March 3, 2014
Hello everybody!
This week has been a
pretty crazy one. Mostly, it has been full of random experiences and lots of
hard work (when we weren't sick or having Zone Conference).
Our first
"story" comes from Zone Conference. Afterwards, anybody who wanted
to, had the opportunity to stay and talk with President Packard for a few
minutes. Obviously, TONS of people took that up, so we had to wait for quite a
while before we could leave. On the way out, we were all starving, and we
starting saying, "Yo quiero Taco Bell!" (Shout-out to Tyler Miskin
and the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Frijole" at RB&G) We pile into the
ZL's minivan and Elder Breach starts driving. Seemingly out of nowhere, we pull
into a Taco Bell. Elder Breach, who's normally very quiet, turns around and
says, "I don't mess around when it comes to Taco Bell; that's
sacred!" Of course, we all got home late, but we had some Baja Blast
Mountain Dew and some good times at Taco Bell, so it was worth it :)
Story #2 was during
Weekly Planning. We were at the church planning, and the Spanish district had
just finished up. The Spanish Sisters walk outside, and almost immediately come
right back in, with two people from off the street. They got a chapel tour and
Book of Mormons, so we'll see how that one turns out...
On exchanges with the
ZL's, Elder Breach and I were waiting at a bus stop. Out of the blue, this
random Haitian lady who we've never seen before walks up to us, holding a bag
of biscuit thingies, and says, "Here, try some-it's good!" Elder
Breach reaches in and starts to break off a piece of biscuit, and she says,
"No! Take the whole thing!" So Elder Breach gets a biscuit, and as
soon as we start to say thank you, she just turns and walks away. Random? Yeah.
Elder Woodard and I have
been working hard to set up a network of people in the ward to find non-members
at Church activities. We have about a bajillion phone calls to make and people
to meet with, and so we're excited for this week.
One cool thing that I
noticed when I was studying this week: in the Book of Mormon, Lehi is promised
that "inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper
in the land." That promise is re-emphasized SO MANY TIMES throughout the
Book of Mormon. Alma (Jr. and Sr.), Helaman, Nephi, Jacob, Mormon, and many
others repeat this promise in their teachings to the people. The people are
asked to remember that promise all the time. It's a sobering reminder of how we
need to remember the promises that the Lord makes to us, and especially the
promises that we make to Him.
The careful balance
between remembering (or "[looking] back") and moving forward is
beautifully worded by Jeffrey R. Holland: "The past is to be learned from
but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but
not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought
with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that
faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with
blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our
lives." ("Remember Lot's Wife") When we take what we've learned
and the promises we've made, we can then set realistic goals to improve
ourselves to live up to those promises and become better men and women. It's
given me a lot to contemplate and improve on, but that's kind of the point of
covenants and study, right?
Love all of y'all, and
hope this finds you well!
-"Eldah" Boone
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