Week 82 - "Let's see... where were we? Oh, yes--in the Pit of Despair."

Hello, everyone!

This week's quote comes from The Princess Bride, and it's said by the grandfather. I don't know the name of the actor who played him. It's a bit of an exaggeration, but I thought it would give you a laugh. The week has been a little bit rough, but it finished out OK. I'm going to need to consult my Area Book to remember everything that happened, because I haven't done a good job of keeping my journal in the past week and a half or so.

On Tuesday we had zone conference. That was all right. It's different when you have to give a training. I feel like I kind of checked out for a fair bit of it because I was thinking about our training. The rest of the day we had some lessons. I guess I'll just say off the bat, we had a lot of lessons this week where we felt guided by the Spirit to say certain things. I've noticed that's something that definitely comes more with a reasonable amount of preparation, so that was cool.

On Wednesday we had training visits with the elders from Madison Lake. That was a good time. I was with Elder Wallentine, though most of us basically spent the day together anyway. Elder Ciminski joined me and Elder Wallentine for the first part of the day, and we went to the institute building and then walked around on campus. We walked to the stadium and back, which gave both of them an opportunity to get a taste of The Ohio State University. Then we grabbed some ice cream at a UDF and went back to the institute building. Then we tried to recreate a photo of Elder Jones' dad he had gotten from his family. We asked the whole zone to get photos, and then we were going to recreate them to make a video, but we haven't put it together or published it yet. I can share a video Elder Ciminski took of us making the video in this email. So that was fun. The rest of the day was just lessons, but we had a really cool one with the ward mission leader for the 2nd ward: We basically used Come, Follow Me to talk about the Lord's plan for each of us individually and to invite him to ask the Lord what He wants him to be doing at this time in his life. The Spirit was really strong, and he said he felt like it was an inspired commitment. That was one we took some time to plan for. That felt good to be a part of that.

The next day we popped up to Riverside to take those elders to the church so they could film one more "Mr. Missionary" episode, and then we just did some lessons while they were doing that. But it was a fun time. I haven't seen the video yet, but it's been posted. I'll include a link here (https://www.facebook.com/101133844909312/posts/141336787555684/?sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=e).

We also made a video talking about the Stratfords, because they're about to leave. In a week they'll hand the keys to the mission home and so forth over to President and Sister Horgesheimer. Apparently they get about 1-2 hours with them, and then they leave and go home. It's kind of crazy. We actually saw them today, because Elder Schreiter wanted President and Sister Stratford to sign a copy of The Book of Mormon he has. We also went to the mission office to drop something off and got to see Elder Bower. So that was cool.

Anyway, back to the week. That evening we headed down to Greenfield to have a training visit with those elders. That was a good time. We made some videos (we made a LOT of videos this week) that we just remakes of popular vines that the sisters wanted us to do for some reason. We're not sure if they're exactly what they wanted, but we haven't heard any objections yet, so. *shrug*

The NEXT day (Saturday) we had weekly planning (because we usually do that on Friday but were on training visits that day), and then we had an afternoon of just lesson after lesson. One of the people we talked to was a convert to the church, a member, from the Amish. He also served a mission to Paraguay after his conversion and talked about a bunch of experiences where he saw angels and stuff like that. It's crazy how common it is to hear about experiences like that out here. There must be something in people's blood or in the water or something like that. It makes me wonder about spiritual gifts and whether they have something to do with your ancestry. Or maybe I'm just in contact with crazy people. Who knows. I mean, to me, it's not out of the question. It happens in scripture and church history.

On Sunday we had a mission-wide conference call, and I think that was when things started getting really tough. So the call was addressing some things that President and Sister Stratford had not previously been aware of, including that we weren't supposed to be doing training visits (or exchanges, as people outside our mission call them) and weren't supposed to be gathering with other missionaries, except under special circumstances (for instance, if some elders don't have a car and need a ride somewhere or something like that). That was a tough thing to hear, because training visits have saved our bacon in this zone a few times this transfer--it's just nice to have an opportunity to get some variety and spend some time with some other missionaries. It's almost like being by yourself for a time and then talking with real, live human beings (but to a lesser degree). So that's going to probably be a challenge. I'm blessed to be on campus this transfer, because we'll have to pick up two sets of missionaries to take them shopping every preparation day, so we'll get a little bit of time together to talk, just on the way to the store and back. I guess that brings us to transfers: I'll be staying here. Elders Schreiter and Ciminski are leaving: Elder Schreiter will be going to Gahanna 1, and Elder Ciminski will be leaving our area but also not leaving our area: He'll be on OSU 2 with one Elder Hoffman (he came out with Elder Schreiter and I), and then there's going to be a pair of Spanish missionaries in one of the campus apartments as well, Elder Carter and his new companion, who he'll be training.

ANYway, coming back to the week: So regarding the mission-wide conference call, basically what President explained to us is that there are four phases of reopening--possibly five, if Elder Schreiter's memory serves: a red phase, and then phases 1 through 4. In the red phase we are confined to our homes and allowed to leave only to go out for walks and get some fresh air, to get groceries, to go to church buildings and to accomplish other specific missionary activities. While we are out, we are not to proselyte to anyone, and we need to be wearing masks. We cannot visit members or nonmembers, and as I said, we cannot visit missionaries except under certain special circumstances. We are currently in the red phase. I've heard of people saying that's not fair, and that the area presidency (they're the ones making these decisions) are painting all of us in the area with the same brush (New York City is also a part of this area), which is a fair objection, but honestly, I'm sort of fine with things the way they are. I feel like I'm getting more comfortable in my skin, although I am going a little, tiny bit batty. Do you ever just feel sort of... off? Like things don't quite seem right or feel right? I guess that would describe me right now. If I were a car, I would have fuel and oil, but I my coolant and brake fluid might be a bit low or something. I'm not sure how to fix that. I guess just get outside more? President did say we were encouraged to get outside and take walks and so forth, so we'll need to do that more often when I'm with Elder Timothy.

Anyway, once we get into Phase 1 it sounds like we'll be able to start doing some in-person service and possibly meeting for church and some other things, but it sounds like tracting and street contacting would still be a ways down the line. A missionary asked President if there was some kind of document describing the phases and what takes place in them, and he said they have one, but they're not supposed to share it because it's so fluid right now--items and activities can go from phase to phase because things are just almost constantly changing, so to issue a document to all the missionaries would be problematic and cause confusion, so they're just supposed to let us know when things change. Elder Ciminski and Elder Schreiter were both a bit frustrated with the whole thing (Elder Ciminski is very enthusiastic about freedom, so it chafes him to be put under all these restrictions, and both he and Elder Schreiter are more accustomed to doing missionary work as it was done before this whole pandemic thing happened), but after a while they were able to come to terms with it, at least to some degree. I've heard other missionaries have not responded so well.

On that topic, it seems like missionaries are still dropping like flies. We looked at the PBZ for this transfer, and there are several missionaries that Elder Schreiter noticed were there before that aren't anymore. It makes us a bit sad to see that people are leaving. Not sad in the sense of, "I guess they couldn't take it," but just sad in the sense that those people won't be around with us anymore, and we won't see them. It's completely understandable for them to be struggling--plenty of missionaries are--but it's just a bummer to see them gone, like someone leaving your workplace. You all know it's hard, and you understand the struggles you're going through, and then when one of you leaves, the team is never really the same after that. You can understand why they left (it was a crappy job), but at least you had each other. Now you don't.

ANYway (boy, do I go on tangents). The next day was Monday, and we got to go the mission barber (also known as Sister Stratford) for haircuts (that's another thing about the red phase--we can't patronize sit-down businesses. We can get takeout or go through drive-thrus, but we can't sit down at a restaurant and have food). She actually had a whole line of missionaries, so we got to see Elder Wiggins, Elder Merrill, Elder Erickson, his new companion (who's a reassigned missionary who served in Lima Peru), and then Elder Lyman, Elder Boyce, Elder Stephens and Elder Richardson. Elder Bond and Elder de Haan from Greenfield picked us up to go there, so it was quite the group of missionaries. They came and went, though--I don't think there were more than ten of us there at a time. It was a good time, though. It was fun to just be there and be with other missionaries for a bit. 

The next day, yesterday, we had a bunch of lessons. It was somewhat tiring--I felt pretty drained. Then the PBZ came out, and we all found out where we were going. And now we're here.

A few fun notes. Elder Ciminski taught Elder Schreiter and I how to finish solving a Rubik's Cube (I could get the first two layers solved, but not the final layer), and has been talking to us a lot about his plans after he goes home. He wants to go into the military, and it sounds like he'd be good for it. He's a really cool guy. He's from Arizona, and I want to go visit him after the mission is over. To be honest, I was kind of bummed that we weren't going to get to be companions. I feel like it's been rare for me as a missionary to be with a companion I really, really click with. I could talk to Elder Ciminski for hours, and I feel like we would work well together.

I guess I should share the talk I posted on Facebook about missionary work. This was what I shared:

If you've been reading these talks, you may have noticed a pattern, one of cleansing the inner vessel. You may not think it is necessary for you to make spiritual change. I love you, which is why, at the risk of being overly bold, I testify to you that if you do think you are no longer in need of change, you are wrong. To be frank, that thought, the thought that we are perfectly fine exactly where we are and do not need to improve, comes from the father of lies. As Romans 3:23 teaches, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." We are not where we will need to be. You must not stop moving.
One of my favorite phrases from this week's talk is, "When you become mature spiritually, you will understand how the adversary has infiltrated the world around you. He is in homes, entertainment, the media, language—everything around you. In most cases, his presence is undetected."
If you are living in a community of members of the church, you may not fully understand the extent of what President Packer is talking about. I'm sure I don't completely understand what he's talking about, but on a mission I have seen the world has become more and more grim. There is so much iniquity happening behind closed doors.
We need people to sanctify themselves so they can shine a light into that darkness and help those who are looking for the way but cannot find it.

Tell me: What will you do to shine your light today?

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2012/10/how-to-survive-in-enemy-territory?lang=eng

I also wanted to share a little something from my studies, because I've learned some cool things this week. One thing was that I finally finished the Preach My Gospel personal study activity I've been working on practically all transfer (It's on page 102-03, if you want to check it out). I've been reading the scriptures that are listed there and writing out my thoughts and all the experiences I've had with the different ways the Spirit manifests itself. It's been pretty cool. I've also been doing the Christmas Book of Mormon challenge that we were given six months ago (I think I was supposed to be done three months ago, but I've been taking my time), and I'm finally finished reading through and writing notes about Jacob 5. It's super interesting, and super pertinent to the second coming. I used the chart describing the allegory from the lesson in Come, Follow Me as I read, and I got a lot of insights out of it. I don't think what we're experiencing right now is going to just snowball into the second coming, but I was seeing things as I read that definitely made me feel like it's closer. I feel like I've been seeing that pattern of last days prophecies and so forth throughout my studies recently. I was also in Jacob 7, and I caught Sherem in a lie: He says Jacob teaches that the people should abandon the law of Moses, but Nephi very clearly teaches that although he and his people believe in Jesus Christ and the law has become as dead to them, they still keep it, plus later on in The Book of Mormon people try to justify not keeping the law of Moses after Christ's birth, but they are corrected by the prophets, so Jacob definitely wasn't teaching people not to keep the law of Moses, though he was still teaching the doctrine of Christ. It was also interesting to me that Sherem wasn't teaching straight apostasy. He wasn't teaching, "Forget about all this nonsense and the traditions of your fathers," he was teaching, "There is no prophecy. We can know that the law of Moses is correct and that we need to keep it, because it happened, but a person who prophesies is a liar. There is no prophecy. We just have to stick with what we've been given." Sherem was basically arguing for a closed canon. To me that sounds familiar.

Anyway, that's all I have for this week. Elder Ciminski took a bunch of photos this week, and I bummed them off him, so I'll send them in the email. Have a great weekend! Talk to you on Monday.

Oh, also, in case you're counting, I'm entering into my 14th transfer, meaning I have 24 weeks left. I'm going to try not to think about it too hard.

Elder Davis

From left, Elder Schreiter, Elder Jones, Elder Wallentine, myself, and Elder Ciminski. We went and got Cane's, but this was across the street, and we saw the opportunity and took it.

This is a sign at one of the playing fields on campus.

Like I said, we visited Elder Bower today. (That's also Elder Bower in the photo in the background)

This is me at the transfer board today. It's a big old whiteboard at the mission home with a bunch of pictures of missionaries that they use to organize transfers.

One of the sisters in the YSA, Janvi, is the meme queen and just posts stuff like this on her story every day. She knows missionaries are friends with her and see her story all the time, and it definitely brightens our day.

Meme.

The OSU stadium.