January 12, 2009

Well, I'm good, but I'm a little tired, also. I haven't been sleeping very well lately. I don't know why. I think it's because of my Adderall. I hate the side-effects of that drug. I'm still doing well, though! Let me tell you about my past week. Tuesday I cut my hair because it was getting very long! Haha! I could barely do anything with it! I bought a new hair clipper set. Yup, I cut it myself. I also cut Elder Bartlett's hair. It was the first time I ever cut anyone else's hair. I must say I did a good job! Haha! We both got compliments on our haircuts! 

Wednesday after district meeting I went on Exchanges with Elder Larson, the district leader. It was the first time I've been on exchanges with him since I've been in this area because previously his and my companions couldn't drive so they couldn't be together in a full-time car area. Anyway, we were up in Marshall. We saw quite a few people for that exchange. We saw Fidel and had a lesson with him. We also had an appointment with Leonard Fuemeler, an inactive member of the branch. That went very well. He's going to try to start paying tithing and come to church. He's a really nice guy... just needs to get back into things. Wednesday night we had a lesson with Donald and brought the branch president with us. It was good for Donald to get to know him a little bit. After that the branch president took me and my companion out to dinner with his family. Thursday, Elder Bartlett and I went to the Thompson's house for dinner again. They are such an awesome family. I always have a good time going over there! Their family makes up a big part of the strong, active members of the branch!

We taught Amber twice this week. We taught her the plan of Salvation, half of it Thursday afternoon and the other half Saturday evening. She's very excited to learn about all this stuff! She wants to be baptized but can't until she goes through some legal processes first. But she has accepted that and is willing. She's a nice lady. Saturday we taught Donald again. He's doing good. We also taught the Kaur family. Not much else went on Saturday. We did a lot of tracting in the cold with not much positive results.

Sunday after church was a very interesting and hilarious experience! Haha! Let me tell you all about it! Haha! So a few times a year our congregation in Marshall is asked to have a non-denominational Sunday service at a retirement home. Other churches in Marshall do it the other weeks. Our branch here is part of what's called the "Ministrial Alliance." Well, the time came around for our branch this Sunday. And the branch gave us, the missionaries, the assignment. So we accepted, while not knowing what exactly what to do. The only directions we were given was to give a 5-7 minute talk on something and sing some hymns until the old people are tired of singing. Haha! So not much to work with! Haha. But we went anyway. I welcomed them and said an opening prayer. Then Elder Bartlett and I talked a little bit about the Atonement using the Bible. Next was the hymn singing! At first I had no idea what we were going to sing because they didn't have any of our hymnals there. Then someone pointed out that there were some baptist hymn books in the corner. "Excellent!" I thought. Now I at least had something to work with! Haha! So we passed those out and I asked anybody if they had any favorites. Mostly I got blank stares. Haha! One of the guys had a request. It was some hymn called "Oh What a Friend We Have in Jesus." Never heard of it before, but it was in the hymnal. So I told them that they would have to sing loud because I wasn't familiar with that one. Most of the people just mumbled when they sang. I'm not sure if they didn't know any of the words or if that just how they sang. The exception was the guy who requested the song... He sang really loud and off pitch! Haha! When we started the song it was alright for the first line. We all tried to follow the loud guy (I'm going to call him Bill- I don't know if that's his name, but it makes things easier. haha). So we were all trying to follow Bill with the melody and lyrics. Then very quickly I realized with everyone else that he wasn't singing the melody of the hymn and he would sing the first line "Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus" then after that I have no idea what lyrics he was reading. It wasn't anywhere on the page! Haha! He read the first line then made the rest up while singing to his own made up melody. Haha! So by the second line he was the only one singing. And he would sing the whole length of the hymn like that! Throwing randomly, "Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus" Haha! So for the second hymn I picked "Nearer, my God, to thee," because luckily it was in the book. And I can kinda-sorta play it on the piano. I didn't focus on anyone's singing because I was focusing on just getting through 3 verses of that song, which I messed up a lot on! Haha! But since Bill sat next to the piano I could hear him every once in a while singing "Nearer, my God, to thee" at the wrong parts! Haha! Well, the other songs that people requested that I didn't know all ended up like the first one... with Bill singing the same melody all by himself with random lyrics and a random, "Oh what a friend we have in Jesus" and me chuckling! Haha! I was trying not to! Haha. The other songs that I DID know I had to sing louder than Bill so people didn't get lost and confused. So I felt like I was singing solos. Elder Bartlett wasn't singing loud at all so it was pretty much just me! Haha! I'm sure I didn't sound very good at all and I know I missed a lot of the notes and pretty much the whole building could hear me I'm sure! Haha! I'm sure I would have been so very super embarrassed regularly, playing the piano and singing horribly in front of that many people, but the situation was just too incredibly hilarious and funny to be embarrassed!! Haha! It made me laugh a lot while we were leaving and it still makes me laugh. Years from now I'll look back at that experience and still laugh at how ridiculous the situation was! Haha! So yeah. That was my week in a nut shell.  

January 5, 2009

Tuesday we taught Fidel again. He's really coming along! He definitely recognizes a difference between when we are there and when we aren't! I'm pretty sure he will be baptized. That would make me so very happy! Wednesday was New Years Eve and also the day we had district meeting. Elder Larson, the district leader, had us think of something we want to accomplish before the next general conference. Then he had us go seperate into rooms by ourselves and make that promise to the Lord. I went into the chapel by myself and sat in the front row. What I want to accomplish is reaching a new spiritual peak. So I'm going to work on giving my whole self to the Lord, and hold nothing back. The next day the Lord didn't spare any time to start helping me towards that goal. On Wednesday we got December's Ensign (obviously late because we got January's the week before) well, when we came home with it on Wednesday it was just tossed on the floor in the middle of our front room for some reason. I didn't pay much attention to it because it was now an old edition. So that's where it was Thursday morning- the only thing on the floor. So anyway, every morning I kinda have my own routine. 7:00 I get in the shower then get out, get ready, then make my breakfast. Every morning I have the same thing, Malt-O-Meal. Always while I eat that at my desk I read from the old testament (I'm to Jeremiah ch. 49 F.Y.I) but just as I sat down Thursday morning with my bible open, I got a distinct prompting that I shouldn't be reading the old testament then, but should be reading that Ensign over there on the floor. Well, my first thought brushed it aside because I always read the old testament while I eat breakfast and I don't like varying fro my routine. Right after that the same prompting came again and I still battled with it. Then a reminder came of the promise I had made the day before (by the way, I had asked for reminders in that prayer. haha!) and a rebuking thought that I wasn't being humble to the will of the Lord. So then I gave up my will and got the Ensign. As I was flipping through the pages I had no idea what I was going to read, then I turned to a page and then I got a "Yup, that's the one" impression. Page 26: a talk by Neal A. Maxwell entitled "Consecrate Thy Performance" Haha! The whole talk is about turning our wills over to God's will and giving our all to him! Haha! I thought iw as pretty ironic and funny that I was trying to resist and do my own will right before he made me read that talk. I was definitely humbled at that point and I knew I needed that talk. Haha! I definitely learned a lesson from that experience!

Friday I went on exchanges in Warrensburg with one of the Zone leaders, Elder Bingham. He's from Idaho so he's a little odd, but he's still pretty cool. Their apartment is on Gay Street in Warrensburg. Haha! That's pretty funny! We had an awesome lesson that night with a part-member family. The husband is not a member but the wife is an active member. They taught him about the restoration the week before and out of nowhere, the day before we taught him, he and his wife went on an unexpected day trip to Nauvoo! He loved it and he was so excited to learn when we got there. We taught him about the plan of salvation. He was talking about how he wanted to get sealed to his wife and serve a mission in Nauvoo! It was awesome. Apparently, 2 weeks before that he didn't want to take any of the lessons. He's made a huge change! It's great to see the gospel in action!

Saturday, Elder Bartlett and I taught an investigator, Amber about the restoration. She really liked it and is excited to read the book of mormon! As we were leaving that appointment and about to get in the car a lady across the street said "hi" to us so we went and talked to her. Her name is Lucy and she wants to return to being close to God. So now we're going to teach her, too! That was definitely a blessing and a miracle! We have been trying to find more people to teach! The church is true!

Sunday I was able to bless the sacrament with one of the priests, which I love doing! I love blessing the sacrament because it means so much to me! And I know it means so much to many people there! I also bore my testimony during fast and testimony meeting. After church the branch presidents wife, who is also the primary president came up to me and we were talking. She thanked me for how I said the sacrament prayer and said that while I was bearing my testimony she decided that I was going to make a great father and husband. That made me smile! I sure hope I become a good father and husband! I worry about that sometimes.

Anyway, we didn't really do anything for new years eve. We went to bed at the regular 10:30 and woke up at the regular 6:30. Haha! So... I don't remember if I told you that I have been studying the usage of the word "remember" in the book of mormon. How ironic that I don't remember! Haha! But that has been really great to study! I'm learning a lot! One of our weaknesses as mortals is that we fail to remember too easily. I've noticed that remembering is a big purpose for the book of mormon. I'm reading through the Book of Mormon looking for that word and how it is used. I'm in 3 Nephi 21 and the word "remember"or words like it such as "remembrance" are quoted 206 times. A large portion of these is when a father is talking to his children. For example: Helaman 5:5-12... 14 times in those verses! I'm also going through the BOM and highlighting and tallying all the references to Jesus Christ or God. Even when it says thing like "He" or "Him" talking about either of the two. I just finished Words of Mormon pg 145. Just try and guess how many times! I'm sure you are way below the actual number! This is amazing... 3,009! Supposing I haven't missed any! That's So many times! Who says we don't believe in Jesus Christ? One page had 63 references! That has been cool!