October 8, 2012   Week 9  1^st week in Washington

 
Whoa missionary service is SO awesome!! I am having so much fun and learning SO much! First of all, what a blessing it is to have General Conference the first week I'm in the field. General Conference is without exaggeration just like Christmas for missionaries. You receive new tools and guidance to work with, and it's a FANTASTIC 10 hours of God's words for investigators and less actives to watch and feel the Spirit. I really loved conference and saw some huge underlying themes.
 
We live in a time at which the stratification and polarization of the light and dark is accelerating. Those on the path and holding to the rod obtain a firmer grip and more dedicated grasp, while those in the darkness send continually more fearsome darts of fire in the whirlwind. This is the time that has been prophesied by prophets of all ages for so long; the time in which the choice must be made by every child of God as to his consignment for the eternities.

And why would we choose anything but the Lord's side? The end is already known, the victory decided. The furious defeat of the adversary, and the likewise glorious victory of the Son and the Father is but yet to come. Now. It cannot be said that it is "awaited" for, because if we wait, we have paused for too long. Though the end result is known, the discrepancy comes with the agency given to man, and if we in our agency are not continually moving forward towards placing ourselves on the Lord side, then we slowly slip towards darkness. We must choose NOW. And as the chasm between good and evil grows, we had better decide VERY quickly to whom we are loyal. Our loyalty cannot be of belief only, but it must be part of us, having moved from belief in our minds, to knowledge in our hearts. Now is the day of commitment and becoming. A testimony alone will not see us through to a pleasing judgment before our Father in Heaven. And though Jesus Christ has been elected as the advocate of all before the throne of God, He of us cannot testify if we have not become of Him. "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve."
 
I bear testimony that we must choose now and do to become. Believing is no longer enough! And with missionaries now able to serve even earlier, as the prophet has said we must prepare now! I know that if we seek for true conversion, we will come closer to Christ. Think and ponder on Him, and study His doctrine. The doctrine is simple and powerful, and available to all. Therein lies the power of the Word, and the exercising of our beliefs unto salvation. Lets be like Christ. Heavenly Father loves all of us, but let's word for His trust. We need to word hard to show our diligence and honor to Him enough that he will be EXCITED to use us in His works. They are God's works, and I testify of that as I have discovered the prime role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. Come to know the Holy Ghost and how He works, and we can have the Heavens opened to us. Do the basics. Read, ponder, and pray, and then when you have learned through knowledge, be converted through action and living your beliefs. I testify that we can all have great joy in this work, and in living the gospel and serving others.

Missionary service has already given me greater joy than I thought was possible! There is greater joy in this work than anything else I have experienced. I had the opportunity of inviting a young couple with their child to be baptized, and they said yes. It was absolutely wonderful to see their willingness to accept Jesus Christ's invitation.
 
I have not taught a single lesson in English, and Spanish is going very well! We study a lot, and work very hard, and I absolutely LOVE teaching. It is our responsibility to invite the Spirit, and I'm seeing how interconnected preparations are with having good lessons. It hasn't rained since I arrived here, and there haven't been any clouds. Apparently it hasn't rained for MONTHS?!?!? I don't understand!! It's actually pretty warm, but it's beautiful here. I am currently serving in the Lynnwood area south of Everett and north of Seattle. And I LOVE it!!!
 
We get to go to the temple twice a year, and I look forward to that. I am likewise ecstatic about having ANOTHER temple in Arizona! That'll be great. And when President Monson announced the missionary age, I immediately thought of Jordan. I figured he probably turned his papers in that instant, but we'll see. I haven't gotten any mail since I've been here, but I'll be writing some snail mail today. I cleaned most of the apartment today, and it's looking a bit better, but needs a lot of work. I have to consider mold here too... yea... Anyhow, everything is going well. Elder Kimber is doing great, and we're figuring our our teaching style and pet peeves and all that good stuff. Elder Crowley was placed in the Snohomish area up by the San Juans and gets to go there once a week!! Super amazing. Well, time is running short, but I might be able to email more, I'll see. I'll send snail mail too. I do need some more black socks, and I'll think of more things too. Love everyone so much! This is great!
 
Love,
Elder Talbot
 
Yes, I have a little more time. The MTC does the 30 minutes of email time, but we're just asked to be conservative about email time in the field, and I probably won't for more than 45 minutes generally.... But anyhow, I'm trying to think of more things to tell!
 
I am extremely surprised that it hasn't rained here yet, but I'm cool with that. It's sunny and warm as you probably saw on weather,com, mom :) The leaves are starting to change just a little bit... The skies are fairly clear, but somewhat smoggy on the horizon usually. When the days are clear I can see the Cascade mountains. The pine trees are indeed much larger, but their leaves aren't as dense as the ponderosa's in Arizona. Everything has moss on it. It's very hilly here, and the streets are sort of confusing, but that's ok, I've only been here for 5 days (which have felt like a month btw). There's a TON of air traffic, but it's usually not that loud luckily. We're going to take a tour of the Boeing plant sometime. Apparently it's so big that it has it's own weather systems inside. I haven't had much legit seafood yet, but we're not even that close to the coast anyways.
 
Most of all I REALLY enjoy contacting people. We're always trying to get referrals from people, and I love doing door approaches. It's really fun, and sometimes awkward when you have to decide whether or not the speak English or Spanish. But we can't really apologize for that since it's our calling to speak Spanish; gotta try everything. I have been absolutely amazed at how accepting people are of the message of Jesus Christ. There is almost NOTHING I would accept at my front door from strangers. And yet when you can bring the Spirit, or a smile, or something that pricks the heart, people open their lives up to you. There's an amazing thing that happens when you talk about Jesus Christ. At other times, it's frustrating that you can't straight up tell people this is the most important thing they've ever heard in all of their existence. It is, and you do indicate to them, but sometimes they just don't get how important it is that covenants and the Gospel are available.
 
I want to talk a little more about the baptismal commitment that we had on Thursday. It was a really neat lesson, with some totally unexpected things. During this lesson, we read 3rd Nephi 11 with the family. We asked them what called their attention, and of all the things in that incredible chapter, the man noticed this: He recognized that Nephi was ordained by Jesus to baptized! He recognized the need for proper authority in ordinances of the Gospel!!! One of the hardest concepts for investigators to understand is the need for proper authority for the legitimacy of baptism, the priesthood, and all other things in the Church, and yet that was prominent to him!!! I am spoiled now. I have NEVER heard of that happening, and yet in my very first lesson with non-members, it was brought up by them. So, of course, having recognized this, we taught them a little more about revelation and knowing truth for ourselves. And, having recognized that authority, we asked them to follow the example of Jesus Christ, and accept His invitation to be baptized by someone holding "el Sacerdocio de Dios" or the Priesthood of God. They accepted for the 27th of this month, and we have LOT of work to do in helping them prepare. I think it would be absolutely amazing to see them be baptized and go to the temple. I think of that little baby having the opportunity to be raised in the covenant, as I was blessed to be able to do. That would be so beautiful.

 Well, more things that are going on. Our entire mission has the goal of every area having a baptism in the month of December. Numbers are meant to help us formulate goals, and goals are meant to guide our planning, and plans bring success and miracles. It is important to realize that numbers represent people, and their conversion is the most important thing we are working for, yet we can't disregard the importance of using numbers as part of our goals. We are accomplishing this by asking Heavenly Father to help us know exactly what we need to do throughout the day to reach the goal, and we have asked Him to place people in our path whom we can talk to, and who are prepared. We have also asked Him to remind us of the sacred nature of our calling, and to help us remember the incredible reality that we are wearing then name of Jesus Christ as His personal representatives. I am learning more and more about how we seem to be so deeply interacting with the invitation of others to come unto Christ, but yet how we are also relative bystanders to this work. It's easy to call it "my mission," but the reality is that it's Jesus Christ's mission that He has given charge to us over, and entrusted us with. That's amazing. Dad and Ryan will remember President Uchtdorf's talk at Priesthood session on Saturday, and He asked us to stop for a minute, and think about what it means to have the Priesthood authority of God. I do the same in thinking about the incredible responsibility and blessing of a mission call. It's amazing.

I can't think of too much else that's going on. I know I'll be asked to play the organ on Sunday! That's awesome. I liked President Monson's comment on Saturday about how his mother wished he has stuck with the piano. I've heard it so much it's not even funny... as predicted. But yes. All is well. Mission is amazing. It doesn't ever seem to hit me that I'm here, but that's a great opportunity to not really worry about it and just work harder than EVER before.

 

Love,

 

Elder Talbot