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

A Puzzle Piece is Missing: Are You Sitting On It?

Monday, February 2, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

You are right; I do not know what is going on with my companion. I have been persisting in trying to do the right things (In our letter to our son we suggested a number of reasons that might exist behind his companions behavior such as losing a loved one, parents who may have divorced while he was serving, or even a girlfriend who no longer has interest. When you are talking about young adults 18 - 25, reasons for not exhibiting the best missionary behavior can really vary.). I gave him that note (mentioned in a previous post) and I noticed that he withdrew a bit during that Sunday. However, he did not change and he got back into doing what he does. If anything, he has been more openly engaging in activities that are contrary to a person going to bed. I have not enjoyed it; I was slightly getting sadder. I have not given up, because I will not concede defeat. I try to understand what is his cause for behaving the way he does, but he avoids the topic like a plague. I asked him if he has any sleeping problems, which he only said that he has a hard time waking up. Later, I asked about the melatonin that he takes, which he says that he has a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Those things I can understand, but I am missing the big key to this puzzle. I am trying to figure out why then does he not go to bed. Once I find that out, I can proceed in determining the underlying issue. Last night, I planned to confront him and ask him these questions. He was shaving and he then proceeded to shower. I decided then to forego it for the night. If I am going to help him, I need to know how to best help him. I am trying open doors in order to help him. I tried small talk with him, but I am not the best at small talk. In summary, I am seeking answers and I am not going to give up. There are things going on here that I cannot even begin to explain, and I am not going anywhere until I can. 


The biggest success this week is we, for the first time this transfer, weekly planned. It was like, not trying to be negative here, pulling teeth or trying to lead a donkey. Ever since I began to weekly plan in depth, I have loved it, because it gives us a general idea of what we want to focus on and what general scriptures or questions we will use. To me, it shows that we are spiritually creating the lesson, so that we are prepared to enable the Spirit to draw something from us. It is a lot better than stating, "This person needs to be taught the Plan of Salvation... We need to follow up on... We need to invite him..." I will have to hold off on that for a while until I can first help my companion, because trying to do that was a headache. In due time, we will need to do that. Baby steps; that is how we will work. Big success here with weekly planning, though.

You are right. I am very enthusiastic about the work. I have been on this enthusiastic high about missionary work. The reason for this is because I know. From 19 months (and it is scary that it is nineteen months already), I have become more converted to the gospel. I know the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real, that by it each and every one of us is enabled to return to our Heavenly Father. By the Atonement, I have improved myself and closed the distance of my relationship with God. God is real, because He has become real in my life and I recognize the reality of the spiritual aspect of life. It is needed, because it is how we can be happy, not only for a temporal time, but for a lasting duration. My testimony is my fire. As I have learned in a recent meeting, "I light myself on fire, so that people can watch me burn." That testimony is my fuel that keeps me going and lights me on fire. It is both fuel and the igniting power.

A little interesting fact that I have discovered while doing family history this week. I was working on inputting information on Ancestry (as usual) and was correlating on FamilySearch (I was inputting information on the Todd line, which is easier to follow than most of the other names that I have branched off with) when I discovered that a sibling [Nellie Eva Todd, for your information] of Henry Matthew Todd had married John Whittaker Taylor, being one of his multiple wives. We have relations to John Taylor through this, which I thought was cool. Well, we have the institute manual of Church History in our apartment and I was looking through it. I came across John Whittaker Taylor, who during the Smoot hearings had to go into hiding (as well as another Apostle), because he had married more wives after the Manifesto was given. He later resigned from the apostleship and six years later, he was excommunicated for marrying another woman. After reading that, I now more fully realize that it is important to follow the prophet.

The highlights of this week. 

Monday, we had dinner with some members, who told us about this Greek woman who is a less active. We, after trying a few people, went to see her. She is an award winning hairstylist, who, as she had told us, won a competition, because she was able to cut hair really well in seven minutes. (And she will cut out hair for free) She has had some hard times due to the malicious intents of others. She has been asking about the Word of Wisdom and wine, coffee, and tea. This Greek woman is amazing. She is kind and, from what I can tell, is hard working, doing her work quickly and efficiently. We have addressed some of her concerns and answered any questions that she has had. 

Tuesday, we also contacted a man whose wife is a less active. He has a definite interest in the gospel (and he has been taught once by my current companion and my predecessor). We watched the Restoration video with him. He did not come to church this week. The wife was not there when we came by. That night, we had dinner with members who mentioned the press release that the Church had recently done. May I say that it is the most wonderful statement, not because I am a Mormon and not because I am a missionary, but because it calls for fairness for the religious community (in religious freedom laws and protection) and for the LGBT community (in basic human rights, such as housing). [I do hope that I understood the message clearly and conveyed it correctly.] If you have not watched it, I recommend it.  

Wednesday, we went to Cafe Rio, because some missionaries here wanted to go and somebody was leaving. It just opened and so we went. We got a free meal, because members were there and they gladly paid for us. Later that day, we contacted a few recent move ins who have not come to church. Some were excited to see us, others not so much. One person opened the door, we asked if the person was such and such name, and she asked how did you know. Well, may I add a note that her pants had the University of Utah logo on it with Utah near it. True, not all people in Utah are Latter-day Saints, but seeing as we were looking for a Latter-day Saint, it was a big sign saying, "Hey, I am such and such person." She told us we could come back, but she did not seem that excited to see us. Neither did some other people. 

Thursday, not much happened, unfortunately. 

Friday, we had a zone meeting. We talked about spiritually creating our baptisms, we talked about companionships, unity and ward council. Ever since I have come here, there have been a lot of talks and messages that I have applied to myself and my situation. There are some that I could easily look at my companion and say, "Listen," but I decided to take a look at myself. I love President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's "Lord, Is it I?" for it is so easy to look at someone else and say, "Oh, they need it." We are meant to improve and seeing we are imperfect, we should apply the messages to ourselves, even if we heard them multiple upon multiple times. I learned some things during this meeting. 

Saturday, we attempted to get our car serviced. The airbag light came on, which according to the manual, "The airbag may not deploy during a crash and may [in fact] deploy randomly." We found a place to get a diagnosis, which would cost ninety-nine dollars. We called the missionary in charge of the cars, who told us to hold off while he thinks about it. 

Side note, my nightmares have been changing. I used to have nightmares of school and my grades being below a B or even that of an A. I always felt like I was failing a class. Now, I had one dream where I was put into the hospital and I needed some sort of procedure, but before they could do anything, I stated, "Has this been approved by Missionary Medical?" Well, the obvious answer was no, because I was immediately ejected from the hospital. I had another dream/nightmare where I had a seizure and afterwards, I got up and was like, "I need to go to the hospital. I do not feel good." Then, I thought, "Oh, wait, I need to get it approved by Missionary Medical." I told my companion that I am surprised I have not had a nightmare about the cars and the processes with them. Then again, it is not too stressful, though it feels that it happens all too frequently.

Sunday, we had church and we weekly planned. We attempted to see people, but did not have success until that night. We were able to see a few people, despite it being the Super Bowl, the unofficial national holiday.

I do say that "All is Well!" At times, I do want to sing, "Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men, of a people who will never be oppressed again...." but I refrain (partially because I am not entirely sure of how it goes) and it gets me riled up. I will not be oppressed in spirit. My goal for this week is not to give up. I am going to go upward, not downward.

Tout va bien! Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Tappahannock on the Rappahannock

The Rappahannock River runs approximately 195 miles.

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

Albert Einstein

Monday, November 17. 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

All is well!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Pin by Jackie Helwig.