The Great Toilet Paper Famine

March 23, 2020

Hello everyone.

What a crazy week it has been. We're pretty much totally quarantined here now so that's been weird. Now the only thing we're allowed to do is eat meals with people. Why? I have no idea but I'm not complaining because it's kind of a nice loop hole. Other than that though it's been kind of boring honestly not being able to just stop by people unannounced all day long. So instead we get to have a lot of time to text people and call people and try to reach out to people that way. And we also get a lot of extra time to study. 

In other news though, I guess I should let you know that these emails are going to come to an untimely end. This will be the last one in fact. 

With all the coronavirus stuff going on the Church has seen fit to send missionaries home who could potentially be at risk to the virus. And I fell in that category due to my heart condition. So I'll be headed home like today or tomorrow. 

Before I conclude this concluding email, I just wanted to say how happy I've been to be able to serve as a full time missionary. More than anything else, my testimony of Jesus Christ has been strengthened so much. I know that He really lives. And I've learned what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and how that discipleship goes far beyond just serving a full time mission. So I'm excited to continue to follow Jesus Christ throughout my whole life. I know that His Gospel is true and that it has been restored to us to help us through these last days and to help us come to know Jesus Christ more than ever. 

Til we meet again,

~Elder Oswald 

A few extra pictures from Zone conference and a temple trip:

Top of the Mornin' to Ya!

March 16, 2020

I hope you read that in an impressive Irish accent, as tomorrow is St. Patrick's day. 

Speaking of which, someone gave us Corned Beef and Cabbage the other day so I got to try that for the first time ever. I also learned that I was very wrong about what Corned Beef and Cabbage is. I was right about the cabbage part, it was just cabbage. But for some reason I always imagined the corned beef as like two separate components, like just chunks of beef with little kernels of corn in it or something like that. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was not that at all, because that always made corned beef and cabbage sound gross. Much to my surprise though, it was magically delicious!

In other news, the world is coming to an end if you haven't already heard. It seems like there's about the same amount of sanity in this world as there is toilet paper on the shelves of Wal-Mart. 

I'm kidding of course. Although some people may be losing their minds, for the most part I think people are staying relatively calm. I actually have no idea about that. I don't watch the news. It's true in St. Johns at least. We've only had two people we're teaching tell us to not come over until the coronavirus goes away.

Anyway though, I'm not worried. I'll share with you a scripture:

"...I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear." 

That's taken out of context and it doesn't necessarily apply to fear of the coronavirus. But I think it can and either way the principle is the same. Whatever we might have reason to be afraid of, if we focus on Jesus Christ and His perfect love, we really do have no reason to fear anything. I'm grateful for the prophets leading this Church who protect us and warn us against all kinds of physical and spiritual dangers, and I'm grateful for them helping direct our focus to the Savior, the one true source of peace and security no matter what's going on around us. 

Hope you all have a good week and that you don't run out of toilet paper!

~Elder Oswald 

P.S. Pictures

1. My two weeks supply of food storage 

2. Elder Milne on a rope swing

3. Me trying to be cool like Elder Milne on a rope swing, featuring my triple chin I didn't know existed until I saw this picture

The Great Missionary Baking Show

March 11, 2020

Well I don't even know where to start this week.

I guess first of all p day was moved to Wednesday this week as you've probably noticed. 

But it's been a super crazy busy fun exciting 8 days since I last emailed. 

So on Wednesday a week ago we were planning on having dinner with an elderly couple that night. And they had told us about this nifty apple peeler thing they had. And we were intrigued. So they invited us over that morning to peel apples and make apple pies to have after dinner. So that was a whole bunch of fun. Elder Milne and I each got to work on our own pie also and so we started referencing the beloved cooking show "The Great British Baking Show". And by that I mean we talked in British accents pretty much the whole time we were working on our pies, saying things like "Just you wait, I'm going to be star baker" and "We'll let Paul and Mary be the judge of that." It was pretty funny. Then later that night we tried the pies. They actually turned out quite scrummy. 

The other exciting thing going on was that we had our long awaited "Cajun Night" ward party. A bunch of people made jambalaya and gumbo and there was shrimp. It was great. But we spent a lot of time this week preparing for that. Much of that preparation took the form of delivering invitations to people. But that also involved making a crawdad shaped cake, and also catching live crawdads for the "Crawdad petting zoo". That by the way started out as a joke and then we ended up doing it. So that's what we did Monday afternoon. We went out with Henry, the guy who was behind the whole idea for Cajun Night, and went to a pond where he was sure we'd find crawdads. Or crayfish. Or whatever you want to call them. Unfortunately we only found one. His name is Crawford. And we just hoped he'd survive more than 24 hours in that little bucket so that he could be put in the Crawdad petting zoo. 

As Crawford contemplated his new life outside of the pond, we began work on the crayfish shaped cake. Which as you can imagine, led to many more Great British Bake Off references. We actually baked the cakes the day before. So basically all we had to do was just take the 3 cakes and put them together and cut them into the shape of a crawfish and then frost it. So we did that. We didn't get to finish it though because we had to leave to go to a lesson (Just wanted you to know we were still doing lessons and stuff amid all the fun things). So Henry's family put the finishing touches on the cake. 

And then after the party last night, we took our good friend Crawford back to his watery home. We released him into the pond and he slowly crawled out of sight as we sung a super cringy rendition of "God be with you til we meet again". It was sad to see him go, but now he's home where I'm sure he's telling his craw-friends and family all about his cray-zy adventures about the world from whence no Crawdad has ever returned. 

In other news, I got pulled over for the first time ever in my entire life. It wasn't even my fault either! I'm just kidding I didn't come to a complete stop at a stop sign it was totally my fault. But it was 9:00 on a Sunday night though in St. Johns, the city that doesn't even have a stoplight because of how little traffic it has. So I was being lazy and just slid right through a stop sign because I figured no one was there and it'd be fine. Except for it turns out there was someone there. A police officer. The officer was super cool though. I rolled down the window and he was like "Oh it's the law breaking missionaries! You don't have any drugs do you?" And we were like "We have some cookies if you want some?" And he was like "oh I'm definitely going to have to confiscate those." Then we had to figure out what the registration looked like because neither of us had ever been pulled over before. He just gave me a warning which I'm grateful for. And then he was like "Oh hey I think I'm going out with you Elders on visits next Tuesday." And we were like "Oh I think that's the other Elders, what ward are you in?" And he was like "Lyman." And we were like "Oh yeah that's the other Elders" and he was like "Oh okay, well have a good night Elders" And then we proceeded to drive the remaining 50 feet to our house. 

In terms of teaching though, things are going really well. We haven't found anyone new to teach recently but those that we are teaching are doing well. Its been a good week. 

Here's a scripture to make up for the lack of spirituality in this email:

"And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." (Alma 32:21)

In the Gospel, or in anything, we don't learn everything all at once. Just as the exoskeleton of a crayfish grows layer by layer, so must our faith grow, layer by layer, "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little." Amen. 

Have a Crawsome day!

~Elder Oswald

P.S. Pictures 

1. How do ya like them apple peeler? (Yes, I know that doesn't make sense.)

2. "It's a bit under proved"

3. Crawdad petting zoo

4. Crawford the Brave

5. Cajun Night 

6. A Crustacean Creation 

7. The Crawdad Hunter

The Salem Missionary Trials

March 2, 2020

So it was a good week. I've hit a new low today though. I washed my whites with my colors due to mostly a lack of time and a lack of clean clothes but also due to a little bit of laziness.

So I'm a little ashamed of that. I also ate Zebra cakes and cookies and milk for breakfast this morning. I'm not at all ashamed of that though.

So I think I've said before that one of the wards we cover is called the Salem ward. And things are good, but in terms of teaching people, Salem has been the more difficult of our wards to find people to teach and to actually schedule appointments with the people we do have to teach. And so hence the title of the email. I've just always wanted to make that reference ever since I've been in this area. So there you have it. 

Things have been really good though. A lady named Carly who's an ex-pharmacist, who said she'd never come to church because she "knows everyone's secrets", came to Church yesterday so that was cool.

And Saturday was a busy day. There was a funeral for someone in town and that brought the whole town together because everyone knew this family and it was a young person who died pretty tragically. So it was pretty sad in that way. And we went to that to support them and everything. And so that got me thinking about death and stuff and then that got me on some pointless thought tangents like "what would happen if I just died right now" or like while sitting on the toilet, "that would be super awkward if I died right now." They weren't the best trains of thought. Anyway, it wasn't like a super depressing funeral or anything because it all tied into God's plan of happiness. But you know death was still on my mind and what not.

But then later in the afternoon, we had Sarah's baptism. And that was a much much happier occasion. But I was kind of thinking about what baptism is symbolic of. As we go down under the water, that represents death, being buried in the water. And then we come back up out of the water, and that represents the Resurrection when we will all rise again. And there's a spiritual side of that as well. Not only does it represent the physical death and Resurrection, but it represents the death of our old lives (spiritually speaking) and the spiritual rebirth we experience when we are baptized and commit to follow Jesus Christ throughout our lives. So anyway, it was some nice closure with the funeral and then the baptism later. It seems kinda poetic. But it does bring a lot of hope to know that Jesus Christ has overcome death and He has made it possible to be spiritually born again and made clean as we live His Gospel. 

Til I email again,

~Elder Oswald

P.S.- Pictures 

1. Cleaning a burned down house-- it was lit

Plus a few more picture which were sent over Messenger:

The Chicken Whisperer

February 24, 2020

Good day my friends.

So it's been another lovely week in St. Johns and Concho. Elder Milne is the name of my new companion. And he's a cool guy. A lot of people have asked if we're brothers which is strange because I didn't think we looked too much alike. The conclusion we came to is that it's because we both wear glasses. And we both wear white shirts. And name tags. 

It was a good week though. One thing we did was help some people with their chickens. All 200 of them. Each of them needed their blood tested for diseases, such as chicken pox and chicken-itus and other dangerous chickenly diseases. And they had several different chicken coops full of chickens. And so how we got their blood tested was one guy went into a coop, he had us hold the door closed behind him, and then you just hear the most terrifying noises while he was trying to catch them until the guy finally comes out carrying several chickens by the legs. And our job was to hold the chickens one by one and bring them up to the person poking them with a needle to take their blood. It was quite an adventure. And took it took a while too. It must've been one o'cluck in the afternoon by the time we were done. 

Also, Robert was baptized on Saturday. And that was for sure the highlight of the week. Which is saying something because that chicken thing was pretty awesome. But I just love baptisms, and being able to see people make that step in their life to come closer to Jesus Christ. And with Robert, it's just amazing to see how far he's come in just the last 6 months I've known him. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is truly amazing. And I have a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ than ever before, and I've grown such a better understanding of His Gospel as well. And that's the reason people are missionaries. As fun as helping test chickens is, that's not actually the main reason I'm here. It's to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Which often includes serving others. And sometimes we serve others by helping test their chickens for diseases. 

Well, it's time for me to make like your favorite sugar cookie dough and roll out.

Talk to you next week!

~Elder Oswald

P.S. -Pictures:

1. Look at all those chickens! 

2. Elder Oswald and his friend Henrietta 

3. The Fonnesbeck and Oswald Fence Painting Association of America: painting people's fences since 2020

4. Female sheep? Ew! 

Farewell to Fonnesbeck: The End of an Era (and other alliteration)

February 17, 2020

Well everyone, we've come to the end of another transfer. And this one marks the end of Elder Fonnesbeck's mission. That's right, he's going home.

It is a sad day indeed. From Labor Day to Presidents day, and all the other holidays in between, Elder Fonnesbeck and I have seen it all. We've been through the thick and thin, the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the ups and the downs, but sadly, we haven't been to In and Out. 

We've gone through many phases as well. Such as the painting phase, when we got into painting. The poetry phase, when we got into poetry. The puzzle phase, which was really short-lived because we only had one puzzle and it was missing an edge piece and really frustrating. And finally, the punch-making phase which has probably caused us to be pre-diabetic. Coincidentally, all of them start with the letter "P". 

But most of all its been an amazing time serving the people of St. Johns with him and we have become good friends in the process. The people of St. Johns will miss him dearly, as will I. 

Rest in Peace Elder Fonnesbeck... Rest in Peace...

Well, I hope that was dramatic enough for you, anyway though, it was a good week. 

We've been doing lots of service as usual. One day this week we painted someone's fence without asking permission from the owner of the fence. Luckily they weren't home. 

Also, Jenny was baptized! I also found out her name is spelled Ginny. So Ginny's baptism was great. Steve, her husband, who was baptized a month or so ago, was the one who baptized her. It was just a neat experience and it was really special hearing her testimony as well. It was just really inspiring and spiritual. I'm grateful to have been able to get to know them and be a part of their lives. 

Well, I gotta go. 

Til I write again,

~Elder Oswald

From a hike at Lyman Lake:

 These are from a visit with a high councilman and his family on Valentine's Day.

ELVIS LIVES!

February 10, 2020

Well everyone, if the weeks had wings I'd say they were flying by.

In other words, the weeks, like your favorite sports car, are just cruising by faster than you can say "I can't believe it's already the second week of February."

Speaking of weeks though, this has been a good one. 

So first of all, I have great news. We were helping out the Jewish couple again this week, and the husband informed us that everyone's beloved singer, the one and only Elvis, is alive.

That's right. He told us all the facts, and the facts are overwhelming. Apparently there's a Pastor in Arkansas who's name is Pastor Bob Joyce, and he is Elvis. It's not a theory, it's the truth. ELVIS LIVES!

Here are the reasons:

#1. ELVIS and LIVES are spelled with the same letters. Coincidence? I think not.

#2. Pastor Bob Joyce is the same age as Elvis would be. Or is I should say.

#3. Pastor Bob Joyce has a scar over his eye and on his hand just like Elvis. 

#4. Someone took a picture of Elvis and a picture of Pastor Bob Joyce and put one half of each of their faces together to make one face and they matched. 

#5. Pastor Bob Joyce sings like Elvis. 

#6. When asked if he is Elvis, Pastor Bob Joyce didn't say he isn't Elvis. 

#7. A final DNA test can not be completed because the family of Elvis will not release Elvis's "body" to be tested. And there's only one explanation for that.

#8. All this was told to us by our trustworthy Jewish friend who cited his sources. And his sources is YouTube. And YouTube doesn't lie. 

In conclusion: Pastor Bob Joyce is Elvis. Our beloved singer did not die, but he faked his death to escape the spotlight and retire to a humble Christian life where he could have a fresh start. 

I have respect for you Pastor Bob Joyce, or should I say, Elvis. 

Anywhow, it's been a great week for other reasons too. 

One of them is that Jenny, the wife of Steve who was baptized just a little over a month ago, told us that she's ready to be baptized as well! So we're really excited about that. Just like her husband, she really learned things on her own and developed a testimony for herself. And like always, it was pretty much absolutely nothing to do with us. We've just been blessed to be a part of it all. And my testimony has been strengthened from seeing how this couple has grown. And it's been amazing to see the power there is in a personal witness or testimony. Because when they found out for themselves, when the Holy Spirit testified the truth to them, they knew what they needed to do. They knew they needed to act on what they'd received. And that means being baptized, but it also means sharing what they know with others and continuing forward on the Gospel path. And that has just been amazing to see. Because they just get it. That's true discipleship. It's keeping the commandments and sharing the Gospel with others, not just because we're going through the motions or we're doing it because that's what people expect of us, but because we love the Lord. And that can be hard to do, and we won't be perfect at it. But that is what we want to strive for. 

And I know that in anything the Lord asks us to do that may be challenging or that may seem impossible for us, "perfect love casteth out all fear." (Moroni 8:16) If we love the Lord and we love others around us and have truly developed charity for them, then all fear goes away and we can do anything "through Christ who strengtheneth [us]" (Philipians 4:13).

Til next time,

~Elder Oswald

P.S. - Pictures

1. "You ain't nothin but a schnauzer dog"

Not Joust an Ordinary P-day

February 3, 2020

Well everyone, I'm not even sure where to begin. I have so much to say that I seem to have forgotten it all.

Let's see. 

Well I've been sitting here for about 7 and a half minutes now and I still can't remember the things I wanted to write. So bear with me while I make a list of some random updates from the past couple weeks:

- I'm tired because we stayed the night at the Elders apartment in Eager and and there were 9 of us so I slept in a chair and I didn't sleep well and now I'm giving up on trying to write good sentcebsces 

- There is a new restaurant in Concho so now there are 3 restaurants in Concho

- The Super bowl was yesterday, and that was like a national holiday in St. Johns. We had 2 lessons cancel because of it. 

- I ate so much last night I felt like I was going to throw up

- I still feel like I'm going to throw up

- Exceptional progress has been made on the sheep barn we've been helping to build which is good because lambing season is almost upon us

- The weather has been very nice lately, however apparently it's going to get cold again here pretty soon

Okay I apologize for the crummy beginning to this email. I started it early this morning and as I mentioned I was really tired, but some time has passed and I've gathered my thoughts so we should be good to go. 

So today we had our "Zone Activity" which is an activity that our Zone does. And our Zone consists of the missionaries in St John's and Eager. Anyway though they put us St. Johns Elders in charge of planning it, and as a joke we said Jousting. And then it started to become less of a joke and more of the most brilliant idea ever. So today we had the first annual Zone Jousting Tournament. I made it to the finals, except I was defeated. But I took second place which I'm happy with. I'm pretty sure the winner spiked his lance though. Anyway, I'll attach pictures. 

Teaching has been going really well though. No new people we're working with, but the ones we've got are awesome and I'm just blessed to have got to know them. 

One of the most inspiring things to see recently has been with someone who we'll call Robert. Robert has struggled with a couple different addictions in his life. But he's really put his mind to overcoming those things in the last couple months. And there's been ups and downs, but currently he's totally clean and free from his addictions. And it's just been amazing to see him give it all he has and to truly learn to rely on Jesus Christ so that He can "...make weak things become strong..." for him. (Ether 12:27) Robert shared some amazing stories of prayer as well and just seeing his testimony grow has strengthened my testimony as well. 

I know that when we come unto Christ, humble ourselves, and have faith in Jesus Christ, He can strengthen us and make possible the things that we can't do on our own. That's what Grace is. We don't deserve it, and we don't earn it, but He gives it to us nonetheless because He knows that if we truly have the desire to return to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, which we show by our faith and our repentance and our commitment to follow Christ, we can't get there on our own. He asks us to keep His commandments, but we aren't expected to be perfect. That's why God sent His Son to earth, to atone for our sins and to make possible the salvation of God's children. Christ can strengthen us and teach us and help us be better people every single day. That's what repentance is, it's the day by day process of coming closer to and aligning our lives with the Savior which is only possible through Jesus Christ's enabling atoning sacrifice. 

I know that this is true and that through Jesus Christ, we can have hope for the future and peace in our lives. 

Til next week,

~Elder Oswald

Hay Hooks and the Hantavirus: What You Need to Know Before Agreeing to a Service Project

January 20, 2020

First of all, Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! That's right, it's the second most wonderful time of the year! Why schools don't take a full week off for this holiday, I don't know. It's one of the many injustices in this imperfect world.

 But anyway, it's been another awesome week since last P day. And it's been another awesome two weeks since last time I emailed. And now it's time for another awesome email. 

So a lot of good things have been happening here. I might actually space the stories out between the next couple emails to not overwhelm you. But we've been having fun and working hard and it's just going really well. 

On Friday we did a lot of service. The first project was absolutely horrible, and we found out after the fact, that we could've died! What it was was cleaning trash out of this disgusting house with mouse droppings all over the place. Okay I'm getting carried away with the italics, I apologize. Anyway though, we asked for the guy to bring us masks and he said he would, and then he didn't. So we helped him anyway, which was our mistake. And seriously mouse droppings were everywhere. About 15 minutes in I was having such a hard time breathing that I sounded like Darth Vader. Luckily we only stayed an hour. We found out later though that the virus in mouse droppings is called the hantavirus and it is actually extremely deadly, and there's no cure, and we basically just got lucky that we didn't get it.

Not too long after that though we got a call from someone who needed help unloading a trailer full of hay bales. So we dropped what we were doing, grabbed our service clothes which we had just put in the dryer 5 minutes before, and headed out. Or we baled you could say. But despite the wet jeans, that service was actually really fun, especially in contrast to what we had to do earlier. It was so exhausting though. I thought they were going to be 50 pound bales like we've helped with before. But this guy got 100 pound bales. And let's just say the mind was willing but the flesh was weak. It was a fun experience though.We had a couple close calls there with almost dying too but I won't get into that. Basically it just had to do with hay hooks and some nearly unfortunate timing of when the hay hooks didn't hook properly. But all is well. I stay safe on my mission, I promise. Besides, I got my flu shot so I'm like invincible now. 

Anyway though, I'll leave it at that for this week. Before I go though I'll share a scripture kind of about service since that's what I talked about today. 

This is in Matthew 25:40, and I'll let you read this chapter for yourself to get the context because it's a good one, but here you go:

"...Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

I like this scripture a lot, especially when it's read after the previous couple verses to get the full picture of what's being said. But I just really like that idea of all our opportunities to serve others being ways to serve Jesus Christ and come closer to Him as well. And I've come to see that that is very true. 

I hope you have an enjoyable Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Til next week,

~Elder Oswald

Please Let This Be a Normal Transfer!

January 6, 2020

With President Cox? No way!

Well everyone, it's p day again. And not only that, but this transfer cycle has already come to a close. And if you've paid relatively close attention to these emails, you might remember that my current companion is named Elder Fonnesbeck, and that we have been companions for 3 transfers already, which is a long time for missionaries to stay companions, so a switch up was pretty much inevitable this time. So you may be wondering: What changed? Who left? Who stayed? Do you know who your new companion is? What does he look like? Do you think you'll get along?

These are great questions, and I'll answer them in reverse order.

Yes, I think we'll get along.

He's tall and has blond hair.

I do know who he is.

I stayed.

No one left.

Nothing changed.

That's right, 4 transfers with Elder Fonnesbeck! They said it couldn't be done. They said no one's done it before. They said we were foolish to even hope. But my friends, we have done the impossible here in St. Johns. 

Anyway, it was a good week we had over here. The holidays are over, and so now people have more time to meet with the missionaries! Hooray! 

This week we're going to start teaching some kids. We found them through a lady and her boyfriend which we found through an error on a list of people in one of the wards. Because the list said a lady and her husband lived there, but what the list didn't know was that the lady got a divorce and she didn't even have the same last name anymore and she started dating a different guy. And they were pretty cool people so we kept visiting them every once in a while, and we've had some cool experiences there just kind of building a friendship, but what we didn't know was that the lady had a daughter from a previous marriage who wants to be baptized. And the boyfriend has two daughters from a previous marriage who want to be baptized. And this couple just out of the blue asked us to teach them and help them prepare for baptism! So that's super cool.

Now I'm going to share a scripture without any transition whatsoever:

32 Yea, ^acome unto Christ, and be ^bperfected in him, and ^cdeny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and ^dlove God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be ^eperfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. 

As you can tell, I definitely typed that out myself from my memory without copy and pasting it from https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/moro/10?lang=eng

But anyhow, I've seen people "come unto Christ" my whole mission. And none of us are perfect, but throughout our lives, through the Savior's atoning sacrifice and His grace, we are constantly becoming perfected. And I've seen that as well. People's lives change and they become better and better each day as they come unto Christ, and strive to follow Him. And I've seen that for me personally as well. I'm improving and growing every day and that is all possible because of Jesus Christ. And that's simply what repentance is. And we can do it every single day. So if you've messed up on your new years resolutions already, good news, you don't have to wait another year to try again! We have power to change and become better always. That is the gift of repentance through Christ's atonement that we have been given. And I am so grateful for Him, and the power He gives us to be better and happier and closer to our Heavenly Father.

Well, I'll write again next week!

With a considerable amount of sincerity,

~Elder Oswald

P.S. -Pictures

Ephesians 6:11. "Put on the whole armour of God..."

I feel like no other explanation is needed. 

The Week After Christmas

January 1, 2020

Much like the day after Christmas, the week after Christmas can be disappointing. You may be disappointed by the realization that the excitement and fun of the Christmas season has to wait another whole year. You may be disappointed because the exciting gift you received at Christmas, after 2 hours of removing the plastic packaging and the styrofoam and the cardboard and the zip ties, turned out to not be as cool as the advertising made it seem. You may also be disappointed because not only is the Christmas season over, but you now find yourself sick due to a virus or an excess of chocolate or something like that.

Or you may be disappointed because a certain email you read last week was clever and creative, but the one from this week, much like the day after Christmas, is going to be disappointing. 

So here's a quick update on what's been going on here in St. Johns:

-Steve was baptized this last weekend, so that was definitely the highlight

-That's all I got

I gotta skedaddle already, but before I go I feel like I should make reference to the fact that today is New Years Eve. And something I've realized the last couple weeks is how Christmas and New Year's are kind of connected if you think about it. And what I mean by that is that in the past the whole "Day after Christmas" feeling has bothered me. Because I've known that the real meaning of Christmas is about celebrating the Savior, and that doesn't end when Christmas is over. But what I realized is that as we're starting the new year and as we have a nice opportunity to reflect on our lives and recommit to being better people, we can recommit to remembering Jesus Christ all throughout the year. And I really like that because that means that the joy we feel at Christmas doesn't have to end just when Christmas is over. 

And as we are setting goals and plans and resolutions for the year, I realized how with any righteous desire we have to improve and become a better person, the Savior can help us to realize those things. He knows our weaknesses and the things we struggle with and as we come into Him humbly and recognize those things, He can turn our weaknesses into strengths and we can overcome the struggles we face.

Talk to you next year!

#mostoverusedjoke #nevergetsoldthough

~Elder Oswald

'Twas the Week Before Christmas

December 24, 2019

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the town,

Not a creature was stirring, so the Elders did frown.

"Who could we visit who might actually be home?" 

That was the question, but no answer was known.

But the Elders kept trying, knocking on doors like the Feds,

As visions of teaching people danced through their heads. 

Many people were busy spending time with their families,

And others were out of town, also with their families.

But every once in a while, through the last several days,

We'd find someone home who'd be willing to say:

"Hey Elders, come in" or something like that

And we'd visit the person we had wanted to contact.

So that's been so nice, when people give of their time,

And invite us to join with their families, something rhyme.

When what to our wondering eyes should appear, 

A whole bunch of presents, how thoughtful and dear!

So we've found that while many of the people of St. Johns

Are away with their families or are otherwise gone,

There are still many people who are here for the season,

And these people are kind and they're giving and sneezin'.

Just kidding, they're not actually really that sick

Well some people are, but now I'm off topic.

But in other news, things have been going real well.

Steve's being baptized next week, if that name rings a bell.

We've also been finding more people to teach,

Like Tricia and Sarah and her favorite fruit is peach.

Just kidding I don't know that I just ran out of words,

So that's why that line just sounds so absurd.

Anyway, Christmas as a missionary is surely quite fun,

With the parties and food in the quantity of a ton.

There are so many cookies and treats and cookies,

And toffee and cookies and cocoa and cookies.

But the best most enjoyable part of it all, 

Is teaching others of the Child who was born in a stall. 

He is our Savior, "the light and the life."

He strengthens us, carries us, through trials and strife.

I know that He lives and He loves me and you,

That His peace and His strength and His Gospel are true. 

This is the reason for this time of year,

It's Christ who gives us happiness, and also Christmas cheer.

He brings tidings of joy, even when things look bleak,

So Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good week!

~Elder Oswald

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