Again, More Snow

Hey everyone. It seems like it's been awhile since I've heard from anyone. Haven't gotten any mail for quite awhile now, (except for Grandma's birthday package) but I've decided that I am going to stop talking about or asking for mail and if people want to send me something, go for it, but I'm not expecting anything from anybody cause it doesn't seem to make a difference if I expect it or not.. Alright, so now that I got that out, how was your week? Great. Mine was ok too. I guess the cool news is that we got about 9 more inches of snow on friday. It was all powder, though so it was easy to shovel. I can't believe how much snow has been falling lately. Word is out that we're supposed to get another big storm starting tomorrow and going through thursday and it's supposed to be more than a foot again. I'm excited. It's also been ridiculously cold the last couple of days too. The high today is 11 and the low lastnight (this might not be correct, it's just what we've heard) was around -20! It is crazy. We were going to go to Boston today, but we opted out of that so we didn't have to walk around in that weather. We'll probably just be at home playing board games or something.

So yeah, this week was pretty good. We haven't had any amazing success lately, but we are working hard and trying to improve in whatever aspects we can. To be 100% honest, I've been a bit frustrated lately, if you couldn't tell by my opening few sentences, but I'm not sure why. It's not because of the mail thing, don't worry- it really doesn't affect me that bad. I just don't feel like we are teaching enough. The lessons we do teach are good, and I love the people we are working with, but for some reason, I just feel like we could be doing better. But, I know that missions aren't all joy and happiness all the time - they come with frustrations and disappointments too, so I guess this is one of those times, and I just have to figure out a way to fix it.

Like I said, the people we are teaching are great people and this week was no exception to that. We taught Steve Green again. He is still struggling with his WoW issues, and I don't know if he realizes the importance of not doing those things, but we are continuing to meet with him and help him progress. He wasn't at church yesterday, which was a huge disappointment because we were at his house an hour before church started and he said he'd be there for sure. That one hurt.

One of the good experiences I had this week was at Artur's. He's the one we are teaching English to. There is a man who recently moved into our ward who speaks Russian, so we took him with us to our appointment with Artur. We ended up not teaching him any English, and our member and Artur just talked for the whole 2 hour block, but it was probably more beneficial than us teaching him anything. He told our member (who is named Trent Ostler, and said that he thinks Don is his grandpa's brother) that he has had questions about what we teach him, cause the first 30 minutes of every lesson is a spiritual thought. He was able to express the concerns he had to Trent and Trent was able to help resolve those better than we could. And although I didn't understand a thing that was said, I could tell that Artur was learning and feeling the Spirit as they spoke to each other. It was a pretty cool experience.

I also had another powerful experience lastnight while visiting one of our inactive members. We have visited him before a few times, and he has just used the excuse that he doesn't fit in with our ward cause he's old and nobody else is; but lastnight, he opened up a bit more and we were able to address a few of his real concerns. He explained to us that his daily schedule is roughly: sleep all day, wake up around 11pm, watch tv until 6 am and sleep until 11pm, etc. He has absolutely no desire to do anything and it really puzzled me. We talked to him for awhile and he started explaining that he is aiming for the Telestial Kingdom, and he's happy with that. I don't really know how to explain what I felt at this point, other than it was the Love of God for this man, and how much He wants him to come back. I was feeling it more than I have before for anyone, and it was intense. It wasn't all a good feeling though, because this man has zero desire to do anything, and has the attitude that nothing he does will make any difference, so as he was talking, it was really hurting me to hear him say those things. I don't know how anyone that has the knowledge of the Restored Gospel and the kingdoms of glory can say that they are happy shooting for the Telestial Kingdom. I just wanted to yell at him and make him do something to change his mind, but obviously that wouldn't help at all. I just bore my testimony about how everything we do makes a difference and that he needs to change his outlook on life so that I can see him in the Celestial Kingdom. He called me naive, which fired me up inside. For some reason, when people disagree with me, I just feel sorry for them and hope that they come to realize the truth sooner than later. It also seems to strengthen my testimony of what is true. When people disagree, I just sortof laugh at them on the inside because I know it's true and nothing they say will change that. We are going over again tonight because he told us that before we came back, he would pick up his scriptures and pray, so we set up an appointment for as soon as we could. I really don't know what will happen, but I hope that it's good and that he will feel a little bit of what he's missing.

I don't really have much else to talk about this week. I did want to challenge you to all to do something though. Throughout this last week, I've been thinking alot. I have been asking myself "Why?" Why was I sent to this place? Why did I meet this person? Why anything? From the experiences I've had this week, I've come to the conclusion that everything we do makes all the difference. That's why. Because every single thing we do brings a consequence, whether it's good or bad. I have realized this and it has really helped me to feel more of the love that God has for His children. My challenge is for all of you (meaning anyone who reads this, whether you are family or not) to think about how you can be a tool in the Lord's hand this week. Everything you do will bring a consequence, so why not make them good consequences? Recognize that you are where the Lord needs you to be and that you will find opportunities to help His kingdom grow if you are looking for them. I don't know if Mom shared the challenge I sent her last week, but if not, you can ask her about it. And then do it. I hope all of this last paragraph has made sense. It makes perfect sense in my head, but often times that doesn't come out the way I want it to. If it doesn't make sense, sorry. Just find a way that you can be God's tool this week. I will be following up with you next week to hear about your experiences, so head's up for that. Hope you all have a fantastic week. I love you all, probably more than you think ;)


Love,
Elder Hammer