Hope is the Anchor to the Souls of Men

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom, (You may wonder why Elder Todd always addresses his parents this way. The answer: we don't know, he's always been apologetic so he can't put Mom first without thinking he's offending Dad or conversely. So we referred to ourselves as his parental advisers in our last letter to him.)

I plan on getting a haircut this week, just in case you were wondering. I have not been able to, but do not fret, I will get it done. (His hair grows fast and instead of laying down, it sticks straight out. So once a month we would have him cut his hair.) I did mention this idea to my companion, to which he says that my hair is short and that I had a haircut last month. For which I replied, "Hair does grow."

Yes, we did have a baptism yesterday, which was amazing. It was my first baptism in the mission field and the first baptism I ever performed. The person I baptized was the mormon.org referral and he is a bit taller than I and also a bit heavier (he is very muscular). Plus, the water was not as deep as it could have been. So, needless to say, he was thoroughly washed of his sins for I had to dunk him four times to make sure he was entirely immersed. (Seth is fairly short so I can imagine the trouble he had trying to get the man's whole body under the water without dropping him. See his FB page https://www.facebook.com/ElderSethTodd to learn more about baptisms in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

My week was good for the most part. I went on exchanges with one of the missionaries in my district and we found many potential investigators. We have a two return appointments, though one did not turn out and my companion and I will have to try to talk to him again. The other we have yet to see. Though, I also did go out with the zone leaders and that is where it gets interesting. So, before I first got here, my current companion had this mormon.org referral that he went to see and he saw her and had a return appointment on Monday. That return appointment was during a week that I was here. She cancelled and said she was not interested. I always wanted to meet with this lady, because, well, no reason really other than everyone needs to hear the gospel. My companion did show me her house, but I, honestly, forgot which house other than the street. This street was where the mormon.org referral lived. My companion and I tracted (LDS vocabulary for knocking on doors) the last half of it. Now, with the zone leader, I decided to tract the first half. First, three doors, nobody home or not interested. Fourth door, it was that lady. She rejected us, but then we offered to share a message about Christ. As we shared a message from the Book of Mormon and Bible, it slowly turned into questions about the Book of Mormon which lead to the first discussion, the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She did question us with the statement, "Where is it in the King James Version?" We would show her and explain. We got to the point where she said she would pray to know if God wants her to read the Book of Mormon. So, my companion and I have a return appointment. What is funny is that she asked us, "Did anyone send you?" The zone leader spoke up (he did not know the whole story), so his answer was, "No." That is true, nobody did send us (well, except, God), but I know it might be interesting when she sees my companion again. When the zone leader and I left, I explained the story, which he started to laugh. (We hope he explains why the one missionary said "No.")

We have another baptism this upcoming week. My companion gets to baptize him. The man is the charitable man, who has so many stories of how he has helped people plus other stories. I do enjoy his stories. He told us about where he lives and that there is a homeowners association. The homeowners association has brought him to court several times. He told us about a time where he repainted his door. The paint he used was the same color, type that was originally on the door. The association brought him to court, because it was against the rules to paint your house without a petition from the neighbors, with them saying it would not offend them. The judge was on the man's side, because it was the original color (so, the association lost). That is one of his many different stories that he has. He also quit chewing tobacco recently, which was excellent. He is definitely prepared.

I am taking pictures. I have been trying to upload them, but the frustration part is that they will not upload. The upload keeps on being interrupted. So, I will keep at. (His camera has a very large megapixel resolution.)

I will stick with the U (University of Utah) at this current time, but it was good to talk to the sheriff member to get advice (This happened the week before). I definitely feel as though the mission will prepare me for my future. I have been feeling that a lot.

Sean went through his surgery? Wow, I did not know it was that soon. I am glad that it sounds like it went well. I am sorry Mom is going stir crazy as she is taking care of the children while Sean recovers.

I heard about Veronica, but not the others. Denice (former LMCHS student, now at West Hills Community College) emailed me for some advice for her mission papers. And I heard that her mother is on date for baptism. That is really neat and awesome!

I am glad to hear that Dad has a good class this year and I hope that keeps up. I am excited to hear about you two each and every week. I am also glad to hear that my dog is being taken care of. She usually keeps warm at night. Which reminds me, what material do I need to obtain to survive winter? Also, do you know of any simple recipes that have little materials that do not require a crockpot (for we do not have one yet and I do think about it) and do not require an oven (we do not have an oven, but we do have a toaster oven)? If you do, thanks. If not, it is all right. I will find some on my spare computer time.

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but from washing away from it all that is not gold. 

- Leo Tolstoy