Week 61-Investigator Updates

"How does he yodel?
Yo-dolo-ti-hoo!
When does he yodel?

Yo-delay-ti-hi!
Why does he yodel?
It sure beats me!  Yo-delay-ti-hiyo-lay-ti-hi!"

...That song has been stuck in my head.  All.  Week!!!!!   AH!!  Elder Fairbanks is getting sick of me yodeling in the shower!  Curse you Taylor!! >:P

Well, anyway, hello again, my wonderful familia of whom I speak quite frequently!  It's been a good week, and I'm not entirely sure how to word it all- we'll see what happens.

Highlights of the week... Okay, this time I'm going to have to go by person.

Amanda.  So.  Solid.  :)  We've had three lessons with her this week, and we covered the rest of Lesson 1, all of Lesson 2, and the Word of Wisdom.  Since we went over the baptismal interview questions with her in the first lesson, nothing we teach her seems to shock her.  We talked briefly about the Law of Chastity, and she told us that, if it comes to it, she'll give her common-law husband $10,000 and say, "See ya!" ...Granted, that's not the ideal situation... We'd much rather her invite him to accept the gospel and make the changes in his life necessary for her to want to stay, buuut salvation is ultimately an independent thing, so she won't let him stand in her way of it. :)  This whole time she's been asking why she's ready to listen now as opposed to every other time her friends have tried, but we think we found out some of the reason when we discussed a date for her baptism. Italics [in the conversation below] are her. Also, baptisms for the dead for her father and attending the temple have been a huge motivating factor in her conversion.

"Amanda, we've been talking about how you feel God is telling you that you need to progress faster than you currently are.  The absolute soonest you could go to the temple would be in approximately a month after baptism.  In order to be baptized, we have to continue to teach you, and you need to attend church twice.  Which means the absolute soonest you could be baptized is May 10th."

(°_°) "...SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!!"

(O_x) "Uh... huh?"

(°~°;) "My dad died on May 10th!!"  *Tears*

(O_O)  "....Amanda, you've been asking a lot about, 'Why now?'  ...I think you just got your answer."

*Floodgate unleashed*

Awesome lesson. :)  She didn't commit to it, but she said she'd let us know during our next lesson after she attended Church.  And she came. :)

Marge.  Also solid.  :)  Because of this ward split, the Sisters in second ward had to begrudgingly hand her over to us.  We almost feel bad. :)  She's in her 50s and the mother of a convert.  After her daughter came home from her mission, she started meeting with the missionaries and has loved every minute of it!  She has a more solid testimony than most members.  She also attended church on Sunday. :)

Which brings us to Sunday.  I found myself antsy and nervous as I saw that the scheduled hymns were all super-obscure and awkward, the first speaker had cancelled, and our new bishop forgot to announce when/where our Gospel Principles class would be.  Throughout all of Sacrament meeting, Jesus Christ was only mentioned at the end of each talk and prayer: And only once in the subject matter of either talk.  When we claim we're a Christian church, it's difficult to show that unless He's truly the centre of what we teach.

Anyway, I was concerned that Marge and Amanda wouldn't be getting all of the spiritual nourishment they'd need, and wondered if they would stick around for the other two meetings.  Thankfully, they're both the sweetest and most in-tune people in the world (excepting some of the present company reading this letter and some people I've never met personally), and were extremely understanding as we squabbled to locate a room in which to host our class.  Once we located the manuals, wrangled some active members into coming, and said the opening prayer, everything changed.  We began our lesson in Chapter 11 of Gospel Principles: The Life of Christ.

...I don't know that I've felt the Spirit so strongly in a classroom setting before.  Marge and Amanda both bore their testimonies of Christ's Atonement, and their fellowshipper gushed as she told us how grateful she was to have the opportunity to leave behind the nit-picking of Gospel Doctrine and remember the reason why we even have any doctrine.  So.  Good.  I'm never going back to Gospel Doctrine.

To put the icing on the cake for the day, during Priesthood one of the members burst into the room, looked at us, and stated in an excited and hurried tone, "A man on a motorbike just pulled up and asked if we were a Christian church!" So we followed outside to meet Eric: A man from Quebec with whom I conversed in French.  He says he'll be at church next week, so we'll see what's up! :)

Those are probably the best stories/updates for the week.  I used French a lot while street contacting in Downtown, but those are stories for another time.  As far as a Mother's Day phone call, I would anticipate it being in the evening:  We might still be attending church for 6 hours that day. :)  When works better for you?  I haven't heard anything about Jon... Hopefully he's doing okay.  I'm pretty sure I've met some of his relatives, as our Stake Clerk is a Matt LeBaron. :)  And I'm not sure if I know Ben's little sister... it doesn't seem to ring a bell, but I'll feel completely jerkish if I really do know her.  Could you find out her name? Also: Can you tell Sister Butler Sr. hello and give her a big hug from me?  That CD she sent me has been a fantastic blessing. Oh, and I haven't gotten Scott's announcement yet... Mostly Ashley's picturesque and loving postcards are my mail these days.  Okay, I made that sound really sad, but I'd be getting more mail if I managed my mornings, lunch-breaks, and evenings better and actually wrote some lettres myself!  I want to make it a goal this week to write one letter every day.  I hope it all works out. :P

Love you, and talk to you next week!  Prediction: Elder Fairbanks is leaving. :P

-Elder Jared D. Larsen

Week 60-Baptism, Moms, Hope, and Easter eggs

"I know when I am baptized, my wrongs are washed away; and I can be forgiven and renew myself each day.  I want my life to be as clean as Earth right after rain; I want to be the best I can to live with God again."

Due to Canadians' insane obsession with placing random statutory holidays on Monday, Happy Easter Monday yesterday, and a terrific Tuesday to you! :)

Things are going all right here in Airdrie; the Sisters had a baptism on Saturday, and Hunter was baptized on Easter Sunday! It was a really spiritual weekend that I wouldn't trade for... well, anything! The expression on Hunter's face as he came out of the water followed by a singular utterance of "Wow!" pretty much said it all. :) With Hunter being in the new ward in Airdrie, things are a bit messy as to who will teach the new member lessons... We're hoping further directives will come after transfers.  In the meantime, we're sharing the Sierra Springs ward with our Zone Leaders.  Which means at least 6 hours of church meetings on Sunday. Which also means we get to partake of the Sacrament twice!!  So many blessings! :)

Hunter's baptism was a fantastic thing to be a part of.   The Sister who gave the talk on baptism asked Hunter a lot of "guess-what's-in-my-head" questions, which, due to a learning disability Hunter has, are the hardest type of questions for him to answer.  However, when she began to question him on the steps of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, asking what you do once you've repented, he proudly declared, "Baptism!!"  ...I'm pretty sure I did a fist-pump in the air, but luckily it didn't destroy the Spirit that was there. :)  Their family has come so far, and I'm so proud of his mom- it hasn't been easy for her to do what she's done.  This ward split might be exactly what she needs for a fresh-start, though!

We saw a miracle occur in member-missionary work with one family who's... well, not in our ward anymore, but the situation's a little messy. We showed up last Thursday for a supper appointment, and there was an addition to our numbers!  The members invited their non-member friend Amanda to attend the supper. This friend turned out to be the singularly most prepared person I've ever met. She committed to baptism, but is afraid to commit to a date because of her common-law husband. We'll see how that plays out, but we're counting for the best; in the meantime, please send your prayers her way!

On Friday, we said our farewells to Logan, a young man who had his mission call to Australia, which meant he'd frequently attend lessons with us. :)  The best part was the fact that he invited us to attend his setting apart.  So. Good.  It brought back so many memories of my own.  At the end, the Stake President invited his mom to share her testimony with him, and the Spirit was so strong!  She recounted the events that led up to that day: Logan's father falling into less-activity at a young age, marrying Logan's non-member mother, and Logan attending church with his grandmother when he was seven.  Logan's decision to go to church resulted in the missionaries coming over, which led to a double-baptism of him and his mom!  Solid story, and he'll be a solid missionary.  Afterward, the Stake President issued Logan a challenge: "Be the kind of missionary your mom thinks you are."

...It was a great challenge.  And, mom, it made me think so much about you!  You've always been there throughout my life, and you've always known what my potential was: And you expected me to fulfill it.  Elder Neal A. Maxwell stated, "The finest of friends must sometimes be stern sentinels, who will insist that we become what we have the power to become."  And you've done that, mom!  I love you so much, and I'm so grateful for the way that you've pushed, pulled, poked, and prodded in order to help mold me into what you've known I can be.  Granted, I get a lot of my stubbornness from you, so I didn`t always comply... Buuuut that doesn't mean you don`t get credit for effort. :)  Thanks, Mom; and thanks for marrying a man I can look up to daily.  Right now, you probably miss him more than anyone else: But he's still there for all of us.  This week, I'm going to be doing a study on "Hope."  It is in Preach My Gospel as a Christlike Attribute, defined in True to the Faith explicitly, and found in various instances in the topical guide, but I want to find more.  Will you study with me?  I want to know what gives you hope! :)

This month has been super-focused on the Finding aspect of missionary-work, and President Nicholas has instigated a weekly expedition into Downtown Calgary for all of the Northern zones!  Last week was quite terrifying, but also hilarious and rewarding. Street contacting is becoming one of my favorite things to do.  But everyone has a different approach to it, so there are so many different ways to do it!  If you were a non-member waltzing down the street to your high-class, time-consuming job, how would you want to be approached by a missionary?  ...Okay, chances are you wouldn't want, but what about the odd people that do? :P

In closing, I'll send you a picture of the Easter eggs I dyed- the Sisters were very impressed by my dying skills, but the pictures make them look less... awesome... Haha.  I still can't get over Jori's eggs from last year!!  Maybe some day I'll link in to that artistic gene. >:(

Lovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelove,

Elder Jared D. Larsen

PS-These are the Mormon Messages we watched while Hunter got redressed. I like them a lot, so I hope you do, too! :)

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/none-were-with-him?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/our-true-identity?lang=eng&country=ca

Week 59-Baptism, New Ward, and Agency

Ready for a short email?!

Hunter's baptism is all set for next Sunday, and we're getting excited!  Unfortunately, the Airdrie wards had a massive meeting yesterday where they created a 5th ward by redrawing the boundaries.  Which means Hunter is no longer in our ward...  But!  We're sharing the new ward with the zone leaders up until transfers, and then President Nicholas will figure something out.  So we'll still get to help him make friends at church.  It's all been a gong show, but it's kind of like opening up a new area in a way...  Really looking forward to it. :)

Glad to hear the New York trip went well- especially seeing Kaysie right at home with her Newsies. :)  The memories of watching that movie over and over because she wanted to are far too good.

Thanks for the insights on the Statue of Liberty, Mom; it truly does stand as a representation of  freedom and agency.  Which is something I've been reflecting upon a lot myself.  We had a less-active member ask us if everyone truly has agency:  Even those pre-teens in Malaysia who fall victim to sex-trafficking for a good portion of their lives.  In order to answer that question, we turned to the classic agency scripture: 2 Nephi 2:26-27.  Interestingly, it never states that men will be free to choose anything they want to choose: It merely guarantees that, within the boundaries set by our flesh, we have freedom to choose liberty and eternal life through Christ, or the alternative through Satan.  We all have agency in the sense that, no matter what our circumstances are, we can choose to accept the Atonement of Jesus Christ, giving us hope for a better world.

But what do you think?  Does everyone have agency?

I did see Michael (Alder) in the choir!!!  I caught a glimpse of him for a second, but then never saw him again so I thought my mind was playing tricks on me!  Cool.  Love.  Him.  :)  He's so great!  Do you happen to have his email/mission address?  He's leaving pretty soon, eh?

Airdrie's definitely different.  By the time I left Sparwood, I knew everyone in the stores by name, and could hold a conversation about their dogs, kids, boyfriends, or deceased relatives: Here, I'm lucky to ever see the same person twice!  I still haven't figured out what works best for missionary work here, but we'll see.  And yes, I have a camera charger. :)

Well, I've gotta go.  Love ya!

-Elder Jared D. Larsen

Week 58-Thoughts on General Conference

"I'd rather be a Could-Be
If I could not be an Are,
For a Could-Be is a May-Be
With a chance of reaching par.

I'd rather be a Has-Been

Than a Might-Have-Been by far,

For a Might-Have-Been has never been,
But a Has-Been was once an Are."

I memorized this poem in the latter years of elementary school under the tutelage of Mr. Bandley, but it's been flooding back to my mind over the past two days as I've pondered on the messages of conference.

General Conference this year truly was a feast, and I wish there was a way to "fast" in preparation for it the same way you "fast" before Thanksgiving dinner: But going without spiritual nourishment for that long probably isn't recommended.  Instead, I'm looking forward to truly searching the words that were spoken in hopes of uncovering more of the Restoration that I might've "slept" through!  (Reference to President Uchtdorf's talk in the Priesthood session: You'll understand some day. :P)

The experiences I had this week all taught me some very crucial things, and all of them were highlighted in General Conference.  I'm trying to keep my time here shorter, and after a lengthy email to President, I'm not left with much: So I'll try to share what's on my mind.

To me, this session was very focused on several poignant doctrines:
1. God loves His children.
2. God's children have infinite potential.

3. God has set clearly the standards His children are to follow in order to achieve our full potential.
4. God doesn't expect us to do it alone.
5. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

...The last of these bullet-points enforces the importance of the others, particularly as I've seen them relate to myself and those around me.

1. God loves his children.  ALWAYS.  He loved us yesterday, He loves us today, and no matter how many tomorrows we have, He'll love us then.  His love is unchanging. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). No matter who we are, what we've done, or the circumstances under which we are placed, God. Loves. Us.

In the world we live in today, Satan does his best to teach us that God loves us unless. I testify that God's love is relentless.

2. God's children have infinite potential. All of us.  "He inviteth all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile" (2 Nephi 26:33).

Regardless of presently available resources of spirit, body, or temporal capabilities, God invites us to partake of His goodness: The children that God loves equally will be rewarded if they accept His invitation.

3.  God's standards never change. "Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosever will may walk therein and be saved" (Alma 41:8).  The world can continue to debate and create their own "God in the image of Man," but the Heavenly Father of all things has laid clearly the rules of exaltation.  We cannot expect to view standards given unto us by prophets as mere "guidelines" and still expect God to view His promised blessings as "inherent."

Often, I find that people know the doctrine and the principles: Satan just does his best to confuse us with the application, telling people they're the exception to the rule.  God will forgive whom He will forgive, but we cannot act expecting to be excepted without His counsel.

4. God doesn't expect us to do it alone. "And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and finisher of their faith.

And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.

And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and sine in remembrance of the Lord Jesus" (Moroni 6:4-6).

God has given us fantastic tools through the Church that we may be able to maintain the faith we've received: Home teaching, fasting, prayer, mutual, quorums/auxiliaries... All of these enable us to do things we never thought we could.  And as we rely alone on Christ, our sources of comfort and strength will never fail. Always. No man is excluded from this promise.

Considering each of these aspects, I go again to the verses with which I began.  Many times, God's children feel a lot like the second verse: Has-Beens and Might-Have-Beens.  But the play of life in which we currently act is not yet done!  Each and every one of God's children is currently a Could-Be.  All of us.  We can all press forward with faith and strength knowing that, someday, we could be "Are"s!

Phew... that was a lot of fast typing.  I'll probably go have a heart attack now.  I know so fully that God continues to speak to us today, and that a knowledge of our true identity and potential as children and heirs to an almighty God will change the life of anyone who dares to come to their Father in diligent prayer and search.

I love you all, and I'm glad to hear your trips went well!  I look forward to next week's emailing session. :)  Love you!

-Elder Jared D. Larsen