Chapter 48: The Return of the Letter (/Novela)

Polonius: What do you read, my lord?

Hamlet: Words, words, words.

Polonius: What is the matter, my lord?

Hamlet: Between who?

Polonius: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.

Hamlet: Yet another randomly released missionary letter, sir: for the satirical rogue seems to be trying to cram 20 weeks into one email.

Polonius: [Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.

(Hamlet, Act II, Scene II, slightly modified)

Hope you’ve had a lovely past. . . *ahem*. . . few weeks. . .

Well, "all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men." (Alma 40:8) Therefore, sheesh! How bold of me to write this the very same day that my last email came out. WOW I can write fast. I'm. . . really gonna need that speed here.

Amusingly, I’ve found it harder to pen up dissertations consistently while on a flexible service missionary schedule than it was when I always felt pressed for time on p-days. That seems to be such a common pattern in life that I think we need a word or idiom for it. Cases where something feels lacking, and we think, “If only I had X! Then I’d be able to do Y and Z with ease!” And then when we effectively get X, we end up performing worse than we did without it. Hope that’s not just me, anyway. 😆

The stuff that I’ve wanted to write about has felt like a weight made of delicate glass that grows heavier and heavier the longer I neglect to pick it up. Now that there’s a prismatic mass of experience to recollect, a lot of the complexity is going to snap right off as I try to lift it. But, oversimplified memories and thoughts are still something, right? On with the show!

. . . I have grave news. After careful evaluation I have more fully discovered that "the show" amounts to a Lord of the Rings Extended Edition marathon, complete with heaping movie party treats and elaborate Hobbit costumes for all viewers. An undertaking, in other words. We have 26, I repeat,

T W E N T Y

S I X

highlights to discuss, and running with the Lord of the Rings analogy, I view these topics collectively as a roving pack of orcs I am currently facing off. Nothing short of a fast-paced action scene is going to properly dispose of them (and by dispose, I mean eternalize. I could start fresh by only summing up the last week, but my personal journaling does not focus on recounting my mission experiences, so these emails are my primary record of all the craziness). The thing is, "fast-paced" and I don't exactly jive well together. My slowly recovering knees don't offer the best running pace, and if the brevity section of my brain had knees, I'm sure they wouldn't be doing so hot either. So, I shall use the tried and true method of (part A) convincing myself I'm going to be so uber concise, and then (part B) kinda just seeing what happens. And you, dear reader, get to deal with the consequences. 😉

Commence orc-slaying cinematic experience!

Which Tolkienesque monstrosity to begin with? Where did we even leave off? Do you remember wayyyyyy back when, when I mentioned I was working on a big project for the Global Services Department media team? No? Well rest assured I was. And we completed it! *deploy extremely late celebratory confetti* It was a memory book for this past year’s Global Services Department missionaries, and its completion marked an immense relief, no longer having to worry about subtle and overthought design choices. The book featured a testimony from each young missionary and senior missionary, along with their photo, as well as other pictures taken of events throughout the year--which made it very much feel like a yearbook. These memory books, along with programs, bookmarks, and fliers I was tasked with designing, were distributed at a Global Services Department missionary conference we held this past October.

~Okay, that orc has been thoroughly bonked on the head, and my strike's follow-through transitions into another well-aimed orc-bruising attack quite nicely! That's to say. . .that leads me to my next topic. 😆

The GSD conference itself! To start off, we went over the GSD missionaries' accomplishments of the year and then heard the testimonies of our directors. The keynote speaker was Meg Johnson, who is a talented and heart-warming motivation speaker (look her up!). She shared her story of being paralyzed from the chest down along with other challenges surrounding that event, and discussed how she has since learned to navigate life. Sometimes I find myself frustrated with how I have to make my expectations bend over backwards to accommodate my own limitations, and then someone like her comes along to profoundly put my circumstances into perspective. Here's a cool personal story in light of her visit! Another media project I was given was to design a poster with a couple quotes and photos from her so the missionaries could see who to expect at the conference. That poster was placed in the west office building, whereas the conference was held in the church office building, but Betty, the manager over the GSD missionaries, spontaneously felt that we should take it up the street and place it at the entrance to the auditorium. When Meg saw it, she said it really touched her that we had gone so far as to make a poster of her, and she asked to take a photo with it! Alas, I wasn't present for that little moment, but it was exciting to hear about. I never could have predicted that impact.

~Another orc down! Next foe! This one's crazy.

So if we step into the way-back machine, we'll discover that my last area back in San Diego was Imperial Beach, and the ward there was just fantastic. Among the most memorable members was the bishop's family (they were the ones who planned an all-out birthday celebration member dinner for me), which consists of the Riders and the Jacksons. Well, turns out the Jacksons decided to move to Utah! I was just reeling when I got the text about that. The day they arrived, which happened to be just before General Conference weekend, I wrapped up my assignment and stepped on the train, but I was headed northbound instead of back home cause I got to help them unload their moving truck! It was such a joy to see Bishop Rider and everyone again (and to lift cumbersome furniture with them, haha). To top things off, a few of us went to Five Guys after.

~I'll note that I defeated that orc by crushing it with a carefully shrink-wrapped dining table, and maybe a cardboard moving box with a label hastily scrawled across the side in black sharpie.

Did I mention this before? Our zone officially split! Ya know, months ago. The Alstons--my new service mission leaders--cover my half, and the Lindseys--my former service mission leaders--continue to cover the other. The Alstons have done a fantastic job stepping into this challenging role, and they consistently show immense love for us. I'll fulfill some small responsibility and their response is always like that of a coach to a player who scored a winning goal (and maybe solved world hunger while he was at it 😆). A quick fun fact about Elder Alston: he flew in the airforce, so naturally I needed to know what his call sign was. "Ciao" 😆. Anyways, there are many many district councils I could report on in this new half of South Jordan Oquirrh, but I'll just say the opportunity to prepare trainings and conduct meetings along with Elder Janis, the other district leader in our half, was a real privilege. That is, the opportunity to give edifying presentations and lead gospel discussions has made me mad with power. You don't yet know the half of it. *quiet, polite maniacal laugh*

~There was a backflip somewhere in the fight choreography against that orc.

I was given the opportunity to help teach one of our breakout rooms in a zone conference last October! The topic that Elder Erickson (zone leader), Sister Kerr (sister training leader), and I selected was consecration, and applying that law and principle to our mission. My portion focused on how fully consecrating any portion of our life--really giving it to the Lord and letting Him touch each part of it--is a huge step, sometimes too big for us to take, and how we can break it down into smaller steps. There's one particular smaller step I would suggest. Use the law of sacrifice. It may in some ways be considered a lower law than consecration as it focuses more on giving things up for the Lord than giving things to the Lord to be continually used in His service, but when the task of improving, prioritizing, and sanctifying just isn't working out, it may be far more achievable and helpful to instead focus on considering what we can let go of, what things we can give away, and how we can simplify. I believe the law of sacrifice comes before the law of consecration for this reason. This lesson worked really well in the broader context of the conference. Though we came up with that topic independently, the things we discussed just happened to fit perfectly in with what President and Sister Kotter spoke on right afterward! I wish I could recall the particulars so you can see how wild the connection was, but the memory is buried, so we shall just move on.

Zone conference training

~Five orcs down! *pant* Yeah, details have gotta start thinning out. (Will they, though?)

The Road Home Shelter received a huge donation of travel kits from the Eccles Foundation, but, TRAGICALLY, entropy had its way with them and the palette was accidentally left out in the rain, so I finished off one day of service there with--drumroll please--yet another anti-service project! I was tasked with dissembling all of them, salvaging what I could, laying things out to dry, and sorrowfully throwing away ruined children's books and other accessories. A part of my heart certainly died that day. BUT, glad we could use what was left over.

~*angry orc noises*

For one of our district councils, our zone recombined so that we could listen to a guest speaker. David McConnell, who played Willard Bean in The Fighting Preacher, told us his story of gaining a testimony. I noticed a particular focus on Priesthood power and how it can serve those around us, including those whom we least expect it could. Brother McConnell was so encouraging toward us, and he spoke with conviction.

Photo with David McConnell after our district council.

~*The Fighting Preacher joins the fight, and our combined boxing efforts fell another orc*

In the final few months of last year, I had the chance to see not one, but three apostles! First, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple had a devotional for all its workers, and Elder Gary E Stevenson addressed us there. Multiple thousand temple workers attended (2,000? I think 4,000 including guests. Can't quite recall), which is something I never really think about from my one-shift-a-week perspective. It's incredible how much effort, care, and love goes into constantly performing saving ordinances in just one house of the Lord. We were lucky enough to get pretty good seats, so Elder Stevenson passed near us on his way out, and when he saw my tag he pointed at me and smiled.

Not long afterward, the entire Salt Lake City South mission, with its combined 450 service and teaching missionaries, gathered to hear from Elder D. Todd Christofferson. We took a HUGE-scale photo with him and we each had the chance to shake his hand. We heard some pretty concise remarks from him and a few others that joined him, including Sister Tamara W. Runia from the Young Women General Presidency (she gave such a memorable talk this past conference) and a former mission president and sister mission leader of...the California San Diego Mission!! Small world!  After that, Elder Christofferson left a significant portion of the meeting open for questions. He opened that section by saying, "This is the part where the mission president starts praying." Thankfully, President Kotter had nothing to worry about, and we stayed well focused. I had a question prepared on the chance that I'd luck out and have the chance to ask it, but when I saw how many hands were raised, luck seemed quite far fetched. Luckily though, another missionary quickly asked about the exact thing on my mind, and we received a slightly surprising but altogether fitting word of advice on enduring to the end and staying the course. One service missionary asked what advice Elder Christofferson specifically had for service missionaries, and he replied, "For service missionaries? Serve!" 😆 He did expound a bit, but the slightly comedic response had its merits in that oftentimes we can achieve and become so much by not making our calling any more complicated than just that. Serve!

Our mission-wide photo with Elder Christofferson. 
I may only exist as a couple pixels, but I am spottable if one devotes unreasonable time and effort.

Finally, Elder Ulisses Soares spoke at a young adult devotional a few weeks later. I saw a few old friends there, and Elder Soares struck me with how much he delegated and deferred to the authorities accompanying him in his message, and how he addressed complicated matters with very simple, commonly quoted scriptures. A deep wealth of experience and insight in the gospel does not need to entail complex, obscure scriptures and doctrines with never before heard meanings. I got an apostolic handshake there too!

~Three more orcs bested! You should know that that was accomplished with a daring dodge, careful positioning, and a superhumanly powerful swing of the blade which mowed the three of them down! . . .hang on, did I just compare apostles to orcs? Moving on!

Guess who I randomly ran into while walking through Salt Lake City one day? Elder McLean! (Now known as Joseph.) Not only that, I ran into him again a few weeks later! He was my trainer back in my first area and we ended up being on the same flight home as well. He's been going to school in Salt Lake City and the stars aligned so that we crossed each other while going in opposite directions right outside the west office building. What are the odds?!

Elder McLean - My mission father!

~*A disarmed orc's battered sword clatters to the ground.*

Since last I wrote, I've been joining the teaching Elders in my area all day every Friday! It's cool to be able to say I'm something of a hybrid missionary as I get to find and teach consistently, and the better part of my assignments for quite some time has been supporting missionary software to allow the work to continue. I've loved being involved in teaching again, and this has included sometimes doing member visits for the last hour of the day. I once even visited and had a lesson with a member of the bishopric in my ward. 😆 I may have said it before, but tracting around Daybreak and the surrounding neighborhoods is weird. I'm just waiting for someone we've talked with to recognize me at some point in the future. Though, granted, that'd be pretty cool. I've so far spent the most time with Elder Mckenzie and Elder Boney, and it was a blast getting to know them better each week, developing a teaching rhythm in our lessons, and having a jolly good time as we walked or biked between locations (as the weather cooled down it turned into walking, cause wind chill is not a worthwhile recreational activity). We fell into a pattern of completing a visit, waiting while Elder McKenzie peered at the next dot on our map before announcing it, proclaiming "We have our heading.", and following that up with "Here we goooooo!" as we set off. I hope you get the reference!

Waiting outside a church building with Elder McKenzie and Elder Boney
for some other elders to arrive and pick up lesson materials from us.

Elder McKenzie, Elder Boney, and I after admiring the glow of the temple in the snow.

Cool thing on this topic! Elder McKenzie and Elder Boney ran into a couple technical issues with their Preach My Gospel apps, and from what I've learned at the Global Services Department, I was able to help resolve them! Never expected to get an in-person opportunity. Those Elders have since been transferred after a several-month South Jordan streak, and now we have Elder Makay and Elder Wolfgramm, but just the other day I got a text from Elder McKenzie in his current area about another IT matter, and I accordingly flung a solution at him. Woohoo! Usefulness!

~12 orcs now litter the ground.

As the Christmas season kicked into gear at the GSD, some of the missionaries took a bunch of black construction paper and cut out a large nativity silhouette to decorate a wall near the lobby of the west office building. One day, Jeff, the managing director of the whole department, saw it and said, "I LOVE this. We need to do more. In fact, Christmafy the entire first floor. Also, I want another of these by my office." And just like that, with the scale of the task ahead, more missionaries were brought on, including myself, and our supervisors gave us approval to set our support queues aside for a couple DAYS, all for the sake of Christmas decorations. 'Twas the season indeed. I recounted the story to some friends, and one of them promptly and impressively responded by converting the whole thing to a poem:

‘Twas not even December, and all through the WOB

Each missionary was going about his new job

The Nativity was lit on the main floor with care

The same day that Jeff, the director, was there

No more cases would be taken in the week that would come

While festooning for Christmastime had to be done

And brave Elder Tolman, giv’n now his commission

Began the great work of the Yuletide transition

 

 

The nativity scene that so captivated Jeff.

 

~This orc simply gave up in the fight to step off to the side and recite poetry.

Service missions don't have transfers, but assignments can change from time to time. One such change occurred for me this past December. The lead missionary on the media team was completing her mission, so I was selected as the next victi- I mean, successor. However, with a commitment like that, two other days worth of assignments, and teaching on Fridays, only three days at the GSD wasn't going to cut it. I decided I would have to let go of my Wednesdays at the Road Home, but I wanted to make sure I did my fair share there, so the deal I struck was that I'd continue at the Road Home up until a couple weeks before the sister over the media team departed. So, I'm back up to four days at the GSD again! It was a climactic final day at the Road Home. They were holding a huge donation event with wave after wave of volunteers arriving to sort and box up donations. There was also a big pavilion/tent set up in the middle of the parking lot with a bunch of radio hosts promoting the event live. I got to help inject a little order in the chaos of charity, and we got a lot done! It was a great finale.

The setup of the grand finale at the Road Home.
You can see the radio broadcast tent in the background as well.

~14 foes fallen.

From time to time, we let district councils lean a bit more on the fun side, so by leveraging mighty district leader authority, I was given clearance to design a gospel themed escape room and trap the poor district members in it! Mwahaha. I had so much fun designing the puzzles and seeing how I could weave something of a lesson into it. There were several puzzles, involving things like ciphers, combination locks, invisible ink, a brass lock of curious workmanship, scripture searches, and so forth, and each puzzle corresponded to one of the Christlike Attributes listed in Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. When matched up with the attributes, the puzzles spelled "The Savior", which was the password to escape. The underlying message: we learn by trial and experience how to be more like Christ, adopting his qualities, and it is He who provides an escape from the hazards of mortal life. It was immensely satisfying to see them piece it all together.

Escape room district council! I still can't get over the fact that we pulled this off.

~That orc neva stood a chance!

Cool opportunities continue to present themselves as I take the train to and from my assignment. I got to give a Book of Mormon to a fellow named Bryan as I waited at the station, and more recently I had a pleasant doctrinal discussion with an articulate man named Kenneth. He saw my tag and immediately brought forth a genuine question about our beliefs, which happened to be a matter I've pondered on for quite some time. Still, with the insights he shared I think I walked away having learned more from him than he did from me!

~*uses one orc as a shield against another*

To celebrate the season, all missionaries in the mission who wanted to were given the chance to perform in a Christmas Music Devotional. A wide variety of numbers were performed by many familiar faces, including a marimba solo (where did the marimba even come from?!), a well choreographed group performance of Feliz Navidad that oscillated between being hysterically deadpan and exceptionally energetic, and some beautiful, reverent songs of worship to balance the rest out.

~Did. . .that orc have a Santa hat on?

This one's just a quick detail. On Christmas Eve, my extended family had a missionary party! Elder McKenzie and Elder Boney joined us for dinner at my grandma's, and they shared a message just before our Christmas Eve program. It was fun seeing them talk with my brother in law as he just happened to serve in their same area on his mission.

~Yep, he definitely had a Santa hat on. Anyways, he's down. And now another one is slain on top of him. Poor lad.

Over the course of finding and teaching each week, one person in particular had a schedule where Fridays were consistently the best day to meet, which meant that I had the privilege of helping teach her almost all of the lessons! Her name is Emma, and she struck us immediately with her dedication to learning more, as she had read through all of the missionary pamphlets on her own. Over the course of lessons with her, one of the biggest highlights was seeing her struggle to move forward with confidence in committing to one of the commandments, but as time went by the concept of striving and the promises given by the Lord seemed to become more clear to her, and ultimately she came to a point of acceptance. Alongside that journey, she committed to being baptized, and we got to witness a striking transition as in the weeks prior to her baptismal interview she expressed a lot of worry about the topic, viewing the interview process as a merciless test even after we went over the questions with her and explained their purpose. Just before her interview, she still seemed a bit nervous and guarded, but we stepped out as another Elder interviewed her (to avoid crowding her with a whopping 5 Elders), and when we reentered the room, her whole demeanor had changed. Suddenly she was absolutely cheerful and lively. We were so happy to see her relieved of the worry she showed before and excited to move forward. Her baptism was at the start of January, and I deeply appreciated being there for it! As a bonus, I didn't have to worry about filling the font. Mwahahaha.

Celebratory selfie after Emma decided on a date to be baptized!

Emma's baptism!!

~Uppercut to the jaw. Yet another orc utterly obliterated. It was a really good uppercut.

Ah yes, the new year. Let's see, what does 2024 have to offer? Oh nothing, just a giant bundle of inflatable leadership assignments. Why inflatable? Causemostof 'emtakeupprogressivelymorespaceastimegoeson. My. Goodness. (((It's actually all been an enormous blessing, though a busy one for sure.)))

Firstly, we lost a bajillion missionaries from our zone at the end of last year, which is to say, 4. Elder Janis, Sister Kerr, Elder Watt, and Elder Erickson; all vanished away to the strange roads of RM life. Elder Erickson was our half of the zone's zone leader, which naturally meant someone else was about to be abducted. Sure enough, I was plucked out of my happy little position as district leader and set forth as his successor. The timing was a little sad, cause I felt like I was just barely getting the hang of my responsibilities, and I appreciated how directly involved DL's are with fellow missionaries, but nonetheless, I've loved the opportunity to work more with President Kotter as a zone leader.

Nextly, as mentioned before, there's heading the media team at the GSD, which happened to coincide with the team expanding, getting new newsletter editors, and being behind on our newsletter. *shudders*. We've also recently begun assisting Internal Communications in the department, which has meant being super involved with the employees, designing more fliers and digital graphics, distributing tenure awards, editing weekly articles, and more. This has actually been a really cool opportunity, but figuring out what I should prioritize has been a little tricky.

Furthermorely, I've started as a gospel study leader at the GSD. In addition to doing daily morning devotionals before our service, we hold mid-morning gospel study meetings that we, as young missionaries, get to teach and facilitate. The task is quite thoroughly divided up between the many GSD missionaries, and I love planning out and giving group lessons, so it's been working out very well.

And finallaly (no, that's not a typo), in my temple work I've been assigned to be one of the initiatory coordinators! I was definitely pale with fright on my first day, but after a quick and thorough trial by fire, I've loved seeing all the moving pieces in initiatory fit together (you know, when they do actually fit together) and being a part of making it happen. Various challenging situations can arise that have to be solved like puzzles, and there are plenty of opportunities to notice--and certainly to rely on--tender mercies.

~The remaining orcs surround me as the soundtrack grows increasingly tense. They begin to close in. Thinking quickly, I pick up a helmet from one of their fallen comrades and toss it over their heads. Their eyes follow its trajectory, and it lands on a small wooden table with dominoes atop it, lined up in a row. The helmet knocks a single domino over, causing a chain reaction that triggers an elaborate rube goldberg machine I cleverly set up beforehand. The results ultimately disintegrate 4 of the orcs. The survivors scatter.

Update on my mission tech support assignment: I've officially been trained on all four mission support queues! Those are essentially the different types of cases we help teaching and senior missionaries with. That is, the Preach My Gospel app (missionary teaching records, calendars, and maps), mobile devices (device security and general functionality), cellular service (usually dealing with SIM cards), and the referral manager (sending missionaries the info of interested people who reached out online).

My desk at the GSD.
We each get to request a custom label and Sister Fry on the media team creates them.
Couldn't resist sharing this masterpiece.

~One fleeing orc defeated! The others are regrouping.

Last month, I was out with the teaching Elders when we knocked on a door where we had a positive interaction in the past, but aside from that we had no clear record of who was there. Based on the last visit, we suspected they were members, and that suspicion was immediately confirmed when a young man answered and immediately stepped out into the cold to talk with us. He told us he had received a mission call to Budapest and that he was preparing to receive his endowment the very next day! We congratulated him, visited with his family for a bit, and afterward found their records. The next day came, and I arrived at the temple for my midday shift, expecting to be an ordinance worker as we have multiple initiatory coordinators we rotate through. But alas, the initiatory coordinator for the day was not present! I was asked to fill in at the last minute, and I immediately knew it was going to be a hectic shift change because I would be doing everything on the spot rather than having time to prepare. As I headed over to initiatory, I glanced down at the list of living ordinances for the day to discover that someone would be arriving for their endowment in minutes (minutes, I tell you!), and I needed to have their booth prepared for their initiatory (also on the spot). Even more issues arose involving inaccurate information about which patrons were in the booths as I conducted the shift change, and right around then the thoughts at the forefront of my mind were "Boy, I've just been tossed into a big mess! Does God really have his hand in all that goes on in the temple? Because if so, he seems to be toying with me here." Then, the patron arrived for his initiatory. The very same young man I had met the night before! Because I was chosen to fill in at that moment, I got to have a small hand in his making covenants with God.

~Another orc down! The others launch into a final charge.

At our last zone conference, President Kotter did a deep-dive into the character and role of Joseph Smith. It was a unique meeting as it was less discussion oriented and more experience oriented, if that makes sense. We were invited to simply listen, ponder, and remember. We were given the chance to evaluate our testimonies of the prophet who ushered in this dispensation. I have heard multiple missionaries talk about the profound impact this had on them. Also relating to that zone conference, I got to give another breakout room training! For this one, each of us leading the room picked a different topic to cover, and I decided to back the other topics up by focusing on applying them through goal setting and planning. These things have had a transformative impact on me during my mission and I'm grateful to have learned them.

More zone conference training

~I take the charging orcs head-on and prevail against the largest of them. 3 orcs left! They shall not last long.

I've had a lot of opportunities to help out in primary ever since I transferred to service, and lately I've honestly been spending more time inside primary than out. My old calling has not quite let go of me 😆. I'm okay with that though; the antics I get to witness can be exceptionally entertaining, and it's amusing just how well object lessons captivate the kids' attention. It's also a great opportunity to practice teaching simply. In addition to subbing in classes, I also got to help with a missionary themed singing time where two return missionaries, two other service missionaries, and I all shared what we've been able to do or are currently doing for our missions.

~Pow! Away with you!

I've now had the chance to go to a couple mission leadership councils with President Kotter, and one of them featured quite a notable activity. Each area's zone leaders and sister training leaders was tasked with studying a different person in the Book of Mormon and giving a brief lesson on their leadership and discipleship qualities. In the subsequent weeks, we've each been picking one of those qualities and working on it. Funnily enough, of all the ones listed, optimism (highlighted in Nephi) has been the hardest one for me yet. Guess that's a sign it was a good choice.

~Hwah!

And now for the real message of this email, buried under the crushing weight of far too many recounted events. 20 weeks is a long time to accumulate ideas from studies and musings, all of which are worth sharing. However, in this particular case, I'll refrain from any sort of mini sermon (unless this itself counts as one). I've lately been considering the impact that studies and discussion have upon us in our discipleship. Beyond the fact that we are commanded to do these things, they serve to enrich our knowledge--which supports our faith and informs our actions--and to offer a spark of enthusiasm for Christ's teachings--which spurs us forward with hope and motivation.

I have noticed a pitfall as well. It is our tendency to sit back and collect as much knowledge as we can without working to let it change us. We do this because learning, especially in easily consumable forms like podcasts and videos, is itself an enjoyable experience, so we are liable to get all lit up with motivation as glorious insights about revelation, repentance, work, and growth are shared, only to step away in no particular hurry to amend or transform our daily actions. Our brains got what they came for: a good time in the present and some hope for the future. We aren't naturally inclined to actively seek for the fruits of application; merely to recognize the importance of that application and then perhaps to pray at the end of a lesson, "Please help us to apply this to our lives." This may be a harsh generalization, but it also speaks to my own struggles as I repeatedly talk about exactly what I have to do, and then simply don't do it.

As Wendy W. Reese remarked at a BYU devotional last month, "Imagine owning the most exquisite recipe collection but never walking into the kitchen to make any of the recipes." Always, the words of Christ point us in the direction of how our actions can change, and having even the most profound understanding of them will never bring them to a realization alone. So I ask myself, how much am I actually doing? Thousands of times we discuss the same important actions we must take to draw closer to God, but at the end of the day, are these things consistently present in how we spend our time? Or do we let our time get the better of us?

I've been practicing setting aside the grand pursuit of understanding--keeping it close, but setting it aside--in favor of looking back on things I've yet understood, and anchoring each of them in my life. This still requires study, but of a different kind. Now, the keyword here is practicing, which entails only an engaged performance rather than a grandiose one, but through Christ, practicing has become enough. As I've mentioned before, planning each and every one of my days out has been invaluable here, even though things almost never go entirely according to plan. The consciousness this has brought me so far is beginning to help me live Lehi and Isaiah's admonitions.

"Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust." (2 Nephi 1:23)

"Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." (Isaiah 52:2 / 2 Nephi 8:25)

~The final orc relents and joins the one reciting poetry. We've done it, ladies and gentleman. A whole band of orcs vanquished.

So, wow. Did you actually read all the way to the end of this? I'm genuinely impressed! Thank you for bearing with me, and I shall see you in the next, much much shorter one.

God be with you,

Elder Tolman

Photos:

Photo with Jeffrey D. Mahas from the Joseph Smith Papers project
after he spoke at the GSD for one of our devotionals.

Random sky photo!

Service project at Sandy Crops

About to take refuge from the elements.

'Twas at one point a clear snowy field.
Then, Elder Boney. He sure leaves an impression.

Elder Makay and Elder Wolfgramm call this "apocalypse stroller".

 

As we stood in line in the cafeteria at the church office building,
the three of us simultaneously remarked that we were still carrying
our missionary funds cards from our teaching missions.

It was President Kotter's birthday last month, so an overachieving service missionary
gathered a bunch of us to ambush the mission home to sing happy birthday.
We then went around the room and each shared something we've learned from him.

A bunch of set-apart lads ready to take off to zone conference.

The service missionaries of the South Jordan Oquirrh area (also from zone conference)

Elder Sahlin, Elder Duran, and I spending a winter evening at Temple Square and City Creek.