"We Are Fragile"

When I was 14, a group of girls tried to play a joke on me.  One day at school, one of them handed me a note, supposedly written by another girl.  This note said that this girl loved me "lots and lots" and that she wanted me to ask her to go with me.  The note also said that she thought I was a "hunk."  I didn't really buy what the note was trying to sell as I was rather confident that this girl did not actually like me.  In my next class that day, I sat near the front and as I waited for the class to start, it felt as if every eye in the room was watching me.

Even though I didn't fall for the note, it still had a big impact on me.  I had always liked girls -- I had my first crush on a girl in the first grade -- but before the note the crushes I had had were innocent, and they seemed less so after the note.  Perhaps more significantly, the first time a girl ever told me she loved me, I knew it was a lie, and as she also said that I was a "hunk", I was pretty sure that wasn't true, either.

Because I didn't give these girls the satisfaction of falling for their joke, they tried on several more occasions, via more notes and a few phone calls, to persuade me that the girl whose name had been signed at the bottom of the note did in fact like me.  I still didn't buy it, but that didn't mean that I just forgot about the note, or any of the other things they tried.

After several months had passed, I was still upset, and I wanted some kind of revenge.  I wrote a few notes of my own, some of which I passed on, some which I did not.  At one point I started following this group of girls as they walked home from school, and I did this every day for several more months, earning from them the nickname "shadow."

Eventually I forgot about the note, or just moved on.  It was not the first time someone played a joke on me or bullied me, and it would not be the last.  Yet the note had an impact far out of proportion for what it actually was.  In the years that followed I had such a negative self image that I could not see myself as anything other than plain and quiet, even boring.  I wanted so much for people to accept me, and I wanted very much for a girl to like me as more than a friend.

Even at age 46, after more than 20 years of marriage, I sometimes struggle with my self image.  I can still hear the voices that whisper that I am nothing, that I am plain, quiet and boring.  The adversary knows just how to rob me of confidence, and to get me second guessing, not just myself, but everything.

I thought of this story from my past today when I came across a music video by Anna Richey called "Fragile."

I also found an article about the song:

Behind "Fragile" 

"I wanted to write this song to help people remember that we are all fragile," writes Richey, "we all get hurt, and we sometimes hurt each other. But if we turn to God, we can find peace. . . .  This is a song of hope. It talks about a boy and a girl who are going through hard times where they feel like nobody notices them or they’re being bullied. The music starts out very soft, but it builds up -- like hope! The music says if you endure to the end, everything will be fine."

Another video for the song can be found at LDS.org:

Fragile 

Some who watch that video may recognize bits incorporated from another LDS.org video:

Bullying -- Stop It.

This video has excerpts from this General Conference talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

The Merciful Obtain Mercy

In this talk, President Uchtdorf counsels us, "This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following:

"Stop it!

"It’s that simple. We simply have to stop judging others and replace judgmental thoughts and feelings with a heart full of love for God and His children. God is our Father. We are His children. We are all brothers and sisters."

Later on he adds, "My dear brothers and sisters, consider the following questions as a self-test:

"Do you harbor a grudge against someone else?

"Do you gossip, even when what you say may be true?

"Do you exclude, push away, or punish others because of something they have done?

"Do you secretly envy another?

"Do you wish to cause harm to someone?

"If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may want to apply the two-word sermon from earlier: stop it!

"In a world of accusations and unfriendliness, it is easy to gather and cast stones. But before we do so, let us remember the words of the One who is our Master and model: 'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.'

"Brothers and sisters, let us put down our stones.

"Let us be kind.

"Let us forgive.

"Let us talk peacefully with each other.

"Let the love of God fill our hearts.

“'Let us do good unto all men.'”

Let me start by saying to any from that group of girls who may be reading this that you are forgiven, and I hope that you can forgive me.

"What Ever Happened to Rooting for Each Other?"

I love Al Fox . . . wait, that's not right . . . but I do think Al is awesome.  I love her story and I lover her blog "In the Head of Al".  I have posted about her or quoted her twice here in my own blog:

"The Lord Looketh Upon the Heart"

Finding Faith and True Confidence

Well, I am about to quote her again, because she had an excellence blog post post yesterday:

I'm Not Judging, But. . .

And she also created an MP3 of her blog post, which you can listen to here:

I'm Not Judging, But. . . MP3

This is the part I wanted to quote:

"I just don't understand why it’s so hard to be respectful to people on social media (and in general). I don’t know why it’s so hard to notice and praise people’s efforts, even if those efforts seem small to you. Why are we so quick to point out their wrong doings and even quicker to comment about it publicly on their pages? Why are we so slow to help, uplift, and build up?

"Saying "I'm not judging, but..." IS judging and is SO hurtful and destructive to even the "strongest" of people. Never will there be a single reason that justifies negative towards anyone, especially those you don't know, even if you are “ just saying." Please, think before commenting, and if this is something you struggle with, please help by not commenting at all. The adversary is on all of us enough as it is, let’s not add any more weight to someone’s day and self worth.

"Because truly, the most important thing is that we are trying, especially if we aren’t there yet. Even if there is so much more you can be doing. Because no matter how small of steps you are taking to understand more, do better, and be more are the most important steps you can be taking and they do not go unnoticed by your Father in Heaven." 

This is absolutely right.  In the April 1992 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve compared the tongue to a sharp sword:

The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword

"When King David was pleading for mercy in the fifty-seventh Psalm, he cried: 'My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.' (Ps. 57:4.)

"In the world today we are victims of many who use their tongues as sharp swords. The misuse of our tongues seems to add intrigue and destruction as the media and private persons indulge in this pastime. In the vernacular of the day, this destructive activity is called bashing. The dictionary reports that to bash is to strike with a heavy, crushing blow.

"Such a popular behavior is indulged in by far too many who bash a neighbor, a family member, a public servant, a community, a country, a church. It is alarming also how often we find children bashing parents and parents bashing children."

As noted, this talk was given in 1992.  The Internet and social media have only exacerbated the problem.  Later in the talk, Elder Ashton asked what the antidote is for bashing.  The answer is charity, the pure love of Christ.

"Charity is, perhaps, in many ways a misunderstood word. We often equate charity with visiting the sick, taking in casseroles to those in need, or sharing our excess with those who are less fortunate. But really, true charity is much, much more.

"Real charity is not something you give away; it is something that you acquire and make a part of yourself. And when the virtue of charity becomes implanted in your heart, you are never the same again. It makes the thought of being a basher repulsive.

"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.

"None of us need one more person bashing or pointing out where we have failed or fallen short. Most of us are already well aware of the areas in which we are weak. What each of us does need is family, friends, employers, and brothers and sisters who support us, who have the patience to teach us, who believe in us, and who believe we’re trying to do the best we can, in spite of our weaknesses. What ever happened to giving each other the benefit of the doubt? What ever happened to hoping that another person would succeed or achieve? What ever happened to rooting for each other? . . .

 "Imagine what could happen in today’s world -- or in our own wards, or families, or priesthood quorums and auxiliaries -- if each of us would vow to cherish, watch over, and comfort one another. Imagine the possibilities! . . .

"If we could look into each other’s hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. . . .

"Let us open our arms to each other, accept each other for who we are, assume everyone is doing the best he or she can, and look for ways to help leave quiet messages of love and encouragement instead of being destructive with bashing."

This is also my hope.  Let us pray that we might be filled with charity. and let us give to others the compassion and understanding that we desire.

The Spiritual Journey of a Convert to the LDS Church

Former Senator Larry Pressler was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, April 19, 2015.  There is a very good article on Pressler in the Monday, April 20, 2015 edition of the Deseret Morning News.

"A conviction of the Book of Mormon was pivotal in Pressler's decision to be baptized. Like [Clayton] Christensen, he sought an answer from God.  'That's the same prayer I said," Pressler said. "It was very important, reading and rereading (the Book of Mormon). I believe it.'"

Pressler, according to the article, is known for his integrity.  In February 1980, the Washington Post described Pressler as "the one approached member of Congress who flatly refused to consider financial favors in exchange for legislative favors."  As reported by Walter Cronkite, "I turned down an illegal contribution," said Pressler. "Whatever have we come to if that's considered 'heroic’?”

Perhaps more remarkable, however, is that Pressler befriended the man who defeated him in 1996 when he ran for his fourth term in the U.S. Senate   When Senator Tim Johnson suffered a reverse in his health, a Senate colleague asked Pressler to "Just be a friend" to Johnson.  "Pressler did just that," reports the Deseret News, "spending time with and counseling the man who had dealt him an election loss that Pressler's wife Harriet described as 'crushing.'

Read more about Pressler here:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865626822/Spiritual-journey-leads-3-term-US-senator-to-LDS-Church.html 

Week 27: "My Weakness was Made Strong"

July 20, 1988

On Thursday we tracted a street named Olympia.  We placed a few more copies of the Book of Mormon and got a few call backs.

In the evening we went to our teaching appointment with Robert and Regina.  As I sat down on their couch, I saw a stack of books next to Robert's chair, and I knew that we were in trouble.  We were going to show them a video, but first we asked if they had any questions or concerns.  That launched us into two and a half hours of mild bashing.  Robert raised issue after issue and we tried to respond with a credible answer.

Robert said that King Benjamin could not have known the name of the Messiah more than 100 years before his coming. He also took issue with the Lord asking the brother of Jared what he thought He should do to provide light in the barges. The subject of the pre-existence came up and we turned to Jeremiah 1:5. Robert called it a leap in logic to presume that the verse referred to a pre-mortal life. At this point we said that we were not accomplishing anything, we were just going back and forth.

I then took the floor and began to bear my testimony.  I started with an overview of the apostasy and then told the Joseph Smith story.  I recounted the experience I had a few weeks ago when I prayed for and received a witness from the spirit.  Then I bore the sweetest, most powerful and spiritual testimony that I could.  The spirit was so strong that I was burning up.  But Robert was unimpressed, and he said that I had merely convinced myself.

I testified how wrong he was, and again retold my experience, emphasizing certain aspects.  Robert asked how I could trust those feelings when “it wasn’t pulled by faith and the word of God.” He had earlier used the analogy of a train, with the engine being the word of God, pulling first faith and then feeling.  I answered that it was pulled by the word of God and by faith.  In James 1:5 we are counseled to ask God and promised that he would give wisdom liberally, and then, of course, there is Moroni's promise that if we ask in faith, with a sincere heart and real intent, believing that we would receive, then we could know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon by the power of the Holy Ghost.

I testified that I knew that The Book of Mormon is true, that I could not deny the spirit I felt that night when I asked for a witness or the spirit that I felt Thursday morning or the spirit I felt a half hour earlier in our meeting with Robert and Regina, or the spirit I felt right then.  I said that unless they had read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover and prayed about it, hoping with all their heart that it is true, and received an answer that it wasn't, then they could not tell me that it was not true. That got Regina a little upset and she almost threw her copy of the Book of Mormon at me.

Robert continued to challenge my testimony and I continued to testify with power. The spirit grew so strong that it well nigh consumed me.  I had the impression a few times that Robert was struck by how strong the spirit was, but that he rejected it.

"You have taken away all the scriptures I ever relied upon," I said, "but you have not stolen my testimony."

As we left I felt sorrow for them, but joy swelled in my heart and I felt great satisfaction because I had boldly testified and stood strong. We parted as friends and they said we could come back and visit with them.

When we got back into our car, Elder Friend paused a moment before starting the engine. He looked at me and said “You are amazing.” But it wasn’t me, it was the spirit. I was given the things that I should say and the spirit bore witness that it was true. What was amazing, perhaps, was that the instrument this night was a young man who just a few months ago was considered to be too quiet by his companion. I think that just goes to show the truth of Ether 12:27. Because I have tried to humble myself and have faith, my weakness was made strong unto me.

The night, before bed, I prayed mightily that Robert and Regina would be the Lord’s sheep that they might recognize and listen to his voice. But my prayer was without faith, as I do not think they will listen to our message. I think they are more interested in trying to "save" us.

We went by Trudy’s on Friday morning to help her with a service project. Then we came back and cleaned our apartment top to bottom. In the evening we went on team-ups with Brother Crowley.

On Saturday morning, we spent some time in the library at the stake center.  Elder Friend copied a few things out of Doctrines and Salvation, then we wrote a short note in which we used Matthew 7:20-26 (by their fruits ye shall know them), to put it all on whether the Book of Mormon is true or not.  We then stopped by to give the note to Robert and Regina, plus the photocopies and a few pamphlets.

In the afternoon and evening we went tracting and got in a few doors.  First we met Reuben and Robin who said they have been thinking about looking into religion.  We told them about the Book of Mormon and gave them a copy.  Then we met Pete, and gave him a copy of the Book or Mormon.

After we finished tracting, we hopped over to see Elizabeth and invite her to church.  She said that she would try to make it, but I guess we were a little skeptical.  The next morning we were surprised to see Elizabeth at church, and it really made our day.

We tracted a street Sunday afternoon and then went to two appointments we had scheduled.  But we got dogged by both.  On Monday, we got dogged again by another appointment.  Elder Friend came to the conclusion that tracting four hours a day is what has us so discouraged.  It's not the tracting, though, it's the getting dogged by the appointments we set up when tracting.  Getting dogged is definitely discouraging, but I think it is also Robert and Regina that has us discouraged.  We were so excited about teaching them, but, as I said, they seem more interested in trying to "save" us.

We finished tracting Laguna Avenue on Tuesday.  Then, at 2:00, we had a teaching appointment with Joanne, and she didn't dog us!  We taught her the first discussion and it was awesome.  Joanne is real cool.

We had another appointment at 4:00 with Elizabeth, but we showed up ten minutes early and she didn't answer when we knocked on her door.  We hopped over to see Trudy, who lives a block or two away.  We intended our visit with Trudy to be quick, but by the time we got back to Elizabeth's place, we were twenty minutes late.  Again, she did not answer when we knocked on her door. 

Today, Brother Bartlett took the four of us, Tango, Victor, Friend and I, on an excursion down to Big Sur.  With a few modifications to his truck, Brother Bartlett is still able to drive.  We had a fun drive down the coast, even though three of us were piled in the the back of the truck.  Then we went off the main highway onto a dirt back road that wound its way through the coastal mountains, which got pretty wild.  It was a blast though.

Well, that's the week in review.  Hope all is well at home.

Love

Douglas

Contrary to the sentiment then, I look back at my mission now and get nostalgic for those days in Seaside with Elder Friend. We were working hard and having some success, even as we were getting stood up by appointments left and right. We experienced trials and came out the better for them.

Regarding Robert's concerns, certainly the people who lived before the coming of Christ had as much value to God as those who were born after, and if the name of Christ is the only name given whereby man can be saved, then it was just as important for those who lived before to know that name as it is for those who live now.  Also, God obviously knew the name and could certainly tell it to King Benjamin. As for the Brother of Jared, God was clearly testing him, and did not need ideas from a mere mortal.

On that drive down to Big Sur, we turned off Highway One just north of the bridge you see in the photo above, and ended up south of the bridge when we got back to the highway.  It really was a wild ride.

"The Girl Who Didn't Wait For Me"

A friend of mine recently posted the story of how she met her husband on her blog, and I felt inspired to do the same.  But the first question that has to be dealt with is, what does the story of how I met my wife have to do with missionary work.  This is, after all a blog about preparing for and serving a mission.  The best answer I can come up with is that coming home is part of serving a mission, and the "how I met my wife" story is at least part of the "what happened when I came home from my mission" story.

Actually, I met my future wife while still in high school, so this is a "coming and going" story, too.  In any case, we met because of the alphabet.  We had a class together in which she sat in front of me because her last name came before mine alphabetically.  We were even assigned to do a project together for the class.  We became friends, but I waited until the summer to ask her out on a date.  I had just graduated from high school, and was preparing to serve my mission, but she had two more years of school left before she graduated.

On our first date, I took her to play miniature golf.  After finishing the course, we found a place to sit down and talk.  Normally shy and quiet, I would typically run out of things to talk about pretty quickly, but on that night we talked for at least an hour, maybe longer.  It was a good sign; I kind of figured that my future wife would be a girl I would have little trouble making conversation with.

I took this girl out on a few more dates over the summer and fall.  On one date I took her on a picnic at Mirror Lake in the Uintah Mountains.  While hiking around the lake after eating, we got caught in the rain, and by the time we got back to the car, we were soaking wet.  She asked me to put my arm around her to help warm her up, and this was the first time I had put my arm around a girl, which, as you might guess, was quite exciting.

I was preparing to serve a mission, and I had made a decision to wait until after I came home to have a girlfriend, but I suddenly found myself falling for this girl.  I even asked her to be my girlfriend, right there, by the lake!  She said she would think about it, and a few days later, to my relief, she said that she wasn't ready for a boyfriend.

We went out a couple more times, and then I was off on the great adventure, my mission.  She said she would write to me, but stressed that she was not waiting for me.  One of the last times I saw her before I left, I asked her if I should go on a mission or not.  I wanted to know what she would say.  Fortunately, she gave the right answer, telling me that I should go.

Two years later, she would tell me that she had, in fact, been waiting for me.  She would say that she knew I was the right one for her the moment I put my arm around her.  But she didn't tell me any of this because she didn't want to distract me from the work.  Ironically, I would find the ambiguity of our relationship to be, at times, distracting.  Recently, when I typed up my missionary journals on my computer, I changed all the references in them to her to "the girl who is not waiting for me."

We wrote each other every month or so, then, with about four months to go, her letters just stopped.  As it happened, she started dating this boy and soon found herself in an abusive relationship.  After four months this guy proposed, and she said yes.  But then her parents found out and put a stop to the whole thing.  Three days later, I got off the plane at Salt Lake International.  I was home, and ready for a relationship, but she wasn't.

Nonetheless, we started dating  I suspected that something was wrong, however, when she kept telling me to slow things down.  No matter how slow I tried to take things, it was still too fast for her.  Finally, she suggested that we should see other people.  And like an idiot, I believed her.

At the same time, I was having a tough time adjusting to post mission life.  I hated coming home from my mission, and the first six months after I got home were horrible.  No one came to my homecoming meeting (except the girl who didn't wait for me, my future wife) I had to pick a college and get a job.  I was one of the first guys to leave on a mission, and was thus one of the first to get back, and even then we all had gone our separate ways because, well, that's life.

I ended up enrolling at LDS Business College, which also happened to be the school my future wife was attending.  I didn't pick the school because she was a student there, but for other reasons.  Still, I thought it would be nice to have someone there that I already knew.  As I said, adjusting to post-mission life was difficult.  I can remember going for a walk one night and thinking that things couldn't possibly get worse.  Never say that, because things can always get worse.

On the first day of spring quarter -- LDSBC was then one of the few schools still on the quarter system as opposed to the semester system -- I ran into the girl who didn't wait for me in the halls, and she flat out ignored me.  I called her up that night to ask her about what happened and she said that she was just too involved in conversation with the friend she was walking with.  I said something about putting herself in my shoes and how I would have appreciated a friendly greeting of some sort.  I tried not to sound as if I were chewing her out, but how else was she going to take it?

The next day, I again saw her in the halls at school, and I went up to her to apologize.  Before I could, though, she cut me off and said that she felt like she was being suffocated.  Then she said that if I loved her I would walk away.  I asked how this affected our friendship, but she had no answer.  As I sat in my next class, I was overcome by this feeling of emptiness, but I was also confused.  "Did she really just ask me to walk away?"

That night I went by her house to talk it out and find a solution.  But the girl who didn't wait for me was anything but receptive.  She would not listen to me and just kept asking why I was prolonging it.  Finally I said, "Okay, but when I walk out that door, does that mean we aren't friends anymore?"  Again, she had no answer.

In just seven days, things had gone from bad to worse.  My best and, as it appeared, only friend had just declared war.  I was not about to give up, but what could I do?  It seemed that no matter what I did, it just made things worse.  For the next few days I really wondered if I would ever reach out to anyone again.

I wrote my future wife a letter to try and explain my side of the story.  I got an angry letter back as a response.  She said that I would not leave her alone even though she kept telling me no.  The problem was, she had never said no.  During the first few months after I got home she had kept saying "Well, let's just see how things go."  She then suggested that I back off a little, and so I did.  Nothing about this made any sense.

The only thing I could do, at this point, was to give her space.  Weeks went by where I tried to avoid her, but I would occasionally see her in the halls at school.  When I could, I would turn and go another way.  But sometimes we could not help but pass each other in the halls.  When that happened, she would give me an angry look.  She had said that she didn't want us to be enemies, but that is what I felt that I had become.  So one day I stopped her to say that I felt like I had become her enemy and that I didn't deserve it.  My voice got louder as she ran away, and everyone in that part of the school heard me.  That night, her father called mine to threaten legal action if I did not leave her alone.

I had no choice but to back off, even though backing off made things worse, it was a very real Catch-22, a no-win situation.  For a month I stayed as far away from her as I could.  It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.  In fact, I didn't manage to make it an entire month.  After two weeks, I went by her house and left an anonymous note on her doorstep which said "Haven't we both been hurt enough?  Stop the war.  Just stop the war!"

Two weeks later as the quarter came to a close, I lost my job, and I said, "I can't handle the war and losing my job at the same time, so its time to put a stop to the war."  I went to see the girl who didn't wait for me, and said it was time we talked.  As an ice breaker, I told her a story about a girl I liked in high school, before we met, that I asked to a dance.  This girl said yes to the dance, but then changed her mind, which really hurt at the time.  After a couple of months we got together to talk it out, and we became better friends as a result.

The story seemed to do the trick.  Suddenly, the barrier between us fell, and we were able to talk it out.  We were still friends, and though we both said we were interested in other people, we could still hang out with each other.  Now began a rather surreal period where we were spending a lot of time together but, technically, not dating each other.

One day we went hiking and by chance ran into some friends of hers from LDSBC.  While we talked with them, my future wife started giving her attention to another guy which, naturally, made me jealous.  But, as we were technically not dating, I pretended to be unconcerned.  That just made her upset, and when we were alone she chewed me out for not wanting to share her with other people.  And for a moment it seemed that I had done it again.

This time, however, she called me to apologize, and she admitted that she was trying to make me jealous.  She also told me that the guy she gave her attention to turned out to be a bit of a jerk.  A few more weeks went by, with a few more non-dates.  Then, one night, we sat on her porch talking.  I told her a few of my missionary stories, which all had something to do with overcoming fear.  I was trying to persuade her to take a leap of faith.

Suddenly, she turned and leaned back on my shoulder, and I put my arms around her.  It was an incredible moment.  From that moment we were officially dating again.  More importantly, we were boyfriend-girlfriend.  The relationship I had waited four and a half years for had finally come about.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Week 26: "I am Loving My Mission!"

July 13, 1988

Life is great in Seaside.  Elder Friend and I are working hard, but the adversary is giving us all he's got.  Even so, we are standing firm.  We placed four more copies of the Book of Mormon this week, so we are having some success.

Now, let me tell you about Elizabeth.  We tracted into her on Monday, June 27.  She has back problems and we gave her a blessing before teaching her the first discussion.  About a week later, Elder Friend called her to set up appointment for teaching the second discussion.  Elizabeth said that she had read half of the markings in the copy of the Book of Mormon we had given her, and she knew that it was true.  You cannot imagine the joy that simple statement brought us.

We set up an appointment for Thursday, July 7.  On that day, we taught her the second discussion and committed her to pray about a date for her baptism.  But the adversary is working on her as well.  She just got through an eviction threat, fortunately, the threat lacked legal foundation.  Her back has really been troubling her, and she has been suffering big headaches.  We stopped by again on Monday and showed her a filmstrip.

On Thursday, we had a dinner appointment with a family whose nine-year-old daughter had not yet been baptized.  Her father asked us to speak to her.  We showed Sarah a filmstrip called: "Baptism, a Promise to Follow Jesus."  We then discussed the filmstrip with her.  In five minutes we committed her to be baptized the following Sunday.  Her biggest concern, it turns out, was fear of water.

The font at our stake center is out of commission because the water heater needs to be replaced.  So, Sarah was baptized by her father in a swimming pool.

On Friday night, we taught a first discussion to a couple we had tracted into on Noche Buena.  The wife is in the army, assigned to Fort Ord as an M.P.; the husband just got out of the Army, but he works as an electrician down in Palm Springs.  We told him how to contact the missionaries down in Palm Springs.  He said he was going back down there on Wednesday, so we set up an appointment for Monday, but he was not there when we got there, because he had gone down earlier than expected.   Meanwhile, his wife's unit has been alerted for a possible deployment down to Panama, to the Canal Zone, where, apparently, things are getting tense.

On Saturday we had to get some temporal things done, because of the holiday on Monday and no p-day on Wednesday. As I waited on my laundry, I read about the sons of Mosiah and their mission to the Lamanites. It is such a great story and it gave me a needed boost. Right now I am in the middle of the mission to the Zoramites. The first thirty-five chapters of Alma is one of my favorite parts of The Book of Mormon because of all the missions by Alma, Amulek and the sons of Mosiah.

After the baptism on Sunday, we stopped by to see Robert and Regina.  He has been reading the Book of Mormon but says that he is not convinced. We set up an appointment for Thursday at 7:00 p.m. We are thinking about having a fast for both of them.

We tracted for four hours on Monday, doing one street.  We met a real neat lady who said she liked to study religion.  When she realized who we were she said, "Oh, I haven't studied Mormonsim yet!"  She gladly accepted the copy of the Book of Mormon we gave her.

On Tuesday we tracted for three hours and didn't even come close to finishing the street.  We got in one door to teach a first discussion, but the woman was suffering from morning sickness, so we set up a return appointment and left her with a copy of the Book of Mormon.  Then we knocked on the door of a part member family.  The wife has been less active for years, but now says that she wants to come back.  Her husband, who is fighting deportation, wants to know more.  A few houses later, we placed another copy of the Book of Mormon.

Today is my "bump" day, meaning that I have been on my mission for six months.  Time is really flying by.

I got a letter from a friend in the MTC. His excitement and positive attitude really hit the spot. I wrote him back and told him that he is about to embark on some of his most choice experiences:

“Things will be hard and sometimes it may seem as if your challenges are overcoming you, but if you live the mission rules and heed the spirit and work as hard as you can, you will look back and regret not a single moment. You will look backward and say, ‘I am loving my mission!’ That is what counts the most when we both step off the plane at Salt Lake International Airport.”

All is well here.

Love

Douglas