Good morning, 'Merica! This is your ever-charismatic and clever Colorado Fort Collins Missionary, Elder Z.S.Weber! I am reporting to you here, live from the McKenzie's basement in the Prairie Ridge Ward. However, this will be the last time that I do this, as tomorrow is transfers. Yeah, that's right. Six weeks have come and gone so very fast since the last time I mentioned transfers, and now here we are again. What changes should we look forward to tomorrow? Where will friends new and old move on for new areas? What will happen to the incredible team of missionaries known as the Taft Canyon District?
Well, I could answer all of those questions now...but first, let's go on to the week!
First, let's start out with Tuesday. Now, there were a lot of things that happened this last Tuesday, and to be honest Tuesday was perhaps the most effectively spent day this week. As usual, those of us that were District Leaders gathered together for our District Leader Council. After discussing the goals we would set for this new month we are going into, we were asked to discuss how implementing the Safeguards for Technology into our missionary lives has improved us since the last time we made mention of them. After hearing some fairly good reports from everyone, the Zone Leaders suggested we do the same in our District Meetings this week.
After our meeting was done, we went on to do some tracting and finding, which we must admit wasn't that successful. However, we were successful in being able to meet with our investigator Harleen that afternoon. Now, with Harleen, we have to admit that there hasn't been a lot of forward progression with her. She asks good questions, but hasn't been keeping the commitments that we've left with her. We decided to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and explain to her what is important for her from the gospel. We then invited her to pray to her Heavenly Father over whether she should be baptized into our church or not.
After that lesson with Harleen, we went on our way to our dinner—which just so happened to also be an investigator of ours. Because we were having a lesson with Kathy and Ralph that evening, they decided that it would be nice to feed us, and then after dinner we could teach the lesson. The meal was great, and we enjoyed the chance we'd had to get to know Ralph and Kathy a bit better. However, when it came time for the lesson, we had a little bit of a hang-up. You see, we had wanted to have another member come with us to the lesson to help the Williams feel more welcome at church. But the member we called got lost.
After waiting a while to find him, and finding ourselves unsuccessful in calling or texting him our location, we decided to just go in and share our message that we had prepared. Though it started off a bit rocky, our lesson went fairly well. We taught about the Plan of Salvation, and how it relates to Kathy and Ralph in their lives. It seemed that they were really understanding what we were sharing with them. Kathy, at one point, even said that she really liked how we explained the afterlife. It sounded more hopeful to her than other religions. Rather than just Heaven and Hell, we know that even if we end up failing, we will receive a Heaven that we will be most comfortable in.
The next was Wednesday, and like I mentioned earlier and in past emails, Wednesday is District Meeting Day. This District Meeting was fairly good, as we spent it discussing what makes a planning session good, how to set good and approachable goals, and how goal-setting on our missions with prepare us for our futures. We then applied those lessons we learned by setting goals for the new transfer coming up. It was a fairly productive time, and a meeting well spent. Then, when all was said and done, we got to the fun part of District Meeting, where we predicted as a District where everyone was going to go for transfers.
Once District Meeting was over, we went on with the rest of our week. And, I'll be honest. Once the elephant in the room was addressed (namely, transfers) we found it pretty hard to stay focused on the work we had been given. And even though we went out and went to work, it was still a pretty hard work to go into. In the end, most of our time was spent giving service to different members in our area. On Thursday, we helped Brother McKenzie out with some yard work he needed done. On Friday, we helped one of the youth move sod for his Eagle Scout project. And on Saturday, we helped a member move items from his storage into his even-larger storage area.
All of that led up to the big announcement with transfers! Drum roll please!
Actually, not much is changing. Myself and Elder Pember are both staying here in the Prairie Ridge and Taft Canyon Wards. Elder Christenot is moving on to a new area, but for whatever reason the Assistants to the President chose not to reveal to anyone who they are going to be with or where they are going if they are being transferred. So we don't really know anything other than that he is leaving. Also, Elder Grossarth, my Zone Leader and 'younger brother' (he was trained by Elder Proffit after I was) is also getting transferred. Finally, those that remember my Boulder days—those will never happen again. Starting today, Boulder is now part of the Denver North Mission, and all missionaries serving there now are being evacuated.
There goes the infamy of Boulder. Good riddance, if you ask me.
And, so, that was my week. A little rough around the edges, but all in all, not that bad. Now, I believe it is time for the Spiritual Thought of the week. As I have been preparing for these final days towards transfers, I've been thinking over how I want my mission to end. While there have been moments that I wish I had done better, and other moments that I feel embarrassed by (Magic, D&D, and Pokemon?! How did my mission transform from spiritual growth to geek-dom growth?!), all in all I am proud of how I have spent my mission. I've served hard, and through the words I was able to share, it is my hope that I have led others towards Christ.
As I have thought of these things, my mind has turned to a New Era message I read one day for my studies in the morning. The message hit close to home as I thought of what would await me when I finally do go home from this amazing mission of mine.
"I recall a few years ago seeing a drama enacted at the Salt Lake International Airport. On this particular day, I got off an airplane and walked into the terminal. It was immediately obvious that a missionary was coming home because the airport was full of conspicuous-looking missionary friends and missionary relatives.
I tried to pick out the immediate family members. There was a father who did not look particularly comfortable in an awkward-fitting and slightly out-of-fashion suit. He seemed to be a man of the soil, with a suntan and large, work-scarred hands.
There was a mother who was quite thin, looking as if she had worked very hard in her life. She had in her hand a handkerchief--and I think it must have been a linen handkerchief once, but now it looked like tissue paper. It was nearly shredded from the anticipation only the mother of a returning missionary could know.
Two or three younger brothers and sisters were running around, largely oblivious to the scene that was unfolding.
I found myself wondering as to who would be first to break away from the welcoming group. A look at the mother’s handkerchief convinced me that she would probably be the one.
As I sat there, I saw the returning missionary appear. I knew he was the one by the squeals of excitement from the crowd. He looked like Captain Moroni, clean and handsome and straight and tall. Undoubtedly he had known the sacrifice this mission had meant to his father and mother.
As he neared the group, sure enough, someone couldn’t wait any longer. It wasn’t the mother, and it wasn’t any of the children. It was Father. That big, slightly awkward, quiet, and bronzed giant of a man ran out and swept his son into his arms." (Amazed at the Love Jesus Offers Me, Elder Jeffery R. Holland, New Era December 2008)
Message goes on to say that as Elder Holland watched this father and son embrace for the first time in two years, he couldn't help but think of a parallel reunion between another father and another son that had taken place nearly two-thousand years earlier. At the close of His Son's mortal ministry and at the end of His holy sacrifice for all mankind, Elder Holland stated that he couldn't imagine any other sight in heaven that day so long ago than of our Father running out to His son—bruised, beaten, yet still standing tall and noble—and holding Him with all the love He could offer.
I myself think of how I might be welcomed home after my mission here in Colorado and (hopefully several years down the road) my mission here in mortality comes to an end. I look forward for the day that my earthly father and my Heavenly Father will welcome me with arms open wide and a heart that is filled with love. Continuing on with the article, Elder Holland stated that he wouldn't find it too hard to believe that that mortal father of that mortal son would turn around to all those around them and state, just as that Heavenly Father stated years ago, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."
May we all seek that someday we may receive those wonderful words at the close of our missions—in life, on earth, and throughout the passage of immortality—is my prayer, in the sacred name of the Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.
—Elder Z.S.Weber
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