Good Mornin', 'Merica! This is your favorite missionary, fantasy
author, and japanerd serving in the Colorado Fort Collins
Mission...and if you have more than one of those, then it's the one
whose name starts with 'W' and ends with 'eber'. What a wonderful week
we have had this past week! It has been an incredible experience for
both myself and Elder Pember as we have gone out into our areas in the
Taft Canyon and Prairie Ridge Wards. The work seems to be picking
itself up, and we are finding more success as we go out and put our
shoulder to the wheel. It seems that this is an ongoing pattern for
me: I have a week that goes really well, followed by one or two that
are just terrible. Hope this pattern doesn't stick for when I get back
home...
Anyways, let's get on with the week! First stop: Tuesday!
Now, like most Tuesdays that I end up reporting on since being called
as a District Leader, one of the main events of Tuesday was heading in
to our District Leader Council. Most of the council was rather
familiar—we talked about how our goals were shaping up on, what sorts
of trainings we should focus on for this upcoming week, how our areas
and our missionaries were doing and what we could do to help them be
even better. I wasn't anticipating it going much further than that.
While I truly enjoy going to DLC (and not just because it gives me
something to do in the early hours of the day), I do have to say that
it can be fairly predictable.
So imagine my surprise when they revealed to all of us that they
actually had some news they needed to bring to our attention. The news
was that President Brown was feeling rather disgruntled with how the
missionaries were spending their time on their iPads. They would spend
much of their time scrolling through the App Catalog, looking at the
new games coming out, or asking Siri to bring up Movie Trailers to
watch during the waning hours of the evening. While the news didn't
affect me (most of my time is spent in Notes), it would mean that
unless the mission made incredible progress and change, certain apps
would be taken off of the iPad, or at least blocked.
As a DLC we spent much time discussing what could be done. We
eventually came to the conclusion we revealed in our Zone Meeting on
Thursday (skipping Wednesday...nothing happened). After giving it much
thought and counsel, we decided that the mission had grown too lax in
following a set of guidelines we had as missionaries with iPads, known
as the Safeguards for Technology. We had grown to be slothful
servants, or rather disobedient servants, choosing instead to do that
which we found pleasure in rather than doing that which the Lord finds
joy in. We needed to improve ourselves, not just to keep our apps, but
to keep ourselves safe.
After the discussion came to an end and we headed off on our own ways,
Elder Pember and I found ourselves heading back out into our areas. It
was a very tiresome and frustrating time, as we didn't find
anything—not one soul that was interested (I feel like there is a
scripture that closely relates to this). We went clear up until this
evening, when we were scheduled to meet with a Less-Active member and
his Non-Member wife. We had been asked by the Bishop of the Taft
Canyon Ward to go and visit them, to teach the Less-Active member the
lessons so that he could feel more at ease at returning to church, and
help his wife understand what goes on at church.
What happened, though, was miraculous (again, this feels a lot like a
certain scripture I know). We decided to teach the Message of the
Restoration, and as it turned out Kathy (the non-member wife) was very
interested in learning about this. She just about ate up everything we
taught, and listened very closely to what we had to share. She asked a
lot of great questions, as did her husband, Ralph. And Ralph, though
he had been away from the church for years, was able to add a lot of
great comments to the message. Finally, at the end of the discussion,
we felt prompted to invite Kathy to be baptized, and she said yes!
She's going to aim for baptism on the 2nd of July! How incredible is
that?!
Finally, to end the week on a high note, Elder Pember and I were asked
to go out with the Zone Leaders for, as they called it, a Finding
Blitz. Basically, we split up for about a half-hour in one of the
neighborhoods in our area and just tract for that short space of time.
We had a goal to find three investigators and teach a few lessons.
Now, I do have to admit that I went into this a bit rubbed the wrong
way, as they had just dropped this on us unexpectedly. However, it
proved to be a great way to end our week, as we had some great
messages we were able to share, and we met a lot of interesting
people, including some that were interested in hearing our message!
So, that was our week! Like I said before, it's really starting to
look as though the work is moving forward in our areas. It's a new
experience for me, as for most of my mission, the movement of the work
could easily be equated to a sloth trying to walk through molasses. To
actually see some forward motion now, though, is great, and something
I'm very thankful for.
Now, before I forget about it, we still have one last message to share
today. Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen, once again we are here for
the Spiritual Thought. Now, this week there were a lot of great
messages that I heard and were shared by others. However, of all of
these, I think the most important message I could share this week is
the one mentioned in the subject—Agency and Accountability.
As I stated earlier in this email, the focus of our meetings this week
has been to improve our usage of our devices. While there are many
missionaries that use the iPads for what they are meant to be used
for, there are also many other missionaries that use the iPads for
entertainment purposes. Because of this, the mission is reemphasizing
the importance of following the safeguards given to us, and applying
them into our usage of our devices. It is their hope that through this
action, as well as the threat of taking away certain apps from our
iPads, that we will become a much better mission, spending our time on
our purpose as missionaries in the work.
However, this challenge to improve our usage of technology isn't just
for us missionaries, and isn't just applicable during the mission. As
I'm sure everyone reading this is aware of, there are both good ways
and bad ways to use technology. Nearly anyone can tell you that the
Internet and social media have great potential both for good and for
evil. However, while it might be easier (and incredibly obvious) to
choose the good over the evil, this digital battle of ours isn't just
a black-and-white scenario. There are varying levels of good, of how
to spend our time online and on our devices. The real secret, then, is
to know which good to choose.
While I could go through a big epic speech on this, with powerful
motivational music thundering out from behind me, it's probably
easiest to remind us that we have our own agency. The greatest (and
sometimes worst) gift our Father has ever given us is our agency—the
ability to make our own decisions. What comes with that agency,
however, is our accountability. Perhaps you have heard the statement
"Where much is given, much is required." That is how accountability
works. We have to remember that we have much to owe our Heavenly
Father—the air we breathe, the water we drink, the warm homes we live
in, and those we share them with. The more blessings and knowledge He
gives us, the more he will require from us.
Therefore, it's always important to remember that while on
technology—or, to expand past that, anything in this life. We are the
children of the Almighty God, and He has a marvelous work for us to
do. This work should be at the forefront of our attention. Indeed, it
should eventually become our work as well. In this way, we must be
accountable to our Father. Ask yourself this question; "How am I
spending the time my Father has given me?" If you need to improve
(which, spoiler alert!, we all do), seek out ways to improve how you
spend your time. Our Father gave us our agency with good reason. Let's
use it to actually seek to do some good in this world of ours.
Our time on this earth is short. We don't have much time to do the
things that we want to do. But I know with absolute surety that if we
put the Lord first, and do His work, we will find the time to do those
things that matter most. And I'm not just talking about Family
Indexing, or preparing Talks for Sunday. The Lord wants us to be
happy, to be filled with joy. It is His promise to us that if we put
Him first in our lives, then shall we find time for our families, for
our friends, and for the things that bring us individually happiness
in this life.
This I bear my personal witness of, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
—Elder Z.S.Weber
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