pictures!

Makes me happy that he's sitting at the piano. :)

"Was it when two missionaries came to your door... ?"

Monday, April 29, 2013

 

Fastest week of my life.

 

I know I say that almost every week, but it's true, it just keeps going faster...

 

This week was really good :)  My Boy Z, who was still pretty confused last week, has got into the swing of things and is starting to love being a missionary already, which makes me happy :) 

 

It's also been a good week in the sub-world of Lonas' Personal Studies.  While I ALWAYS love my personal studies, I've also been frustrated for a couple weeks, because I feel like I kept finding more questions (normal) but without ever finding my answers (NOT normal) But I feel like I've been coming out of that silly phase which is very very relieving. 

 

Hey Guess what?

 

(What Lonas?)

 

Welllllllllllllllll, last night we were knocky knocking, and we knock on this door, and this lady opens up! Ta-Da!

 

(don't worry, not the end of the story)

 

And so I ask her what the best part of her day was.  She paused for a second as she thought about it, so I helped her out- "was it when 2 missionaries came to your door to teach you how to come closer to Jesus!?!" 

 

Hahaha :) 

And so she said, "Hahaha :)" And then she asked me "sooo what do I do now, invite you in, to teach me and my family?"

 

"...Yep!"

"...Okay!"

 

So we go in and do just that!  We had her look up Mormon.org, and she watched some pretty sweet profiles, and really liked it.  She, Crystal, has been making a lot of changes in her life, and is looking for a way to start over.  She really wants to be baptized, and is way gung ho about it.  She also invited her dad, and her sister to be baptized with her haha :)

 

The Catch: She's leaving for 30 days on May 1st, so we'll have to teach and baptize her after that, which is highly unfortunate.  However, she is coming on a Church Tour tonight at 8 oclock, I'm pretty excited :)

 

 

Missionary life is a charmed life I think.  Don't get me wrong, as anyone who is on or has been on a mission will tell you, its filled with stress, hard work, and frequent disappointment and rejection.  But you really can't expect anything less when you put yourself out there as much as we do.  That being said, we also experience miracles on a daily, if not hourly basis.  Just crazy stuff happens all the time, and every day is its own adventure.  Remind me one day to tell you about how I got my Miracle Shell

 

-ooh, which reminds me, I started collecting shells. Its hard because there aren't very many.  But I found a sweet one on the sidewalk the other day, and some lady gave me little thing of shells and some sand after she couldnt sell them at her garage sale.  I have them in a little glass container on my desk, and stuck a picture of the San Diego temple in it. It's way cute.

 

My Book of Mormon reading has taken me up to Alma 18. I read the first half of Alma 18 this morning, that is.  Ammon's pretty sweet.  I had a lot of very different thoughts when reading 17 than I had in the past, really been enjoying it.  But I was thinking about a couple things in ch. 18 this morning.  It's interesting that the servants and King Lamoni are so amazed at Ammon's power.  And also his faithfulness. 

So, we learn from Helaman 4 that those who boast in their own strength are left to their own strength. (which is nothing) and therefore all power that "we" have, is really the power we receive from Christ, it being Grace we receive from the Atonement.  Hence, Phil 4:13 and Alma 26:12, yes?  Well, Our ability to use this power is predicated upon our obedience, (or the word Mormon uses in This chapter is Faithfulness) 

 

So what's interesting is that the servants/Lamoni are astounded at why someone who has so much power would be so faithful, not realizing that it isn't an inverse correlation or whatever, but it's causal.  (If causal is a word. I don't remember. I don't get an extra hour of language study every day like Spanish elders.  But you get the point.)

 

So really the problem that they have is that they misunderstand the doctrine, and the reason why they misunderstand the doctrine is because they dont understand the nature Of God, which is why it makes perfect sense that thats the first thing Ammon teaches them.  I'm down to like 30 seconds before the computer boots me, so I can't write the rest of my thoughts or anything, but I'd recommend reading the story if it's been awhile, it's awesome :)

 

Love Lonas :)

 

 

"We were wondering when you would come by... "

Monday, April 22, 2013

 

Dearest Darlingest Momsy and Popscicle,

 

The introduction wasnt really applicable, seeing as how this is my blog email, but I really felt like using that reference. 

 

Hey, so we were helping out with a mutual activity this week, and our job involved sorting random clothes into piles, with which to make outfits out of.  Shoot, that's still not grammatically correct. Mom, feel free to rewrite that.

 

Anyway, we started doing it, and I had to keep correcting my companions because they were putting terrible things together.  And then I remembered that for a long time I wore the same red, oversized, probably dirty sweatshirt to school every day. for a long time.  I've come a long way, and I'm not sure if I'm impressed or disgusted with myself, haha.  But I've inherited the name "Fashionista." Okay, I'm definitely a little disgusted with that part, but it's pretty funny.  Fortunately my new boy, Elder Z, is also from Southern California, and therefore has a great sense of style, so we both look good, and he understands.

 

Hey, want to hear a funny story! So this one time, some letters were sent to me in Graham, and then this other time, this past week, I got a few of them!  They missionary who delivered them mentioned that there were others, but he lost them.  I got a letter from Dad though, and a letter from the McMahans :)  Thank you!!

 

Ooh, want to hear a cool story?

*Lonas pauses here, and waits for an answer*

 

Sweet!  So this Saturday, we were out tracting!  In the rain! In Washington! And no one wanted to talk to us! 

And so it was just about as normal as things could be.  Oh, and we were also fasting that we could find a family.  And so we're knocking, knocking, knocking.. and it was feeling pretty monotonous, because I was with my quietest companion, and almost no one was home at that time.  And then we pass this house which is up for sale, and I almost passed it because it looked like it was empty, but I felt like we should knock it anyway, so we did!  We knock, and this little family opens up the door (Okay, fine, actually only the mom opened the door, it wasn't like a combined effort. but they were all there)  and says "Perfect!  We were wondering when you would come by, my daughters have some questions for you!" 

 

Haha, money.

 

We teach almost the entire Restoration there on the doorstep, and this lady is LEGIT.  She knows a lot about the Bible and stuff, which at times is frustrating, because when people think they know everything, they don't have open minds or hearts.  But it was perfect, she was just way prepared, and all her questions we were able to answer.  She wants to pray and fast to know if the Book of Mormon is true, which means she will definitely find her answer.  I'm really excited. 

 

 

You know what's funny? I think getting up at 6:30 every morning is really hard.  I don't know why, but I would just dread it.  Getting up and facing the day can be such a hard decision.  But you know what's much easier than getting up at 6:30?  Getting up at 6:25!  I adopted this when I came to Bremerton.  When the alarm goes off, I don't think.  Muscle memory drives my knees to the floor, and I just pray. By the time I'm up and have started exercising, it's 6:30, and I already feel good.

 

I was thinking last night, as I was crawling into bed, how happy I was to be crawling into bed!  And how nice it would be to get up in the morning, and exercise, and make my breakfast, and then do my studies. I just love it so much :)  And I've grown to love the missionary schedule, because the structure provides the routine optimized for maximum happiness :)

Staying in Bremerton

Monday, April 15

We're pretty short on time, but I'll try and get some stuff in.  We have a baptism tonight though, which is awesome!  

First Transfer calls!  I'm............STAYING!  Along with Elder B, which is cool.   :)

Same address.  

 

Along with my Book of Mormon reading which is still going on, I was thinking a lot about a conversation I had with a lady the other day about the book of Hosea.  I decided to reread it, so I'm reading 2 chapters a day along with my other studies, so it will only take me about a week.  I started this morning, It was really nice.  I highly recommend reading it, and cross referencing it with John 10:1-15 ish... give or take a couple verses.  Up until it's done talking about sheep. haha.
I don't really have time to email my thoughts on these passages, but I really really loved them.  I'd also read 1 John 3:2, and Mosiah 5:13 along with it.  And Hebrews 11:1.  And all of Alma 32 :)

I'm really excited for this next transfer, we have a ridiculous amount of work going on, so we'll be kept very very busy, which is good.  I think it builds character.  With only 1 companion switching out, we'll flow right into this transfer with a pretty smooth transition.  

Sorry this email was really short, but we have to go fill up the font. I feel like that's a pretty good excuse :)

 

Love,

Lonas

 

Point A to Point B

Monday, April 8

 

I can't believe I'm starting the last week of the transfer, time just flies by.  This week has been awesome, and also kind of hard.  I've been a sick little ducky this week, which is unfortunate. Being sick as a missionary has got to be one of my least favorite things.  You still have tons of work you need to do, a lot of stress on your mind, and you just have to suck it up and do it anyway.  Obviously if you're sick enough you need to stay home and sleep/rest/not get other people sick.  But I don't think I was sick enough to justify not working, so I just worked like normal only it was a lot harder and more uncomfortable.  Not fun, but that's ok, it's all part of the experience, right? :) 

 

This morning I woke up feeling a bit better than I have been feeling, so that's good, I'm on to the recovery!

 

We've had tons of miracles this week!  Including the Miracle of Life! That's right, we had a baby! Well not literally 'us', but Rachel and Mitch did, and we got to go visit them in the hospital and see them and the baby :)  When the baby was born, they asked them what her name was, and they told them they hadn't decided yet, haha so they have 1 week to decide! We did our best to provide helpful options.  I suggested they name her "Elder Lonas", which I thought was a winner.  They politely declined. 

 

Wasn't conference great?!?! In case any one who isn't a member is reading this, and I haven't already given an explanation, we have General Conference every 6 months, where the Prophet and his apostles give inspired talks, so we know what Heavenly Father needs us to know today, in our day and age, because we face very different trials than they did 3 thousand years ago :)  I loved Holland's talk on Faith, he's a Boss. 

 

This week went by crazy fast, we had conference, ZLC ( I have no clue what happened in the meeting, I was just blowing my nose the whole time, and trying not to be too disgusting) and interviews and stuff to take care of, So I feel like we didnt have enough time to do everything we had to do.  We had to really focus and put out heads down when we WERE working to make up for lost time.  Meetings and stuff are good, they definitely help us, but sometimes I wish I could just work 24/7 for 2 years without distractions and stuff. 

 

 

Final thoughts, And I apologize if I've already talked about this, but it's been on my mind again recently.  I think we often make the mistake of looking at life, and the things we do in life, as a getting from point A to point B scenario.  Which is stupid.  Especially considering that point A and point B are often the same place.

 

In the grander scheme of things, we began with Heavenly Father, and we intend to return to Heavenly Father.  Before a mission, we begin at home, leave for 2 years, and then....go back home again.  Or even going on a run, we often run in a loop.  So if your only goal is to get from point A to point B, then everything in between is just an irritation, and honestly the most efficient shortcut would be to just not leave in the first place. 

But if your goal isn't about getting to a certain point, but about becoming something, than everything that is in your way becomes, instead of an irritation, a means of achieving your goal.  Like a steep hill on your morning run.  If you're trying to get back to the car, then the hill is a bad thing, because it's in your way. If you're trying to become a better runner, than the hill is what's going to enable you to do that.  Challenges on a mission, or in life, are the same way, I think.  Good stuff to think about.  Thornton and I would talk about this some time, and as we've dealt with different challenges this past week its been on my mind again.  It's all part of Heavenly Father helping us become who he wants us to be :) 

 

Life is really good, as a missionary I feel blessed way more than I deserve. 

 

Love, Elder Lonas!  

 

P.S.

So remember the guy from my last letter who gave me pizza and told me that God wasn't real? So I didn't mention this part of the story last time cuz it wasn't relevant.  On the way to our appointment (and we were running late) we realized that it was TWO HOUSES outside of our area.  Our ward split a couple months ago.  We're running late though, so we decided to go to the appointment anyway, and afterwards refer it to the Sisters whose area it is now in -  my old buddy Sister N, and she's follow up training Sister T. 

so after the appointment, I call them up, and I tell them that technically we have a referral for them, but he isn't really interested, and I give them a quick rundown, and they're like "no thanks, we find plenty of people who aren't interested on our own.  " hahaha, touche.

 
Then a few days ago, we hear about their miracle.  I won't tell you the full story because I have a headache from typing (still sicky)  and it's long, but basically, they tract into him, they get to teach him the first lesson, and now he is softly on date to be baptized.  It remains to be seen how his lessons will go, but whether he's ready right now or not, it's pretty cool :) 

 

He asked Sister N, "What's in it for me to know if God is real?  Why would it matter?"  and Sister N (who sometimes she forgets she is 22, not 5) said,  "wellllllllllll (probably in a high pitched sing-songy voice)... the only way I can think of to describe it to you, is that it will make your spirit smile!" 

 

Haha you should have seen the face I made when I heard this story...

 

I guess sometimes the spirit inspires you to talk like a child, because something about that answer clicked with him, and they were able to teach the first lesson. 

 

Pretty crazy I think. Coincidence? I think not!

Easter, Insights, Animals, and Alma

Monday, April 1, 2013

I Loved Easter Sunday, it was so nice, Sacrament meeting is just the best thing in the world, I can't imagine trying to live life without it.  Which is funny, because our ward here struggles in a lot of ways.  We don't have a ton of active, solid people.   The choir sounds... like a choir in a ward which struggles.  But the Spirit was there so strongly, I really needed it.  One of my recent converts, Micah, (he usually has been showing up to the Manette ward which is at 9) came to our ward, and he looked SO happy :)  He did his hair all nice for Easter Sunday, and we got to catch up for a couple minutes.  He is so happy that he was baptized, he always tells me about the difference that he has been feeling ever since then, and how much better off he is since he quit smoking.  Seriously, this guy is passionate about the Word of Wisdom. 

 

When I was watching them prepare the Sacrament, I thought back to my years as a deacon, then teacher, then a priest.  I think for the first time it struck me how much passing the sacrament is like serving a mission.  For your whole life up until you receive the priesthood, you are given the blessing of sitting with your family at church, and so its a blessing I took for granted.  Then you are asked to leave your comfort zone, and go do the Lord's work instead.  You are called to perform a sacred responsibility, that you don't really comprehend, and won't really comprehend until later on, generally speaking.  But performing the task and being worthy of it helps you to grow and become better, as you minister to others.  For a short time, you are more than what you are, and we saw that God calls us in our utter weakness, and then gradually qualifies us for us work.  Then you get to go back to your family, hopefully a bit better and more appreciative than you were before. 

 

Hey, I was thinking of a funny story that happened to me, I wanted to tell you about! it actually happened a couple weeks ago, but I always forget to tell you stuff. 

 

So we get a call from a random guy, and he wants us to meet with him at a given day and time, so we're just psyched, right?  Myself and my boy, Curtis, are the ones going to the appointment.  We get there, and a nice looking man, in an eggplant collared shirt and a Jerry Garcia tie opens the door, and welcomes us in very graciously.  

The first thing I notice walking in is that there is a little table with a Pizza Hut box on it, with some soda, plates, and napkins. In my head I'm like, Oh they just had lunch. Then he's like, "Oh here, the pizza is for you! 

 

At which point in time, Lonas gets a strong impression that this guy is luring me in. I look at the bait (I Love PIZZA) and I look at him, and I think of those stories about animals that are caught because they won't let go of the shiny object, or banana or whatever.  And in my head I'm like, "man those animals are dumb" and out loud I'm like "Ooh, Thanks! I love Pizza!"

 

 So I sit down  :)  

 

And he's like, will you offer an opening prayer?  And I think about it, and decide that I like praying, so I'm down.  I say a prayer, and say Amen, and I look up, and his head snaps up and his eyes open, and he had this look in his eyes like a predator, it was very interesting.  He said something along the lines of,

 

"I noticed you asked if the Spirit would be present.  Why is that? If God is omniscient, wouldn't he already know that you want the Spirit there? If you didn't ask, would the Spirit not be here?"

 

Hahaha :) silly man :)

 

I answer his question, and then he moves on to his next statement: "what would it take for you to deny the existence of Jesus Christ?"

 

(Anyone else having flashbacks to Alma 11:22-23?) 

 

And so I say, "O thou child of hell, why tempt ye me?"

 

Hahaha just kidding, that wouldnt have been very nice :)   I used nice words instead.

 

He brought up a bunch of stupid stuff, and just tried to tell us that God wasn't real basically.  But its funny, I was thinking as he was speaking, He didn't have anything new to say. He has nothing original, or profound or whatever.  The same arguments have been around for thousands of years, it's pretty redundant.  I did my best to politely answer his questions, bear my testimony, and then excused ourselves (after we finished the pizza, which was excellent) because we have much more important things to do. 

 

Arguing with people is a waste of time, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to bear my witness of the reality and divinity of the Christ.  In Sunday School, we spoke about when Barrabas (sp?) was released instead of Christ, and the question was posed, if we were there in the square, and Christ were to be crucified, would we stand up for him? 

 

I would suggest that people crucify Christ on a daily basis.  The God of Israel is trampled underfoot, and his words set for naught, and forgotten.  But we can stand for him, by raising our voice. 

 

I know that Jesus Christ IS our Saviour.  He is real, and He is Living.  I love him, and owe everything to Him.  I'm so grateful that he cared enough for me, to rescue me, despite my own stubbornness and pride.  I love being one of his missionaries.

 

Elder Lonas