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.

Contacting at stop lights

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

Psalms has been so good. So far my favorites are 1 and 15. I have memorized both lol. Call me and I'll prove it.

This week was one of the most valuable of my whole mission. Starting pday eve, I had the treasure of an experience to be on exchange with my MTC companion, Elder Taufer. He is my brother. I love him so much. We had some cereal then began a full fast. We decided to fast to know what things we will 100% abstain from the next 40 days. Then on Thursday we constantly added to our list and didn't eat any food at all. 

We destroyed the work that day. Elder Taufer is everything a missionary is supposed to be. He also still feels real. I feel like I'm just with one of my buddies. But when he testifies-the ground shakes. When he recites a scripture- the air is full of the spirit. When he prays-everybody knows he knows exactly who he's speaking with. When he contacts people they feel loved. And by the end of the day I felt like I was starting to develop some of those powers. Every time we stopped at a stoplight he'd roll the window down and I would then contact the person in the car next to us. The first few sucked but in the end it was ok. Then elder Taufer did one and it went so well he put the truck in park, ran out and gave them a Book of Mormon. While I was just like…wow…

One contact will stick with me forever. His name was Chris. He had been taught by missionaries about 2 months ago however during planning Elder Taufer felt we should visit him. He was in his garage working on a car when we pulled up. Shortly after we said hey he shared he had actually just had a dream where 2 elders came and visited him and every day since he's been hoping we'd come back. He also started reading the book of Mormon. He would flip to random pages and every scripture he read all had to do with 1 topic he had been pondering recently. Elder Taufer then on the spot shared a scripture about that topic. Chris's eyes widened. He was like “that's one of the ones I marked” he ran inside and grabbed his book. Out of all 531 pages, about 15-20 were turned down. And one of them was the exact same verse Elder Taufer had shared. We then committed him to church on Sunday. Wow, the Book of Mormon is amazing.

I have grown so much as a missionary. Last time I got to be Elder Taufer's companion I was an entirely different kid with a different testimony. I had a lot more pride and alot more craziness. I'm grateful for all the changes I've made and who I've become. I'm so grateful this gets to continue for 4 more months.

That night we started more exchanges. This time I was with Elder Jensen. Now, with all my new knowledge and fresh miracle experience, I was able to lead a fantastic exchange. I asked powerful questions and tried to be a good example of boldly talking to everybody and we saw so many miracles! Elder Jensen is a pretty young elder but he has charity figured out. I love him so much. He's a gem.

We painted a house this week. I stole some really nice bar soap from a mansion bathroom full of them that also had no electricity so for the first time In 22 months I brought my phone in the bathroom with me for light. Gave a talk on Sunday and President and Sister Larson spontaneously showed up. President also let us drive him to stake missionary coordination meeting in our car (The Lord's Car) so that was crazy cool. Had dinner with a cute family but during the prayer the oldest son passed gas and everybody died laughing….except the mother and I, as we walked away from their home we heard her lecturing them a bit. Saw a youth choir performance and received the revelation that my children need to know how to sing and how to play an instrument. I ate an entire classic little Caesars pepperoni pizza IN ADDITION TO a bag of crazy bread in about an hour. And I hit leg day and suffered much because of it. Downstairs neighbors partied all night long- fr, music blasting 9 to 9. So now I have random Spanish songs stuck in my head.

People keep saying “oh! New elder! I heard you did ASL!”

I then point at my tag and say “Ya! I was in the ASL branch for a year!”

Then they look at my tag like “Wow is that asl?”

And I'm like “Yup! Pretty cool right?!”

And it says: “अंतिम-दिनों के संतों का यीशु मसीह के गिरजा”

Everybody always believes me and they're always so impressed. It's so funny. 

Psalm 5:7 “I will come into thy house. . .I will worship in thy holy temple”

This needs to be all of us. Straight up declaring to God- I am going to the temple this Saturday morning. Imma go worship in your house God. 

If you watched any of general conference then you'll know what I'm getting at. We should always have our next appointment on the calendar. The temple is too important for us to not be going as often as our circumstances will permit. Nothing will help us more. So make an appointment them pull a psalm 5:7 and declare to God your full intent to go into and worship in the temple.

Curry and a heart perfect with the Lord.

 

Photos

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

Pugals video:

https://www.facebook.com/BayAreaChrist/videos/7043080879094308/?mibextid=l2hJJHjNVOBSwHk4

This transfer I have had so many indian foods it's just a little concerning- My belly feels spicy just about always. I am starting to smell like curry. Normal American food is starting to just taste….bland. 

I had so much curry that on pday while we were playing a pool-ball game called “skunk” I was playing a whole different kind of “skunk” if you know what I mean. 

Pday evening we had no plans and also no meals. However, we got ready to plan and Elder Lewis and I both were like “We could go visit Sana..?” Same person on both of our minds- I'll take that as a yes.

So we drove over and they were home! (It's also raining like CRAZY outside at this time)

Sana tells us “Elders, I'm so glad you are here. I need you to pray for me- my grandfather just passed away earlier today.”

So we taught her about the spirit world, resurrection, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She cried through the whole thing. We got her kids to join us for a quick book of Mormon study and got to practice our हिन्दी. Sana's English is like 6.5/10 so if we can teach or testify in hindi that would be best for her. And just a little extra miracle to this miracle salad- she fed us dinner. More spicy svadisht Indian food- but absolutely incredible. 

I know that God is watching out for all of us!

We also met with Pugal this week! He gave us a bunch of curries and other exciting Indian foods and spices! We watched his video the SM sisters made. And he was shocked at how amazing it was. I feel the spirit so strong every time I see his video and I know Pugal was too because after a few moments of thick silence when it had ended he said “Elders, I need to share this.” Pugal is somewhat popular on Facebook lol. So having the courage to post his testimony like that for over 1000 people (most of whom have very different beliefs) taught me a lot about what his true values and priorities are- and before friends and even family he has: ‘tell everybody about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon.’ if you have not seen Pugal's video- what are you even doing? He is the most incredible and extreme disciple of Jesus Christ I have ever met. 

We have one fairly eccentric Indian buddy, Praveen. He is not a member but has been in contact with missionaries for YEARS. This week he specifically requested as many missionaries as possible to come over so he could cook for them. (#itsanindianthing) We had like 2 hours so we texted everybody whom we thought would be near and 1 trio of amazing sisters pulled up. Then we ate a bunch of vegetarian curries! The sisters taught Praveen's friend and ended up giving him a hindi Book of Mormon, while we taught Praveen about how to actually pray. What a powerful feeling when there's 2 sets of deep sincere testimonies being shared in the same room st the same time! Super cool.

This weekend was stake conference! Our (old) stake president specifically requested that we come to the leadership meeting and be prepared to tell everybody about the hindi program. So when he asked us to stand and share, I handed Elder Lewis the mic and he concisely and powerfully shared the purposes and goals of the Hindi program. I hope it ignited some fires in the hearts of those present. 

In 1 kings 15 we get a few brief histories of some kings of Israel- most are pretty bad. But one of them, Asa, was actually a legend. Verse 14 days “Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days”

This started a round of introspection for me about my heart and who I am and if my heart is perfect with the Lord. I think I still have a lot to do before I can confidently say “My heart is perfect with the Lord” but I want to be able to.say it! I will work for it every day and continue to repent daily. There is 2 reasons I can pull from my study of why Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord.

1. Asa knew how to repent.

The first things Asa does when he is king is removes all of the idols and idol stuff (and other bad stuff) from the kingdom of Judah. We need to be like Asa and remove all of our idols and "bad stuff" from our hearts and lives. That process is called repentance! I'm sure Asa faced a lot of opposition from friends, family, and everybody else when he totally changed the kingdom- but he did it anyways. Repentance requires courage but it is always worth it.

2. Asa was a peacemaker.

From king Solomon up to this point the rich have been getting richer and the poor have beem getting poorer. One cool thing Asa did was he gave a bunch of gold and silver to his servants. This helped a lot of things to balance out and be just a little more stable. 

Another cool peacemaker move he pulled was when he sends some presents and a nice letter to another ruler named ben-hadad. The letter basically says "hey, we are on the same team, let's work together"

How can you repent and be a peacemaker so that your heart can be "perfect with the lord?"

Lentils and the 23rd psalm

 I had some lentils this week but more importantly, we had interviews with President Larson and I found out he used to work at Little Caesars so we had a special moment together as the only Little Caesars Past-Employees in the building. It was great.

We filmed the legends of Pugal. We baptized him like last July and he's getting ready to serve a mission this July. His story is amazing and should be up on Facebook eventually. The social media sisters were such an absolute blast. Also found out Pugal is an acrobat. My brother just pulled like 5 perfect cartwheels out of nowhere and we were all left shocked (he was in a suit)

I figured out what the last verse of the 23rd psalm means 

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

I thought dwelling in the house of the Lord meant the celestial kingdom. But I was in the temple today reviewing the 23rd psalm and what it actually means is living truthfully to our covenants we made in the temple (house of the lord). When we live our covenant they are involved in every day of our life- or ‘dwelling’ ‘inside’ of our covenants (house of the lord) forever. 

Sorry if that doesn't make any sense. 

Hindi is cool! We had a guy call us and tell us he saw us on his security camera so we thought we were gonna get In trouble. Then he invited us over for lunch and wants us in his home so we can bless his family.

Here's my pictures if you wanna see them:

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

Dedicated to Edwards and Edwins

 Ok. Well transfers came in. Hindi transfer 2! As of today I have been in Fremont in the same apartment for 1 year and 6 days. Nothing surprises me anymore cuz I've been here for so long. 

Last pday eve we found a guy who wanted to buy our neon open sign for 50 bucks. So now we have an extra 50 dollars to spend on indian stuff

We had interviews with President. I barely mentioned possibly extending my mission and President Larson looked at me like he was confused and was like "are you going to college? You have to go to college, you're to smart"

I almost started laughing because- of course i'm going to college. . .i just might wanna be a missionary for another 6 weeks before I start that.

So then we talked about college and careers and he said I should maybe consider 'Technology'. . .

Then we met a cool friend named Sana- she is literally ready to be baptized. She is very indian and also Christian! So we taught her family for a bit then they started feeding us and so i started crying because there were just sooo many spices. My entire mouth was just overwhelmed. Then they gave us 'rose-milk' and it took the pain away…

So I bet somewhere in South India where the church is more prevalent that somebody went up on a fast Sunday and talked about how rose-milk is like the atonement of Jesus Christ because it stopped the stinging and helped them to stop crying.

Friday was a BREAKTHROUGH day. I started reading the Bhagvad Gita a while ago and working on someway to use that knowledge to contact and teach indians. Oh wait- some context- bhagvad gita is the Hinduism scripture kinda thing. 

So we saw a big truck full of tools and stuff and we had a moment of like "well…should we go talk to them even though they're probably not indans…."

Then we headed over and- surprise- there's a huge word in hindi on the back of the truck!

They all walk out and have like- zero English. So we use all of our hindi. They're not interested at all.

A sudden burst of inspiration and passages of the gita come to my mind and I open my mouth with faith.

I start comparing the gita to the Book of Mormon and Lord Krsna to Jesus Christ. I compare ईश्वर to God as the creator of the world and talk about how Jesus Christ suffered for our bad karmas so we don't have to suffer in our next life.

Suddenly he's pulling out mail and pointing at his address, we give him the Book of Mormon in Hindi and set a time to come back. 

Epicccc. The gita gave us a door and reading it is helping me to open it. 

So now we've been trying something similar in our other Indian interactions.

We performed "Silent Night" at church elder vest and I sang, Elder Holladay pianoed and Elder Smalley cellod. Everybody cried. 

We did so good we were asked to sing at a relief society party later that week. But this time we also did "the first noel" and "what child is this"

So now I am a legend at singing In my chest and doing duets. 

We're performing again tonight! 

This next part is dedicated to all Edwins, Edward's, Eddys, and anything else with a 'Ed' in it!

This week I finished Joshua! Chapter 22, Which has a very Alma 60 type story, was especially good. The tribes of Gad, Simeon, and Manasseh(half of it) built a big Altar and all the other tribes of Israel were confused. They sent the 3 tribes a big letter saying they were so disappointed that they were worshiping false Gods now and were gonna come and beat them up. So the 3 tribes sent a letter back saying that's not what's going on! We didn't build this altar for sacrifices! (The children of Levi are in charge of that) we just built it so that when we look at it we remember to worship God and so when our kids and their kids and their kids look at it they will remember God. 

So the other tribes were like ohhh ok ok I see. We won't beat you up then. That's a cool idea.

So they were all friends again and they got together and guess what

They decided to give the altar a name…

And they named it…Ed

Satan is the author of Confusion, misery, and violence. This little misunderstanding nearly led to the destruction of 3 of the tribes of Israel! I think more than half of all contention stems from a misunderstanding of some kind. If I took time to understand why somebody did what they did before I reacted, I would save myself and others soooo much trouble! When we react in anger without thinking- we are actually just acting in Satan's Will. So- when somebody upsets you- take a second. Always Remember Ed. Remember Ed and you'll be on the safe, peacemaker side. 

If you wanna read this, it's in Joshua 22! 

Love you!

Just Try.

 On Thanksgiving Eve we went to Costco and grabbed everything that was expired, filled up several carts, and brought it all to a church where the whole community came and took whatever they wanted. 

It was a blast. The man in charge of the project had a very cow-boy accent. Also, the whole time every single fork-lift the Costco had was beeping and cruising around. We also grabbed 12 Pumpkin pies.

I accidentally ate corn dogs before Thanksgiving feast because I figured it'd be at dinner time but it actually started at 2:00. 

That evening we started handing out all of our pies to our neighbors and friends. One family was very excited about the pie and their son showed us a picture of the solar system he made. They're from Tamil Nadu which is the most southern part of India. They don't speak Hindi down there but they're still cool.

We went back to Tracey and Twinkle and they gave us the corrected versions of our flashcards along with several new ones! So we have a lot of homework now

We hopped on a call with President Larson. He said he had sunk into our Preach My Gospel App to see what all we've been doing and I felt a lil uneasy- that tells me I know we can do better than what we're doing right now. The call actually went really well though. He said we're doing exactly what he thinks we should do. So we're gonna keep going!

Some other Elders found a cool Indian woman who homeschools her son- so she already knows how to teach hindi and was overjoyed at the idea of teaching us to- so we went over for the first time and she is pretty serious. It felt like I was in an actual class. 

I went on an exchange with Elder Smalley and we had some beautiful talks about the gospel and life and "playing to win instead of playing to 'not lose." 

And then this morning we hiked mission peak. Very long. Very fun.

Ok. Now Leviticus chapter 5:6-7, 11 PART 2

So last week we talked about the lamb, the 2 turtle doves, and the handful of flour and how some people may have a lamb and be fully capable of giving it to God yet, choose not to because a lesser sacrifice is still acceptable and that's easier and more convenient for them.

This week is kinda the opposite.

When I started serving in the Fremont ASL branch I didn't know ASL. I wanted to serve and teach but I couldn't because I legitimately didn't know the language. But I still tried! I did language study, I paid attention during church, I said my prayers in ASL! 

I gave what I had. 

And that was ok! It was good!

Both of my companions were fluent and able to give so much more than me. 

I was only able to give a small handful of flour. My companions had much more than me, so they were able to give God sheep. 

Now, a year later, I am proud of what I was able to give God. Back then, I felt awful. I would watch Elder White and Elder Rigby teach entire lessons without a stutter (because you don't stutter in ASL lol) and then I would mess up my little part and feel like I failed because I wasn't as good as them.

Now I know that's a foolish and silly way to think. 

God expects us to do our best. He is pleased with every bit of effort we give. It doesn't matter if everybody you know is giving God sheep and you're stuck with nothing but turtle doves and flour. As long as you're trying your best and being honest with yourself He is pleased and He loves you!

Don't compare your sacrifices to the sacrifices of others. We are all unique. God has a unique and percent plan for all of his children. 

The most important sacrifice we can make, regardless of what you have or who you are, is our life.

Now, I don't mean to pull an Abinadi in Mosiah 17:10. I mean to really serve God every day, to be obedient to his commandments, to make and keep covenants! All the big things and more importantly-the small things! Waking up a few minutes early so you can read the Book of Mormon and pray, smiling, expressing gratitude, unloading the dishwasher for Mom! (And loading it if the sink is full!)

I hope this makes sense! God is pleased when we try! If all you have is flour it is ok that you're not giving Sheep! Keep going! 

God loves you and you make him happy when you try!

(flour)

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

Fire

 

This week we spent a lot of time fixing the apartment and converting it from the 6-man mess it was to a nice, clean, open 2-man. I've tried so hard to get rid of the smells yet they still prevail.

There's a sweet lake near our apartments with a 2 mile sidewalk that goes all the way around and we started running around it in the mornings. 

We found a few more Indian member legends! First was Aparna. She gave us a culture dump and some background on what the Hinduism beliefs really are. Then we met Tracey and Twinkle. They are super Indian and converted from Sikhism! Their first language is Hindi and that's what they speak at home, so they're mega helpful and important for us. Tracey called us her sons and then hugged us. . .so that was cool.

We took our car to Wheel Works and then sat outside for 4 hours. I destroyed our flashcards and Elder Holladay managed to fall asleep. 

We were invited to a Diwali party up in Dublin (far away from where we live) and that was fun. All the Indians there knew Hindi but had a very “white” culture- so it was really weird. All the food was Indian so that was an epic. We counted dinner as our language study. Elder Holladay and I saw an ancient Indian woman sitting on a couch and thought surely she's Indian Indian and knows Hindi and we went to talk to her and she replied in full-on english! We had more of an Indian accent than she did! 

So- anything can happen and every person is unique I guess. 

Sunday was incredible. We had a friend who had been telling us he was going to come to church and then teach us some Hindi after church and then right before church started we got a text saying that he had a sudden change of plans but still wanted to meet with us. So we left that church and headed to Dublin becuase we had some indian friends potentially showing up there too. Right when we're about 1 ⁄ 2 way through the canyon we got a text from the elders in the first ward saying our Indian friend showed up to church. We thought we had really messed up- turns out it was actually a completely different Indian friend and he's also not an indian! Just a guy we had talked with on the streets! Crazy.

In Dublin a recent Indian convert had brought his cousin to church with him and so we sat with them at the Linger Longer and pulled as much Indian culture and Hindi as we could. Then we had a lesson with Brother Neff and his neighbor and just chatted about Hindi, Temples, The Word of Wisdom, and Indian culture. 

That evening we had a choir practice for “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" which is actually my favorite song. There's a mega interfaith choir thing happening and we got pulled into the choir!

Then, since Sunday was the height of Diwali, we went to the sikh temple and there was hardly room to hold your hands out. Every single place people could be was full. There was no parking anywhere- even the entire neighborhood surrounding the Gurdwara was absolutely full- every conceivable place a car could fit, had 2 cars. So- we didn’t get any food. But we chatted with a few people, read some posters. got a map of Punjab. 1 girl came up to us and started getting kind of heated. She thought we were there to proselytize which makes sense cuz we are missionaries lol. She went off about how many of her people are killed and all the oppression from other religions that Sikhs get every day. Honestly, we were there to learn about sikhism and Diwali and hopefully get a bite of curry. Eventually Elder Holladay got us out of there and we headed straight for our car which was a considerable distance away. 

Monday was San Jose day. We got training from the Social Media Sisters for some new ideas for FaceBook finding indians. We tried to visit a few Indians in the area but just met Spanish people instead. 

Tuesday just didn't exist. Elder Hollday had one of his mega migraine days so he stayed in bed and I tried to be productive and ran out of motivation fire real quick and ended up doing basically nothing.

We had a district council this week and I led a discussion about the Provo City Center temple and how we're all city centers right now, which is a very good thing. Many blessings come from the city center. But God plans on us becoming temples so He's gonna burn us down with life and trials and pains so through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can be rebuilt into a beautiful temple. 

I know for me the process of being burnt down and rebuilt was my experience with addiction. Addiction is so harmful and destructive to a person's mind. It degrades the way you see yourself and others as well. It changes how you see God and convinces you He doesn't love you. 

Feeling all of that and so much more for a few years really burnt me down to almost nothing. 

But when I made the choice to talk to bishop and read the Book of Mormon every day and start praying for real- everything changed. 

Turns out, I'm not worthless. I'm worth everything to God.

I also learned I can make my own choices regardless of how I'm feeling and whatever happens around me. 

Most importantly, I learned that the atonement of Jesus Christ is real. He has power to free you from anything. 

I am for sure not a temple yet but I do know I am on my way. 

I am thankful God loves me enough to burn me down.

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