*Insert classic greeting here*
Oh ye of little faith. I fixed my shoe. Boom.
It's like, not even noticeable either. You may all bow down to me. Just kidding. I'm a humble servant of the Lord.
HOWDY.
This week has been freaking awesome! I did the math, and I went on my fiftieth exchange on Saturday! So many. But it's really been a fun week. We saw a few really neat experiences, and tried our hardest to be as diligent as possible, and not being everyone's taxi driver.
Dad. I need to answer these questions before I forget. So, I would love short sleeve shirts. The long sleeve that was sent with the garments was good size, except the sleeves were too short. But, my neck size is about the same. Which is 18 1/2, now that Elder Hiltscher just choked me out looking for it. But, I picked up a super sweet jacket this week from a member, so short sleeves will be fine. The winter is not even a factor here. I don't think I really need anything else. I've got some new shoe polish, but don't really have an applicator. Maybe a shoe polish kit would be helpful. And some piano music shtuff? If you want, go on deseret book website and just send things to my address. I will be here for another two weeks :) Oh, I am trying to be way more healthier. So, I was wondering if I could buy a blender? Make some smoothies and junk. I need to stop being fat.
Sounds like you all had a super fun week! I miss the weekends where Kevin and Amanda came to visit. Those were always so much fun. Mom, no Canadians in our ward, and our dinner calendar has been kinda scarce lately. But that's okay! We don't have any dinners this week until Wednesday. So I will be eating.... something! Yup, I am not sure yet. But I will celebrate thanksgiving!
So, Monday night was really neat. We were out and about after our dinner, and we were just going to visit a LA in our ward that we haven't seen in awhile, and I parked about four blocks away on accident, thinking that they lived right around the corner. So, we were walking back to our car, and then we felt like we should just walk the four blocks..............uphill....
Tuesday was funnish. We had a follow up training meeting in Oxnard that we had to go to from 1-4. So that took up pretty much the entire day. Learned a lot about how I can be a better trainer and example to my District! It was a great and edifying meeting.
Wednesday I was on an exchange with Elder 'Iongi. It was fantastic! We played disc golf with a couple of members, and then went to work. Oh yeah, in the morning our car died..... Funny how you talked about car problems Mom! But, we got jumped. All good. We talked with a lot of people throughout the day! And had a bunch of fun while doing it.
Thursday was some Weekly Planning. Got some work done after that, and then went to a baptism! It was the Platamonie family. Super neat story. The ones who were baptized on Thursday were the parents, Cheryl and Russell. Their kids had been baptized a long time beforehand, and now they were finally following suit! It was an incredibly spiritual experience, and they are both just so excited to be engaged in the Gospel! Afterwards, it was about 8:35, and I made a resolution that we were going out to work those last 25 minutes! Elder Campbell was less than excited to do it, but we went anyways. We went pretty close to our apartment, and I felt like I should take two lefts in a row! Once I got on the street after the second left, the Spirit told me that there was a potential that we were to go see, and that I had the information down in my planner. So I looked, and it was a man named..... Emerson. We walked up to his house, and knocked on the door. By now, it's about 8:45. His wife answered, and we start talking about their family and they had five kids, and I make the connection that I grew up in the same kind of family, but that now I had an adopted brother! That sparked an awesome conversation. Turns out, they are foster parents, and they really wanted to get their kids into a spiritual setting! Exchanged phone numbers, and they said that they wanted us over on Wednesday! Super neat experience again, right at the end of the day. #FourthFloorLastDoor!
We had a great District Meeting on Friday. All about working more effectively with the members! I loved it. Learned a lot about how I can be closer with the members and work more effectively to receive referrals!
Saturday was my fiftieth exchange. Who with? The Ohio. Elder Hiltscher! It was a really great day. He is a new Elder, and is Spanish. So, we had studies until 1pm.... Sheeeeesh. We saw a really awkward middle school party. And got told that someone wasn't interested in Mormonism, but will become a Mormon when she dies. Heh.
Well, that's pretty much my week! Nothing else really happened on Sunday. But everything is going really well! I love this talk I read yesterday from Elder L. Tom Perry. He relates an experience from his son:
"I came home one evening to find him practicing the Fosbury flop in our basement. He had set up two makeshift standards by stacking chairs, and he was jumping over a broomstick set on the chairs, using a sofa to cushion his landing. It was very clear to me that the sofa would not hold up under such treatment, so I called a halt to his indoor high-jumping. Instead, I invited him to go with me to a sporting-goods store, where we purchased some foam padding to use for landing and high-jumping standards so he could move the activity out of doors.
After experimenting with the Fosbury flop, Lee decided to return to the western-roll technique that he had used previously. Still, through the end of the summer into the fall, he practiced high-jumping for many hours in our backyard.
One evening as I returned home from work, I found Lee practicing his jumping. I asked, “How high is the bar?”
He said, “Five feet, eight inches.”
“Why that height?”
He answered, “You must clear that height to qualify for the state track meet.”
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“I can clear it every time. I haven’t missed.”
My reply: “Let’s raise the bar and see how well you do then.”
He replied, “Then I might miss.”
I queried, “If you don’t raise the bar, how will you ever know your potential?”
So we started moving the bar up to five feet, ten inches; then to six feet; and so on, as he sought to improve. Lee became a better high jumper because he was not content with just clearing the minimum standard. He learned that even if it meant missing, he wanted to keep raising the bar to become the best high jumper he was capable of becoming."
After experimenting with the Fosbury flop, Lee decided to return to the western-roll technique that he had used previously. Still, through the end of the summer into the fall, he practiced high-jumping for many hours in our backyard.
One evening as I returned home from work, I found Lee practicing his jumping. I asked, “How high is the bar?”
He said, “Five feet, eight inches.”
“Why that height?”
He answered, “You must clear that height to qualify for the state track meet.”
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“I can clear it every time. I haven’t missed.”
My reply: “Let’s raise the bar and see how well you do then.”
He replied, “Then I might miss.”
I queried, “If you don’t raise the bar, how will you ever know your potential?”
So we started moving the bar up to five feet, ten inches; then to six feet; and so on, as he sought to improve. Lee became a better high jumper because he was not content with just clearing the minimum standard. He learned that even if it meant missing, he wanted to keep raising the bar to become the best high jumper he was capable of becoming."
Dang, right? Another favorite quote from it:
"The bar was raised by the leaders of the Church, and now the minimum standard for participating in missionary work is absolute moral worthiness; physical health and strength; intellectual, social, and emotional development. In every high-jumping competition there is a minimum height at which the competition starts. The high jumper cannot ask to start at a lower height. In the same way, you should not expect the standards to be lowered to allow you to serve a mission. If you want to be a missionary, you must be able to clear the minimum standards.
But once you reach those minimum standards, shouldn’t you try to keep raising the bar? I ask you the same question I asked my son many years ago: “If you don’t raise the bar, how will you ever know your potential?” My challenge to you is to recognize that a minimum standard exists—and you must reach it to serve as a full-time missionary—but don’t stop there. The greatest generation of missionaries will not reach its full potential unless it keeps raising the bar."
But once you reach those minimum standards, shouldn’t you try to keep raising the bar? I ask you the same question I asked my son many years ago: “If you don’t raise the bar, how will you ever know your potential?” My challenge to you is to recognize that a minimum standard exists—and you must reach it to serve as a full-time missionary—but don’t stop there. The greatest generation of missionaries will not reach its full potential unless it keeps raising the bar."
Emerson, raise the bar. Everyone needs to raise the bar. I had a thought while reading this. The bar NEEDS to get higher. Every time we raise the bar, we get close and close to perfection. Think about how it will be at the Judgement....BAR!? Will the height be set at five feet, eight inches? Probably not. It will be set at a CELESTIAL HEIGHT. And we need to work harder and harder to get there.
I love you guys! Have an amazing week!
Love,
Elder Harvey
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