Alright, I'm going to use my fellow missionary David Archuleta's lyrics to commence this week's email. "There’s something crazy about this day, like I’m walking on a trampoline, I couldn’t get much higher." I just feel so on cloud nine right now. It's fantastic. It's mostly because I've chosen to be here, on cloud nine, you see. That's a secret that I've learned on my mission but I guess I'll share with you today. You get to choose how you act and react. That's the whole fantastic part of life is it is nothing more than what you choose to make of it.
My mom always asks me to be honest in these emails and I usually am. I will not say that I have included all the things that happen because I try not to dwell on the negative for more than I must. But here's to you mom. An honest email. Last night was a rough night for me. We had yet to do our studies because of the morning church schedule and having plans afterwards. So from 5 o'clock P.M. on we were studying. I made it about 45 minutes and I crashed hard. I fell asleep and Elder Brown did as well. We were both just so exhausted from the week and the month and the year. Anyway I woke up at about 7:30 and felt guilty beyond all reason and I started to get down on myself. I've maybe tried to hold myself to an almost unattainable standard of excellence the past couple months. Anyway I started to psyche myself out and feel a bit overwhelmed with how much we needed to get done and had a little minor breakdown. Well I took a step back and thought for a second. I was choosing to be stressed out. I was choosing to over-react. I was choosing to, in the moment, let go of all sense of reason. I mention this because I learned a very valuable lesson. One that I have learned before but forgot for a couple months. The thought is this; Don't change for the mission, let the mission change you. I was simply trying to fake being a perfect missionary til I got so used to faking it that it was real. It does not work that way. We must be ourselves and work towards our goals. If we simply try to change overnight and cling on to that change forever we have not successfully changed. Change is a process. One where you cannot skip steps. It takes time and you start at the bottom and reach for the top as you climb higher and higher on the ladder to your goals.
Wow I got preachy pretty quick in this epistle. Sorry for any emotional or psychological whiplash this may cause but I fear the rest of the email may follow this precedent. =)
Another thing I learned this week came from the mouth of a twelve year old boy. He does not appear to be the cool kid at his school. He looks like your average newly ordained deacon but when he spoke Sunday he spoke with the same power and authority that the sons of Mosiah, King Benjamin, Nephi, and every other great man spoke with. His talk could not have lasted more than a minute at the most but the content could have filled up hours. He inspired me. His topic was "How to honor the priesthood you carry". He got up and said the following: "Ya know, I haven't been in this priesthood business for too long. I don't know very much. But I have learned in preparing this talk how to honor my priesthood. It's simple. It's all real simple. You just have to live the gospel that Christ taught. If you do that you'll be a better priesthood holder, a perfect husband, and a better person." That was seriously his whole talk. Followed by a testimony he sat down on his bench again and looked into the congregation ahead. I think to some his talk may have seemed unprepared, too short, and unfulfilled. But there was not a greater truth taught in that building that day. It's all real simple as my 12 year old friend said. He spoke so simply and plainly that many probably didn't comprehend his words, just as those listening to the very Son of God did not. He was the picture of power on that stand. You want to be successful? You want to be better? Live the gospel that Christ taught and you will be all of those things. I know that is true as well.
Another monumental molecule of learning I absorbed this week: As I watched a video that I have now seen probably hundreds of times I learned something so simple but powerful. I watched "Together Forever" because I have been pondering some of the people with marital troubles I have encountered on my mission. It's so amazing what this gospel, that I have been so privileged to not only have personally but to now have the opportunity to share, can do. I am so thoroughly convinced at this point that there is not one soul living or dead who could not benefit immensely from the gospel of Jesus Christ. There isn't a man, woman, or child who can not be aided by it. It is remarkable. In a world that gets so stuck in societal norms and ruts of mediocrity this gospel can take what is ordinary and transform it into something extraordinary. I have seen many other people changed by it to say nothing of myself. It is the "light which darkness comprehendeth not". It is the piercing eternal truth. It will always be true. It has already always been true. It will never change for the very author and finisher himself is "the same yesterday, today, and forever." I wish that there was a way for me to cyber-tronically communicate the feelings I have of this gospel. That in and of itself is yet another lesson I have learned. There is a way to communicate positive feelings like love and testimony so that other can understand...it is only through the spirit that we can do this.
I'm sure that this is not the weekly travel log you were expecting this week and if I have disappointed I apologize. It's just that sometimes I cannot contain myself. The dam breaks a little and I just gush a little. It's just that this gospel and my mission have meant everything to me. Everything. My life would be a waste without it and without Him who has made it possible. I testify that Jesus is the Christ. He is the very Son of God. He condescended below everything to do what he did. He is the only light at the end of any dark tunnel. I testify with every fiber of my being that Joseph Smith was and is the prophet of the restoration. I cannot deny the witness I have received concerning that man. He did not fictitiously create a church, a book, and a means of salvation. It all came just as he said it did. That church, and that book, and that means to salvation are true and of divine authenticity. No man unless called by God, and having personal testimony would go through what he did to lie. I testify that the Book of Mormon, even after being dissected, ridiculed, and defaced is true. It is of God and contains as does the Bible the fullness of the everlasting gospel. I want it known very well and perfectly clear that I have a testimony of these things. This testimony is not something that just simply came to me either. I do not expect that any person can simply want a testimony and the next day have it without some sort of personal sacrifice. I know that God lives and is present in every life. Contrary to popular belief, He has not deserted us nor will he ever. If we do not feel his presence in our life then we are the only ones to blame. In every instance I can find it is us who must move first do feel his presence. We first ask and then we receive. We seek first and then he appears. We knock and he will assuredly open. This is a fraction of the testimony within me but I will not let it ever lie dormant. These things are true.
I love you all so much! I'm not even sure if I know who all of you are sometimes, but I can promise you that I do love you! I appreciate your support seen and unseen. I have the best fan section in all the world.
Hugs and Kisses ya'll,
ElderExcell
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