Epistle - 8.26.09

Good Wednesday Everyone!

Goodness life has been interesting this past week. Having two areas temporarily combined for 3 weeks is a very strange experience. We are constantly just running everywhere. Never a dull moment. We thought we were having a dull moment last night and then a member of the ward called us and said "Hey when are you guys going to get here for dinner?" Oh... of course we new we had a dinner appointment tonight... we're on our way! Be there in.. 10 minutes? Oh yes. Never a dull moment.

Transfers is next week, meaning call out monday is this coming monday. It is always an exciting time to see what might happen. Here comes my prediction, which is normally wrong :)

Elder Frizzell has two transfers left. Normally your last two transfers are spent in your "Death Area" an area where you will be happy and able to work a lot and enjoy the end of your mission. This complicates things because Elder Frizzell's companion is gone, so he would need to show the area to a new person. Normally I would assume both Elder Levie and I are staying together in the Derwood East area, BUT, I think the most logical thing to do would be to put Elder Frizzell in a fun death area, move me to Olney with a new companion, and give Elder Levie a new companion in Derwood East. We'll see what happens but there's Elder Adams's prediction!

Well I'm about out of time. This P-Day is very rushed due to an appointment that will cut our P-Day short by a couple hours (When it's only 8 in the first place!) but I suppose the work is the work!

I love you all. Thanks for all your prayers and support.

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 8.19.09

Good Wednesday Everyone!

Well our Mini-Missionary is gone. And Elder Cox is gone. So, we have gone from 5 people in our appartment, in 2 companionships, to 3 people in one companionship for the next 2 weeks.

Other than that I'm never really sure what to update you all on! We now cover 2 wards, meaning we are in church meetings from 7am to 4pm, which is different. It also means we are getting member meals most nights, which is also different from how it's been lately. And it means we are in a car, which is different.

Last week I got to go on an exchange with Elder Freeman, one of our Zone Leaders. The Zone Leaders cover a spanish area, so I got to do that for a day, it was fun. He also gave me a spanish->English dictionary, which I've been wanting for a while, and I snagged a copy of "El Libro De Mormon". I've already been talking to spanish people a lot on the street, but now that I'm actually taking a little bit of time to refine my ability to speak I can see the Lord truly magnifying it. I put in a little effort and there are huge dividends in the results, which has been fun to see.

In other news... I basically don't get any mail from anyone except my dad and my mom... so if anyone else wanted to drop me a line and say "Hi" it'd be greatly appreciated!

Elder Ted P. Adams
11700 Falls Rd.
Potomac, MD 20854

I love you all! Hope all is well!

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 8.12.09

Good Wednesday Everyone!

News to relate:

The Mini-Mission is going very well. John Newkirk, from the Suitland Ward in Southern Maryland is a very cool kid. He is 18, just graduated from high school, and has one of the most mellow personalities I've ever met. He is very willing to work with us and is very enjoyable to be around. I think Everyone's having a good time.

One of my roomates, Elder Cox, is finally leaving us. He's being transferred to a service mission in Utah. I think he will enjoy it there. Until transfers (In 3 weeks) Elder Frizzell will be once again combing areas with my area. The funny kicker is that because of the mini-missionary, I think we will be the only 4-person missionary companionship in the church! I can't think of another group of circumstances where a 4-person companionship would happen other than a mini-mission, so it's pretty funny :) We'll be splitting up and Bro. Newkirk will get to work a little bit harder than he might have intended! On Sunday he goes back home, and we will be in a 3-person companionship for the remaining 2 and a half weeks of the transfer.

I thought I would share an interesting think I noticed a little over a week ago. I don't THINK I've mentioned this before, if I have I'm sorry.

As you all know, at the beginning of the year I was asked to sing a duet at a leadership meeting where Elder Holland addressed the leadership of the DC North and South Missions. I was the only person in attendance who was not in a leadership position. I was speaking to the Assistants to the President after the meeting, who were responsible for choosing the musical number. I was told that there conversation went something along the lines of:

"Well, it's Tuesday. Who can have a musical number ready by Saturday that will be good?"

"Well, Elder Elsworth can play the piano.. and his companion Elder Anderson can sing all right"

"Ya but we need a really strong voice to sing"

"We need to call Elder Adams"

"Ya but there has to be someone in leadership that can do it!"

"Yes but we want it to be really good, on short notice, so we have to call him"

"Well.. I guess Elder Adams' voice lessons are going to pay off!"

And it was that last line I was thinking about. I was told that Elder Murri made that comment "Well I guess Elder Adams' voice lessons are going to pay off!"

This lead me to think, why did I start taking voice lessons? And I'm not certain if my parents even know the answer to this or not, I don't remember if I ever mentioned it to them. I remember very clearly when I decided to start taking voice lessons.

I was driving out of Bellevue Community College one day, and for some reason I had been thinking about the parable of the talents (I don't remember why). I thought, well... I have a talent for singing I guess, and I really like to sing. The parable says that if I don't develop that talent, it will get taken away.

That thought really bugged me. I enjoyed singing a lot, and really didn't want it to be taken away, so I thought to myself, I really need to start taking voice lessons and get more serious about singing.

It was that moment of pondering on one of Christ's parables that lead me to take voice lessons. It was taking voice lessons that lead me to be able to shake the hand of, and be taught by, and apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I had never before made the connection in my life of that blessing being linked to the pondering and application of the teachings of the savior. When that connection was made I truly felt even more blessed.

I know there is great power in following the promptings and teachings of the spirit. I know that our greatest joy in this life will come through humble and submissive obedience to the teachings of the Savior through his own words and through the words of all of his prophets who have ever lived, who do live, and who will yet live.

I love you all. I love to hear about your lives, please drop me a note.

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 8.5.09

That strange day that comes in every missionary's mission has come in mine...

I only have 364 days left as a full time missionary. One day less than a year. There is no more time for slacking off! It's time to work!

This week we have continued working with Dexter. He's a very intelligent, inquisitive man, with a very strong character (stubborn sometimes?) who is very genuinely interested in the church. Working with people like him can be a challenge because you have to cater more to how they want to be taught, and the pace they want to go at... but in the end they are worth it because they make wonderful members of the church.

We need to go shopping pretty quick so I'm short on time... so one last piece of fun news.

Our Mission President called us last night and told us we had been chosen to host a "Mini-Mission". These are defined a little different by different people so I'll explain exactly what he meant. An 18 year old young man from the Capitol ward (Just South of the DC limits) is going to be joining my companion and I on Sunday. He will follow all the rules, and be with us all day every day. He'll have a bed and a desk and be treated just as a normal missionary. He'll be with us for one full week.

That means that it's our job to make sure he has an awesome experience. But we're very excited for it :)

Hope you all have another wonderful week. I love you all!

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 7.29.09

What? July is almost over? That can't be true!

I'm closing in on the home stretch of my mission, and within a meer week will have less than a year left on my mission. Ladies and gentlemen, these are scary times.

On to the news.

My new companion, Elder Levie is awesome. He was homeschooled, so he sort of has that same rough, "I am me and i'm not quite sure what to do about it if you don't like it because I never went to public school" personality and sense of humor that I do. We get along very well. We work hard together, and we laugh hard together. Honestly, what more could you ask for in a companion?

Our area is going through a flush right now. My previous companion Elder Kelly held on to a lot of potential investigators and such that we hadn't talked to since I got there. Once he was gone we called through the list, left voice mails saying "Call us back if you're interested" and dropped about half of them.

We did the same thing to investigators. One of the most common methods of "Sifting" investigators is something called a "Conditional Baptismal Commitment". Basically you make sure the spirit is really strong by bearing testimony, etc, then you ask a question along these lines: "When you've prayed and asked God if our message is true, and have received an answer, and KNOW THAT IT IS TRUE because God has told you so, are you willing to act on that answer from God himself and be baptized by authority in to this church?"

Shockingly, some people are capable of saying no to a question like that. So then we will generally try and break it down really simple to make sure they understand what we're saying by saying something like "So if God himself walked in to this room, and told you that what we have taught you is true, that this is His church, and that he wants you to join it, you would not be willing to do that?"

And, incredibly the answer is sometimes no. At which point we say then there is nothing we can do for you, and meeting with you is not going to be a valuable use of the Lord's time. And we stop meeting with that person. If someone does not yet know that our message is true, we can help them gain that testimony. We can work with them and bring the spirit and encourage them to keep praying until they know for themselves whether it's true or not. What we can not do is help someone be willing to do what God tells them to do. That's their agency.

So we've been doing a lot of thought and have, figuratively, trimmed the vineyard.

Now, why do we trim a vineyard? Because we don't want as much good fruit? Because we're wasteful and silly? Nope. When we trim it, better fruit grows. You knock all the bad apples off of a branch, and the ones left, and the ones that will come after will be better. So we've already started to see some of that and have met some awesome people know that we've got some weeding done.

Well everyone, I really do love you all. I appreciate your prayers, letters, and even good thoughts.

Take care of yourselves, and keep writing those letters!

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 7.22.09

Good Wednesday Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well.

News of transfers: I am staying. My companion, Elder Kelly, has left and I am receiving Elder Levie, who is from Arizona.

It was interesting last night to go and take Elder Kelly to those people in this area whom he helped to join the church.

As we left a particular families house, by the name of Sam and Kady, both Sam, a large west african with black belts in several martial arts, and Kady could not restrain tears.

In one sense it is a profound testament to the character of a missionary to see how their investigators care for them, but it is also a testament to the blessings these people have already felt from the gospel. Their gratitude towards the servants of the Lord who brought them that gospel is indicative of their love for the gift given.

In that same household is Kady's mother. She speaks Creole, and no English, and she is Muslim. When the missionaries started coming in to the home she wanted nothing to do with them, but as she has seen the changes that the gospel has brought to those whom she loves, such as helping Sam kick heavy drinking, smoking, and drug habits in the course of mere weeks, she has grown to love the missionaries dearly for the blessings they have brought in to her home. It was touching to see her conveying how much she would miss Elder Kelly to him in Creole, and Kady let us know that her mother had been crying earlier when she found out he was leaving.

We truly grow to love these people, and some of them grow to love us, and yet it's funny that we really have nothing to offer them in and of ourselves, but only that which we have been commissioned to share with them.

If you look at any LDS missionary's name tag you will see two names, larger than anything else on the name tag. The first is our own, ELDER ADAMS. The second is whom we serve, Jesus Christ.

I testify that Jesus is the Christ. He is my Lord and Master, and I love Him dearly.

I hope that I can merit the blessed title of servant from His lips.

-Elder Ted E. Bear

Epistle - 7.15.09

Good day everyone!

Last night was another "Night of Music and Inspiration". I sang a solo arrangement of "This Is the Christ" It went well but I always end up wishing I had more time to put in to preparing it, BUT that will be for another time of my life when I have a different focus!

Things are going well in Derwood, before the Night of Music and Inspiration we took Mary to the Visitor's Center to watch the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie. She enjoyed it.

Next week is transfers, we're not really sure what's going to happen. Most likely I will stay, and everyone else in the appartment is up in the air, but we saw how much ground that held last time, so we'll just have to see!

My Spiritual Thought this week comes from the Book of Mormon, in the Book of Mosiah, 13th Chapter, 9th verse, wherein the prophet Abinadi makes his bold declaration in the face of certain death, which reads: "But I finish my message; and then it matters not whither I go, if it so be that I am saved."

Each of us has the opportunity and the responsibility to discover our standing with God. We can know where we stand, if we but ask him. There is great power in knowing the answer to that question, "Who's On The Lord's Side Who?" and knowing that the answer is "I am!"

That we may all be on His side is my prayer.

-Elder Ted E. Bear