A sword and a hammer

 I went on exchanges with Elder Keller this week! We stayed up till about 1 sharing our life stories. Elder Keller is a pretty incredible person! He's one of the Chinese elders I came in with so we got to talk about Chinese program things. We're both coming to close of out mission (wink) so it was cool to have a whole talk about everything we've learned and what we hope to accomplish with the time we have left.

On Monday we had interviews with President Larson and I officially extended my mission 1 transfer. July is just too soon lol and I need more time to study my languageS and the gospel as a missionary. Plus I believe God told me to.

President Larson also shared with me that a stake president from the south of our mission was talking with him and said “I heard you have hindi elders…I would love to have one here.” so I will be going to Saratoga. 

We started exchanges with the ASLders that night and I got to be with Elder Ardineger- he is such a treasure! He is Deaf and has been serving since December. We had soooo much fun!

Nehemiah is a very special book of the Old Testament. Despite being near the middle, chronologically it's the very last book to take place. Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer, meaning the king trusted him with his life (kings were sometimes poisoned) when Nehemiah learns about the efforts to rebuild Jerusalem he really wants to go. So he asks the king if he can. King says yes, gives him some guards and Nehemiah heads out. 

When they arrive Nehemiah runs around the whole place taking a mental inventory of everything that needs to be repaired- which is everything. King Nebuchadnezzar really did a number on this place.  

Nehemiah finds the guys in charge and then becomes the man in charge.

ALSO- the whole time- the Samaritans are tryna kill them! Samaritans WERE Israelite, they're just the ones that intermarriage with Babylon and Persia and stuff after Israel was carried captive. They still “believe in God” they just had adopted other nations' ways of believing in God and so they were no longer allowed to help with any of the rebuilding of Jerusalem or the temple. So instead of repenting or something they just try to kill the Jews. 

So- here is the point of everything I've shared- Nehemiah 4:17

“17 They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon”

With one hand they are building the lords kingdom. With the other they are ready to fight. This is exactly how I feel as an Elder. I feel like I have one hand building the kingdom and teaching (sometimes I do teach with both my hands) and just as important as the first hand, I have a hand defending myself from Satan's attacks. He doesn't want me to succeed. He has very sneaky ways of fighting. BUT

“14 And I[nehemiah] looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

20 …our God shall fight for us.”

So do the lords work

Defend yourself from Satan and don't be afraid.

Remember God will fight for you

i have no idea

 Elder Lewis was sick for a bit. So I got 3 days of naps, Old Testament and Hindi studies, and pondering. 

On Friday night one of the Deaf Elders taught all the missionaries some basics in ASL and I pretended like I wasn't fluent. Then Elder Ardinger and Elder Tien wrestled and we ate cookies.

Saturday afternoon was the youth “missionary madness” activity. We pretended to be missionaries all day and helped the youth get a slightly more realistic idea of missionary life.

Sunday evening we stopped by one of our Indian families in the middle of a birthday party. They not only invited us in but also requested that I say the blessing on the cake. I asked, “Bless the cake?” and I guess in their culture that was really funny because everybody kept repeating it and laughing harder and harder. Then I got them again by asking how to say “cake” in hindi- its just cake. 

We had an exchange where we just took Elder Howes with us down to San Jose and all around. We got to visit some friends Elder Lewis met while serving down south and that was fun. Also walked around the grounds of the future San Jose Temple! Indians are such strange people. One day I will figure out how to contact and teach Indians effectively…

I also went on exchange with Elder Searle. He is my brother in every way except blood. I look up to him more than any other missionary I’ve met. I know that bold- but this man trained a Deaf missionary when he had only been serving for about 6 weeks. He has been the father of the ASL program since he stepped off the plane. He has only had Deaf companions other than the 6 weeks with me. He is also a chef. Needles to say, our exchange was absolutely incredible. We found an old Indian man-only spoke hindi- and I got to teach him about the restoration and it felt SO cool. His name was “bebebe.” 

Also- that evening we had the craziest, most ridiculous lesson ever. We taught a Deaf Indian man and his Deaf Indian wife as well as their Hearing Indian mother. I was teaching in ASL and Hindi and figuring out what's going on and translating using english. I almost passed away, it didn't help that his mother was actually crazy. She kissed us on the forehead and would start singing, fall asleep,or start shaking her hands with all her steel bracelets on randomly. It was so hard to not burst out laughing. 

In the beginning of Ezra, which is actually near the end of the Old Testament chronologically but only about ½ way through the book, we read about another different kind of restoration that happened. The apostasy was only for about 80 years prior to this restoration but what happened was the Syrian king Nebudcanazzer destroyed Jerusalem and carried away all of israel. He also destroyed Solomon's Temple. There was now no “church” on the Earth. There was no prophet for a sec, no priesthood, no ordinances were happening on the earth and God's people were mixed with Syria and started adopting Syrian religious tradition.

Then we have 4 superheros that fixed everything- Zerubbabal and Jeshua- 2 legendary very faithful levites who rebuilt the temple. Despite the Samaritans trying to stop them and other silly garbage, they never stopped.

And also Haggai and Zechariah- 2 prophets who hung out with Jeshua and Zerubbabal and helped build the temple and encourage the people to come back.

I think these 4 were probably best friends. I can see them having district councils before they head out to go build the temple and preach the gospel. 

Basically apostasies have happened before- so have restorations. When God wants to restore the church- he calls prophets. It all makes SO much sense. The church is incredibly true. Anybody who has a desire, logic, and faith can easily find out for themselves that it's true. 

Keep the fire burning

New tie who dis?

 

🌄We started the week off at 3:30 on p-day morning so we could go hike up a mountain with the other missionaries. However, it was raining a lot. So we got McDonald's and hiked a much smaller hill instead. 

Every 6 months the Central Park Ward (one of the wards I've been serving in for nearly 18 months) has a giant community activity they call the 'clothing swap' where everybody in Fremont and all the surrounding cities rounds up all the junk in their home and brings it to the church where we sort it out on tables. Then everybody comes and just takes whatever they want. 

Within the first hour there's unbelievably giant stacks on every table, more than 100 people in the gym, and an overpowering interesting smell that just sticks in your nose.

We got to help out with that thursday-saturday! I got a new tie- so all the weird smells were worth it.

Saturday morning I was studying Preach My Gospel about to finish a paragraph and to blow my nose when somebody knocked on our door- I answered the door and it was my ASL Trainers- Shepherd Rigby and Hyatt White! We caught up and hugged. It was so weird to see them again...at the apartment we used to all live in and then again at the clothing swap- a year ago I was with them serving at the clothing swap…

Then we went and got pizza- at a place I went to with them about a year ago. So many feelings lol. I love them very much and I'm excited to hang out more in like 5 months!

I got to go on Exchange with the ASLders again on Monday. We went and tutored at the Deaf School, some of the teachers recognized me and we caught up. 

That night we met with a family I had found a few months ago and they'd come to church and had been reading the Book of Mormon on their own...so Elder Serban and I asked them to be baptized and gave them a preview of our hope for their future. We talked about the word of wisdom, sabbath day, tithing, and temple and they just said yes yes yes! They are ready to change their life! It was actually amazing and had me wishing everybody was as good as they are with "Agency" . I have never met anybody who is so good at keeping every commitment we give them. They were at church the Sunday after we met them and They've been studying the Book of Mormon as a family every week since. So if you want, you can pray for the Vance family. They set a goal to be baptized on the 13th of April! 

This week in my study of the Old Testament I was reminded of something President Griffith taught me back when he was my Bishop. One thing I heard more than anything else was "the first leadership is self-leadership. You cannot lead others where you are not"

In 2 chronicles there's a few chapters about king Amaziah (we'll be focused on chapter 25:1-13). He was pretty cool (most of the time...had an unfortunate but sadly common ending to his story 25:14- 28)

Like always, he's getting ready for war and councils with the prophet about what to do. Before he talked to the prophet he had bought help from Israel (he's the Judah king) the prophet says "tell them you don't need their help- Gods gonna win this one for you"

Amaziah is like "dude I paid them like 100 talents- you really want me to tell them to go home?"

Prophet is like " yup- God can give you way more than 100 talents if you do it his way" (amen amen)

So Amaziah tells the Israel army to go home and here it is:

 "11 And Amaziah STRENGTHEND HIMSELF and LED forth his people" (capitalization added)

And if you're curious- they absolutely won.

I love that it says Amaziah strengthened himself BEFORE he led the people to war. That is leadership- you have to know how to build yourself up and get motivated and fired up- THEN you can "lead forth [the] people''

The first leadership is always self leadership. You cannot invite people to do things and go places when you're not doing those things or in those places. So- do amazing things and gain a testimony of them and then invite everybody to do the same! 

And like always, keep the fire burning (Levi 6:13)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7

We were in a trio this week and I hated the third guy but learned a ton from him.

 That was fun. 

Starting last Tuesday I had the most incredibly awful growth on my forehead. It's funny because just a few days prior I expressed to Heavenly Father that things were starting to get easy and I was ready for a challenge, ready for something to humble me.

Then on Tuesday morning I awoke with a giant thing on my forehead. Dark dark red and absolutely awful. I didn't want to leave the apartment. I didn't want anybody to see me. However, we had district council and zone council. I tried to drape my hair over it-nope. Nothing could cover this up. 

District council was great. I hit the leviticus 5: 6-7, 11 and talked about what kind of sacrifice we are giving but also telling them as long as they're doing their best, their offering is accepted. 

That night all the Indians we talked to had to comment about the guy on my forehead and offer advice and tips on how to get rid of it. It actually hurt a ton and I was ready to just walk out. 

I think it's unfortunate how much my appearance really matters to me and those around me. It is so so great to be attractive and handsome and have people think you're cute- but it is so much more important to have a pure heart, beautiful personality, social skills, sense of humor, and strong spirit. I suppose that's what really makes us attractive- true beauty comes from the inside. I know I am a beautiful person. But having a lump of dumbness on my face made me feel pretty ugly even though I'm still the same person.

Anyways. 

We went to the temple and did sealings. THAT was a special opportunity. One thing I learned/started learning is that really the entire mission of the gospel is to help everybody receive the new and everlasting covenant and become part of the Abrahamic Covenant and know how to keep that covenant forever.

We visited the Gill family a few times this week and it's just so crazy. They have so many extra people living in their home right now. We try so hard to take control of the situation but there's SO MUCH happening! Neither me nor the guy on my forehead could focus. 

However, last night, I had enough. In the middle of the chaos I just stood up and was like “can everybody be quiet and can I get all the Gills over here. Please give me your attention for the next 15 minutes.”

Then we just boldly straight up told them if you want to be baptized you need to do all the things we have asked you to. If you cannot read the book of Mormon everyday then you will not be ready for baptism on the 16th. They nodded and said they'll do better. We started asking about how the Word of Wisdom had been going and just like that their extended family came over and was like “no tea? No coffee???” In hindi, but little did they know, both me and my constant companion, Elder Red Pimple-Mountain on my forehead have been studying hindi a ton and so I knew she was not saying very encouraging things. 

Then, like a legend, Sana shut them down by saying she knew what we said was true and she knew God had asked her to remove those things from her life. I'm so proud of her.

Sandeep offered a prayer and he pleaded for strength and help for his family to be ready by the 16th. Then he thanked God for sending 2 angels to his home. So sweet. I don't know why he said 2, we are clearly in a trio this week. (Elder Lewis, me and my friend on my forehead) 

They also gave us a ton of curry and I had a ton, afterall, I am eating for 2 right now.

The most powerful verse I found from the Old testament this week was 2 chronicles 20:12 I will cut it down so it's a little more simple but it says:

“[my] God, [I] have no might, neither know [I] what to do: But [my] eyes are upon thee” 

This is from king Jehoshaphat when a GIANT army of Ammonites is headed to them set on destroying them. Jehoshaphat tells everybody to fast and pray and this was part of his prayer. I think this is exactly how we should face trials. The most important part is that our eyes are upon God, we focus on him. 

Not that we don't know what to do or that we are powerless- but where our focus is. 

The story continues and the prophet Jahaziel tells the king that the lord is with them and nobody will even need to fight the Ammonites. His prophecy is fulfilled and all the opposing armies destroy each other.

Sometimes our trials are like that,but often our trials don't always end this way! Sometimes we actually do get hurt! Sometimes we lose! Sometimes we get a huge red Brother on our face!

“But our eyes are upon thee”

Jesus Christ makes everything right. He can take trials away, he can also help us through them so that they make us better. “His hand is stretched out still” we just need to look to him and trust his will and everything will work out.

I know this is true because I woke up this morning and my forehead looks normal. It's gone! It was a tough week and now i'm gonna wash my face even better lol but in the end- everything was ok!

Love you all!

Have a fire week and keep the fire burning (levi 6:13)