It's the Most Trunkiest Time of the Year

December 16, 2019

With missionary coordination meetings, and no family greetings, because loved ones aren't near, it's the most trunkiest time of the year. 

But while there is no place like home for the holidays, the mission field comes as a pretty close second. In all seriousness, I'm not at all trunky, or in other words, I don't want to go home. I just thought it was a funny title. 

It can be a difficult time of the year though, being away from home and not being with family, however as much as I miss my family, I am so grateful for everything I've learned and everything I'm doing. I wouldn't trade that for anything. And besides, we actually have a lot of families here who we get to spend time with for the holidays and I'm grateful for those people who show their love to us as well. So it really is the most wonderful time of the year, even being away from home. And while the weather outside is (relatively) frightful, the (Gospel) is so delightful. 

Okay I'm done with the Christmas song references. 

Now I'll quickly update you on the week:

Thursday we had Zone Conference/Christmas Devotional. So that was a fun-filled, inspiration-infused, spiritual-stuffed day. 

Saturday we helped assemble a cabinet and then unloaded a literal ton of wood pellets. 

Sunday, at Church, someone named Steve who's been coming to church for months but who hasn't felt like he could be a "good Mormon" approached us and said "I'm ready to be baptized." So that's super exciting! We're meeting with him soon and we're gonna get the ball rolling with him. I just think it's so cool because it isn't that all of a sudden he feels like he can be a "good Mormon" now. There's no such thing as a "good Mormon." In fact there's no such thing as a "Mormon" because the correct name of the church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. But beyond that, the idea of a member of the Church being so seemingly perfect, is so false. It seems like many people have that perception of these perfect families walking into church on Sunday and they just have everything together and everything's just awesome. But that's not the truth, even if there are some members of the Church who try to give that appearance. And that's not the point of coming to church either. If everyone were perfect we wouldn't even need to go to Church. But none of us are perfect and so we go, not to show off to each other about how great of Christians we are, but to come humbly to worship the Savior and strengthen our faith in Him and receive the spiritual help we need in a atmosphere of fellowship where we can gain strength and support from each other. Its as Ephesians 4:12 says "For the perfecting of the saints..." not for the already perfect saints. I've heard it described as an auto shop. Cars go there not because they're showroom quality, but so that they can eventually become showroom quality. And to carry this analogy farther than necessary, Jesus Christ is the ultimate mechanic. And through Him our dents will be repaired, our tires will be as good as new, and our scratches will be painted over by a fresh coat of forgiveness.  And beyond just going to Church, as we do all kinds of other things that help us strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ such as praying and studying from the scriptures, and truly doing our best to follow Jesus Christ by living the Gospel and serving and loving those around us, we can be forgiven and strengthened and eventually He will make us perfect in Christ. 

Til next time. Have a happy pre-Christmas week!

~Elder Oswald

(Chicken) Tender Mercies

December 9, 2019

Hello everyone,

It's been a good 4 days since I last emailed. 

So December 7th was a special day. It was Pearl Harbor day. And other than that it was the day that we had the youth service project for the community that we've been planning and organizing for the last few weeks. It was super cool. We had gathered a list of names of people in the community who needed firewood and/or Christmas cheer. And we divided those names into smaller groups of names. And Saturday morning after picking up our order of 200 donuts we went to the church building and set up just as many tables as we had groups of names. And as the youth filed into the room we split them off into the various tables, each of which was assigned a slip of paper with one of the small groupings of names on it, and they decorated sugar cookies and prepared plates to be taken to the people on their list. So they split up and went their separate ways to deliver wood and cookies to people. And with only a few minor hiccups, in about an hour or so we showed "The Christ Child" video to everyone on a big projector when they got back. After which, we ate donuts. It was a really fun day.

So ever since a conversation I had with the other Elders this morning, something on my mind today has to do with the title of this email. In the Bible a lot of the Psalms mention "tender mercies." For example Psalm 145 verse 9 says: "The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works." And there are a few other vague mentions of the phrase "tender mercies" throughout Psalms that I should probably try and study harder about. But the way I think of tender mercies is how the Lord is always mindful of us and from time to time He gives us simple little blessings that are really meaningful to us. And there have been some tender mercies this week. 

One example, I'll start with it because it's humorous and I don't want to ruin this spiritual thought by ending it with a joke. But so today, true story, we went to KFC and I ordered the 3 chicken tender meal. And I realized that I got not 3 but 4 chicken tenders on my plate. So that's a tender mercy of I ever did see one. 

Anyway though, joking aside, when I start looking for little blessings and tender mercies from the Lord in my life, I can't stop seeing them. My birthday happened this week, and being a missionary, the day wasn't all about me like it might have seemed to be when I was a little kid. And it was honestly kind of nice to not be selfishly focusing on myself and on presents and whatnot all day. I really liked that. But a tender mercy I recognized was that as silly as a birthday might seem, it is always nice to know people care about you, and there were a couple times that people went out of their way to help me feel that love and care. One specific thing that happened not even on my birthday, but the day after was a family who found out it was my birthday and made a cheesecake for me. I just thought that was so nice and unexpected. Another thing, also on my birthday, we went to a baptism, and the refreshments: cupcakes. Coincidence? Probably. But in hindsight, cause I didn't think anything of it at the time, it was still really nice that I got to have cake on my birthday. Another thing was that our friend Tyler is going to be heading back to his family in Ohio for the holidays and also for a few months to work and get some money, and our schedules lined up just perfect to see him one last time and help him out with stuff before he left. So that was cool too.

But the coolest thing is that we got to help out so many different families in the community with that service project and be a light in their lives. And who knows how many of those people are recognizing that service as "tender mercies" in their lives. And that's just such a blessing that we can be involved in helping other people and that we can help bring the light of Jesus Christ to others by loving and ministering to people around us. So I just really like that.

But anyway. That's my thought for the day. I might be misunderstanding what exactly tender mercies are and some of my examples might not be the best examples but I think I'm at least close and so I'm sticking to it. But I do know that the Lord is mindful of all of us and He does bless us with things, we just sometimes need to open our eyes a little more to recognize them.

Well, I hope you all have another great week!

Bye!

~Elder Oswald

P.S. -Pictures 

1. Our Christmas tree we got from Dollar General that we can tell is from Dollar General

2. Our Dollar General Christmas tree after we decorated it. We were limited on Christmas ornaments if you can tell. 

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Coat

December 4, 2019

Hello everyone, as you can tell from this email being sent on Wednesday rather than on Monday, p-day this week is on Wednesday rather than on Monday.

Also, it snowed last week! Granted when it snows here its usually gone by noon, but it has been pretty cold. Luckily I have acquired a jacket since being on my mission so I have a little more than just the two sweaters I came out here with. Even that jacket though sometimes just doesn't stand a chance with the wind blowing, which makes me grateful we have a truck rather than just bikes. 

In other news, Thanksgiving was this past week as you may have heard. It was quite a day. We ate. And that was pretty much it. 

In more exciting news, two people were baptized on Saturday! Ladonna was baptized in the morning, and then Jarom, a 9 year old kid who knows the scriptures better than I do, was baptized in the afternoon. And Jarom's wish has always been to be baptized in a river. So his parents were like sure, we have a river on our property, we can do that. So that is what they all planned on even though it was the end of November. And as I said before, it had snowed last week and it was like 30 degrees on Saturday afternoon. But sure enough they did it. 

But that was a really awesome day. I'm just so grateful to have gotten to know them and to be there for their decisions to be baptized and follow Jesus Christ. Its always a spiritual and uplifting and inspiring time to be at people's baptisms. 

And there's a scripture I really like that talks about baptism and it's in the Book of Mormon, in the book of Mosiah, in the 18th chapter, from the 8th, 9th, and 10th verses.

"...and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?"

And I could go into the context of this story, and explain the background and what not, because it is a really great story. But I won't take that time to do that today. I just want to focus on those verses and how they talks really simply about how if we are trying to be a good person and follow Jesus Christ, then baptism can help us with that. When we're baptized we can feel God's presence more abundantly and constantly because that's what He promises us when we promise Him that we will take Christ's name upon us and strive to do all those good things that scripture talks about.

Til next p day,

~Elder Oswald

Ladonna's baptism

Jarom (the day after the baptism because in all the freezing-ness of a baptism in the river, a picture didn't happen the day of)

The river where Jarom was baptized

The Joy of Making Others Cry

November 25, 2019

Like the sun that rises every morning, or like that faithful old geyser that goes off every hour who's name I can never remember, Transfers are something you can always count on. Wherever you are as a missionary, whatever success you may be having, Transfers will come, filling the souls of any missionary with inexpressible feelings of suspense, curiosity, and a fear of the unknown. And once more, Transfers have again knocked on the door of the Arizona Scottsdale Mission.

So you may be asking yourself: "Well, has changed then?" 

And the answer is:

Nothing!  

That's right, Elder Fonnesbeck and I are staying together for yet another transfer! 

Also, this will be a quick email as I am short on time today. So I will immediately address the title of this email. To save you from having to scroll back up to the top of this page, I will remind you of the the title. It is "The Joy of Making Others Cry".

Now let's break this down. The reason why I said this is not because I enjoy seeing other people sad. In fact that's not even the kind of crying I was talking about. I'm talking about the kind of crying that happens when people get so happy and emotional they just can't even control their tear ducts. And my email was misleading also because it is not us who "makes" people cry. In the context I'm referencing, it is as I said that people experience powerful, happy, emotional feelings, that are most often feelings that come from the Spirit of the Lord. And it isn't always that people cry when feeling the Spirit. I want to make it clear that everyone feels the Spirit differently. But crying does happen sometimes. 

And the reason I have been thinking of all this is because the last couple weeks we have been sharing with people the new "Light the World" video the Church made. And its a really awesome video. Its about 17 minutes long, it's in a language called Aramaic, and it tells the whole Nativity story in probably the most historically accurate way I've ever seen. But most importantly, it's just a great video that allows us to ponder on the birth of Jesus Christ and what our Savior means to us. And I have seen it about 26 times now with all the times I've shown it with people. And every time something sticks out to me in the video or just in what someone said after the video. And that's one of my favorite parts, when people share their thoughts after they see the video. And many times they cry as they share their own personal testimonies of Jesus Christ, which, to paraphrase Jeffrey R. Holland, is "a more eloquent sermon than I could ever give." And that's what got me thinking about crying. Because I've seen a lot of it lately. 

But before I sign off for the week, I would invite you all to watch the new Light the World video, because they finally released it to the public. It's called "the Christ Child" and you can find it on churchofjesuschrist.org, or lighttheworld.org, but most conveniently you can find it on YouTube. And just really think about it all and what it means to you.

I know that Jesus Christ did come to earth. And He lived His life to show us the way to live, and to experience the struggles and trials of life, not just as a blanket thing for everyone, but He knows us now and He knew us then when he atoned for our sins and shortcomings. And He felt what we feel on a personal and individual level. 

And I am so grateful for this.

#gratitude #tistheseasontobethankful #notgonnatotallyskipoverthanksgiving #neverusinghastagsagain #emailruined

Well I'll write again next week. Merry Christmas and a happy thanksgiving! 

A Tiring Amount of Service

November 18, 2019

Well everyone, here we are again. I hope the last 7 days have treated you well, as they have me.

We did a whole bunch of service this week, which was great. Tuesday we helped someone with wood. Wednesday we helped someone else with wood. Thursday we raked someone's leaves. Friday we raked someone else's leaves. And Saturday we helped someone load stuff, such as broken down 4 wheelers and lawn mowers and dirt bikes and car parts and other miscellaneous junk into a trailer, which we then unloaded after it was moved to its destination. That service also included moving several stacks of tires from one area of a dirt lot to another. And the only sensible way to do that is by rolling them one by one of course. So that was a fun time. It was pretty tiring though. Luckily we were wearing appropriate attire for the job. 

Other than that we were able to visit with lots of people, both members of the Church and people who aren't members of the Church alike. We talked to someone out in Concho, who told us that she has a grandson who is not a member of the Church and who potentially had some interest in learning about the Gospel. And his name is Joel, not to be confused with Joel's dad who is also named Joel, but who also goes by Tim. Well so we talked to Joel (grandson Joel not Tim Joel) and he said he would be interested in us teaching him. So that'll be cool.

I really just love all the opportunities there are to teach about Jesus Christ and bear testimony of Him. Sometimes I look back on my day and realize that I have missed some opportunities to share what I know, and I feel bad about that. But something I've learned is seriously that no one is perfect. And the Savior wants us to follow Him and be His disciple and to participate in His work, which means more than just serving a full time mission. And He doesn't expect that we will be perfect as we strive to do that, or as we strive to live any aspect of the Gospel. That's why the Savior came to earth in the first place. Because we aren't perfect and without Him we never would be, and since no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God, we would all be hopelessly doomed to be cut off from God's presence forever. But because Jesus Christ atoned for our sins and weaknesses, we can overcome those things and become clean and we ultimately will be able to return to God's presence. So when we feel like we're trying our best but we keep falling short, and we feel like we keep falling back into old fears and weaknesses, we can take those things to the Savior and He can make our weak things strong. He wants us to follow Him and live His Gospel and He wants us to be a part of His work, and it is possible for us to do that even when we might feel incapable. In the Book of Mormon there's a story of a person named Nephi, who was asked by the Lord to go and get this record of scripture. He couldn't see at that moment why it was so important and the impact it would have on so many of God's children down the road, but Nephi knew it was important that he followed this command. So he and his brothers had tried twice to obtain that record, the second time they returned unsuccessfully their lives were put into serious danger, and there was no foreseeable way they could be successful if they tried again. So they had every reason to be afraid and to give up. They had already shown a lot of faith just by trying a second time, and so it is no wonder that at this point two of the brothers had decided they had trusted the Lord enough but that now they wanted to not go and get themselves killed by trying a third time. Nephi however, had the faith beyond what his brothers had, and beyond what most people have. It wasn't conditional upon what circumstances would come up, how dangerous it got, or how reasonably afraid he was. His faith was centered on Jesus Christ and he knew "that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." (1 Nephi 3:7) So Nephi went and did what the Lord commanded him to do, even though he had those fears and he couldn't do it on his own. He had the faith to go and do even though he didn't know how it would be done. This story just stood out to me recently, even though I've heard it many times before, and I had a personal experience of how true that principle is. I know that following the Savior is not an easy road. I know that we have things in our lives that are difficult. But I know that the struggles we have, all of which are different from everyone else's, we have them so that we can be humble and so we can recognize the need we have for a Redeemer. And I know that Jesus Christ has experienced every one of the struggles we have, for each one of us personally. And because of that we can come unto Him with those struggles, and if we have the faith to follow Him despite the struggles that keep us from where we want to be, He will strengthen us and give us peace and give us the assurance that He will provide a way to accomplish the thing He has commanded us to do, that we could never do on our own. 

I just want you to know that this is something I've learned to be true. I love my Savior and His Gospel. I know that our Father in Heaven has a plan for us to be happy both in this life and in the life after. And I'm so grateful for all of this.

And that is my email for the week. 

See you laters alligators,

~Elder Oswald

A (Not So) Historically Short Email

November 11,2019

Well my friends, I'm about to make history. 

This will be the shortest email you've ever seen written by Elder Oswald.

I'll start by saying it was a great week as always. We served people. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people. We got free food from people. The usual. 

Something really cool from the last couple months, is that there is this lady we stop by every once and a while just to see how she's doing and to see what we can do to help her out. And it has been really amazing because literally every time we stop by, she's doing something she needs our help with, and we show up just in time. We've got there while she's unloading groceries from her car a couple times, when she needs things moved from one place to another, and just the other day we stopped by while she was planting tulips and another flower I can't remember. So we were able to help her dig some holes to plant the flowers. 

It's just so awesome how we always show up at the perfect moment. And she has said so herself how she is so grateful that we always come right when she needs our help. And it's just so amazing to me. The Lord really is mindful of every one of His children. And He blesses us, many times through other people. He can make us instruments in His hands to touch other people's lives. He will place us in the paths of those who need help. And He can inspire us with what to say and do to help His children. And I just love that so much. I know that it isn't an accident or a coincidence that we think to stop by that lady's house when we do. And neither is it a coincidence any of the other times we cross paths with people and have opportunities to share God's love with them and be a light in people's lives. I've seen it so many times where I have met people, it doesn't matter who they are, what religion they belong to, or anything like that, where they have made a positive impact in my life. It's no coincidence that there are so many good things that come into our lives. 

"And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is." (Moroni 10:6, the Book of Mormon)

I know that all of the good things, the things that make us happy, the things that brighten our day, all of the people we meet and the families and friendships and relationships we get to have with others in our lives, all of these we have for a reason and a purpose. God has blessed us with these things so that we can be happy, and so that we can learn to acknowledge His hand in our lives.

Well, we've come to the end of yet another email. And it turns out it wasn't as short as I thought it would be. Anyhow, tune in next week for more exciting adventures.

~Elder Oswald 

Round Valley Zone 

Got to reconnect with my first companion in the field, Elder Bess.

Lyman Lake

A Spooktacular Week

November 4, 2019

Yes, I did just say the most basic, overused Halloween pun in existence. Am I ashamed? Yes. But is it a fitting title? Sure.

For those of you who don't know, Halloween fell on the 31st this year, and so we had that this past week. It was a ton of fun. You see, almost every day of the year, missionaries around the world enjoy stopping by people's houses unannounced. However, there is one day of the year where the roles are reversed. On this day, normal every day people enjoy stopping by peoples houses unannounced, and the missionaries are asked to stay inside for the night because of safety reasons.

It was a fun day though. We had Zone Conference in the morning and afternoon, which was really good. And then we got back into town in time to go to Dollar General and drop $20 on snacks, before stopping by a Halloween party, before heading home for our fun evening indoors. 

Now for a couple spooky stories for this Halloween season:

Spooky Story #1:

The other night we decided to stop by someone's house. It was dark, and as we approached the house we saw lights on in the car, and we could see that they were in the car talking. So we did the sensible thing and walked up to the window and looked inside. They were deep in conversation and didn't notice the two dark figures standing out in the dark. And we didn't think to knock on the door, so Elder Fonnesbeck shined his flashlight in there, which got their attention. And to our surprise they started screaming! Then they realized it was the missionaries and they started laughing. But it was hilarious. Because we had no intention at all to scare them. But yeah we spooked 'em good.

 

Spooky Story #2:

It was a cold Halloween evening. The sun was just beginning to set on the lonely town of St. Johns. And as I said earlier we had stopped by Dollar General. Well when we were there someone stopped me and asked "Are you an actual missionary or are you a kid dressed up as one for Halloween?" It didn't have anything to do with anyone scaring anyone, but I will be haunted by this for the rest of my life so I'd say that that's a pretty spooky story.

Besides those terrifying events from the week, the rest of our week was really good too. 

We went out and found a whole bunch of houses we never knew existed. We saw Tyler again. We taught a kid named D.J. who wants to be baptized. We helped with wood. We helped move large rocks from someone's yard. And we did a lot of other things too. 

Another really cool thing from the week was talking to an older couple named the Summers, who have been learning about the Church for a little bit now. What was cool was how the husband was talking about coming to Sacrament meetings, which is the main meeting we have at church, and how every time he goes, he has a powerful experience of some kind where something is said or there's a line in a hymn, that's exactly what he needs to hear. And what I really got out of that is how every time we go to Church we have the opportunity to have amazing experiences that will help build our faith in Jesus Christ, and the Summers are a great example of being open to those experiences. Because as much as I wish that I could say I've had amazing powerful experiences at church every single time I've gone, that just wouldn't be true. And I think in those cases it had a lot to do with just me, not having my mind open to the experiences God had to give me. Because He always answers our prayers and He always is reaching out to us. But sometimes we just don't see it. And I know that attending Sacrament meeting is an amazing blessing in our lives if we open our minds to the experiences God has for us. Part of that is that we're able to gather together and learn from each other and help each other as we all work to grow our faith in Christ. And another part of that is that there is real power in being a part of the Sacrament ordinance, which is entirely here to help us grow closer to our Savior and strengthen our faith in Him, and to renew our commitment to follow Him, and to feel God's Spirit more abundantly in our lives. And that is something I know is real and is true and I am so grateful for it. 

Til next week everyone,

~Elder Oswald

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

October 28, 2019

We actually were back at the ranch!

You see, on Saturday we continued the project that we started a week previous, of helping someone put up barbed wire fence around their ranch. This took place in Concho, the land of dirt roads and pig riding, and the people we were with were mostly all a bunch of wise and experienced ranchers. And I learned so much. I never knew how much went into barbed wire fencing. You have to have corner posts, and you have to have smaller posts everywhere in between, and you have to string the barbed wire all the way down one side, and you have to tie the wire to each post, and you have to do that one strand at a time, for each strand in the fence, and you have to do all of that for each side of the fence too. Also, I learned that lunch is a very important part of a day at the ranch. One of the guys foolishly suggested that we eat in shifts, to which another guy said "No, when it's time for grub, we all eat together." And that's what we did.

Meanwhile, back at St. Johns, the missionary work is going really well. In addition to fence putting up, we did a lot of other service this week, everywhere from volunteering at the food bank, to hauling wood, to moving furniture, to helping build a house. 

Teaching has been going well also. I've talked about Ladonna before, she's doing really well and will be being baptized at the end of November. 

Tyler is also doing great still and he wants to be baptized so bad but he's still just waiting on that one thing. But he's awesome. He just has such a good positive attitude about it all. Fun fact, Tyler went to a high school rivaling the high school that LeBron James went to, at the same time as each other, and they actually played against each other in high school basketball. And I played against Tyler this week. Which means that I played basketball against someone who played basketball against LeBron James.

Something else exciting from the week is that there is a lady named Malena who has also been waiting on one thing before she could get baptized, and now that one thing is happening and she's getting baptized in November! She's been learning the Gospel and coming to church for like 5 years now, and she knows it all so well. So it's really exciting for her because she's been wanting to be baptized for a while now.

It's always just amazing to see the Lord's work happening around us. I see it all the time, but whenever miracles and things come out of nowhere like in Malena's example, and in the case of anyone who finds themselves ready to come closer to Jesus Christ and follow Him and be baptized, it's just another reminder of how it all is the Lord's work. And all the blessings and miracles and everything comes from Him. And it's just a joy to be a part of it all and to be made an instrument in the Lord's hands. 

I know that my testimony of Jesus Christ has grown and my knowledge and understanding of His Gospel has grown as well, as a direct result of the experiences He has blessed me with and the people I've been able to meet. I know that Jesus Christ does live and His Gospel is true. And this truth blesses our lives so much more than we can imagine, and it allows us to find all the purpose and meaning and happiness in life that we could ever search for.

Well, that's what I've got for you today. I wish you all the best.

Til next email,


~Elder Oswald

An Arizona Elder

Of Pigs, Prayer, and Pitbulls

October 21, 2019

There you were, casually checking your email. When all of a sudden, the page refreshed and you see a new email, a moderately clever title, and it misleadingly says it's from someone named Amy. "Could it be?" You ask.

It could. And it be. 

Your weekly email is here.

It was a great week here in St. Johns. 

I rode a 1200 pound pig named Wilbur this week. I just wanted to say that right off the bat cause that was awesome. I'll send a picture, even though it doesn't do it justice.

Let's see what else is new. We also had a shotgun pulled on us this week. That was exciting. We were trying to find someone and that happened. So you can bet we booked it out of that drive way as fast as we could, after completing a 3 point turn of course. 

And I think that's all I have for random stuff from the week. 

Now, sit back and relax, because I have a story.

So when I was on exchanges with Elder Wilhelmsen a couple weeks ago we were trying to track down a referral for someone we could teach. It began a couple nights earlier with a member telling them that they knew someone who knew someone who wanted to be taught. We didn't know the person's name though. So we first went to that first member and figured out the name of the person they knew. Her name is Debra. So we went and found Debra who is also a member. And sure enough, Debra had a friend who she said has a lot of interest in the Church. And her name is Carol. Unfortunately Debra didn't know Carol's address, so she gave us some directions with some landmarks that would help us locate her house. Except for they were the most unhelpful directions ever. She said "Go out this exit here, then go straight until you come to a street on the right, and you'll take that first right and then it's the second or third house on the left." She then told us that we couldn't miss it because it has a white pickup in front, some dark colored cars, and a "mother of pearl" colored car whatever that means. She said it also has a fence with pit bulls inside, and that "they look mean but they're actually really friendly." 

So we set off on our bikes, since we were riding bikes that day, and we followed the directions perfectly. The only problem was that there was only one house on the left and it didn't fit all the other landmarks aside from the white pickup. We reasoned however that over half the landmarks were relative since cars move and we don't know what mother of pearl means. So we tried a couple different houses around that we thought possibly could be it. They weren't. It just turns out that everyone in St. Johns owns a white pickup. So after a little bit more biking around and looking around, we decided to go back to the first member and see if they knew where Carol lived because we didn't want to tell Debra that her directions didn't make sense. So we went back, and they told us that they know Carol, but they don't know where she lives. So they called Debra and said that the missionaries couldn't find Carol and they asked for better directions. So finally we had some new directions. And we realized that apparently by "take the first right" Debra actually meant "take the second right." Silly us for not figuring that out. The new directions were pretty much the same except they included some other helpful hints such as "it's near the burnt out trailer" which didn't exist and "past where the old barn used to be" nevermind that we don't know where the old barn used to be since it isn't there now. 

Finally, after following the new directions, we came to a house that we thought must be it. The white pickup wasn't there, but there was a car of indeterminate color which I now have to assume is "mother of pearl," and there were also three mean looking pit bulls. But we now faced a new dilemma: The one and only door to the house was inside the fence in which the bloodthirsty pit bulls roamed. As scary as they looked though, I trusted Debra's assurance that they are in reality friendly. So with a stupid amount of courage, I approached the gate. One of the pitbulls approached the gate as well, barking angrily in defense. And I then began reaching to open the gate, the gate that would release those bloodthirsty monsters, when I thought to stick my hand in first to see if the pitbull would sniff it and become friendly. So I did that. And as soon as I did so the pitbull lept up with its terrifying teeth bared in an attempt to eat my hand. Luckily, gratefully, thankfully, I pulled my hand back in time to not lose it forever to that terrifying beast. 

At that point we decided to not open the gate. 

As we were walking away a guy came out of the house telling us not to mess with the dogs because they're dangerous. We also recognized him as the guy who works at Subway who I used to think was cool. We asked him if Carol lived there and he was like "She's not home" and paused before saying "she actually lives down the street" completely contradicting himself. 

So then we went across the street to some members to see if they knew their neighbors. And sure enough, Carol lives in that house with the pitbulls and so now we know for sure that that guy was lying through his deceitful little Subway worker teeth.

Those members also informed us that we should not under any circumstances open the gate with the pitbulls and that we should just knock on the side of the house if we really needed to because those dogs "will literally tear you apart and eat you." 

So I was glad to hear that after having been a split second away from opening that gate and bravely waltzing in to meet my complete and utter death. 

The day ended only 30 minutes later when after a tragic decision to run home real quick so Elder Wilhelmsen could properly get rid of a tiny yet destructive hang nail, the derailer on his bike broke off and went through his spokes causing him to be thrown off his bike as we were going super fast down a hill. He's okay but we were in the rest of the night due to his injuries. 

And that is the story. 

And now here I am, writing this email with both of my hands. 

It is about time for me to scedaddle, but I wanted to quickly share a little something about prayer because I was thinking about that. 

There's a scripture which says:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5)

I've learned a lot about prayer recently. And there's so much to say but not enough time to say it all. So I just want to say that I know that God is our Father, and that He really does love us. And He does hear and answer our prayers. I have learned that these things are true as I have prayed about them to really seek that "wisdom" for myself. We can't do that without faith however. The scripture continues:

"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."

I know that as we pray with faith and with "real intent" like the Book of Mormon talks about, we will find answers to our prayers. Sometimes the answers are more spectacular than others. But when we have faith in Christ our minds can be opened to all the miracles and answers to prayers that we might not otherwise realize. And as we keep that pattern of prayer going every day, we will continue to have experiences and miracles that will strengthen our faith more than we can imagine. I know that God has things for us to learn and experiences for us to have if only we just ask. And those things will bless our lives so much.

Til next week,

~Elder Oswald

P.S. - I just want you to think about this again: 

I ALMOST LOST MY HAND!!!!! Literally centimeters away from having it eaten off by a ferocious dog.

Okay I'm done. 

P.S.S. -Pictures

1. Wilbur the 1200 pound pig 

2. Taming Wilbur

3. Some dang good Root Beer

4. What do you do when a little girl invites you to her birthday party? You show up at her party!

How Much Wood Would an Elder Chuck if an Elder Could Chuck Wood?

October 14, 2019

An Elder would chuck all the wood he could chuck, if an Elder could chuck wood. 

Now, I don't know the exact definition of the word "chuck" that the original tongue twister originally intended, but in this case I mean "chuck" as in "throw with vigor." 

And I have learned that we definitely can chuck wood. I'll attach a picture to prove it. 

Here in St. Johns, firewood is a necessary part of staying warm in the winter for most people. And a necessary part of obtaining firewood, is cutting down trees. So we went with someone this week to help them with that. We aren't allowed to use chainsaws though and so we didn't help with the actual cutting down trees part. But we did help with lifting and loading and stacking and of course, chucking wood. 

That day was crazy though, because it was cold. In Arizona. So cold that I had to wear a jacket. In fact when we woke up it was 18 degrees. 

I certainly am not in the valley anymore, that's for sure. 

Anyhow, it has been a great week. Transfers is also tomorrow. And our transfer news is:

We're all staying! No changes in St. Johns. 

Now, I have an exciting and humorous story to share with you all. 

Just kidding. I have sadly run out of time, and so I will keep you in suspense until next week. 

I have to go but I just want to say before I do so, that I have learned more than ever how we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, and that we have a Savior who has made it possible for us to find strength over our weaknesses and find peace and lasting happiness in our lives. I've had answers to prayers and amazing experiences throughout my mission, but most recently this last week. I know Christ's Gospel is true and we will find so many blessings as we strive every day to live it. 

I hope you guys have another great week!

~Elder Oswald 

P.S. - Pictures 

1. Wood being chucked

Physically Fed, Spiritually Nourished

October 7, 2019

So I don't know if I've said this before, but people here give us so much food. It's to the point where we're constantly full, anywhere we go people offer us food and we can't turn it down of course. An example is Saturday, we just finished eating junk food at someone's house so we weren't even hungry, then we went to our dinner appointment where we ate homemade Chinese food which was interesting, then they of course gave us a huge slice of cake. Then after a conversation about how Elder Fonnesbeck felt like throwing up, we stopped by another members house to check on them, and they were like, "You're just in time for dinner" and they had made their famous macaroni and cheese which I had heard so much about, and so we had to have some.

Things like that happen every day which is kind of awesome, cause I love eating food. Unfortunately, although I have been well fed, I haven't been well nourished. 

It has been a great week here in the fun little town of St. Johns. A lot has happened, but I don't think that those things fully deserve their own paragraph, and so I'll just make a little list of some random things from the week:

1. We picked apples from an apple tree (I'll include a picture)

2. A kid came up to me and said "You look like a kid" and walked away. 

3. We had our interviews with President and Sister Cox which was fun

4. I met two different girls with the name Kendall 

5. We helped build a She Shed

6. We still don't really know what a She Shed is

7. It was Surf N Turf day on Thursday at the Sugar Shack, our favorite restaraunt, and so we had a delicious meal there

We also went on exchanges with the other Elders one day, and we did some service for a lady named Grandma Barbara. And she was having us do the most random things. One of them was that she had these open containers of dirty water, and then she had a large bin of dirty water that had a lid on it. She took the lid off, and then directed us to take the smaller containers and pour them in the big bin without stirring up the dirt or getting the dirt in the big bin, even though there's already dirt in the big bin. And if we did it wrong she got after us. Eventually we had successfully transferred the dirty water into a bigger container of dirty water and we still don't know why. She was a funny lady though. I don't remember how it led up to this, but as she was rambling on she eventually started talking about her childhood. And she was like, "Did you boys grow up on a farm? Raise pigs?" We said no and she paused, probably disappointedly, before continuing. "Well when we raised pigs we didn't waste anything. We used everything on the pig, the skin, the hooves. The only thing we didn't use was the oink--we couldn't figure out how to bottle it." 

Anyway though, it was a good week. General Conference was this weekend, which is where twice a year the leaders of the Church pretty much give sermons like we hear in Church except it's broadcast all throughout the world in a whole bunch of different languages so everyone can hear. And it's just really awesome because we are able to hear from the current apostles and prophet and other church leaders to be able to gain insights from them, and be able to have guidance and inspiration from them, that is ultimately from the Lord. I've talked about it before how Jesus Christ's Church has been restored, and along with that, the organization that He established has been brought back as well, that being apostles and prophets who serve the Lord and help run His Church. And that is something I have really come to know myself, is that God does speak to prophets today just like He did in the Bible times. And the messages which we hear from the modern day apostles and prophets are inspired to help us strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ and to comfort us and to help us learn and to help us with whatever we need at the moment. I personally had a couple questions I had been praying about before the Conference started, and as people spoke and I was able to feel the Spirit, I was able to get answers to those questions. And it wasn't really what they said exactly that directly answered my questions, but it was things they said that helped give me more insight and triggered thoughts of other things, and I was able to be personally taught things that I needed by the Spirit. Because that is the most important thing, that we learn things on a personal level and grow our faith in Christ on a personal level. And one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and so that's what I mean when I say the Spirit can teach us things. He can help us feel the truthfulness  of things, and open our minds to understanding things.  And its important for everyone to learn how to receive that kind of personal revelation, which just so happened to be something that speakers at General Conference talked about.

I'm grateful for the restored Church of Jesus Christ with the modern day revelation from God through modern day apostles and prophets who teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I'm grateful for that Gospel of Jesus Christ which has been restored in all of its fullness and clarity so that we can fully experience all of the blessings of peace and joy that our Savior has made possible for us to have. And along with that and most importantly, I am grateful for my Savior and the testimony I have of Him. I know He lives and loves us and I've come to know that by living His Gospel of having faith in Him, making changes in my life to follow Him better, and by making covenants or promises with God and striving to live them all throughout my life. When we do these things and "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ" then we "shall have eternal life." And that's the most joyful part of all of it, that one day, because of Jesus Christ, we can live with our families forever in the presence of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week. Til next time,

~Elder Oswald

P.S.- Pictures

1. How do ya like them apples?

2. Me looking extra like a 12 year old with Tyler and the other Elders

The Grass is Always Greener when you Spray Paint it

Septempber 30, 2019

Hello everyone!

It's been another fantastic week here in St. Johns, Arizona. I will warn you though, this email is going to be unusually short.

So we were doing some service for some people the other day, and it was a whole lot of random jobs pretty much just taking care of their backyard getting ready for a wedding reception that would be hosted there. And one of the jobs was the most redneck thing I've ever done. You see, their lawn had a ton of brownish reddish spots all over, and they wanted it green, and so they had us take green spray paint and spray the lawn. Unfortunately they bought like this really dark forest green and it didn't match at all. But it was a lot of fun though. Who knew there was such a simple way of getting green grass? 

So we began teaching someone named Ladonna. Her husband is a member, his name is Trent. And Trent's mom is really close to Ladonna and had told us that she was expressing interest in being baptized. We weren't gonna try and push or anything though and we figured she'd talk to us when she was ready. Well we just went by for a quick visit one night with the intent of sharing an uplifting message about Jesus Christ with them, cause that's what we do. And that's what we did, and we were about to say a prayer and leave when they said "we actually have something we wanted to tell you, she wants to get baptized." And so we talked about that with them and we started teaching her this week. She has a pretty good background with the Gospel, and has already learned a lot from the family she married into and she is very accepting of what we teach. So that's exciting for her and her family.

That's something I love is that the Gospel can really bring families closer together. And that's such an important part of God's plan for us and I've seen that a lot on my mission, that God really does love and care about each of us, and that the joy we can experience in families is meant to last forever, and we can be with our families forever because of Jesus Christ. I know this is true. I pray that we all can come to know our Heavenly Father's love more and gain a deeper understanding of the purpose and joy that we can have in our lives.

Well, it's time for me to make like a salt shaker and dash, but I hope that you all have a great week.

Til I write again,

~Elder Oswald

P.S.- Pictures 

1. The Wild West

2. Donkey Selfie

3. When you're making pancakes while thinking of home

A Hole Lot of Fun

September 23, 2019

There are many differences between St. Johns and Scottsdale that many might consider to be astronomical. For instance, there are significantly less people here, and the roads are significantly less busy. There are also significantly more trees and significantly more farms and ranches. It is also significantly higher in elevation and therefore there is significantly more lower temperatures. The most literally astronomical difference however is that because of the significant lack of light pollution here, you can see the stars way better. 

This week was really good. I'll make a quick recap of some of the events from the week:

-We went to a block party and talked to a hitchhiker

-We helped at the food bank

-We got food poisoning low key

-We visited with a ton of people as usual

Now, Saturday was quite eventful. I've explained it before I believe, but we have as a part of our area, a bunch of land in the middle of nowhere both on the east and on the west of St. Johns. To the west is Concho, where we have a small congregation. And to the east is a power plant and "the forties" which is a whole bunch of forty acre plots of land that people own. And a little ways north is called the "witch wells" which is similar to the forties except for its apparently more dangerous and we're not supposed to go there without someone going with us who knows the area. Anyhow, now that you have that background, I can tell this story:

So we got a text from a lady a while ago asking us to help her with stuff on Saturday. She isn't a member of the church but she is friends with one of the members and that's how she knew to contact us for service. So Saturday came, and we followed her directions to her property. And her property is in the aforementioned Forties to the east of St. Johns. And this was farther into the middle of nowhere than I've ever been in my life. It was crazy. But anyway, we get to her 100 acre ranch (she owns more than the typical forty acres) and she explained to us that she wants us to put in a septic tank for one of her trailer homes. And it was surprisingly simple instructions: dig a hole, put the 55 gallon plastic drum in the hole, and cut a hole in the top of it. But digging the hole was way harder than I expected, for in my experience with hole digging, it always took place in the soft layer of topsoil of my vegetable garden in Michigan, and it only went about a foot deep, and I was 10. In this case however, the dirt was dry and hard, and we had to get it big enough to fit a 55 gallon drum, but even worse was that it was mostly hardened clay that we were digging through, which is pretty much just a step below trying to dig through concrete. It was challenging, but we did it and it only took 3 hours and a few sore muscles. It was just like that movie Holes, except for we only had to dig one hole and we never discovered an intriguing plot about hidden treasure or our ancestors stealing pigs from each other. 

The lady, who we'll call Valerie, she also prepared lunch for us which was super nice. And she also invited all her "neighbors" over for lunch. I say neighbors in quotations because I'm used to that being a word which means a person living close by, and they don't actually live close to her, they're just the closest people that live to her. They still hang out all the time though I guess. The first to arrive were the two identical looking men who introduced themselves as "Dave and Dave." They were the same height, had the same work boots, the same blue jeans, the same bushy gray beards, and the same "Trump 2020" hats. The only distinctions were that the first Dave had sunglasses and a green sweatshirt and the second Dave had normal glasses and a green jacket. The rest of the neighbors that came were pretty normal. There was the older single guy, the middle aged single guy, and the older married couple. It was fun to have lunch with them. However the conversation soon became very political, and as missionaries we are supposed to remain politically neutral, so we did our best just to nod our heads, except for at that point we ourselves were wearing Trump hats since they were given to us to protect us from the sun while digging the hole, and so I'm not actually sure how successful we were at appearing politically neutral. 

But after that, we were taken to the top of her property where she showed us all the pottery shards from the Anasazi Native American tribe that once lived there and we got to collect some. So that was cool. Then she took us to where she thought were some Anasazi cave drawings except for she couldn't find them. 

But yeah, that was our fun adventure on Saturday. 

Well I'm gonna have to get going, but I spoke at Church yesterday and I wanted to share with you now, one of the scriptures I shared then. It's in the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18.

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

I love this scripture because it is very simple and straightforward. And I know it's true. I know that whatever we've done, we can be forgiven. Through Jesus Christ we can become clean and we can have peace and we can be happy. I love this knowledge I have about the Savior and His Gospel, and I love continuing to learn about it and I love teaching others about it as well.

I hope you all have an enjoyable week!

Cordially,

~Elder Oswald

A Fairly Good Week

If you are reading this, I know what you're probably thinking: "I spent all of last week in utter disappointment after not recieving a highly anticipated email. So I spent all of this past Monday on pins and needles, anxiously waiting for this same highly anticipated email. And I spent all of Tuesday giving up hope and lamenting the absence of said highly anticipated email. And now after having just opened my inbox, I see an intriguing title, misleadingly sent from the author's mother...can it be?"

Yes it can. Your highly anticipated email is here, and boy do I have some news for you. 

First and foremost, I was transferred. I am no longer in Scottsdale. And I'm no longer in the valley either. I am up in the mountains in a little town called St. Johns. Me and my new companion, whose name is Elder Fonnesbeck, cover 3 congregations. Two wards, and one branch, which is the same as a ward but smaller. I am no longer on bike also, I have a truck, because in addition to part of the small town of St. Johns, we have miles and miles of ranches and dirt roads out in the literal middle of nowhere. Everything is just so different. Everyone is like a rancher or cowboy or mountain man or something of that sort. It's so great. There's a guy named Mario who lives in this town, and he's kind of a funny character.  We saw him outside on the street the other day and he was like "Hey missionaries" so we went to chat with him, and at the moment he was talking with someone else, and when that person left he began running around looking for something. And he called over to us and said "is there a cat under that truck?" We looked, there wasn't. When he got closer he told us that he'd been throwing cats into the irrigation ditch and that there was one he hadn't caught yet. So we asked him how his day was going, what else he'd been up to, and he said he'd just been throwing cats in the irrigation ditch all day. He said he was bored, except he seemed really entertained by what he was doing. Every once in a while a cat would run by and the conversation would pause while he grabbed it and dropped it into the irrigation ditch. Every cat he picked up was already wet also, and we were just like, Mario this ones already wet did you already throw this one in? And he would say yes and then drop it in. One time he picked up a kitten, already wet, and said "I dropped this one in earlier too except I dropped it on the other side of that tube so it got sucked underneath. I felt bad for this one." And then he dropped it in. He also introduced us to his new puppy. At one point the dog did something that Mario said was bad, he probably just wagged his tail or something, and Mario was like, "Okay that's it," and calmly picked the puppy up and dropped it in the irrigation ditch. It was so strange. Anyway, I thought I'd share that with you.

Also, something else about St. Johns is that the town is made up of predominantly members of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. So the work here is a lot different, but it's great. Also Elder Fonnesbeck is great too, he's so funny. 

Now to address the title of this email, I meant that last week was fairly good not in the sense that it was mediocre or only somewhat good, but in the sense that the fair was going on last week! 

And since literally the entire town was at the fair, we were too! In fact, we had a booth. So the vast majority of our week was spent at the fair. We talked to a lot of people and were involved and whatnot which was good. As I said, most people are members of the Church here so everyone already knows who we are. And everyone just loves us. People bought us so much fair food. It was rather amazing except for I felt like throwing up sometimes. It was the good kind of feeling like I was going to throw up though. It just meant I was eating a lot of great food.

One of the craziest nights of the fair was when we watched the "Mud bogs." And that was an event that was going on one evening where a bunch of people entered their trucks in the contest to drive through this big long mud pit. It was in like a rodeo arena thing where everyone could watch, and these trucks just drove through the 3 foot deep mud bog trying to beat the time of the other trucks. And the commentator at one point said that during intermission he'd have all the kids come down to the mud pit to do a race through it. Then intermission came and the kids did their race, and then the commentator said, "Now let's get our missionaries out here!" and the crowd went wild, cheering for us and whatnot. So we took off our Sunday shoes, straightened our ties, and confidently went over to the mud pit. And then we raced through the mud pit. The crowd loved us, we were the talk of the town all the next day. Luckily, the commentators wife approached us after we ran and was like, "I'm not letting you try to wash those clothes yourselves, I have a secret to get mud out of clothes, let me." And whatever she did it worked. 

But yeah, that was super fun. I'll attach a picture. 

Before I wrap up this email, I would like to share a scripture. Its in the Book of Mormon, in Mormon chapter 9 verse 6. 

"O then ye unbelieving, turn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day."

There are many different aspects of what the Savior does for us. And one that I've been thinking about lately is His power to cleanse us. And although it is entirely coincidental that this is in the same email as the muddy clothes story, I love the analogy. Because no matter what muddy paths we go through in life, however seemingly ruined we can get, we can become clean. Entirely clean of anything we've ever done that would seperate us from God. Not from God's love, but from His presence, because "no unclean thing can dwell with God." But it is because of God's love that He sent His Son to make it possible for us to be clean again. Because He does want us to return to Him. 

I apologize again for the delay in correspondence. It's good to be back. 

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!

The Straw the Broke the Elder's Bike Axle...and His Companion's Glasses

There are many ways to start an email. I could perhaps begin with a cordial greeting. I could begin with a joke. But today I will begin with an apology.

I'm sorry for not sending an email last week. 

Well, it has been a great couple of weeks. And my how the time has flown. 

We had exchanges on Tuesday and I was with Elder Taylor in his area. It was a fun day. I mentioned a few emails ago that I am fluent in Swahili, and now I am even more fluent. There is an English class that Elder Taylor and Elder John help with for people who speak Swahili, since Elder John speaks Swahili, but we went to the class even though Elder John wasn't there because they had committed to be there. And it was super cool. 

Also, I think I've mentioned before that I love being in a bike only area. Despite the heat, that still is true, and Elder Sellers agrees with me. So, much to our disappointment, Elder Sellers has been having a series of bike malfunctions, and the straw that broke the camel's back, was the other day when we were biking and his back axle broke. And if you know anything about bikes, you'd know that it's kind of hard to ride a bike with a broken axle. And so his bike had to be taken in to be fixed. Unfortuantely, there are no loaner bikes in his size and so we were given a cherry red Rav 4 to use for the next couple days. I already miss biking though. 

In other news, my glasses broke again. To recap the glasses breaking story, I started with two pairs of glasses. One with black plastic frames, and the other with wire half rim frames. One morning playing soccer my plastic ones broke because they made contact with another Elder's shoulder. Then a few weeks later was the one where my wire frames were utterly demolished by a basketball thrown at my face at point blank range. So after that happened I decided take initiative and solve the glasses problem by taping my black plastic glasses with scotch tape and that had been holding up really well, and I figured it was better than nothing. I kept wearing them while playing sports however, cause I guess I figured they're already broken it doesn't matter. Well a couple days ago we were playing basketball for our exercise time and I was up by the hoop, about to make a really cool looking lay up, and Elder Sellers was at about the half court line and he decided to launch the basketball at the hoop. And just so you know, that man has a rocket for an arm, and all I hear is "Elder Oswald watch out" and I turned around just in time for the basketball to yeet my already broken glasses right off my face, breaking them in yet another spot. So now I have more Scotch tape on them. I actually have an optometrist appointment tonight though, so I will be solving the problem for real this time. It'll be good, I'm an optimist about optometrists. 

On Thursday we were able to go to the temple with the Juarez family. It was an amazing time. 

For those of you who don't know, a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is a sacred place where members of the Church can go to feel closer to the Lord and to make other special covenants or promises to Him. Just like, we make promises when we are baptized, we can make other promises in the temple. Also, because of how essential we believe those covenants, like baptism, to be, there in the temples we can stand in the place of our ancestors who have passed away without an opportunity to accept the Gospel and make those covenants on their behalf, which gives them the opportunity to accept those and receive the same blessings we can receive when we make those promises with the Lord. Which comes back to the belief we have in life after death, and that because God loves all of His children, He has made it possible for each one of his children to have an opportunity to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, even if they didn't have the chance in their earthly lifetime. When the apostle Paul was testifying of the Savior's Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, which is a great chapter by the way, and I'd invite you to read the whole chapter to get the full context, but he said in verses 20-22:

   "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

    For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

    For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

And then he goes on to talk more about why there must be a Ressurection and he says in verse 29:

"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?"

So that's why we as members of the Church believe so strongly about temple and family history work. Because we know Jesus Christ conquered death, and that there will be a day when that "last enemy" will "be destroyed."(1 Corinthians 15:26). "For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." (1 Peter 4:6)  That's why it's so important for everyone, living or dead, to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because there is a life after this one, and if we accept and live Christ's Gospel, we can have the happiest, most peaceful and joyful life we can imagine, living with God and Jesus Christ and our families forever. That's why we have missionaries and that's why we have temples. Its all about proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to God's children and helping to bring families together in this life and for eternity. 

Well, now that I just unloaded all that information, 'tis about time for me to wrap up. But if any of that didn't make sense, feel free to email me questions. 

I love you all, and I hope your week is amazing!

Sincerely,

~Elder Oswald