Monday, May 27, 2014
Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,
We just got done with lunch. We had helped with the food bank today which was slow, awfully slow. And this Tuesday P-day made life a bit interesting. We had the food bank and another service project.
With a new person in the house (his parents are renting his bedroom for a while), it will take time to get adjusted. Lots of time; patience will be what will carry you.
It sounds like you have had fun with Sean (his older brother). Reagan (his niece) looks taller. They are all getting older. Thank you for the packages. I was not expecting much, but I got a lot. We nearly got something for one of us each day of the week. It was really nice and I appreciated it.
Thank you for giving my congratulations (to the graduating class of his former high school, Lemoore, Middle College High School). It was quite nice. Keep up the work, Dad. The reason I say that is I know you are doing well.
I have no idea why we do not have tablets or how they will be used, but some day, maybe. I am not too concerned. One companion I had has a case already. I am not overly anxious.
It has yet to storm today. It has been sunny. We had a tornado warning and it was sunny. But in other places, I believe, a tornado did hit. Oh, and an earthquake hit. It was a small one, a 3.2. A very small one, according to this Californian. I did not feel it for I was on exchanges in Midlothian when it occurred. It was my companion's first earthquake and apparently, it shook our whole entire building.
Monday, it was zone P-day (preparation day). I tried to get into it, but it just was not the same. Regardless, I did have a bit of a good time. Not much else happened that day other than we had a great dinner with a member.
Tuesday, it was another day at the food bank. It was a bit more than we had today. We stopped by our blind less active and nothing really happened there. We went out with one of the priests and saw a few people. We saw one investigator who we cannot otherwise stop by (single female) and she does not remember much from last time. She just wanted to talk. We had dinner with this one young family. There was something that the wife said that I just wanted to help, but nothing really formulated in the way of an idea until Wednesday. We went to another of our less actives and taught her the scriptures.
Wednesday, we had another district meeting and I went to Midlothian for the day. I was with the district leader and we went out and saw a recent convert. It was hard to stay awake. We went tracting and had fun with this one person who asked us different questions. We tried a few potentials and was able to meet with one. That person stayed silent until the end. I ended up talking a lot, which was odd. I had not realized that until now. I never talk as much as I did. At a member's house for dinner, we talked with them. It just hit me like a load of bricks. I realized what I could do for the member that I talked to on Tuesday. And the rest of the night, I was with the district leader and the ward (congregation) mission leader for Midlothian while they had their ward correlation meeting.
Thursday, we saw our 87 year old investigator. She is a really neat person who has accomplished much. She could open doors when and if she gets baptized. It is a really big, yet tender situation and I am trying to not let it get too big in my head. All I will say is that Thursday, she was ready to drop us. She felt overwhelmed by the Book of Mormon, but while being there, she felt the Spirit. She opened up. She wanted to continue to meet with us. She told us some of her life stories. We really did not say much. The Spirit is really strong around her and is working hard with her. There is no denying that. She was quite grateful that we were patient, gentle, and understanding with her. She was glad we listened. We were there for three hours on her porch. The rest of Thursday, not much else happened. We contacted several people who we had previously had trouble contacting, except for one, our investigator of whom is still smoking (if he would allow them they have a successful program for quiting smoking) and is avoiding us.
Friday, a member couple took us out for lunch. It was a lot of fun. We talked with one of our investigators that day as well. She likes her church community, but she likes us. Not much happened, because she and I were not big friends with Mr. Wasp who kept on flying around us. My companion could care less. We tracted that day and tried to see other people. Not much luck.
Saturday, we helped with somebody's yard. I used a weed eater to cut a big section of their grass. We tracted with the district leader and his companion. We found a lot of potentials. It was good, except everybody was cutting their grass that day. And after dinner, we helped cut somebody's grass, our less active who we teach scriptures. Saturday could also be called allergy day. My right eye itched and I was sneezing. I was glad to have eye drops and after doing it so many times. (I still hate eye drops, yet I can tolerate them now.)
Sunday, after church, we had a linger longer. It was a lot of fun. We stopped by and talked to the former bishop to give his mother the sacrament. Then, we had dinner.
Monday, we helped with another yard and this for the ward organist who cannot do much unless he wants to get shocked by his heart defibrillator again. And again, we helped the less active who we teach the scriptures. Her sliding glass door shattered. Lots of glass that had to be picked up.
I realized a few things this past week. One is the Bible, I get so fired up reading it. If you actually read it, whether it be in order or not, and actually pay attention, you will pick up on the fact that there needs be an apostasy and that God's church has prophets and apostles. You see that Paul warned that the leaders would be corrupt (in Acts) and that the word of God was corrupted by some (in 2 Corinthians). Reading the Bible and trying to understand it, despite its old, old English, you begin to pick up insights. Using context clues and main ideas, certain things can be picked up on. Take, for example, baptisms for the dead. Paul was not renouncing it, but rather, he was saying that if Jesus was resurrected and we also will be resurrected, then we must do baptisms for the dead. Some things bug me a lot for some reason when I read the Bible. You could say I feel like Wilford Woodruff and Robert Mason studying the Bible and seeing what things consist of God's true church. And maybe this is because I am a Mormon and a missionary, but regardless, it is something that can be picked up on.I also realized that there are two things I should master. One is fear. I cannot explain that one, other than I feel it should be something I should master. Two, and more importantly, getting upset. I am not as upset as I have been in the past. What is weird, that I have noticed and others have noticed, is that my performance peaks when I am angry or upset. My communication improves, I think a lot more quickly, and I get more passionate. So, I figure I should master righteous anger (if there is such a thing) and control it, rather than let anger control me. I feel right about this. How, I have no idea. I just get the ideas.
All is well! In a great mood, more especially after ranting about the Bible.
Love,
Elder S. Todd
