Last week, I mentioned how Sunday gave us the Spiritual boost we needed to go on with our work here in the Coal Creek Ward. Well, while we were still eager to do the work asked of us, the elements still wouldn't agree. Yep, the storms just kept coming this week, with rain, thunder, and lightning filling the skies for hours and days on end. Still, in spite of the pounding rain and booming thunder, Elder Buchanan and I kept a spiritual air about us as we went out and tracted the flooded streets around us. We were certain to remain committed to our missionary purpose, and do everything in our power to help our spirit brothers and sisters back to our Father who is in Heaven.
Well, that lasted for about another day or so, and then on Wednesday, Elder Buchanan awoke with a terrible upset stomach and pounding headache. While I was able to get up and start studying right at the right times, I could tell that Elder Buchanan wasn't feeling up to doing much of anything, at least not until he started feeling better. So, though we would've loved to spend the day out working in the thundering rainstorm outside, Elder Buchanan and I hunkered down in our cozy basement apartment and played Magic and read our scriptures. After a while, we got a call from the District Leader, asking if we could go on exchanges that night. We accepted, and so I packed my things and left to go join Elder Christiansen in Lafayette, while Elder Stone went to Coal Creek to watch over my ailing companion.
My time serving with Elder Christiansen was a lot of fun, and a good break from the monotony that had formed due to the constant rain. We spent much of the morning doing service at an elderly sister's house, weeding her over-grown garden and helping her get it ready for summer. After that, we headed out to an appointment with a promising investigator. Right off the bat, the lesson went south, as the investigator simply wouldn't listen to what we were saying. However, even with the troublesome investigators, the exchange with Elder Christiansen was great, and I feel as though I gained a lot of helpful knowledge that will bless me in the months to come.
Now, for the really fun part! After waiting for nine months (or, if you were an Elder that came out twenty-three months ago), our time of anxious waiting has come to an end. Ladies and gentlemen...the Colorado Fort Collins Mission is the most recent mission in the world to add the use of iPads to their resources.
That's right--Elder Buchanan and I both now have iPads, which will make missionary work much more interesting. While teaching investigators about the Restoration, we can show them videos that directly talk about how God is our Heavenly Father, that Jesus Christ is our Savior and gave us the Atonement, or that Joseph Smith really was a prophet! We'll be able to Skype or FaceTime our investigators if all they have is fifteen minutes, but they still want to have a lesson. We'll even be able to proselyte online through Social Media hubs like Facebook, Blogger, and much more!
However, all that won't be for a long while yet. Right now, the focus is primarily on getting the mission used to the safeguards set up for our protection. When we were gathered at the Mission-Wide Conference in Fossil Creek, the speaker (Elder Neilson of the Seventy) told us that this protection and safeguarding planning was to prepare us to be "Disciples of Christ in the Digital Age." Our actions on the Internet can be a force for good, or a force for evil, and it is the hopes of the Missionary Department, and the Church world-wide, that the programs set up with these iPads will prepare us to use them for good, rather than for evil. What really stood out to me, though, was when they mentioned asking the Apostles if they could trust us--eighteen and nineteen-year-old men and women--to use the devices correctly, and they simply said, "We trust them, because we know that their Father trusts them."
So, that's the epicness that I have to bring to the table this week. So, for my spiritual thought for the week, I thought I'd do something a little different than usual. I simply have one question that I want all of you to ask yourselves.
What if, one day, an angel from Heaven came down to you, saying he had a message from the Lord, which would tell you all that you would have to do to be saved and exalted to the holiest state of being imaginable. The angel then tells you many marvelous things; the Restoration of the Church; the Plan of Salvation; the Doctrine of Christ; the Commandments of the Living Church; the Ordinances and Covenants of the Lord's Church. Then the angel tells you that you have to do these things, from repentance to baptism to tithing and more, for the rest of your mortal existence, and you will receive exaltation. Could you do it?
Now what if the angel then said, "You may have your own doubts that you can do the hard and tedious works I have asked of you, but realize that it is not I that have asked this if you, but your Father who is in Heaven. And He only gave you these commandments and these covenants, testing and trying you, because He knows that He can trust you, and He knows your true eternal potential, and He knows that if you only trust in Him, not matter what trials you will face in your life, it will all be worth it, and you will make it through to the end." Then, could you do it?
I bear my testimony that the Lord truly does ask marvelous and, quite honestly, intimidating things of us while we are on earth. But I also bear my witness that He will not leave us to do this on our own. He has surrounded us with people--family, friends, coworkers, bishops, teachers--who can help us bear up our burdens, lift our heads, and walk onward. Not only that, but so long as we believe in Him, the Savior Himself will be by our side, lifting our troubles and giving us the help we need. He knows we can make it through, that we will be able to return to Him again. Because He trusts us.
I bear my witness that I know this to be true, in the name of our Savior, our friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
--Elder Z.S.Weber
Sent from my iPad
**Excerpt from the mom letter:
This week actually was better than last week was. It was also wetter than last week was, if you can believe it, but it was. One of the main reasons I had such a great week? Well, I am now one of the few Elders in the nation, let alone the world, that now has the privilege to use an iPad in regular missionary life. It's so cool, we've got all the scriptures on them all the Ensigns going back to 1971, all of the Mormon Messages videos, pretty much everything we're going to need to teach...except for the spirit, of course.
Wow, that story about Brother Erickson's son sounds a lot like the story of the prodigal son. You know, we might be a small and simple Mormon community in the LDS heartland of South Jordan, but even we have some moments in our lives when the fit hits the shan and things go not as well as we'd hope. So, whenever I hear stories of people turning their lives back around and returning to the God and religion they belong in and need most of all, it just makes me smile. It reminds me that nothing is hopeless--not for the investigators or less-actives I teach, and definitely not for me.
Oh, doesn't sound too good Mom! I hope that Brother Hancey (wow, that was weird. Made the transition from Bishop to Brother without even a second thought) is able to find out what's wrong and help you. I'm certain that everything will go fine, Mom, you'll be back to your usual peppy, happy self that you truly are. Though, even though I know everything will be okay, I'll try shooting some prayers Heaven-ward to get a little Celestial boost to your health.
Well, hope everything turns out well for you this week. No pictures today, seeing as I'm sending this via my iPad, and have no pictures to download from my iPad just yet.
Love you loads, Mom, and have a terrific week!
Oh, and Happy Birthday on Saturday!
--Zack
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