May 1, 2017 - Arroyo Grande 1st and 2nd Wards

#ReturnOfTheNurse

It's been a good week. Don't get me wrong. 

A very good week. I was able to read 20 chapters of the Book of Mormon on Saturday. It was fantastic.

And clean a lot of the house. 

Glad to hear everything has been going well! Nice to see a picture of you guys with the Bradley's. I realized that I didn't say happy birthday to Dad last week, so I wrote him a letter on Friday, because I had the time :) To answer Mom's question, Zone Meetings were discontinued because the Missionary Department felt that, since we are having Zone Conferences every transfer now, we don't need to meet as a Zone!

The week has been a good one. Nothing too crazy. Elder McLawhorn has been sick since Thursday. Constant motion sickness. Hasn't been very good. We tried to go out some, but it was just completely unproductive and so we were in for most of Thursday-Sunday. :)

But, we can go through what happened!

Monday. Played volleyball for our activity. That was fun. Oh, and I didn't tell you last week, but Sister Felix asked us to do a musical number for the Mission Conference on Saturday with Elder Christofferson... So we also practiced for that. When we left the practice, we had to drive some Elders to the car shop to pick up their car, and forgot our two phones on the car.... So, luckily one fell off in the parking lot, but the other one.... Fell off at 40 mph.... So it was toast. Which sucked, because we had NO contacts for AG2. But, we figured it all out. Had dinner with the Gonzales family that evening. Oh, and I also figured out on Monday that Noah (the YSA guy who called and wanted to get baptized) wants me to baptize him! So, that'll be happening Saturday night. :) Exciting! 

Tuesday. We gave Jeremy a blessing. He's a member of the ward, went in for surgery the next day. We then conned him into coming to a lesson with us right then and there with Margarita. Which, wasn't the best lesson. She asked a ton of random questions, so we were all over the place. But it's always fun when that happens. Had dinner with Sister Salerno and her son, and the rest of the day was spent getting our contacts ready for when we got a new phone on Wednesday! 

Wednesday. In the morning we got our new phone, and it was easy to transfer the contacts over! I've gotten really good at using these dinosaurs. I actually really like them! Anyways. Tried to see a bunch of people throughout the day, but nothing was really working, and Elder McLawhorn was starting to not feel well. Had correlation that night with Brother Leavitt, and that was that day! 

Thursday. We had our Weekly Planning session. That was okay, not super focused but yeah. Elder McLawhorn felt terrible, and he had a massage scheduled with a member, so we went to that, went out for Sushi with Brother Rust, and then went and taught Alex and Mireya with a young man, Zack Burkard, who has his papers in! It was a good lesson. Went over the Restoration for Mireya! :)

Friday was District Meeting. We learned about the importance of the commitments to pray, read, and attend church! We went to the Spanish District too, and that always reminds me of Elder Harvey! Other than that, we were in. Got a call that night from the Assistants, and learned that Elder Haslam was getting emergency transferred on Sunday. So that was fun. Another missionary got his visa to Puerto Rico. 

Saturday was Saturday.

Sunday was good. Both sacrament meetings went well, but we had to leave after our second one. Had a lesson with Cruz that afternoon about Church attendance, Praying, and Reading. It went well. 

And yeah! That's about it for this week. Like I said, nothing too amazing. Just plugging along! 

I read this this week from Elder Neal A. Maxwell:

"The divine attributes of love, mercy, patience, submissiveness, meekness, purity, and others are those attributes we have been directed to develop in each of us—and they cannot be developed in the abstract (see 3 Nephi 27:27, Mosiah 3:19). These require the clinical experiences—those things through which we are asked to pass. Nor can these attributes be developed in a hurry. Thus the scripture says, “All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good,” referring to the mix of mortal experiences, immortal individuals, and immortal principles (D&C 122:7). And when that interplay occurs, and we see things through the lens of the gospel, then we can see things more clearly and navigate the road of discipleship.

Another thing will happen: We will become much more aware of and alive to the many possibilities for doing good that are present in life’s daily situations. Even the moments that seem humdrum are full of possibilities. Nothing is really routine.

I speak tonight, therefore, not only of life’s large defining moments but also of the seemingly small moments. Even small acts and brief conversations count, if only incrementally, in this constant shaping of souls, in this strategic swirl of people and principles and tactical situations. What will we, for instance, bring to all of those moments small and large? Will we do what we can to make our presence count as a needed constant in such fleeting moments, even in micro ways? Do you and I not sometimes say appreciatively of individuals who have helped us, “They were there when we needed them”? Will we reciprocate?"

I really enjoyed this. It is something that I really needed to read. At the end of your mission, and I would venture to say even just throughout life, things may become menial in our eyes, we may become bored with those small and simple things that we've been asked to do. However, as we strive to constantly live our mortal life, knowing that we are immortal individuals, and strive to live immortal principles, and then see things through a gospel lens... Nothing will stop us! We will be "fixed in [our] minds with a determined resolution." Think of this:

"It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit." (C.S. Lewis)

And then, to cap off my thought, Doctrine and Covenants 58:2-4

"2 For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.

3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand."

I sure do love all of you! Have an amazing week, and I hope things continue to go well! On, on to the victory! 

Love,

Elder Harvey

PS:

How did the musical number go - what did you sing?

Well, the Mission Conference is on Saturday. So we will see how it goes!  We are singing Joseph Smith's First Prayer to the tune of If You Could Hie to Kolob.

How exciting!  A baptism!!  Is this one of the contacts you had before you left this area a few months ago?

Kinda. This guy was a contact at the beginning of this transfer that we had to pass off to the YSA sisters. Him and I hit it off immediately. It was like I found a long lost friend.