Retrospection

 Wow, that was fast.

I will be home in 1 week. I've had 19 companions, 4 areas, 2 mission Presidents, trained 4 times, 12 of my friends have been baptized, and I've only actually paid for a haircut 1 time.

Looking back I can confidently say that I have been successful. Could I have done more? Yes. Was my heart always in the right place? No. Yet, I am an absolutely changed person. I have learned who Jesus Christ is. I know I am a son of God. I know priesthood power is real. I have experienced life-changing repentance. I've given up my will to do what God wants Instead. I have truly desired to help others come unto Christ.

My entire life changed sometime way back in my 2nd transfer when I woke up from a silly dream. I dreamt my companion and I were running around a neighborhood goofing off and ended up knocking on a door. A kind old man answered and let us in. We sat down with him and soon realized he was Deaf. In the dream I knew ASL and so I started signing with him.

Then I woke up.

I don't really share my dreams much but I felt like I should tell one of the other elders, Elder Eli Hendricks, about this one. He shocked me by telling me it meant I was to become an ASL missionary. I had no idea we even had ASL in our mission.

After that my entire life was changed. Pretty soon I found myself in Fremont, struggling to learn ASL. And then in Fremont for 18 months straight.

If I never shared that dream I never would have become an ASL Elder. I would have stayed english and travel the course of a normal mission. Instead I was tied to Fremont.

Fremont is full of Indians. This prompted me to learn Hindi. 

Later I was on exchange with Elder Holladay. We had just picked up some groceries and were sitting in the car when we both got a notification to hop on duolingo so we didn't lose our streaks. We opened it up and were surprised to see not only were we both learning Hindi, but we were on the exact same lesson! 

That was the beginning of Hindi work. 

Then we started going on exchange every week to try and teach Indians. There was a direct and plain to see correlation between the amount of study and prayer we did for Hindi and the amount of miracles and doors opened. So many Indians have now had a chance to hear the truth. Not many seriously accepted it. But many of those curry covered hearts now have a seed planted inside.

It never would have happened if I didn't talk about a silly dream. 

Now I know ASL. I will be serving Deaf people in the church the rest of my life. 

Now I know a ton of Hindi. I will be doing all I can to invite Indians to come to Jesus Christ for the rest of my life.

I know this is God's work. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are trying to save all of their children. That's the plan- we do all we can to save everybody by helping them come unto Christ and learn who he really is. Sometimes that means you have to serve in Fremont for a total of 20 months and play around with 2 languages. Sometimes it means you need to leap out of your comfort zone with no parachute and accept that the landings gonna hurt the first few times. Sometimes you cry because of the thought that some soul should perish. Sometimes you get to stand in the water and baptize one of God's precious children in the name of the Father and of the Son and of The Holy Ghost. It all works out when we try our best. God is in charge. Curveballs aren't actually Curveballs, it's just God's plan.

It's just a bit.

 

Had a big cool Deaf event! My favorite one so far- a big BBQ where everything was 1 dollar! I was planning on getting like 10 hot dogs (for 10 dollars) but there were a lot of people there and I needed to prioritize talking to everybody. So I only got one. 

But it's OK! Because this Deaf event actually did wonders for me! I found out I actually know ASL! I understood everybody I spoke with, was able to make jokes, and everybody understood me! I felt very successful lol.

Somehow we helped at 3 moves this week and at all of them Elder Johnson and I played a game where every time you move something you have to make a pun. Needless to say, some of the other people helping out hurt their backs- not from lifting- but from laughing so hard.

Elder Johnson has a Laugh Track on his phone with a few seconds of silence in the end. So while we drive we put in on repeat and one of us has to give a one-liner before the laughing starts again. 

Elder Ardinger was upset and was signing at me aggressively and somehow injured his finger. Within minutes it was like 3× the size of his other finger. So I called the mission nurse and sent her the pictures and tried to explain how it happened and she got really quiet and was like “Elder Owens….stop interpreting….don't tell Elder Aringer this….ok?”

“...ok….(?)”

“I think….I think he needs surgery…please take him to urgent care right now. I'll call President Larson and let him know. Please please don't tell him…”

So im like “actually? For real?” 

And she explains something about tendons. 

So we go to urgent care and sit for 4 hours. Then got a xray and a doctor came and sat with us and said that ....everything was fine. He said to take some ibuprofen and everything will be fine in 1-2 weeks. 

Elder Ardinger and I had a fun lesson up at the Oakland temple with a Deaf Woman from Santa Rosa. She HEARD me pop my back (it was an insane back pop) so then for the whole lesson she kept telling me all about these different stretches you can do for your back while driving. Then when the lesson was over she literally got in our car, in my seat. Like she was gonna drive and showed me all the stretches to do while driving. 

Elder Ardinger could not keep it together and was laughing a ton. 

Here's a really bad thing that happened:

On pday we played pickleball. We took the paddles from our church building intending to return them that evening,

However,

We forgot.

Fast forward Thursday evening. We are headed to a giant cool Deaf event 45 minutes south! This is one we've been looking foreward to for a while. We get a call from the English ward mission leader about 15 minutes into the drive. He's mad. Really mad. And he wants his pickleball paddles. And he wants them now. They were having a pickleball night at the church. . . So, we're like “oh crap.”

We turn around and head back. And me, being my father's son, I grab the pickleball bags and walk into the church building where everybody is waiting for us and I shout “pizzas here!” Then run out of there.

Here's the phrase from psalms this week that I've been pondering “so will I sing praise to thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows” (psalm 61:8)

I think my vows are the covenants I have made with God. What does it mean to “daily perform” our vows/covenants? 

I think it means a lot more than remembering them or thinking about them. I think it's more than reading the scriptures and praying. I think those are important and maybe they're part of it. The word “perform” adds a feeling of work- like a hard task to do.

Instantly Moroni 9:6 comes to mind “. . .if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a LABOR TO PERFORM whilst in this tabernacle of clay”

My mind also, of course, thinks of a musical “performance”. Back when I was in middle school I was part of the orchestra. We had a few “performances” every year where we would “perform” some incredible music pieces. Now, if you were watching you'd be like “Wow! That was incredible!” 

But for us in the orchestra we had been practicing for at least a few months. We knew these songs like crazy. My dad already knew them just from how often I'd be humming them. So….are you ready for this? Stay with me…in order to “perform our vows/covenants” we must practice…a lot! 

If you haven't been endowed yet…practice living like you've already made those covenants. Study them often! Prepare every day.

If you have made temple covenants, practice living them. Practice creates habits. If you practice poorly you will perform poorly. 

If you practice perfectly you will perform perfectly. 

If you are preparing to receive the melchizedek priesthood, give diligent heed to the words of eternal life and magnify your calling now. Begin practicing being a valiant covenant keeper now so you can “daily perform your vows” later.

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

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.

The Vance Family

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

This week I got to see my friends Ashley, Elias, and Iury be baptized. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had. During the 45-minute drive to Fremont I was reflecting on my experiences teaching them. I remember the night Elder Lewis and I found them was a non-stop absolute miracle. We had just finished teaching and indian in the area named Kewal (who had opened the door all the way wearing nothing but boxers but was happy to have us come teach him)

We finished up with Kewal and had like 10 minutes left till it was time to go home. So we knocked 1 door. To be fully honest with you- I wanted to go home. I didn't see any point in knocking doors unless we knew indians lived there. But, thankfully, Elder Lewis wanted to knock some doors. 

Ashley answered her door very kindly and as soon as we mentioned Jesus she invited us in. It took about 10 minutes for her to gather her family and the dog was barking at us the whole time. Finally when we had opportunity to speak we delivered the only flawless restoration lesson I've ever been a part of. I could see in their eyes that they were astonished- I was too. The spirit was so strong even the dog wanted to learn more. 

So we invited them to church…and they came! Not the dog though.

While they were at church Iyori ( 9 year old girl) was feeling a little nervous to go to 2nd hour class but Ashley said to her “We were invited, and we belong.” 

Elder Lewis and I got to go over once and read from the Book of Mormon with them. They had just finished all the introductory stuff so we picked up in 1 Nephi 1. As we went around and took turns reading the spirit filled the room and the spirit again testified to me the Book of Mormon is true. All the sudden Ellias is reading verse 13 and says “ and he read saying: WOO! WOO!” (Like wuu wuu). He just shouted a interjection and then went right back to normal reading. I found myself struggling for breath as I desperately fought to not laugh. Elder Lewis at my side was slowly turning purple and fighting the same battle. I do not know how we made it through that. Now every time I read that verse I hear the shouts of a little black boy.

Later I was on exchange with one of the Deaf Elders, Elder Serban. We visited the Vance family and had a crazy lesson. I was constantly interpreting both directions and it was mentally exhausting. Then the spirit cleared my mind and instructed me to extend a baptismal invitation. I told them about all the commandments that disciples follow and the blessings and pure joy that come from covenanting with God. They knew it was what they wanted and right then Ashley got up and marked it on her calendar. 

Then I got transferred. Elder Lewis and Elder Nicolaysen took over the hindi area as well as the English area so they taught Ashley's family the rest of the way.

And last Friday they were baptized. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to baptize Iyori. She's like a little sister to me and I know she will be my sister for the rest of my life. 

While we were waiting for people to change I was prompted to stand up and share my testimony. All 3 of the Vances were there and I declared to everybody in that room the importance of what had just happened. 

I know that when we are baptized by somebody who holds power from God, a connection is made between us and God. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the only church on earth that can impact your life after death in a way that will result in your living with God. I know that Jesus is our Savior. 

After the baptism we got to go eat cookies. I asked Iyori how she felt. “ I was scared at first but then I came out of the water and I feel so good!” I told her to never forget the feeling.

I talked to Ashley and she told me “you know. You are Elias’ role model.” My throat tightened and I kinda started crying. But I looked into her eyes and I said “Ashley, Elias needs to serve a mission. Do all you can to help him prepare now” she said they were already planning on it. 

Elias came up to me and told me he had figured out why I was in Fremont for so long. He said it was because I had to find his family. That will stick with me forever. I think he's right. 

The church is so true. I know that 100%. Missionary work is amazing and there is no joy that can compare to this. You already know I will not stop inviting others to come unto Christ. Not now. Not when I get home. Not when trials shake my world. I made the same promises Ashley, Elias, and Iyori did when I was 8 and I will not be passive or idle in how I keep those promises. 

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.

I got a new Job

 New area, New me. Not actually lol- it's still the same me. However, I did get a new area.

After spending a year and a half in the same apartment, going to the same Walmart, the same Wendy's, same church building– I'm finally in a new city. It's called…. Saratoga

I cover a big english ward that's all white people (hoping to get some भारत in there) as well as a massive ysa ward that covers a third of the mission (why have all my areas been unmanageably massive?)

New apartment is nice, there's a friend growing in the sink so I'll have to take care of that…

We have a sick gym, so your brothers getting buff. We have like…no food. 

Anyways. We went out and worked and….wow. Elder Millard is a legend. He is running after people and yelling across the road and doing whatever it takes to talk to these people. And when he does- they listen. I listen to cuz I'm tryna learn from this guy. 

He only weighs 120 pounds, he eats more than me, he was a soccer referee, he wants to be a mechanical engineer, He's from Bountiful. Pretty cool.

We've been running into Indians every day. I get to use my Hindi often. I haven't been able to use ASL yet though…

Being a zone leader is cool. I have 4 elders and 7 sisters… so this will be fun.

I set a goal to memorize 1 scripture every day. I didn't think it was possible…but so far it's working! It's been super cool to have one scripture every day that's just the theme of the day. 

I'm still reminding myself this is a new area and it's weird. Nothing here is familiar, it's all new and strange. It's super exciting but also really stressful. After 21 months this is like… my first time actually getting transferred.

So I don't know what to write lol.

However, this week I finished Job. I feel sorry for everyone who hasn't had a similar experience to mine with Job. I don't know how anybody could not love reading Job. Anybody who has read it and understood half of it won't ever really need to ask “why do bad things happen to good people?” unless maybe they go through a really tough trial. Then maybe they can ask.

Anyways. Here's one really cool piece of treasure from Job. 

Remember In the beginning he had 7 sons and 3 daughters.

 A house blows over and kills them all..a bunch of other awful things happen to Job. His friend tease him for like 3 rounds of silly debate. God speaks through a whirlwind and tells all of them (including Job) to repent and then all of Job's blessings are doubled. 

He ends up with twice as many camels, sheep, donkeys, oxen, and so on. 

However in 42:13 we see he got 7 sons and 3 daughters…..? What? 

Why not 14 and 6?

Well. It's because families are forever. Even though the other 7 are dead- he DOES now have 14 sons. Even though the 3 daughters are dead he DOES now have 6 daughters.

So it was doubled. 

Pretty cool right?

Email me please.

Keep the fire burning (Levi 6:13)

Elder Owens

Weinersnitchel

 (This is my 4th time trying to send this)

We Picked up a random office chair off the side of the street and it has now been to Union City, Gilroy, Santa Cruz, and San Jose. 

Needles to say, it's been an eventful week.

We met with our stake president, President Hancock, before and after General conference and we have reached the conclusion we will be starting 2 Hindi Groups. We selected some potential group leaders and THE BALL IS ROLLING FASTER THAN IT EVER HAS BEEN.

Let me just rant for a sec.

Since I arrived to Fremont and met a indian lady in our ward, Saraswati, since going contacting and going entire days only talking to indians, since walking around in Fremont and breathing 1% turmeric air with every breath- I have wanted to do something like this for the Indians. 

I started learning hindi and the more I learn the more miracles I see. After 8 months of doing it on the side we got an official hindi companionship. Now after over 150 days of serving as a Hindi elder we have plans set. Real solid plans. It'll still be about 2 months before these groups are set up and group leaders are called. 

But this is a miracle. This is the beginning of the future of the church in the bay area. 

Anyways 

General conference was super good. We did a ton of it with the zone and had a mega breakfast. 

On Tuesday we got up at 5 and drove to Santa Cruz to film so testimonies In Hindi! I have been practicing mine for so long and I still messed up. But I decided it was good enough and felt very mature. So mine will be on Facebook soon. We did some at the beach and some in the redwood forest. Super fun. 

 ️ Today we attended the temple and it was just so good. I got to help one of the Deaf Elders during the endowment and it was super stressful because none of the workers knew what was going on and I didn't either. So it was all Interpreted on the spot and they kept skipping or repeating stuff. But we all got through in the end and it was ok. 

So like- I haven't had a chance to study from the Old testament because we've just been sooo busy and I've had to prioritize other things over the Old testament. So

I guess as you study section 109 because president Nelson Told us too…also read 1 kings 8 because it's also a dedicatory prayer.

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