Week 30 - "That's your secret weapon? Prayer?"

Hello, all.

I may be butchering the quote, but I'm trying to quote a character called The Master in an episode of Doctor Who, I think the last episode of the third series.

This week has been better. If you've been praying, it's working. I have thought recently when faced with frustration about the fact that we need to start praying for certain things as a companionship, including what we are instructed to pray for in Alma 34:22-23. I've wondered about why the things we pray for aren't just already things that the Lord does for us--if he really loves us and wants us to be happy, why do we have to pray for things? Why doesn't he just do them for us anyway? I've begun to understand that one function of prayer is to help us realize our dependence on the Lord, and the reason he wants us to know we need his help is that he wants us to know exactly where we can turn when we are in need. If we see the effects of prayer by seeing that prayer can cause things to happen in our lives--that it can cause changes that acting without prayer could not cause-- then we'll know that we need to pray to our Heavenly Father when we have a hard time. That way, when we run into something really difficult, when we're really in trouble and come against something impossible that we can't fix on our own, we'll know to ask for our Father's help with it. In addition, we'll listen to Him and to His Son, Jesus Christ, with the knowledge that they know how to disentangle us from the difficulties we find ourselves in. This principle is taught in the scriptures: As Ether 12:27 clearly states, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men who humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." In a way, this can seem a bit circular--if God has all power, and he wants us to be able to deal with our tough challenges in the future, why doesn't he just take those challenges away? But the scriptures have an answer to that, too. 2 Nephi 2:23 teaches us of Adam and Eve that had they not left the garden, "They would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin." The principle we are taught here is that you cannot understand or taste the sweet without understanding or tasting the bitter. There must needs be an opposition in all things. And 2 Nephi 2:11-12 tells us why. It teaches us, "it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation." We have to go through the trials we go through because it help us to reach a greater understanding. It helps us to grow. It helps us to have deeper, fuller joy and gain the capacity to do things which are greater and more good. It also makes us more than just a "thing of naught." When we run into and overcome our trials (with the Savior's help) we expand our capacity to experience all kinds of things. We become something more than we were before. Basically, there's a reason we deal with hard things. The long and short of it is that they help us become something better.

Sorry for that crazy tangent. I started writing about it and had to think more about it and finish the thought.

Well, this week in Warren has been pretty good. It's crazy being a district leader. As I look at my district's numbers, I begin to wonder what I can be doing better leadership-wise in order to help the missionaries in my district to see success, and if Elder Gallagher and I have to lead by example, I'm going to have to grow and improve a lot. There's going to be a lot of prayer involved (see the first paragraph). We've been struggling with having people at church and with getting the people we're teaching on date for baptisms. It seems like there are just all these roadblocks in the way. But again, I think that as we rely on the Lord and ask Him for help, we will be able to watch as he moves those mountains, and that will stand as a testimony to us of his reality and his power. So we need to be applying Alma 34:22-23. We also need to do all we can to get people to keep their commitment to come to church, and there's a document that's going around the mission right now that some missionaries in another mission put together that has helped them a lot with actually having people at church that we're going to start applying. We're going to do all we can.

Last week we got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders in Youngstown, Elder Mathews and Elder Jaster, and it was awesome. They're awesome. They taught me more about what being a district leader entails, and we did a couple of roleplays where I had to correct them for bad behavior they were exhibiting. That was interesting. They also had me perform a mock baptismal interview with Elder Gallagher. I'm hoping that I'll be doing more of those but for real later this transfer. It will be nice to get to sort of join in on the fruits of other missionaries' labors. In the meantime, we'll be looking to baptize a few people in our own area: There are a few we have in mind and one we have on date. It will take some miracles, though. Anyhow, the exchange with Elder Mathews was really good, and I learned a lot. A few weeks ago, on the day of transfers, I spent most of the day in Tallmadge with another elder, and we worked an area we were entirely unfamiliar with. The elders dropped us in what they called their "honey pot" for finding, and we went around and found some people to teach. In that context I felt completely fine about just being bold, embracing the awkward and talking with everyone (those are three of many, many qualities we're asked to have that we repeat daily--our mission culture. Anyway, that felt fine, because I knew that I probably wouldn't ever see any of those people again. Elder Carter, who used to be a zone leader with Elder Mathews in Youngstown, said at our last zone conference, referring to interactions with people, "If they reject me, and they're really mean, I probably wouldn't see them again for my whole life." That's been a comforting thought as I've gone into finding situations outside my area, and I was able to sort of go in with that mindset while we were in Youngstown, so it was a good day. It made me more happy and optimistic about missionary work. Then we came back to Warren, and we've been really, really busy, going to a lot of appointments and things. I don't know that we've been as efficient as we could be--we've been trying to follow the spirit in each interaction, but sometimes we've just listened a lot to what the people we're teaching have to say and haven't had much of an opportunity to teach. We need to take control of many of our teaching situations to help people progress. The other day Elder Gallagher said, "Man, people in Warren like to talk." I guess that's true. It makes our life a bit difficult when it comes to our teaching, but hopefully the relationship people build with us is one that they're actually building with the church and with Christ.

This week, last night, we got to go to a performance being put on by the American Heritage Youth Choir. They're a choir touring the area for the next week or two, and they did a really great job. It was nice to sit and hear choral music again. It felt sort of rejuvenating to just sit and close my eyes and listen. And they performed some pretty great pieces, including "Fight the Good Fight" and "The Morning Trumpet," which I hadn't heard in a while. They did a good job. A woman with the choir came up and gave us some CDs to give to people we're teaching, and in my mind I was like, "...but what if I want a CD?"

The district had its first council of the transfer, and I felt good about it, and people complimented me on it, so that was good. My next one will be next week, since we'll have zone conference again this Wednesday.

We'll be seeing two pairs of training specialists again this transfer: One will be Elder Collier and Elder Bennett (Elder Bennett trained Elder Anderson, and I don't know if you remember Elder Collier from my time in Worthington--I went on an exchange with him once), and the other will be the assistants to the president, Elder Winn and Elder Johnston. Elder Winn is from Rexburg, and I haven't had the chance to serve with him yet, so that will be good.

There's not a lot else I can think of to discuss. Things are feeling pretty normal, though at a bit of a standstill right now. If there's something we can do to move the work forward, we'd like to know what it is. I guess I'll let you know next week if we've figured it out or not.

Elder Davis

Image 1: This was the poster for the performance the choir put on. It was good stuff.

Image 2: I found some Foster Grant sunglasses in a Walgreen's. "Percussionist Foster Grant." Call me Shades.