Epistle - 6.23.10

Good Wednesday Everyone!

Transfers! And the word is.... I'm Staying! With Elder Peterson!

We're really excited. It's what we had hoped for, and it's what we
got. It's nice when those two things line up so nicely.

I had several previous companions go home today, it was funny to see
them off. Some of them are excited for the next step in life. Some
just have "Deer-In-Headlights" look, because they don't have a clue
what they'll be doing tomrorow.

Speaking of previous companions, my trainer, Payton Brooks came to
visit the mission this past week. He came to Anacostia's Father's Day
Lunch on Sunday, and he was at the Why I Believe. It was fun to talk
to him about the mission and what he's doing now.

Elder Peterson and I were able to resing his quintet version of "Jesus
Savior Pilot Me" on Sunday at the Why I Believe, it went very well. We
did a better job all remembering the words than we did at the mission
conference.

We met some neat new investigators the last couple days. On Monday we
taught a guy named Charles. We went to the house to teach his daughter
in law, whom he lives with, but she wasn't there. So we told him we
were there all ready to teach a message about our savior Jesus Christ,
and we'd love to teach him instead, and he let us in. The lesson went
well. By the end he commented we had given him a lot to think about
(And that's basically what we do) and he agreed to read and pray about
it to find out the truth of it. That's all we ask for! So that was
fun.

Tuesday we finally got to teach a lady we've been trying to teach for
a while, and we kept having things come up. But this time we were able
to go teach her. Her name is Gloria. She's sort of a funny one,
because she met with missionaries a couple years ago, and again last
year at her mom's house, and she commented "But this time I plan on
being steadfast". So we thought perhaps she already knew most of our
message and wanted to actually join the church this time, but in our
teaching we discovered that she didn't really know much about our
message, which was sort of weird, and she wasn't really all that open
to some of what we said. So I'm not quite sure what the deal is there,
but we'll see if she's humble enough to hear the spirit speaking truth
to her, if she is we'll be happy to baptize her, and if she's not
we'll find those who are.

I think that's one big change in my missionary work I'm seeing lately.
I'm becoming about as bold as I wish I had been all along. Quite
frankly we're out here to find those who will receive us, and there's
enough of them out here that we just don't have enough TIME to spend
it with people that aren't humble enough to follow the spirit. We
simply don't have time for it, we can't do it. So I'm becoming more
and more commited to boldly testify and commit these people, and if
they don't like it all the time, well, last I checked not everyone
liked Christ's boldness either. And, seeing as He's my master, I
suppose I should do as He did, not as the people will like the most.

I love you all. Cherish  your time, it is one of our most previous and
non-renewable resources.
-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 6.9.10

Good Wednesday Everyone!

More fun this week. We had another Night of Music and Inspiration last
night. We were called a week ago and asked to put together a version
of "I feel my Savior's love". My companion, Elder Peterson put
together a beautiful arrangement for the occasion. It's fun being the
companion of a genius.

So what is there else to talk about... I just can't think of anything
else exciting that happened in the last week... oh wait, there might
be one thing...

Ya so Sunday was Stake Conference, and we had a guest speaker, I think
he was from Utah, his name was something like Elder Hallard? Maybe
Holland? Ya I think that was it, I think it was Elder Jeffrey R.
Holland of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, with Elder Hardy of the 70.
Ya I think that's who came and reorganized the stake, released the
current Stake presidency and called a new one. I guess that's SOMEWHAT
noteworthy. =]

In all seriousness, Elder Holland was here. Stake conference started
at 10:00, we had no investigators to bring, so we were on our own. SO
we woke up at 5:30, got to the stake center at 7:00, and got 5th row
seats =] The stake center was so packed that they ran video to every
single classroom they could throw a TV in as overflow and they filled
all of them. And we were on the 5th row. It was pretty special. We
figured we didn't have much else to do on a Sunday morning than Study
our Scriptures in the chapel and get some great seats!

He was predictably incredible, and said some amazing stuff. He
mentioned that in his oppinion there is no more regular form of
revelation in all the church than when just about every Sunday in many
stakes all over the world, two guys who don't know anyone in the stake
shows up on Friday, and in 24 hours completely undoes everything that
holds the stake together, and sticks it all back together another way
with new people whom he has never met before this 24 hour period, then
asks everyone if it's OK, they raise their hands and say yup. I might
not even know those guys but if it's OK with the Lord it's OK with us,
and then the strangers leave!

His point was, that is NOT normal. No other organization could pull
that off. If it were a business or any other organization there would
be blood on the carpets, slashed tires and black eyes. Fist fights and
campaigning for the position, whereas in this organization the only
campaigning is maybe to NOT get the position.

It was a neat reminder, to stop and think how incredible this
organization is. The fact that it even WORKS for a single day is a
lasting testament that it is from God, the fact that it's still going
strong hundreds of years later is a miracle and a testament to all the
world of the truth of the restoration, and the divine nature of the
calling of Joseph Smith in organizing the Lord's Kingdom on the earth.

The church is true, the book is blue brothers and sisters. Don't you
forget it =]

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 6.2.10

Good Wednesday Everyone!

 

Todays epistle will be dedicated to my dad! He loves little spiritual thoughts and thinks that he can ponder and study, so I'll share something that hit me yesterday during a district meeting.

 

It comes from the book of Helaman, 10th Chapter, 4th and 5th verse:

 

4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.

  5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.

 

Now normally when I've heard people read these verses. I normally hear a comment to the effect of "Wow, Nephi is so amazing that God says he won't ask anything contrary to the Lord's will, so anything he says will be the Lord's will!"

 

But a new thought hit me this time, the Lord does NOT say "Thou WILT not ask that which is contrary to my will", no, he says "Thou SHALT not ask that which is contrary to my will". That is not a statement or prophesy, that is a commandment. It is worded in the same way the Lord worded the ten commandments, "Thou shalt not..."

 

Now just to see if I was interpreting the language correctly I flipped to the foot notes, and found this, D&C 46:30:

 

30 He that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God; wherefore it is done even as he asketh.

 

I interpret "asking the Spirit" to mean asking for things as the Spirit directs you, basically receiving revelation from God on what we should pray for. To me this seems to agree with the idea that the words "Thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will" is not, in fact, a statement necessarily about the character of Nephi, but a commandment to Nephi, that if he follows he can receive the blessing of having all of his prayers answered.

 

So there's my pondering today, maybe the rest of you had already realized that, but new idea to me!

 

On to updates about life,

 

Jaymie's baptism went wonderful, he asked me to perform the ordinance, and I couldn't talk him in to getting one of the members to do it, so this is the second time I got in the water during my mission. I prefer members to do that so they can have that experience with someone more permanent, but when I am asked to do it, it is a very neat experience to perform that ordinance. What fun.

 

The zone activity today was a blast. We ended up with softball about half the time, a couple games of Ultimate Frisbee, and then we had to flee the heat for lunch. All in all everyone was happy and a very good time!

 

I hope you all are having a wonderful time!

 

Till next time,

 

Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 5.26.10

 

Good Wednesday Everyone!

 

Well it's been another wonderful week! We have a baptism this Saturday, Jaymie, he's a great young man. We've been meeting with him since January (We meaning missionaries, I've only been in this area 7 weeks), and if we can't get him a ride to church he's the only person I've ever taught that would bike 7 miles to get to church on sunday. Amazing. The long time period is because we've been waiting for his probation to end this Friday for him to get baptized. He's excited and so are we!

 

 My companion and I are having tons of fun, of course we are making plans for the music, musicals and various shows we will write together some day.  We were talking about making a band the other day, but then we decided we'd be better off making a musical about making a band, and started discussing how we could do that as a two-man show. I suppose that sort of sums us up in a nut shell.

 

As we drive we have a tendency to crank Mormon Tabernacle Choir and he sings Tenor and I sing Bass parts. Yes, we're geeks, but we're having fun!

 

We're planning a neat zone activity for next week. We're going to play kick-ball at a park, then head to the stake center where we've managed to get everyone 2 BBQ pork sandwhiches, Potato Chips, Potato Salad and 2 Ice Cream Sandwhiches all for $2 a person. We're pretty proud of ourselves, and I think everyone will be pretty happy with the lunch for 2 bucks!

 

Well I'll have to think of more cool things to say next week. I really love you guys, I don't dwell often on counting days, but today is 10 weeks, which is a pretty even number. 70 days. In 1,680 hours I'll be on my way to the airport. Believe me when I say that I will make everything I can out of those hours.

 

With love,

Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 3.17.10

Hey there everyone!

 

So today we went "Duck Pin Bowling" Anybody know what that is? I didn't. You bowl with tiny little balls, on smaller lanes, with short and squat pins. Only 5 bucks for an hour and the whole Zone went and had a great time. Pretty fun stuff. I was really bad at the beginning, it's been a long time since I bowled.

 

So I think I mentioned that the new e-mail interface is G-Mail. It's really weird! Sitting on a g-mail account I feel like I should just hop over to my Google Reader and read about the latest tech trends like I'd spend hours doing back home. Or maybe just jump over to facebook. I don't know it's just funny to see such a familiar interface but in a different setting!

 

This transfer will be very interesting, because I really have no idea what's going to happen. Almost any possibility has an equal chance. It will be very interesting to find out what President's plans for me are.

 

The weather has bene very nice the last day or two. After a weekend of gloomy it's very pretty again. We're just rooting for the temperatures to get up past 70 so that we can take the suits off and I will never have to wear my "Work Suit" again. It's ready to retire!

 

I think the funnest story from this week was Sunday night. We went to check on a less active lady we've never met. She let us in and she and her mother were making Breast Cancer Awareness bracelets to make money. Just stringing the beads and tying off the stretchy cord stuff. After chatting for a while I really wanted to try making one, so we asked and she thought that was hillarious that two young guys wanted to make pink bracelets. So we helped and made 5 of them. At 20 dollars a pop (When she sells them) that's $100 towards breast cancer research! We felt pretty accomplished =]

 

I love you all. Hope you're all doing well!

 

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 5.5.10

Good Wednesday Everyone!

 

 Do you realize how long you've been reading these epistles for? And yet every week you expect me to come up with something new to say! I guess it's a good thing that a mission gives you a lot to talk about week by week!

 

Two Saturdays ago Elder Smith got the flu, we worked Sunday monday Tuesday, then on Wednesday he blew his ankle out VERY badly. Aweful sprain. Unfortunately there was so much stuff that simply needed to be done, it hasn't gotten much rest, and yet we stlil haven't gotten to work in our area very much. Luckily it has given us a lot of time to study and read the Book of Mormon!

 

So, today I will share a thought that I read this morning.

 

Alma Chapter 1, verses 21-24

 

  21 Now there was a strict law among the people of the church, that there should not any man, belonging to the church, arise and persecute those that did not belong to the church, and that there should be no persecution among themselves.

  22 Nevertheless, there were many among them who began to be proud, and began to contend warmly with their adversaries, even unto blows; yea, they would smite one another with their fists.

  23 Now this was in the second year of the reign of Alma, and it was a cause of much affliction to the church; yea, it was the cause of much trial with the church.

  24 For the hearts of many were hardened, and their names were blotted out, that they were remembered no more among the people of God. And also many withdrew themselves from among them.

 

There's an intersting lesson in these verses to me. These people were mebers of the true church. They had the true gospel. The knowledge that they had the truth, however, went to their heads and made them proud. So proud, in fact that they began to "contend warmly with their adversaries, even unto blows; yea, they would smite one another with their fists."

 

This kind of behaviour was strictly against the very gospel and church which they were claiming to defend! This pathetically ironic behaviour came from a root problem that they allowed to gradually grow within them: Pride.

 

Like any talent or blessing, membership in the true church of Jesus Christ is a gift from God, which not all people are priviledged to have access to. Like any other talent, we can not take pride in this gift, but merely thank the Lord for bestowing it upon us. What began in these members of the church as a genuine gratitude for the truth, turned in to a false belief that because they had the truth, they were better than their fellow-men. This fallacy lead them to that wicked and pervasive sin: Pride. The Prideful belief that by virtue of their receiving a blessing others had not, they were better than those others.

 

We see the outcome of this. "it was a cause of much affliction to the church; yea, it was the cause of much trial with the church. " and of those who pridefully hardened their hearts we read, "and their names were blotted out, that they were remembered no more among the people of God. And also many withdrew themselves from among them."

 

Now it does not necessarily say that those whose names were blotted out were the same who came to blows defending the church, but I believe that at least a goodly portion of those who came to blows, did in fact end up removing themselves from the church. I can say that with some certainty because it is true to the pattern of apostasy. They rose themselves up, beyond the teachings of their leaders, to the point that they, thinking themselves justified, behaved in a way that the church condemned. I can only imagine when their church leaders told them they ought not to act that way, they would be offended (another symptom of pride) and turn their back to the church, thinking it had wronged them and escort themselves to the doors.

 

There are many lessons to learn as we ponder these events. It is a potent reminder that we, being blessed, aught to be our brother's servant, not overlord, and that we have a duty to adhere strictly to the teachings of the living Prophet and Apostles, not to wander off in to our own 'strange paths' beacuse in those paths we will eventually be lost.

 

I love you all. Stay true. Stay strong. Be humble and take direction, for in that is salvation.

 

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 4.21.10

Good Wednesday Everyone!

Life is good in beautiful DC.

Today was our Zone Activity, so about 30 of us went to play Ultimate Frisbee in the rain down on the National Mall. Really fun. I love playing in the rain because you don't get too hot running around.

I got asked by one of the District Leaders in the zone to give a workshop at his District Meeting about Personal Revelation. All 4 companionships in his District are training, and he wanted my companion and I to train the district on how they can receive revelation in planning and missionary work.

We decided that my companion would share personal experiences about revelation in his mission and I would discuss the doctrine of personal revelation. What it is.

In a true lesson to ME about personal revelation, I spent the entire week before pondering what I should teach. I prayed to know what I should teach. I read talks and scriptures about it trying to find what the Lord would have me say. Normally I get my workshops VERY prepared, so I know exactly what I'm going to talk about and present, but in the entire week of study, pondering, and prayer, nothing came! Finally the morning of as I sat staring at a blank piece of paper, I felt impressed to flip open to the Doctrine and Covenants. I began flipping through and just happened across a couple revelation scriptures I had marked. I wrote down the references, and with that in hand headed off to the meeting, still completely unsure about what I would say, and with a continuing prayer in my heart.

Just as the meeting began I felt impressed to flip open to St John 17,

"11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are."

I stood up and read that verse, and began my workshop.

I drew put the names of the Godhead on the board, and asked, "In what way are these 3 one?" They answered, In Purpose. I asked, "From whence does the purpose of the godhead originate, where does it come from?"

After some discussion they came to the conclusion, the Father. I answered that indeed it was the will of the Father that the purpose of The Godhead comes from, and that personal revelation is how we come to know his will, and have the same purpose, thereby becoming one, as they are one.

I enjoyed it, and learned as I continued to teach. It was very fun.

I'm out of time, but I love you all!

-Elder Ted E. Bear