Come Follow Me

What a great time to be alive, to be a missionary, and to be in Waverly Iowa! I am so happy that I am where I am. It's such a glorious feeling to be able to hit my knees on the ground at night and realize that I am where I am supposed to be! I want everyone to have that same understanding! It's incredible to feel at peace with who you are trying to become, and where you find yourself now! I am so grateful for those blessings in my life!

This week Elder Arbon and I had a great time! We are getting along really well and getting to know each other much better than before. He's a great kid! I love him! There are a lot of things that I admire about him! I confess he is pretty innocent in regards to the world and life but I find something admirable in that! He's awesome!

Last week for P-Day we played tennis with the district. The district includes the elders in Waterloo and the sisters in Cedar Falls. They are all really cool people and I like being around them. We however are not the greatest tennis players. We in reality are not good at all. But we had a lot of fun. I'm sure everyone else on the courts had fun watching us make fun of ourselves too! We played on the University of Northern Iowa courts.

This week we had a great lesson with the Lassen family! It was, just, soo good! It was the first time that I have met with them ever and I've heard a lot about them. They have been coming to church for nearly 6 months now and are loving it but having some problems committing to be baptized. So we had the first lesson that I have had with them. I had been praying for this particular lesson for nearly two weeks as well. I wanted it to be powerful. Well it was. I felt very inspired to say some certain things in that lesson that I do not usually. I also felt the spirit very strongly as I was testifying to them of some lessons that I have learned in my life. The dad was a little weary before about being taught by 20 year old snot nosed kids who haven't had much life experience. I felt like I needed to say the following..."I do not suppose that I have had much life experience but I do know somewhat of what faith is. I know how hard it can be to do some of the best things in life. They seem scary and then when looking back they seem easy and like a no-brainer decision. I know how amazing the spirit can feel when testifying to us that we are doing what we need to do and that our Father in Heaven knows where we are." With that we talked for a little while and the spirit at a certain point said to extend a baptismal invitation. We did so and they committed for the first time and they will be baptized on the 2nd of June. I am so happy for them. They have three kids. A 12, 9, and 2 year old. It is so awesome to watch families accept the gospel and to have them recognize the sign posts that are in their lives given to them by the spirit.

I got to do my favorite thing in the world this week as well! I got to mow a lawn again! The season is here to mow and I love it! Bonus is that it was even a riding lawn mower. I am a new convert to John Deere. Nothing runs like a Deere. I figure if I am going to serve my mission in the heartland I can't espouse myself with any other company than the best! But honestly mowing that lawn I felt like I was just at home. It was so awesome. 3 acres of freshly mowed grass and then the rain came down gently for the best natural smell that Mother Nature has to offer. I will mow the lawn when I get home mom and I will love doing it!

I also got to use some skills that I was taught in my youth in mudding and taping a wall or two and some ceilings while doing some sheet rock! I'm not gonna lie...i miss manual labor. I miss having calluses on my hands. I'm excited to work again! Missionary work gives you different calluses i guess but the principle applies. You do it for a while and your body becomes accustomed but as soon as you quit you lose what you had and worked for. I hope I never lose the spiritual calluses I now have from my missionary work.

I went on exchanges with Elder White this week, the district leader. It was a lot of fun! We met some pretty Crazy people in Waverly Iowa. There was one guy in particular. He is well....a nut. I mean that with respect of course because it takes some talent and skill to be as off kilter as he is and still function. He considers himself as a savior of the world but he doesn't want to preach for fear of getting shot or stabbed so his theory is that we are all just clumps of energy and we don't possess souls. So in other words...we don't exist to him. In fact he doesn't exist. He says he sees with quantum eyes so we wouldn't be able to understand. But to spread the word of his "saviorhood-ness-ship" (quoting his words) he is just gonna through some positive radiating energy into the electromagnetic field and everyone will receive that and know. He says he is "somewhere over the rainbow and he's got the whole world in his hands". I'm glad i had the privilege to just hear it from him. I don't know if my electromagnetic antennas are up to date with his. I guess if my belief system every crashes down, I'll have a back-up now. =) By the way...if you are confused from that last paragraph...you can join the club. I don't get it either.

We also met a guy who teaches electricity at UNI down the road so he was showing us some cool stuff. He has some microwave emitters that he can make lightning out of and control it. That's pretty cool. He was trying to describe it to me but it was way over my head. I couldn't keep it all straight. But he's designing a robot that will be like the robots from "I, Robot", the movie. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

Things I learned this week --
-Compassion comes from being there before, and charity comes from not yet being there but understanding.
-Cologne has surpassed me. This is sad. I was so up to date. Now I am behind. New Beckham cologne? And a new curve cologne? Man oh man.
-I am so growing a Jedi braid out when I get home! =)

This week and for about the past 3 months my studies have always come back to faith. I figure I can't really learn about step #101 until I comprehend step #1. The more I study about faith the more I recognize that I need to acquire more of it. Faith is what makes us sure and steadfast. It is the evidence of things not seen. It does not come until after the trial of your existing faith. It is preceded by hope. It is more than a simple belief. Faith is not and never will be a perfect knowledge. Faith is the opposite of fear and doubt. Faith is not gained from signs. Faith is a principle of actions in all intelligent beings. Faith can only be maintained by righteousness and is lost in unrighteousness. Faith simply put, is power. It is the power by which this world was organized and framed. Without faith there is no power and without power there would have been no creation. The more that I learn tho, I realize how much i do not know about faith. This is what I have concluded though thus far. We must first start with a hope and desire to believe. As Christ exhorts the doubting Thomas to do, "Be not faithless, but believing." After we have that desire working in us, we must commit our self to accomplish what we would like to accomplish by faith. Nephi is one of my heroes and i know he is one of yours as well. He committed. He would not go back to his family until he had done what he set out to do. That is an expression of faith. He committed and thereby succeeded. Faith does not mean as many have supposed that if we just believe it will all work out. I'm coming more and more to despise the words, "Don't worry it will all just work out". This is false is not backed by personal action to see things through! We have to do our part! God gave us bodies and minds so that we can learn to do things on our own and he expects us to do things on our own. He is all powerful but he will not exert all power until we have done so first! Faith should also permeate in our prayers. As much as we realize we must do it all we know that we cannot because we are powerless without good. This is not to say that we are worthless for the worth of every soul is great in the sight of god. But we must admit our nothingness to Him. Those two are complete different. We are of great worth but we are nothing without him. So we pray and we pray and we pray as if all depended upon Him and we do as if all depended upon ourselves! This will not signify smoother sailing though. It is promised that there will be trials. It must needs be that there is opposition in all things! If it were not for opposition would life mean anything? Would it be of any worth to us? No! We can be certain that the trials will come but as we faithfully endure it well faith will be added unto us. Or in other words; power will be added unto us. We can bet and be sure that He will help us. According to his divine will and our faith He must perform. I testify that he does! When we in faith seek for righteousness we can be assured that through the storms of trial and hardship we will be victorious and we will see our faith grow immensely in the process. I know this process is divine. But I am amazed at its simplicity. I learned this all in primary with a simple song. Faith is knowing the sun will rise, lighting each new day. Faith is knowing the Lord will hear my prayers each time I pray. Faith is like a little seed: If planted, it will grow. Faith is a swelling within my heart. When I do right, I know. Faith is knowing I lived with God before my mortal birth. Faith is knowing I can return when my life ends on earth. Faith is trust in God above; In Christ, who showed the way. Faith is strengthened; I feel it grow whenever I obey.

I love you all so much! I pray with faith every day for many of you by name individually and all of you collectively. Make it a great week or not, the choice is yours!

Hugs and Kisses,
Elder Excell