1st Anniversary – 29th Anniversary

Dear mom,

What a great week! Happy anniversary! 653 years! Way to go!

Well this week was one of the strangest ever. We tracted a lot. We talked to a billion people (144 to be exact, nearly double my average), but the only new investigators were all from members. Bishop Robertson is a great bishop.  He told us, "The two things I'm worried about most as bishop are missionary work and temple work." We spoke with him yesterday after church- he was giving us a huge list of less-actives he wants us to hunt down- and he expounded thus: "If the members do missionary work, what does that do? It fires them up! Then they get excited about going to the temple to feel the Spirit. So, they get there. If all the members are worthy of temple recommends, they have figured out how to work out their problems. And, here's the best part, if they have no problems, I have no problems! And I'm a li'l bit lazy, so I like not having problems." Haha. He is awesome.

Elder Horne is an awesome missionary. We are having a ton of fun and getting a lot done. Our comp studies are amazing, and we are learning a ton together. He is great.

The temple- we are going Thursday, and, so as to stay effective, we are taking 2 hours out of today to work so we can spend the 2 hours at the temple. We will most likely be doing baptisms for the dead (since we don't really get to do that while we're here), and most likely President Holm will be baptizing all of us! How cool is that! I'm way pumped! It's well worth 2 precious hours of P-Day.

So I don't know if you remember this mom, but your anniversary is also the anniversary of my going through the temple. 1 year. Wow! I was thinking about that. Y'know, if you are not worthy for whatever reason to attend the temple it takes on average 1 year of being clean to attend right? Well, think about this. For the last year I have been living my life the best I can. I have only said maybe a handful of swearwords since going to the temple, for example. And I am repenting daily. So. In short, if I died right now, I think I'd be ok to go on to the Celestial glory. That's a pretty cool thought, and a cool feeling. :)

Well that's about the week. Not a lot too special. Well, we did have a LTM meeting Thursday and Friday which was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. By coincidence (or by the divine planning of Heavenly Father) President and Sister Holm's stake president, Pres Topham, from back home (also Elder Gooch's stake president, since they're from the same St. George stake) came Friday. He spoke to us about the Why? How? What?  Basically, as humans we have 2 parts of our brain. The Limbic (or what we call the Spirit :p) and the rational (or the natural man). And most of us in life start with the what when we ask people to do something.

Then the how, then the why. For example, the bishop calls a new primary teacher thus:

I want you to teach the CTR class. You can use these manuals to assist you in your work. The old teacher moved out and we needed a new one, so we chose you.

That's the normal way of doing it. But he, from experience and from science, has found it much more effective to do it the other way, thus:

Because we want the best for our young CTR class, and because we know how much the Savior loves them, we have called the best teachers to help them learn. We have amazing, inspired teaching manuals and the scriptures to assist in teaching them. And because of these things, we would like you to be their new teacher, since we know you will give them your best.

Starting with the Why, then the How, then the What. We started the last 2 days doing that in tracting:

Because of our love for the Savior, and also our fellowmen, we have elected to spend 2 years in SC to serve you. Our message about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ has changed many lives, and can change yours, too, and takes just a few minutes to share. We'd love to come in now and share it with you, or come back at a better time.

Compared to:

Hi, we're missionaries and we have a message from Jesus. Can we share it?

Cool stuff!

That's the week. Oh yeah, Pres Topham is about 3 inches shorter than Pres Holm (who I thought was my height). So when they stood up by each other Pres T said "You just wanna stand by me so you can feel tall!" Pres H concurred and said "It's a rare occasion, indeed. The only other time I get this is when I stand by Elder Seaver." He called me out! Haha. So next interviews I'm going to bring a tape measure and check. :p

Love y'all so much!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver