Hey guys!
I wanted to give you guys a lot more deets this week but we played spikeball and frisbee at the beach and ran out of time. So this will also be pretty brief again. We've been really busy here which has been fun but it's harder to keep track of stuff to share with you guys. So sorry about that. Also I did this email in one draft so sorry about any weird stuff in here. Also feliz navidad
Trio Life part. 4
I’m in a trio again which is alright. It’s another new missionary so he’s learning spanish. It’s kind of a struggle though sometimes. During a lesson while talking about Joseph Smith he asked the investigador, ´´how old do you think you are?＂. It was funny. I think he meant to ask how old she thought Joseph Smith was or something but she just looked super confused.
Dog Attack
We went to throw frisbee at the beach one morning and a giant dog came out of nowhere and tried to eat me. I kept trying to hit him in the face with my foot but he’d dodge and strike. This went on for like a minute and both my companions just watched completely unphased. I was pretty freaked out though. But eventually the dog just ran away so that was nice.
Dream Stuff
I had a dream last night that my mission was over again. In my dream I was in my room back home feeling sad that it was over and just wishing I could be back and do more. The hardest part of the mission for me is feeling like I’m not doing a good job. And I just want to stay out here as long as I need to do what I am supposed to do. So the dream was really hard for me. But then I woke up and it was P/beach - day so I was doing good.
Spiritual Thought
My amazing mother sent me a quote this week from C.S. Lewis’ ＂the Screwtape Letters＂. If you don’t know what it is, basically it’s about this devil named Screwtape who is writing letters to his nephew Wormwood teaching him how to be a good devil and how to deceive us humans. The quote she sent me was really powerful and gave me a ton more motivation to keep working at my hardest. Here’s the quote. When it refers to ＂the Enemy＂ it is referring to God.
＂The Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct.
And that is where the troughs come in. You must have often wondered why the Enemy does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to over-ride a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo.
He is prepared to do a little overriding at the beginning. He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. But He never allows this state of affairs to last long. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. We can drag our patients along by continual tempting, because we design them only for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better. He cannot “tempt” to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.＂
That hit me really hard. Not gonna lie, sometimes I feel like the Lord really lets me down. Like I’ve done all I thought I was supposed to do and somehow it doesn’t turn out the way that I thought it would. But all of these experiences I’m having will help turn me into every good thing I’m capable of becoming, if I let them do so.
Last Spiritual Thought
This is something my dad sent me a while ago that I thought was great. It’s from a BYU devotional with a guy named Mitch Davis and John Groberg. The guy from the movie ＂the other side of heaven＂
Mitch Davis: It is so good to be here with my lovely bride, who I also met and courted on this hallowed campus.
Several years ago I had a very dramatic experience regarding trusting the Lord. I was backpacking with my 10-year-old son, two of his friends, and our faithful dog, Pluto, when we were hit by lightning.
We were hiking above timberline when a sudden storm blew in. We pitched our tent, and I put the boys inside their sleeping bags to keep them warm. I started fixing dinner on our little camp stove. Then, suddenly, I was gone.
Although I have no recollection of the lightning hitting me, the boys tell me that it blasted through our tent’s roof and hit me square in the chest and that I flew backward and landed on the floor unconscious with my eyes open but rolled back into my head.
The bulk of the strike passed through my chest and into the dog sitting behind me, killing him. The rest of the lightning curled down my right arm and struck the boy seated next to me, then danced wickedly about the tent, burning holes in sleeping bags and striking the two other boys.
But I knew nothing about this. In my mind, at least, I ceased to exist.
After some time I became aware of myself again. I began to be able to hear, although I could not see or move any part of my body. As if from a great distance I could hear the three boys screaming. I heard my son cry out, “Dad, please don’t die!” One of the boys leaned over and gave me a single puff of artificial respiration. The other promised God he would never do another bad thing in his entire life if Brother Davis would just wake up.
But I couldn’t wake up. I could only lie there, helpless, wondering what in the world had happened to me.
Then I became aware of something else—a dark presence I can only describe as impending death. I felt myself starting to leave mortality and realized my only hope was divine intervention. I fought with every fiber of my being to call on Heavenly Father.
Then a most interesting thing happened. Before I could call on Father, He called on me. Through the unmistakably clear voice of the Spirit, He encouraged me with these simple words: “You served a valiant mission. Ask in confidence.”
Heavenly Father knew I needed extra faith at that moment. He knew I had faith in Him but lacked faith in myself as a worthy recipient of the miracle I so desperately needed. So he sent me that encouraging message: “You served a valiant mission. Ask in confidence.”
I exerted every ounce of faith I had in a fervent, frenzied prayer. Heavenly Father responded by immediately freeing me from death’s grip. I regained consciousness and the strength, several hours later, to hike off the mountain with my boy, his friends, and the body of our dog.
I do not tell you this story for the sake of mere drama, nor to boast about my personal missionary prowess. I assure you I was no more valiant than most missionaries. I tell you this story because of the significance of the Lord’s choice of words to me: When my life literally hung in the balance, all that mattered were my two years of obscure service in the villages of Argentina.
How grateful I was I had decided to go on a mission and that I had worked hard once I got there! I remembered the words of my great BYU stake president, Robert K. Thomas: “If you’re almost worthy, almost willing to make the sacrifice, you’ll almost get the blessing.” I wondered what the Lord would have said to me on that mountain had I almost decided to serve a mission.
I am so grateful the Lord Jesus Christ didn’t “almost” atone for our sins. I am grateful Elder John Groberg didn’t “almost” serve a valiant mission, and I know that he is grateful that Jean didn’t “almost” wait for him.
Today, especially, I am grateful for you: the blessed, beloved students of this, “the Lord’s university.” You each have your own missions—past, present, and future. May you fulfill them valiantly, faithfully, fearlessly.
And during the dark times, may you hear the voice of the Lord whispering encouragement to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I love you all so much. I have a testimony of the gospel. That testimony has been tested out here a lot actually, but it’s also grown in ways I didn’t think it would. Also reading the Book of Mormon has changed my life. I hope you are all studying that. It’s God’s book.
Adios bacanos
Elder Wride
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