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

Week #7...We are officially living in California!!!

Hello Friends & Family,

(AKA Transfer 2, Week 1)

We are officially in California!!!

Yes it is hot, roughly 103 on a daily basis, and sometimes gets up to 114.

There are many spiders here. Lots of Black widows near our Apartment. Also a rare "Brown Widow"

 (I have a picture) It is a black widow (that is brown) and has an orange Hourglass. 

Now im not a huge fan of spiders, and probably never will be. 

But the brown widow is so... Creepy

I am in a trio with Elder Hallsted and Elder Larsen. We serve in both an English area, and an ASL area (the entire mission). Luckily we get a car, with A/C. I am now convinced that A/C was an invention from Heaven. It is such a blessing. 

A couple of notable things that happened this week:

1. We got offered Weed

But on the plus side we are now teaching Brandon, we met when he tried to give us weed

2. We got "Bible Bashed"

There are a few churches here who are taught in ways to "bash" us, its really kinda sad. So many people get excited to see the missionaries and walk over to us saying "Elders!", then we get excited, but it turns out they just want to yell at us. Bummer

3. We attended a ASL Branch

It is technically called an ASL branch because anyone who knows ASL can attend. Please do not call it a Deaf Branch. 

There was a sweet old lady, who insists on being called "Lil". She is very particular about how we sign, and corrects us often. She gave Elder Larsen his name sign, so im really hoping to get one from her soon. ASL is such a cool language!! We are teaching several Deaf People, and are actively searching for more!

It is really funny, because anytime anyone in the zone finds a Deaf Person, they immediately call us. So we have roughly 10 random conversations with people in a day. 

We had a very cool story from one of our investigators.

(I will paraphrase it)

Our investigator one time had a dream, in that dream there was a great destruction happening, and she (with her family) went into a garage for safety. Her grandma (who had recently passed away) came to her in spirit, and said "I can't get to where you are" "I studied the wrong things" (Her grandma was a Jehova's Witnesss).

Our investigator was very confused, and because she was not currently being taught by anyone, didn't know who to ask, or where to turn. So she went to the only source she knew. She started praying. Roughly 3 minutes later the Missionaries came knocking and taught her the plan of Salvation. 

Sadly I was not one of these missionaries, but because of a transfer, I am now teaching this Investigator. She is very interested in temple work, and I think that is one of the main motivators she has, is to help her Grandma. 

It is so cool to see how the Spirit teaches different people. And also how the spirit guides the missionaries.

Friends and Family, you don't need to have a name tag to have these experiences. Pray to be guided by the spirit. You don't even need a long study session beforehand. 

Just as Nephi put it, 

1 Nephi 4:6

"And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."

People, Members included, need our help. If we have a testimony, go and share it with others. Not only is missionary work available out in the field, but also on the other side of the veil. 

Go to the temple, support your predecessors. Do your family's work. If you cant find names for yourself, go to the temple anyway. People are waiting for you. Let's not keep them waiting for someone else to do your job.

Thank you all for the emails!! I love the mission field!

-Elder Vance

                                                               

Week #6...I am here in Riverside!

Hello AlI,

I am here, in Riverside, the land of many warehouses.
This is my weekly email because I have such short time.
We left the MTC at 12 noon and boarded the Front Runner from Provo to the SL Airport. I was traveling with my Comp Elder Hallsted, and two other elders from my district headed to Washington State. Our flight left at 5 pm and we arrived at the Mission home at 8:30pm
I am super excited to get going and feel like I am ready to serve.

I will share one cool experience. 

My ASL teacher (Sister Orr) told us a story of how she was exactly obedient and went to bed promptly at 10:30 the night before her departure. She had been very worried about her luggage and the weight she had packed in her suitcases.
I had the same worries, because last night I weighed both bags, one was 55 pounds, the other was 45 pounds. I made some rough calculations and switched items over. I decided to follow in my teachers footsteps and be exactly obedient that night, hoping for the best.
"Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles"

I waited anxiously for the time to come when I would leave the harbor of the MTC.
Eventually, after many hours I found myself at the airport, and the dreaded time had come to weigh my bags. I placed one on the scale and found it to be 50 pounds exactly. What a relief. Then I remembered I had 2 bags. I put my second bag on the scale, and it read 51 pounds. I must have made a weird face because the receptionist saw my dismay and looked at the scale, immediately when she looked at the scale, it dropped from 51 pounds to 50 pounds. Both my bags were underweight.
"Exact obedience brings miracles" not just in missionary work.

Anyway, my P-day is Monday, and ill write a bigger email then.

Just about to have an interview with President Hammon.
Elder Hallsted and I are going to be in a trio, I'll let you know how that goes this coming Monday.
Love you all!!

Week # 5... let the spirit guide you more

Friends & Family,

Never have I related to the lamanites, but then I found this verse... Mosiah 19:14

14 And it came to pass that the Lamanites had compassion on them, for they were charmed with the beauty of their women.

Crazy to think that when I actually read my scriptures, I get so much more out of them when I take notes.  Also if anyone is studying any book, you will receive so much more knowledge from it if you mark, and take notes. Would highly recommend "Zebrite" Scripture highlighters (please sponsor me)
   

This week has been very good, but also a little long. The excitement and joy I get from teaching and even simply talking to Friends of the Church is exhilarating. I love the MTC but I feel as though I'm being dragged through this last week. It's similar to the feeling on Christmas eve, when you can't sleep because you can't stop thinking of tomorrow. That's how I feel about getting to the field!
   

We had a move this week, our entire zone moved into a different building and a new floor (my guess is to build unity within zones) because of the numerous shifting of different districts into different zones, most zones were very spaced out. Wasn't a very fun move, but now I'm packed and ready for Tuesday! So I guess there is always an upside.

On the more spiritual side of this week, we had some excellent devotionals. From both the MTC president (LeSueur), and Brent H. Nielson (seventy). One overarching idea from the week was that, in any God given commandment, there are always promised blessings. God will never ask you for something and not return the favor, such goes against the laws of justice. God is a just deity and will thus accordingly willingly blesses those who follow him. For example, keeping the law of chastity you will have a greater appreciation for your spouse and your relationship with strengthen.

If you have any question or doubt about the commandments, Ask yourselves, are you willing to live without those blessings? The best way I've heard it described comes from D&C 82: 8-10

8 And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a new commandment, that you may understand my will concerning you;
9 Or, in other words, I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation.
10 I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.
Essentially "if ye do what I say, I will bless you. If ye don't do what I say, good luck, you are on your own"

God would never give us a commandment or prompting that wouldn't benefit us, and those around us.
Also in connection with that same thought. Some people might wonder why commandments are neccessary for the spirit. 1 Nephi 10:21 "...and no unclean thing can dwell with God..." The Holy Ghost, being a deity, cannot dwell in an unclean temple. You must keep the commandments so he can reside with and guide you. You cannot expect to be led by the spirit, when you are living your life in a way that drives the spirit away. It would be as though you wear a suit of peanuts and try to give a hug to someone who had a peanut allergy, they are obviously going to avoid you. Furthermore, if you are living in accordance with the laws from God and think you aren't feeling the spirit. Stop, breath, and listen.

CTR = Cease-Think-Recognize
Stop what you are doing, and realize that the spirit is always with you. It is similar to breathing, you really don't realize you are doing it until you are either running, or underwater. You can however stop and notice your breathing in the same regards to the spirit. The Spirit is there, He is with you, you simply need to recognize his presence.

I challenge everyone to see how the spirit guides them, and also let the spirit guide you more. God always wants to bless you, you just need to get moving. Read the Book of Mormon every day. It truly will bless your life. I love this church, I love the Gospel, I love my family, and I Love my Savior Jesus Christ.

Thankyou all for the emails! And letters! 🤟
-Elder Vance

Week # 4...Let your light shine!

Hello Family & Family,
I wanted to share some of the amazing things I have learned, read, contemplated & prayed about this week...

Jacob 5:75
"... and blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard"

Elder Vance 2:34
Wo unto the laborers of the vineyard (everyone), let your light shine so you may lead those out of the mists of darkness to come unto the light of Christ.

My new favorite metaphor:
Did you know that in a perfectly dark corridor, the human eye can see a candle light up to 3 miles away? Crazy right?

I'm sure most of you know the vision of the tree of life, or if you aren't familiar or are old (mom/dad) and forget, please read 1 nephi chapter 8.We all make mistakes, that's just a part of life, but sometimes we get lost in darkness. Sometimes we are confined, and don't know where to go. But all it takes is one small light, and we now have a path. We have purpose, we have a desire to press forward.
Now let's relate this to our testimonies. Many (if not most) of the times a testimony is described, it is as a burning desire/fire. One small candlelight can lead hundreds of people to joy and the truth. No matter how large your testimony is, it can lead those so far in darkness to the light. Even the light of Christ.

Now imagine a missionary, who studies daily and devoted themselves to Christ at every opportunity. I'd imagine that they would have a bonfire of a testimony. Imagine how far that light can reach, and how many lives it may touch.

I have had the absolute pleasure to see my fellow missionaries testimonies, and let me just say they are bonfires. I cannot wait to see the impact they have in the world.

I pray that we may all find your testimony, start the kindling of the flame. If you already have it lit, build it. "A testimony has a one day shelf life" If you don't think you are qualified for the work of salvation, you are absolutely right.

Truth is, no one by themselves can be even remotely close to capable of being worthy to share the gospel. But with Christ, all our shortcomings are filled. All our debts played. All our imperfections become strengths.

Luke 1:37
"For with God nothing shall be impossible"

I love you all, thankyou for every email, letter, or package!!

Please, Let your light shine there are children of God that need your light
-Elder Vance

Great Friends from School!

Week # 3..."God can only guide our footsteps, when we move our feet"

 friends and family!!

The MTC remains to be my favorite place on earth! Not to mention, Chocolate milk and pizza night are amazing.

I've had another great week, and I love my district and zone more every day. I love how the spirit draws us closer together. I won't claim to see with through the eyes of Christ, but anytime I look at the missionaries in my zone, I can easily distinguish what spiritual gifts they have. I know for a fact it is not my natural ability, because I have not ever had it before, also it is benefiting both me and those around, so I know it is from my Savior. Spiritual gifts we receive are for the benefit of others, we are a tool used in Christ's hands to progress his work and help our brothers and sisters return to live with him again.

A few cool experiences this week, the first comes from Elder Bennight. I will admit I was homesick for roughly 15 minutes, before I confided in Elder Bennight that I indeed had some sadness in me. The memory was of my brother Auston, and how before i left, we would play all of our old gamecube games that we had played when we were growing up. I missed that, but Elder Bennight shared with me, that he too missed his family (and specifically his brother) yet, a motivation from that homesickness kept him going. He told me of how being on a mission blesses your family, and your future family also. And how if he stayed, not only would his family be blessed, but he would be closer to being worthy of an ETERNAL family. I'll admit I cried after that, but only for a few seconds because I had work to do!! 

The second experience I'll share is a few quotes from our Tuesday devotional. Michelle D. Craig (first counselor in YW general presidency), she shared a powerful testimony of journal keeping and of our necessity of forward progress in our earthly life. 

"God can only guide our footsteps, when we move our feet"

We must always strive to keep the spirit with us, so that when in times of need, so won't be caught off guard. 

"Satan wants to lead souls CAREFULLY down to hell", satan won't be able to drag us down with our spiritual armor, he has to wear us down, bit by bit. We must strive to maintain the spirit in any way possible so we will not have the adversary surprise us.

I would invite everyone to do the small and simple daily tasks that give us spiritual renewal, and strive to maintain our covenant path. And if anyone has gone off the path, return immediately. There is no pain in repentance, there is however pain from the consequences of sin. You must contribute to your own salvation, Our savior is there to fill in whatever we cannot do, but that help cannot occur without us first acting. Please do not be one of the souls lost in the battle against Satan. If you need help, seek help. People naturally want to help, they just need an invitation.

Love you all!! Thanks for the emails and packages!! 🤟🤟

-Elder Vance