Well, actually, dear Dad! I hope you're
feeling better! Mom said it was the first time you've ever really been
the patient. It's always good to grow in patience. You know, I've
realized that patience doesn't really come by virtue of the attribute
being tested, it comes from the attribute being practiced. What better
way to have to practice the attribute than to be THE patient. Know the
patient, Feel the patient, BE the patient! That kind of corniness
reminds me of a joke that you would often bring up whenever we were sick
and we had to blow our nose into a tissue. You would always say "Wow,
you almost blew your your nose!" Well, forget the nose dad! You blew
your appendix! Yikes!
I really love you dad. I will keep you in my prayers. I hope you are a little less loopy today than yesterday!
This
week was nice. Remember Edrianne? I asked you all to pray for her while
I was in Skyway. She is great. She lost contact for two weeks with the
missionaries and they thought she was a gonner. But I just got a call
from Elder Basilius on Saturday and he said "Elder Lovell, just guess
what happened." I had no idea, I couldn't even guess. In skyway a whole
bunch of things could have happened. Trageties, parties in the streets,
car accident... But after not answering Elder Basilius finished it for
me. "Edrienne's getting baptized next weekend!" (Which is now this
weekend!) "Elder Orr is going to sing a song, but he wanted to know if
you can come and sing with him!" I called up the assistants right away
and they said if I could get an investigator to go with me, I could go
to the baptism! EDRIANNE! She's getting baptized! I cannot believe it!
Please pray for Denise. I don't know if I told you
about Denise. I think I did. Oh well. Elder Fukuyasu and I were walking
down this road in the sticks of our area. (We try to go on foot or bike
as much as we can so we can talk to more people. Many of the houses were
kind of like our ranch - a long trail leading off the main road into
the distance. The only difference many of these houses had was the fence
that kept anyone from entering the driveway from the main road. I did
not know what we could do to get to these houses. So I just began waving
at a house from the fence. I saw someone come to the window and then
move away. "... Are they coming?" We thought. The door then opened and
Denise came walking all the way from her house to meet us at the fence.
She told us how she has a very open mind. She read from the Book of
Mormon twice but never thought to pray about it. Well she is now! She
has a baptismal date set for August 10th!
President Eaton came teaching with us from 7:00 pm -
9:00 pm last night. We first visited a less-active lady's house who is
in our ward. She came to church earlier that day. She smokes and is
trying to turn her life around! So we sang her "Come, Come, Ye Saints"
because the congregation sang that at church and she really liked it.
All three of us started singing the chorus for the first line, then
broke into harmony on the second! President Eaton sings great saprano.
It was a lot of fun. We then took him to see Denise, and he connected
really well with her. He told her, "I'll keep on these missionaries
until the day you're baptized!" and she said "Ok!" President Eaton's
spanish is pretty good, even though he served in Germany. (Did I tell
you that, Mom and Dad?) So we contacted a spanish hermano getting out of
his car. President Eaton immediately started talking about how we are
men of God and talk about things of eternal value. I don't think he knew
I could understand him. He was pretty suprised when I testified of what
he spoke about. It was fun. There were times when the guy spoke back to
us and President Eaton would look at me and mutter... "What did he
say?" and I'd whisper, "I dont know..." and then we both said "We dont
understand." and we'd all laugh. Poor Elder Fukuyasu was just sitting
there out of the joke.
We took another investigator of ours on a church
tour. Her name is Emily. We had a fantastic tour with her. She
understood things very well and asked perfect questions that were
relevant. The best part was when we entered the chapel and sister
Brownell started playing "I Am A Child of God." and we all sang to it.
Wow. Such a spirit of peace and love filled the air and the veil of my
mind was lifted slightly and I beheld this investigator for who she was.
A child of God. He loved her so much. I testified that He wanted her at
church and she said "Oh my goodness, I have no doubt about that. This
is definitely where I belong." She unfortunately didn't come and hasn't
answered the door since. So please pray for her.
I learned something pretty valuable in personal
study today that I wanted to share. The first book of Nephi teaches us
some pretty important things about being a good companion in missionary
work. It outlines Three types of companions:
1. Laman and Lemuel: Laman and Lemuel have no
desire to change. They may not know it, but they desire to halt the
work of God. They rely on the things of the world to determine how they
act. They do not act, they are acted upon. Nephi has to drag them, and
convince them to do the work. Sometimes we jokingly refer to these
companions as "the lepers."
2. Sam: I often find myself in this category.
Sam, he is obedient and he listens. But, by personal interpretation, he
also is acted upon. When Lehi recites the will of the Lord to his
family, Sam depends on Nephi. Nephi seeks confirmation of his father's
vision from the Lord. Sam is not recorded as one who bodly stands for
truth in difficult circumstances. Although he is sometimes persecuted
for following Nephi, records do not show he is persecuted for defending Nephi.
He doesn't build Nephi. Nephi builds him. He is left outside the walls
of Jerusalem with Laman and Lemuel while Nephi experiences the miracle
of retrieving the plates.
3. Nephi: I have had companions like Nephi.
Elder Garner, Elder Basilius, Elder Cox, etc. These people never let
circumstance, esspecially the circumstance of a new, different, or
difficult companion, determine their spiritual progression or the
progression of those they serve. They can reprove where it is needed,
even if you are their close friend. But most the time they encourage
people to be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord. They have
a personal testimony of the vision of the Lord for the work they are
doing. They testify of the reality that God has an authorized servant in
the mission who holds keys and that we will be blessed for following
him.
I've seen myself in all of those categories before.
I'm sure we all have. I sure hope that by the end of my mission, I
countinually move away from Sam, to be more like Nephi. Esspecially
since this is Elder Fukuyasu's last full week. I want to help him finish
Strong.
Thanks Elizabeth for the pictures.
Yes mom I did get your letter. I will write you back today.
Dad I hope you get better. Sorry I am rushed! I have to go!
Love you all!
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