March 31, 2014

Mom, Dad, and Family,

I FEEL SO BAD!  I totally forgot to wish Dad and Robyn a happy birthday!  I hope they both went great.  Dad's only 26, we know that--but Babs!  You're a year away from being in YWs!  It's crazy to think that when I get home, Robyn will be a Beehive, Rylie will be a dating Laurel (honestly...that one freaks me out the most), and Taylor will be an Elder!  That.  Is.  Crazy.  I'll be 20 though, so it's like whatever.

So this week started out slow (I'm not going to lie because that's a sin).  In fact, we weren't able to get any lessons on Wednesday (pshh...their loss.  It was cloudy though, so it was understandable).  But it totally picked up toward Saturday.  We had lessons and they all went well.  Things are going great.

Sad day though, we have to pass one of our investigators off to the Elders in the other ward because we couldn't find her a place to stay in our ward.  Her baptism is a week from Saturday and she only has two more lessons till she'll be through all the discussions.  She's keeping all her commitments and things are just going super super well with her.  Elder Bringhurst and I are super pumped.

We have this one investigator that is so boss.  He takes things best when we teach boldly and are forward, accepts all commitments, wants to continue, asks great questions and understands.  He's just really awesome.

Things are going so great.  It's not always easy and sometimes things can be a pain in the butt, but they always pan out and the good moments are a blast!

Crazy thing happened the other day, I felt my first earthquake (not created by explosions).  They said it was a 5.1?  I don't know.  It was cool though.

Another crazy thing happened.  I saw Sister Robbins and Brooke.  Both are taller than me, which wouldn't make me feel bad except one is 11yo.  It was so great to see them.  They gave me the update on their family and what they knew about you guys back home.  It was really cool to see them.  It wasn't weird actually, even though I had to shake their hands instead of giving them hugs.

I noticed something interesting in my studying today.  In Mark 6 Jesus separates His Apostles into companionships and sends them on missions (where the concept comes from, along with anointing with oil), feeds the five thousand and walks on water.  It's a pretty packed chapter, go read it.

Now what I thought was interesting was in verse 7, Jesus tells His missionary Apostles to "take nothing for their journey,...no scrip, no bread, no money..."  And with that, He sets them apart and ships them off.  They take no thought about their temporal needs and go forward with faith.  After they had returned, a multitude of "about five thousand men" (v.44) were gathered.  They listen to Jesus teach all day and forget about dinner.  When dinner time comes, they all get hungry (weird how that works, huh?)  The Disciples decide to let Jesus know--as if He doesn't already--saying "Send them away that they may go into the country...and buy bread; for they have nothing to eat."  Jesus, seeing if they had learned from their missions, more or less ignores their temporal plight.

Here we find the Apostles once again forgetful.  They had all just taken "no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." (Matt 6:34)  They departed and served without thinking about dinner.  But here they seem to have forgotten about how God took care of them when they focused on the work.

Christ tells the Apostles to feed the multitude.  The Apostles argue that they only had enough to buy "two hundred pennyworth of bread." (v.37)  Here are the men who have just "heal[ed] the sick, cleanse[d] the lepers, raise[d] the dead, [and] cast out devils," (Matt 10:8) and they're worried about feeding some people.

Christ asks them how much they already have, they replied "Five [loaves], and two fishes," (v.38)  Jesus "commanded them to make all sit down." (v.39)  Arguing no further, the Disciples trusted in the Lord and did so.  All were fed and the surplus was more than the original amount.

There are loads of lessons we can learn from this experience, but the one I learned today was that for every "trial of your faith," (Ether 12:6) God will give a confirmation--even if it's of the same thing.  As long as we act in faith, our faith will be answered.  The Spirit will always confirm our faithful, righteous actions.  So go forward with faith and act in all diligence.

I love and miss you all.  I hope all goes well back home, I pray for you every night.

ILYMTLI,

Elder Russell