Happy Memorial Day

May 28, 2013

Hello all!

The short-sleeved shirts have been SO NICE!!  We've had days in the low 80's, but there are 3 or 4 days this week that are supposed to get up to 93* (plus the Boston humidity :P)  It's getting warm and I feel like I'm breathing a LOT of water out here!! 

Another really cool thing happened this week-this time, in a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader, Julio.  Julio took us out to dinner, and we got talking about how the ward is progressing, what's holding us back, etc.  Julio opened up to us and said something to the effect of, "Elders, I'm not Ward Mission Leader-quality material.  I'm just a guy struggling to come to Church, read my scriptures, and do all that kinda stuff.  I'm not some wonderful this or that; I'm just an average guy."  Elder Beck and I had the opportunity to share with him one of God's truths-that we don't need to be mighty to do great things.  "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are chosen: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are" (1 Corinthians 1:26-28).  I told him that honestly, I feel like I'm floundering a little bit, too.  If there's not some sense of struggle, are we really pushing ourselves and progressing?  If we don't feel like we're coming up just a bit short, we're not truly stretching ourselves.  We are complacent, stagnant, and probably proud to boot.  On exerting such efforts, and their accompanying failures, Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”  The Book of Mormon addresses such similar concerns in Ether 12:27- "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."  As we struggle and strive each and every day, coming up short over and over again, and always feel that success is JUST outside our reach-close enough to touch, but far enough away that we just can't quite touch it yet-and consecrate our every action to God, He will make our weaknesses strong.  Surely, God can help us with our weaknesses.  I have seen Him helping me with mine on far too many occasions to not know for an absolute fact that He can make ALL things strong to us on the condition that we remain humble and keep trying.  As President Packard always says, "We are happy, but not satisfied!" 

One other Cambridge 1st example of this devotion is found in Emily, our Elder's Quorum President's wife.  I mentioned earlier about her water breaking at 28 weeks, and she has pretty much been in labor for about a month.  However, 2 days after giving birth to her baby boy, she was at Church.  TEN. MINUTES. EARLY.  We asked her how she was feeling, and she said two things: sore, and happy to be out of bed.  She missed Church and knew that she had an example to set for her kids, so she came to Church, even after all that.  That is truly an example of devotion, dedication, and conversion.

Transfer Texts are on Saturday, so you'll know on Wednesday of next week whether or not I'm actually getting transferred!  My clock here in Cambridge 1st is certainly ticking, but I hope to stay here a while longer to really get this ball rolling!! 

I love you all and hope everything is going well!

Love,  

Elder Alexander Boone       

May 20, 2013

HOLY COW!!!  This week has been absolutely crazy!!  We had Zone Conference on Tuesday, which meant we got to listen to President Packard, President Haight, and also President Bowen-the Boston, Massachusetts Temple President.  That experience was so unique and revelatory, and the applications in our ward are already starting to show fruition. 

In addition to that, we also got our ward boundaries expanded.  BIGTIME.  In addition to the majority of Cambridge and Somerville, we now cover the entirety of Charlestown and East Boston.  That entails getting to know a whole new subway line, about 10 new bus routes, 58 new members, and as many as 7 investigators/potential investigators.  Quite the workload, eh? 

That's not to mention the other stuff we're in charge of: a Missionary Fireside for 4 wards & branches, a movie night/finding activity for our ward, a temple trip, and learning some wicked hard music for 3 musical firesides in the next 2 weeks.  YEAH.  We gonn' be busy!!!

I've really been trying to be sensitive to spiritual promptings this week (and always, of course), but focusing on the small promptings that many of us never really realize as promptings.  As I've shared those promptings with Elder Beck and we've responded to them, our lessons have been powerful, our commitments have been bold, and everything we've done has seemed to work out.  God really does know what He's doing, and as we listen to Him, we definitely make the most of our time here.  

All of this craziness has started to take a toll, though.  Late nights and constant stress (the good kind that keeps you motivated-only some of the overwhelming, bad kind) have led to my being mildly sick, which affects my voice and ears.  That makes the Musical Fireside stuff extra hard.  My knee has been acting up for about 2 weeks, which can make it hard to walk around with a smile on.  (No worries, I do it anyways. haha)  With this new boundary change, the stress has SKYROCKETED.  However, as we prioritize our time and plan carefully, we can handle this.  And with the Lord's help, I know we can THRIVE with the new expectations.  If He can lift the burden of our sins and shortcomings, He can certainly lift the burdens of stress and expectations. 

Love you all and hope all is well!! 

-Elda Boone

Happy Mother's Day

Our Mother's Day Skype

Chris' last time to talk to Alex for about 27 months :(

Good morning all!!

It was great to talk to my family yesterday!  I can't believe how Parker and Spencer are growing up!!  It's always good to talk with Chris, and I'm sorry, but Brace-y'all are all kinds of loopy on pain pills.  (Really kinda funny!)  I'm looking forward to the huge Duck Dynasty marathon when I get back, and the crazy stories that I'm sure to have as well!!

This week marks the middle of the transfer already!  Odds are pretty good that I'm gonna get booted out, so we'll see what happens.  Assuming that I stay, I will end up in this area for 9 months at least.  That'll be CRAZY, but we'll avoid speculation on that :P

Not much to report, except what happened last week.  This week has been catch-up and a lot of work for future events, including (but not limited to) a Missionary Fireside for 4 wards/branches in the Cambridge/Somerville area, preparing for a Musical Fireside in Springfield in 3 weeks, reworking the Ward Mission Plan, and various finding activities for the Ward Mission.  The foundation of Missionary Work continues to be laid in this Cambridge 1st ward; it's tough work with very few "numbers" to report, but it's still a busy time! 

We recently got a text from President Packard that was simple, but truly profound.  We had 16 baptisms across the Mission this weekend alone!  The text informed us of that stat, and then simply stated, "Consecration isthe only surrender that's a victory!"   That gave me a lot to think about for several days.  The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with it: the more of ourselves we surrender to God, the more of Him is in us.  One of Tim's songs came to mind. (yes, the same Tim that has a lot of other inspiring lyrics to his songs. haha)  "When I found that I was doing what I never thought I could, I was losing what was in me, and in my place He stood.  And I did give Him the words I couldn't speak, and eyes to see the pain of those who wouldn't believe.  Then my fears did melt away, when I let Him in to stay.  Then I found what you can see, oh Lord: I was losing me."  Reminiscent of the Savior's promise in Matthew 16:25-"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."  Not only are we given this promise, but we covenant at various times in our lives to do just that: lose our lives for His sake.  Is this a difficult promise to keep?  ABSOLUTELY!!!  But, true to "opposition in all things,"  won't the blessings be stupendous?  I can safely assume that yes, they will be.  I know that as I've been trying to consecrate myself-heart, might, mind, and strength-I've experienced blessings that I could never have imagined!!  As we grow closer to Him through giving up our carnal desires, and truly lay aside the natural man, we are more entitled to the Spirit, which brings about joy, hope, love, and peace.  This is certainly something that I want to have forever!!  What are we willing to sacrifice for that?  Shouldn't everything negative in our lives and in our natures be worth giving up for those blessings?  In essence, through consecrating ourselves, we are trading our shortcomings and frailties for godliness-sounds like a SWEET deal to me!

Love y'all and hope this finds you well!!

-Elda Boone 

May 6, 2013

Good morning, friends and family!!

 

Yesterday was one of the biggest paydays I could have imagined!!  Since Jian's baptism, Elder Beck and I have had NO Investigators.  Missionaries with 8 weeks of no investigators makes for some tough times.  It seems like we were doing anything and everything to stay busy, using our Mission priorities, obeying the white handbook, and trying to become better, but to no avail.  We were beating our heads against LOTS of brick walls, and the frustration was becoming pretty obvious.  But yesterday changed all of that.  Let's start at the beginning of the day: sacrament meeting was amazing, and we had several powerful testimonies.  Elder Beck and I taught Gospel Principles 2nd hour, and we had two potential investigators in class.  One of them, Pat, made a very insightful comment that caused a lot of thought and discussion among the class.  Alice, who has been attending Church for 8 weeks, bore a short testimony (whether or not she knows that's what she did) about God's role as our perfect and literal Father.  During 3rd hour, instead of Elder's Quorum, Elder Beck and I got the opportunity to have a Q&A session with Pat.  Julio, our Ward Mission Leader, was there, as was Devin Bean, a member of our Mission Presidency.  Pat hopes to bring his wife to Church next week, and we'll see if she feels the Spirit the way that Pat said he does when he's here.  We had a Correlation meeting with several of the auxiliaries present, and got enormous to-do lists (YAY!!!  Auxiliary assignments!!).  We then met with Marcus, the YM Pres and made some slight changes to the Ward Mission Plan for the YM organization.  We got contact information for several "Unknowns" (aka inactives, recent move-ins, and other people whose records are in our ward, but few people, if anyone, knows who they are).  We have an appointment with one family who is friendly and open to Missionaries, but just doesn't want to come to Church.  We'll see if we can possibly change that in the coming weeks and months.  And throughout the day, two visiting members gave Elder Beck and I a total of $30 for "lunch on us."  It's going to become "laundry on [them]," which is an even greater blessing!  Eight weeks of hard work are really starting to pay off!!

 

The various Presidencies have yet to meet with us, as they wanted to meet with themselves first.  We do, however, have several pending appointments with most of the auxiliaries in the ward.  Given our to-do lists, new investigaror, teaching opportunities, and the upcoming renovations of the Ward Mission Plan, this is shaping up to be a BUSY week!!  But that's good, because now we can be as productive as possible.

 

For Chris and all other prospective Missionaries, I'd say that it's important to read and internalize "Becoming a Missionary" by David A. Bednar.  That talk has so much power!!  I got it on CD and I've been listening to it almost every day for the past two weeks.  There are SO MANY takeaways, that I'm not going to pigeonhole anyone (and carpal tunnel is getting the better of me right now).  I'd invite y'all to read/listen to that talk and to draw your conclusions and applications for yourself :)

 

Emily is doing good-she's on bed rest, and given new medical technology, it's possible for the baby to stay inside of her for another couple of weeks before being born.  Hopefully, the baby stays as long as possible, even though Emily is "getting really bored" with 24/7 bed rest.  Needless to say, she's doing well :) haha

 

The challenge to become (the talk and the actual applications in life) have been weighing on me quite a bit this week.  As Elder Bednar so simply put it: "In our customary Church vocabulary, we often speak of going to church, going to the temple, and going on a mission. Let me be so bold as to suggest that our rather routine emphasis on going misses the mark. The issue is not going to church; rather, the issue is worshipping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going to or through the temple; rather, the issue is having in our hearts the spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house. The issue is not going on a mission; rather, the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout our entire life with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. It is possible for a young man to goon a mission and not become a missionary, and this is not what the Lord requires or what the Church needs." ("Becoming a Missionary")  Elder Oaks has suggested that "it is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us toknow something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something. …It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become." ("The Challenge to Become")  Anyone can check of boxes.  But, as one no-less-inspired man, Brother Woozley, taught us as young Priests, "It's not about checking off boxes.  It's about what you become in the process, and the boxes will check themselves off."  That has stuck with and resonated within me to this day (and yes, those are his exact words-I remember them quite distinctly. haha)  May we all continue striving to become what we must become and not worry about the little, insignificant, "do's" and "do not's" of the Gospel.  So long as we are actually striving to become closer to our Father in Heaven and more Christ-like, the little "do's" and "do not's" will fall into place and check themselves off.  

 

Love alla y'all and hope this week is a good one!!

 

Elda Boone