Open Up In The Name of the Lord!

As funny as I think it'd be, I didn't say that subject line to an investigators door. Actually, we weren't thinking and locked our keys in the apartment. This was Saturday, and the property managers don't work on weekends. We figured it didn't matter, we still had three hours to go out and do some missionary work. One of the things we did that day was have dinner with a wonderful older gentleman. He has a very small apartment, but loves the spirit we bring, so he invited us over for dinner. We had a great discussion in his cramped apartment. He is a good man and I enjoyed it. We then had a simple dinner. He was so glad we brought kool-aid with us. He let us have some of his birthday cake for dessert! When we were saying goodbye, he gave Elder Stuart a hug. I got a hug too as well as a bonus kiss on the cheek.

After a bit more work, we headed back home, where I received a memory from my past of shenanigans. I used to be really good at getting into a locked door using only a card. After like 10 minutes, I realized that we needed to receive some celestial intervention. I said a prayer calling on the Lord, knowing if He created the door, He could get us in. I then cried, "Open up in the name of the Lord!" Shortly after, we were relaxing in the apartment, sipping kool-aid and rejoicing. 

It was another pretty great week for us. I had a blast running around, even with the random hail and snow and all other manner of treachery. The weather was more bipolar than Utah. I was in a coat and thermals. We went into a home to teach one of my kids using video games. It was so much fun. It took me an hour, but I created a lesson explaining the gospel of Jesus Christ using Mario Kart. He kept saying how he never understood anything until I integrated video games into my teaching. It's great using them for him! I also have a lesson plan in the works to teach him the word of wisdom using regular Mario. He's going to be baptized on June 30th or even a week or two prior.

Our investigator I had the chance to baptize last week has a daughter we have been working with. After having a great lesson with her, we committed her to be baptized on April 14th by her dad. I've never seen that girl so happy. It's pretty rewarding to see her turning around just like her dad did. 

I've been working hard, and I reached a new record. It was really hard, but I reached a new record of 70 consecutive push ups. The next day, our mission president's wife showed us a workout app. Basically, I pushed myself when I was already sore, and now, five days later, I'm still dead.

I finally got to share my Rubik Cube testimony in church. I'd share it here, but I guess it's already in my blog. It was fun sharing, and I had a bunch of people come up to me afterwords. All in all, it was a really good week. I did get thrown back into a flaming furnace, but I'm more positive this time around. Let's get lit.

Gird up your loins, boys, we're going on an adventure!

Boxing Donuts at the Food Bank

Our Easter Egg from home!

More Rain

Reflection

A treasure find

YES!

It has been said that miracles come after the trial of your faith. Last week was extremely tough and everything was on fire. So many things made me want to drop, but I pressed on trusting in the Lord, creating the most successful week of my entire mission. I'm so glad that I listened to the council given to me, to hold on a little longer. Now, here I am with a great new companion and three people on date to be baptized, three new investigators, one baptized and confirmed, and more. 

We received a referral on Monday, so we went out to meet him on Tuesday. We had a very spiritual first lesson. It was so neat. I recited the first vision by memory and felt three waves of goosebumps overcome me. We set him on date to be baptized for May 19th, but will probably have his baptism sooner. We met him again later and gave him a blessing to help overcome smoking. He showed up to church, along with a woman who hasn't been in 8 years. It was so good, and everyone at church fellowshipped him to the max.

I got to meet with the guy baptized on Saturday earlier in the week. He said he was praying long and hard and couldn't get me off his mind. He was so grateful that I cared about his 11 year old daughter and could make her smile, and so he asked me to baptize him. His daughter was stuck elsewhere and wasn't going to make it to his baptism, but she prayed like crazy and got out two days early, arriving just in time! It was incredible, and she told me she wanted to be baptized. I told her that in a couple months, her dad can be the one to do it! 

On a less serious note, I embarked on an exercise nightmare. I got on a stair with my heels hanging over and got on my tip toes. I went up like this. ( 1. 1 2. 1 2 3.) And so on until I hit 13. I could barely move for the next three days. Rest in peace, my calves.

When I was in the MTC, I was playing four square, waiting in line. Some guy accidentally body slammed me to the ground. I was so shocked that he hit me as hard as he did, I stayed on the ground and stared at him in disbelief. My face scarred into his memory, and he knew he'd be my companion some day. He recognized me when we formally met on Thursday, and now I'm with Elder Stuart! It's been great so far.

I am still coughing, six and a half months after leaving the MTC. I was speaking with the mission nurse, and she prescribed me some medicine which should help me. I am so glad to say, in a week and a half, I might be free from the madness. Thank goodness, praise the Lord. The church is true!

This email is getting a bit long, so I'll call it here, but it really was a great week, and everything turned around. Thank you, everyone who has showed that you care! I really appreciate every single email you send me. 

Baptism

Pool on P-Day

I Didn't Grab No Shoes Or Nothing

This week, I've been inside of a refiners fire. It actually got so hot that I became numb to it. I want to start off with saying, I am now so much better! I just needed to continue moving on, knowing that everything happens in the wisdom of who made all things. It started off with one of my best friends, Elder Warnick. Things were happening, and Salt Lake determined it'd be best for him to finish his mission in Utah. It was really hard knowing I couldn't help him, but I'm so glad that he gets to be in a better place now. 

I'm now in four wards, and they are very spaced. The other two are on an Indian reservation. I guess they don't like missionaries because we think we know about them. In our defense, I heard a story that their ancestors buried their weapons and entered a covenant of peace at one point. Sounds like the Ammonites to me. Anyways, it's a bit dangerous there, since Elder Hess found a scalp on a stop sign. 

Remember the kid I taught the Zelda lesson to? We finished up that lesson with a Plan of Salvation chart which he put together first try rather quickly. I was so impressed with him! He has come so far from when we first met. He is now set to be baptized in June. I don't think I'll be here for that, but I'm glad I got to participate in teaching him. 

I'll talk about my rubiks cube testimony soon. I wasn't able to share it, but I will soon, and then I'll tell you guys. I'm excited, it's a pretty good parable I think. But I now can add to it. My temporary companion has a cube he has been trying to figure out for quite some time. I requested to use it and found out that it was unsolvable because he switched some pieces around. We worked together and fixed it, and now it's how it used to be. That has a lot to do with it. 

On Sunday, I was in another ward in an apartment like an hour away from mine. That apartment actually needs to have the bathroom door open, because if not, it gets so cold that the pipes will freeze. When I woke up, I was very cold and so I was anxious to go take a warm shower. I grabbed all the goods and burst into the bathroom. After a good warm shower, I realized a critical mistake. I left my towel in my suitcase. I had to spend the next 5 minutes trying to brush off all the water I could. I then took a small washcloth and used it to dry myself to the best of my ability. I ended up dry but cold. Ripped off.

I went to Winco for the first time. They have the most glorious thing I've seen in Idaho. You just go and put chocolate in a scale and then buy it by the pound. I bought half a pound of chocolate kisses and pretzels. So great!

That's about all I have for this week. I was greatly afflicted, but I bore my time of pain well and am now doing great.

Because why not

A Week Inside

A portion of my week was spent inside. Some stuff was happening with my companion, so we couldn't really go out and teach. But there's still a few things we got to do!  Since I've been sitting around inside, I've gotten really good at that Rubik cube. I now have the algorithms memorized and can do it rather quickly. My fastest time is one minute and 3 seconds. That cube has been mastered. 

One family had us over for dinner and made us spaghetti. They said, "We wanted to give you something you probably don't have often". I was grateful for the dinner, but incredibly amused as well. That's one of the most common things. Anyways, another family made us clam chowder. I've never liked the smell or taste of seafood. I said a prayer to help me tolerate it, and it actually wasn't bad! I might add, I was called on to say the prayer at all of these dinner appointments, and even in sacrament. What's going on. I ate a ton of salad this week. The veggies are starting to really not stand a chance against me. If you know me, you'll know how incredible that is. 

We taught an 11 year old the Plan of Salvation. It took me an hour, but I made an entire lesson revolve around the newest Zelda game, Breath of the Wild. It was amazing! He paid attention the entire time! And he said Ganon represented Satan before we mentioned it! It was a way fun lesson to teach. Thank you, Nintendo.

On one if the days where we stayed inside, we got two new investigators. Pretty crazy. One was a referral from other missionaries, and he's even on date to be baptized! The other was the kid for the Zelda lesson. I was so surprised that a day of nothing yielded so much success.

Throughout this week, I was getting incredible headaches. I was pretty surprised and glad when I realized what was causing them. I don't like hearing people sigh deeply, but it doesn't bother me too much. My companion wasn't feeling well at all, and so he'd do three of them in a single minute, consistently throughout the day. It would irritate me and so I found myself leaving to go to another room and dwell on it. The negativity would give me huge headaches. Once I made the connection, I made a goal to be more patient. I haven't had a headache since! 

That's about all I have to share. Hopefully we can go out and do more this week!

Bubbles

Snow, because why not

They have weird snow

Parable of the Rubik Cube

Parable of the Rubik Cube

Many people have a Rubik cube in their homes. However, only a portion know how to truly solve it.  Some people have one they don’t care for. Others have earnestly tried but failed to complete it. There was a period of time that many people could solve it with ease, but those days have come to an end.  Instructions have been handed out, but through the ages, changes have been made. Some steps were lost in translation. Others were purposely altered to lead men astray. Some aren’t even for the complete cube and only exist to create patterns.

One day Elder Ruth received a cube that had instructions with it, written in Chinese with poorly translated English.  He worked hard to follow the steps as best as he could. It felt like he was making some good progress. However, it got to a point he couldn’t pass.  No matter how closely he followed the instructions, he couldn’t do it right. A wise man watched him struggle in silence before coming unto him. “If you allow me, I can help you.” Elder Ruth rejected the help and continued trying to solve the cube.  He looked up and watched as the man, now in the distance, gracefully solving his own cube. With more determination, Elder Ruth worked on the cube again. No matter what he did, he could not solve the cube using the Chinese instructions. The man spoke up again.  “If you allow me, I can help you”. Elder Ruth dropped his pride and listened to the man. They worked together with different instructions and solved the cube. New life entered Elder Ruth as he saw the truth. He finally found his way and unlocked the full truth.

Similarly many people know of Christianity.  However, only a portion know of the true church.  Some people don’t care. Others have earnestly tried and failed to find the truth. There was a period of time when all Christians knew the truth.  Those days have come to an end. We once had a perfect Bible, but over the ages, changes have been made. Some things were lost in translation. Others were purposefully altered to deceive many and some changes were there because man thought it made sense.

One day a very good man received a bible.  He read through the entire thing and was determined to change for the better.  It felt like he was making good progress. However, he eventually felt like he was trying to fill a cup with a hole in the bottom.  No matter how hard he tried, he could not keep the sense of peace and comfort with him. A wise man watched him and eventually came up to him.  “If you allow me, I can help you”. The man rejected him and continued reading the bible and praying. He eventually looked up and watched the man who offered to help.  He seemed genuinely happy and things worked out well for him. No matter how hard he tried, he knew he couldn't succeed like that man.

Eventually he asked the man to help him, using only the bible.  H was able to offer some help, but something was missing. He spoke again, “If you allow me, I can help you”.  The first man agreed so the other man handed him a Book of Mormon. Together they worked and learned and grew until the first man was truly happy.  He had found the true church of Jesus Christ.

The bible isn’t perfect, but it has many good things in it.  When the Book of Mormon joins it, the two work together to dispel false doctrine.  The verify and validify each other. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ.