Transfers! Leaving Jacksonville...

Hello Everybody!

HOLY COW THIS WEEK HAS BEEN INSANE. So there's not any other way to put it. I'm totally brain-fried from everything that's happened this past week. Sometimes you just have weeks and days where not only does time fly by, but it just leaves you totally exhausted and wondering how everything happens so fast.

So yeah this week was great because so many members came out teaching with us! It was so great - the testimony of members really does bring the Spirit and totally changes the view of the people we teach. The Spirit is the real teacher, and we just bring the Spirit, as missionaries. 

So we had a transfer call on Saturday night! My companion Elder McBride is going to stay here with a new missionary - he will be training the new missionary! - and I will be going back to GAINESVILLE. GAINESVILLE. Sound familiar? I'll be headed back to where I spent the first 6 months of my mission! I'll get to see the members and missionaries that I knew back when I was serving there, which is really exciting. I wouldn't want to be serving anywhere else.

  So then the next day, Sunday, we had church and it went well. We then took off right after church, to a southern gospel choir devotional that some of the missionaries were invited to sing at, and I got to go play viola and perform there.  It was, how do you put it... Intense.  I felt like an 1800's missionary yelling "Amen!" "Hallelujah!" "Thank you Jesus!" And many permutations of those all mixed together.

This is us at the Genesis Southern Choir Invitational.

    Then, off to a devotional that we'd been planning for a few months. All 4 missionaries in our congregation spoke, members bore testimony, and we had special musical numbers (and I got the privilege to play viola there too, which was fun). It was all centered around the Jesus Christ and the restoration of his Gospel. It was a powerful, spirit filled, LONG day.  

Too lazy to rhyme right now (oops, sorry.) And so here's a random probably terrible free verse poem that sums up how Elder McBride and I have felt this week.

 "Feeling Tired? Good work."

We're tired.
        Very tired.

Cold, wet, exhausted, sunburnt

          Time for bed.

But wait!

Time to pray,

           To thank God

   For the day

Kneeling down in gratitude.

                       We're exhausted.

 We're tattered.

  We didn't sleep last night.

But why are we so happy?

Why do we feel so good?

Because exhaustion from service is really exhilaration

            God rewarding us for serving his children.

Peace, joy, love, 

      They all come from God.

Yes, serving him feels good.

We lay in bed, still exhausted,

                        But in a good way. 

   We smile,

Already excited for tomorrow

To press forward in God's work. 

Love you all!              Here are some pictures from the week.

I LOVE OUR DISTRICT and will miss them all so much. I've learned a lot here.

A super cool Polaroid camera picture. Our district and our wonderful Zone Leaders after our last district meeting.

I'll miss these Elders when I leave. Ahhhh they're so great.
Also, note sure why I'm the only one not wearing a suit.

FORT CAROLINE:  P-Day outing

We went to the French fort - Fort Caroline - today and walked around and learned more about the history of the area. Basically, French Colonists came and settled here in the mid 1500's.

They set up a fort and made friends with the local Timucan Indians.

Timucan Indian Hut

     But then... an awkward situation arose when, down the river in Saint Augustine, there was a huge Spanish settlement. Basically, the Spanish came in and totally wipe the little French colony out. Now, I don't have Google, so I'm just going from information boards... Correct me if I'm wrong...

Elder McMullin

A Very Soggy Week Biking

Well hello everybody,

        This week was nice but also extremely exhausting. We had interviews
with our mission president and when we have interviews, his wife
Sister Lee and the assistants to the president are always there and we
have a district meeting. It's a little stressful to be running a
meeting with them all there but it went really well and we learned a
lot.

Fort Caroline District:  Sisters Gilbert and Hoffman, Elders Rodger, Marchant, McBride, District Leader McMullin, Elders Antares, Walker, Assistants to the President Ward and Botalla, President Lee.

      We found out that we will be singing at a devotional in Dunn
Avenue this Sunday! We'll be singing with a choir that our church runs
but anybody can come sing - it's called Genesis. It's a big southern
gospel choir that sings southern gospel hymns and so we're SUPER
EXCITED to go and get to sing there!

        It's been rainy in Jacksonville this week. Extremely rainy. Elder
McBride and I were on bikes from Monday- Thursday and it actually
rained every day that we biked. It didn't just rain, though. All three
days, it poured and poured and poured from 6-9 at night while we were
biking. We stayed out the whole time and kept on keepin' on, of
course, but when we got back to our apartments at night, we were just
totally soaked. It got to the point where we'd just bike through the
huge foot deep puddles because we couldn't get any more wet than we
already were. It was also pretty cold, and I guess that our bodies
don't like getting cold and wet all week, so I've had a pretty nasty
cold from Friday until now, but thankfully we haven't missed any time
out proselyting. Word of the week? DayQuil. It's my friend.

   This picture is right before we went home one night when we
were both already soaking wet and couldn't be any wetter. I think this
pictures explains it well. 10/10 would do again.

 This next picture is a beautiful day in Florida. I
love Florida. So much. And we thought that the clouds looked pretty.

        So here's a "Elizabethan Sonnet" I'll call it, even though I'm about
99.9% sure that the form is wrong. I'll email my wonderful English
major mother today and ask her for help.


"Service"

The Christ gave his life,
In service for us,
He did away strife,
He healed and build trust.

So what must we give,
In thanks for His gift?
Let's change how we live,
Let's change how we lift.

Our lives should be spent,
In doing God's work.
We should be hell-bent,
We never should shirk.

Our struggles God knows,
Let's serve him below.

Thoughts on Doctrine

    One thing that I've become obsessed with is doctrine. What doctrine does for us and what the purpose is. By doctrine, I mean the foundation behind everything that we do, the reasoning for our actions.

I memorized 2 Timothy 4:1-8 the other day because I love these last verses that Paul writes. One thing that he says stands out to me. He's talking about the last days, and how to be a good evangelist in times when people "turn away their ears from the truth, and are turned unto fables." He says that we are to "rebuke, reprove, exhort, with all long suffering, and doctrine." I love how he instructs us to rebuke and exhort people with doctrine. Doctrine is what will change a person's nature. Understanding doctrine leads to a love of God and faith, which changes a person's nature. Fear just changes behavior.

So in this last district meeting, I decided that everything that we do as missionaries as we learn should be focused on better understanding doctrine so that our natures change. We have a goal-setting session in district meeting every week, basically 10-15 minutes where we review last weeks goal, after looking at our district total key indicators, and set goals and make plans for how to increase our numbers for the next week. It would be easy to set a "behavior changing" goal, like "everybody find 7 new investigators this week" or "hand out 15 copies of the Book of Mormon." But a focus I've been working on is setting nature changing goals, ones that help us understand doctrine and therefore help us BECOME more like Christ instead of just ACTING like him.

So yeah that's fun! I realized that I was super excited and always studying at the start of my mission. I read the whole Book of Mormon, I read doctrine and covenants, I studies for an extra 45 minutes in the morning and then for an hour during lunch and dinner. It's harder to study now, with everything as a district leader, but I want to get back into that routine of always having the scriptures open and reading. 

   Jesus Christ lives. He guides us every day. He leads this church. It is his work. He knows each of us and does everything that he can to touch and bless us. As long as we have faith and look for the miracles in our lives, big or small, we'll see them.

So this week's poem is short because ain't nobody got time for long emails when we have 2 hours to write everybody we know back home.

Miracles

We see them every day,

As we look into the light.

Our life is never gray,

As we're living in God's might.

His hand is all around us,

In every little thing.

We need not make a fuss,

So thanks to God we sing.

The miracle of family,

The miracle of joy,

Not one of these come haply,

So thanks to God employ.

Love you all!!!!! Hope you have a great week :)

We found a Wisconsin license plate. Enough said. 

Being fed dinner by some generous church members.

Playing Amazing Grace, Eating Fish Tacos...

Hello Everybody!

         We've really worked a lot with members this week. We were invited to dinner Wednesday night and had dinner with a member and four of his cousins.  We had a chance to teach them! Missionary work really is done better when teaching members' friends because they're much more prepared to accept the gospel.

        We had a powerful experience at another member's home this week - we were
eating there and they'd asked me to bring my viola and play something for their family.  (They hold a big family dinner Thursday nights where their kids and grand kids come.)  A very close family member had just passed away and they asked if I could play "Amazing Grace". So I played and improvised some variations and such, but the spirit that was in the house was amazing.

  Everybody but the four year old little boy in the house was crying by the time I stopped playing. I have a testimony of music and the ability that it has to bring the Spirit. (I also think that, when the Spirit is there while I'm playing, it kind of covers up all of the mistakes that I make somehow... Not sure how, but I'm pretty sure it works like that.)

This is a picture of us (my district) at a super cool fish taco place. It was so good!

        Here's a little poem thing that Elder Antares and I were thinking
about and wrote briefly together this week.

Me and Elder Antares at Zone Conferencet this past week.

 It's still in peer review, but here's a (very) rough draft.

 I AM THE DRAGON HEARTED

Where I go I shall bring light,
Though shadow may veil my path,
I shan't fear, I do not bow,
As the darkness encroaches,
I shall go ever forward,
As all others flee,
I shall be unmoved
          FOR I AM DRAGON HEARTED

And the flame which I carry
Rends the darkness like a sword,
While the light abides in me,
As a shield in a fallen world
          BUT NO, NOT FOR I ALONE

For this flame which I carry
Shall not be for mine own sake,
But for all whose light has faded,
For those who tremble and shake
          STILL, I AM DRAGON HEARTED

Though hell's harsh winds may bear down,
My fire shall ever endure,
This message never silenced,
My light shining ever pure
          LEADING TO SOMETHING GREATER

Like the dawn before the sun,
Blinding spark before the fire,
Lightning before the thunder,
I point to Someone higher
          WE ARE THE DRAGON HEARTED

At times, all seen is darkness,
And though one cannot fathom
An ever glowing sunrise,
We come to gently remind,
Perhaps they've closed their eyes
          OUR LIGHT SPREADS EVER ONWARD

Always glowing, bursting forth,
We are beacons in the night,
The bright fire in a warm hearth,
Beckoning them come to the light
          WE ARE THE DRAGON HEARTED

Whatever place I may go,
I shall always bring my light,
Shining and showing the way,
To the One who overcame darkest night
          WE ARE THE DRAGON HEARTED


 Love you all!!!!

On a tradeoff with Zone Leader Masino! He's amazing and super fun!