On Monday, May 15, 2017 12:52 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:
On Monday at our YSA family home evening, we had a great lesson that provoked a lot of thought. Will it matter in 1000 years? Most of our choices make only small impacts, but they do make an impact. When it comes to the big decisions, we need to think will this matter in the long run? Then we proceeded to play a pretty funny game on a member's apple tv. It's interactive, and you play on your smart phone. Haha! Well, we don't have those, so we shared with others. It was way funny. I'll have to find the games and play when I get technology again.
Tuesday was really slow. We had to stop by the computers and fix up all the numbers for the zone, and then we had some lunch followed by a ton of planning. Our zone conference was the next day, and we needed some extra prep so it would be spiritual and powerful. So we did so. It went really well, we had prepared what we knew would turn into a great meeting. Then we got a call, and it really stunk. So, we had to take a couple of missionaries to the mission office. One was returning home, and the other was reassigned to another area. So, that took the remainder of our evening making that drive. Wednesday was the zone conference previously mentioned. We heard some great instruction from President Taylor about the Book of Mormon. I have a deeply rooted testimony of that book. It holds a special place in my heart. Whenever I feel down, or really anytime, I can read that book and feel peace. I can at any moment read the Book and find God's will for me. My answers to prayer many times come from the pages of that book. And that is what I do as a missionary, invite people to read the book. We then broke off into our individual zones, and this is when Elder Lanier and I take over. I trained for 20 min on the Order of Loyalty. The overall theme of it was putting the Lord first, then when you need to talk to the man that God has called as mission president, and then trust in the army of missionaries around you for support. I think it went very well. I know I felt the spirit. As part of my training, we watched the new Mormon Message called the Music of the Gospel. I committed the group to dance to the music of Jesus Christ, and not the distracting music of the world. If they do, they will feel an added closeness to Jesus Christ that will sustain and strengthen them as they go out and work every day. The rest of the conference was amazing. We talked about the Holy Ghost and how to feel Him we must be living the standards of the gospel. Following the meeting, we stopped at Cafe Rio with some Elders- dang, it was amazing!
On Thursday, I was on exchanges with Elder Liu, a Chinese Elder. He is from mainland China and is one of the funniest people I've ever met. We worked out in the morning with a member of their ward, and we actually went to a real gym. It was leg day- of all days, and it killed me. But, I worked hard, and I felt great afterward. We had a lesson with a Brother Du, and it went great (at least that is what Elder Liu said). It was all in Mandarin, and I just smiled when they did and looked like I was paying attention. We did our studies and stuff after the lesson and then went out to talk to people. That evening was one of the greatest moments of my life. I got to help teach the English class the Chinese missionaries hold each week. There were about 10 or so people there. We had a worksheet, and I would say words and they would repeat them to me. I had the group really laughing from time to time. I would love to do it every week, but my companion and I have work to do in our own area...
We exchanged back, and on Friday we had our weekly planning session. We were tired of our apartment, so we went to Barnes and Noble to plan. It was a nice change of pace. Later in the day, we stopped by the Hayes family and they were all home!!! We read with them 1 Nephi, Chapter 1- the most read chapter in the Book of Mormon. But, we explained things to them, and they each learned something new even though they have all read it before. I love that about the Book of Mormon, it is a living set of scriptures. Every time you open the book, it means something different to you. The spirit is the real teacher. After we read we set up a time for Ovionna to have her baptismal interview. That will be tomorrow, and we set the day of Friday the 2nd of June for her baptism! We will hammer that down tomorrow. It was a great lesson, and I pray that everything works out for the baptismal day and service.
Saturday was another exchange, and I was now with Elder Hatch, my full-blooded Navajo friend. We, in the morning, went to the Cal Poly Pomona campus to help out Sister Taccone at the Farm Store. They were having a big event, and she needed the help. So we restocked the strawberries as they were purchased and then helped fill the freshly squeezed orange juice. It was a fun time. We did our studies afterward and then got to work. We didn't see much of anything, but what was cool was to hear from Elder Hatch how the Gospel of Jesus Christ so closely aligns with the Navajo culture. Stories from his grandpa firm Elder Hatch's testimony of the Book of Mormon, a record of his forefathers.
Yesterday was quite possibly the best ever. We had a great Mother's Day sacrament meeting in the Los Serranos ward in which Elder Lanier and I spoke. It was really nice for us to brag about our amazing Moms to the ward. I felt the spirit really strongly in that meeting. I have the most amazing mother on Earth. She is a wonderful example of patience and darn near perfect love. It was great to talk to her and the family as well. It was great to see and hear them and talk for a while. I fully plan on finishing this last month of my mission strong and am excited to see everyone. Love y'all so much!!!!
Scripture of the week is from Jacob, chapter 4, verse 10 "Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works."
Love,
Elder Thelander
