Season 3 Episode 2: Week # 11...Take us to Deaf-Con 1

Friends & Family,

I've been waiting so long to use that joke. Yes, I went to  Deaf-Con 1 and it was awesome!
This week we were able to go the the National Deaf Convention this weekend. It wasn't as large as I had hoped, but it was very cool to use sign language that much! I got a few souvenirs including a nice ILY hat. We handed out pass along cards and hopefully they will turn into some new investigators.

Elder Hallsted and I were called to give a talk this past Sunday, we both talked about the commandments. The emphasis I had was that each commandment has promised blessings. For example, those who keep the word of wisdom are promised to have greater strengths both in the body, and against temptations from the adversary. God loves us and wants to bless us, it is our agency that blocks those blessings. To better illustrate the analogy, look at the Inspirational Message from Elder Uchtdorf, called "A shower of Heavenly Blessings".

I went on an exchange this week with Elder Chase. Elder Hallsted and I went to his area (Chinese/YSA). There was some interesting people to say the least. One man we taught was very skeptical of other religious groups and didn't want to talk with us at first. He called us, and when we asked where he was (because he was late for our meeting) he said "Look behind you". We turned around to find him in a black hoodie (hood up) and on a balcony looking over at us. The scene was a little funny at first, but as we began to talk with him, it became clear that he really felt uncomfortable investigating other religions. I hope I calmed his nerves, and we gave him a book of Mormon. I emphasized the fact that we wanted any choice he makes to be truly HIS choice, and not a choice made from an external source. God gives us agency, so that we may be agents for ourselves, to act for ourselves, not to be acted upon.

This is an introduction video to let people know who we are.  Since you cannot use voice inflections, you have to use facial expressions to show the emotion in what you are saying.

I finished the Book of Mormon this week. It could have possibly been the first and only time so far that I have read it cover to cover. If you have not done so, please do. 

Elder Hallsted has done more sleep shenanigans. For example, one morning Elder Larsen's phone went off (we use his phone for our alarm) and we heard it very faintly. After further investigation Elder Larsen found his phone in our couch. No one had moved it there, but we had heard Elder Hallsted shuffling around last night. After a short laugh we all went to check our own phones, only to find they were all missing! We looked in the same couch and found all of them. For some reason Elder Hallsted had felt the need to hide our phones as he slept-walk. 

A different morning i woke up to him exclaiming "They are coming, we need to hide". I pried open my eyes and peered over my bed to see him face down and halfway underneath his bed.

An important lesson that I learned is that at every rejection, I am drawing closer to my Savior. I am beginning to see a glimpse of what he felt. Rejection also strangely motivates me to push further and find more people to teach. I know Heavenly Father has prepared people to hear the Gospel, and if I continue with faith, I will find them. 

My invite for any readers this week is to recognize each and every challenge as a way to grow and as always, read from the Book of Mormon. Study the word of God, it can and WILL bless your lives.

Thank you for the notes!

-Elder Vance

Season 3 Episode1: Week # 10... "new boot goofin"

Hello Friends & Family,

To illustrate why I chose that title.
If I haven't mentioned it already, we often do service at this warehouse called
 "Soles 4 Souls", a non-profit organization that donates shoes around the globe. We help organize the warehouse, and sort shoes. Because we volunteer there so much, some missionaries have traded their shoes in for some other shoes. I decided to do the same and found some very good work boots, in addition to some new basketball shoes. I later came to find out I had 2 new pairs of shoes that cost roughly $150 each! I did not know they were expensive, I just thought they looked cool and now I'm very glad I traded my shoes in!

Prior to my entering the MTC, I made a goal to understand my Savior more. I would study books about his life and ministry, and hopefully grow to understand him and feel closer to him in the process. I have been studying "Jesus the Christ" by James Talmage in addition to "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister. Both are exceptional books written by very well versed authors. However, it was the Book of Mormon that has thus far offered my greatest insight. While studying 4th Nephi, I came across a rather profound verse.

4 Nephi 1:31

"Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these miracles, the people did harden their hearts, and did seek to kill them, even as the Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus, according to his word"

Luckily there is no one trying to kill me (I hope), but there are people who attempt to scare me and/or discourage me from the work of the Father. 

As I go out and share the message of the restoration and of the Plan of Salvation, I am experiencing a very slight glimpse of what Christ Experienced. 

If I truly want to learn more about Christ, I must follow his example and do the things he did, to share the truth and love the people. Even in rejection am I drawing closer to my Savior, for then I know the sadness he must have felt. 

The bottom line is, if you want to learn and draw closer to Jesus Christ, follow his example!

For example, many LDS stakes have "Pioneer Trek" to give the youth an appreciation of what the Pioneers went through. Similarly we have 2 year missions, where we go throughout the world and try to share the Joy we have felt by living the Gospel. 

I am in no way claiming to have the same experiences as Jesus did, but I am saying that we can all begin to understand him by going about our Father's work, just as he did.

You really don't need a calling or a name tag to do the work. The only things you need are a broken heart and Contrite spirit. You must be willing to listen to the Holy Ghost, and his guidance. 

D&C 4:3

"Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;"

Don't wait for the call. You already have it

The mission field has been very enlightening and I hope my ramblings somehow help people to have the motivation to share truth.

I love you all!! Thanks for the letters and Emails! 🤟

-Elder Vance

Week # 9... Politics and the Priesthood

Hi Friends & Family,

Let me just start off by saying, I love this mission!! To see people progress in the Gospel and come to feel the peace that comes from the Atonement of Jesus Christ is very rewarding. Our missionary purpose is to invite ALL to come unto Christ.

I have a very cool story from this week. A bit of background information. Deaf people (in Riverside) typically live together because it is hard to find employment, but with the Government sending them money they all help out and pay for a house. This being the case, we happened to teach someone who lived with a few other Deaf people.

We were teaching Carla (her parents are deaf) and a man who lived there (Glen) would occasionally shuffle in. And I do mean shuffle, you can always tell where he is in the house by the sound of flip flops dragging across the floor. Anyway, Glen would occasionally walk in to say hi, and we would chat when we weren't teaching a lesson. We invited him to join us in the lesson as well, but he always declined. I was always a bit sad when he said no, but it never changed my perspective of him. He always love to talk with us and helps us find Deaf events to attend so we can find more people to teach.

This week we were teaching Carla and preparing her for baptism. Carla went to go take a (video) call, and Glen shuffled-in and we started talking about the upcoming "Deaf-Con". He then started talking about politics, then how Satan influences the world. Then onto his study in the Bible which we didn't know he read. He shared with us Revelations 12. He didn't know what it meant and wanted to see if we knew. I never read Revelations, but for some unknown reason I had studied that specific chapter in the MTC. My Bible is essentially unmarked-up except for my annotations in that chapter having studied it at the MTC. Crazy (non) "coincidence" right? So, I shared my understanding of that chapter with Glen as well as the chapter footnotes and study cross references we have, then explained how it also relates to the Book of Mormon, especially Nephi chapters 8 and 11. Both the chapter in Revelations and the chapters in Nephi discuss the coming of Christ and the Iron rod. I highly recommend you read or re-read those 3 chapters because they have some very cool stuff. After I shared what I had learned, Glen was interested in what else the Book of Mormon had to offer. So, we left him with a paper copy of the Book of Mormon in addition to teaching him how to get the ASL addition on his phone.

How does my story apply to your life?

We must be patient with everyone we meet. Their interests and will doesn't always align with missionaries, but if we treat them with genuine love, they will eventually feel the pure love of Christ and desire to learn more. As missionaries we are representing Christ, and we are definitely far from perfect. One of Christs attributes that I admire most is his ever present love. 1 John 4:19 "We love him, because he first loved us" Christ is always there, always ready to embrace us with open arms! He has always loved us, and always will! He is ever-ready to take upon him your burdens and lighten your load, but you must first turn to him.

I love how simple our Primary songs put it;

I am trying to be like Jesus,
I'm following his ways,
I'm trying to love as he did
In all that I do and say
I try to remember the lessons he taught,
Then the holy spirit enters into my thoughts saying,
"Love one another as Jesus loves you,
Try to show kindness in all that you do,
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
For these are the things Jesus Taught"

When Jesus was asked, "what is the greatest commandment?" He replied "Love thy God... love thy neighbor" (Matthew 22:36-40) This is a Gospel of Love.

Be patient with all thy fellow mankind. If you keep loving them, they will come around. At the end of the day, we are all Children of our Heavenly Father no matter what we have done that day. Treat everyone with the respect that you would want yourself. No matter the background. No matter the religion. No matter their actions. We are commanded to love everyone. Grudges primarily hurt the one(s) harboring them.

Thank y'all for the many emails and prayers!
-Elder Vance

The biggest temptation after a year of swim training  2 times a day and  is the pull of wanting to dive into the water and not being able to...

Week # 8... The great heist!!

Hello Friends & Family,
I bet you are wondering... you had a heist?!

Well, no.. but we saw one! Kind of...
There are quite a few homeless people in our mission, some of which we call "tweakers" because of the way they move and "dance around" while on drugs. This one man tried to sell us some rather old pants on our way to target. He followed us in, and tried to get our cell phones so he could call his bank and get us money. He said quite a few strange things. Then in the middle of our "conversation" he grabbed a box on Swiss rolls and ripped it open and began to eat them.
He tried to offer us some, but we quickly walked away and told management. I felt bad, but at the same time I felt obliged to tell someone because it was kinda illegal.

Anyway, this week has been good! We had a rather large turnout at our Deaf branch, and also found some Deaf social gatherings! A bit of background information, Deaf people often don't have people to talk to, simply because ASL is a decently rare language. So because of that, Deaf people will set up gathering times at malls, parks, or the most popular location Starbucks. We talked with our Deaf Branch and found a few of these gatherings and are planning on going there this week! Hopefully we find people who want to hear our lessons.

Our fridge decided to not hold water anymore and really wanted to dump in on the floor. Also our tire was hungry and ate a razor blade. So we had some fun times this week.

Also we are teaching this 91 year old lady. She is very sweet and has quite a few life stories to tell us. We were invited to her backyard and followed her to a table. We cleaned off some dusty chairs and found quite a few Black Widow spiders underneath them. I decided not to sit in the chairs for obvious reasons. But after 20 minutes of our well aged friend looking up at me, I felt rather bad for her neck and took a seat. I said a very quick prayer and hoped for the best.

We had a great lesson, and no spiders were found on me!

But, on the car ride home I felt some strange pinch on my neck. I decided to brush off the feeling and got ready for bed. I looked in the mirror to find a rather large red mark on my neck, in the same place I felt the discomfort.

Luckily after a few days, I can happily confirm that it was not a Black Widow bite, and the swelling has gone down! Scary experience, but I guess I did pray for " no Black widows to bite me", not other insects.
Needless to say I got a rather large fright

Now for the Important stuff

As I have been studying the Book of Mormon, I have been highlighting all references of Christ, his atonement, or Repentance. (Because without Christ, we could not repent)

I would highly recommend a separate book of Mormon in which you do the same study technique. I know President Nelson gave that challenge to the women in our Church, so I guess I'm a little slow to the start, but it is still an amazing experience!

I still have about 100 pages before I finish, but I can confirm that the Book of Mormon truly is another testament of Jesus Christ! Even if you don't believe in its divine creation/translation, if you have read the book you cannot deny the truths it holds, and the fact that it does in fact Testify of Christ.

There are so many important truths that are either further explained, or revealed in the book of Mormon. It is in fact the Keystone of our Religion.Whether you are a member  of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or not, pick up the book and truly study it. It will bless your life, and it will bring understanding to your soul.

If you aren't already reading from it, (especially members) then what are you doing? God has given us these records for our benefit, not for our bookshelves.

If you have questions, look to the correct source for answers. Don't expect them to come when you aren't putting in the effort to receive them. Heavenly Father cannot guide your feet unless you are walking. "You cannot steer a parked car"You have access to the answers, and to truths that will bless your lives! Go and use the things that God has provided, (both the Bible and Book of Mormon) otherwise they are going to waste.

Don't bury your talents (Matthew 25:14-30)
I love you all! I hope your testimonies grow and your scriptures are marked!
-Elder Vance