A Redhead, A Brunette, and A Blonde . . .

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. -Albert Einstein







Monday, April 27, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

God has a sense of humor; it is something than one of my companions pointed out this past week. Remember those old jokes, "A redhead, a brunette, and a blonde ..." Here we are as a trio and we realized that we are that joke.  Elder Hansen is the redhead, Elder Day is the blonde, and I am the brunette.


Anyway, I hope that Sean received my card before his birthday. It is good to hear that he is doing well. It sounds like he had a good birthday.




I have been doing well. From stake (similar to a diocese) conference, I learned a lot, particularly some personal revelation. I feel calm as a summer's day about what will happen next. I have no idea what will happen after I return, but I feel trust and faith in God and His plan. For now, I am going to continue to push forward. One of my companions has been down trodden and the other is a bit tired, but we will help each other along.


This week we pushed really hard and seen some good things. It has been truly good.

Monday, we had dinner with the recent convert and his family; the recent convert is the man who was baptized when I had arrived. We started the new member lessons with him. Not much else happened that night. 

Tuesday, we went out with a member who is helping us to visit less actives that are inaccessible due to our

mileage limitation. We took him to a lesson with a man who has cancer. He loves to talk and talk. We were able to get to know him and what he needed. We talked about faith, hope, and charity. We are sure that it helped him out. We saw some other people; one person was experiencing divorce and had been offended by members. The member spoke to her-- he also being offended by members-- and pleaded with her to return. It was obvious that she was touched. I hope that she remembers that. After going about various places in our boundaries, we met up with one of the Ms. Mary students, the one whom I have mentioned before. She recently went back to her home and we asked her how that went (since she is a Mormon while her family is not). She is still strong and pushing forward. Later that night, we visited with this woman who lives in a health center. She, also a recent convert, talked to us about different things in her life. It was good to know her a bit more.

Wednesday rolled around. We finished off the area book and completed separating all of the records. We had to go to Wal-Mart, because Elder Day has been suffering from allergies. That has been going on plus plenty of illness. I feel a bit sick this morning, but I will get better. My allergies have not been kicking in as last year when I wanted to be rid of my eyes. I think my body adapted to the climate and pollen. Hopefully. We had an appointment with a less active man; he had forgotten about it and wanted to meet another time. Another
appointment we had fell through. We checked up on this referral from a couple of weeks ago. This referral is an elderly man (in his 90s); we had helped his daughter move some furniture from his place. We visited him and afterwards, we felt that he was prepared. It is matter of easing him into the idea of investigating. He has not expressed interest in learning more, but he has not declined. The things he said indicated preparedness to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Later that night, we checked up on a referral and scheduled for the morning on Saturday.

Thursday, we had district meeting. The zone leaders were there and they wanted to go on exchanges (for two hours) with us. Hmm... I wonder why. Possibly because one of the zone leaders, Elder Denning, wanted to come with me to be my companion again, just as he "prophesied." (He said that we would be companions in the end and said that these exchanges fulfilled that. I guess we can go with that as consideration of fulfillment.) So, after district meeting, I went with Elder Denning to go finding. First door we knock on we are let in. We talked to this lady, who seemed a bit off. She is Christian and knows things in the Bible, though she depends on what other people say. She explained all the strange things that have been happening to her. I knew where we needed to go with her; we set up for an appointment for tomorrow to talk about those things. She took up our time for these exchanges. 

We had dinner that night with a mother and her young daughter; the young daughter is our investigator who expressed interest in baptism. We went over to not only have dinner, but to teach her. She was not willing to listen, despite our attempts, and eventually quit altogether. We taught the principles, but it did not go too well. Perhaps we need to change things for her. Later that night, we checked up on a family who is always busy to come to church. We reminded them of their baptismal covenants and encouraged them to come to church. They realize it; they realize where they want their family. Some members of their family have desires to be baptized. It is a matter of being motivated.

Friday, we went to our appointment with our strange lady. She expressed that she was not interested, because she was going to have her own Bible study with somebody else. We talked to her about the Atonement and our trials in life-- something she needed-- but she was not willing to listen. The Spirit was not there, despite our efforts. We went home, had lunch, and weekly planned. We had our appointment with the less active man of Wednesday change to earlier and so we went off to visit him at his mother's apartment. He had some questions on his mind, which involved his situation. All I can say is this: He at one point had the Spirit with him, but he began to doubt and came to Satan's trap. His testimony nearly withered away, even nearly casting away the idea of a God. We began to help him, so he could come back to the point. He had not been to church in a long while, but was moving forward until his situation occurred. We are going to help him progress by helping him to feel the Spirit once more.

That night we had a lesson with a Ms. Mary student, who is another recent convert. She is moving to Texas soon. We taught her a few principles before it was time for us to go. Well, we were stuck in the place we were meeting, because a swarm of elderly people came in. I had no idea where they came from, so I was like, "Where did all these elderly people come from? Did they crawl out of the sewers?" My companions laughed. (Perhaps too much Super Mario?)

Saturday, we had a lesson with the referral contacted on Wednesday. He wanted his kids taught, so we taught the Restoration simply. It was good. By the end, the father, who we had talked to and was the original referral, had said that he and his family needed to get back into church. He definitely expressed interest. We are excited to meet with this family again. We had lunch with some members. We did the progress record. (And be thankful that it is not raining, because the Internet was down when it rained on Saturday.) Then, we had a lesson with the mother, who has a kid, and needed to get to church. SHE PROGRESSED! She had changed her job, which, with her shift, will enable her to come to at least sacrament meeting. She stated that she knew the Book of Mormon was true and she bore testimony of God. Now, she needs to come to church and get married. One step at a time. We had to visit the one woman in the health center, because she needed to be updated on her ride. We also visited our crazy man who told jokes during church.

Sunday, we had the stake conference broadcast. It was great and I will get to that. For the rest of the day, we went out and tried to find people. Not much happened in the day, except a lesson with the elderly man who has an 8 year old son. He expressed that he was not going to change.

So, stake conference broadcast, Elder Larry S. Kacher talked; he spoke about being truly converted to the gospel. He even told of a Muslim man who went to a district in that part of the world and was baptized, despite knowing the costs. Elder Kacher shared some parts of his letter. Sister Linda Reeves spoke about repentance and being truly clean. Elder Neil L. Andersen spoke about being a witness of Christ. Elder Robert D. Hales spoke about faith and strengthening our family. He repeated this counsel, "Never shut the door of your heart to any of your children."

I loved it. I realize the need to have balance in my life, wherein I can be a faithful member. Spirituality is a characteristic that I find that is most important in my life. I love having a relationship with God. I plan on living my faith and acting and applying on what I believe. People have their agency and I respect that. At USC, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, "He who once was our enemy can become our friend." It is important for me to understand people and accept them for who they are.

My questions that I pose (as given by Elder Kacher) are: What does it mean to be truly converted? Do you cherish the things of the gospel?

All is well! Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Mormon Secrets: I Do Not Know The Meaning Of All Things

Are you aware of anyone having trouble with the LDS.org essay on Joseph Smith and his 40 wives? There are some people who say this is driving people away from the church. As people searched out for descendants of Joseph Smith no one showed any DNA except those who were descendants of Emma. There was one exception but that "wife" had a common ancestor with Joseph. With no form of contraception available, having no descendants from these other wives possibly shows he had no sexual interest in them. Don't let anyone give you a reason for plural marriage other than Joseph was commanded to do so. Most explanations are false. The two things plural marriage did was force the supreme court to put some boundaries on the freedom of religion and it showed the strength of Mormon women who demanded from congress that property taken from them (plural wives) should be returned.

December 1, 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Elder Neil L. Andersen said, "The negative commentary about the Prophet Joseph Smith will increase as we move toward the Second Coming of the Savior. The half-truths and subtle deceptions will not diminish." I heard about this essay from our WWE fanatic. I didn't look into it. After all, I cannot, my resources are few and I accept that. Thus, I dismissed the thought of it. Now that you mentioned it, it brought to mind the talk that Elder Neil L. Andersen gave in this most recent General Conference, of which I previously quoted. Truly, it is now the time to adjust our own spiritual oxygen mask and fortify or gain a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Yes, whether it be falsehood or truth, it may be upsetting, but it should not diminish nor annihilate the testimony of what we know. I applaud the convert who found it upsetting, but kept to the truth that she had found. Why forsake the abundance of blessings, including that of peace and happiness, for somebody who is clamoring to destroy the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God will not be hindered and the blessings will still come. We may not understand all things, such as Nephi, who said, "I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." (1 Nephi 11:17). And Nephi was a prophet, yet he did not know the meaning of all things. Why should we have the privilege? We do not know the meaning of all things, because we do not see as God sees. We do not see the big picture.

In regards to polygamy, I note these scriptures: "And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things." (2 Samuel 12:7-8) "Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; ...For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things." (Jacob 2:27, 30).

I do also recommend on lds.org under Teachings, Gospel Topics. This addresses topics people are concerned about, including that of plural marriage. (https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints?lang=eng)

And no, I have not seen any trouble. Even with our WWE fanatic.

Neither I nor my companion are being transferred. He was worried about being transferred, especially around Christmas. He really likes the members upstairs and wants to spend Christmas with them.

It sounds like everybody is getting sick. My companion is recovering from sickness, I got slightly sick (sore throat that diminished quickly), our WWE fanatic is sick, and some of the members related to our fellows upstairs are sick, recovering from illness, or recovered from illness. Even some of our investigators have been sick. It is that time and season. But, I am thankfully, doing well.

I love the new Church initiative. It is absolutely powerful. I am glad that we have a few pass along cards to help bring this to people. I would love to share this gift with people. But, I have an idea....

I am sure you are quite curious about why I emailed Tuesday. I was going to tell you in this email. Monday, we were pushed for time. I take a long time writing one email to you. We had to leave the library about 10:45 to arrive to a zone activity on time. It takes quite a while to drive from Tappahannock to our destination, plus we had to meet the senior couple and the sisters, in order to attain a ride to this zone activity. By the time 10:45 arrived, I had written very little. So, I sent you an All is Well email. Now, I hold on the narrative and explain this. The stake president challenged our zone of missionaries to attain for three weeks in a row, 100% invites. We accomplished that, somewhat. So, as reward and thus our zone activity, he cooked food for us. It was a fantastic time. I quite enjoyed it. Afterwards, the senior couple had an appointment, but it cancelled. That allowed the sisters and my companion to join in zone sports. Thus, it threw the idea of finishing our emails out of the window. We got home around four; we changed our laundry and we accomplished other tasks. We had dinner, had to pick our fanatic, and head off to an investigator to model Family Home Evening. We were slightly late, because we were pushing our time in trying to get things done. By the time we arrived, the children of the single mother investigator were asleep. We were not able to do family home evening.

Tuesday, we finished the things of which we did not do, such as emailing and shopping. After taking care of our personal business, we tried to see some people. It did not work, but for one person, they said come back on Thursday. We had an appointment made on Thanksgiving. Oh, and I will get to that. Well, with our appointments gone through the floor and unaccomplished, my companion, having heard from the senior couple about a blood drive, wanted to donate blood. So, we headed to the fire department, which was near where we were. He donated blood; I stayed away from it. They understood. After donating blood, we checked up on a less active, who had been sick. As per his usual request, we opened to wherever the scriptures opened to. I was the one that chose. I ended up at the end of First Corinthians. It turned out okay. We tried another person, the investigator who I am unsure about. He definitely has understanding of concepts and understands what we teach. In fact, he said that what we said is true. Yet, he still does not understand priesthood authority.

Wednesday, we tried to see some people. Not much happened. We tried to see the single mother investigator to hold family home evening, but one of her children was asleep, recovering from illness. Instead of family home evening, we tackled temples and family history. It was a good lesson. We encouraged her to pray, because she has yet to pray to know if she should be baptized. I will get to this issue soon. After that lesson, we received texts from the branch president to come to the church quickly. We arrived, we waited, and the branch president has somebody he wants us to meet. This man is now a new investigator of ours. He has met with missionaries all his life; not necessarily he talked with them, but he has seen them a lot. His family had been taught, but his family was doing it to be polite. He has been Catholic and non-denominational, because he feels like they, both the Catholics and the non-denominational, are missing something. He discovered on his own lds.org, thankfully, which allowed him to study and learn more about Joseph Smith. The branch president and another member have known him for a while and talked with him. He is definitely ready.

Thursday, the day of Dead Bird Day. For us, it was a normal, proselyting day with special permission to extend dinners. Unfortunately for us, only one member signed up and that member was the members upstairs. Their dinner started at 5. Pretty much, we had 10 to 5 to figure out how to stay busy. It sounds bad to put that way, but I necessarily cannot say be productive, though it could apply. I was not willing to tract, neither was my companion. That, and certain other holidays, I will withhold from tracting. So, we planned, trying to thoroughly do it, mainly to take up time. And we decided to try that appointment we had around three. Now, I understand the principle of calling ahead, but we were desperate to try to stay busy and they did say come back. My companion went before me when he knocked on the door and subsequently, opened it when they called to come in. Let's just say that it was not a good time; I mean, generally, when somebody is about to carve into their turkey, is bad timing to have an appointment. After time passed by, we headed out to dinner. Now, we left at five to purposely be late. It was not meant to be rude. As long as with the normal proselyting rule, we also had to avoid the sisters at any dinners we have (unlike last year). It is normally like that; we are not allowed to eat with the sisters, though occasionally with Sunday dinners, another family, who is related or friends with the members upstairs, invites them. (Thus, we excuse ourselves and justify this the incident; we were ignorant to the fact.) Well, our attempt to avoid the sisters, utterly failed. They were at the dinner still. Dinner was the best part of the day. It was a very good meal with all of the family, including siblings and their descendants, of the members upstairs. Thanksgiving was awkward in trying to stay productive and trying to avoid the sisters.

Personal note to you: I am trying to be obedient and work hard. Thanksgiving happened to be one of those off days of misfortune. But, we have things covered for Christmas. The members upstairs signed up for the sisters for Christmas and the branch mission leader signed up for us for Christmas. Granted, both people are related to each other and we are going to end up at the same dinner, but I will claim ignorance. I also am not trying to justify things (yet I am); it is me trying to figure things out while trying to be obedient to our rules. I hope that makes sense. I am not sure it does.



Friday, or should I say Black Friday. (A member mentioned this in her testimony yesterday. She was talking to some kids about Black Friday and the kids did not know what that was. Though one said, "Isn't that where the people kill each other in stores?") We had zone meeting and it took a big portion of our day. We saw the investigator who has yet to understand priesthood authority and taught the Plan of Salvation. Saturday, we worked on organizing our Area Book, updating records, etc. We worked on the progress record. We tracted and were able to pass a long a few of the Christmas initiative cards. We saw our single mother investigator and finally had family home evening. Afterwards, we talked a bit. Then, she mentioned, "I just tell the kids that we need to do what they say, because we promised we would." "Have you prayed yet?" "Uh...." We told her to fast and pray, because, for us, Sunday was Fast Sunday. (We have stake conference on the seventh of December.) We talked of the importance of knowing if she needs to be baptized. She understands. She is hesitant, because she knows the answer she is going to get. She knows the answer. Next time we see her, which will be tonight, and we bring up "Have you prayed," I am determined to mention Jonah.

Sunday, we had church and choir practice. We helped a priesthood holder home teach. We had dinner. We saw the investigator who is trying to learn and has yet to understand priesthood authority. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I explained the idea behind the Restoration of the Gospel. Not much happened.

So, yes, on the 7th, I am turning one year older. Our schedule of that day is pretty much planned. We have stake conference, we have lunch, we need to with some people (or study), we have choir practice, and then we have a choir recital where we are singing in another church (I am not entirely sure of things). I am sure I am going to miss the Christmas Devotional, albeit we have plans to watch it later via the Internet and Mormon.org time. But, I am honestly not seeing time to light a candle for my birthday. I honestly might celebrate it the next day. 

All is well!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Meat and Potatoes: Ephesians Chapter 4

Monday, May 5, 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Good news is that I am not being transferred, so it will be a less of a headache for Mother's Day. So, I talked to the person who is allowing us to use his computer for the calls. He told me, via text, to give you his contact info... but I only know his cell phone number . . .

I was not even sure what the Power Show was; it was a giant flea market with a tractor pull. Yes, it was done by a coalition of churches. In fact, I work at a food bank that is run by the same coalition of churches. With this area, it seems as though I am helping the ward to go forward in missionary work and to help certain less actives. We are still trying really hard. The investigator that is on date has some things to work on and we are having to push it back. Another investigator, who is "waiting for her mom to die," finally let us know what is the problem: the priesthood. Luckily, like Apple, we have a talk for that.

I was talking to my companion this past week, especially with my communication (which I will get to). He told me that he thinks I'm proper, just by the way I say my words. He also thinks I sound British, because of the words I use. It is by the words such as "fairly well" and "excellent" that makes him think that. That made me chuckle.

So, before I get to the meat and potatoes of this letter, the one part you want. Monday, we had a district P-day, where we played games. I was distracted in basketball over my communication, so I did not do much. They went easy on me. And when I did actually make a basket, one elder, who is greatly taller than I, picked me up and hugged me, all the while I was being swung. My back hurt after that. Then, we played soccer and they said I did fairly well and asked if I ever played. I told them no and described my brother and Bria and what I did during their games. Apparently, somehow, I picked up something from osmosis.

Tuesday, we went to our blind less active. We do have someone that is working on his music, thankfully. Now we are trying to figure out how to help him, because he avoids gospel topics. He is not ready yet; I personally do feel that. The answer that I have received is to make him happy. Why? Each day is a living nightmare, because he attaches himself to the past with his friends and other things. His life is never going to be what it used to be, yet he latches onto it. Everyday he forgets the day, because "it will be better in the morning" and he wakes up and it is another nightmare. He cannot move forward, because he does not know what to move forward to. He surrounds himself with bitterness. Once we get him to church, he will start to move forward, hopefully. So, make him happy is very limited, because he latches onto something to talk about. Right now, he is talking about massages, because he is a certified deep tissue massage therapist that has no clients.

Tuesday and Wednesday, it had been raining and we had an awesome storm with tornado warnings and such. It was nice. We tracted beforehand and ran into a lady that was deeply devout about the Bible. She had found it sad that we accepted more than the Bible, "for the Bible is everything, for Jesus said it, and if we accept more than the Bible, we call Jesus a liar." We made her very sad, despite how many different ways we tried explaining it. But the storm stopped on Wednesday. We went into the church, then we went out. It was hot and my companion complained about the humidity. (You could see it cling to the glass.) But, to be honest as I said to him, I do not feel it. It just feels hot. (He is from Idaho.) He did not understand until we used our phone to call the weather service and looked at Lemoore. That day it was 96 degrees. I do know that our heat is dry and this is humid, but I cannot tell the difference. It just feels hot.

Friday, we had a zone meeting. Then, we had a companion exchange. It took forever coming home, because a van had hit a bus. That night, I had a wonderful dinner, because I had some excellent conversations. I also have an option to use, (I have to get permission), for the blind less active.

Saturday, we had Elder Bednar and I will get to that. Then, it was a day of service for the rest of the day. We helped a less active by circumstance, the wife of the less active who is in the nursing home, to be uplifted, especially after all she goes through. It really helped her to go forward a bit and turn to God. And Sunday, we helped that less active as well. Plus, we had a special stake conference with Bishop Dean M. Davies.

So, before I get to Elder Bednar, there are a few things I would like to discuss. One, communication. So, I learned to stop fighting God. When you do, you do not win. So, what do I mean? I never accepted where I am and who, in terms of communication, I am. Hence, why I was struck with Proverbs 17:27. I accept the fact that I am a quiet person. Now, I wish I was social, which was also a problem. I figured it was what I needed and I always read about Enoch and Moses who had similar problems and God helped them. Then, I read Ezekial 3:26, which God, to one of His servants (a prophet), struck dumb to make sure he was not a reprover. So, what was I to do? It was accepting where I am and being grateful that I have this weakness. It will get better, however God wants it to get better. It was here that it actually seemed as though I moved forward. Two, I had an idea that I am going to do when I am older. With the journal that I have, particularly the spiritual things written, I am going to get another, later, much later, to formalize all of those spiritual thoughts and form, in a sense, scriptures for my children, using those thoughts, testimonies, and the true scriptures.

Now, Bednar. Elder David A. Bednar is really great, along with Elder Lynn G. Robins and Bishop Dean M. Davies. He is straightforward, yet funny. Meeting an apostle makes them human, because you get to see how they actually are. You still sustain them, but you get to see who they are. Hopefully, that makes sense. We, beforehand, read 3 talks and he followed up with them. He asked questions and we responded; we asked questions and he and the other general authorities answered. It was funny. At first, Sister Bednar spoke, then Bishop Davies, then Elder Robins, and then Elder Bednar. When Bishop Davies came up, he said in the words of a famous song, "I feel good." In response, Elder Bednar, when he got up, told Bishop Davies and us, in good humor, that every Thursday, he has a meeting with the Apostles and the First Presidency, and now, he has interesting report to give about Bishop Davies. He reminded Bishop Davies, he was not kidding. Elder Bednar was going to tell them that. Then, Sister Bednar came up and humorously said, "You still like that stuff. Whenever we play the radio on those stations, you always ask me who sang this. I do not know, my grandma never let me listen to that on the radio when I was young." Then, Bednar gave us some guidelines. He was not going to play Guess-What-Is-In-My-Head, because whenever he points (and he pointed to an elder) and asks a question, "that poor elder's mind has gone totally blank. He does not know his name, not even where he is at this point. All he knows is that Elder Bednar is pointing at him. In fact, he is gone blank, just by pointing at him." Later, when we asked questions, he gave guidelines. He was not going to play Stump-the-Apostle, "I forfeit, you win." He told us to not ask where the Sword of Laban is or where Kolob is, "I do not know and I do not care." He told us not to pull an obscure verse of scripture from Isaiah and ask for the meaning, "I got the same set of scriptures as you do. When I became an apostle, I did not get a set of scriptures with answers in the back."

Now, here is what I got from the entire thing, because they did not give talks. Sister Bednar briefly spoke, which helped confirm that this is the time for preparing for the future. Bishop Davies reminded me that I am on the Lord's errand. Elder Lynn G. Robins reminded me that part of what I have learned thus far is to fight Satan and the darkness. It also reminded me a future trial I will face with a certain temptation. And that will come from marrying at the appropriate time and day, which may indeed be later than I expect.

Elder Bednar modeled teaching for me. I learned overall the Gospel is active and personal. We have agency; we are agents to act and not objects to be acted upon. Satan wants us to be objects. We have to learn in faith and pray in faith. It is all active, not passive. Conversion is acting on testimony. We should expect to act and to choose the right, because we chose to make covenants that said to do that. My own teaching has to be active and personal. I am to be the conduit, which means being worthy and bring in the Spirit. My pattern of teaching is and should be asking questions and testifying. It requires in part, observing and listening. My goal is also to help others to learn to find things out for themselves. Interestingly for me, he hit a lot of my patriarchal blessing and helped me to understand it. That is in part where I got this new direction on my teaching. When the time comes and the mission ends, I should keep the habits I have learned. Now, I am not expected to wear a white shirt and tie. The world is supposed to and should be weird for me. (As if is not already.) I should not quickly go back to the world and perhaps just be in the world and not of the world. I should always have a temple recommend, be on guard, and be humble. The world will be like in Babylon. "Whenever [I] enter into a mall, it should feel as though I am in the midst of Babylon." By accepting the covenants and things of the Lord, I am enlarging my agency.

Bishop Dean M. Davies spoke at the special stake conference, which was quite different from most stake conferences. He focused on the temple. I need to have a testimony of it. I have a few active and less active people who dislike the temple. I was reminded to have a testimony and then enter into the new and everlasting covenant. The temples show God's love, because it is where the living and the dead receive ordinances. We should not be afraid to talk of Jesus Christ. After all, we are Christ's church. It is okay to talk about Him. He put that we are the Christian church, due to its restoration. (Of course, we do not go around saying that.)

After all of that, I felt exhausted. Spiritually drained is the fastest way to be physically drained. I did not want to do much yesterday after getting home from stake conference. I was done for the day and it was only 1:00 PM. Of course, I worked.

All is fairly well!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

P.S. Can I be honest for a second? Well, either way, this makes me laugh. But, I always mentioned Avatar: The Last Airbender for a reason. I knew you never did like it and thought it was just a cartoon. So, I always brought it up for the fact that, "Hey, other people like it too!" 

Endure: Some Doors Need to Close, While Others Will Open

Monday, March 24, 2014

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Well, I do plan on watching the videos today on fixing my bike after emailing. It is something that I plan on doing. So, until then, my bike is okay. The member did a temporary fix, but now I am going to try a permanent solution. Other than that, my bike is the middle of my worries.

So, the member ended up not getting things scheduled in time. Either way, I will not be going any time soon to the Washington, D.C. temple. Unfortunate, yes, but there will be a time when I can.

Yes, transfer calls did come. I am leaving, which I feel that it is time. I learned what I needed to here. I learned how to endure and what that means. Day in and day out, I had to endure. But, it is good. I enjoyed it here. While I did not get to know the members quite well, I feel I accomplished something here. Not sure if I will be able to rest, to regain strength, in the coming area, but we will see. This area could use some new energy. We have nearly tracted the north of our area, the middle of our area, and pretty soon, we would have started the south parts of our area. I am glad to give some ideas that I hope will provide fruit for this area. It will take time. And no, I have no idea where I am going.

This week was fair enough. We really worked hard. Tuesday, one of the missionaries that also cover the ward that I am in was called to Richmond for a meeting. So, I was in a trio for Tuesday night and most of Wednesday. We did more tracting Tuesday. There was this one street that we knocked pretty quickly. Not many people interested until this one door. He talked to us quite a bit. Nothing much to note about him, but rather what did happen. He asked us if we knocked on the lady across the street from him. We did, but we could not remember if any answered. He told us to be careful, because she will call the police. She even called the police on him for crawling into his own house through a window, because he locked himself out. And sure enough, a police car did pull into that neighborhood, but we avoided the police by talking to the man.

Wednesday was a pretty good day. We had some great lessons that day with two investigators. Another appointment fell through that day, but we were able to go ahead and talk to two less active members. It was good. A lot of things were able to move forward. Also, my companion locked ourselves into our bedroom that night. He was messing with the door mechanism until it broke and could not be pushed in (karma). What does he do then? Closes the door, thus taking 40 minutes of us trying to get us free. I had to climb out the window, onto the roof to get a screwdriver as well as brush my teeth and get ready for bed. (Our current apartment is a house with a second floor and a basement. It belongs to a member.)

We had zone meeting this past Friday. I was asked to give a spiritual thought on our purpose and its meaning to me and how it motivates me. What turned to be a thought turned into a testimony that went well. It was good to do that. I was surprised also on Sunday to give a talk, because I was leaving. I had a minute to prepare, because they announced it before I gave a talk. I bore testimony of enduring, which was good.

One less active person we have been working wanted me to thank you two for raising me well. I made her cry in a good way. She and her family have been going through a lot and we invited her to have family prayers at night. I bore testimony, which really helped her to be on board.

I love testimonies. I find them to be really powerful. What keeps me doing what I am doing? My testimony. I have learned a lot of things so far. I am exhausted, tired, but despite that, I am going to keep on working hard and keep on doing what needs to be done. I hate good-byes and I hate to leave, but it is time. There are others to be found and others to be rescued. 

Yes, I did get my package and no, I do not know those elders (his mother sent him names of some other missionaries whose mothers share a Facebook page). 

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd