Bye Elder Herem!

On this yesterday 16 months ago, I said goodbye to my family and began my journey. Now, after leading many to the waters of baptism and performing miracles in the name of the Lord. I remain stranded in the depths of Deer Park, teaching people the gospel of Jesus Christ and striking fear in the heart of Satan.

Well, I haven't really gotten emotional about leaving a companion for several months. I guess the bond between a trainer and their trainee who remained together is a bit different. I didn't cry, but I felt a part of my heart get ripped away as Elder Herem drove away with another person. Good luck, my friend. Now, I'm spending my time slopping through the dank snow covered streets with none other than Elder Larsen. I am finishing his training, and it's been good so far. It took a couple days to recover from the trauma of a friend leaving, but things are good. I guess Elder Larsen is a professional Pokemon player. What is that, you may ask? This man went to huge tournaments to play Pokemon and he has a thing for winning. He once won a sum of 10,000 real dollars! Holy cow! Anyways, he's doing ok up here, we've already taught more lessons here than he taught in his last area. Wow!

One of the lessons we taught was on the plan of salvation. I guess we as a church tend to say that it was a good thing that Adam ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As I taught about that, we received some push back. It opened my eyes a bit, and I looked over at her daughter who had her baby with her, which coupled with the Holy Ghost made things click in my mind. Adam was meant to eat that fruit eventually, but God hadn't intended for him to eat it quite yet. Just like God intends for us to have children, but he asks us to wait for when we are married. So. Does that mean that this little baby is bad and shouldn't exist? No! That is a beautiful baby and God loves it and has high hopes for it to grow up and change the world some day. If we turn to God, He can make the best of every situation. Adam also did something before God intended him to, but that doesn't mean that God stopped loving him or sent him to hell or anything. God provided His son Jesus Christ to atone for everyone's sins, so that when we turn to Him, we can be forgiven and return to live with Him some day. I strongly believe that though we don't condone sin, sin doesn't have to be a bad thing. It is a way to learn and grow, and when we turn to Him, we can become stronger and more beautiful in His eyes. An Easter egg looks pretty when it has been colored in blue paint. It's even prettier when it was cracked and then dipped in paint. The cracks make it beautiful. (If that makes sense.) Anyways, she then came to Church for the first time this week! Yesss. 

Things are beginning to pick up again. Lots of people have been sick or otherwise busy, so lots of things have been cancelled. I was disappointed to visit an investigator Elder Herem picked up and get dropped. She hadn't had a single lesson, and was searching for churches, but she wasn't interested in hearing our message at all. It bothers me when people won't even hear us out. All I can take comfort in is a scripture in Ether where God basically says that it doesn't matter if the people we reach out to don't listen. When we do our part, He is proud of us and we will have eternal life.

If you know me as a missionary pretty well, you'd know I do not enjoy tracting. I was looking at our weekly goal and noticed that we hadn't yet reached our new people being taught goal. For the first time in a while, I got riled up and filled with energy and determination to find a new person. We had 45 minutes, and I knew we had to travel to a trailer park just up the street. I couldn't believe it when the first door I chose brought us to a man from Ukraine who initially wasn't interested. I have never had any success whatsoever with the seemingly large population of Ukrainian people, but I just kept talking to him. I couldn't believe it when he told us he would be willing to hear about our message because it seemed as though we spoke the truth about additional knowledge of Jesus Christ. It made me so happy to know the Holy Ghost led me to this man right as it counted.

So, what's a weekly email without a reference to the farm, am I right? The most eventful thing which happened will not be described in full detail. A few days prior, a hay bale fell and smashed a pig to death. It was my job (and I always seem to get the bad jobs) to locate the pig. I thought it would be fine, it had only been a few days that it was dead. I was sooooooo wrong. All I have to say is, once I uncovered it and dragged it a few yards, if my stomach wasn't empty, it would've been emptied into the mud. That's all I have to say about the sight and smell that I was unprepared to behold that day. 

The other cool thing that happened was when I snatched up a piglet. Never a good idea when the mommas are around, but I was really feeling it today. I played with it a little bit, but its squeals eventually got loud enough to summon a behemoth. That son of a gun started to charge at me. I don't know why, but it was just pure instinct. I dropped the piglet, slammed my foot to the ground and held out my fists, ready to punch the now charging pig in the face. I kid you not, it stopped in its tracks and just froze. Right before I could get closer and establish dominance, someone pegged it with an apple to defend me and it ran away. It was amazing. 

That's pretty much it for this week. Winter is taking its toll on me and things are becoming a lot more difficult. I just know that if I can endure the last months of winter, I can enjoy to the end of my mission. #PrayForRuth But if you are praying for me, please also pray for all of us missionaries! We can feel your strength and support from time to time, and we love the extra divine help! Thanks guys, it's been real.

Good Luck Elder Herem

Little (live)  Piggies

Buddies