Good morning, 'Merica! This is Elder Z.S.Weber, reporting to you live from a member's basement in the Prairie Ridge Ward, the Fort Collins Stake, the Colorado Fort Collins Mission! Today, once more, I have an epic weekly update on how my life as a missionary has been. And let me tell y'all...this week has been rough. I'm pretty sure that this is my 'sick' transfer, because since the second day that I've been in this area, it's almost as if me and my companion have been playing on a sickness-teeter-totter. If I'm not sick, then he is. If he's not sick, then I am. This week, unfortunately, was my week, and so Saturday and Sunday (and a little bit of Thursday) was spent inside, trying not to worsen our situation.
It has, however, made me feel very thankful that we live in the generation that we do, with the technological and medicinal advancements that we have, things that make fighting illness and disease much easier. As our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Haynes said this last Sunday, "I'd be dead today if it weren't for drugs...pharmaceutical drugs."
Anyways, time to move on with the week! This week started off slow with Monday and Tuesday, as a terrible snowstorm came in from almost out of nowhere. Thirteen inches of powdery white death covered everything for miles around. Our car was so buried under the snow that we actually had to dig our way to it! Because of the circumstances, the Fort Collins and Loveland Zones were labeled as a no-drive day. So, rather than have to fight through the storm, my district (Elders Chan, Christenot, Anderson, and yours-truly) decided to just spend the day chilling at my and Elder Anderson's apartment, playing the Munchkin: Adventure Time game one of the other elders got on last P-Day. So, it was a fairly slow first few days.
Wednesday, though, the roads were mostly cleared, and the car was finally uncovered, so once we were able to get the car out of the snowbank that had built up around it, we headed off to another District Leader Counsel. The meeting went rather calmly, as for the most part it was just spent teaching the 'greenie District Leaders' (myself and Elder Clark) how to do the basics of District Leadership. They went over how to present and plan good District Meetings, what the mission expects from us on our exchanges, and how we can best communicate with our missionaries. We also collaborated together on what would be a good baptismal goal for this month we're now in. All-in-all, it was a rather nice meeting.
Thursday, however, was the day to see just how well I could put my new-found District Leader knowledge to work. Thursday morning, we had our first District Meeting—the first District Meeting I'd lead. Cue sarcastic yay~! That morning, during studies, I tried to come up with a good lesson that would be most helpful for the elders I currently lead. By the end of study hour, I felt pretty happy with how my lesson plan looked, and so we headed off to the church for the meeting. When it got time for my training, I got up at the front of the room, opened my mouth...and just blanked. I just got the feeling that I shouldn't do my training on the subject I'd thought of. So, spur of the moment, I started a discussion with the other elders of finding people, what works and what doesn't, and how we can all improve.
Though very stressful, the meeting actually went well in the end.
Friday was a fairly bland day, mainly spent in planning and preparing for the week ahead. And, as I've already stated, Saturday and Sunday just weren't my days for missionary work. So, that's pretty much my week. However, I do have a message to share, one that started on Friday, actually.
While we were rushing around on Friday, trying to get things hammered down for this coming week, Elder Anderson and I got a call from Elders Noh and Klain, asking us to stop by the church building to meet with them real quick. Initially, my first thoughts were, "oh crap, what did we do?!" But, no, when we got to the church building, it turns out that they just had some messages from a meeting they had been in with the mission leadership earlier that day. Among other problems in the mission, President Brown has noticed a lack of enthusiasm or draw to doing the work of the Lord. So, to renew our enthusiasm and eagerness to do the work, President Brown presented a new challenge for us missionaries to accomplish.
The challenge: to read the entire Book of Mormon in ninety days. The challenge, in of itself, isn't actually all that hard, as we only have to read about seven pages a day to stay on course. Of course, just reading the Book of Mormon isn't enough of a challenge for us missionaries. There is a second portion to this challenge: while reading it, we have to mark every reference to (1) Christ's names, titles, or pronouns describing him, (2) his words, by him or by his prophets, (3)his attributes, also known as the Christ-like attributes, and (4) his doctrine and principles that we as missionaries teach. Now that is more of a challenge!
Anyways, we received that challenge on Friday of last week. Today is Monday. Right now I'm at page 19, right at the beginning of the eleventh chapter of the First Book of Nephi. I've only gotten in eleven chapters, but already I can see the promise of the Book of Mormon shining through. Each page that I read, I find more and more of the references above. Almost every other verse, Nephi or Lehi mentions the Lord's name as they testify or serve to their family. The doctrine we teach is on almost every single page, and references to his words are often quoted or revealed through Nephi and Lehi. Though the Christ-like attributes have been harder to find, they are there, and it's just as fulfilling to find them as it is to find the actual doctrine.
As I've been reading this, starting fresh with this new challenge, I've been reminded of the words that Nephi wrote to his children, and to us, in the Second Book of Nephi. "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:26) This challenge has truly revealed that this is true. Christ truly is the cornerstone of our religion, and his words and doctrine are the foundation on which we are built. The Book of Mormon stands as a clear witness of this, with the words revealed truly testifying of the divinity have and wisdom of the Lord. It truly is another testament of Jesus Christ. I know this to be true, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen.
—Elder Z.S.Weber
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