Swoll-diers

October 6, 2014

Howdy howdy!

Fall is definitely in the air here in Brockton. The mornings are getting chilly, the leaves are changing, and there are fall-themed decorations going up everywhere!

Elder Pendleton never ceases to crack me up! Everybody in our apartment has been talking about a more effective workout regimen. After the discussion, Elder Pendleton comes out of the study room and says, "I wanna be a swoll-dier!" We about died laughing. Then in Conference, we heard Elder Klebingat's talk... We are all now on a quest to become "swoll-diers."

One of our members called us to meet her in the hospital this week. We went, expecting to give a blessing, but it turns out she was in the psych ward. We still read the BoM with her, like usual. But her friends all wanted to join in. Being a greenie, Elder Pendleton had 4 copies of the Book of Mormon waiting in his bag, and he handed them all out. Only after we left, did he realize where we had just been and where he had placed 4 copies of the Book of Mormon... *facepalm* hahaha

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week, and I got to go with Elder Farr. He's from good ol' Cedar Hills, and we played ball together all the time. We got to talk and reminisce about people that we know, crazy stuff we did in HS, the LP/AF "rivalry," and just life in general. It was a ton of fun :)

District meeting on Friday was one of the better district meetings I've had on my mission. It's just been a really rough week and a half for most of the district, so we kept it light and fun, and Elder Halling (our DL) asked Elder Pendleton and I to give a training on managing stress. We based it off of a talk by Elder Holland. In this talk, he talks about discouragement and their relation to troubles: "'Trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement—discouragement has a germ of its own, as different from trouble as arthritis is different from a stiff joint.' Troubles we all have, but the 'germ' of discouragement, to use Fitzgerald’s word, is not in the trouble, it is in us. Or to be more precise, I believe it is in Satan, the Prince of Darkness, the Father of Lies. And he would have it be in us. It’s frequently a small germ, hardly worth going to the Health Center for, but it will work and it will grow and it will spread. In fact it can become almost a habit, a way of living and thinking, and there the greatest damage is done. Then it takes an increasingly severe toll on our spirit, for it erodes the deepest religious commitments we can make—those of faith, and hope, and charity. We turn inward and look downward, and these greatest of Christlike virtues are damaged or at very least impaired. We become unhappy and soon make others unhappy, and before long Lucifer laughs." ("For Times of Trouble")  We talked about a few basic gospel truths and how we can combat the discouragement that comes with troubles. The spirit was SO STRONG in the room!

After district meeting itself, there were a total of 4 blessings given. I don't know what it was, but each one was a profound spiritual experience for those giving and receiving the blessings. People were crying, the spirit was there, and there were some gnarly promises. Just a great way to prepare for Conference.

During the break between Saturday sessions, we went to the Lesser family's house to teach an investigator named Barbara. Sadly, Barbara wasn't able to make it, but we did find a less-active member and start teaching his girlfriend. The Lord always provides when you're doing the right thing!

Also, thanks to Ben for another letter, and to everybody who put anything into that package!

Hope it's a good week!

Eldah Boone

Mom, I've been having some gnarly, constant headaches lately. The mission doctor recommended a prescription for constant headaches. Would the flexpay have any impact here? Or would I pay from my personal card?