Elder Daniel Tolman: 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