Secrets to Finding Your Purpose In Life

June 8, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am not sure where to begin. It has been a good week as well as a bruise battering week. "Everything I grow dies!" I sort of feel like that, only with transportation and such. If you are reading this, it is with the most rested assurance that I am alive. Diligence means never giving up.

So, to begin, I would like to say, what a week it has been.

Monday, as I was emailing, I decided to go ahead and look at the shipbikes.com to see what I need to do. Hence why, I decided I needed tools. One to measure the box as well as to take apart some pieces of the bikes. During my usual Wal-Mart trip, I found none of my tools that I needed nor did I find any in my price range. I did ask around for tools, but nothing came out of that. No need to be alarmed though. I have to say that today the bike will most likely be sent off. I just need to go to the bike shop and ask for their help in taking apart the bike. Then, I will go to the Staunton library, print out the necessary information, and go to Fed-Ex. But, this past Monday, I realized that and had to delay the action until today. That night, we had dinner with a wonderful member family; they decided to enlist us also for a service project. It was helping another family (the ones who loved the trio, who also still love us) with moving furniture.

Tuesday, we took a youth to visit our progressing investigator who is on date.
The poor kid... He is undecided on the mission and there has been a lot of pressure on him to suggest to him to go. (We need missionaries that are willing to serve. The best way to promote missionary work is to let the youth spend time with the missionaries. Youth need support not pressure.) Regardless, we took him to our progressing investigator. We had a wonderful, powerful lesson with her. It helped her out. After dropping him off, we went to the doctor for Elder Day. He has a wart on his foot; thank goodness for separate showers. He had to later pick up acid to put on his foot. We went to another wonderful dinner; saw our less active who is usually in pain. He has been so happy since he has come to church and it has been great to see. 

Wednesday, we checked up on some potentials. Then, we left to go to the zone meeting, where the iPads were given.

Because this is my last month, I do not receive an iPad, not even a loaner. As a companionship, we have one device. It may be easy to feel jipped. I honestly could care less; it is a device that will enhance our teaching and it will be easier to have one. I am happy to use my "Skittle Scriptures," or whatever name missionaries and people have called it. I am happy to have that more than anything. After dinner, we checked up on the people who are at the health center. We checked up on the person who, slightly, reminds of my brother. We encouraged him to continue to grow spiritually personally.

Thursday, we planned. Then, we thought we had a lesson with our progressing investigator, but it was actually Friday. The other person we were going to see-- our single mother-- cancelled on us.

So, we checked up on the returning young couple and helped them to set goals on going to the temple. We picked up some food from another member. We checked up on this one family who had just recently gone through some difficulties as well as some good times. It was good to see that they were doing well. 

Friday, we had that lesson with our progressing investigator. We have been answering her questions and taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ. We prepared her for fast and testimony meeting; I even said, "Yeah, people may cry." (And surprisingly, few did.) We had dinner that night with the bishop. Then, we saw our family who bounce back and forth with church attendance. We talked with their son, our investigator, and figured out the best way we could help him. It was good, but it was the last time that we would see him or his family. They moved, which they told us, though they never told us when. That was a surprise to us.

Saturday, the day of hectic work. We did the progress record; we decided to go see the health center people after lunch, which we did. We had dinner, then we were like, "Let's go find!" Yeah, yeah, like that was going to happen. So, after we got done with dinner, we received a call from the ward mission leader, who is vacationing and thought he would be back on Sunday. Understandably, he decided to stay one more day. He was going to call somebody to give a ride to the health center people. He wanted us to check up on one of them to be sure that she was coming. So, we decided to do so. 

And now, for a short rant on transportation and myself. "Everything I grow DIES!" Yeah, I feel like that is analogous to my feelings on transportation. Let me go through a short review of everything. The car back at home, I hit my sister's car that was parked. The car in Fredericksburg, it had to be serviced, then it got rear ended (as a hit and run while we were having lunch). The bike in Woodbridge, not functioning properly, because I did not know how to use it properly. The car in Powhatan and Appomattox needed the usual maintenance. The car in Tappahannock, not only did it need the usual maintenance, we ran over a car radio antenna that pierced our tire. The car in Gayton had low tire pressure, went to fill it up, metal caps had rusted on it the tube things. We had to replace the tires. If you want, you could add my legs to this: herniated disc. When I received that, I could not walk properly, I had to hobble. So, you see, I have transportation issues. Whenever I go into an area, the car needs to get the usual maintenance or something happens to the car. Or something happens to me and transportation.

By this point, you are wondering, "Oh no, what now." I thought back in May: "You know, I probably will not ever need to get this car serviced." Wrong. When we arrived to the health center, I started to park; nearly got done, when I heard this SCRAPE! Thinking I went over the curb, I backed up. SCRAAAAPE! "Oh no, that does not sound good." The plastic underneath the car in the front had bent down. I called Elder Sopp (sent pictures of what occurred to him today) and that sort of thing. Meanwhile, we went to a member's house to borrow duct tape. We "MacGyver"-ed (use Google to see the TV show reference) the car; we duct taped the plastic back up and have been driving since. But, we will have to take care of that soon. Sorry; I try really, really hard to be a good driver (though some of these things happen when I am not the driver), but life comes at you fast.

After that, we checked up on the people we needed to see. Most importantly, while we were waiting or in the area, we did go finding and took advantage of finding opportunities.

Sunday, we studied, went to church early, only to drive back to pick up our meal calendar. Unfortunately, we ended up a bit late. We went finding after church. We had an awesome meal. We contacted a few people after that.

This week has had its good and bad. Nonetheless, we are going forward. The ward is definitely opening up to us. They are starting to like us. We feel that this is what we are meant to do, other than our progressing investigator. This will open doors in the future.

Admist the bad, there is good. The Lord is looking after us, opening doors, leading us where to go, revealing what we need to say. His hand is in this work. The work is and will go forward.

All is well. Tout va bien! Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

<#VirginiaRichmondMission>

He Had Been Crying, A Friend Passes Away

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. -Revelations 7:17

Monday, March 16, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I talked to President Wilson about the soliciting and trespassing signs during my interview with him this past week. We are legally protected in what we are doing; this has been proven in the courts. If people say we are doing either of those things, we can go on to the next door. Yes, I will take precautions, but I will keep on going forward. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

I am the designated driver; it is one designated driver at a time. As for roles in leadership, it is true that is a role I do not want. It is hard to explain why. It is not about leadership to me. I rather focus on people rather than missionaries and key indicators. I like to work on a one-on-one basis with people; what makes me happy about missionary work is teaching people. I cannot fully express my thoughts and feelings about this without the right questions. But, I know this. I have made strides and improvements in my own life that has come from this. I have personally healed and became better. It makes me think of something I realized this past week. As I have been leading the area, I have been drawing only on past experiences, impeding (if impeding is the right word) the Spirit to guide me. By allowing myself to be worthy of the Spirit and focusing on spirituality, I have been able to receive revelation for the area and confidence. I know that as I keep the Spirit in my life and continue to be converted and to be consecrated, my life will be abundant. That is something I realize that I want in my own life and for my own family. I want to have the Spirit with me by putting God as a priority. Without having the Spirit at the home, we allow ourselves to be darkened, which in turns allowing the adversary to take effect in the family, damaging lives in the process.

This past week has been a great one and a step of improvement. 

Monday, I got a haircut. We tried a referral that we received from the Spanish elders. We were invited by an elderly woman (who is this referral's sister) and this elderly man came out to talk to us. We started talking about the Restoration and he was, "I am already a member." So, as we looked at the ward directory a bit later, he is a member, who had recently moved into the area. Previous missionaries had found him and, it seems, left him behind, forgetting all about him. We talked to him for a bit, before leaving. We decided to work with him, so we made plans to revisit him later in the week. 

Tuesday, we had district meeting. We then tried to see some potentials (individuals that may have an interest in our message), but none were home or too happy to see us. We tried another referral that we had received from the Spanish elders. He is an ex-Marine (excuse the "ex" Semper Fi), which changed his views on God and religion. He seemed generally interested in what we had to say. He is willing to read the Book of Mormon. We know that the Plan of Salvation will help him, especially with knowing our purpose here on earth and understanding God more.




Wednesday, we, with a member, visited a single sister, who is not a member (although her husband is a member, but less active). Lots of confidential material here that I cannot explain. (Information in this part of the letter was left out intentionally. Let's just say that one of the gifts of the Spirit is discernment of things seen and unseen.) After this appointment, we visited part member families out in Goochland. Few were home; one was a less active member, who potentially was offended in another ward up in Woodbridge. We spent a good portion of our day, trying to do this before we went back to the city to tract an apartment complex. We started knocking on doors. One lady told us to be careful, because she did not want to see us get kicked out. We went up the stairs of her part of the complex, when I noticed a man, who had his door open. We had previously knocked on his door, although he did not answer. I also noticed he had a golf club in his hands. He and I made eye contact, allowing him to motion for us to come over. I was thinking, "Oh no, here we go again." When we got over, it was evident that he had been crying. As he explained to us, he was praying to God for help and guidance. And lo, we knocked on his door during his prayer. He was happy to see us and glad we could talk with him. He explained his thinking of God and such. He believes in reincarnation, multiple Sons of God (e.g. Jesus Christ, Buddha), and God visiting the earth multiple times to help put us on the right path. It was interesting, but we started to talk to him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He enjoyed it, yet he tried fitting it into his beliefs. When we return, we will go over the Plan of Salvation.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.-John 14:27

Thursday, we did our usual service at the health center. I must say, for your information, "Mama" (for those who have not followed this journey Mama is an elderly woman that Seth had met in another area and treats all missionaries as her sons.)  was quite sad; her best friend, who was in perfectly good health for a ninety year old, passed away on Monday (and Mama saw it happen), which is odd to think. We saw her on Sunday, the day previous, and she was, as I said, in perfectly good health. It is sad. But, service was great; we helped Mama sort through the clothes of her best friend that her best friend's family gave her as well.

We did more tracting. We saw our elderly gentleman friend, that we saw on Monday, and gave him a large print Book of Mormon to read. We read some with him. 

Friday, we had interviews. We weekly planned. We tracted and contacted a referral that we received. That referral was Mama's roommate, which I am not sure what we can do with her. Not much else happened.

Saturday, we did our progress record and we started to tract. I have been carrying my scriptures, because, my book bag recently broke. It was raining on Saturday and I needed to wrap my scriptures and pamphlets in a Wal-Mart bag. We returned to our car. We had been neglecting a problem with our car and we noticed it needed to be taken care of. You see, our two front tires need air pressure in them, but the caps were metal, instead of plastic. We could not get them off and we eventually called Elder Sopp to tell him, who told us to go to tire shop, which we avoided until we saw our tires on this particular Saturday. Our tires looked slightly flat, so we postponed tracting to go to Jiffy Lube. They told us that they could not help, because, one, they do not do tires and, two, the metal caps were rusted on. We took to another tire shop and through a lengthy process, we got two brand new tires for the front of our car. We headed for dinner immediately afterward.

Dinner was great; we were listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during it. We had to share a quick thought after dinner, because we had an appointment with our Bible fundamentalist. Funny thing was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir beat me to the punch of my testimony. We were talking about missionary work and how we need to be more Christlike to be examples to others. I started to bear testimony of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Exemplar when the Choir piped up, "THIS IS THE CHRIST." Yes, thank you, choir. (It reminds me of a time in Appomattox where I was called to say blessings over the food. Prior to this, instrumental music of different movies were playing. Nobody turned it off. As it so happened to be, as I said the prayer, the music got louder and it was for an epic scene of a movie. I would have to say, it was the most epic prayer I ever said.) 

Well, off we went to our Bible fundamentalist; the bishop (pastor) came out with us for this appointment. My companion and I decided to talk about the apostasy (from the church Christ established) and reemphasize the need to the Restoration. I had been praying heavily for divine help. I am not sure how it all came about. We were talking about the apostasy and we mentioned priesthood authority. We mentioned again that it was lost. Somehow from that, we talked about the priesthoods (the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood) and how it has been on the earth for a while. We talked about how John had the Aaronic and Jesus held the Melchizedek. We talked about how the priesthood is lost. One, you have the leaders being killed off, who held the authority. It would make sense that they would quickly pass on the authority, right? Well, that is point two, you would think that, but you also have to keep in mind that even local leaders who were left in charge of the churches in the various parts of the known world were apostatizing. (See Acts 20:28-30; background: Paul, returning to Jerusalem, called for the local leaders ["elders"] of the church in Ephesus to Miletus.) For our Bible fundamentalist, it clicked. He mentioned the Catholics and their claim (and we brought up the Reformers, how they were break offs in trying to reform the Catholic Church and they were missing authority) of the priesthood, which he disagreed with. He completely disregarded it until we helped connect the dots. It gave him a lot to think about; we invited him to read Alma 13. It was a very spiritual lesson.

Sunday, we had church and we had a lesson with our ten year old investigator. We read the Book of Mormon with him, because the Spirit was not there in the house.

It has been a good, spiritual week that is full of miracles. Good things are bounding. I do believe the area will steadily progress to a steady foundation. This is week three that we have now entered; I am going to continue to push forward. It will be great.

We are working with the ward (congregation) and gaining referrals. We have been emphasizing the ward mission plan with member dinners and creating their own family ward mission plan. We have been trying to help the ward get missionary focused. We are trying to gain their trust. I do feel that we are trying to overcome the mistakes (both unintentional and intentional) that previous missionaries have made. I know of at least one family that has expressed that they are watching us (in their own way: "You know, the last missionaries said they could do later appointments, but you say five is the basis..." "When I was ward mission leader, I asked to see their planners..."); rather than worry about their expectations, we are going to focus on our vision and push forward. I find that a balance is healthy for us, because, well, if we spend all our time tracting, we burn up our energy and we neglect those that do need our help. Plus, we have Goochland. And to keep our purpose as missionaries with less actives, we invite them to attend the temple. We have now been giving time to track our temple invites. The ward is good here, but like I said, I do think there can be improvements.

Tout va bien! Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/topics/easter?lang=eng

P.S. I asked President Wilson about your idea of Skyping this next with some time with you two and with Bria, which he said is okay as long as I do split up my time equally and keep it under. They both would total together; the base is 40 minutes (I know, we really have not been doing that), so it would 20 minutes with you and 20 minutes with Bria. We will worry about this later.

Yes, thank you for the new package. We have greatly enjoyed the green bouncy balls that light up. It has been the most amusing fun.  My companion said he wants to thank you two, but I am not sure he will be able to when he wants to. It all depends on what occurs in the next couple of weeks.

I am definitely pushing forward. I say that a lot, especially in this email. My primary focus has been on the spiritual to keep my own focus to allow myself to receive guidance and help. I have seen the blessings of that. Whether or not you have my itinerary for my departure (because I have no idea when it will come or if it will come to me or you), thanks for not telling me. And this is not a sarcastic thank you. It is a real THANK YOU. I am going to focus. 

#Virginia Richmond Mission

Teach Me As If I Were New

Monday, March 9, 2015

Dear Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am so happy to hear that Tappahannock is now a ward and that things are progressing for them. It has been something they have been looking forward to for a while. Thank goodness for the missionaries that have served there, particularly Elder and Sister Van Orden. They are an amazing senior couple who went above and beyond. They tracted together, which is something you do not usually see with senior couples. 

Speaking of senior couples, we have a new senior couple that now takes care of the cars and housing. They are Elder and Sister Sopp. When I got the newest newsletter of the mission, they stated where they are from: Hanford, California. I looked at the ward directories for the Hanford Wards and they are from the Hanford 2nd Ward, same ward as the Obersts. Small world. I cannot wait to meet them.

I "sandboxed" the recent (our own family genealogy) discoveries and tried to put things together. Well, I found a possible birth year, possible parents, and when he (Seth's Great Grandfather) entered the military, which explains why a man from Michigan is down in Texas. From that miltary entry date, it puts a small window of time of marriage and when Joyce and Russell Jr. is born. If I accept the city directory information, I know that Russell is part of the military, because the city directory states that he is an employee of Fort Sam. Other than that, for the time being, I am at a dead end for now. I have reasons for hope. (And so do we his parents.)

Yes, I know, I need a haircut. I have plans on doing it today. Neither my companion nor I are the district leader. Somebody else is doing that.

Yeah, I did what I could in Appomattox. It was difficult, but I did the things I needed to do. I am more focused on what is going on here. We have some obstacles to climb.

Monday, after the P-day activities, after dinner, we visited one investigator who is still sick and his family is now getting sick. We had an appointment that night with our ten year old investigator and his family as a family home evening. It turned into more of us, the investigator, and his member brother. We went on with the plans and encouraged them by inviting them to read the Book of Mormon. We gave them a small chart to check their progress.

Now, let me summarize a big chunk of the week that we have done and one major obstacle we have to the work. We have tracted apartments and townhouses, attempting to find. We have received some

potentials and some people that are not at all interested. Then, we met our obstacles: the presidents of homeowner associations or people that have been on the board for these homeowner associations. A lot of the apartments have no trespassing and no soliciting signs. None of those apply to us until somebody tells us that we are trespassing. By continuing, we are trespassing (if I am understanding things correctly). Now, soliciting I understand usually applies to those that are selling items or trying to get gain, none of which we are doing. But, we have been accused of soliciting our word and no matter what we explain, no matter if we tell that we have ministerial certificates, they tell us to stop. Well, we have been asked to leave and much as I want to stick it to their face and keep on tracting, we thank them for informing us and leave. Granted, we had tracted a big portion of the apartments in some cases, but it is a hindrance. We plan on finding ways to overcome this.

We have also been trying to contact part member families, but not many are home when we go by. We also contact potentials, former investigators, and investigators that we have. Some people have not progressed beyond the first lesson, which we are trying to improve that to help them progress. A lot of people do not answer their doors or are not home.

Despite these setbacks, I know that as we steadily accumulate potentials and they will become investigators. My goal and vision for the area is to set up a steady foundation for future missionaries wherein growth will increase. I believe that if we have at least five progressing investigators, or a substantially bigger pool of investigators, the work will progress; member exchanges can more fully be utilized and thus, increase member presence. It is not about numbers, but helping these people progress towards baptism and eventually the temple. I have been trying to organize our efforts so that we can be more useful. We have agreed upon places. Also, expedient to our work is a balance. If we spend a lot of time tracting, we will burn ourselves out and become frustrated. If we spend a lot of time visiting less actives, then we cannot help the work progress, which is our main focus. It is a balance of the two, which is fundamental for us. In other words, if we are diligent, the Lord will bless us.

Thursday, it snowed. Well, first it rained ice and we headed to the health center to perform service for that. Then, we drove home in the snow. Seeing as I had no visibility (for I was the driver), I drove carefully, slowly, and made it home safely. My companion, who is from Draper, Utah, was like, "Oh, it is not that bad." As I reminded him, "Well, the roads are slick and oh yeah, I am a Californian who has never driven in snow." For the rest of the night, we walked. 

Friday, we had zone meeting, where I obtained the vision for the area. We agreed upon what we were going to do. We went out to find people that day. We visited with the "dark lit house" where we help the two members there understand the Book of Mormon. They are a mother and daughter (both are adults); they are recent converts. The mother understands, but the daughter is having a hard time. The daughter told us to teach as if she was new to it all. We began with the Restoration and plan on helping her to progress. We went to Goochland that night for dinner and contacted a family there. The family that we had dinner with told us that they are trying to help those in Goochland invite us over. Hopefully, that will help.

Saturday, we completed our progress record. We contacted some potentials and our Bible loving investigator, who scheduled a time for us to come by that night. We contacted some part member families, with some success, but not much interest. Well, we saw our investigator who loves the Bible and holds to the Bible. I felt prompted to read 3 Nephi 11 with the investigator, which I am not sure why. He has a problem with Jesus appearing to the people in America. He believes that when Jesus ascended to heaven, He is there ministering in a heavenly sanctuary. That he gets from the epistle to the Hebrews, but the references to Jesus and a heavenly sanctuary are there to show to the Hebrews that Jesus is the High Priest who atoned for us. Secondly, he feels as though the apostles went to all the world spreading the gospel that when they died, they passed on the commission to others, reaching down to those like Martin Luther and such until it reached the whole world. I re-explained the apostasy and we all explained the need of faith and prayer. He would not have it and stated for us to try to prove from the Bible that Jesus came to America. There is no help there. What if we were even to prove it? What does that substantiate? It does not encourage faith, which is the point of the gospel of Jesus Christ and so many things of the Bible. Well, we have another appointment with him, so we will see how that goes. (This whole argument is fascinating to his father and perhaps some reading this could shed some light. We feel our son is right in his conclusions; however, there may be some different approaches.)

Sunday, we woke up early for ward council, only to find that it was cancelled. After church and lunch, we helped some members give the sacrament to "Mama."

We talked with Mama afterwards.

After dinner, we had a lesson with our ten year old investigator. His mom, a recent convert, is considering baptism for him around April or May. She is hoping that he understands repentance and making the right decisions. We talked to our ten year old investigator and tried to help him to listen. He has not yet read on his own.

Well, things are going forward!

Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

#Virginia Richmond Mission

A Happy Ever After

Monday, December 22, 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

http://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/articles/mormon-tabernacle-choir-record-breaking-nativity?lang=eng
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-marks-centennial-world-war-christmas-truce
http://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/videos/christmas-from-heaven-the-candy-bomber-story?lang=eng (or the full length:http://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/videos/tom-brokaw-gail-halvorsen-christmas-special?lang=eng) 

I am sending you three awesome, awesome videos to look at this Christmas to add to the wonderful He is the Gift. I watched them recently and they are amazing. Simply put.

I always wanted to try Latkes. (His mother tried them at a friend's house that was hosting a book club.) I bet they were good. I tried Jewish Rye Bread before (I may have told you this). It was delicious, other than smelling like pickles. This past week, when my companion was waiting for some pictures to develop at Wal-Mart, I decided to look for tamales myself. I missed out last year and I wanted to find them. I told my companion that I would like to look for tamales. He grabbed a few items himself and then, was like, "Let's go get your hot tamales." I stated, "It should be in the frozen food aisle, not in the candy section." Eventually, I had to explain what tamales actually are, which to a person who never has had them, it can be hard to explain. I had to think about it. He is from the West Coast in Oregon, but apparently the Mexicans there were Americanized. Nonetheless, I could not find tamales. (As per expected. I remember trying to find the right brand of "chili beans" and all I could find was not the kind I wanted and a limited selection.) So, I am going to have to go for something else.

I believe I got the package from Joy (his oldest sister) today before we left. I did not open it, because I was highly unsure whether or not I should. I received the package from the Distribution Center from you this week as well. Then, I got another package from what I thought was the Ward Primary. I opened it slightly, pulled a card out, and it said, "From your Ward Family." Still unsure if I should open any further, I closed the package (though I did see what was in it), and said, "I did not see anything."

And with Frozen, I have yet to see it (and there is no chance to see it), although I have heard all the songs and know the entire plot. Kind of like how I know the plot of The Hobbit. I read the book, albeit I have no idea what extras the movie has.

Thanks for sending the card to the members upstairs. It has yet to arrive, but I am sure it will arrive soon.

It sounds like you had a really good week. This past week seems to be a precursor of what this week is going to be like. 

Monday, we did our usual P-day activities of napping. After dinner, we tried to see a few people. Our investigator --who I said watches us as we pray-- allowed us to come in. We addressed the law of chastity and were bold and blunt. With this investigator, we are still unsure what he is understanding, so we have plans on reviewing the lessons we have previously taught him. 

Tuesday, we had interviews. My hair had not been cut for a while; we have a person, related to the members upstairs, who cuts it for us for free, but she could not find her hair clippers. So, time went by until this past Tuesday. By then, she had found her clippers, but as of yet, could not cut it due to schedule conflicts. It came to be eight o'clock, where it was time for personal study and two hours before we had to leave for Mechanicsville. We get a knock at one of our doors. There she was, ready to cut our hair. So, we went up the stairs and had our hair cut. It was one of those God sent miracles. (She told me that she is going to do my hair differently next time.)


We made it to interviews and I was the first one. As always, interviews were a bit different and straightforward.

He asked me a few questions, such as what I enjoy about the mission and what are the goals I have for the rest of the mission. I will tell you a few things that I told him. What I always enjoy is teaching. That was the first thing and only thing I said. I get a lot of enjoyment from teaching. It is something that is hard to explain. I mentioned the fact that I am not a conversationalist; I cannot talk to people. However, when it comes to teaching, the words flow a lot more freely, though I still put thought in it. Some times, I even pause, to think of the best way to put the words or to connect ideas. Yet, I find a lot of enjoyment out of teaching. I made my two goals two skills or attributes I want to work on. The first is interdependence, allowing myself to work with others. He gave me some advice for the first goal. But more importantly to me, especially for the rest of my life, I need to work on confidence, which is my second goal. I find a lack of confidence within myself. Upon reflecting it more through meditating with the Spirit, I need to find value and accept it. I personally thank you for the words of which you gave me at the end of your email. I never really thought myself to be a voice of charity and I can only hope that I can continue that for the rest of my life. I need to recognize the skills that I do have.

One of the things that I have been working on is talent. I love to sing, but this is not, at the time, my skill. At some other point, I will develop this, probably through learning. I love to write. I have not written words in the forms of essays or stories in quite a time. From the inspiration of others, I started writing an essay on the Restoration based on the scriptures. I have gone through a lot of beginnings and rough drafts for a few paragraphs. This is something I have been working on for a week now. I definitely want to develop this talent. It is part of recognizing the skills that I do have.

Thus, as part of finding confidence, I need to recognize my own value and skills that I have. For the rest of Tuesday, we arrived home after the interviews, then we had lunch, and then saw a recent convert. We taught the recent convert the new member lesson on some of the commandments. We had dinner and from there, we headed off to another lesson. Our person on date had cancelled us, which was our next appointment. He is sick with the flu. So, he did not meet with us nor did he come to church. I pray that he feels better soon. 

Wednesday, we had district meeting and headed off to help the sisters. We went to a member's antique shop and passed out hot chocolate along with He is the Gift. (They even passed out copies of the Book of Mormon by wrapping it in gift wrapping paper.) I stood and held the sign the entire two hours. I was quite content. The street we were on had a stoplight, so when it turned red, they approached the cars and offered hot chocolate. At times, the light would turn green while they were talking with some people. From that, we had a quick dinner and then met up with the senior couple. They had a person baptized this past Saturday and needed my companion to interview him. I helped them as they taught another investigator that was there. That night, the rest of our appointments cancelled.

Thursday, it was a day of getting our Area Book in order. We tried to see people with little luck. Our dinner appointment cancelled, yet they were able to buy us a pizza. 

Friday, we planned. We saw our single mother investigator to invite her and her son, who wants to be baptized, to the baptism on Saturday to see what one looks like. When we went, she was there, so we invited her. We did not teach anything, but we talked to her for a while. We learned some additional information that could aid us. Again, she brought up the issue that she has with the Word of Wisdom. She mentions that she likes to add wine to her food, such as marinara sauce. The alcohol burns up, but leaves the taste. She brought up that she eats food to enjoy it, while not going into excess into gluttony. Later I found a good scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that matches her mentality about food. Her son came home and we brought up the baptism. He did not want to go and said that he wants his mom to be baptized. Later that night, we visited our investigator who watches us as we pray to invite him to the baptism.

Saturday, we were invited to a service project by the young men leader and high priests. It was to help floor the bedroom floor of the family of our WWE fanatic. They live in a small trailer. I have been in there a couple times, and there is a lot of stuff on the floor. It is not a hoarders' house, but it is the same kind of mess. Nothing was touched by the time we started the project, so we had to move items and remove the carpet. As the carpet was pulled up, a cloud and pillar of dust formed in the air. It was rank in the house. As one person put it to me, "I scrubbed and scrubbed to remove the smell. It seemed as though it stayed in my skin, embedded." That took an hour before they started to cut plywood to refloor the bedroom. By that time, I needed to head out with our WWE fanatic to get the car's oil changed and the tires rotated. Partially glad that we had to do that. By the time, we returned it was completed. After showering and lunch, we completed our progress record. Again, we attempted to see people, but there was no success. Then, we had to fill the font. By six, the baptism was ready to go and completed. We did not see our single mother investigator. My companion and two other members had to practice for a musical number.

Sunday, the musical number was performed. It was great, minus the sound feed. There were three microphones: two additional and the pulpit microphone. They were all plugged into the same sound feed. When they again practiced, the two members that were singing into the two additional microphones were told to be on top. My companion who was on the pulpit microphone was mainly heard. So, in the sacrament meeting, one of the members actually did as advised, which turned out to be good. But, the sound feed became the problem. As they were singing, occasionally you only hear the member who did as advised, then you would hear my companion, or you would hear all of them. The microphones were competing with one another. It was a great performance, despite the setback. After church, we helped the ox get out of the mire. So, due to the schedule of the wife of the couple upstairs, she has not been able to get her decorations up, or at least very few. She was utterly stressed and we finally were able to help her. My companion skillfully decorated a willow tree to what she wanted. We helped in other ways as well. She still has a few more things to do, but it is a little bit closer to getting done.

It reminds me of the song, "We Need a Little Christmas," which has lyrics such as: "Haul out the holly, put up the

tree before my spirit falls again. Fill up the stockings. I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now. For we need a little Christmas, right this very minute, candles in the window, carols at the [something]. Yes, we need a little Christmas, right this very minute. It hasn't snowed a single flurry, but Santa dear were in a hurry. So, climb down the chimney, turn on the brightest string of lights that I have ever seen! Slice up the fruit cake. It's time to hang up some tinsel on that evergreen ball. For I have grown a little leaner, grown a little colder, grown a little sadder, grown a little older. I need a little angel sitting on my shoulder. I need a little Christmas now! For we need a little music, need a little laughter, need a little singing ringing through the rafters, and we need a stocking and a happy ever after. We need a little Christmas now!" Something like that. (http://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/videos/we-need-a-little-christmas?lang=eng) Another awesome video to add to things to watch.

Alles wohl! And Merry Christmas to all!


Love,

Elder S. Todd