Fantastic Food Coma

On Monday, November 30, 2015 12:40 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but before that great day, the week was pretty dang good. On Monday, we played some volleyball, and it was great. I really like volleyball, and the zone was pretty good as a whole so some competitive games were played. Tuesday, we went to see Bill Jensen, and the purpose was to teach something really simple to him. Bill likes to take a very simple idea and run far away with it and goes in really deep. The really nice thing about the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that it is so simple. We taught Bill CPR. Like how in life, sometimes we need CPR to keep us alive, we always need to use spiritual CPR to stay spiritually alive. It stands for Church, Prayer, and Reading. So it all started well, and we got through church okay, but then it came to prayer, and Bill went off on a tangent and once again got really deep. By the time we could stop him, we had to leave to go to dinner. So, next time we will teach him about reading. What is great about those three things in CPR is that they all need to be used together. Without just one of them, we will fall down. They all work together and must be used together. That night we also taught Letty in her home after they had us for a great dinner. She is coming along great and now wants her son to be taught by us as well. The only road block is that Letty and Brother White need to be married. He knows this as we found out that he talked to a ward member about getting married soon, so it will be really good for that lesson to have him talk about marriage as something he wants for them instead of us saying you need to be married to be baptized. The Lord has his hand in that for sure.

For a long time missionaries have been trying to get in with Eric and Doras. They are a couple in their late 50's who have been talked to by missionaries a long time ago. We have been trying for months to get in, and on Wednesday they texted us and said they could meet!!! We walked in and Doras immediately took orders and made us have some hot cocoa and a slice of cake. There was no saying no. Both are religious people, and they loved the message we shared. We meet them again Wednesday and will share the amazing message of the Restoration of the Gospel. I pray the spirit will touch them as it touched them when they felt prompted to text us for a meeting.

Paul, one of the three kids who was recently baptized will be receiving the priesthood next week!! He went from wearing a gangster shirt to church, to a good t-shirt and pants, to yesterday coming in a white shirt and tie for his interview. His progression has been amazing. He will be the rock and foundation for that family. I think he knows that and is taking everything very seriously. He is an example to me on being a good big brother.

One of my favorite parts of being a missionary is doing service, and the best one we do is food ministries. This week, we put together food packages, and people came from all around the city to pick them up. The packs were heavy, so we got the chance to carry them to people's cars and talk with them. All are so thankful, and it just warms my heart.

Thanksgiving was a great day! It was a little odd, but we took the morning to sing to people. We sang "Count your Blessings", and other songs that were Thanksgiving appropriate. People really love to be sung to. Seriously, if you know someone who is down in the dumps, go and sing to them. It will be the highlight of their day. Songs and singing can really bring the spirit to wherever you are. Then the Rutledge's fed us a great dinner at like 1 pm, and she is like the all seeing eye. If we didn't go up for like thirds, she was on our case. This would be all well and good except for the fact we had another dinner to attend. So we left there just about ready to roll over and die, and we drove over to the next dinner. This dinner was with the Heywood clan- literally, there were like 30 people there. Brother Schmidt is married to a Heywood so they were there as well. Boy was the food there good, too! Large portions were demanded there as well, so by the end of that dinner, I took no shame at putting my feet up in a recliner and trying to not throw up. I am not a big eater- this was way out of my league. I got through it, barely.

Saturday came, and it was the all stressful transfer news day. The calls came very late, but they yielded great news. Elder Infanger and I will be staying in the Arrowhead ward together for another transfer. I am pumped. Also staying is Boltz and Bentley, our ward mates. It will be another great six weeks here- I know it. We are working really hard, and we know that miracles will follow us. This was a really good week! I love you all so much. I miss you and am thankful for you!!!!!

My scripture for the week: Moroni 7:41-43 "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have a hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of you faith in him according to the promise. Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope. And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart."

Lastly, please take a moment and view a video called, "A Savior is Born". Here is the website- Christmas.mormon.org. The video comes right up, and it is only 2 minutes long, but it is very beautiful and powerful.

Love,

Elder Thelander