It's
Christmas time! There's no denying it! Mom it sounds like the EVMCO concert was
absolutely incredible. It'll be a treat next time we all get to attend as a
family! Bdog! Way to go bud! Singing, playing the piano, being survivor man
out there on your campout with pops, and inviting friends to stay at church! That's awesome! Sorry to hear that you were sick Dad. Those
oils it sounds like though fixed you up!
This week
has been an action packed week! We had MLC on Tuesday, and it was kind of
intense. During the counsel part of it,
we talked about the issues and concerns of the mission, and the beef was hashed
out. Lot's of us are frustrated with all
these young missionaries so one comment led to another which led to another
about what we weren't doing, and then a sister missionary right near the end
spoke up and said, "There's something wrong here. We've been talking this entire time about
what's wrong, but we forget to realize that we're "adult" leaders
trying to look at this mission as an "adult" mission. It's not. It's a young, "toddler" mission!” Half
the mission (100+) has been out less that President has! (5 months)" So we all were sufficiently humbled and chastised
and realized we could be more patient.
The very
next day we had an intense experience with our recent convert, Mark. It's one that I'll never forget, and it's
also one that I'm not sure how much I'm able to talk about right now. Simply put though, he was completely
forthcoming with the truth during his baptism interview, and information was revealed
Wednesday night that would've been much better to know about a month ago, so we
could've taken different steps to prepare him for baptism. However, he's already been baptized, so all we
can do now is continue to teach him the recent convert lessons and let him work
closely with the bishop.
Thursday and
Friday the freezing rain/snow storm hit, so that was an experience times two. President at MLC told us that we (ZL's across
the mission) are to be the ones to make the call whether or not to ground
missionary vehicles, so that was a tougher decision to make. Especially when you've got two opinions making
one decision. Members tell us though
that we're in the clear and that we should be warming up this next week. Hallelujah!
We were dropped by Misty, one of our more
solid investigators this week. We think
she got an earful from some of her family over Thanksgiving, so we're going to
go back one more time to "rid our garments of her blood" to put it in
scriptural text. Lastly, this week I've began a study on what it means to
"apply the doctrine of Christ". That lingo gets thrown around so much, and
when people ask what they need to do to better their lives or change, the
correct answer is "apply the Doctrine of Christ!" However I asked
myself the other day "do I understand what that means for me in my day to
day decisions?" Thus far what I've
learned is that a knowledge of the gospel is wonderful and great, but it will
get us nowhere if we do not act upon our knowledge and live what we're taught
by Christ, taught in the scriptures, and taught by his modern day prophets and
servants. That action is in "applying" or to put into practical use. Faith is the first step and that could be
taken in a variety of different directions, but something that stuck out to me
was under the definition of Faith in the Bible Dictionary. I wish I had my notes on me but I don't, so
you'll have to rely on my memory. It
said however that we cannot have true faith if our actions weren't in
accordance with the commandments of God. I thought that was interesting but it makes
perfect sense when you think of John 7:17 and Ether 12:6. What could be a trial of our faith? Living a commandment we don't have the strongest testimony of. Anyways, I'm still in the middle of that
study, but I thought I'd share my thoughts thus far! I love you all, and hope that you continue to
look toward Christ in all you do!
Love,
Elder
Traasdahl
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