Yee 🦖
From: Seth Gifford
Date: Mon, Feb 8, 2021, 15:29 PM
Subject: Yee 🦖
It’s been another week. Woot woot. Guess what? This week I learned how to solve a rubiks cube in 1 day. It’s honestly way easier than I thought! I’m not super fast yet, but I can solve it in 3 min. That was random, but let’s jump in shall we?
Me and Elder Jensen are in a “car share,” meaning that we have to share our car between another companionship. This past week we did not have a car and so instead we rode bikes! It had been a hot second since I’ve ridden a bike, and everything around us is uphill from us, so biking anywhere just destroys our thighs. Not mention it has been absolutely freezing, so by the time we get to where we wanna go, we are sweaty popsicles.
This past week, me and Elder Jensen were at the church and received the most severe rebuking ever that lasted about 30 minutes. Long story short, there was this guy who is in charge of all the Family History centers and he was updating all of the computers and saw that a lot of missionaries have been using the computers to make videos and using copyrighted material, but he didnt completely understand the full story behind everything and just completely tore us apart even though me and Elder Jensen have only been here a week and had nothing to do with what had been happening (side note: I have never used copyright material in my videos). So me and Elder Jensen were desperately trying to understand this man and so we could communicate with him and help him understand so he would be on the same page, but he was so upset that we just took it and then afterwards thanked him and left. Not a fun experience, and he had a right to be upset over some things, but it still suuuucked.
Having bikes this week really threw a wrench into our missionary work because we actually live 15 min (in a car) outside of our area. But we did see a few small miracles throughout the week. We have a few people we are hoping to put on date soon, and a few families in the ward that we’ve been working with. Things are moving forward, and me and Elder Jensen are trying our best to stay on top of everything. We’ve just barely started to take on some students for a new English program that our mission has been piloting. Luckily we get the car back this week though so we’re happy about that.
I can’t remember if I mentioned Zone Conference in my last email, but we had a zone conference through technology and it was really awesome. We also recently got to meet the new mission President and his wife (The Browns) who will be replacing the Adlers in June or July, but I don’t know if I’ll still be here or not. There have been quite a few missionaries here that have gone back to Mexico, so honestly that phonecall could come pretty soon, or it may not happen at all. Either way, I’ll be good, but we’ll just have to see what the Lord wants.
Something that I’ve found throughout the course of my life is that usually, whenever I make plans or want something a certain way, the Lord takes it and breaks it on the ground right in front of me, and then points me a different way. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made plans or have had certain desires that have not really panned out the way I thought they would. It has definitely tested my patience and my faith, and it can be pretty hard sometimes, especially when my vision is so limited. Luckily, I have a Father in Heaven with much better vision and a much better plan for my life than I do, and if it means dragging me along, pushing me through some rough patches, and stumbling through the thorns to get back to Him, then every hard moment, and trial, every pain and anguish will all be worth it in the end. Little by little one travels far. The only way back to Heavenly Father is through Jesus Christ, and if we try our best to follow Him, and strive day by day to improve, then it will all be worth it. I’m definitely far from the man I want to be in this life, and I honestly thought I’d change a lot faster by coming out on a mission, but what I have discovered is that that is not the case. It’s still just as slow and grueling as before. God literally threw me in the deep end. It has been a difficult journey and quite the process to try and repent and change, but I know that one day, if not now on the mission, and if not in a year or two, then one day in the future, I will be able to look back on my experiences and realize where the changes have occurred and why I’ve been put into certain circumstances. Yeah, the journey is hard, but where else can I go? What else am I going to do? Am I going to turn away from the only one who can pull me out of the muck? Am I going to just sit there and do nothing? Or am I going to put forth my best effort, no matter how small it may seem? I don’t know how I could ever leave my Savior. I don’t know how I could ever step off this path when I know with my whole soul that it is the right one. I love a story Elder Holland shares in one of his talks in which he quotes Leo Tolstoy. I echo these words:
“Look at my life now and compare it to my former life. You will see that I am trying to live out the truth I proclaim.” Unable to live up to the high ideals he taught, the priest admits he has failed. But he cries:“Attack me, if you wish, but don’t attack the path I follow. If I know the way home but am walking along it drunkenly, is it any less the right way simply because I am staggering from side to side?”…Do not gleefully shout, ‘Look at him! … There he is crawling into a bog!’ No, do not gloat, but give your help to anyone trying to walk the road back to God.”
I just want to end by saying that I know that Jesus Christ is the way. If we follow Him, THINGS WILL WORK OUT no matter how hard, no matter how long, no matter what, things will work out.
I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week.
Love
-Elder Gifford
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