leader, his companion, and I) were talking about/quoting Brian Regan, Batman, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. It felt good to actually talk to people and relate. [Elder Young is a good elder. We just do not click in humor and we hardly relate to anything. He has hardly seen Avatar and does not care much for Batman. When it comes to understanding things, we are on different pages. I talked about the times I went toilet papering houses and put signs on people's lawns during the night (some of the good times I remember as a youth). He did not approve of toilet papering houses or such pranks, because wet toilet paper is hard to clean up and he has seen how such pranks have disrupted relationships. (To which I said, you have to have a good spirit about it.) We have improved our teaching together, which is the more important thing. We are actually working together on that and working together with the area.] My companion just listened. I felt bad, but occasionally he jumped in. [Being in such situations multiple times where I am the one listening, I never know how to fix it on the other side.]

Tuesday, Elder Young had a doctor's appointment. We worked on the progress record a lot earlier, because Elder Young had another appointment the following day. We had received a referral that day, so we went and checked it out. The person does not seem too interested. He simply asked us questions and wanted to know our answers. Sometimes while we gave him answers, he would pipe up and declare that we have been saying contradicts the Bible, to which I would explain how it does not contradict. A few times he was satisfied with our answers, other times he was silent. Finally we left, wherein we went to another referral that we had not been able to contact. This person was a member in the Fort Lee Military Branch, but lived in our area. I believe that a relative of his sent his name in for us to find him. He is active in the Church, but still needs some more spiritual encouragement. He was a funny character. He told of how we had left a mormon.org card with no information and was glad that we stopped by, but was a bit confused as to why there was no information. I explained that I use it as a signal that "Hey, the missionaries were here," to which he replied, "Kind of like the Bat Signal." 

Wednesday, we mainly had the appointment at the doctor's and trying to find more people. Correlation was cancelled. 

Thursday, we saw our hospital patient and he was doing well. He will be coming home soon. We saw a few more people, then we went to the church that night. The priesthood brethren put on a dinner for the Relief Society sisters. It went amazingly well. Enough brethren came and the sisters enjoyed their time. Everybody was happy. I did what I could to help. It was a marvelous night. 

Friday, we helped out the elders' quorum president with preparing his trailer for fall and winter, which was putting up insulation to help block the wind. I helped fix his porch. I did everything that I could within my limits. We saw more people that day. 

Saturday, we mainly planned and worked on the roster. We realized that we did not know 54% of the ward, only because they do not come to church and live far, far away. We made a list and we are trying to get information on the people. That night we saw a recent convert and his returning wife [name withheld], whom we had now given them a Duty to God and a Personal Progress. They took us out on their date night to a Thai restaurant. It was quite delicious. I had Pad Thai, which was noodles with chicken (or some kind of meat) coated with peanut sauce. It was quite delicious. They bought dessert, so I had coconut pie. Yes, I am starting to like coconut more, just not the coconut flakes. I feel like I am eating paper. 

Sunday, there was church and I rested my back after nearly throwing it out, yet again. Then, we went all over the place looking for our phone that ended up being in our apartment. Then, we had dinner with the wonderful family that tends to feed us a lot. We talked to the recent convert of Appomattox and taught her the plan of salvation. She asked us about our beliefs in order to understand what she believes. She asked about the Rapture (1 Tessalonians 4:17), which took some time to explain. I have little knowledge of the Rapture and such. I explained it to the best of my abilities and knowledge. I realize now that I was on the right track.

Well, I explain everything that I could. All is well! Oh, and by the way. HAPPY JEWISH NEW YEAR! You were expecting it, right?

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Salad Anyone?

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.--Ephesians Chapter 2 KJV

Monday, September 15, 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

When did you find the recent convert here in Appomattox? (On his Elder Seth Todd Facebook page, there is a request for prayers on his behalf because of his back injury. When people click on like as parents we like to discover who the people are that we don't know. Seth's Dad made contact with her and he was delighted to meet this wonderful person.) I was quite surprised. She does know about Institute and has talked about going to BYU or to Utah. She is really a good person and has good questions. I am not surprised that you found her Facebook and that she found me, because the family that has us for dinner a lot found me on Facebook.

I am glad people are praying for the both of us. ( Elder Todd has been grateful for his companions and his companion's health is important to him as well.) One, my companion may or may not have kidney stones and he has been feeling under the weather. Two, my back has been doing a lot better and the leg pain went away. That is until I cleaned the house. To understand, I do not know my limits and I thought cleaning the house (which needed to be done badly) was no problem. I do not think I will be cleaning the house any time soon.

I have slowed down completely, which I am utterly saddened by it. I love being active, but with my back, I do not know my limits like I have said. I have limited myself to such a degree to make it easier. The back exercises I have to do takes about 40 minutes of my morning, so I do not have time to do any other exercises. I am dealing with the reality of my injury and I have to play it safe. Raking leaves, cleaning house, snow shoveling, heavy lifting, and other things yet known to me are off the list.

I knew about the Saratov Approach. (A movie made about the true story of two missionaries kidnapped and held for ransom in Russia back in 1998. People of many faiths were praying for their safe release.) I found out about it in Woodbridge. There were times when I felt like mentioning it, but I refrained for Mom's sanity. Elder Clifford told me that his mom went to see it in the theater and someone in front of her said, "I am glad I do not have a son out on the mission." It sounds like a really good movie.

Monday, Elder Young and I went to Zone P-day, wherein I sat out and he played. I did my normal thing of read the scriptures. We are having another Zone P-day today, which I get to sit out again and for the rest of the mission. Today, I have other tasks to do, such as writing letters and cards. After that, we had dinner with the bishop and it was quite nice. Afterwards, he took us to an elderly member to give her a blessing (the lady had dementia and was slowly deteriorating). We helped with that and later that night, she passed away quietly. From there, we saw our hospital patient who is now in the health care system. He had been calling us, so we thought something was wrong. As I quickly discovered, he is lonely and bored.

Once we got back home, I prayed and then talked to my companion.  I told him what I needed to do and what the Spirit wanted me to do. He understands that we need to tract. I told him that I need his support in all of this. It was a good talk.

Tuesday, we mainly organized due to a threat of rain. One thing I do have to consider is his health, seeing it can be easily compromised.

Wednesday, we did our normal thing of make our progress record and then print off at the church. The printer at the church was not working properly. We got a call from missionaries to drop off a baptismal suit over in Colonial Heights. We did that and drove over to the spot where we were going to tract. Then, we received a call to try to visit someone. I felt that we should go, so we did. We mainly made our presence known. Seeing as we were back in Petersburg, we decided to see a person who needed to be visited. Instead, we got another call from another family in Petersburg. That visit went good to awry to good; we talked to the bishop about it.  We had correlation and then we set off to see our hospital patient with the assistant ward mission leader. We had bought him a coloring book, crayons, and a magnifying glass (to read the Book of Mormon). Out of all things, he enjoyed the coloring book and told us that he was going to color two pages every night. It made me happy. Well, later, we had to replace the coloring book, because somebody took it.

Thursday, we received two referrals. [So, Central State referral. Talking to the missionary over the referral, she said it is a could not contact. Personally, I would love to visit the person, but I had some hesitation with Elder Young. One, I am not sure he wanted to see the person. Two, having studied quite a bit about schizophrenia and its genetic causes I would desire to meet this person and offer anything positive even if it were to comfort the family.] 

The Apostle Peter wrote that disciples of Jesus Christ are to have“compassion one of another.” In that spirit I wish to speak to those who suffer from some form of mental illness or emotional disorder, whether those afflictions be slight or severe, of brief duration or persistent over a lifetime. We sense the complexity of such matters when we hear professionals speak of neuroses and psychoses, of genetic predispositions and chromosome defects, of bipolarity, paranoia, and schizophrenia. However bewildering this all may be, these afflictions are some of the realities of mortal life, and there should be no more shame in acknowledging them than in acknowledging a battle with high blood pressure or the sudden appearance of a malignant tumor.-Elder Jefferey R. Holland of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles LDS Conference October 2013 Link: Like A Broken Vessel

We talked more as companions about our teaching styles. We saw our recovering medical less active who has been coming to Church for the past while. Later that night, we saw one of our referrals who lived far, far away. It was a good visit and there was potential out of it. The thing was she is looking for help with understanding the Bible and thought the Book of Mormon would help. We helped her with seeing that it will.

Friday, we saw our other referral, who was a young man who is agnostic. We taught him the Restoration and I feel that it went relatively well. And then, we tracted! We found our spot, started walking to the homes. Before we even got there, there was this lady who stopped us. She proceeded to present rote words about Mormonism and the evil it is and to beware of false prophets. She was not willing to listen, because afterward, she walked off. I went on, reminded by the truth that the Book of Mormon is true. Not much success came out of it, but I am happy that we put our faith out there. (Interesting that he gets his chance to go knocking door-to-door and they meet this lady. Most likely this lady may not have read much of the Bible. For sure she must have skipped Ephesians about how the church is built upon a foundation of apostles and prophets. Even more so she has little knowledge of the beginnings of Christianity. Nevertheless, she felt she had to say what she said as much as they had a message for her that she didn't want to hear.)

Saturday, we helped set up for Sunday and the linger longer that would take place. We also saw our hospital patient to watch a video and give him his new coloring book.

Sunday. We had ward conference where the stake (a stake covers several congregations and leaders come to give help or advice as needed.) came over and talked about hastening of the work. They taught the classes and helped run things. It was pretty good. Afterwards, we had a linger longer. I pause here to help bring light to something. I have been looking for a way to serve. So, I thought I would share something with the ward would be great and we had this linger longer coming up. I decided to make thee pasta salad. When I say "thee pasta salad," I mean the pasta salad with different color rotini noodles (except I had one box of the multiple color and another box of regular rotini), salami, olives, feta, artichoke hearts, and Italian dressing. It turned out well, but I honestly did not think I added enough artichoke hearts. Well, nobody except a select few knew I made something. At the linger longer, it was eaten, though there was a good share left. It made me happy when I saw people grabbing some and eating it. I was happy when I even saw the people I was sitting with, eating "thee pasta salad." After the linger longer, the stake went on a blitz. We went with one high councilman. We saw the recent convert of Appomattox and it was a good visit. There was a lot of successful visits that people had. When we got to the church, I wondered if there were any leftovers of that pasta salad. I could not control what happened to the bowl of pasta salad, because I was not part of the clean up and we had to leave. So, I was like disappointed, but then I thought I hope whoever has the pasta salad enjoys it. Afterwards, we went to the family who feeds us often (like we will do for the next two Sundays) and the recent convert was there. She asked an excellent question towards the end of our visit.

This week went by too quickly. My days feel like forever, but the week is short. It is the middle of September and a new transfer begins today.

All is well!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

P.S. Here are pictures of my concoction. Salad anyone?