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

Introspection: Accepting Who I Am

And ye shall be holy men unto me. . . 

                                          -Exodus 22:31 

    For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.  -Mosiah 3:19

Monday, January 12, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am getting the picture, or at least the message God seems to be sending me. I have had you, wife of the members upstairs, and our single mother investigator tell me, in essence, the same thing. Everyone has been telling me the same thing. I have a lot of potential, yet I do not see it.

I have changed a lot and not into the person I had envisioned myself at the very beginning. At one time, I envisioned a person who was a person who could be a talker, a person who can be noticed. Yet, through the mission, I have accepted that I am not a talker. In fact, I love to be quiet. Quiet, to me, gives me an anchor, a place inside myself to pray to God and to rely on God. I love to listen. I have learned that I have a strong, stalwart soul. I am a person with determination with gentleness in heart. I often thought it was weakness, but it is strength. I am a man of belief. I love reading the Law of Moses, not only because of the aspect of law, but also of the moral principles that extend to principles of the higher law. When I say a man of belief and then discuss the law of Moses, I point the fact that I look for moral principles, a cause to defend religion in general. I hope this all makes sense.

I do have lots of knowledge. I rather not brag that I am smart. I have much more to learn. I have felt shunned because I have knowledge.

I am serious about changing my music that I like to hear. I am absolutely in love with Bollywood, folk songs from different cultures, operas, musicals, music from 30's and 40's and some from the 50's, and the other things. I know I will have to watch less shows than I did when I was home. Yes, television has been, in the past, time to take a breather from stress. I will have to watch less now. I have to strike that balance. I have to make sure I read my scriptures. I have to make sure I pray often. I have to make sure that I am obedient. I have realized how I am dependent on God and I cannot lose the relationship I have with Him.

I am afraid to offend you. I made mistakes before and I have been yelled at for them. I do not respond to yelling and I cannot stand yelling. I cannot stand the fighting that goes on. I have been afraid to tell you that I have lost things on the mission. But, here it goes. I lost the hats that I had; I am mad about losing the hat I got last year. But, this year I received ear muffs and they will do. I think the worst that you would see, but what I learned to be a blessing, is that I lost my electric shaver charger. Yeah, I did. But, the good news I use a manual razor now, which is quite excellent. It allows me to remove my finer hairs on my face, which the electric shaver could not get, no matter how much force I put into it. So, blessing in disguise; no more peach face. (Yes there has been discord at home. At times, he has made some upsetting mistakes but nothing of a serious nature. There are things we wish he could do better. There are things, so many things he has accomplished and done well. He is absolutely right about the razor. Getting rid of the peach fuzz with a razor blade is a dream come true. No more baby face. Ear muffs won't do. We will expect that he keeps his entire head warm in Virginia's cold weather.)

So, now these deep feelings have gone out and I have confessed what I have lost, it is due time to tell you a few important items. I found those different language Book of Mormon books in the apartment here. Oh, did you look at the audio book? Did you see the letter? I am not concerned, I find it interesting. Now, for the main item of business. Yes, I am being transferred. And so is my companion. Yep, it has happened again. So, where I go, I will find out tomorrow.

Monday, after our P-day, we had a lesson with a man who we had not seen in a month. He was asleep when we knocked, but he allowed us to come in. We taught the Plan of Salvation. He seemed alright with the ideas and concepts. He did not object, but it seemed evident by his conduct at the end, when he gave his two cents. I do not remember what he said.

Tuesday, we saw the recent convert who lives down in King William. My companion and him get along, a lot. So, when we were teaching him one of the new member lessons, he and my companion went off into many tangents. Some about orange juice, some about tomatoes. The recent convert is an excellent man and he has a great understanding of the gospel. He definitely is hungering after the word. Our appointment that night with the man who I am still wondering how much he understands fell through. But, he progressed last week, which was great. He remembered concepts, which is a step in the right direction. We were able to find that out through some questions we asked. (An important step in teaching as well as conversion is to check for understanding and if necessary to reteach. This hopefully will avoid future misunderstandings.)

Wednesday, we had district meeting. I shared a spiritual thought from Exodus 22:31 and connected it to Mosiah 3:19. To me, it spoke about the contrast of the holy and carnal, which is greatly expounded in

Mosiah 3:19. (Side note: I love the law of Moses. It is great. I realize that is a very just form of law, but couple it with human nature, you receive a law that can easily fall into error. To me, in order for the judges or rulers to use this law, they have to rely and have dependence on God.)

We moved furniture into a new apartment here in Tappahannock for the branch is about to receive Spanish speaking missionaries. (English speaking missionaries will replace us.) That took some time. We went from there to home to an appointment we had in Warsaw (the sisters handed somebody to us) and then to the church for the appointment fell through. We were able to check on the person who is on date. He had come home from the hospital, but the very next day, he went back for tests for about ten days. He did have a stroke and his eyesight is blurry. He was weak when we saw him. He could not read, but I remembered that we had the Book of Mormon on CD. So we went to retreive it and gave it to him. The senior couple gave him a discman to use.

Thursday, we did not have much success this day.

Friday, we planned. All day. We decided that we would do a more effective planning session, so that we would have more effective lessons. Well, we will not see the results of it, but I loved doing it.

Saturday, we saw our investigator who I am not sure how much he understands. We taught him some more things. He is actually deciding which church he needs to go to. He is progressing. We saw our single mother investigator with some members. It was a great lesson for the most part of it. We taught her about discipleship. We had a good discussion. We felt as though we resolved her concern about hyprocrisy in churches in general. Then, she turned the tables on me. My companion and I did not know what to do. It was awkward. How did she do that? Well, she started discussing myself, about how I have great potential. She said that I would adjust well while my companion would have a hard time. We received our calls while at her house.

Sunday. My companion and I gave a talk. We were given this assignment on Saturday at 6:00 at night.  I wrote mine out, at least to how much I could write out. I did not have a lot of time to construct much. We were assigned to talk on missionary work. (Surprising, right?) More importantly, member missionary work.

I decided to write my talk as if I was in a one on one conversation. I told them that they were the same as I, but they had a power greater than I. I told them to expect miracles and to have courage. Then, I told them three examples from White Oak, Powhatan, and Appomattox involving three of my investigators and member missionary efforts. I told them they had the power of being a friend, of being an example. I invited them to invite their friends, coworkers, and if all options were exhausted, then pray for missionary opportunities. I invited them to get to know our investigators and to invite them into their homes. It was good.

Not much happened that day. We spent a lot of time with the members upstairs.

Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd