Week 5: I like it here.

We didn't know until this week just how much taller Connor is than Elder Jervoso. 

Dear Everyone:

This week we had a Trainer/Trainee meeting. That's when all the new missionaries from a zone and their trainers meet with the President and the APs and get some training and eat food. We met in Quincy.

We saw a lot of deer this week and a ton of turkey tracks in the snow. Also, it snowed 6 inches on Tuesday and Wednesday. So that was cold.

On Saturday we knocked on a door we had passed earlier last week. Turns out it was the home of a Seventh Day Adventist family who homeschools and the father was having a meeting with the Pastor in the living room. We briefly got acquainted and wished them well and high tailed it to avoid any Bible-bashing.

We are teaching a man named Milo. He's had some really good experiences with the Book of Mormon so far and we're trying to help him understand the visions he had last year. For example, he talked with his uncle ... whom he had never met ... and he saw some people that others couldn't see. Pretty cool stuff. Ultimately the Spirit has to tell him what it means, but we're doing our best to help.

We had three people come to church yesterday that we were really hoping would come. Yay! And we had a wonderful potluck afterwards and really fellowshipped with the members. Which is great. I love this ward. I love this area. I sometimes think I could stay here for two years and be alright with it. We also drove to Buffalo Lake the other day. Good scenery. Frozen surface.

This next story is something that really means a lot to me. It sounds a certain way in my head, so I'll try to convey it in a way that you can experience it like I want you to. Imagine it like a talk in General Conference:

I focused a lot on Charity this week and what it is. An excellent verse on charity is Moroni 7:45. (Cue the general authority voice.) I had an opportunity to practice charity this week when Elder Jervoso and I shoveled some snow. We went to an older sister's house to shovel her driveway and she had two shovels for us to use. (Proceed slowly.) Having lived seven years in Utah, I immediately recognized that one shovel was going be a lot easier to use than the other. It was better designed, weighed less, was sharper, etc. I likewise knew that my companion, having lived his whole life in a country where the coldest it ever gets is 45 degrees, would not sense that I had short-changed him when I handed him the lesser shovel. So I did.

(You're still reading too fast, read slower.)

I had completely ... turned ... inward. I was thinking only of myself and my convenience. I was acting selfish, self-centered, and un-Christlike. I could have easily justified my actions. "Because I've lived longer in snow, I probably shovel better than him, so I should get the best shovel." Or, "I'm bigger. I'll work more effectively than him, so give me the best tool to use."

(Pause)

And then Moroni 7:45 came to my mind. And all I had been studying that very morning ... And I realized ... what I had done. (Emotion rises in the throat.) I realized that the Savior would not have for a moment selfishly pined for His own convenience. He gave all convenience and comfort away on the cross for everyone else and their needs. As long as I wear His name, I know my place in reference to the needs of others. (Pause.) And in that moment ... (looong pause) ... I knew what charity felt like.

These are the experiences. These are the stories. The ones I pray for every morning and night when I say, "Please bless me with charity." These are the moments that shape us. The next step on the path in following the Savior. These little nudges make us turn more and more ... ever so slightly ... little by little ... to be in line with God's will. And if we make that part of our character ... that's when the changes are evident. That's what makes missionaries different at the end of their missions from when they started. Letting those experiences stay in their mind and become part of them.

I know Heavenly Father answers prayers. He works through others to bring about His will. I know it because I have seen it.

Service, Love, and Truth
Elder Craig