Supporting the Missionaries

I've mentioned it time and time again, but I love writing missionaries. I really hope that each of you write at least one missionary throughout his mission. Missionaries are special individuals who have been set apart for a period of time to share the Gospel. Receiving letters from missionaries picks up your spirit. They are so full of the gospel and they share their testimony with you and strengthen your own testimony.

I have a friend, Elder Ludwig, serving a mission in Japan who wrote me the following:

"I wish I could share with you all that I have learned and experienced on my mission. I think that would be impossible. I suppose the biggest thing would have to be love. I feel as though my capacity to love others, to show love, to be loved, and share it has grown dramatically. If only I could explain it. I have made eternal friends. I really, truly love my mission."

How can you not love missionaries? How can you not want to write them?

I'm keeping a blog for my brother, Elder Walker, and another of my friends, Elder Remington. (FYI, if you want to have a blog kept for your missionary, contact me). Then there is Elder Barton and Elder Burnham who have their own blog. I've also kept in touch and written all the missionaries that I know pretty well. It's so great to read what they write. They are always so spiritual. They are always learning. Always open to learning. I love writing them. Please, please write them. The missionary and yourself will be blessed. We are all to serve one another, and this is how I've best been able to serve and support our missionaries.

Your Next Best 2 Years

This last weekend was a great one with stake conference. I had so many moments and inspiration that it'll take a few posts to organize it all. I'll begin with the topic: Your Next Best 2 Years.

I have a brother currently serving a mission. I have many friends currently serving missions. Many are coming home this year while many others have just left. I have many more friends who have returned from missions, and I'm engaged to one of them. When the topic of "The Next Best 2 Years" was discussed, I really listened to the words he had to say as well as what I can do.

I've never served a mission. When I was a child I wanted to because my mother served. Then for a long time I didn't. However, last year I was listening to a devotional or a CES fireside, or something, and I felt that I should begin preparing. I was turning 21 in a year and a half. For young women, 21 is the minimum age to serve a mission. I learned that preparing for marriage and preparing for the mission are the same thing. If I had neared by 21st birthday with no one in my life, then I was going to serve. If there was someone, then I wasn't. Elder Richard G. Scott quoted council from the First Presidency:

"'Worthy single women ages twenty-one and older … may be recommended to serve full-time missions. … These sisters can make a valuable contribution … , but they should not be pressured to serve. Bishops should not recommend them for missionary service if it will interfere with imminent marriage prospects'” ("Now Is the Time to Serve a Mission").

Funnily enough, once I made this decision and moved forward, I met my fiancé. But that's a different story.

My Brother's Shared Life Lessons

I've asked my brother, an Elder serving in South Carolina, to share the life lessons he's learned on his mission so far. I've already posted a few responses from other Elders and Sisters serving missions previously, but I'll be continuing to do this every time I receive a response from those currently serving or those who have returned. But this is what my brother shared with me:

I have a testimony that the best things in life comes as a result of enduring the hardest things. 

If you seek for temporal happiness, you'll find it, but down the road you'll come to realize you could have had something better. Seek for the relations that lead to eternal happiness through trials and tribulations and patience. 

When you're having a hard time appreciating somebody, pray to God and ask him to show you why He loves that person so you can love them in the same way. 

A full understanding of the Gospel includes wisdom and knowledge of all things, both spiritual, such as the Nature of God, and physical, such as sciences. Prioritize God's commandments above all else, he will guide thee to come to a knowledge of all things. 

We need more Faith. President Holm, my brother's mission president, said, "Most people expect to fail but hope to surprise themselves and win." We need to have that faith or expectation to achieve what we set our minds up to accomplish.

I hope that we can each incorporate them into our own lives and become better as a result. Don't forget to write your friends and acquaintances on missions. They'd love it, and you can take is as an opportunity to grow and to become better friends.

Sisters' Shared Lessons

Question to the missionaries: "What are some of the lessons you have learned?"

I've asked this question of a lot of individuals currently serving a mission, and last month I shared an Elder's response. Today, I had lessons learned from sister missionaries.

A sister, who has just recently started serving in Arizona, said:

"Some lessons I've learned...? A lot of 'Christians' aren't very 'Christian'; shoe tan lines are cool; You can get along with anyone if you love them; Home is the closet thing to heaven on Earth; your parents really do know everything; and you can answer any question with a scripture. :) How's that?"

Another sister, who is soon coming home after serving in Michigan, said:

1. The Worth of a Soul is Great in the sight of God.
2. The Atonement covers all pain and infirmity.
3. I can be good at repenting, forgiving, and praying while on this earth.
4. The scriptures heal a wounded soul. Jacob 2:8.
5. No matter what, put God first.
6. Exercise daily, you get fat!
7. Loving a person is easier for me than a lot of other missionaries I have served with.
8. Service will keep a person repentant and humble. But it's not convenient.
9. It is a choice to be positive or negative; Choose the first.
10. The Gospel is Restored, no doubt about it. So share it!

Often we think of writing missionaries as a way of serving them, and it is! However, we also have to recognize how they bless us in return. Write a missionary. Ask them questions that you really want to know the answers to. When and if they have the time to write back, their words could strengthen your own testimony, especially when taken into action. Please remember all those missionaries serving the Lord in your prayers. They'll appreciate it.

An Elder's Shared Life Lessons

I implied in yesterday's post that I received some letters from my friends currently serving missions. One of the questions I always enjoy asking them is "What are a few of the lessons you've learned on your mission?" Because when they have the chance to respond, they give me these answers that are really inspiring. Today I want to share what one of the Elders wrote me about a few life lessons he's learned:

1. The Lord is preparing certain people to receive and accept the message of the Restoration. And often times, it's the people you least expect.
2. Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies. If the Lord wants you to be a missionary, he will help you to be a missionary. If he wants you to be the prophet, he'll help you become the prophet.
3. Obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel will bring you lasting happiness. Satan tries to trick us, or beguile us to think that we are truly happy. But we're not. Only the Savior and His gospel can do that.

The reasons why I like to ask missionaries about the lessons they've learned is so that I, too, can learn those lessons. I want the missionaries serving to think about not just all the "success" or lack of they are having, but of all the lessons they are learning. I want them to think about the amazing opportunity they have to grow in the gospel and the lessons they have learned, so that they can begin to apply them immediately. I want to hear of what they have learned, so that I can also begin to apply them in my life.

How to Write a Missionary

Have you ever written a missionary? It's rather fun. Once you figure out what to say.

Often, when you begin, you stare at the single sheet of binder paper with the date from 3 days prior on the top line and "Dear Elder"on the 3rd, because it takes up more room. You stare the same state your mind is in, blankly. You have no idea what to say.

You start your first sentence (with a blank line in between the "Dear Elder" and the line you are currently marking, of course).

Learning from Ancestors

Family History. I love it. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it's part of what we do. It doesn't just mean genealogy work. I means really getting to know your past relatives. In the church, we also use it to discover which portions of our ancestors' ordinances are done.

For me, however, I have to go back a great many generations to find someone without their work done. All lines of my ancestors joined the church back in the 1800s. They've pretty much been doing Family History work ever since then. As a result, I don't focus all too much on that aspect of it. But I do love to follow the doings and stories of each individual. I learn of their struggles to America back before it was a country. I learn of their struggles across the Great Plains to Utah and from there to other parts of the West. I learn of the hardships they faced in the Great War and the Great Depression. I learn how much technology has changed. I learn of their daily lives, their hopes and dreams. It's truly fascinating to me. Much of the lessons my ancestors have learned through their trials are simular to the ones I face now. You learn much wisdom from studying your ancestors' lives.

Time for Registering!

Wow. It's already time to sign up for my next semester. That's just a bit crazy to me. It was July only a few months ago! And now, it's the week before Thanksgiving and practically a month before Christmas. Then the week after that it's time for me to return to Rexburg, ID and freeze to death.

What Rexburg, ID practically looks like in January

I love Rexburg, don't get me wrong. I really do love the town. It's just the snow that is a little crazy. Oh, and the wind. I'm a Cali girl! Cold means it's 60º outside! Though once I'm there for a month and a half, I start thinking that 34º means it's warm... but that's a whole other issue.

But I'm excited to return. I get to learn some new things. I get to be productive every day (hopefully). I am able to see friends whenever I'd like to (when I'm not crazy busy with homework). I even get to be a Junior this time around. That's the oddest thing. To realize that I'm a Junior. It represents that I've been at school for the past two years. That I graduated high school 2 1/2 years ago. It's odd to look back on my younger self and realize how much I've changed and grown in those years. It makes me so grateful that I have grown, but it's just surprising at how much fast the years are passing me by.

I remember when I was in grade school that every year was so very long. From Christmas to Christmas or birthday to birthday. It was forever. Now? It feels like we just had Christmas. Not that I'm complaining. I absolutely love Christmas. However, they do seem to come more frequently than before. Maybe it's because when I was 8 years old, a year was 1/8 of my life. That's quite significant. Now it's only 1/20 of my life. I expect that Christmas will seem to come closer and closer together as life goes on.

In the next two years, I'll (hopefully) be graduated. My one brother will have returned from his mission to South Carolina and the other will have been out for at least a few months. I plan on using this blog for the both of them. I'm so clever. My sister will be a Senior in high school (that's a scary thought...). And my youngest brother will be in the midst of 8th grade. That's not too bad. Scary. But it wouldn't be high school.

Time. Goes by fast, and slow. and everything in between. "Time is relative." It's true. Albert Einsein was a pretty smart man. Time is time. It's hard to really pin it down. and it's always changing. It never stays constant.

I love it. I've got a lot to look forward to in life!

Teaching Relief Society

Yesterday, I taught Relief Society in my YSA branch! It was pretty great. I haven't taught Relief Society for a few years. It used to be my calling. When I graduated Young Women's and entered into Relief Society, I began to teach once a month from July through December. I loved that so much. The sisters in my home ward are some of my best friends. I really love them and their friendships. They are so wonderful. I consider my homeward as my extended not-family. It was truly a pleasure to teach the lessons. As the teacher, I was more of a conductor of a discussion than a lecturer. Especially since I realized that so many of the sisters had so much to contribute than I did because the had truly lived, and I felt as if I was just beginning. I didn't (and still don't) have as much experience. But it was honestly one of my favorite callings (though, truthfully I love them all).

As a result, being asked to teach Relief Society once again was truly something I was rather ecstatic to do. Even though I know almost no one in my Relief Society. I'm beginning to know them though and they are a great group of girls. But I've never taught my own peer group before. It's actually rather amusing that I was terrified of that. I'm more comfortable teaching YW's or the sisters in my home ward.

My lesson was Chapter 44: The Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

This is way I tend to prepare for teaching from the Gospel Principles manuel. I begin by reading it through once or twice. Just reading it. No notes. No highlighting. Just reading. I then go back and try to determine which quotes and sections really made an impression on me. I'd jot done little comments about my impressions near the the quote. I'd then go back through again and I write in questions along the side next to each section. This way, when I am teaching and we come to that point, if I feel it is appropriate, I can ask those questions and make those comments that the class can ponder and discuss.

I truly believe it is important to teach from the manuel. Not just pick a topic and go wild with it. However, I also believe that we can wander a bit from the exact words in the manuel. I just believe that everything we taught about has to stay under the umbrella of the lesson title. I always want to make sure that I am teaching what our Latter-day prophets feel is important for us to be teaching and learning about for that day. But I also want to make sure I allow the Spirit into the lesson and prompt people to speak and feel and learn something. Sometimes the lesson moves in a direction I wasn't quite expecting because that's what that particular class needed to hear.

For such flexibility, I really have to know my lesson and topic well. This way I can answer most any question that comes my way. Or I can guide the class in a certain direction based on the what I feel. I've never had a lesson set in stone. I just try to learn as much as I possibly can so I can be the best instrument I can be for the Lord and the Holy Ghost and teach what they'd like me to teach. It's quite the endeavor. But I really love it. What's really helpful is having a background in the gospel. Meaning daily scripture study is helpful in more than just guiding your daily life. It's helpful in adding to that foundation of information you can pull from.

It really is true that the teacher learns more than the class. The teacher has to know the topic and lesson well enough to move in any direction under it. Then with all the insights and knowledge from the class that you never even thought of, you learn even more. I really, really loved teaching the gospel. You have Latter-day Saints as your "students", you have the Holy Ghost as the teacher, and you just stand in front of the class and direct, just like the conductor for music. It's fantastic.

Yesterday went well. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to teacher in my YSA branch. It was wonderful

See you later, Elder Walker!

Our Family

Today my brother has been set apart and has flown into Utah.

Many new traditions are made when a child goes into the next phase in their life. What's weird is that it's usually me who's experiencing these new things. This time it's my brother. He's left to serve the people in the South Carolina Columbia mission for the next two years. I won't see him in two full years. That's a very long time. Short. Yet, long. And it's just begun.

Yesterday was a fabulous day. Ben mostly finished up packing while I worked on creating his blog and checking it by him before he left. It was a great day. It just so happened to be Family Home Evening night. We naturally asked Ben what he'd like to do for his last day. Would he like to go out to eat? That seems to be the traditional thing. However, he decided that he'd rather spend time at home than out to eat. What we did instead? We played Super Mario Brothers Wii. It was a blast. Half of us were really good. The other half was extremely bad. My parents and I were in the half that was bad. We all had several hours of an ab workout with all the laughing we accomplished. We were so terrible that it was funny. Luckily the goal wasn't that we would actually win anything, because we each kept dying even if we had started out with 9 lives. I'm so grateful for the family that lent it to us for the night. It created memories that will last forever.

Everyone minus our photographer Stake President

This morning, my brother and sister woke up earlier than early to make a big breakfast for Ben. It's a tradition in our house. I'm not really sure how it started, but if it's a special day for a sibling or a parent, one or two of us will wake up earlier than we normally do to make pancakes, waffles, dutch baby pancakes or Norsekepannekakers. Not only that, but we'll go overboard with freshly squeezed orange juice, strawberries, whipped topping, bacon, etc. I love this tradition. Even if we wake up earlier than early. Which generally means earlier than either 5:50 when my siblings leave for seminary or 6:15 when the rest of us wake for scripture reading. It's such a pleasant smell to wake to.

The youngest and oldest brothers.

When breakfast was done, we hurried over to the church building where my brother and sister were for seminary. Our aunt and uncle, the Bishop, his son who is great friend of my brother's, and another recently ordained Elder fit into the stake president's office with my immediate family. The stake president informed us that the setting apart only takes a moment, so if before we got started he asked if we had any advice to share with my brother. The Bishop and my parents both shared their advice, which I mention on my brother's blog. But my youngest brother who has a really close relationship with Ben and who will probably have an extremely difficult time without him, shared his advice, "If you'll be as good of a missionary as a brother, you'll be a great missionary. And baptize like 50 thousand people." We all sort've stared at him. It was rather profound. I think it'll really get Ben thinking while on his mission. Short and simple, but strong with lots of meaning.

Then he was set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The sisters with their brother

He was able to have his stake president, bishop, father, uncle, and two friends in the circle. Of course, afterwards we took a lot of photos.

After my two siblings went off to high school, the rest of my family plus Elder Fischer, went off the the airport. They were immediately heading out to Utah and will be spending time with my uncle's family. Tomorrow they will be reporting to the MTC.

Even though tomorrow is officially the day they are reporting in, today is the last day we'd get to see either of them. They'll be great missionaries. They're great people. Wish them the best of luck and keep them in your prayers!

Best of Brotherhood.

Elder Walker with the parents.

"There is no other labor in all the world that brings to a human heart, judging from my own personal experience, more joy, peace and serenity than proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Heber J. Grant - Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Heber J. Grant

Last Day with my Brother, Elder Walker

Today's the last day I'm spending with my brother for two years!! It's sad. Though exciting. He'll be serving for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Columbia South Carolina Mission.

He's pretty much assigned me (read: I commandeered) to be the official record and memory keeper for him. To help fully accomplish such a task I've set up a blog for him entitled Elder Walker. I'm feeling especially clever over the fact that I can also use this blog for my other brother when he leaves on his mission. Their missions will probably be overlapping for a few months. It'll end up being a combined blog for the both of them. Eventually. We have a year and a half before I'll worry myself too much about that.

But it's exciting.

I can't believe he'll be leaving soon. The day he reports into the MTC is also the day he turns 19 years old. Apparently they really wanted him as soon as possible. What's even more exciting is that at the moment he and his cousins Elder Bean and Elder Laughlin will all be in the Provo MTC at the same time. He'll also be arriving and reporting to the MTC with another friend, Elder Fischer. I'm hoping they each really enjoy it.

Meanwhile, I'm getting all my cards ready to mail him. Along with all the other missionaries I've been neglecting since I've been in Switzerland. If anyone wishes to write a missionary, I just so happen to have quite the collection of addresses for you to choose from. They'd probably all love to hear from you. We'll probably also be helping the post office stay in business. My family, however, says I do that all by myself.  Seriously though, if you want some sort of FHE activity or mutual activity or something, contact me for addresses! I have numerous amounts of them.

Book of Mormon

As I was unpacking, organizing and cleaning my room I found one - two - Three! copies of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. This doesn't count my own personal copy. These copies were given to me by the missionaries. I've asked them for one throughout the years so I'd always have one on hand with me through high school, work, or anything really. I was ready. I was even blessed enough to have given several to people throughout my life. But I found three still in my room.

I haven't really used them much in the past two years because I've been away at BYU-Idaho for 7 months straight and pretty much everyone is a member there. Sharing the gospel and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is a bit different there. As a result, I've always left my copies to hand out at home in California where there's a lot more opportunity to hand one out spontaneously.

But this month is unofficially Book of Mormon month. The October 2011 issue of the Ensign is a special issue focused on the Book of Mormon. Then a blog I follow, "We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ", has decided to also focus on the Book of Mormon this month. Then during General Conference, the Book of Mormon was also mentioned, as it normally is. However there were three talks where the Book of Mormon was truly the theme: Richard G. Scott's "The Power of Scripture", Henry B. Eyring's "A Witness", and Tad R. Callister's "The Book of Mormon – a Book from God".

When I found these three copies of the Book of Mormon without a home where they can change it from the inside out, I was rather depressed about that fact and decided that I'm going to give these copies out before the end of the year. I'll be keeping my ears, eyes and heart open so I can find homes for them. I'm going to have to get back into the habit of carrying a copy with me everywhere I go. Luckily purses exist!

You just have to love The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It's a book that changes your life every time you read it. You know you are on the right page when you are experiencing a moment of confusion and loss, then you recall a verse from the scriptures that gives you comfort and guidance. It's a book that changes you from the inside out. When you're changed from the inside out, you just shine. It makes you truly joyful, even when you experience the sadness of mortality. It helps you discover the purpose of life. The purpose of a great many things actually. Every word just rings with sincerity and truthfulness. You can't doubt it when you read and study the words and lessons it has on every page.

And yet, I have three copies in my room. Not doing anyone any good. Quite the waste of a marvelous, true book that changes people.

I've met people who think that people can't change who and what they are. They think that people can't change their characteristic of laziness, or fear, or pride, or whatever else. Many think they can't change themselves. But you can. You can, and this wonderful book teaches you how. Just reading it, wanting to know, it begins a change. A marvelous change. From good to better, from better to best, from best to even better than best. It only helps you up. It's impossible to read it with true intent and not become even a little bit better. This book is truly a marvelous thing. Sometimes I just don't think that any of us really take full advantage of it.

So I have a goal. These books sitting on my desk are going to find a home in the next two months. It can only do good out there. Meanwhile I'll continue reading my own. It can only do good to my heart and life. From the inside out.

Writing Letters

"To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart." 

~Phyllis Theroux

Do you ever become excited when you see your name on an envelope with the return address indicating it's from a friend or family member? I know I do. Even if it's just an invitation, announcement, thank you card or the annual Christmas newsletters.

Of course I love the wondrous inventions of the internet with it's e-mail and Facebook. I adore cell phones with the ability to call and text others. I truly revel in instant communication. But there is something about having a letter with my name front and center delivered to my mailbox that just makes you feel special.

To be sent a letter from a family member or friend represents the love they have for you. They took the time to update you on their lives in order to keep you included. They want you to know that they care that you know. They want you to share in the excitement of their lives. They want you to know exactly how much you mean to them.

In today's world, personal letters are no longer all that common. We certainly use it for formal invitations. We use it for graduation announcements, wedding announcements, and even baby announcements. We use it for the sincere Thank You cards and the joyful Happy Birthday cards as well as the heartfelt Get Well cards. The annual Christmas newsletters are always a favorite of mine so I can be included and be aware of all the achievements and growth the family friends realized throughout the year. I love receiving any mail like that.

But personal letters? They've mostly been replaced by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, texting and phone calls. Which undoubtedly is a fantastical thing I truly love. It allows me to be updated in real time. However, the occasional letter to know that I'm cared for is something I treasure.

There's a trick to receiving this sort of mail. You write others. When you take the time to show others you care by writing them a letter, they are more likely to write back. Or at the very least know you love them. I've been writing different people regularly since the first week of January. In the process, I've discovered I love writing others. It makes me feel so cheerful and happy and I'd totally suggest it to everyone. However, if you really want to write someone that'll write back, write to someone who doesn't really have access to real time information, such as Latter-day Saint Missionaries. They love it.

I've collected such a huge list of people to write that I'm intimated by the list as it's grown. All I have to do it take one person at a time. One person a week, or day or somesuch and before you know it, you're through and recycle back through the list.

Letters. They do special things to people's hearts.

Home Sweet Home

I'm finally home from school and have several months to relax from school work, though I miss the culture and the people. Though I must say it's been quite fun to spend time with my family and friends and to be creative with all the time I've been blessed with.
Before I even came home, I attended my cousin's wedding! I'm so grateful that my prayers were answered, my schedule cleared up and I was able to find a ride from a dear friend so I could make it. I made it to her baptism and she to mine when we were little. We've grown up together even though we've been in different states. I was certainly going to make it to her wedding. She was and is and always will be awesome.

I arrived home by way of train with my brother and met our family at the station. I'm officially the second shortest person, but not by much. By December I expect to be the shortest.

I watched Captain America with my institute friends.

I've made peanut butter brownies with a friend.
I, of course, have visited the library multiple times and read several books.
My sister and I are planning on how to finish up the room we share. She's spent the summer painting it this warm gold color and now we are working on the details of things.
I've eaten a many a popsicle in the wonderful hot weather of the California Valley.
I've played some frisbee with my siblings in the park.

I've written my missionary friends letters.
For the first time in the year 2011, I've been able to attend my home ward and see everyone that I've missed so much!
This last Monday was the first Family Home Evening with my actually family has had together in all this year. We played Red Light, Green Light, Leap Frog, Hide-and-Seek, and some water games.

It's all just been a bundle of fun with more to come!
This week, my mom, sister and I are having a bunch of girl friends over for a Disney Animation Movie Marathon and I'm so excited for it.
I'm loving being home.

Benjamin's Mission Call

I know this is a little late and many of you may have heard this already, but Ben's received his call to serve in South Carolina Columbia Mission! He reports to the MTC on his 19th birthday which just so happens to be on October 19th. It's awesome.

And in case you missed it, this is Ben opening his mission call. :) Sorry for the sound being a little off in some places.

Missionary Poetry

I've mentioned previously that I don't like most poets; that Billy Collins is my favorite and I enjoy Robert Frost. Yet, now I have another to add to this list of poets I like.
My Young Adult Literature class had required that I have 25 cards on which I had written about 25 different books. The cards were to be 4x6, and I just so happened to pick blank ones. Thus, when finishing the assignment I had 75 4x6 blank indexcards that I had no idea what to do with. They've been sitting on my desk for a few days.
This same class required that I look up and bring a poem to class, and that's when I told all of you about Billy Collins and some of his poems. In the midst of this assignment, as I glanced at 75 huge blank cards, I was impressed with an idea.
Hallmark cards, or any professional cards for that matter, usually have a little poem or thoughtful/humorous message. I thought, Hey! I have 75 huge blank indexcards... I can totally make cards and send them out to my friends on missions!
As a result I googled Missionary Poems. There isn't a lot out there. But I finally did find an excellent source. My Mormon Mission Poems: a Witty Poem a Week for 2 Years. Written by Russell Elkins and first published December 2006, it is the most hilarious thing I've read for awhile. Elkins served his mission in Guatemala and these poems seem to be truly expressing his feelings on the matter. On the copyright page he says:

Feel free to use the poems for anything you see fit, but if you ever claim them as your own or somehow figure out how to make money off of them, I’ll hunt you down and rhyme you to death.

 I haven't bought the book for it's cheap price (though I think it would be worth it), but I was able to download it for free. Thus began my reading of the poems. They seem to give a true sense of a mission.
I found some that I liked and decided to print them onto a few of my huge blank indexcards. After they were printed, I wrote on the other side of the card, put them in an envelope, and mailed them off. I hope they appreciate the gesture.
These are some of the poems I've gotten around to reading:


Canonized Meals
Many just cook us simple things
And that’s more than just fine
‘Cuz many people think like
The 3rd verse of Genesis 9
    The things my comp can stand
    Aren’t all the same as me
    But we don’t talk about it much
    After reading Romans 14:3
Sometimes one of us gets sick
And what he ate is what he blames
There is only one thing to do
And that’s in 5:14 of James
    Sometimes when elders get sick,
    To the bathroom they’ve gotta run
    But God won’t heal who stays in there
    Alma 60:21
If you are not exactly sure
You understand what I mean
It is well explained once again
In Jeremiah 4:19
    There is always an alternative
    When the food does not satisfy
    This is what the scriptures teach us
    In 19:20 of 2 Nephi



Another Food Poem
In the past ya’ll got in the mail
A few of my precious rhymes
About how we eat lunch with members
And how bad it is sometimes
    Elder Lesueur and I developed a plan
    That has risks that aren’t few
    But it’s more than worth the gamble
    Let me tell yous what we do
If the people have a dog
Then that takes care of the fuss
Dogs were put here for a purpose
To help ease the burden on us
    There’s still hope without a dog
    We can still make them think we ate
    We stick what we can fit in our pockets
    And leave the rest on one plate
The next part’s kind of hard
Cuz the cook you’ve gotta trick
The one still with food says he’s full
Cuz lately he’s been sick
    If they start to catch on
    There’s one thing that never hurts
    And that’s to make sure you both
    Have gotten some on your shirts


It’s Not All In the Wrists
Back in the states I didn’t think much
Of the music director up on the stand
Here in Guat the calling is so much more
Than just standing, waving the hand
    Often times members’ voices start to drift
    From the top to the bottom of their vocal range
    The director helps ‘em jump keys in unison
    So that they all sorta make the same key change
It’s the chorister’s decision to decide
Which notes to hold extra and those cut in half
Despite what the congregation wants to sing
Or what the artist wrote on the staff
    The chorister takes all the parts written down
    And decides which parts need fixed
    The chorister won’t do this with every verse
    Just the ones the chorister picks
I hope you realize now the importance
And that ya can’t just use any bum off the street
If ya follow their direction, you’ll be fine
Just don’t watch his hand or you’ll lose beat

SuperHeros & SuperPowers

I went to my friend's mission farewell talk last Sunday and in that talk he read a portion of a letter he received years ago at EFY. A girl wrote to him and told him how when she was younger she would always say that she'd marry a superhero, but that it wasn't until that year at EFY that she discovered that missionaries are superheros.

Missionaries save people.

Missionaries serve others.

Missionaries are always 'on call'.

Missionaries work for the greater good.

Missionaries sometimes lose the girl as a result.

There were other similarities but I have a faultily memory and do not recall them.

But in the end this one girl's thesis is that Missionaries are Superheros and someday she is going to marry them. Now I thought that was somewhat enlightening, and for my friend it was something that pushed him towards becoming a missionary.

The other night as I was thinking about all of this, I had another thought:

If I could have any superpower what would it be?

I thought about this for awhile as I really wasn't sure.

Flying?

Technopathy?

Talking to animals?

Super strength?

Invisibility?

I didn't really want any of these. But then I thought of one I'd probably like to have if I could have one:

Mind-reading.

Why?

Well, I would like to have it so that I could become a better listener. I think the skill of listening is so undervalued and so underdeveloped in the majority of the population. We all wish to be heard, but not many want to listen. We think that being listened to is so much more important. It means that we are a somebody. Someone who people like. We want people to know us. However, I think that in listening comes the greater power.

As we listen, we become better at helping each other. We know what to give people for Christmas without ever asking. We become someone that people rely on. We can be trusted. We can help make people's lives better in small ways.

This is why I'd like Mind-Reading as a superpower. This way when I ask someone how they are, I know what 'I'm fine' means. I will be listening to their thoughts and help that way.

Alas, I do not have the power of mind-reading, but I do have the power to be able to listen. It is something we all have, but few take advantage of.

So LISTEN.

It's a SuperPower.

I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father has figured that out long before the rest of us.