Week 42 Email

Week 42

All,

 

This last week was fairly uneventful until the weekend. This last Saturday was "Service Saturday." We started off at 8:00 in the morning painting bleachers for a kid in another ward's eagle project. Followed by probably one of the most epic yard work service projects ever starting at 10. We had about ten people (recruited from the Young Single Adult branch) over there hacking away at the waist high grass/weeds, fallen branches, bamboo, small trees with a variety of lawn weapons. We had weed whackers  lawnmowers, loppers, an electric chainsaw, a wood chipper  and even a machete. If you need a machete to do yard work  you have a problem. Luckily his yard wasn't overly large, but it was very cluttered with (massive) boats, trailers, and misc. scrap metal. We got finished around 1:30. My ears were still ringing yesterday from using the wood chipper so much. After that project was over we were going to go to get lunch with the YSA guys, but then we get a call from one of the members "can you come and help us unload our uhaul... (they were moving within the ward boundaries)" 

After sighing inwardly, I said "sure, when?" Inevitably, the answer was "Now"... 

So we helped them. We finally finished around 3 and polished it all off with a dairy queen burger. Elder Cheney and I were both dead after all of this and so I took a nap for the remainder of our lunch hour (it didn't help much) and reluctantly headed out to go tract. Elder Cheney got badly sunburned. We got a lot done though which is good.I usually go to bed tired, but that was a special kind of exhaustion that I haven't felt in a long time. 

I think a few months ago I remember telling my dad that "we don't seem to do a whole lot of service..." Life is full of ironies, the trick is to laugh at them and keep moving. 

 

Yesterday we had a good lesson with Aaron. It's awesome to see how prepared he is. everything is moving very fluidly with him. He even asked us "What is the process for me to get baptized?" Which is always a good sign.    

 

In my personal studies recently I've been re-reading the book of Matthew in the New Testament. It is really cool to see the focus Matthew puts on how the Savior fulfilled prophecies(including one that does not appear in the bible) from the Old Testament Prophets.

I also found a scripture that I've been looking for for awhile it's in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 8 (I think) "Eye hath not seen, neither hath ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him." I love that. I can imagine quite a bit, but nothing I can possibly think of compares with heaven. Then tie that in with the Savior's teaching "if ye love me, keep my commandments". It is so important that we not only accept the Savior into our lives, but also give over our hearts and our actions. So we are not obeying because we "have to" (which is better than not obeying at all by the way) but because we love God, and want to do our best to show that love. That's certainly a lifelong process, but one that we work on daily. 

 

Anyway, still working hard with little success. Big things are on the horizon though. I don't know what or where (Transfers are coming up the 1st weekend in May) but they are. 

 

Thank you for your prayers, please write. 

Elder Bryce Johns.