Christmas Love

It seems as if this last week for being a "short week" has not been so short because there has been so much that has happened. It's all pretty crazy really. I'll start at the beginning. Wednesday, Elder Johnson and I spent some time on a double date with the sisters from Raccoon River. Not fun nor approved. It was totally unintentional on our part but I can't speak for them. We set plans with them to pick us up because the AP's needed our car in order to transport everyone to transfer meeting and to take all those departing missionaries to the airport so we needed a lift for a couple hours on Wednesday as they picked up those incoming greenies. So we met them at the mission home and we had planned to go email and have 2nd ward and 3rd ward elders meet us at the stake center and play some games. Well when the time came to leave the library from emailing, the elders were conned into moving someone out on p-day so they were not around to hang out with us so we very suddenly found ourselves on a double date. We made the best of it and went to Panera Bread, a super good restaurant here, and had a quick lunch and then our car was back so we could get out of there. Thank goodness. I have never been so glad to see our car. We went home and packed and played scrabble. I won the game with the words eureka and apothegms. thank you high school geometry!

Thursday, we woke up at the crack of dawn so we could make the trek to Iowa City for transfer meeting. We fit 7 people in Brother Bera's van. He is our ward mission leader. We had our companionship and the sisters from 5th branch and also the elders from 7th branch. Needless to say, it was a bit tight. I think I may still have the imprint of a seat belt receptor on my bum. Not pleasant. But the transfer meeting was great! I got to see Elder Franz again and all the other awesome elders going home. I have a new companion named Elder Kimber! We immediately got along really well. He is from Bountiful, Utah. I don't know what it is about that town but I tend to have my favorite companions from there. He went to Boston University for a semester and wrestled there and then went to a year at University of Utah. He is a die hard Ute fan. He is the youngest of three kids and likes to go fast. =) He's been out for about 18 months now and goes home in June. He worked as an EMT and fireman before the mission. Super sweet guy! I love him! Depending on transfers he could just die off in Waukee. I may even be the one to kill him. But I doubt it. We'll see. I am excited to work with him tho. He does something that I try to do. With every companion, I have tried to help them become who they want to be and help them accomplish personal goals. He does that too. We are going to work very well together and Waukee is about to explode with success.

We came back from transfer meeting, and since the assistants just love to use our car, we were stranded at the mission home for a bit. It was kinda funny. We sat in the living room with 15 elders who were done. No more. Their mission was over, and it caused me to think where I want to be spiritually and emotionally when I am sitting in that room in 8 months? Who do I want to be? It was nice to see so I could have that chance to ponder. We eventually got our car and went and picked up Kimber's stuff from the stake center where we had to abandon it and went to the Nielsen's. It's pretty funny for missionaries to walk in to the Nielsen's home I've noticed. It's just like heaven for a missionary apartment. Every missionary loves it! How could you not with full size beds with silk sheets. Laundry whenever you want. Cold filtered purified water at your request. It's definitely the little things in life that make the biggest difference. :)

Friday we woke up super early and took the car back to Des Moines to take super elders to the airport. it was cool to drop off Elder Franz again. I don't know if I mentioned by the way that my driving privileges have been reinstated. Super nice to be able to drive again. My companions kind of got sick of driving all the time and I have missed it. All it took was one defensive driving course and I was back on the road!

Saturday we visited two district meetings. Both were great. Both we shorter than usual tho per President's request. We set some goals as a district and as a zone consequently. I'm excited to work towards those goals. We also got to know one another. I have learned through careful personal studies that you can pretty much know a person with few questions. I will list them for your benefit and experimentation.

-What is your favorite pair of shoes?
-How long have you had those shoes?
-How well kept are they?
-What kind of cereal do you most prefer?
-What milk do you eat that with?
-Do you have juice and/or water with said bowl of cereal?
-Do you have toast as well?
-Do you drink the milk at the end of cereal consumption?
-What size spoon do you use to eat said cereal?

With those questions you may know all you need to know someones true personality. I have tested it and found it to be accurate!

I want to end my letter today with some things I have been thinking about and were inspired by Elder Harrison before he left for home. The topic of “culture” in the Iowa Des Moines Mission has been one often mentioned through various trainings, and comments from President Jergensen. That word, “culture,” has led me to some serious pondering of what kind of culture, or behaviors, beliefs, and characteristics should define our missions and our lives. As I pondered the rich history of the cities within my mission such as Carthage, Nauvoo, Iowa City, and others, I realize that our culture has been for the last 190 years, and must continue to be a culture of sacrifice. We may not need to sacrifice what they sacrificed but we must be willing to sacrifice the same amount. From the time Joseph Smith began his foreordained work, until the last of the Saints reached the Salt Lake Valley, persecutions have raged, mobs have combined, and in some cases it has been as if the very jaws of hell gaped open its mouth wide after the hero's upon whose shoulders we now stand. I took a life changing vacation unknowingly with my family when I was younger unaware that one day it would be the most sacred ground to me. I have stood in Carthage Jail with my family when I was 16. I have touched the hole that was made by the bullet that took Hyrum’s life and cried at the thought of that moment several times as I have seen it depicted in the film "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration". I have looked from the window that Joseph’s body fell from and imagine myself believing in something or someone so much I was willing to die for it or them. I have stood at Joseph and Hyrum’s grave. I have walked around the Nauvoo Cemetery, where hundreds of children were laid to rest, and where continually faithful Mothers and Fathers, brothers and sisters, were buried. Gordon B Hinckley once said, "If you think your life is tough, the pioneers laugh in your face." Through the power of the Holy Ghost, I know that the culture of the Iowa Des Moines Mission and the rest of this church and religion is and must continue to be sacrifice. Sacrifice must define our work, and as it does it will define us. We are all the Lord’s servants today, privileged to labor on the same ground that the Prophet and his Saints labored on. but also the same ground that this great country housed ancient civilizations where similar wars have been waged. Beyond all of that we are very privileged to be on the very Earth which our Father in Heaven has created through his son Jesus Christ for our purpose. The words written by W.W. Phelps, “Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven…” in the song Praise To The Man have repeated themselves over and over in my heart and in my mind, and I know that we must make heaven demanded sacrifices to invoke those very powers of Heaven that created this very holy ground. To honor those who went before us and He who paid the price for us all may I suggest we do as the Book of Mormon exhorts and invites... we must "remember" their sacrifices and be willing to make our own. 3rd Nephi 9:20 "And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit." May we realize the sacred ground we stand on, and the responsibility that rests on our shoulders. I know that is true for all of us. Sacrifice is the key to salvation. It was for Christ and it will be for us. The work is difficult but the rewards are worth it. Sacrifice my friends, for what you know is right.

I love you all but my time is short and I must bid you adieu. I love you my friends and family. Stay sweet, safe, and sober.

See you Sunday! =)
Elder Richard Zachary Excell