Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,
It snowed, yet again, so thus a late email.
When I read about Carly (Seth's Boxer dog) escaping, my heart nearly stopped. I am quite grateful that she is still home. Thank you. Funny, how smart she is about escaping. Perhaps her plan for jumping on the fence is to slowly knock it down. I am telling you the dog is smart. I was wondering about my dog and that new dog as well. Glad to know how she is doing. How does Coda handle the new dog? Isn't Coda, like, old?
It has been a week. And I mean that in the sense of, this has been a week where everything goes haywire. While yes, there are good things that do happen, there is a lot that has been going on. My bike is yet again in need of fixing. I am debating at this point to go to a bike shop or have the member take care of it, except this time refer to the videos (the site where his bike was purchase "Dynamic Bicycles" has two videos, one on the removal of the rear wheel and another on adjusting the gears. Someone removed the rear wheel when he was transfered last and messed up his bike.), seeing as I know of them. I called the mission office, who called the company, who said that I should try fixing it on my own first with the videos.
There was a lot of wind one day. Our weather report said it was a brisk breeze. Yes, I can totally see how brisk the breeze was. Gutters falling down, signs and mailboxes blown over, and I have an inability to bike down hill. Yeah, totally brisk.
My companion was not too happy with me as well, but that has been taken care of. Nothing that I did to him. Another investigator dropped us, in the excuse of needing to investigate their own church. At this point, I had a choice. Break down, which I honestly have done before, or be bold. So, at that point of the day, we went out after making our final plea via phone to the investigator. I was not too happy, but, hey, I worked. It taught me that I needed to be bold, to be upfront. I have realized that I want to share my testimony. And that day we went tracting, I bore my testimony of Jesus Christ once somebody opened the door. Did it work? Well, we got in and all we got was water. But, it was still a lesson that I learned. While, yes, there is a time for being nice and such, there is time to be bold. I am learning to balance the two. (I was saying that, "We are witnessing that Jesus is the Christ." My companion told me that I made us sound like Jehovah's Witnesses. I really do not see it.)
My companion has also been given a lot of responsibility lately, which I am working with him. It is no problem. This week I also took a member tracting. Such an awkward experience, because I have never done it before. I hope I do not have to do it again, but who knows, the member was totally willing. One less active that we have been working with is planning to go to the temple for his own endowments on the 27th. That allows my companion and I to go to the temple. And we have permission to go, but that also means I have to sacrifice a preparation day. And there is no guarantee I will be able to go. For that week is transfers, so theoretically I could go. I would not expect an email next week, but do. (Which totally is awful, because you will not know where I will be or whether or not, I got transferred.) The date is not set in stone and the member has to be interviewed by the stake president. So close.
We had stake conference this past weekend. There is a big push for the hastening of the work. The adult session was focused on that, but it was not too good. It hopefully helped the members. The missionaries were asked to sing as a choir for that session. We sang Called to Serve and the EFY Medley. The first musical number, we did not do that well, because we did not know when to begin. The last number was a lot better. The Sunday morning session was a broadcast, much like our multi-stake conferences back at home (when we had them). There was a lot about hard times ahead and having self-discipline. I do not think our future is too sunny. With this upcoming General Conference, I think there is going to be a great mention of "hastening of the work" and "enduring to the end."
I do not have much else to add. I have been reading Jesus the Christ and also the New Testament. (I gain historical background from Jesus the Christ. And it is a great book.) I am glad that I am reading it now, because I am gaining a better understanding of Jesus. Already, I see so much. There are certain points that I feel as I though I missed out on. On my off hours, I started reading the Book of Mormon and breaking it down where I can understand much more. I feel as though I know a lot about the Old Testament, have a firm ground on the New Testament, have a soft ground on the Book of Mormon, and I do not know too much on the Doctrine and Covenants. I am working on it, so it makes me excited to continue to read and study. I am glad to have 16 months left (not 14).
Oh! I had a fun experience with shopping at Wal-Mart. So, a member usually takes us and we got a member who is really hilarious. We get to Wal-Mart and there is a flock of seagulls near this car. My companion says, "Scatter them!" What does the member then do? Speeds up to scatter the seagulls and slows down as he drives to the entrance. As he and another missionary looks back, there are people in the car. The member, quickly exclaims, "Oh my goodness! There were people in the car, feeding the seagulls! Oh man, they probably crapped their pants, thinking I was going to hit them! Oh man, a seagull might have flown into their car. When you guys get out, do not let them see you!" It was hilarious. On the way back, we were talking about it and wondered what if there was a child in the car.
It was such a hilarious moment in life.
All is well.
Love,
Elder S. Todd
