How to Overcome Challenges in Life

And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. -Alma 7:11

Monday, June 15, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

With my bike, I was able to send it off. Yet, I was not able to do it Monday, but on another date. Long story on that. Now you know that, you can actually expect it. It should come tomorrow. It has left Salt Lake on Sunday. When I return home, I have plans to clean the bike. It is mostly clean, but it could use cleaning. 

Dan the Man was quite happy to hear that Moroni is alive; he still references from time to time silver plates and Moroni. Still have no clue on that. There was one day this past week that I found interesting with him. He was actually coherent; more talkative, different pitch of voice, etc.

It has been a good, long week.

Monday, after the usual chores, I headed to the bike shop for help in shipping my bike. The bike shop was closed; it had dawned on me that I got the box on Tuesday. I had not realized fully that it would not be open on Monday. I would have done it Tuesday, but Tuesday already was a busy day. We had scheduled an estimate for the car among other activities for Tuesday. I took care of dry cleaning. That night, we tried to stop by a few people that we had not seen in a while.

Tuesday, we had district meeting. I gave a training on effective study. We had lunch, then we headed back to our apartment. The gospel principles teacher and her husband showed up to take us over to a lesson with our progressing investigator where we talked about the Word of Wisdom. The gospel principles teacher shared her own conversion story and even told when the elders who taught her talked about the Word of Wisdom. They had been fasting for the lesson, but she had stopped smoking before they even taught her. Our progressing investigator decided to live the Word of Wisdom; she even bought apples and oranges to more fully live it.

After the lesson, we headed over to the dealership to assess the damage to the car. Luckily, we had picked up some screws when our mishap occurred. Most of the shield could be reattached. However, some of it was torn to some degree, so it has to be fixed. All of it is under a certain amount, so I do not have to complete an incident report. I thank God for that. From there, we had dinner with the elders quorum president and his wife. Elder Day, for the first time in his life, had watermelon. Everybody was surprised that he had not eaten watermelon. He enjoyed it. Now, he has to try Jell-O.

We were in the area, so we went to talk to a member family to help confirm dinner plans for the next day. They invited us to a family activity; we went finding around their area and got gas. They needed us to be judges for their children's cooking. It was good. We were able to help build member relationships and meet less active members. It was a plus for us. We also talked to the youth who is deciding to go on a mission; he does not feel pressure (my companion wanted to talk to him about it).

Wednesday, we studied. We had lunch and then, began the process of sending my bike off. It took a few hours, because it took a lot of packing and figuring things out. The person at the bike shop definitely helped out. Once I got the pedals off, as well as the handle bars off, the bike could mostly fit. I had to also take off the rear tire, just because of its difference. The bike shop weighed it. From there, I went to the library and went on the website given to me. I know you gave me addresses to Fed-Ex, but those were drop off boxes. The site required that I go to an official drop off location or something to that nature. Well, it was either the one in Staunton or the one in Fishersville. Although we were going to FIshersville that night, our miles have been reduced yet again, which makes us in the need of maintaining miles. I decided to go to the one in Staunton, full knowing it is attached to a gas station. Creepy place, but look on the plus side, we saved miles and it is on its way, still weighing 40 pounds.

We checked up on the young couple who is returning to church. The husband was not home; but the wife was with their child. We followed up on our last invitation. Then, we saw our progressing investigator, who now has a Book of Mormon. We had to order a large print, because she could not read the small print. It was a great spiritual experience for her. We shared two videos from Easter; we also shared a scripture from Alma. From there, we had dinner with the member family and we went to mutual to help with the missionary night the priests were having. They taught us while we were the investigators. They are definitely learning and it is good to see their enthusiasm.

And that night, I found the most creepiest bug in my entire life.

Out of all that I have personally seen and witnessed in Virginia, it won the award. Of course, it had to be in my bathroom. I saw it, walked out of the bathroom, and told Elder Day to go and take care of it. He did so, not realizing how big the monster was. Most ugly, thing in my life.

Thursday, we planned. We had another lesson with our progressing investigator; this lesson is a major hurdle. We taught the principle and gave her a priesthood blessing. It was very comforting to her.

From there, we... well, Elder Day helped on the farm. He was lifting hay bales, so that bishop would be able to feed his farm animals and not break his foot again. I just sweated, because it was hot. Then, we had dinner with the new young couple, who loved the trio and love us too. It was really, really fun. Then, we checked up on the man who is dealing a lot with pain and such. He is falling back into old habits; we realize there is not much that we can do, but what the ward can do. We plan to keep on visiting him, but he definitely needs the ward's support.

Friday, we went back to the bishop's house, thinking there was more hay to take care of. Instead, we helped his wife move things out of their barn. I had a blast doing that. One, I got to kick objects from a second story onto the ground. Some things had wheels, others not so much. Two, his wife is hilarious, just by her comments. Once we finished, we finished weekly planning. We had dinner with the recent convert man who was baptized the week Elder Day and I got here. It was a nice visit, but they were slightly in a hurry. They were going to Kentucky to pick up their cousins. After dinner, we had a prompting to check up on the people in the health center. We found one of them moved; we had no idea where she was. So, we checked up on Dan, who was quite coherent. He was unhappy with the place, plans on leaving, and such. He was talking about the people he was going to sue and such. I was quite amazed how coherent he was. He also gave me a cookie and Elder Day a soda.

Saturday, we completed our progress record. We checked up on our single mother investigator; nothing. We went out and did some finding. We cannot help but feel our own finding efforts are finding. We run into people who met with missionaries and are not interested. The areas we are finding are areas that have been tracted many times, because it is the areas that we can reach. It is imperative for us to work with members, because it is the way that things are going to go forward in Staunton.

Looking at our wall of names of people baptized, for nearly a year, the people that have been baptized were through member referrals or member influence. We had dinner that night with the ward mission leader and then, we began the search for the one person who moved from the health center. We had an idea and followed through with it. We went to this one nursing home near the hospital and ended up talking to the receptionist for nearly an hour. There is some potential there, so we will have to follow up. We gave her a Book of Mormon and several pass along cards. We talked about, somewhat, the Book of Mormon and modern day revelation. She found it interesting. We then found the place where the member was, which is in the bottom of the hospital. She was so happy that we found her; once we walked in, she was like, "My soul brothers are here!" We talked to her for a while about things going on and what she has been up to other than moving. She is happy to be there, because, to her, the food is nutritious among other things. She was quite happy.

Sunday, we had productive Church meetings;
I am waiting to see the actions that will happen.

I believe, as well as Elder Day, that the members' perspective on missionaries and us are changing, hopefully for the better. We were able to lay down ideas and take up action. We gave the sacrament to that member in the hospital. We later returned to give somebody a blessing. We usually go to the hospital every so many weeks; looks like we are going to be making rounds there. From that, we tried to visit people, but came up empty.

Things are starting to go forward. I foresee a lot of things coming to pass.

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Just Keep On Moving

Just Keep On Moving

Monday, May 4, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

The ipads are coming, the ipads are coming... and I am not really caring about that. Yes, the news has been broken that at last our mission will have ipads, but seeing as I am going home soon, I do not get to keep one. With this news, it means that we are going to have meetings... lots and lots of meetings.

We have a place to Skype; we, three, are working out the times. Elder Day's time it seems will be 3:15 to 4:15 our time. Elder Hansen will be at 7. So, I am most likely in the middle. I will talk to the people that allowed us to come over; most likely it will be about 4:25 when I Skype you. 

Again, expect a large package. 

I asked Sister Hendricksen about my back and after the mission. She said that when I get home, I will have a much better bed (and to have a good bed in general), so I will be feeling a lot better. Plus, I will not be sitting as much when I get home, so my back will not be under so much pressure.
I will have to keep on with my stretches. If I ever need physical therapy, then I should look into something called TENS (or something like that), which is pretty much electrodes to the back to break the pain. I should not look into surgery, unless it is drastic.

This week... well, we had a lot of meetings (or so it seems) and I had a cold. It started out as a cold and sore throat; I beat the sore throat through much Vitamin C and lemonade. Why did I not take medicine? Well, as I discovered, medicine expires. I took a Nyquil Nighttime and I took a sinus daytime (not at the same time, obviously). Then, I looked at the box and oh, Nyquil expired in September and sinus expired last month. By the end of the week, I was getting better. Though, my mucus turned to liquid and would gush out when I bowed my head. In turn, it would cause me to sneeze much. Too much. My back was crying uncle from it. Thank goodness, I found some Benadryl, which stopped it completely. I am much, much better, though I am recovering from sneezing. My back is sore, not injured further.

Our mileage suffered (missionaries are allotted a certain number of miles per month as vehicles are swapped out over time)  along with much of the zone; and also much of North America and South America.
Other than that, it was a good week. 

Monday, we went out and did some finding. 

Tuesday, we went out with the truck driver member, who takes us out to see less actives that we cannot access. Thank goodness. We were able to talk to the one less active, who we started going over the lessons with (the one who wanted to help build up his testimony again). He lives with his brother now, which is good, except his brother lives far, far way, but in our area. His brother requested that we come by and bless his home. We did so, though he was not present for it. We returned afterwards, took care of some business, and had dinner. We taught the student of Ms. Mary; or at least continued to help her as she is on the gospel path. She worried that she got me sick, because she got sick before I did. A lot of people have been sick lately, so it is expected that I would get sick.

Wednesday, due to meetings and service, we decided to have an early session of weekly planning. Afterwards, we stopped by the elderly man, whose daughter we helped out a few weeks ago. Again, he is prepared and this time, he became a new investigator. He asked a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation and other things of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were able to answer his questions and he was satisfied. He likes us to come by and to have these discussions. It is one step forward. After this lesson, we headed home to change before performing service, which was mulching, again.

Well, we got a text from the other recent convert asking if we were having a lesson in a short bit. We said no, then she flipped on us, because she had sent a text to us and that sort of thing. Well, that is our phone. We were having phone problems, because we had no record of such text or record of any texts from her in general (though we sent a text to her in the past). We were able to get that resolved with her and made her content once more. The Spanish elders needed a third male, so I went with them to a lesson. Unfortunately, their lesson cancelled.



Thursday, we had a lesson with a less active at the church. He is the man who we received from the assistants to the president and we met at the church when I and Elder Day first got here. I had to blow my nose a few times, but it was a good lesson. He knew what he needed to do in order to get back in step. Then, we had day one out of three of meetings. It was a zone workshop, so it was our zone only. Elder Short is not part of our zone, but the neighboring zone. The zone workshop was good.

We were able to discuss a new way to use the pamphlets and to introduce the Book of Mormon. After this meeting, we had dinner with a member. We talked to our African American lady in the health center and our somewhat unbalanced man. The man just had surgery for his cancer. He is doing much better... though he was talking about a Merona Manning and his silver plates that he buried that we will not see, but do follow the small lights to get there??? We were able to help another less active family, who do know what they need to be doing and what their goal needs to be.

Friday, we had a zone meeting and day two of three of meetings. We will have day three tomorrow (Tuesday) and I will see Elder Short, then fulfilling my quest of hugging Elder Short for his sister. After the meeting, we took care of our progress record. We did some finding and also saw again our drama student of Ms. Mary.

Saturday, we did service for a member, whom we had given a blessing. She needed a few things moved onto a truck for an auction. I cleaned chairs, because she understood back pains. We had a lesson with our lady who is progressing and has a child. She has a desire to be baptized, though she understands what things are preventing her. We attempted to help her to see what she needs to do, but the lesson was not all together. We will have to help her to understand some things. 

Sunday, we had church. It was stressful getting people rides, which is usually stressful. But, there was some miscommunication and people were missed. We plan on doing better.

Our befuddled man came to church, though we lost him twice. Once, because we did not have the gospel principles class and nobody told us that we were not having gospel principles. One of the Spanish elders and I went looking for him and eventually found him in the gospel doctrine class where everybody was. Then, during priesthood, we lost him, but he had gone to the restroom, unknowingly to us. Later that day, we contacted people and did some finding.

It was a fun week. I am excited for what this week holds.

All is well!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Silence Can Be Deadly

Monday, March 23, 2013

Dear Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

If you could please send out the MTC backpack (the blue one), that would be great. I still have my regular scripture case; that did not break. It has survived. I am slightly tired of carrying my scriptures by hand, though it is not at all a big deal. It still works fine. Though, for your sake and mine, I would love to carry my camera with me. I hate to leave it in the car or carry it in my pockets.

I am glad that Elder Sopp called you. I was so happy to see them, because they are from Hanford. It is like seeing kinsfolk of a land that you have not seen in a very, very long time. Plus, I can actually tell somebody that I am from Lemoore and them asking me, "Where is that?" Yeah, we received a new car this past week that barely has been driven. It has about 5000 miles on it. My companion is absolutely happy that we have a new car, instead of the car we were driving.

I may be going to baptism tomorrow again in Tappahannock for the man who I was unsure whether or not he was ready. One, I need to get a ride and two, I need to get permission. And I found out yesterday of the baptism. I debated whether or not to go, because my companion does want to work. I decided to go. It really is a tough decision, because we got slammed to the ground this past week (figuratively). It has been a difficult week for the both of us, yet we pushed forward.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Monday, we had a great preparation day. We took care of the needs that we needed to and had a wonderful dinner with some awesome members. We saw our less active recent convert-- the one that did not seem ready for baptism and is going to another church at this current point due to his father-- and there was progress. He always talks of his other church, the one that he normally goes to. But, this time, it was different. I am never sure how we got on the topic of his going to church, but we did. He recognized that he needs to come to the Church, but he has difficulty of keeping the sabbath day holy and honoring his father and mother. We discussed this and told him that he should pray and fast on it. We told him that his spiritual progression is being halted by him not keeping the sabbath day holy. He does not yet have the priesthood nor has he gone to the temple. He wants that. We will need to follow up, so that we can help him even further.

Tuesday, we contacted potentials and received referrals. We helped the high priests that night with the "March Rescue" that is occurring here in the stake. I went with one high priest (he was one of the members that took us out to dinner the night previous). We checked up on our elderly member, who we happened upon last week. Unfortunately, he has yet to answer the door nor has anyone else answered the door. We tried a do not contact. I have to admit that she was the most friendliest of do not contacts; she politely talked to us. We have no idea why she is a do not contact. My companion and I will definitely will have to follow up. 

Wednesday, I learned the difference of areas that are okay to tract and the ones that do not want you. We had district meeting and we went on exchanges. I stayed in the area and I was with the district leader. We had some spare time before we needed to do something, so we decided to tract this one apartment complex (that, like many, if not all, complexes, had a do not solicit and do not trespass sign). We went to one building of this complex, which consists of eight doors. We knocked on each door and only one of eight was friendly. If they answered, they would say, "There's no soliciting here," and promptly close the door shut. By the end of our fifteen minutes and as we were heading to the car, the management came out and asked us to leave. We told her that we were not solicting, that we would leave, which she understood. Looks like we will not be coming back to that. On contrast, we went to another complex of duplexes. We were able to find a potential in this complex. But, as we were tracting, we met this woman who asked us if we saw the signs that said, "Do not trespass." She did not ask us to leave, but do not bother anybody else. We told her that we were proselyting, we told her thank you, and we moved on. Nothing was done to ensure our removal. It is something we will have to do or else the work would be hindered. I know that there is a difference between "Get out" and "Do not bother anybody else."

Later that night of Wednesday, we went to Goochland to see if there was Bible Study. There was not. But, we helped the host of Bible Study with some sheet rocking. I got to use a drill for a while. I am still not the best. I was so happy to do some kind of physical labor that will not threaten my back. We talked to the host and was again able to gain information from him about himself. 

Thursday, we got the new car, we exchanged back, and we went about doing all that we can. We helped with the health center and tried to contact referrals. After dinner, we helped the member, whose house is not dark, understand the Book of Mormon. 

Winston Churchill

Friday, we attempted to weekly plan. We still have not accomplished all of it, though we are trying when we can. We tried to find. We helped the less active recent converts, whose house is dim or not lit, to understand the Book of Mormon. One of them, who wanted to be taught as though she never heard of this before, is understanding. We tried more referrals.

Saturday, we had appointments with our ex-Marine and our Bible fundamentalist. Both cancelled. We took care of our progress record. I helped my companion with his family history, somewhat. He was exploring how far his line goes back, which I have to admit is quite interesting. The farther you go back, the harder it is to determine whether or not it is fact. I mean, certainly Jacob and Rachel did not give birth to Zeus. It does not seem rational to me.  After lunch, I felt prompted to help our Bible Study host again. I mean, his house is kind of in shambles and he has guests coming in about a week for his daughter's wedding. Plus, he has to take care of sewing the dresses, making the decorations, and so on and so forth. We helped with more sheet rocking, which was fun. There were a lot of mistakes made, but they were not entirely my fault. We could have done more, but we were running kind of late to get back for an appointment. We had an appointment with a different Muslim family, who is from Sudan. Not sure if it is going to go too far. They are interested in Christianity's similarities to Islam and our differences. (The one major one is Jesus Christ.) We plan to give them information and they plan to give us materials. That will be interesting.

We did teach our ten year old investigator, which, my companion is right, he is paying attention a bit more. That is great news for us. His mother is still wanting to wait until May. We have ideas to help.

Sunday, we prepared and made it to church early. I love it that we come to church early. I have to admit that this particular Sunday; I was exhausted, perhaps due to the physical labor. My back, despite a lot of physical work I had to do with sheet rocking, was not hurting. PROGRESS! Of course, I am being careful. After church and lunch, we tried a few people.

Then, we went to a birthday party for Mama. Her birthday is actually on Thursday, but she had her party on Sunday instead. A lot of people from church and a few from the health center came. It was great to see her happy. We had an appointment with a less active member. We were trying to talk to her about the Atonement, but she made us feel like we were trying to push her to come to church. A lot of her answers to deep thinking questions was about church attendance. We had an appointment scheduled with a part member family, the one who is already an investigator of ours, but had been sick for the past three weeks or so. We, apparently, did not knock loud enough, because nobody came to the door.


Well, despite the flops, it was good week. My back is making progress (I know I will not be stupid), Mama is happy, we helped the host of Bible Study, and we kept on going. This week will be good!

All is well! Tout va bien! Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

#Virginia Richmond Mission

Try and Keep on Trying!

I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication.  I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.  I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.  I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.   Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.  Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.-Psalms 142

February 23, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am sorry that you have been sick and battling illnesses. A lot of people have been sick and cancelling on us. It has snowed, been cold, rained, and the snow is melting now. It should get colder. Or it could not.

I have told you the majority of Tuesday. We accessed computers at a computer lab at another set of missionaries apartment. We were able to drive once the roads were cleared and they were cleared during the day. In the beginning of the day, he got up, late, because he knew the roads were not cleared. Got ready, only to go back to bed. We could have easily walked to this set of missionaries apartment, no problem. But, with Monday and walking, I doubt that he would have liked to walk some more. It is just one more mile to walk. 

So, Tuesday, I struck my deal. Well, he was not going for it, because "it just didn't work for him." I told him to try and to keep on trying. I kept on pushing and he finally agreed. And then we planned, though he did not write it down. That night, I learned that we were having exchanges (actual exchanges) with our zone leaders. I was the one to leave to go to the different area.

Wednesday, he got up a bit late, but earlier than normal. He got ready and the zone leaders delayed. I needed groceries, so we got groceries. Then, I went off to the zone leader's area. I should add that our zone leaders are Spanish missionaries, so they are assigned to the Spanish branch that encompasses the Richmond Stake. Seeing as I know very little Spanish and I did not have Google translate with me, I could not do much. But, it was a lot of fun. Yes, I did not understand most of what what was going, but I picked up on a few words. We tracted into a Spanish family that was watching soccer. Before we began, we prayed, but it was interesting, the family had us stand up to pray and the stood up as well. The zone leader told me to say the prayer and he would translate. Well, before I knew it, the head of the household was saying a prayer, so I thought I would be courteous and then I would say the prayer. When he got done, everybody sat down, so I did not pray. The lesson talked about eternal families, temples, prophets, and some argument about the Spirit. That is what I caught. By the end, we again stood up to pray and the zone leader said the prayer with two other people saying their own prayer at the same time. I could hear distinctly each voice and I thought, "Man, this is like my schizophrenia project and the simulator." I was severely confused by all of it. We had a wonderful dinner with the branch president. I told them I was Hispanic. The wife of the branch president looked at me and said she could see it somewhat, but I looked really white. Yes, that is true. We tracted again that night and found a man who let us in. The zone leader translated my testimony of prayer for him.

Thursday, we had an early morning lesson and then, we exchanged back. We had district meeting and after lunch, we helped out at the health center with Bingo. We tried seeing a few people. We had a successful lesson that night, because we were in unity. We shared an equal amount, which was great. I have to mention that he seemed a lot happier that day. He showed that he could plan as well and that we could work together.

However, and this is the strange thing, when I went to check on him at 10:30, I could tell that whatever it was, it was back. He was sitting there eating chips and I could sense that he was back. It seems odd to say, but that is the only way I could describe it. Thankfully, it was not fully back, whatever it was. Unfortunately, I did not catch it in time. (As his parents we truly feel that something serious is going on with his companion beyond simple laziness. We can only hope that leaders beyond the young missionaries recognize something is terribly wrong here. However, we do not have the expertise to say what it might be.)

Friday, we had a lesson with a potential and now he is an investigator. It was a successful lesson, though I had to push to say what I needed to say. It was not as united as the day before. We saw the ladies in the dark house that we read the Book of Mormon with. It was a simple lesson and we made some good discussions on it. We saw this other recent convert who cognitively can understand things, but does have difficulty in some ways it seems. He was recently baptized, but he still goes to his other church, partially due to his father being opposed to the Church and partially due to its familiarity. We were able to get that information out of him. 

Saturday, we did the progress record and we did some form of weekly planning. It was more of a companionship study, but it helped for a coming lesson at least. We had dinner with this family, a young couple with their two little ones, who recently moved into the ward. The oldest kid, a three year old, kept asking me for my name and I told him and pointed to my name tag for reference. Well, by the second time I did that, I made that startling realization the kid could not read. Yeah, I felt bad for my own ignorance about children. It was funny the kid's brother, who is a year or so old, was playing with my bookbag. The oldest, thinking I did not see this, stated, "My brother is playing with your purse." Thanks, kid, I realize your brother is playing with my "purse." We had transfer calls that night and my companion is being transferred. Something I should have stated from the beginning, but at least I did and did not forget. Well, this mirrors Appomattox in a slight way. I was a bit apprehensive about leading the area. What do you do? You feel like you personally failed in an area, or at least you were not able to do much, but at least a little. So, I prayed.

Sunday, my own day of Pentecost. There was a rich spiritual outpouring for me that day. I learned about kindness and love from the ward conference we had yesterday. The bishop talked about unity and the stake president talked about what to do if you fall out of the boat, meaning the importance of scripture study, praying, and church attendance. The rest of the day, I felt even more confident in my self; we had two good lessons with people that day, one of them being our investigator who sticks to the Bible. I struck a deal with him (odd, I know) that when we read the Book of Mormon with him, to settle any conflicts that he might see with it (if it contradicts the Bible), then we will go out of our way to figure it out and to resolve the conflict. He had a problem with "A Bible, A Bible, we need no more Bible," but we were able to discuss that. I felt that my prayers and actions were guided by the Spirit. I am confident that as I turn to the Lord with leading the area, all will be well.


Two other things. One, at dinner, the older couple we were with talked about how their daughter was attacked by a dog on her mission. It was a gruesome account. Felt like mentioning it, because, mother, you are not alone in accounts of dog attacks and dog fights. Plus, I find it an interesting coincidence of these two stories.

As for Goochland, some members there feel neglected and offended in some ways. The ward council has heard all about it, know the situation, tries to help, but it has gone nowhere. The ward mission leader has gone through it again and again. So, I am back to, "Okay, what am I to do?" I think if we can help the Goochland become spiritually self reliant than that would be progress. Gayton Ward then has to ensure they complete this by reaching a hand out. If we make the first move, it would be good. Then, we can know these people as investigators and bring in fellowship in the claim, "We need a ride due to our mile limitations."

Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

You'll Be Dead At Any Moment

My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.
          --Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-9

Tuesday, February 17, 2015 9:11 PM

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

You are probably noting the time of email and are probably wondering why I am emailing at this time of all times. Yes, I know. I rather be working. With all of the latest developments, I have been striving companionship unity in the things that I do. Last night, I talked to my companion about resolving our issues peacefully for I have felt that there is a bit of resentment that we have towards each other. I am not angry at him, but I am trying all that I can to help him and show my care and love. He told me that he was tired of making all the decisions (Is that why he sleeps much of the day away?) and doing all the talking for lessons and tracting. Yes, it may be true that he talks more, but I never considered it to be a problem. I have had little chance to talk in lessons with many of my other companions and I learned to listen more than talk. When I teach, I talk to the point. I have no need for elaboration. He feels he makes the decisions for when we get in the car, we usually do what he has in mind. When he asks me what I want to do, I say either, I do not know, potentials, or tracting (for those are the only options that I foresee that we have). So, yes, that is all true. I told him that planning would be beneficial for me, because then I would know what we are talking about, what has been taught, and other things. He simply stated that he does not want to plan; rather, he just goes to the lesson and just goes with, in my perspective, whatever. If we plan, he'll just agree and plan. Now, from this talk that we had, we reached no conclusions, no compromises of any kind. However, I am willing to talk more if he will in exchange plan with me with full input. This provides the benefit for me to be able to have the opportunity to grow, to move the work along, and to foster companionship unity. I have yet to make the deal, so that is in part why I am here, probably because he believes that I will say one of the three options that I usually say.

Yet, the odd thing is, when I made the decisions yesterday, I met resistance. Seeing as the cars were grounded due to the snow, I decided we would walk to an investigator's house four miles away and from there, we would go to the church to weekly plan. He was not thrilled to walk (big surprise there) and thought it good to try to get a ride. That was a good idea and I asked him to try to do that while we walked. He did not. We did not weekly plan, because our dinner cancelled. When we arrived at the church, there were members of whom we hitched a ride to one of their houses, particularly the wife of Brother Anderson of the mission presidency. When we arrived home, I was bit upset, so I needed to cool off before I even thought of approaching my companion.

I will explain these things and more this email.

Monday, after P-day, around 5:50, my companion asks if we can play chess. I declined on the simple basis that he needed to get ready, so we could go out before dinner at seven. Well, we did not leave the house until about dinner time. We went to the recent convert and returning members house for dinner. It was a nice, enjoyable dinner. 

Tuesday, I got up, did my usual routine, and hope that he gets up. I called dinner at noon and set up a time. One o'clock rolls around. He is still not up. Okay, turn on the lights, tell him to wake up. Two hours later, he is still not up. He has not said anything to me. Finally, he gets up and asks for the phone. He needs to cancel dinner, because he is sick. So, nothing got done Tuesday. 

Wednesday rolls around. Okay, as far as I know he is sick. I called some missionaries, because I needed a blessing. These were not the zone leaders, but some fellow missionaries. I should make mention that I know of three companionships (one being the Zone Leaders) that know of the sleeping in. From these missionaries, I got the blessing. I felt that I needed to focus on the area, trying to help it. I have a purpose and I am going to fulfill it. I regained that energy and zeal to go forward. 

I called the zone leaders to get help. They came to our apartment and gave them the short of everything. Well, I love our zone leaders, but they can be a bit crazy. What did the zone leaders do? Wake up my companion and had him quickly get dressed. They asked me who in the ward could he stay with; I suggested one person, we tried to verify if it was okay, but there is no male, which is a "no go." Okay, so we call all that I can think of. We call the ward mission leader for suggestions. He has none, but will inform the ward council for suggestions; later, we get back, that without permission from the mission president, we cannot separate, plus nobody has any idea. (But, I am thinking to myself now, wait, what about splits?) At this point, I have no idea who to call and was about to give up all hopes. Finally, we found a place from another member in another ward. We get there and drop my companion off... until, of course, when we get there, my companion is "feeling better." ("No, you're not, you'll be dead at any moment.")

Later, the zone leaders returned us to our apartment. Our dinner for the night was dropped off. My companion received a blessing from the zone leaders. That night, my companion asked me what we should do. Well, we were invited that day to go out to Goochland to a member's house to do "Bible Study." We have been invited by the bishop and now the member himself. I decided that we could do that or we could go tracting in attempts to get feedback. We went to the Bible Study in the end. It was good, because there are less actives at this study. We are reading from the Book of Mormon and had a small discussion. I was asked if living the gospel was easy. I said yes, which I know it is hard. Believe me, I am going through this rough situation where I am fighting like a dragon to go forward. What I meant to say and what I failed to say was that it is difficult for us, but as Paul stated, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." By relying on Christ, it does not make things necessarily easier, but bearable where our burdens do indeed become light.

Now, I was also able to discern what is going on with Goochland by their comments. Goochland does not like Gayton (a congregation), or at least a lot of the less active or semi active members do no like Gayton. They feel unwelcome. They wish they had their own branch (a smaller congregation). I do not take these comments lightly, because it is an issue that I cannot solve. Yet I can bring it up to the bishop, hopefully not to burden the bishop even further, but to gain ideas to help Goochland ( a place near Richmond, VA).

Thursday, we were able to volunteer at the health center where "Mama" is. Before bingo, the activity we help with, we were able to see "Mama" and check up on her. We came back after bingo to pray with her. Bingo was fun and better than last time. I was unsure really what to do, but this time, I really helped out, which made me happy. We, that night, checked on our nine year old investigator and his recent convert family members. We were able to have a lesson with him, reading the Book of Mormon with a chapter about baptism. 

Friday, we were able to see the two women, who are recent converts, whose house is dimly lit and talked more from the Book of Mormon. We read Alma 7, which it was good to read to remember Jesus Christ and to know that I am not alone. We tried some other people that night, but it did not work out. We even tried to contact our South African investigator, but it was not a good time. 

Saturday, we worked on the progress record. We had a lesson with a man whom we met previously and he is officially a new investigator. He goes strictly by the Bible, because he feels it is the source to know and discern truth. He still is not sure how the Book of Mormon fits in with certain things. However, by the end of the lesson, he asked for a Book of Mormon. I see good coming from this. We had a late dinner with some members. In the midst of it, the wind picked up and we got a light dusting of snow. And so the beginning of the snow began. 

Sunday, it was a freezing cold day. I could see my breath in the car. It was awful, because I did not dress too warmly. I figured I would be warm in the church. Thank goodness the church was warm. There is a member in the ward that, in some sense, is a recent move in, though I am not sure how recently he moved in. I know this member from Powhatan and it is so great to see him. He is mentally handicapped. I knew his parents and his brother (who is also mentally handicapped). I decided on Sundays that I would watch out for him and try to be of help. I am going to make sure that he feels welcome and that I say hello to him.

We had a lesson that night with a part member family. We met this man once and I thought we had a good lesson. He is open religiously and is trying to understand things. He searches many sources and agrees with what we teach. It is a matter for us to help see that there is a source of truth to know the things he is trying to understand.

Monday, we tried to see a potential, then returned to the house, because he, as I found, "was tired of making all the decisions." We had a brief argument on what would I would want to do; I insisted that it is not matter of what I want to do, but what we need to do. Somehow, he did not understand, so I decided that we would again see the nine year old investigator. We did try stopping by on Sunday, but we were told to try again the next day. By this point, it started to snow. Cars are grounded. That is when I decided we would make the trek of four miles or so to this person's place.

I did not know where I was going and I thought we established the fact that we were going there. He did not lead, so in the beginning, we went the wrong way until I had to reaffirm our plans. He suggested that we call a member to get a ride. "Alright," I said, "you do that and instead of sitting here, we will move ahead." We walked and I stopped at intersections to ensure I was going the right way. I asked if he called anybody, but he said, "I could not think of anyone." Well, we trekked forward. We made it to the place and I made the joke that "This is the place." (You know, Brigham Young and Utah.) He didn't laugh nor did he get the reference. We had our lesson on again baptism with the nine year old.

From there, I decided we would go to the church to plan. He asked about dinner, so I said ask our dinner appointment for their address and we would walk there. He didn't, but instead asked for a ride. Because of the snow and potential bad road conditions, dinner cancelled. We trekked to the church; he walked way ahead of me, so I sang while I walked. He got there quite a bit before me... and there were members there. So, we got there. A member was there and we hitched a ride to their house. They ended up giving us dinner and a ride home.

I was a bit upset and I needed to cool down, so nothing else got done that day. I was upset, because I did not understand his attitude towards me nor his resentment. That night we had our talk, which ended in the middle. I plan to finish it tonight with that deal. I pray that it will go well. It had upset me, because I never thought it was a problem. I do not know why he waited to say anything. That upset me.

It bothered me. I even woke during the night and began to think about it before I forced myself to fall back asleep. I did realize that there is a great opportunity out of this for me to grow (by gaining the ability of small talk), companionship unity can be fostered, and the work can move along.

Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Melatonin, A Phone Call, Miracle, Drunk Love

The Strange Life of a Mormon Missionary

Monday, February 9, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I have no idea exactly what is wrong with my companion. I asked why he stays up, which he says, "I cannot fall asleep." Okay... I understand that you cannot fall asleep, but you take Melatonin. "I use it to fall asleep." Okay, I understand that and I asked him then, "Why do you engage in activities [e.g. working out, having lights on] that are contrary to a person trying to fall asleep?" He simply stated, "I tend to start waking up at night, particularly at this time [9:30]. It naturally happens." Naturally? Okay, I understand that. I also understand if you use Melatonin to sleep, then use it to sleep. I wanted to repeat what I said in my letter that I wrote to him. If the Lord has commanded us to go to bed early and then to rise up early, he will help us with that, even if it seems contrary to our "natural" sleep cycles. I know that there is power to change. By the time that I go through this in my entire mind, I realize the commonality of the sleeping problem and the planning problem. Attitude. I believe he has the "Eeyore" attitude, the "whatever" attitude. If this is the case, there is little, if anything, that I can do, other than "love him." 






What I then have to do is to ensure that I do something productive, other than study and lunch, between the hours of ten to two. (I have thought of doing the area book, but I can only go so far. I can plan for people, but I cannot do it everyday.) I cannot accuse him of any attitude problems until I am more sure that this is the case. Yet the more I press, the more he is going to distance himself from me. This is where I am at now, the fourth week of the transfer. I realize that I am between a rock and a hard place.  No I have not contacted Missionary Medical. If he has depression or needs any psychological help, that has to be talked with the mission president.




Monday, we got haircuts from our Greek member, because she had offered and my companion needed it. I got one, to get mine trimmed a bit. She mainly cut the sides, but did not really touch the top of my head, only a touch. She gave us cake; she always offers food when we arrive and we have dinner with her soon. We had zone P-day and I took my usual spot on the stage. Well, there was another person there who could not play sports either. Well, we talked and apparently I have been talked about. He had heard that I liked Les Miserables, which earlier that day, in my email, I quoted to you. We talked for the duration that he was there and it was quite nice. We had dinner with ourselves and from there we tried to contact some people we have not seen. One was a less active man, but on this day we were not able to get in. The other was a recent convert and his returning-to-activity wife and sister-in-law. It was good to finally talk to them, officially meet them, and begin to figure out how to help them progress. They have a desire to go to the temple and with the bishop's challenge (to get one family name to the temple by the next ward temple trip in April), it is a big help.


Tuesday, we were able to contact our Persian family and gave them the Persian Book of Mormon. Yes, Persian is still an existing language, even if the country does not exist (Okay so Dad was a bit wrong but they do have ties to Iran and may prefer people to know them as Persians.). It is also called Farsi. Another member of the family talked to us rather than the mother and son. She stated that she and the family were Muslims, but were open to learn more about our beliefs to gain knowledge. It was an interesting visit, because there was no progress and with that mindset, she made it difficult. Later that night, we went to Goochland to contact a referral, who was not home. This referral is a member and needs a ride to church. We were unable to obtain a ride, but we discussed this in ward council, enabling a movement to get a ride from a Goochland member to take him to the church. 

Wednesday, we again went to Goochland, but for an appointment with a lady in a trailer park. She makes clay dolls and she was sculpting one as we were there. I am not sure she was even paying attention to what we were saying, because occasionally, we had to repeat what we said. She did not understand why we asked about baptism, though we talked about it several times in the lesson.

Thursday, we had zone workshop. We did a lot of role playing. We had a refocus on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what was actually restored. I had thought about that, but I was glad to hear it reemphasized. It truly is a restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it helps put Christ in the focus of the lesson and our message. We were recorded like the previous zone workshop. Later that day, we contacted a referral. We had not gone to the computers to see what information was given about this person. We talked with her, though she had no idea why she was referred. We left a bit confused. We are able to return. (As it turns out, there is no information given on the referral, but she referred her self apparently.) 

Friday, we went to one of the houses where we read the Book of Mormon with some of the people there. This is the house where the two people we read the Book of Mormon with are recent converts. From what we read (1 Nephi 11), we had a wonderful discussion on pride and overcoming it. That night, we yet again went to Goochland for a dinner appointment. In the meanwhile, as it was later told to me, there was a birthday party in Richmond where a certain woman attended as well as an elderly man, who is a member of the ward that I am in. Keep that in mind. It is important. Towards the end of the dinner, we received a call from a number that I did not recognize, so I ignored it. As we left the house, I called the person back. Lo and behold, it was the Tappahannock elders. They called, because there was a baptism in Tappahannock for the man who had a lot of medical problems, who was ready to be baptized; however, he was in the hospital when I left and was unable at that time to be baptized. He was getting baptized the next day at seven. Well, it is very, very hard to try to obtain a ride the very next day. I prayed that a way would be provided, because I really, really wanted to go. 


I talked with my companion about who to call. In the meanwhile, at the birthday party, this certain woman approached this elderly man and they proceeded to have a conversation. My companion told me some people to try and at last, we determined to call the elderly man. The elderly man answered his phone and I stated who I was. He could not hear me, so he handed the phone to this certain woman. She apologized that he could not hear and asked who I was. I stated my name and she was like, "Elder Todd? Is this the Elder Todd who served in Tappahannock?" This certain woman was one of the daughters, of the members upstairs from Tappahannock, who has lots of crazy stories to tell. I was quite surprised and stated why I had called. The elderly man could not do it and the woman said she could tonight, but it was impossible to do so. I wrote down her number and sent a text with our number. I did not realize then that this was the way. 


From this conversation, we went to another trailer to talk to this lady. She was drunk and was complimenting me in particular, or in other words, she was hitting on me. She was extremely drunk; she hated my tabs on the scriptures, stated several times that our spirits are going to heaven, and told me that I did not need those tabs or the scriptures. She even prayed that we would understand that there was no point to bury our body. I could have said several things at this point and I was not too happy as well, not because of the tabs, but because of my own love for the scriptures. We immediately left.

We went home. I got permission to go to the baptism. The member from Tappahannock called and she said that she could arrange a ride for me through another member who Elder Henstrom and I helped drag a deer out of the woods with. He was going to pick up Elder Henstrom. He called me and it was arranged. Truly, the Lord knows our circumstances, know us individually, and does indeed answer our prayers.

Saturday, we took care of our progress record and we visited the family who usually takes three hours for dinner. Luckily, we were not there for dinner. We taught her nine year old who does want to be baptized, but does not like Primary nor does he like to sit still. We read out of the Book of Mormon. We had dinner and then we went to Tappahannock. The person who was being baptized was not the only one for there was another man, taught by the sisters, that also was being baptized. Wow, it was really amazing. I was so happy and the man who I was there for was also happy that I came. I was allowed to be one of the witnesses. I told him congratulations and wrote him a note in a small book that I was supposed to sign. A lot of people were there. As the branch president stated, it truly has been a miracle for Tappahannock. In these past three years, a lot of men have been baptized, which means more priesthood holders. The branch is being strengthened and is growing. Truly, the Lord is hastening His work. Tappahannock is a testimony of that. I learned that our single mother investigator's son is going to be baptized in about two weeks. I am going back to Tappahannock again. While we were there, we saw the members upstairs. She had finished Christmas decorating in January after we left. It was really great to see everybody again.

We arrived home late (about 11:00 that night), so Sunday when we had to get up at six for an early morning meeting before Church, it was difficult. We had Church, then we had lunch with the members who sent you that picture. I bore testimony of prayer from the miracle that just occurred. I was really happy about all that occurred. I had a miracle and I had seen somebody enter into the waters of baptism, I wanted to share that happiness. It was a big meal. 

Afterwards, we went to see that less active man, who is a single father going through a rough time. He laughs at his ironic state; his ancestor is Martin Harris and here he is less active. I remembered that there is an excellent talk about single fathers by, I believe, Elder Baxter. I would love to give it to him, but I am not sure how he would take it. After we left him, we had a dinner with the bishop. From there, we tried this less active woman who plans on returning to activity and is making some necessary steps. At this current point, she is not coming to church. She is recovering from an accident that she was in. From talking to her, there were a lot of things reaffirmed in my own mind about things we have previously talked about and things I have stressed.

The future looks positive. Miracles will occur. Ways will be provided.

Alles wohl! Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd