"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 He has withdrawn a bit though.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

Yep, Just Like a Box of Chocolates!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I definitely miss Tappahannock. I am in the Gayton Ward, the west end of Richmond. It is a bit like Woodbridge; the many shops, the many suburbs, the many apartments. We do have the country, but it is an odd addition to the Gayton Ward. It takes time and miles to get there. Sisters used to cover that area, but they no longer do and that change is recent. That area definitely needs missionary attention and there needs to be a balance to both sides of the area. 

We are doing a Book of Mormon class here, though today will be the first day for me. Of course, I can envision a lot of things to do for this class (PowerPoint, activities, etc.), but I do not have those resources available and have yet to see what is being done in the class. 

My new companion is Elder Taylor, who is from Modesto, California. (Seth's Great Grandfather Boyd Henry Todd and his family were some of the first members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Modesto, California.) To say that things are going well between us is a false statement. It took me until Sunday to figure what is his problem. I have yet to find motive as to why is he such. I am extremely upset, not at the Lord, but at him. He does not believe in planning; no, not even weekly planning. In fact, I overheard him say that instead of planning for the next day, he just goes by the Spirit. That infuriated me with a fiery indignation that I just wanted to come out of the bathroom, crying out, "Oh, you sloth! Repent of your wicked ways!" I wanted to go to each and every scripture about slothfulness and rebuke him.

The thought came to my mind, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." So, I stayed in the bathroom, trying to calm down. I have been trying to make decisions, which at one time, I made the wrong decision, thinking it to be good.

I am however persisting in asking what we are doing and he did ask me what we should do tomorrow. Well, it is rather difficult when I do not know our investigators, the area, and such. I am slowly learning the area; then again, so is he. He has only been here for a transfer. I looked at our area book, which does not give me much information. 

I sent you a letter that I wrote on Wednesday that I sent later. I was angry when I wrote it. I do have a library card, but, whether it is temporary or not, I am not exactly sure. I am sending you a letter soon, concluding some matters of discussion and inviting you to family home evening. I definitely need support, or encouragement. I have been trying to love my companion. I wrote little notes telling him to have an excellent day and told him the things he does well. Nothing much of yet has happened. I do plan on seeking advice from the mission president and when I go on exchanges with the zone leaders (because my companion is the district leader), I plan on seeking a blessing to help me for the coming weeks. During planning tonight, I do think I should talk to him and I pray that I will be calm.

Thanks for the quotes. It really does fit into this past week. I push forward.

Monday. Elder Henstrom and I had to do many, many chores. Laundry, packing, cleaning, etc. I received a haircut that day from one of the daughters of the members upstairs; she did a military haircut, something she wanted to do when she first cut my hair. She was surprised about how quickly my hair grew and how thick it was. After the haircut, I was not so sure what to think. It did remind me of the haircut I had received in Woodbridge. I am quite happy with my haircut. We said goodbye to our single mother investigator and headed to the branch president's house. We had dinner and we had a really good time. I enjoyed it and that is when I received the shirt of which you saw. I love it; I do believe there is a proper balance to hunting and saving the environment.

I quickly packed that night. Everything was stuffed full, because of my quick planning. I had to figure out how to put my bare necessities (toothbrush, etc.). 

Tuesday, we said a few more goodbyes and then we headed to transfers. I was put with where I am now and who I am with. We received another car, because our previous car had reached the mile limitation for missionaries. We inherited somebody's car, which is close to its expiration. According to my companion, we did not receive any information about our allotment, so we do not have an allotment. Right, we will go with that. We had dinner with a member who has a wife who speaks Portuguese (and she is a member). They are nice people and I knew that I would love this area. We saw a recent convert, whose son has a desire to be baptized. I was merely introduced to them.

Wednesday through Saturday, I began to realize what my companion is doing and I have yet, like I have said, to understand why. I learned that he loves deep doctrine, which, okay, I had another companion that also liked deep doctrine (and I loved that companion), but it seems off-putting for some reason. I am probably a bit frustrated. I mainly decided to put my head down and endure (go week by week). I have been trying to figure out how to love my companion. There has been too much wasted time, spots that I disliked, because I know how quickly time passes. We received many referrals. Some interested, others not. I am grateful for these referrals, because they give us something to do. We were able to get new investigators, one of whom is a single mother with one kid. She is not able to go to her church often, because it is on the other side of Richmond.

My companions is excellent at asking questions, which is great and that is what we needed. I used scriptures, which she needed. I know that if we couple this together, we would get work done. 

I had dinner with the bishop and I have met the ward mission leader.

We went with one set of the Spanish elders to take them to the country, so that they can try to find those that are Hispanic and speak Spanish. It was during this time that I learned that the country area needs our attention. We were talking to a member who has Spanish names (but does not speak Spanish) who thought the area would never see missionaries again. We are working with a less active in this area who is a retired photographer. He is a nice guy, but slightly depressed. I liked his dog, which is a Shiba Inu. 

We have run into many Arabs, who are Muslims. I have met people of other cultures. I absolutely love it. We have a new investigator who speaks Persian (or Farsi). We had an Arabic Book of Mormon, which we were able to give away. I ate at a Mongolian themed grill (members took us out to it), which was quite amazing. I saw, as we passed the mall on Short Pump, a world store, whatever that means. I am excited, because of the different cultures that I see here. 

Oh, and I have been adopted. There is another recent convert here, who absolutely loves the missionaries. Funny thing is, she was found in Powhatan, but later had moved into a different adult home in Gayton and was baptized. I had talked to her on the phone before in Powhatan for she was looking for a missionary (the second Appomattox companion that I had). So, it was great to finally meet her. When new missionaries meet her, they become adopted into her "family." Thus, I have been adopted. She recently had her arm amputated, but she keeps on going.

Sunday, church was great. We taught gospel principles and will teach it next week as well. I am excited for that. We contacted another referral who is an adolescent. I was so happy to meet him and give him a Book of Mormon. I noticed on his shirt there was the seven candlesticks (the menorah), typically seen in Hanukkah. Yes, he is Jewish. We were not able to schedule another appointment with him at the time, but I hope he calls. Have I ever told you it is a goal of mine to have a Jewish friend? Yes, I was happy to meet this fellow for two reasons as evident above. We were able to find another new investigator when we sought two other people in an apartment. We were called over and asked the typical questions, "Are you Mormon? Is beer a sin? How many wives are you allowed to have?" Slowly, this person who had called us over wanted to know more.

Monday, well, Sunday we found out the P-day was changed to Tuesday. My companion felt sick (whether he was or not, I am not going to judge), so we did not get out much. We received some new referrals that day as well. They are great potentials. We visited the recent convert who has a son who wants to be baptized. He is a crazy kid (granted, he is nine) and was all over the place. I really do think we need visual aids and luckily, they have a tablet. I suggested that to my companion, who, honestly, did not seem all that enthused, but we will try it.

I am going to push through it and fight through persistence and calm negotiations. I think of the people of Limhi who "like dragons did they fight" for their own lives and family. I am going to push hard to make sure that this area stays alive and thriving. I will love my companion.

How do you say all is well in French? I only know all is well in German, Alles wohl. Is it tout est bien?

Tout est bien! (Tout va bien!) Alles wohl! All is well!

Love,

Elder S. Todd