Pain.

 Thursday was one of the most incredible days ever as well as the hardest day of my mission. We had a beautiful Zone Conference full of spirit, testimonies, and council. After Zone Conference we went to one of our friend's homes. I have been dreading this lesson for over a week- this friend was put on date for baptism before we knew she was on house arrest. We found out she was on house arrest at the end of a lesson and now we had to go over and explain that she actually cannot be baptized until after she finishes her house arrest. I love this friend so much! I knew it was gonna crush her. We pull up and meet with the sisters who have been teaching her with us, go in and sit down and start with love. Then all the missionaries look at me- it's time to drop the news. So with all the love I have and with all the softness I can, I tell her that we all will need to wait for her to be baptized until she concludes her house arrest. she starts crying and starts kinda closing off. I felt awful. I felt like I was denying her the one thing she truly wanted. I felt my heart drop and dark anxious pain feelings in my chest. I took all I had to not join her tears. The sisters hopped in and talked about how “waiting” can become a sacred place. Then I was filled with spirit and I knew what to do. I instructed her to listen carefully to what I was going to say. The most powerful testimony of Gods love and restoration of Priesthood power I’ve ever given then proceeded to fall from my mouth followed by an invitation to receive a priesthood blessing. She said yes, had us guess what number was behind her back cuz she didnt wanna “pick favorites” 

this was actually a miracle because without any hesitation at all I guessed 7.

Her number was 7.

So I gave her a blessing and my mind was crystal clear. I have never ever had words come to me this easily before. it felt like I was reading the words. no eye in the room was dry. 

I was trying to make burgers and instead I cut a chunk out of my thumb. Fortunately, I am a man of great poise. So, as blood is being pumped out and making a concerningly large puddle of blood in the sink, annoyed at this inconvenience, I rinse my thumb off and as soon as I take it out of the stream of water- you instantly cannot tell I just rinsed it off. Blood everywhere. So with a roll of my eyes I suffocate it with paper towels. Despite the pain I apply as much pressure as I can and hold my hand as high up as I can. Somehow, for the first time ever- I left my phone in the car?!?! so I knock on the bathroom door, “Elder LaBar, I need you to run out to the car with me, I just cut my finger open and I need to call the nurse” 

With more panic than I had, he opened the door and we went to the car.

The nurse wanted a picture- we couldn't get one because the blood just kept gurgling out lol. So she decided to have me just apply pressure lol.

Bleeding stopped about 20 hours later.

So the next 3 days actually sucked. I felt like I was missing a piece of me (lol) no, but actually- I felt like garbage and was always light headed and my thumb felt like it was on fire. What a dumb injury lol. All for some dang patties.

Went on exchange with Elder Palmer and we went full-beast mode. Talked to a ton of indians! Every time we saw an Indian I would call which city they were from and then we'd ask and I was right each time. I blew Elder Palmer away with that trick, I guess I'm just good at being racist with indians- but in a good way. The surprise on their faces when I speak hindi will never ever get old. 

One Indian man (from Delhi) answered the door and was like “is this urgent?” and I was like “Ya, it actually is” he let us teach him a bit. I felt pretty cool saying that lol. It's so fun to just go out and have a blast being a bold missionary who is just not scared of anyone or anything. 

I know that this IS urgent. The gospel of Jesus Christ is something to be urgent about. Now is the time to act. Now is the time. Don't wait. 

Cool verse:

Psalm 29: 2 “...worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” 

There's only gonna be a few more of these. . .

Love you all very much, especially you.

2 kings 4:16 moment and Alma 26:27 moments

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

On Thursday night we had finished all of our contacts in the area and we had 15 minutes left and nothing to do. We could have gone back to the apartment and cleaned or done some language study but Elder Lewis pulled out his phone and found we had one person whom we had talked to once nearby. Jesse. I remember him being not that interested but we went over anyway.

We got there and his wife just told us to come inside! They are both from Punjab and speak Hindi! We had a powerful lesson with them. Even though it was the first time we had met them, Harpreet, Jesse's wife, opened up and told us they had been having a hard time getting kids and really really wanted a baby. So we prayed for them and we were able to give Harpreet a Priesthood blessing! As I sealed the anointing several accounts of prophets promising a child to faithful women came to mind and so I did just that. (Most recently I read about Elisha in 2 kings 4 to a woman who let him stay in her home a few times)

I love Jesse and Harpreet so much!

The next evening we headed over to the Gills. Before we went in we said a prayer in our car and as we looked up, Sana and Sandeep were standing by our car waving at us! We went in and gave them the “preview” lesson. Kind of reminding them of our purpose as missionaries, telling them about commitments we will invite them to make, all the blessings and then talking about baptism. They are 100% on board. They gave us a huge list of sobering news and trials they have, so we gave them all priesthood blessings. We finished off the evening by inviting Sana to pray. 

She was a little awkward about it but eventually tried and it was beautiful.

“Father, I don't know how to pray. . .but I know you listen. . .and, I am not the right kind of person to pray, but I will try” 

It was amazing! Nothing I can say or do could have been more powerful. That was exactly what her family needed.

During the weekend one of our dear not-active indian families had us come over for a “prayer-meeting” a loved one had passed away so they wanted some prayers. They invited all of their non-member family as well! Elder Lewis and I stumbled through some plan of salvation doctrine in Hindi and they loved that. Some amazing sister missionaries accompanied us over there and they shared powerful personal experiences and testimonies of the plan of salvation. Even though it was English, the people there that prefer hindi and don't know as much English were still deeply moved by their words. 

Then we all ate a bunch of curry.

The Zone Leaders wanted to exchange with the ASLders, since elder Ardinger is Deaf that wouldn't work- so they just said “Elder Owens, you're coming with us.” So we did TRIO exchanges. It was actually great. I got to be back in the ASL world for a day. We got to go to a lesson about 30 minutes north of mission boundaries! I love asl work lol.

And last night we went back to the Gills! Sana’s parents were with us so we got to show off our hindi and they were impressed! Then we opened up the scriptures and read from 2 Nephi 31! It was amazing! The spirit said “go for it” so we set a goal with them for a family baptismal service on the 23rd of March! They could not be more excited. 

Even amidst all these incredible hindi miracles, I have had my questions and doubts about whether or not the hindi program is supposed to exist in the way that it does. We have plenty of friends who can only be taught by somebody who speaks Hindi but a majority of our work, although not as effectively, could be accomplished by English missionaries.

This has been the subject of many prayers and meditations. However, this week in my chronological reading of the book of Mormon I got to Alma 26. Ammon's mission homecoming speech. There are so many parallels between his experience with Laminates and my experience with Indians. It's such a perfect match I think Ammon said this just for me.

Verse 27 struck me right in my heart:

“Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites (the indians), and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.”

I believe that was my answer.

I testify the scriptures are true and divine. Studying the scriptures will help you find answers to your questions, solutions to your problems, relief from stress, peace in storms, and power in weakness.

Please read the scriptures.

Indians and leprosy

 This week we had 4 lessons with people who legit only know Hindi and it was basically a success! 

1 woman, Pardeep, has had dreams about angels giving her the Book of Mormon. Most recently, she dreamt about baptism and Matthew chapter 10. We didn't know about this dream until after we read 3 Nephi 11 with her- she freaked out because a lot of it correlates with Matthew 10. 

We asked her if she knew the Book of Mormon was true and she said हाँ. So we invited her to be baptized and she told us she would pray about it and do whatever God told her to do.

Wow.

Our brother, Dipak, has like 100 English words, luckily we have 600 hindi words. So we had a nice lesson with him and read and testified about the Book of Mormon. He really wants to come to church this week!

Then we have Harbinger, he lives with like 20 indian dudes and they were all teasing him for talking with us but he didn't care. He sat with us and read with us and asked for a hindi bom, even after a few of his friends told us not to give him one! He also complimented my Hindi and I almost cried because I really really needed to hear that. #tendermercies

Then some औरत named Binder- no English. She opened the door and told us “no English” . I winked and said “hindi?” She said “हाँ” so I WENT OFF. She was shocked and I testified of Jesus and the Book of Mormon. I placed one in her hands but she was too shook to notice. We will be back this Saturday.

These are just a few of the incredible miracles I've seen this week! 

I have been stuck at a verse in 2 kings chapter 5. In the first verse it introduces my bro, Naaman. It says he was a great honorable man, and a mighty man of Valor. It explains that he had delivered Syria! An entire nation! Naaman is what the cool kids call “a legend.” All this great stuff about him is followed with the hard truth “but he was a leper” 

I drew some connections to myself. I think a lot of people know all the cool stuff about me like “oh, he learned ASL and now Hindi, he has 7 younger siblings, he can crochet…or wuteva” and I always add on my own “but I am a leper” in my mind. “ but I can't be social with people, my handwritings not great, I still have acne, I don't floss as much as i should or whatever it is” (jokes aside, I have a lot of weaknesses/leprosies and it is really frustrating and discouraging when they get in the way.)

The cool thing about Naaman being a leper is that through God's Power he was cleansed!

“And his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, AND HE WAS CLEAN” (v 14) 

Just like Naaman, if we do what we're supposed to and repent with faith we will be clean. Our own unique “but-he-was-a-leper- attributes” and flaws can be cleansed away and our flesh can be pure as a child's. We can ACTUALLY BE CLEAN. 

There is a ton ton more to be learned and I'm not the best at explaining. So. If you want you can go read it and ponder it yourself. It's pretty good.

Elder Gary Sabin the legend

 Well we got 4 new tires and an oil change. Then we went and filmed ASL videos all day long. Its so hard to come up with good ideas that would actually spark interest in somebody. Let me know if you have any lol.

Thursday was incredible. Elder Gary Sabin and his wife came and visited our mission! He is such a legend. He gave the talk "Hallmarks of Happiness" in the recent general conference. He had all these cute little phrases he kept saying. Some of them are: " Be the Message," "Wake up Excited," "Simplify, Testify, Intensity," 'Don't Postpone Your Happiness to a Later Date," "Catch Them Doing Well," "Celestial 'Steps," "What Are you Afraid of?," "If you Want to be Beautiful, be Good," "The Light is Always Green- and if it's Red You'll Feel it," "Don't Stress, Stretch"

He talked about how every single person wants to know the answer to 2 questions: "What happens when I die?" And "How can I be clean?" If they think they don't want the answers then they're lying to themselves. So I've been trying to focus my social media contacting, street contacting, and teaching more on those points and it has gotten better. 

He also told this really cool story about a man during the great depression who wanted a job as a Morse code decoder telegram thing person and he went in for the interview and saw that the whole building was full of people who were also waiting for an interview. Then he just got up and walked into the office where the man giving the interviews was! And he got the job! The boss and him walked out and he was like "ok everybody you can go home, this guy got the job"

And everybody was upset and saying "that's not fair! He didn't wait for his turn!"

And then the guy was like "Didn't you hear it? He was tapping with his pen on his desk in Morse code! He said 'If you want the job, come to my office right now!"

I think there's a lot of lessons to pull from the "Parable of the Morse code job". What Elder Sabin was trying to teach is that we need to learn to recognize revelation when it comes. I learned that I don't need to panic or fear when I know how to listen to the Holy Ghost as well as when the prompting comes- ACT.

One more thing he taught our mission was the 8 Ps of Peace:

Pray (child to father communication and relationship)

Page (scriptures)

Ponder (think about it!)

Patience (good things take time and accepting His will)

Play (have fun)

Purity (repentance) 

Pride (get rid of it)

Praise (complementing, lifting others)

Pretty cool.

Also I've been sick all week. So I'm sleep deprived and either coughing or holding back coughs or being grateful for relief. So that's been a blast. 

We went and visited Bertram and he gave us each a paper plate full of doritos and then we gave him a blessing. He promised he was gonna go to church but then texted us saying he was in the ER. Satan certainly is a stinker.

We started up ASL class again! This might be my fault for being pessimistic in my head, but, not a single person showed up. So I'll try to be optimistic next time. 

Church was good but I got a bloody nose during the linger longer so we left. 

We had a Stake priesthood meeting that was announced THAT morning! And we got to go interpret for it. Very fun. I am still confused on how my hands just get going and it all works out. 

We tutored at the Deaf School Monday night and I tried explaining Math In ASL. Oh boy! What a challenge! Poor boy was as patient as the kids that waited for the 2nd marshmallow in the marshmallow test thing. I'm very thankful for his kindness. He actually taught me way more than I taught him. (If I even taught him anything) 

It was all good though afterwards i was signing with the man in charge of tutoring and he helped me understand how to sign about math and what actually makes sense. So it was an obstacle but I just used it to grow so imma legend. 

Then we got 5 guys and I went all the way- got everything you can and it was Heavenly. 

Sorry if this email is reminiscent of Galatians 6:11.

Anyways- one really cool gem from the Old Testament I found is in Numbers 24:5:

"How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!"

Numbers 24:5

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/num/24?id=p5&lang=eng#p5

This is during the story of the talking Donkey, yes Balaam and Balak and cursing the children of Israel but then blessing them instead (like 3 times). During this chapter Balaam is seeing a vision and kinda just prophesying and there's this cute little verse. 

I've often heard "Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness" From the Bible dictionary and this verse is actual scriptural evidence of that. It's talking about their homes and their temples- both described the same way in the same verse. I know that it's true! Homes really are the only other place that can compare to a temple. Not church buildings. Homes. I think it's because temples are all about families. Sealing them together, saving our ancestors, learning about Adam and Eve. It all points to Jesus Christ, but a lot of it also points to families. And home is where a family is made and spends the most time together. I already know that I will do all I can to make my home like a temple. 

If you don't know what feeling that is then you need to go to the temple…A LOT. Make the temple feel like home to you so you can make your home feel like the temple.

Keep the Fire Burning (Levi 6:12-13) 

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

Hobab and service

 

Have you ever helped move a 4000 pound safe? Well, it's a little bit concerning and stressful and looks like and feels like it's not supposed to work. I really thought somebody was going to get hurt- but we were all OK. 

We helped a Deaf family move 2 uhaul loads to a storage unit and that was great fun. It took the entire day too lol.

The next day we just destroyed a yard in San Jose. There's a guy in the ASL branch who had like 3 strokes and so his yard is now all weeds as tall as me. So we just attacked it pretty hard. Then the lawnmower broke. So we'll head back over there later.

Then we went and tactiled general conference for our Deaf Blind friend, Indiana. For me- when tactiling I do not retain anything from the talk. I also retain a very small amount when I am asleep. . .so. 

I'm planning on watching those sessions again. (My body is mega exhausted from all the service ok!)

I took some notes- but I only wrote down action items that I knew were specifically for me. One that really hit was "focus on covenants more" I am not sure how to it yet, but that's my focus right now.

Monday we went and tutored at the Deaf School again. It was great. When nobody wants help with homework we get to kinda just sit there and watch all the Deaf things happen. It's good exposure to ASL for my trainees so I hope they'll pick it up real quick.

Last night Elder Johnson and I went down to Pleasanton to teach a couple some ASL- the husband is going Deaf and so they're learning as much as they can. 

Pleasanton is where I started my mission and I have 1 really solid friend who kinda stopped meeting with missionaries when I left the area. I was telling Elder Johnson about him and then we drove past his house and we both were like…why don't we just go visit him?

So we did. Turns out it was the perfect time. Sam had just found out his best friend is going to die In a few days from a blood clot and was crying. He had dog food all over the place because he literally threw it. But we were there and he was really happy to see me. 

Since I left, he and his girlfriend got married and also had a son! Sam is a dad now! I really love Sam. I hope it all works out for him.

This week in Numbers I read about Hobab and and Moses. It's Numbers 10:29-32 so you'll have to read it after this. Basically, Hobab is getting ready to leave and Moses is like "Hobab, my friend, please don't go! Stay with us, travel with us! We need you. If you come with us you'll receive all the blessings that God has promised me! Please don't go!"

And Hobab says "nah, I'm just gonna go home"

And Moses won't take no, so he asks Hobab to go with him again!

I love this story because I feel like we invite people to 'come with us' a lot in discipleship. With our own friends and family it's like "hey! God has promised me these blessings, I want you to have them too! Come with me! Please don't leave, come with me! Read the book of Mormon with me! Come to church with me! Come to the temple with me!"

And maybe they say no.

But we should ask again. Because realistically-there are zero good reasons to say no to anything in the gospel because it all leads to Jesus Christ and there is nothing better than that. People get confused, like Hobab, thinking that going to their home or 'what they already have' is better than the promised land or 'what God can give them' 

So, don't be a Hobab, be a Moses.

And

Keep the fire burning (levi 6:13)  

And

Think celestial  

And

I love you!  

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

The pizza incident among other things...

 We tried to order a pizza in Saturday and that was somehow one of the most difficult things that happened this week, and it was a hard week!

The delivery man called me like a hour after we ordered and screamed with a thick accent "are you at church?" 

We explained we were sitting in the parking lot of the church. After waiting for so long we were getting anxious so we were all spread out on different corners of the church, still within sight and sound. A few minutes later he rolled in with his Tesla and handed us 2 pizzas that were the pure opposite of what we had ordered so were like "Brother, um, where's the third"

I watched his heart drop down to his feet, and we assured him it's ok. And he ran to his car and frantically yanked the tickets out of his car and just looked back and forth between the 2 and said, once again in his wonderful Chinese accent "I delivered wrong pizza! Maybe they not yet eat"

He hopped in his car and was gone.

That means somebody received 3 large pizzas when the lyrics ordered 2 small ones and upon delivery. . .noticed nothing wrong. I can see him with a crooked smile telling our delivery brother "ah, yes, these are the 3 large pizzas I have ordered, yes…"

Well, eventually he came back with some more pizzas for us and we destroyed all of them in just a few minutes. 

That evening we tested negative so that's good. Still have minor symptoms but I guess we're good to go shake hands with 100 people every day now.

Church was good, I mean of course it was. Some random Indian walked into our English ward and our friend Pugal came and took him in. They're completely different Indians but they both like curry so they're still united. After church we taught David, our new Indian friend, the restoration and he loved it! I'm excited to see him grow. 

Then on Monday we went to district council and we discussed 'Zion' . I had a list of topics to study and assigned them out and next week we're just gonna share what we each learned and then we're gonna build Zion here in Fremont.

Then interviews with President! Ok, so some of you know about Sons of Helaman…? This was the life-changing incredible group I went to every Thursday night before my mission. It was all about Jesus Christ and his atonement and how to be free from bad habits, you know, like pornography and masturbation. Lately I just have not been able to stop thinking about getting something like that out here for my fellow Elders. I am very open about my story and recovering from addiction. And because of that I have had SO MANY elders reach out to me asking me for help. And there's only so much I can really do as a missionary. I don't have time to send out texts and prepare lessons and stuff like that, however, if I had permission from president to DO stuff then I would. So I requested it. And he said he loves the idea and wants to meet up again soon and Make a real plan and get stuff going. Pornography is the plague of our day. It's affecting just about everything. It's in movies, music, books, advertisements, clothing, memes, it's everywhere. And it all is prompting bad thoughts and bad actions. The world's ideas related to Sex and the body are wrong and these ideas are influencing many people.

Anyways. I really want to get some kind of weekly zoom call or at least a group chat where the elders can be accountable and honest and have others to connect with and support them. I've seen how much it has helped me so I know for sure it will help.

Reading the scriptures every day, memorizing hymns, working out, cold showers- these are all truly great ideas…but it's just not enough. You need to learn how to rely on Jesus Christ, recognize when Satan starts lying to you, and you really need a team. It's possible but incredibly more difficult without a team. 

Anyways 

Only one more cool thing happened and that was Christie. Christie has been attending church with her older brother who is already a member for months now. She has always said no to missionaries because her husband doesn't like her going to church already. Until 2 days ago. She referred herself and started texting us right away asking if we could meet the very next day. So set everything up and sat down in a classroom and she just started going off! She already knows everything and has been watching general conferences, studying the Book of Mormon every day, reading church history, she's been doing everything. She has a few things that make it really hard to focus. She said "I constantly have 17 thoughts and 9 of them are crashing into each other" but she shared with us she went to the Oakland temple and got to sit up on the rooftop garden and it was the most peaceful experience she's had in her entire life. She told us she just started crying and didn't understand what was going on and just felt nothing but peace. Wow. What a powerful and special experience! 

And that was the first time meeting missionaries. Everything up to yesterday was all done by her brother, a legend and epitome of member missionary work. Everybody can do stuff like that. 

God is really preparing people all over the place, regardless of everything, He's helping everybody come closer to Him. This includes that guy with a beard who yelled at us when we knocked on his door. 

Love you all, have a most incredible week! 

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

Temple miracles

 A week ago we had the special opportunity to attend the temple. In preparation I had been studying repentance and forgiveness because I really wanted to feel clean when I went through the temple. We had also been praying to know which session to attend. Elder Searle and I both felt like we should go for the earliest one available. 

This ended up teaching me about the power of prayer because…we got there and there was a Deaf couple that attends a hearing ward going to the exact same session. I knew them from a long time ago so it was amazing to see them again. PLUS, we sat with the Brother and watched the endowment in ASL. How absolutely incredible is that? I understood all of it, in fact I think I got more out of it! So amazing. It was a wonderful and beautiful experience and I'm glad we prayed about when to go so that we knew that was the session we needed to be in.

Then we started a Hindi Exchange. It was great to be with my brother, Elder Holladay. We were looking around his apartment and….it's pretty bad. So we committed to cleaning it the next day. We stayed up incredibly late just talking about everything. Elder Holladay is amazing and truly consecrated. 

We woke up and just started going at everything. Luckily, the Zone Leaders showed up to do their laundry and decided to help us. We literally changed the color of the floor. We took out so much garbage, reorganized his apartment, killed the bathroom. It's now probably one of the cleanest in the mission! We also did personal and comp study with the zone leaders which was wonderfully enlightening. Then the Hindi work began. It was going pretty tough most of the day. Our Hindi members who were gonna help us let us know their hindinis actually rusty and that we can read better than them. And one indian member whom we've been trying to contact, we finally found! And somehow he's simply just not interested in the gospel at all. So we'll keep working on him I suppose. 

Then we went to visit some of our friends- Balwinder, Balwinder, Baljinder, and Sonia.

We showed them our video of the first vision (it will be posted sometime soon I promise) and they were blown away. Absolutely amazed. We taught the restoration again with a big focus on if this is all true, that means this is the church which you must join! I hope it went in their minds. They committed to reading and praying!

The Hindi work is progressing and I am so excited for it to grow more.

We went to Bombay Garden on Thursday. It's an Indian buffet where every food looks pretty sus. Nevertheless, we did partake. I was amazed at how spicy it was. We also learned how to eat like a indian- with your hands and the flatbread. A few of the curries looked so nice and then they're actually the spiciest thing I've ever tasted. What an experience. 

We have a new Deaf friend named Matthew. And I don't know what to think of him. He signs in ways I'm not sure what he's saying. But he keeps texting us and calling us. So that's good. (His texts make little sense) we were trying to teach him the restoration when we found out he doesn't know who God is. So I tried to explain. Man, that's a hard concept to explain. We tried "he made all the animals" he doesn't know what animals are. "He made the Earth" he doesn't know what that is either. We also said he was Heavenly Father and he was confused and was like "my dad is over there."

Also we've been reaching out to Deaf people all over Facebook and recently we've received many wonderful responses telling us that the "Deaf Community is all Gay and it's not worth your time to try and help them" and "they are all so rude you won't have any luck with them" 

I love social media work. 

Elder Searle and I made a work-out plan. Now everyday we know exactly what To do. We went for a few runs and it was great! I'm certainly feeling it. 

Then the rest of the week, somehow, all we did was give priesthood blessings. Most of them were in ASL. It was my first time ever sealing a blessing in ASL, then my second time, then my third time. We also found Sione Fonua From the other side of heaven. The real man. He is in a care home in our area and we were able to give him a blessing as well and brother just cried the whole time and said he loves us a few times. I'd never met this man or even seen the movie but after I gave him a blessing I was full of love for him. 

Then our friend Emma had a baptismal interview with our mission president. We waited for almost an hour but they both came out glowing and smiling so bright I wished I had brought my sunglasses with me. Emma will be baptized this Sunday at 1:30. 

She told us, in her thick Tagolic accent "I have finally found the right restaurant" I know she is right. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the right restaurant.

Then we got official transfer news. I'm training 2 new ASL missionaries. Elder Searle is training 1 new ASL missionary. We will all be I'm the same apartment and same areas. We will interpret everything for our Deaf Missionary. Their 4 combined ages in the mission won't be older than mine for 3 months lol. 

So that's exciting. 

Also you'll be happy to know I finally brought my suit to the dry cleaners. First time ever. 

And I did because….ElderBednarIsVisitingOurMissionThisSarurday!!!

I'll tell you about it next week!

Always talk about Jesus

 The first vision in Hindi was filmed on Tuesday and we killed it. We did sooo good! It was incredible. It should be posted soon. 

We also mega cleaned the apartment and used a real-life mop, the kind people dance with. We had to open all the windows to get fresh air in and when we came back there was literal wind blowing through the apartment. It was amazing.

We had dinner with Bishop Winmill and I asked him "how can i know of I've been forgiven of my sins?" He talked alot about how parents punish their children even though they already forgave them. He talked about how God cares more about where we're headed then where we've been. It was powerful. 

On another day we met with our Deaf friend, Raymond, and the spirit said "baptism" so I signed "will u be baptized" and he signed "yes" so that was actually seriously epic. I love Raymond. He's so sweet.

We also helped at a few moves and each time I almost threw up fr fr. Just thinking about the sight and the smell and the state of such things causes my belly to spin and my hair to wrinkle. Oh man you guys, it was so bad. The whole time my mind was telling me "how can they permit themselves to suffer such conditions?" Everything had about 8 layers of filth, the walls were once white and now black as charcoal. The ground was a whole inch taller with build up from years past. Not a single thing was placed in any order. Everything down to the crumbs was in perfect chaos. 

Needless to say I showered and used all my exfoliators to scrape the "service layers" of skin off. Man it was so gross. I committed to myself and God my house will always be clean. I will never allow anything like that to happen to me. 

Then we had Sunday and ASL and English were combined. . .so I interpreted the meeting into ASL. Oof to my hands. Then I also taught 5th Sunday in ASL. All about missionary work ofc. 

That evening we went to some Indians, Navroop and Sandeep. Sandeep destroyed Navroop and was just like "he's depressed. . .failed marriage and no job. He's got depression and can't even find a job cuz failed marriage"

Navroop just sat there with a blank face. 

So sympathy oofs for him. But I promised him if he reads the Book of Mormon every day his depression will go away.

Then Sandeep said "he can read all day because he doesn't have a job because he's depressed"

Wow. Brutal Sandeep.

Then on Monday I gave a powerful training on 'Motivation' it was sooo goooood. We discussed how we receive motivation, how we lose it, and why we need it. I closed it all by talking about how Jesus Christ did the hardest thing ever done and so he needed a powerful motivator. What was it? Love. Love was the reason why He was able to go through with it and do the hardest thing that's ever been done. 

Whenever we do anything in the church, a lesson, a talk, a training, ANYTHING- we must end with Jesus Christ. I can testify it doesnt matter what you’ve been assigned to focus on in whatever it is- you can always bring it back to Jesus Christ. My favortie example right now is President nelson’s talk “Reverance for Life” a simple line of testimony, “Gratefully, we know the Lord will help all who are truly repentant.” his entire talk is focused on the evils of Abortion and in the end he wraps up be bearing testimony of Jesus Christ. Abortion and Jesus Christ seem quite unrelated, yet he still tied them together beautifully. ANYWAYS. Always end whatever you're doing by testifying of Jesus. Whether it's about cleaning the church, Child protection, a bbq, or basketball- always end with Jesus (you can't end with anything more important because there is nothing more important)

Then we started exchanges and I went to the Tongan area with my brother, Elder Polu. We had a non-stop blast. Up till 12:30 talking about our conversion stories, 100% vulnerable and open, woke up at 6 to go play cricket, did a disgusting service- but hey- they got us 6 little caesars pizzas, we taught a bunch of Tongas, invited a man (first lesson with him) to be baptized and he said yes. Also gave him a priesthood blessing and his family was just crying the whole time. One of the most powerful lessons either of us had ever had. Some tongan kept saying “It's so funny” and “I am a master chef” to me over and over again so he could practice English, ate 6 chicken legs, and got a bunch of Otai. man it was great. I love Elder Polu. 

Sorry, I’m out of time. If it wasn’t profound enough for you this week, Go Listen to “adventures of the Spirit” Robert Wells. Or read last weeks email lol. Love you all bye bye

Compression and Tensile

 7-26

Wooowww. Ok, a week ago we helped some guy clean out an awful storage unit. A few years ago he had to go to the hospital and some friends and realtors threw everything in his house into this storage unit.  Now it as time for him to get the stuff out. He had nobody else to help him so he called the church and asked for missionaries.

Everybody, if you're gonna do anything, especially pack a storage unit- do it right please. It is not worth the frustration and pain to have to deal with poorly packed boxes and disarray in every inch of stuff. Please do it the right way.

Anyways, eventually we finished up and we got to the car. I'm ready to deliver a hilarious line about how awful that service was when my companion looks up and says "Elder. . . There's a nail in my leg" sure enough there literally is a nail sticking out of his flesh. 

All-day-long-story short: we sat in 3 different urgent care/ emergency rooms for a while and finally actually got in at the "realest" ER we could find and after 3 hours some doctor “321”ed it and yanked it out. Man it was a lot bigger than we thought. Elder Searle got a tetanus shot and we headed out to go use our final hour of PDay.

Then Zone Conference the following day- wow. That was the most powerful zone Conference I've ever been to. Why? The absolutely pure testimonies given. President Larsen bore pure testimony of Jesus Christ and the Atonement for an hour. The spirit was undeniably strong, most of us felt it in our eyes lol. It is in my top 10 deepest desires to have a testimony so sure and so powerfully rooted that, if provided, I could stun a crowd like how President Larsen did. All I'd need to say is " I know Jesus Christ lives" and the spirit would zap their hearts and then they'd know the church is true too. 

I also found a package for me at Zone Conference. 

Wow mom, I'm afraid you have overdone it with the whole "hump day" thing. TBH with you all I actually had no clue what “Hump-Day” meant. I had to go to the family history center and look it up. Anyways now I get it. Thank you all so much for helping my mom make that wonderfully cute book. You're all so wonderful. And I promise to keep delivering quality letters but you have to promise that instead of telling my parents how good the Emails are you need to tell me instead lol. 

Ok. Then we had interviews. Wow. I have permission to do Hindi. The Hindi program will be started. I just have to train the new ASL elders first. We also had a powerful talk about repentance and guess who was taking notes. . . .President Larsen. 

"I've never considered that before" and " I've never thought about it like that" and "I love that so much" were phrases I heard…a few times.

What an incredible topic repentance is.

Then we went to a member's home for dinner and he walked us out to a playground he had built for his kids and taught us about "compression" and "tensile." Wow.

Specifically in regard to gate supports. This will be a challenge to explain over email. But I will try.

When you make a gate, it has support on one side, the other side is hanging. The side opposite the support wants to fall down. Imagine a “X” across the gate. If the side opposite the side that is connected to the fence were to hang down, one diagonal gets longer, while the other diagonal gets shorter. Think about the shape the rectangle gate wants to become. It's like a more diamond shape with 2 obtuse angles and 2 acute angles. Do you see it? 1 diagonal gets longer while the other gets shorter- if the gate were allowed to submit to the gravity. 

To combat this Gate-builders must either choose to use Tensile strength or Compressive strength. They can focus on either preventing one diagonal from gaining length; or they can focus on preventing the other diagonal from getting shorter. The solutions are different but both are actually used fairly commonly. Say you think compression is cooler, you would screw a wooden board to the gate that lines up with the diagonal that would get shorter- now it cant get shorter because the compression strength in the board is holding all the force. Ok, now tensile. You take a metal cord and attach it to the diagonal that is trying to get longer- now it can't because the cord is holding up all the force.

 Every time I think about this I am amazed. There is so much to learn from this principle. For example, sometimes you'll see a cord or a board attached to the gate incorrectly- on the wrong diagonal. When this happens is actually doing next to nothing to support the gate. It has to be on the right diagonal in order to do us any good. Kinda like THE GOSPEL. If you attach principles to your life incorrectly they will not help you. If you keep commandments but your heart’s not in the right place or it's done grudgingly you simply don't receive the blessings and support that you could if you would just put it all on the right diagonal(D&C 58:29). If you're going to church but it's not for the right reasons you're missing out on so much. 

The really beautiful and instructive piece of this idea is that proper alignment of the support actually lifts the fence up. It literally gives it support. . .a lot like the atonement of Jesus Christ. If you were to put the board or cord on the gate wrong then it takes a lot of work to take it all out and then put it on the right way- however, it is possible. We can do the same thing- that process is Repentance through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

Amazing right? God wrote the laws of physics in a way that teaches us about his Son’s sacrifice. 

Well, the next day we went park and contacting we met a wonderful Indian woman named Ann. She said her husband actually went to BYU! She was amazed at the respect and diligence we have for serving God. I shared the first vision with her in Hindi and watched as every word struck her soul. She was completely amazed to hear Hindi from a white person and also amazed at the spirit that was there as we stood by the park. I told her to come to church and learn more and to bring her husband with her. She said she would! 

I also had the opportunity to go on exchange with Elder Evenson, a wonderful Zone Leader. We stayed up till around 1:00 talking about repentance and it was powerful. We were in an area where a recent ASL convert lives and I was like- we should just visit her (understand, this is Tina Jones- she told us to never come back a week after her baptism and we have not been over since January) we went over and Tina looked kinda sad. Real quickly I started asking her questions like “Do you remember the spirit you felt? Do you not remember the feelings you had as we read from the Book of Mormon? Do you remember the love you felt at church? Do you remember the light from when you were baptized?” she said she did remember. She just stopped everything because her family told her “Mormons religion is not true” Tina gave us the names and facebooks of all these family members and asked us to teach them. Oh boy. We will try. Also a spanish doordash guy came over and elder Evenson translated to english which i translated to ASL and then back through. There was some mess up with the order and this guy was pretty upset. But it was a pretty funny experience lol. 

Well, that's enough for now, I love you all so much. Remember to make sure your alignment is right so that you can be lifted and supported by the gospel. (and if you thought this was good dont tell my mom, tell me lol)

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