Is Your Love Strong Enough?

I have been coughing and stuff for about 8 months and it's stupid. There's been various points of my mission where I've said, "That's enough, we're getting help." This was like the fourth time. We went down to an urgent care and they said I may have a hernia which is causing all my reflux. They gave me a prescription and asked a beautiful question, "Where would you like to pick them up?" We have a Costco next to us that we pass every day, but we are without a membership. I was recently told that they have to let you in by law if you are picking up a prescription. For the first time in almost 8 months, I roamed the beautiful store. I couldn't help but smile as I passed through the beautiful aisles and breathed the family scents of the best store I know of. Free samples were left and right and one lady gave us way more than usual because she knows we are working hard. It was nothing short of glorious. Anyways, I then got to go to the hospital on Friday to drink way too much barium and then get x-rayed. I do not have a hernia and my eternal cough is still a mystery. Here's to hoping the pills I'm on work. 

I got to eat another new food for the first time this week. Corn on the cob! It's kind of hard to eat, but it's not that bad! It was cool to eat a new food... ;) I also bought a coconut last week that I wanted to eat. It was quite a process. It took the efforts of an African war hammer to smite it open. It was even harder trying to eat the inside. Conclusion: I wont be buying another coconut.

We got invited to a born again Christian worship session one evening. It was awesome, we sang a bunch of songs I mostly knew together, and then we discussed our beliefs. Funny we were teaching about the Book of Mormon considering we then became Alma and Amulek. They asked many questions in attempts to pull us from our faith. Some were very advanced and so I was glad that neither of us were new missionaries. They were never able to confound us, though we confounded them. I then felt the spirit strongly and taught all about Christ's grace for like five minutes. I was teaching some things that only could have come from the spirit itself. It ended up putting one girl in tears, and she said, "but how can you know any of this? You don't have proof." And we let her know that God already confirmed the truth to her, and His spirit was the reason everyone in the room fell silent. It was pretty awesome. We left a Book of Mormon and plan of salvation pamphlet behind and returned back home.

Another day we encountered born again Christians yet again. (No!!) They gladly invited us in and were far more aggressive. There was no getting through to them because of their constant interruptions and the cunning ways of man. One man eventually got so angry that we couldn't be shaken that he raised his arm to the square and prayed to Jesus for us to be struck with the truth. I told him that we had a great time and that we now had to go. 

One of the most important parts of missionary work is setting goals. A goal shows God what we hope to accomplish, and if we are willing to put in the work, He will usually help us succeed. We worked hard this week but it was a bit tough. We have 5 people on date to be baptized and we had a goal to have 7. We didn't have any lessons set up, and then Sunday afternoon, an investigator family called. They really wanted us to come over, answer questions, and teach a short discussion. It was great to be invited instead of tract, so we headed on over. At the end of the lesson, we invited them to be baptized on June 9th. They said that that was too far away, and now their baptism date is may 26th. I was so surprised, I kind of just sat in shock for 10 seconds while the family rejoiced and talked about plans for it. There you have it, the Lord will provide.

So anyways, I had a dream a short while ago. I believe that God was teaching me in the form of a parable. In the dream, I was getting off a zip line which got off on a big tower. My phone was playing music. God was at the end and he helped me get off the line and onto the tower. I wanted to show respect, so I pulled out my phone to pause the music and accidentally dropped it down the tower. He told me to wait for him and then we could go get it together. He then teleported away. I looked down and saw that I could easily climb down to go see the status of the phone. I climbed down to grab it and found that it was completely destroyed. I pocketed it and climbed back up as God reappeared. He asked me why I didn't wait for him. I responded, "I guess my curiosity for my phone was greater than my love for you. I'm sorry." And he looked at me in disappointment. That's the whole dream. It had been on my mind for quite some time. It certainly wasn't true. I went almost 5 months without a phone and I was perfectly ok. I kept analyzing the dream and eventually learned that it wasn't a story about a phone. It was about love. It was in that moment when I realized something that changed me. Following rules can sometimes be difficult. However, we know the rules come from Him. One way we can show our love is by listening and following the rules. This is the subject of my email. "Is your love strong enough?" For example, is my love for God strong enough to avoid the temptation of this or that? I think that if we keep this in mind, it will be far easier to follow Him and His son. 

That's it for this week. It was a tough one but it yielded some great results .

X-ray Day

Coconut!

Finally a haircut

The Grace of God

We had another great week full of good stuff. First off, we got transfer calls today. Both of us are staying, and we still get to cover two wards. What luck! I thought that the wards would be split because of our success, but I guess we don't have very many missionaries at the moment. A lot have been returning home due to depression. Since we get to stay in both wards, we will be present for at least four baptisms of which we personally taught all the lessons. 

One thing that bothers me about myself is my shyness. I've been very good at talking to everyone whether I know them or not, but when I'm in a setting I'm comfortable in, such as my apartment or the church during P day, I have a hard time talking to new people. Some drunk man found his way into the church last P day. He kept going on about how nice all of us were. I eventually hid behind the curtain and watched as he stumbled around, trying to play basketball with some of the others. He eventually decided it was time to go, so he hugged the closest people for an uncomfortably long time. He then gave the last elder a fat kiss on the cheek. *shudders*

One of our main homeslice investigators is living in a less active woman's house. She has come to every Sunday since we've been teaching him. She has a boyfriend who we asked about two months ago. She said that he would never consider becoming Mormon. This was confirmed by many others. During our lesson with homeslice, this guy came in and sat down, genuinely intrigued. We taught him all about families and stuff. He teared up multiple times and asked for a Book of Mormon. He can't see great, so we got him a huge one. He even came to church yesterday. You should've seen the eyes of everyone who knew him when he came in. He had such a good experience and he is now an investigator.

Do you remember the lady last week who we helped cross the street? Her walker is missing parts on the back legs, so it veers to the right heavily. She takes three steps, then has to correct it. Anyways, one guy called us over to help him with his backyard. We got lots done and it was very satisfying. I found a tennis ball and asked if I could have it. I've seen walkers with tennis balls on the back, so I figured I could find another and fix the lady's walker. The guy we helped gave us the actual rubber pieces necessary to fix the walker. She was very happy when we came to help her.

Remember the guy who was going to leave on Wednesday and be homeless? The Lord kept his promise, and he gets to stay! Various ward members have been stepping up and offering him work. He is headed to our dinner appointments house today to do some landscaping. His only problem was his lack of tools. We were able to ask the man who gave us the walker pieces and got the proper tools for the job. Things are just coming together and I love it. Not only has he fixed his temporal situation, but he is now on track for his eternal salvation. This man is on date to be baptized on May 19th! He came to church yesterday and stayed the full three hours and made lots of friends. What a great turn of events! 

So there you have it. It was a very good week. One of our only less promising investigators dropped us, so we went out and received two new ones that same day. We're seeing the Lord's hand left and right. We both get to stay, and we keep both wards. I wasn't kissed on the cheek this week. The church is true. 

Breaking news, I just found this out. Back when I was in Palouse, I worked with two different companions and taught an investigator all of the lessons. He was baptized on Saturday! I am so happy for him, he was a really great man. This is the third person who has been baptized which I taught all the lessons to. I just wish I could go see him. 

See the kitty

We can finally play Frisbee!

Elders got some talent

Right in the Feel Goods

We had another good successful week serving the Lord. We added four new investigators to our teaching pool. I got kissed on the cheek again by the 61 year old man! I learned about a terrorist in a city near me and more.

We like offering service in the same place that a lot of people in trouble with the law help out at. One day, I was watching a guy wheel a toilet out the door. He hit a bump and it shattered. I told him to run, not thinking anything of it. I then realized that he's actually in trouble and that'd make it worse. 

Anyways, we met a wonderful woman who had a DUI last year, so she's working it off. She saw our tags and started asking questions about the Bible. We were able to answer every single one. We briefly taught about the plan of salvation and the restoration. She had rejected missionaries in the past, but now that she had actually talked to some, she realized we're not so bad! She lives in the part of Spokane I came from, and she allowed me to tell the guys there about her. Now she'll be taking all the lessons! 

Early one morning, our YSA sisters called us. They were extremely scared because a giant bee was terrorizing their bathroom. My companion was worried because we aren't supposed to enter a sisters apartment. It took some convincing, but I got him to let us go in to the sisters rescue. I threw on some work gloves and we headed over. They stepped out of their apartment and we entered the battlefield. The son of a gun was resting upon the mirror, blissfully unaware that it should soon be visited by death. In one fell swoop, I one hit k.o.'d that fool. I then held it by the wings to show the sister that the enemy has fallen. It's twitching body was thrown upon the cold asphalt of the rainy streets of Idaho.

We managed to catch one of our potential investigators one day. He invited us to his back porch where we sat and discussed religion. His beliefs were so similar that he started to really enjoy the conversation. That's when we laid down some fat doctrine on the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. By the end of our lesson, this man was so intrigued that he wanted to bestow some treasures upon us. I was gifted a whole case of wet cat food and a fig bar. Woahhhh!

As a missionary, I don't have a whole lot of entertainment in the form of videos. This is why during my lunch of scrambled eggs, I watched Mr Kruegers Christmas. It was good. 

We found an old lady in a walker crossing a road with no regard at all to the heavy traffic. We ran out to her to assist in any way that we could. We carried her bags and helped her get to her apartment. She ended up being a member who stopped attending when she was 14. She was happy to see us and got a ride to come to church for the first time in over 50 years. We also helped another guy attend for the first time in four years. It was so good to be an instrument in the Lord's hand to help His lost sheep come back. 

Time for the blow right to the feel goods. We got a referral from the mission office. It's this really great man living in a motel. He initially just wanted us to hire him? He's going to be leaving on Wednesday. He doesn't have a job because people keep trying to ruin him because he was accused of something in the past. I believe him to be innocent. His rent ends on Wednesday, so he will become homeless. He hopes to take a train and go south if this happens. We were able to teach him about the plan of salvation and left him a book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, we made him a promise that if he reads from it, he will find a way to stay here in Coeur d'Alene like he wants to. We came back to see him the next day, and he had read the first 18 chapters. He really liked it, too! He took it seriously and could feel it's power. He then came with us to church and cried upon taking the sacrament because he knows how significant it is. He then told us he had to leave. He said he was on his way to sell his car so he wouldn't be broke any longer. He also said that he would call us when he settles down somewhere again. I felt part of my heart breaking. He smiled and told us goodbye, and that he will find a Mormon church somewhere because of how amazing they are, and that was the last I saw of him. I was speechless and even cried a bit myself. It hurt to see such a good man suffer. What about the promise we made him? He had been reading! In my moment of desperation, we went to the bishop and asked for literally any job he knows of that we could get this man. Bishop worked and prayed and found something that should work. We anxiously called the man and told him to go to this place to find work. It's a bunch of temporary jobs which are hiring every single day. He will go there today. I sincerely hope that it will work out for him. I know if he is willing, he can make this work. We've done all we could to help him, now it all rests on his shoulders.

So that was my week. Everything was really good until this situation destroyed my mental well being. But I am now at peace, reflecting on what had happened. Jesus told us to love one another as He loved us. This wasn't about teaching this man and baptizing him, adding him to a list that hardly matters. It was about loving a man, doing everything we could to help him.  It was about charity. We believe no effort is wasted, and so even if it doesn't work out, I know we did what mattered. I really hope it will, but if it doesn't, the Lord will still be with him. 

Gift of cat food

For this here cat

Reflection

Tag picture for mom

Keeping On

It's another high yielding week despite the despair which lied before me. So many wonderful things happened. My seven month cough is just about gone for real! What an affliction. It was cold, dank and rainy all week. If you know me, you'd know that this isn't a good combination. My seasonal depression was all up in my grill. I didn't have much energy, but we pressed onwards! I was nauseous most of the week and also incredibly starved for attention from any friends at all from home. It was pretty hard, but we made it. Here's a scripture I lived up to. Doctrine and Covenants section 6 verse 34: "Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail." 

On one of the cold rainy days, our appointment canceled on us, leaving us an hour to just tract in the wet terror of Idaho. We decided to just go try a different potential investigator. We couldn't go in because it was a girl living alone, but we were able to teach her the plan of salvation on her doorstep. She enjoyed the lesson and wants us to come back. We smote Satan in the face by taking advantage of our supposed idleness.

One of our less active we had referred to us desperately needed a blessing. She has cancer and is obviously not in good shape. I was concerned if I'd be able to bless her because of my not feeling well. I said a few prayers and felt like I needed to show I had the faith. We walked in and learned more and then I gave her the blessing. In it, I said a bunch of random things from her past. She was also promised to live if she will follow the council outlined in the scriptures and other various things. When I finished the blessing, she said that she instantly started feeling better and then asked how I knew so much about her past. I felt so exhilarated to know that my words were truly inspired. We explained that the blessing was of God, not of me. She was so excited, she had us pull out scriptures and we read with her for the first time in eight years. I prayed to know what we should read and felt confirmation that a particular chapter in Alma would be good. She ended up very grateful that we came over. What a great opportunity to see God's love for His children.

We set a time to come back to this same lady a few days later to read scriptures. We showed up and she wasn't home, so we called her up. She's back in the hospital! We hurried over to go see her. There was quite the line to talk to people at the front desk. I figured we looked official enough, so my companion nervously followed after me as we stormed the building. We made it through without being questioned. We then escaped through to a sector which permitted only family members and arrived at her room. We were allowed to enter but had to garb ourselves in hospital gowns, gloves and a mask. We learned that she had not read her scriptures. We showed her how to get to them on her phone and then read another chapter with her. She was so grateful to see two boys she's only met once care so much for her. I really hope she will read on her own now. 

Our statistics are starting to become unbelievable for a mission in the United States. We started with like 6 investigators and one person on date to be baptized. We now have 20 investigators and four new people on date to be baptized. Two of those on dates were added to the list yesterday. I'm really starting to see my trials benefit me. It seems that the hardest days we go through are also the highest yielding when we keep pushing on. It is a good time to be in Coeur d'Alene. 

We were going through the area book and found one man who seemed to be promising. He's been taught for quite a while and didn't have a drop note. We knocked on his door but no one answered. We later called him and found out he moved from one of my wards to my other ward. We dropped by and learned he's had all the lessons a few times, and the reason he hasn't been baptized is because he couldn't give up smoking. He gave it up finally 2 1/2 months ago! He says he wants to be baptized, so we only need to review the lessons and then he'll have it! We will put him on date this week. 

So there you have it. A lot of bad things keep happening. Hell and earth have combined against me. Because of this, I can bear my testimony with a surety that He lives, and if we build our rock upon His foundation, we can and will succeed. Your trials won't go away. Mine are constant. It is through these trials that we grow and become the king or queen we were meant to become. If we endure it well, we will be blessed with a multitude of blessings and more fully feel God's love. Let these words ring in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

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

Nothing stops us!

Check out the tree!

The Will of the Lord

This week has taught me a pretty significant lesson, which is "not my will but thine be done." Various things have occurred which have proved Christ's words to me. One day, we were called to a hospital to see a man who was likely on his deathbed. With prayer, we arrived within 10 minutes but didn't know where to go. The spirit told me that he was going to die. We found a janitor instantly who pointed us to the other building. We sprinted across and got to an information desk, where we were escorted to the critical care unit. We got in and found a man who wasn't in great shape. After talking to him and learning more, we gave a blessing to the man. I anointed and Elder Stuart blessed him. He was blessed with faith and given the promise he would have his family, but Elder Stuart was constrained not to heal him. We never heard the outcome, but I think I know. I'm grateful God has comforted me, allowing me to know that everything is done in His wisdom. I don't have to sit around and beat myself up. We did what was needed, which was to provide comfort and help his family better understand the Lord's will. 

The other thing which taught me was the announcement of another temple in Utah. The first minute I heard this, I was upset. We already have so many temples, surely some other state or country would benefit more. However, I continued to listen to our modern prophet, the mouth piece of God, and I know that this is the will of our creator.

On a lighter note, we had a great week! We had a church party on Friday. The theme was 50's 60's and 70's. There was lots of karaoke music that people were performing. After eating my double cheeseburger, they forced me and Elder Stuart up. We couldn't sing their music because I'm unfamiliar with the 50s and 60s, and it's not approved church music. We instead blew everyone away with a duet of "A Child's Prayer". They turned the lights off and people waved their flashlights back and forth to the song. I took the high part and together, we rocked the house. One of the biggest bursts of applause I've ever earned. What a fantastic night.

One amazing fanily invited us over for Easter. They hid 250 eggs for everyone to find, and they told us to not go easy because they don't want their kids having too much candy. I leisurely walked and found 54 of the eggs. Boyz. I got set up for Easter! We then got to share an Easter message of Jesus's love for everyone. It was really spiritual and I'm glad to call him my brother.

We got to teach my favorite kid again. It was such a good lesson. I drew up a good picture and diagram and taught the Word of Wisdom using Mario Bros. His mom is so grateful because missionaries in the past have never been able to help him understand the gospel. It makes me so glad to have had the Lord inspire me to teach with video games. His mom had me sign the picture I drew for them. So funny! 

Another lesson we taught went pretty grand. A woman was saying she couldn't join the church because the word of wisdom. She said it's too restricting and is like bondage. She needs her coffee every morning or she is a monster. I told her that her coffee is putting her in bondage, and then she had her epiphany. It was pretty great, and she was a good sport about it. She wants to try and prove she doesn't need it to function. This is the only thing holding her back from baptism. Let's make it happen!

One day, I wanted to fill my bike ride up a bit, but it requires a special pump. The other elders had one at their apartment, and so we headed over. When we were almost there, we witnessed some man abusing his girlfriend. He angrily left and she was shaken up. We were able to help calm her down and talk to her. We also gave her some water and arranged her a ride to get back home. We then later found out that she was previously interested in the missionary lessons, and she's in our ward! So there you have it. My bike ride wasn't fully pumped so we could help a girl and receive a new investigator. 

That's all I've got for this week. It was really good. Follow the prophet.

P-Day with the Elders

Just in case

Word of Wisdom via Mario

From my Mom