2015: Visiting the Sick, the Elderly, Single Parents, and the Machines

Monday, January 5, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am going to send off two packages this week, one of them containing an important letter to you. I pray that you will understand what I am trying to state in that letter.

Thank you for being willing to purge my Facebook and for the encouragement for exercising. Thank you for your awesome help as parents.

Monday, we did our normal P-day activities. We tried seeing a few people with little success. 

Tuesday, rolled around. We had a bit of a late start. My companion was not feeling well and I needed him to rest. He rested and then we went off to visit people. We tried to see some people who we have not seen in a while. Unfortunately, they were not home.

 

Though, we were able to contact the elderly man and his grandson who are interested while the man's wife is not (the wife who is a Christian, saying that man cannot see God). It was bad timing. One of their sons arrived. I was able to talk to the son. He has much potential. He is curious. We had to do a quick little message. The wife was kind to us. When we starting to leave, the son asked for a Book of Mormon. Bad timing. His grandmother, the wife of the elderly man, said, "Oh no, that is alright." It was awkward and I yearned to give the Book of Mormon. Yet, I understand that if I had given it to him at that time, it would have gone awry and it would not have been done under the right spirit. When she said that, I was quite upset.

We were able to have a lesson with our investigator who is on date. We were able to teach him the first part of the commandments. He showed fair understanding and was ready to live them. We pushed his date back, which is going to be pushed even further. He has medical problems and was recently admitted to the hospital. We sent missionaries to him, which he really appreciated. 

Wednesday, we checked up on an elderly member, who is a sweet elderly lady and has been having health problems of late. It was good to check up on her, to see how she is doing. Her health problems are recent and she has not been coming to church due to them. She is doing alright, able to get around somewhat. Again, we tried more people. We had a meeting that night to discuss what goals and plans we are making for the ward mission plan. We discussed what we wanted to accomplish and the activities that will help us. After that, we headed inside and did little.

I set the phone for 11:55 pm, so we could celebrate the New Year.

Thursday, we planned. We tried to see people and succeeded in some aspects. We saw another elderly woman, who loves our visits.

(C) Intellectual Reserve Washington, D.C. Temple

Friday, we had zone meeting. They want us to invite less actives and recent converts to the temple. It is now going to be recorded as temple invites. One thing I realized is that I tend to focus on the one. One individual at a time. I realize that it is okay to have differences in the gospel in the sense of how people minister, go about things, etc. I always think of Jude who at the end of his epistle talked about how "some have compassion, making a difference" and "others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."

From there, we had tour of a metal shop from a member in the branch. It was for the husband of the senior couple who help us in Tappahannock. He knew what was what. It was a stressful tour. My companion, heavily curious, wanted to try a lot of the machines, machines one should not mess with. I had to keep on calling him. He would pick up things. But, we have a nice trade-off. I tend to be his voice of reason and memory while he tends to be my mouthpiece (though at times I can probably handle it). There is a member who tends to talk a lot and very loudly where I cannot handle it due to a sudden headache. When she calls, I call for my companion.

Saturday, we had our usual lesson with the single mother investigator. We talked about being in the world, but not of the world. The kids were doing odd, crazy, loud activities. It honestly was hard to focus. It was an okay lesson. However, we noticed that in the prospect of changing denominations, she feels vulnerable and she obviously wants to do this full kindheartedly, without hypocrisy. It some ways, I do wonder if I am pushing and she is pulling back. Some comments she made seemed to hint at that. However, I see that we are only being bold, inviting her to act. If there is any indication from her children, it is time for her to decide. (Funny note. Her daughter stated several times that she was a Catholic, but later said, "I'm Catholic Christian Mormon.") Again, it is time for her to pray to know the truth. 

Sunday, we had two lessons about family responsibilities and responsibilities of a father. I learned a lot.

Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

P.S. I have a lot to think about. As I made this year, I realized how split this year is. I have six months of certainty. Then, I have six months of uncertainty. I do not like uncertainty. What I am trying to do is make a smooth transition, or at least a transition that is smooth as possible. I do not want to be hindered by my dark past and I do not want to be paralyzed by my future. Yet in some ways, it seems that I am paralyzed. I need feedback and help, so that I can focus more on the mission. I have found my identity on the mission, one that I had always had sought for in the past. I am looking for a new year to begin my actions based on that identity. Changes are coming to pass. Mistakes may be made, but I will pick myself up and go forward.

(c) 2015 Intellectual Reserve, 

Tappahannock on the Rappahannock

The Rappahannock River runs approximately 195 miles.

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

Albert Einstein

Monday, November 17. 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

There is no Bank of America nearby me for cashing checks. Yes, I have a car, for which I am grateful . Yes, I have plans for Thanksgiving with our landlady and their family and extended family. I have no idea what my size is in the waist.  Also, thank you for sending healthful items to me in the Halloween package (pumpkin seeds?). I did enjoy it.

It sounds like things are growing in Lemoore. Is it? ( We're a Navy town, so attendance can vary on deployment, vacations, etc.) Last Sunday (not yesterday) we had a stake member come and take a picture of the congregation (which that week was totally full) to show how much the Tappahannock Branch has grown. (This week, though, a lot of people were at home, because of sickness.) Tell Sister Saari that I say hi. I definitely understand back pain and I am taking it easy. I have been trying to work on my core strength as I have probably already said. Odd question: How is the gas prices in Lemoore? Here it is $2.55 per gallon. (Sorry if I make you jealous.) And yes, the weather is definitely getting colder. We have been trying to stay warm inside and outside.

This week seems to have a handful of car troubles. Be careful out there. First our landlady's mail car (which got fixed), then Bria's accident, and finally us (more details coming).

Monday night. We had an appointment with the people we set on date for baptism last week. Well, it fell through. And subsequent visits proved fruitless, because they ditched out on us. Until we finally caught one at home, who was sick. We gave her a blessing and we hope that everything will be okay with her. ( Notice the sentiment was not that she be made well and be converted but simply that things will be okay with her.) We arrived late to family home evening, but it was a good lesson. 

Tuesday, we had a successful day of appointments. We saw one of our investigators who has many medical issues. She seems to focus in our lessons; although, we are going to ask her to turn the telly off, rather than mute it. I learned a couple of lessons myself about the Spirit in that lesson. Then, we saw an elderly lady whom we are trying to teach, but I am wondering if things are sinking in. She understands and always has the same tangents, although she has the mental competency and is physically well and able for her age. Hopefully, things do stick with her and that she understands the importance of what we say. We also saw a less active whom I had not seen since I arrived. He requested that we do not prepare a lesson, but open the scriptures to some chapter. It is a great idea, but with tabs, it makes very hard to open it to a random page (or I might open to the topical guide). Finally, we taught a recent convert of a couple months the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tuesday was a successful week after a hard week.

Well, Wednesday rolled around. We had district meeting that day. Our zone leaders and sister training leaders showed up. I trained on the companionship and our relationship with our companions. I think it went well; I used a lot of scriptures and a lot of scriptural companions (even if it was not an actual missionary companionship). After that and doing our usual things, we headed off to see a few people. As we went by the library (which has construction nearby), we instantly heard a lot of clanging from our car, specifically the left rear tire. We immediately went into the parking lot of an elementary school. Lo and behold, there was a metal rod, with a screw end, sticking out of the tire (the screw end was in our tire). My companion immediately pulled it out and our tire, in a matter of minutes, deflated. We had a spare, but we thought we had no tools. (We later found the jack and we found the necessary tool, which was hidden.) We called somebody who came and helped. Now, we had a donut and had to limit ourselves. As per expected with a donut, it was half the size of all the tires.

So on Thursday, we had it patched with help from our landlord. It took two plugs. And as we sadly realized, it is leaking air, albeit slowly. We have to fill it with air everyday. But, with a fixed tire, we headed off to see people. We saw an elderly couple, one of whom has specifically dementia. We read the scriptures and helped the man with the dementia understand what we read. His wife helped out. Then, we saw an investigator, who lives with a member. We had a good lesson, though the member goes off in non-important tangents and talks and talks. No matter what we do to stop him, he keeps on talking. So, it is a matter of relating the tangent to the topic.


Friday, we visited our investigator with her giant two year old. In teaching the Ten Commandments, we asked questions and she asked questions. It was good, albeit a few tangents that somewhat deviated from the lesson that we also used to try to bring it back. We tried a few more people that day with no success, especially that night. We helped our members upstairs decorate their Christmas tree; it is decorated in red and white.

Saturday, we helped at the tail end of a Farmer's Market. There was not much going on when we arrived and people were leaving. We stayed there for a while before packing up everything and leaving. We did our best that day as well. We had a good lesson with our investigator that is a single mother and two children. While the children were all over the place, we tried hard to focus the lesson on the main point. 

Sunday was the normal best day, it being the Sabbath. Not much happened on Sunday.

All is well!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Pin by Jackie Helwig.