Week 81 - "No... There is another."

Hey, everyone!

This week's quote is from Yoda and comes from The Return of the Jedi, unless I'm very much mistaken (side note: Is this the first time I've quoted a Star Wars movie in one of these emails? If so, that surprises me a little).

The reason for it is that I neglected to mention in the last email hat we were becoming a trio. So Elder Ciminski, who was my district leader my first transfer in Cambridge, is now with us. We've literally had three transfers so far this transfer, if you count the first one, and if I remember correctly, we've been to the Dublin building four times, one for each transfer and one for commissary (I think. I could be wrong). And then we have the regular, six-week transfer coming up in a week and a half. It's been all kinds of nuts. Anyway, Elder Ciminski is with us now, and it's been awesome. It's a party. Before I forget, I should say that my next email won't come until this coming Wednesday because of transfers.

So what has happened this week?

Well, besides the fact that I'm über tired (I'm probably going to go and crash for a few hours after this), we had transfers on Wednesday, and before that, on Monday, I believe, the Assistants came and swapped out the Beast for a Chevy Silverado. Nine out of ten elders love to drive trucks, so Elder Schreiter was pretty stoked about that. We used it to go and pick up Elder Ciminski. He was on his way down to Lisbon. We're fitting in our apartment OK, and we've bonded really fast as a companionship. We're doing awesome.

So that day, Wednesday, we brought Elder Ciminski and his stuff back to our apartment and then settled in a bit and then took off to pick up the Riverside Elders and take them to their church. They were filming their third "Mr. Missionary" video, which we've heard is going to go up on the "Followers of Jesus Christ in Columbus" later today, probably by the time I'm finished with this email, but either way, it will be on there soon. Guess who the special guest is? None other than our mission president, President Stratford. He and Elder Lyman talked about heroes, and apparently it was really, really good. Elder Boyce, who was filming, said he's never felt the Spirit that strong before. So if you want to meet my mission president and learn what kind of a person I've been serving under the past eighteen months, go and watch the video. We also took it as an opportunity for President Stratford to interview me for a new temple recommend. It was my fist time with the new questions, which I liked. And now I have a signed temple recommend from President Stratford! It's awesome! I'll probably keep it as a mission memento. It was good to have one more conversation with him. We'll be having zone conference with them tomorrow (over Zoom), so that will be a good experience. I'll let you know how that goes. While we were at the building we also took a picture or two of the temple (the building we were at is the one right next to the temple).

So anyway, that was a good time. Then on Thursday we went to the Institute building to film a few things for the live event that we were going to do. We needed to record Elder Schreiter playing piano and me singing the song "I Believe in Christ." Elder Ciminski tried to find a way for him to film that would: a. show Elder Schreiter at the piano pretty well and b. not make his arms super tired, so we stacked some chairs on some of the institute tables for him to sit on and then he just propped up his phone in his hands with his elbows on his knees. The only problem with that strategy is that the tables aren't super stable, and we didn't really put the chairs in the best place, so suddenly the chairs started to tip, and Elder Ciminski jumped off and landed on the ground, and then we had just shifted all the tables back next to each other so we could move the piano in front of the picture of Christ in the room to take the video, so the two tables he was on fell backward toward the other tables, and there was just a domino effect. The chairs in the room were also flipped upside down onto the tables, so those all just fell off, and it was a mess. Nothing we couldn't fix in a minute or two, but it was absolute chaos for a moment. I'll put a picture here if I can get one from Elder Ciminski. Anyway, we finally got it recorded without any glaring mistakes, and we had been trying for a good 90 minutes, so we were like, "That's good enough!" and stopped there. Then Elder Schreiter recorded a part for the live event, and then we went back home.

The next day we had a training visit with Greenfield. We shared some of our lessons with them, which I think was helpful, because their area has been pretty uncooperative. At the end of the day we had dinner together, and they had a bunch of ground beef and seasonings and burger buns, so we made massive burger patties and grilled them on their little charcoal grill outside in an open area while we sat around the grill in camp chairs and just chatted. It was one of those moments in my mission that I think I'm going to look back on with a lot of happiness and nostalgia. It was nice. I haven't done something like that since before the mission. It was really relaxing.

The next morning we had a zone call, which we did from outside, because that's where Elder Ciminski, Elder Schreiter and I had been ending our morning study, and it was nice and cool. They seemed to really appreciate having us there, and they said they'd like us to come back, so we're going to see what we can do about that this week. Hopefully we'll get the chance to go there.

What else has been happening? We've had some OK lessons, but nothing that's really stuck out as phenomenal. Today the Assistants showed up to give us some CDs they had taken out of the Beast by accident (by the way, on Thursday they brought the Beast back), and they showed up just as we were unloading our groceries, and we had a ton to carry, so that was a huge blessing. Normally we have to walk about a hundred yards from the car to the apartment because we park far away, but we just loaded the groceries in their truck and just drove that distance and brought it all upstairs. We also went and got Panda Express for lunch today, and it was good. The restaurant wasn't letting anyone inside unless they had a mask, and there were little spots six feet apart on the floor to use for social distancing and stuff.

To be honest, I'm not sure what else to say. I'm feeling kind of burned out at the moment. Hopefully that doesn't persist. I'll try to get some rest today and see if that helps.

As far as my scripture study, I'm not sure I have any insights to share that we particularly earth-shaking for me, except maybe that I think that the roots described in Jacob 5 either represent the gospel of Jesus Christ or the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or something like that. That was cool to think about.

The talk this week is from Richard G. Scott and is titled, "Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge." here's what I'm going to put in my Facebook post about it:

"You must … see that … searching the scriptures is not a burden laid upon [us] by the Lord, but a marvelous blessing and opportunity.” --President Ezra Taft Benson

In recent weeks I've shared about how certain words have struck me recently with the emphasis they've put on the importance of personal change and its relationship with sharing the things we love. It's so crucial that we become something better if we want to be better emissaries for good things. I would counsel you, especially if you live in a community of members of your faith, to take a few minutes to ponder and reexamine your scripture study habits. It's easy to be strong when you are surrounded by those who agree with you, but I'm no longer living in an environment like that, and I echo President Nelson's sentiment that in the coming days it will not be possible to survive spiritually without personal revelation. In this talk Elder Richard G. Scott teaches that it is not enough to simply hear the word of God: We must study it. We must work to understand it. The Lord will not just give it to us. In this talk Elder Scott outlines some practical ways to increase your spiritual knowledge and understanding.

Take 10 minutes to read the talk and let me know: How will you increase your understanding?

Scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants:

"Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

"Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—

"That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you." Doctrine and Covenants 88:78-80

Here's the link to the talk: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1993/10/acquiring-spiritual-knowledge?lang=eng

Well, I hope y'all have a good week. If there's a missionary you know, reach out to them, and if you don't know the missionaries in your area, find out who they are and do something nice for them. Bring them food or just talk to them. Better yet, find someone for them to teach. Let them know you're supporting them in their missionary efforts. That will make a huge difference for them. Please help.

Love,

Elder Davis

Pictures:

The Columbus Temple on Wednesday.