A week for the record books!

So first off, I love writing these emails. They are so good for me! It's almost become another journal for me and I try to put a lot in here! So thanks for suffering through the long rants with me and humoring my inabilities to write well!

This week was just like the subject says...a week for the record books. We have so much work going on that i almost fear to write about any of it knowing I will most likely leave out a lot of important events. But I will try to remember it all.

Monday we ended up playing basketball again like usual and I am loving that! That one day helps the diet a lot. When you play for four hours I guess you tend to burn some calories or something! After that we taught the Meier's who are so awesome! I love that family so much and can see so much in store for them! They are great people and going great places. We will be having the baptism of the kids, Riley, and Maddie this Saturday at 9 a.m... The mom will be baptized on the 7th of April hopefully if all goes well and the dad will be able to baptize her by then! I'm so proud of them! Last night we had their baptismal interviews and they are so ready! Afterwards we watched the Testaments with them. It was very powerful. It's funny because it's kind of a cheesy movie with cheesy lines and it's kinda long and about half way through you’re asking yourself, "Was this really a good idea to watch this long cheesy movie?" Then at the end the savior appears in America and it just commands the spirit's presence almost. The room filled with tears and everyone was taught something from on high. It was incredible. I have been asked to baptize the kids and I could not be happier about it!

The Ray's baptism is on Saturday as well but at ten a.m. and I'm so excited for it as well. Jennifer, Elaine, and Daniel will be baptized and they are just awesome! We had their interviews as well yesterday and are all set! It was funny tho cause during the interviews we were talking to the rest of the family who has kinda been on the fence about being baptized and they accepted dates for the 7th of April so that's two more dates we have coming up!

Tasha is doing well. I can't remember if I mentioned that she doesn't actually live in our area or not but we handed her off to the Ankeny 2nd ward elders. She's a great girl and she will be a very good member of the church! She asked if I would baptize her on Saturday the 24th as well at 2 p.m. So we will be attending 3 baptisms this Saturday! I can't really think of a better day to be had!

We also got a media referral this week from salt lake and she is awesome! Her name is Joann and her daughter lives in Montana and is getting baptized really soon and asked that her mom be taught! She is a neat old lady and understands something that most people take a lifetime to figure out. She understands perfectly how to recognize the spirit. That is most certainly a spiritual gift from father in heaven. She has a baptismal date for the 14th of April. It's funny because all of the sudden the struggling Waukee area is booming. I thought that once you had more baptisms planned life would get easier and less stressful but it's not. There's so much to be done. Tracting is stress free and easy compared to helping people accomplish goals! It's so awesome to see so much fruit from you labors tho! I owe heavenly father a ton right now!

Zone conference was this week on Tuesday and I had the opportunity to conduct. It was really great! I learned so much and I'll probably share a little bit a little later in the email. It's always nice tho to be with other missionaries that are going through the same things you are. Who have the same struggles that you do and who want to accomplish the same things that you do. It's a brotherhood uncomparable to any other. I think Henry B. Eyring does a much better job of putting what I feel about that same brotherhood in my heart into words.

“I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made; I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tinted visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, am lifted up in prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided or delayed, will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table with the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the case of Christ. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me and when He returns for His own He will have no problem recognizing me." - Henry B. Eyring

When you are surrounded by missionaries who all feel that same way the result is powerful. We are not perfect and have much room for improvement but that is the goal of everyone in this mission.

Elder Fenn hit his hump day this week! We burned a shirt at the now infamous "pryo point"! Me and him are getting along so well! He is one of my favorite companions ever. I love him. It's funny because we for sure had our rough patches in the beginning but you just learnt to look past them and be their friend. We've both done that and we're doing really well! I'm proud to be serving with him!

I have a new best friend. Her name is Samantha. She's 4. I don't know what it is with me and the 4 year olds! We just get along real well I guess. I'll try to get a picture with her at the baptism Saturday! She's super cute!

We met Dean this week who was drunk off his rocker and wouldn't admit it. I guess he's actually a member that is inactive but we are going to try to help him. It was a fun conversation tho. I only had to repeat everything to him 4 times before he realized that he had already asked me those questions. Oh the amazing effects of alcohol...=(

Things I learned this week----
-I had a great experience this week that I have been saving up this whole email. His name is Randall. He is 43 years old. He was a fire fighter in New York City during 9/11. Let me just preface by saying I learned more from this man in one night than any other night in my existence. Randall was trapped in the twin towers rubble for 17 hours and dug his own way out. At that time he weighed 220 pounds. He now weighs 135. He was part of a team of 9 guys where he is now the only one alive. He went to 187 funerals in 365 days for his brothers in the station that died instantly or of cancer. He himself now has lung cancer and stomach cancer but has been in chemo and is now in remission. He grew up in the church. Randall had been in the Maio Clinic for five years and on his way home after being released from there had to stop in the emergency room in Des Moines for 32 days and then was released. It was at that moment that our lives crossed paths. Now, I cannot summon in words the powerful effect that this meeting had on me nor will I be able to, but I pray that the spirit will attend this message however and wherever it is being received so that He can convey those feelings along with my words. Randall was beat. He was impoverished. He was a cancer survivor for the time being but even that looked bleak to him. He had 32 dollars, a Subaru, a house in Brooklyn, and a pair of clothes to his name after 5 and a half years of cancer. With that money, he rented a room to stay in for the night because he had no other choice. He found our number miraculously and called us. As I talked to, at that time, this strange man on the phone I felt I needed to meet him. We met that evening in the parking lot of a rundown hotel. He told us his story and bore his testimony to us. The man had nowhere to go. He was at his road's end. He had no way to get home. He talked to a Baptist minister and told him he needed help to which the minister replied, "If you denounce your Mormon faith that is sending you to hell and be baptized, I will fund your trip home." Randall said, "eternal salvation is not worth 130 dollars. See ya!" I cannot describe the feelings that I had for this man after 20 minutes. I felt the need and desire to help him so badly. I quickly formulated a plan. We ran home. We got a pizza that we had in the fridge. I have been saving some money for quite some time that amounted to 130 dollars. I grabbed it and we ran back to that "royal motel", so properly named. We gave Randall the money which was enough to get him and his Subaru home, and the pizza so he had something to eat, as well as some clothes. He taught me a lesson I have tried to learn my whole life. What is the real value of money? It is nothing. Money is money. It is eternally insignificant. Whether Randall was telling the truth or not, we were presented with the opportunity to help one of God's children in a way he could not help himself. That is what mattered. The sum was insignificant. Unimportant. Helping someone else with what I had when presented with the opportunity to do so was what mattered most. In my eyes I owed that money to him for the powerful lesson he taught me. I hope I see Randall again someday.

I mentioned that I would say something of zone conference. Let me tie that in. We talked again about spending vs. investing your time. I've pondered on that much. We have all been given time. We all have it. Some have more than others but the quantity of time given is not so much important as what we do with it. I was drawn to the parable in the new testament of the talents. (Matthew 25:19-30) Each servant was given talents, just as we are all given time. Each servant, just as we, was given a variable amount of time. When the Master returned it was not so much as how many talents they now had as what they had done with them. Those who invested talents were rewarded further and he who merely hid or spent foolishly the talent given was chastened. The quantity of our time is not so much as important as how we use it. Investing time now pays off later and if not in this world then certainly in the world to come. Spending time brings immediate satisfaction which was exactly what Lucifer's plan provided. We cannot spend wastefully the time given. It is a gift from God. We must invest it and therefor prepare our mansions above. 3 Nephi 13:19-21 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." I pray that we can all invest our time in what matters most. President Uchtdorf has said, "Diligently doing the things that matter most will bring us to the savior of the world." It is my testimony that diligently investing time in the things that matter most truly brings us closer to the savior of mankind!

I cannot say enough how much I love being here. It is in reality, a dream come true. I love you all!

Hugs and Kisses,
Elder Excell