Wow, short transfer!

 

Hey, everyone!

Well, first off, I feel I ought to explain the subject line of this E-mail. This is being a very short transfer, in both the sense that the mission feels that it is going by very fast now, and the fact that this transfer is actually a week short. In fact, we got our latest batch of new young elders yesterday! There were only to in this group, which is alright. The mission is already quite full - in fact, I don't even think the apartments rented by the mission have room for any more - so we ought not to expect any more groups of 12 missionaries - at least for the time being. That being said, we will not be getting any new young elders at all next month. The mission had decided that having new missionaries come on right before Christmas makes for a really hard time for missionaries to adjust to this new lifestyle; therefore, we will hold off until January. 

Now that that's out of the way... the week has been pretty good. I have been getting along well with my companion, and I have been doing the zone work pretty well. The move over to the JSMB has, as of yet, not happened, though other missionaries in the zone have been moving from the FHL to the JSMB this last week though - in fact, I had assigned one of the districts in the zone to help them out with moving this stuff over. So, I think that the talk about us moving to the JSMB has progressed beyond simply being a rumor which may or may not happen, and instead is a thing which the zone will need to actively prepare for. So, that will probably be the focus of my next week - to get missionaries in the zone ready to make the move, so that when they finally announce that we will be packing up our computers to make the move, we will already be prepared, and this will not take any more time or trouble than it needs to. (Amazing how well I finally realize what needs to be done in the zone while I write these E-mails!)

The mission had recently done a service project at the Church's humanitarian center here in SLC, which i got to be a part of. Unfortunately, there was no tour to introduce us to the Church's welfare program; then again, most of the mission had already taken the tour anyway the first time we had come over there. We had done the same thing which we did last time, specifically assembling hygiene kits to send out to people who need them. Such service is a nice little break from what we usually do as a mission. This outreach program has been quite helpful with getting missionaries to be "anxiously engaged in a good cause" (D&C 58:27), though there are not always service projects to be done; we do sometimes have night zones where everyone still shows up. But, it has done much good for the mission, to be able to serve like this.

To the end of being engaged in a good cause as such, I did make a point to attend the temple last Saturday. I had cooked up a soup which took a bit longer than expected, so we got to the temple a little later than expected. We had planned on doing baptisms and confirmations, but by the time we had arrived at the temple, the baptistry was already filled with a youth group; the wait was simply too long for us to be able to do this, and make it  back to the apartment in time for check-ins. So, we instead went to do initiatories. I had expected them to inform us that they were about to close down (which they were), but they did let us in. Me and my companion did end up being the last group of the night; after we had left, they had begun closing things down there. But, it was definitely worth attending! Also, on my way out, I did get to see Brother Cornia from my home ward! It is a small world after all, isn't it!

The mission had itself a Hail and Farewell potluck-style dinner to celebrate new and departing missionaries yesterday. I, of course, was excited for this - in essence, it means that I get free food! Of course, there is also the possibility of contributing some food, so I made a lemon meringue pie; I had cut it into sixteen smaller slices, but it still did not last long! As nice as the dinner was, I had a sudden realization that this is either my second to last or third to last such dinner (depending on how transfers work out for me)! Of course, I do still have a few months, but they are truly running out for me! Soon enough, I will be returning back home. But, I do still have some time left to do some good things out here.

In fact, I had though some about my going home soon. Of course, the goal here is to not get into a mindset that, because I won't be spending longer here, I no longer have to take the work seriously (in other words, getting "trunky"). I have seen it happen to other missionaries, and it isn't a pretty picture to see. Therefore, I had considered acting as though I still have ten months to go after my mission's official ending date. Then I figured that, if I do that, I will keep procrastinating things I need to do until ten months after my mission's end date. So, instead, I must accept that I am going home soon, and do what I can to make sure that, instead of fizzling out at the end of the mission, I can go out in a blaze of glory. So, in other words, rather than thinking that there are only three months left to go, I should realize that my time is running out, and I need to make the most of my last three months, and finish strong! And there is my spiel on that subject.

So, there's my week for you. I hope you all enjoy reading about my life out here, and I hope that you all have a great week!

From,

Elder Bryce Petersen

Challenge: Today, I would like to begin my challenge with a question: what does the word "church" mean to you? This question has been somewhat addressed recently in changes to Church structure, including and especially the adjustment to the Church schedule and the issuing of the "Come, Follow Me" resource. The Church, in short, has been giving the members more responsibility, rather than simply "doing and thinking what others are doing and thinking" (Take the Holy Spirit as Your Guide, Elder Larry Y. Wilson, April 2018). I will admit, that there was a time in my life where my religion, though it had some effect on how I lived my life, mostly just determined which Church I attended on Sundays. Such was the flaw of the Zoramites spoken of in the Book of Mormon. They only worshiped with as little effort as possible, "[offering] up these same prayers", and after their Sunday meetings, "[returning] to their homes, never speaking of their God again until they had assembled themselves together again" (see Alma 31:20-23). In short, they were only publicly religious. This may work to gain us acceptance in public groups of friends who share the same faith; however, only having this much devotion will profit us nothing, and "[we] have [our] reward" (in this context, see Matthew 6 for more examples of what it means to be "publicly religious"). So, my challenge this week is to find ways to show your religion outside of your Sunday meetings. List ways you can make yourself "an example of the believers" (1 Timothy 4:12). Keep a prayer in your heart as you do this, as the Lord will help those who ask (see D&C 4:7). Once you have found these ways, act upon what you have found. Find ways to serve those around you; don't wait for them to present themselves to you on a silver platter! I testify that this will open the windows of Heaven, pouring out the blessings of dedicated discipleship upon us, and we will find that, in financial terms, we will have a great return on our investment.