Week 80 - "Study and practice--years of it."
Hey, everyone!
So the quote this week is from Benedict Cumberbatch's Dr. Steven Strange in Doctor Strange.
I don't remember precisely why I wrote this quote down (when they come to mind during the week as applicable to a given situation, I jot them down, because otherwise I forget them), but there are a couple ways it could be relevant. First of all, we've been trying to do better at practicing roleplays in companion study. Second, Elder Schreiter and I are going to have to perform a piece for a live event on Facebook that will be happening in a couple weeks. Not to spoil it or anything, but technically it won't be live because we don't have the means to do that, but we will be performing. We'll be doing "I Believe in Christ." It sounds like Elder Schreiter will be playing the piano, and I will be singing. So that will be fun. I guess watch for it on our zone's page. I don't know if I've ever given the link to that here. Here it is, if you're on Facebook: https://www.
Third, I've been trying to squeeze as much out of my study as I can. I need to learn. Also, fourth, we're having to learn how to be good at using Facebook for missionary work, so that's taking practice. Huh. Maybe if I go back through the week I'll remember the original reason.
So on Monday night we went to spend a day with the Riverside elders, Elder Boyce and Elder Lyman, again, and while we were there we helped them film the second Mr. Missionary video (Elder Lyman's missionary twist on Mr. Rogers). I was the cameraman, and I now have a newfound appreciation for what those guys do. They have to get it right and do it the first time. If they don't, the director can hire a new one. The actors are a little less replacable, especially once they're in a contract, but the crew has just as much pressure to perform, and many of them can likely be replaced. Anyway, it was a good time. The video's here. It's about love: https://m.facebook.com/story.
That took up almost our whole day. It took a long time to film that little 7-minute portion and put it all together. Like, we were there for a couple of hours working out how we were going to do it. Elder Boyce was being hte director, and it was good to have someone with a vision for the project kind of telling us how to make it work. He could be a good leader in this mission.
The next day we went to Madison Lake for a training visit, and boy howdy was that day a party. I've started collecting quotes from individuals when they say funny things. For instance, Elder Schreiter once said of the experience of going into the church of a particular denomination, "The Spirit was literally like, 'I'll wait outside. I'll be here if you need me.'" I got a good six quotes from Elder Jones that training visit. For context, his ambition is to run for President of the United States in 2044, so when that day comes, and you see Tyson Jones for President, vote for him. Some of my favorites were as follows:
*When he was making pancakes, he did the whole, "I'm _______, and you're watching Disney channel" thing, and Elder Wallentine (his companion) questioned his technique, asking why there was a middle bump, and Elder Jones said that was part of Mickey's head, and Elder Wallentine may have said it looked like another ear or something, to which Elder Jones responded with this gem*
"You know what? Walt Disney said, 'If I can dream it, I can do it,' so if I want a three-eared Mickey Mouse, I'm gonna have a three-eared Mickey Mouse."
*"ET" stands for "Emergency transfer," which usually happens when two missionaries are not getting along or some such thing,*
"I would get ET'd for freedom."
"'Eagle screech, Liberty Bell, Budweiser.' That's the preamble to the Constitution in American."
Ah. He's hilarious. When Elder Schreiter got back from his training visit with him a few weeks ago, he was on a high, and now I understand why. That man is just a joy to be with. We also had a great conversation about Facebook work and stuff, and he explained why it's so difficult for some missionaries and yet why tracting and street contacting aren't for them. He talked about how it can be tough to have to wade through all the rejection and the anti to get to the one person who might be interested. It can be hard to have to confront that all in a concentrated dosage as you go through the comments of a post you've made. I can see how that would be tough. He said sometimes he just has to step back and just read his scriptures or something to try to recalibrate. I feel that. It's true. You definitely feel different when you meet someone who's saying things that are against what the Spirit teaches. It feels like the Spirit is not quite so present with you. But I think we're having to learn how to adapt to that. I guess it just takes experience and trying different things to recover. It's almost like strengthening a muscle or developing a callus or something.
After that, on Thursday, we just had a pretty regular day, and then on Friday we had interviews with President! That was awesome! We got to do it in person, which was nice, considering it's his last. President and Sister Stratford will be headed home a week after the end of this transfer, and we will be introduced to our new mission president and his wife, President and Sister Horgesheimer. It's going to be sad to see the Stratfords go. They left us each with a tie with the mission logo, a copy of a picture of Christ that Elder Lambert (my MTC companion) drew, a temple recommend holder, and a few other little things. It was cool. And then during my interview with him, President asked for a scripture to remember me by. He does that with all the departing missionaries, and they give him a scripture citation, and then he writes their names next to the scriptures in his personal copy. The one I chose was only chosen by one other missionary, which was Elder Brett Ashcraft. It was from Alma 58, I think, and talked about how the people had a hope and an assurance in Christ or something. I'll have to find the exact citation, but I don't really have time at the moment. Maybe I can send it in the next email. President also said that when our group of elders leaves, that's going to be the first test for President and Sister Horgesheimer. He said there's a lot of great leadership in our group. That felt good. Elder Schreiter lalter said we're part of the "Legendary 33" in our own way. I guess there was a group of 33 missionaries that came in one transfer (Elder Hepler, one of the assistants when I first showed up, was one of them), and he was saying that we're sort of doing the same thing. That's cool to think. I looked up to a lot of those missionaries.
Speaking of things I send in emails, I don't know if I said in the last email that during a zone call President basically said the old way of doing missionary work is dead, and that even when we are able to go out, it's not going to be to tract or street contact. At least, that was the message I got from it. He basically said, "If you're holding back from doing missionary work the way we're doing it, or holding your breath, or waiting for something, stop and get used to it." Those weren't his exact words, but that was the sense. I think that was very needed, because I think there are a lot of missionaries who think that this is all going to blow over sometime (there certainly were more who were thinking that way several weeks ago), and it's just not. Maybe eventually things will return to some semblance of normal, but the status quo has changed.
It was good to have one last interview with President and Sister Stratford. We're going to be seeing him again on Wednesday, though, and helping with the next Mr. Missionary video, which he is going to be the guest in. It's going to be great. Also, he's going to give me a temple recommend interview because my recommend expired in April. So that will be cool. Elder Schreiter got one at interviews and was very proud of having President Stratford's signature on a temple recommend. He said he's going to keep it. I'll probably do the same. It will be a cool memento of my time as a missionary.
As far as what else has happened this week, there have been a lot of cool miracles and experiences. One interesting thing is that David (I don't know if I mentioned him by name before), one of the people we were teaching, basically soft dropped us. I was having a hard time trying to grapple with the deep questions of theology he was asking anyway, especially to find explicit Biblical backing for the church's stance on the nature of God (which isn't surprising. If it were explicitly in the Bible then it wouldn't be different from so many other churches), and he said his interest level has dropped, but he still wants to be our friend and stuff and said we should hang out after the mission. During the lesson we showed him a couple scriptures that indicated that learning by the Spirit was a perfetly acceptable method and that there was a preexistence (two things he doesn't really believe), so maybe that will stick with him a little. But it's almost a relief not to have to worry about lessons with him anymore. I was shaking with the missionary equivalent of stage fright after our last lesson. I'm still going to keep studying and pondering on the questions he asked, but it's nice not to have a deadline.
We also had many cool experiences this week that helped confirm to me that the Spirit is real and has an impact in our lives. We had a lesson with a member where I cited a scripture and explained a perspective about it, and the member said that scripture has always bothered him because he didn't understand it, but my explanation made him understand it and made sense to him. There was another member who said that I must have read his mind because of what I said (which I felt prompted to say).
We had another cool experience where we talked to a member on Sunday. It had been a week since our last meeting, and at that time she had asked us to pray for her that she would have missionary experiences, and so we did. When we followed up with her about it yesterday, she was like, "...actually, yeah!" She sort of went back through her week and realized that she had a ton more opportunities to share the gospel than she usually does. She was like, "Missionary prayers work!" So I guess if there's anything you want me to pray for, you just let me know. My trainer liked to say that missionaries prayers are priority mail.
I guess that's about it for this week. The talk I'm going to publish on Facebook tomorrow is from President Ezra Taft Benson and is called "Flooding the Earth with The Book of Mormon." In 1988 President Ezra Taft Benson told us he had a vision of spreading the teachings of The Book of Mormon throughout all the earth. Among the things he taught were that "The Book of Mormon is the instrument that God designed to 'sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out [His] elect.'
The talk is here: I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, and I'd love for you to try one of the things he suggests to share The Book of Mormon and then tell me how it went. President Benson said 32 years ago that the time is now for us to be sharing The Book of Mormon. I'd say the time is far past, wouldn't you? Overcome that fear that's telling you not to do missionary work.
Love you all!
Elder Davis
Me and Mikey (He's in the Madison Lake apartment)
Meme.
Meme.
Elder Lambert is crazy talented.
Sorry--I'll try to do better with pictures this week.
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