Chapter 44: Sarcasm Defeated

And we’re back! Happy Monday—whatever association Monday holds for you. It has its nasty reputation for being the taxing start of the week, but it’s funny that it simultaneously stands as the missionary weekend, excepting missions with different p-days. I guess I fall into that last category as the day I don’t have any assignments is Sunday, making that kinda sorta p-day minus the dedicated laundry and shopping. It also means I get to complain with most everyone else about Monday being the start of the week. So, when I say Happy Monday, I really mean- *sobs*

I’m coming up a little empty-handed this week in terms of events. As far as service mission stuff goes, the Global Services Department has not ceased to exist, nor has a cataclysmic event changed the course of all that goes on there. Oh! One item of news is that I was chosen for a committee to organize an event this winter. I’ll wait till then to spill details about it, but it’s exciting!

The Road Home...has also resisted nonexistence! *party horn* In addition to the usual responsibilities there, I got to assemble school kits for the children during the latter half of the shift. It seems that new projects pop up all the time there, which I really appreciate. Hopping back on the topic of “usual responsibilities,” i.e. processing donations, I have a comment that I meant to share last week but am recalling now. Making sense of women's clothing sizes makes college level physics look easy. I even knew of their reputation before, and they STILL made me question the Euclidean model of reality. They’re just numbers with no rhyme or reason to them! And it’s a miracle from on high when the scaling is consistent between brands. AND once you think you understand the numbers, you confidently pick up another article only to read “Medium” on a size that very much does not look medium. Absolute madness! Someday I’m going to think I have it all figured out, then discover a tag with Egyptian hieroglyphics where the size should be. I’d take calculus problems over this any day. 😆

Thursday featured a cool experience. It was a bit of a rough morning for various reasons, and I was wrestling with an upsetting question about prayer, which, by extension became a question about revelation, which added to a broader theme of struggles developing my relationship with God and pressing forward in the path I'm on. These things do tend to have a bit of a snowball effect. Primary vs. secondary questions aside (see BYU devo "Stand Forever" by Lawrence E. Corbridge), interrelated and interreliant topics can sabotage each other just as much as they support each other.

My start to my assignment that morning was a bit sluggish, and I had to cut my grumpy musings short to attend our weekly devotional. Just beforehand, I sarcastically thought, "Oh and I bet this devotional will just directly address the unanswerable questions I'm facing." These meetings have actually had convenient relevance to things on my mind before, and I was doubting that would be the case this time. Either sarcasm has prophetic power or God just likes messing with it, cause what was that meeting's topic? An in-depth discussion on prayer. What topic did they follow up with? Revelation. And in that discussion they cited Elder Holland's devotional, "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence", a dedicated message about sticking to the path you're on where you have had experiences with God. After hearing the discussion and listening through the full recording of Elder Holland on my own, my questions still weren't answered, but the mere fact that they had been referenced did more than I thought it could, no less in such a timely way.

A couple friends came up from Arizona to visit this past weekend! Just two months ago I expected to have to wait over a year to see them after my mission, but in a slightly surreal turn of events I'm able to see them as a missionary! It was a joyful reunion and a privilege to enjoy.

My last note about stuff this week is that I got to sub in primary again, and for as much as I like to overcomplicate the gospel at times or talk myself blue in deep discussions, I do really enjoy taking basic principles and illustrating them with some silly object lesson that pops into my mind. Though they can be difficult to rein in, the antics of the resident gremlins have enormous entertainment value. There's a lot going on with 10 in one room (probably not as much as there could be, so I'll thank the Lord for the angelic assistance He's most likely providing).

I was flipping through my study journal and I found a quote from a fellow missionary I shall end with.

"There's a difference between something that hurts your pride and something that hurts you. The latter is not of God." (Elder Olive)

And I'll add, the former does not threaten you, as venomous as it seems. Like running through the barrier that leads to Platform 9 3/4, we will flinch at first, but come out on the other side in a better place. That takes humility and surrender, and it is something I'm hoping to make a greater part of my life.

God be with you,

Elder Tolman

Pictures:

Reuniting with a lovely group of people.

Chapter 43: An Interesting Sense of Charity

 *GaAah, the readers are probably looking for an interesting intro to catch their attention and smoothly transition into the body of the email…*

*uuuuh*

*uuuuuuhh*

Whoa! Look over there! What in the world could that be?!

~Skips to just talking about the week.~

*Distraction tactics for the win! Never go in against a Sicilian when email composition is on the line.*

SO, things at the Global Service Department are chugging along. I’m gradually feeling more at home, a.k.a. participating in more missionary shenanigans. I had my first graphic design opportunity, which was fun! A refreshing change in the projects I normally work on. I’m pretty much fully trained in the two areas I offer tech support for, just working on gaining more experience, but one day I joined my team lead to go up to the second floor and chat with the employees (bottom floor is almost entirely service missionaries and the rest of the building is mostly people who actually work at the GSD), and there I was told that soon I’ll be trained on a third platform. That’ll be wild! Naturally, there’s always more to learn.

Another note about that assignment: it’s super satisfying to be able to go into the missionary mobile device system and manually revoke restrictions / settings that are causing problems for a missionary. “OH, something’s keeping you from downloading apps?? Well *BOOM*! That something just got blown to high heaven! Target eliminated! Aaaaaahahaha! Have a great day my good servant of the Lord!”

And now for the namesake of the email. This past time at the Road Home mostly consisted of sorting through and organizing donations. As such, I had ample opportunity to observe what people try to give the residents at the shelter, and some people have...let's say an interesting sense of charity. When one is struggling for fundamental needs in life, I would say their need for...certain types of clothing is not that desperate. I guess charity is still charity though? It was funny; Gayla, my manager, warned me of the curious donations they sometimes receive, and only a little ways into my second shift I discovered a huge bag of articles that had us laughing and cringing.

Plenty of donations to sort through.

We sadly don't accept stuffed animals at the Midvale location, 
but I wanted to acknowledge this one.
Gayla laughed at my expression when I first saw it.

District council was excellent this week! I had a training planned on increasing understanding of repentance, and another district in the zone found themselves without a plan for the meeting, so they combined with us, and we had twice the discussion power! Also, our zone is going to be splitting soon, so my district will be saying goodbye to the Lindseys and welcoming the Alstons as our new service mission leaders. We met Elder Alston that evening and he joined us for our district's discussion. He also dropped by a game night a few of us held the following Saturday, so he witnessed some of our madness.

Yet another game night!

One day while sitting at the train station waiting to transfer between lines, I was given a bit of a divine rebuke. A man sat down next to me and we started a conversation. I soon learned he was a member of the church, though inactive, and we talked a little bit about feeling the Holy Ghost. He began to open up about the hardship he was going through, and through tears asked me if I had a copy of the Book of Mormon. It was then that I was struck with the brutal realization that I wasn’t in the habit of keeping a copy on me while in transit to assignments. I had my study materials, but nothing to hand out, and for whatever reason the ComeUntoChrist website fled my mind. I tried to direct him to the temple square missionaries just a few blocks away, but he didn’t seem to understand. I resolved to never again leave a space in my bag where a Book of Mormon should be, but it occurred to me that I really had been harboring the belief that it was unlikely anyone I met in Salt Lake County would ask me for such a thing. That belief had just been utterly disproven. Heh, proselyting missionaries would probably tar and feather me for this slip-up, but I’ll take it as a firm reminder from the Lord to prepare me for future opportunities.

I had a cool little experience in the temple on Friday. Being an ordinance worker can make it easy to overlook attending as a patron, so I resolved to do so at some point that week. I managed to find time for initiatories on Friday evening, and after finishing them I felt like I should spend some time in the celestial room, which prior to that I’ve only ever done after endowment sessions. In my time there I briefly ran into two other service missionaries I knew. Not sure if there’s any deeper meaning behind that, but it was cool we just happened to be there at the same time.

One other temple related thing! Over the past week I've become increasingly conscious of my temple slippers--more specifically of the black footprints that have developed on the bottoms of them. The temple presidency periodically reminds us to clean the bottoms of our shoes both for the sake of the carpets and for the sake of demonstrating cleanliness. I finally got around to that, and since starting this email, an irony in that has occurred to me.

Within the temple, there is a strong emphasis on donning white clothing. This is true in each of the ordinances there. It's a symbol of cleanliness. I suppose you could look at it as either us sanctifying ourselves as we enter a sacred place, or as us becoming sanctified by entering a sacred place (with all the effort and commitment associated). Either way, we have the idea of "clean thing dwells in clean place". Yet despite there being purity all around, the bottoms of those temple slippers--never worn outside the temple--still darkened over time. Dust transfers from the air to the ground, and people dirty the floors as they enter the temple. Sacred places and sacred things can exist in a fallen world, but they don't remain untouched by it, especially over time.

Whatever we sanctify--time dedicated to scripture study, effort put into a calling, conviction put into a testimony--will pick up dust over time. Dust that, while initially not a problem, can soon turn white clothing black. This dust can sap the meaning out of a positive routine or inject pride into a good natured belief. Entropy isn't limited to thermodynamics.

As ominous as this language is, all I mean to say is even the best things in our life need maintenance, just as from time to time you need to wash and even replace a rag that itself is meant to do the cleaning. This might seem like a taxing addition to our to-do list. The one-fronted battle of cleaning up the messier parts of our lives has turned into the two-fronted battle of also preserving the things that are supposed to be our clean sanctuaries. Keeping the vain repetitions out of prayer, keeping relationships brimming with love, and keeping callings as intentional as possible. I wish I had some reassuring tip to lighten that half of our burden, cause it's a tricky undertaking which we have to juggle with the rest of life. But here are two thoughts.

1. With the Lord, there is always enough time. It just takes taking a step forward in the moment where we think something can't be done.

2. Take after Captain Moroni, and prioritize maintenance over conquest. Shore up the cities you have before you spread yourself thin by conquering others. Maybe not all my clothes are spotless, but ensuring my temple clothes are as white as I can make them will be the first thing on my mind. For another example, maybe your thoughts aren't virtuous all the time, but you can start by just making your prayers more earnest.

In the commotion of all you deal with in life, remember to take care of the most important things. If you do, those things will continue to strengthen you in the face of everything else.

A final item of news which trumps all other news: my dear nephew had his baby blessing this past Sunday! He did a fine job, letting out all his nervous lamentations just beforehand but remaining perfectly content throughout the blessing. He has begun to put on the armor of God. (You're all invited to imagine baby William in shining armor).

God be with you,

Elder Tolman

Random sky photo.

Random sky photo: leafy edition.

Chapter 42: The Anti-Service Project

Let the games begin!

There aren't a whole lot of events to convey from this week. Well, I suppose I could grace you all with a montage of missionaries struggling to sign into Preach My Gospel, having issues with their teaching records, and wrestling with restrictions on their devices, but I’d have to pull out a lot of creative stops to make that worthwhile........it seems sitting in the Church Office Building eating tater tots and soup is not particularly conducive to creativity. Hang on! Are there foods that make you feel more creative?? If so, please reply with the requested information (that's a phrase I'm typing a lot lately). That’d come in handy! Point being, teaching people is a whole lot more engaging to write about and read than IT cases are, so I’m either gonna have quite a bit less to write about for the time being, or I’m gonna get really good at multiplying the morsels of story I have to convey.

Here’s a thing though! This past Wednesday was my first day serving at the Road Home shelter! I'm at the family shelter in Midvale. It was such a treat for me! Why? One word.

O R G A N I Z A T I O N

(That was supposed to be read with a deep, echoey announcer voice.)

Sorting, organizing, and tidying are such relaxing activities for me, and it's looking like that's one of the main things they need help with there. They haven't got a whole lot of room at that location, they need things easily and quickly accessible for the residents, and there is a mountain (mountain I say!) of donations in the receiving area that need processing. I spent the majority of Wednesday doing what I snicker to call an "anti-service project". I shall explain.

What's a common service project youth groups and communities get together to do? Assembling kits for the homeless and less fortunate. Great simple activity that can make a big difference in the lives of many children of God. However, several such projects set their sights on the Road Home shelter as the recipient, and the thing about them is that their supplies are meant to be constantly accessible to residents, not just grab & go. So, issue number one is that if a resident were to receive a hygiene kit and start using it, they would run out of different things at different times, and replacing them by grabbing another kit would give them a lot of extra stuff they don't need. Issue number two is that the people have a specific set of needs, and the kits don't always cover all those needs, leading to either seeking out individual products, or grabbing an additional kit with a different combination of contents. So, my job? Undoing the work all these kind-hearted people did XD. I disassembled a heap of hygiene kits and stocked the Road Home's shelves with them, screening the occasional mess from shampoo bottles leaking.

With school starting this week for the kids there, I also got to help organize classroom materials and make those available. I'm already enjoying working with the employees there as well. They are incredible people providing desperately needed service.

As for the Global Service Department, the main item of news is that we just lost 3 missionaries on the mission support team, 1 to an assignment transfer and 2 to the completion of their missions, leaving just me and my team lead, Elder Shupe right now. Thankfully, a new missionary will be joining us soon, but the next few weeks might be a trial by fire for us all.

This past Saturday our zone got together at the Lindseys' for a barbecue. We got to meet Brother Young (soon to be Elder Young), who we'll eventually welcome into the zone, and we had an all around good chaotic time. I brought peach crisp, which recipe I learned from our mission nurse back in my second area, and it was well received! Thank you Sister Smith!

I was made hearty fun of for showing up in a white shirt and tie (I had to go from my temple shift, to baking, to there), and at first I proudly accepted the role of Mr. Ever-professional Missionary Man, right up until I discovered that we'd be playing water balloon volleyball. "It's okay," I told myself, "the likelihood that I'll actually be hit isn't all that high." Then Sister Barrow had the hyper intellectual idea of, instead of passing the water balloon back and forth, just throwing it at an opposing teammate whenever your side managed to catch one with their towel. I volunteered as tribute before I had time to think about it, and spent the rest of the evening drying off in full missionary attire (minus the tie).

A couple weeks ago during district council, we focused our discussion on the fascinating and kind of mysterious topic of spiritual gifts. The concept itself is not hard to grasp; during our premortal lives we were each endowed with unique talents and strengths that would equip us for all the things the Lord has in store. These gifts flourish based on our faithfulness, God's timing, and His servants' use of the priesthood. But let's shake up this understanding a little:

Firstly, a baffling item of intrigue in many of our lives is the spiritual gifts declared or pronounced upon us during our patriarchal blessings. It's funny how some of the things we hear we are blessed with can go completely unobserved by us, or better yet, when they are things we believe we are actually the weakest at. "Sir, if I'm blessed with that gift, then one of Superman's powers must be resisting kryptonite."

Secondly, with the counterintuitive subtleties of some of the gifts the Lord gives, and with the word "inadequacy" pretty much stamped across the whole of mortal life, we often wonder, "What spiritual strengths do I have? Not just on an anecdotal level or by vague observation, but objectively and unequivocally, where does my Spirit shine?" ("...if at all", many of us add in a bitter whisper).

Thirdly, we can't always tell where exactly these gifts work in our lives. Are they "special abilities" our spirits have, surging with fine-tuned power whenever the Spirit needs to work through us? Heh, that's sometimes how I think of them. Do they represent all of our talents and abilities, pretty much intertwined with every action we're able to take? It's not like there's a pie chart somewhere entitled "The Source of Your Abilities" with one portion labeled "Spiritual Gifts" and the rest labelled "Your Standard-Issue Capacity".

These questions have developed a lot in my head, but I can only offer primitive answers. Well, not answers. More like...thoughts. Give them as much credence as you would the contents of a fortune cookie XD. Only valid inasmuch as you find yourself inspired. I'll go point by point.

Firstly, I don't expect to fully understand these things any time before the millennium, but when it comes to confusing declarations of blessings, it might be helpful to tweak your definition of what a blessing or gift is. Let's not consider it to be God saying, "Guess what? I've actually made you super good at this thing!" And instead think of it more like, "Any effort you put into this thing will have my blessing on it--my approval, just as a parent gives their blessing to a marriage. So please just try, and if you take this path, I will doubly consecrate it, whatever the results may be." And who knows, maybe He really has given you spiritual superstrength in that area, and you just have yet to find out.

Secondly, just as people struggle with pride, we can be pretty blind to when we're actually good at something. On the topic of looking for gifts, this list of ideas came to mind during that district council.

• Read and reread your patriarchal blessing.
  
• Listen to the positive things people say about you, and instead of dismissing them, express gratitude for them.
  
• Try new things. Expose yourself to situations where unfound strengths may be required to reveal themselves.
  
• Ask Heavenly Father in prayer.
  
• Here's one I don't think about a lot. Desire new spiritual gifts. "But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way." (1 Corinthians 12:31)
  

Oh boy, and here's the leviathan of this conundrum. Thirdly, how can we tell where and when these gifts are operating? Pff, I dunno. But let's try this mindset: it's never a bad idea to credit God with something we accomplish. I mean, think of what King Benjamin said. He described God as, "Him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another". So I've got an invitation fer ya.

Pray for help with something you feel you're already good at...

…first of all because you are counseled to perform all things unto the Lord (Alma 37:36-37), not just the ones you're worried about, and second of all because it would be a profound admission that whatever your supposed talent may be, you're reliant on the Lord's gifts in all things. We're not incredible, we're much obliged. We hold onto our success only by ever striving to be a worthy recipient of it.

Isn't that a beautiful demonstration of humility?

God be with you,

Elder Tolman

Board game madness at the zone barbecue.

Chapter 41: Woven Miracles

Aaaaaaaalrighty! I say! It's been far too long! Where have the monologues gone over the past few weeks? Whence cometh this literary drought?

I know what you're all thinking. Did one of the three Nephites really secretly visit me and send me on an intense, heavenly operation during which I was forbidden to disclose any of my experiences? Good guess, but no.

Perhaps I did in fact write a whole bunch to you, but a rival department in the church office building has been intercepting my emails, and I've only just outdone them with a special encryption I devised from Facsimile 2 of the book of Abraham. Pff, THAT theory is just silly.

No, it's honestly just been tricky maintaining a writing schedule when I don't have the structure of weekly p-days. SO, get ready for 3 weeks worth of updates! And now that I say that out loud (Write that out loud? Write that onscreen?), I realize I had better keep things concise…relative to how much there is to talk about, anyway. We'll leave the finer details and narrative progression to your imagination. So, whatever you imagine, be sure to make it good! I'm trusting you here. XD

Matter #1: General layout of each week.

I continue to serve 4 days a week at the Global Services Department through the morning and afternoon. I've really enjoyed commuting on public transit each day, watching the Rocky Mountains pass by and doing my personal study for the day. I've finished training on IT support for the missionary planner app (and have even come across a familiar name when helping missionaries in the field with troubleshooting), and I'm nearly done training on support for missionary mobile devices.

I've also been asked to join the GSD newsletter team, which WRACKED my soul with intimidation at first cause I still feel like I barely know the people there or what's going on. However, I was told the team will soon be expanded to cover all creative projects, from graphic design for posters to...drumroll...video editing! So that's given me a new spring in my step!

Overall, it's a fantastic atmosphere at the GSD, and BYU creamery chocolate milk is way too accessible there. Not quite MTC *free-at-every-meal* level, but at least the MTC didn’t have a 1 year commitment. I shall have to develop a will composed of titanium, or I will surely perish. Doing pretty well thus far though! 

Saturdays are a real treat serving as an ordinance worker in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Last week I finished being re-trained on my positions, including helping at the veil in endowment sessions, working in initiatory, serving as baptismal font recorder, and more. Yesterday I learned that being font recorder makes time absolutely accelerate. Like, I'm gonna need some temple worthy quantum physicists to run some tests in there and assure me the universe isn't glitching out. Beyond that discovery, it was nice being able to go on a faster track while training. I had the chance to serve in the temple leading up to my mission, so aside from refreshing my memorization, I just needed rundowns on recent adjustments. Between inspiration from the first presidency and decisions from the temple presidency, I've been super impressed with how efficient and streamlined the procedures in the temple have become and how meaningful and Christ-centered they remain.

This Wednesday will be my first day serving at the Road Home shelter! Don't quite know what to expect aside from receiving and sorting donations, but in any case I'm excited to have a more hands-on opportunity to contrast all the desk work. There was a brief period where it was looking like I was going to start at the Motion Pictures Studio in Provo, helping with film projects, chainsawing trees down, and operating forklifts, but, alas, they had enough elders there. Guess I can't take all the fun for myself.

Beyond those assignments, as of yet it's just been working with my district and attending various appointments and meetings. Woot woot. I also got to sub in primary a couple times, which was a delight!

Matter #2: Fancy happenings.

In light of Pioneer Day, July was the "Month of Pressing Forward" at the GSD, featuring specially themed morning devotionals and several cool events. I arrived just in time for two of those events! First was a devotional with Brad Wilcox as our guest! Third time I've heard from him on my mission! And he happened to give the same message he gave in our zone conference back in San Diego, although different things stood out to me this time. He's such an enthusiastic and loving soul, greeting every missionary with a hug. He even joined us on our walk to the church office building afterward for lunch. Another Month of Pressing Forward exclusive was a concert from Kenneth Cope. He has an impactful way of weaving church history stories and his testimony into and in between his songs.

Because of translation software, I've had a few opportunities to help missionaries in different languages at the GSD! Spanish, Portuguese, and French so far. I just wanted to comment that it's really cool what technology allows us to do--the way it magnifies our efforts. Sometimes I wonder where all the Biblical-level miracles are in our day. Where are all the parted seas, moved mountains, and multiplied meals? While incredible stuff certainly does happen, I think some of the grand-scale miracles of our day are woven into the inspiration behind the wonders of mankind. The instantaneous transfer of information across our world, sophisticated ethics widely proclaimed, and engineering never before seen. What if there’s something more to them than mind and metal? The Lord has already revealed a pattern of designing things in heaven before manifesting them on the earth.

"And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air;" (Moses 3:5)

This is pretty speculative, but I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to believe the luxuries we live in were devised long before we ever came up with them, just as a blade of grass and the human form were. All we see is that they were introduced into the world over the course of generations of men and woman straining and stretching their every faculty. Independent ingenuity? Maybe. Blessings secured through effort and grace? Just as easily. Surely we all see the Divine gleaming behind the creativity in someone’s eyes. And all this to allow a unilingual silly like me send an email to a servant of the Lord in France.

We got to attend zone conference last week! I was intrigued to stand in the midst of the culture of an entirely new mission to me, complete with their own mission song (Called to Serve at a supersonic tempo with a brand new mission-themed verse at the end, and plenty of interspersed gusto). Come to think of it, I do really miss the San Diego mission song. The teaching missionaries here in Salt Lake South set to work getting to know us service missionaries, and I got acquainted with a few of them. They spoke highly of my area. A few members also came to help with lunch, and a couple high school friends just happened to be in that group! It was good to see Megan and Ava! Their shock was hilarious.

As far as the topics covered go, I was too busy yammering away in discussion and stoically pondering during remarks to take a whole lot of notes, but President Kotter made an adamant declaration of our divine identities, and in breakout rooms we discussed developing Christlike attributes. A member of my district, Elder Sahlin, was a champ and sang This Is the Christ for everyone toward the end of the conference.

Oh, hang on—backtrack—speaking of meeting high school friends: I ran into the illustrious Weldon (formerly Elder Layton) at the temple yesterday! He was finishing his morning shift and I was just starting my midday shift. What’s more, after several months working in the temple following his mission, he was serving his last shift before going off to college. Very convenient we ran into each other before he left! Ever since getting back to Utah, it’s been a series of unlikely encounters with old friends.

*resuming former thought* The day after zone conference, President Kotter invited us on a mini hike up Potato Hill at the point of the mountain. He uses its excellent view of the valley to give new missionaries an introduction to the mission. It was funny, he was like, “Normally the missionaries I take here are gawking at this point, but this is just every day for you all.” He told a story at a few intervals along the path, reaching its climax as the Draper Temple came into view beneath us. The story related to consecrating our lives, setting our time apart to align with our calling and our identity. We were given time to find a solitary place on the hill to consider how we were going to live differently and to pray about it. It meant a lot to me.

A conversation I had with Elder Meilstrup a few months back connected perfectly to a study on the Godhead we did at the GSD recently…

Consider how we talk and think about the Holy Ghost. The way he’s omnipresent–penetrating our hearts, influencing our minds, and coming down upon congregations–can make it easy to imagine Him as more of a force than a Person. But the reality is this He is a He, not an It. He has a personality as real and complex as our Father’s and our Savior’s. We invite the Spirit with prayer, song, and sincerity, but it’s important that we think of these things an an expression of welcoming love to Him, not as a “Spirit magnet”. I fear we lose some of the relationship we could have with Him by thinking He can be lured into our presence like how we attract an animal with food. He is not a reservoir of power God asks that we master command of. He is a Person, ever aware of our needs and our receptiveness. He hugs our very souls, he applies pressure to our spiritual wounds, he watches each of our thoughts, deeply concerned with how He can help. Just as we seek His companionship, He so badly wants to be our companion.

God be with you,

Elder Tolman

Game night with some other missionaries!

Brad Wilcox Devotional

Kenneth Cope Devotional

GSD missionaries!

I’m including a picture of William and no one can stop me. >:)

I love Lone Peak so much!