Epistle 11.25.09

Good Wednesday Everyone!

I've been transferred. I'm now in the Gaithersburg area. I live in the same appartment I did when I was in Montgomery Village, so it's familiar, but I'm also doing something entirely new, I'm in my first Car area, so that should be fun.

My companion is Elder Luk. He is from Hong Kong and this is his second transfer. President did something new this transfer, he moved all of the trainers around with each other's trainees. I'm with Elder Kelly's "kid", Elder Kelly is with Elder Hawke's "kid" and Elder Hawkes is with Elder Levie's "kid". My trainee, Elder Grady is with a SOLID Elder named Elder Chandler, great guy.

I had a lot of fun in my 3 months return to the Inner City. The DC 3rd ward is one of President Mansell's favorite wards, and we had an All-Star district. Absolutely NO weak links, all just trying to keep up with each other, the best it gets.

Life is great out here. It really is. I wish all of you could see the world the way we see it, completely removed from distraction and care, we see the world as nothing more than Man's relationship with God, and everything else is just a distraction from that.

I love you all, I wish the best for you.

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 11.18.09

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Transfers is next week. Call outs is this coming Monday. I'd say chances are 50-50 I stay/go. I'm really not sure what is going to happen. makes life exciting!

Elder Walker, of the 1st quorum of the 70 was in our mission this week, and addressed us at zone conference. It was a very neat experience.

One of the things he talked about was in response to the fact that many of our missionaries are headed home soon, so he spoke a little about going home, and said something interesting.

He said something along the lines of, "People will tell you that it is impossible to keep your spirituality as high as it is here on your mission. They will say that it is not reasonible to try to keep the spirit that much. This is a LIE. Satan wants you to believe that you can't have the spirit with you all the time when you get home. If you do the things that bring the spirit, and avoid the things that drive the spirit away, you will have the spirit with you just as you do here. In fact, it might be even MORE important for you to have it when you get home, because you will be making critical life decisions, and you will be exposed to a lot more temptation."

I thought that was a very interesting thought.

I had another thought that was my own musings about Elder Walker, and about our mission. This transfer another large group of Elders will leave. Several of the Elders that are leaving have been pillars of this mission during their time here. In my own words, they are our "Heroes" they are the missionaries that we have looked to as examples this whole time, and they are leaving. They will soon all be gone, and the weight of the mission will fall on my generation. We will need to be the heroes to inspire the next generation of missionaries.

Now missions have the funny habit of being full of parallels with real life, packed into a condensed form in 2 years. Which is where Elder Walker came in to the thought. We in my generation have grown up with "Heroes" to look to. President Hinckley, President Monson. All of the brethren of the 12. We look to them as examples of how we can apply the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. We now that Jesus Christ is the perfect example, and in fact he is actually the example of being an example. Those who follow the example of Christ, become examples for those around them. They stand and do what he Himself would do, and show others the way towards Him. Now these men, who have been our heroes and examples, will eventually be gone. There will come a day when all of the church leaders I've known from my youth will be gone, and it will fall to MY generation, to US, to bear the weight of the kingdom. We will need to be the Apostles, the 70's, the Bishops, the Stake Presidents, the Mission Presidents, the Gospel Doctrine Teachers, the Ward Organists, the Primary Presidents. We will need to fill the kingdom with leadership, and if we don't, it will collapse. We will be the tools God has put in place, and we will have to do our parts.

A lot of musings this week. Remember this though, Christ is the example of being an example. He showed us how to show others how. Christianity does not implode, it explodes. It starts by changing the very core of your being, and then procedes outwards to bless and touch as many people as you possibly can.

I love you all.

Keep being great.

Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 11.11.09

The Date is WHAT!?

Time flies. How are all of you doing? I hope well.

It's been another fun week in the life. There are two weeks left in the transfer, it has just flown by.

I'm afraid I'm about out of time, but know that life out here is amazing, I'm having a blast, learning a lot, and growing a lot.

Tonight we will be ushering at an Inter-Faith concert, and that should be fun.

Love you all!

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 11.4.09

Hello All!

Another wonderful week in the exciting land of DC. The weather is starting to cool down here, reaching below freezing at night out in the suburbs, but staying in the 40's at night here in down town. Down town is definitely the place to be in the winter, staying a pretty constant 10 degrees warmer than out in the suburbs.

Last week apparently I was just doing far too well when I e-mailed you, so I made sure to balance it out by getting sick again. Another fever, this time grabbing Some Tylenol Cold and Airborne, instead of last time's Sudafed PE (I've got to have variety in life!) and a Friday spent getting some paperwork done inside with a fleece on and voila I'm back and having fun again!

This week I'll share another funny miracle story with you

Last Sunday was Fast Sunday, where we go without food and drink until dinner time to come closer to God, and Sunday night was a Family Home Evening at President Mansell's house, and we ended up not having any time to eat before heading off to President Mansell's house. We brought Amanuel, who was confirmed Oct. 25th, and his wife and daughter came, who have not yet begun investigating the church so that was a big deal. We also invited another Ethiopian we're working with named Dawit. When we went to pick up Dawit we ended up having to park across a busy street from his house. I called him and told him to come across the street and we were waiting for him, then I stood outside the car so he could see me when he left his house. Right as he got to the street corner a whole pack of cars came from both directions. We were running late, and in my state of fasting an image of Moses parting the red sea came to mind, so I said a quick prayer in my heart, asking God to part these cars as He had parted the Red Sea for Moses long ago, so that we could get going since we were already late. I looked to my left just as the traffic light there turned yellow. I looked to my right, this one was a bit more stubborn, the flashing crosswalk signal was still at 2 seconds, but obediently counted down 2, 1, 0, yellow light. Looked to my left, red light. Looked to my right, red light. Not 3 seconds after that silent prayer Dawit crossed the street and we went off to our Family Home Evening. Coincidence? You can think so if you like. I'll play it safe and call it a miracle, wouldn't want to write off anything God does for fear of condemnation, you know?

Well all is lovely in lovely Washington DC. We have a General Authority coming in a couple weeks (One of the 70), so that should be fun.

I love you all. Keep me posted on life!

-Elder Ted E. Bear