Cacti: A Real Pain in the Butt Sometimes

Hello Everyone!

If you are reading this, and if you are as invested in these emails as I know you are, then you might be asking yourself some questions. And it is for this reason that I have taken the liberty of preparing the following Q&A thing:

Q) I really love these emails, literally they are the highlight of my week, how come I didn't receive an email last week, or the week before?

A) Well, I could come up with many excuses, for example, "I ran out of time" or "we were just so busy" or "there's a long/funny/embarrassing story in this email that took so long to write that by the time I finished writing it last week there was no time to send it." I could say many things like that, but I won't of course. Instead, I will say an apology. And so it is with that preface, that I say, most sincerely, I'm sorry. 

Q) How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? 

A) A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Q) What did that have to do with anything?

A) Absolutely nothing, I hope you enjoy the following email.

We had a good couple of weeks though. To catch you guys up, actual transfers happened. Elder Bess and I both are staying, thankfully. The interesting thing is that the Sisters with whom we were sharing the Eldorado Ward, both of them got moved out. So now Elder Bess and I cover the whole ward, which includes everyone they were teaching. So to do some math, if Elder Bess and Elder Oswald were teaching 10 people, and the Sisters were teaching 12 people, when the Sisters leave, that makes 22 people that Elder Bess and Elder Oswald are teaching. 

So it's been busy with teaching and scheduling and trying to contact people. 

One girl we're teaching now, named Heather, is actually getting baptized next week. We've met with her a couple times and she's really awesome. So that's exciting. 

So that was our week, then Saturday happened. And Saturday was a lot like a bowl of Cocoa Krispies. It started out really awesome but then pretty soon it kind of turned to mush.

We had a great day planned. We went out right after planning to contact all of the people we haven't been able to contact yet, including a bunch of people with potential interest and people who were previously taught. It was gonna be so good. Right as we were leaving though I started getting a migraine, so I took some medicine, and I was just not in the mood for a migraine, I was so ready to have a great day and I wasn't going to let a migraine ruin that. So I insisted we keep going. So we bike around contacting a ton of people. We knocked on one apartment looking for someone named Yomi. A man answered and we said something clever like, "are you Yomi?" He said no, so we asked "Does Yomi live here?" And the man sort of paused, and then from somewhere inside the apartment we here a voice loudly whisper "No!" The man then informed us that Yomi doesn't live there. It was pretty funny though because the man at the door started laughing and was like, "Yeah I know y'all probably heard that." 

Anyway though, so we kept trying to find people. One guy said it wasn't a good time and we should come back later. When we asked when, he said "never."

Meanwhile, my migraine was getting worse and several times I thought I was going to throw up. And Elder Bess frequently asked if we needed to go back. I still insisted to keep going. And I was glad I did.

The next complex we went to, we were looking for a family that the Sisters were teaching, we had texted the mom and called a couple times but no answer to either. So we knocked on her door, and she was excited to see us! Like it almost caught me off guard how positively she responded to us and to the idea of meeting with us. So that will be an awesome family we will hopefully start teaching soon. The only tricky thing is that they're super busy from the looks of it. But yeah that right there made it all worth it. 

Then we went across the street to the next complex. A complex to which I hope to never return. First of all, it's literally a maze. The buildings were all one story, and they were separated by narrow cement walkways. And they also had cacti placed here and there along the buildings. And so we are biking through this maze of apartments and we come to the apartment we are looking for, and as usual we get off of our bikes before we go up to the door. Now, to paint a picture, I was on this walkway, on my bike. The apartment is to our right. And so I was intending to put my bike just next to the apartment wall. Well as I said, we get off of our bikes, but I get off of my bike on the right side of my bike. So my bike is now to my left, the apartment wall to my right, I walk my bike up a little ways closer to where the doorway is, but still along the wall. Then, thinking it better to have my bike closer to the wall, I, my back now facing the wall, my bike in front of me, proceed to pull my bike towards me, sandwiching me in between me and what I thought was the wall. What I soon found out however, was that there was a little something in between me and the wall. And that something was a lovely little cactus. A cactus, that I actually saw earlier, made a mental note of, and for some reason promptly forgot about when I walked my bike over to it. However, the cactus was sure to make its presence known once more, by sending friendly little reminders all up the back of my legs and rear end. 

When I first realized what happened however, I actually laughed. "Oh how funny," I thought. "I just backed into a cactus." And from looking at the cactus, all I saw were the long big spikes, and I assumed that I had been poked by those, and that although it was painful, it was over with. Well I tried walking, and suddenly I wasn't laughing anymore. And I realized that every time I moved my legs, I was being re-stabbed by  tiny cactus spikes. It turns out that what I didn't see were the thousands of tiny invisible hairlike spikes that were actually stuck onto me and my pants. And they hurt so bad. I just want to make that clear. I am just so amazed at how something so small can be so painful. I don't even know how to describe it. 

But anyway, at that point Elder Bess concluded that it was time to go home, with which I agreed. So we walked our bikes, or rather Elder Bess walked, I hobbled, out front and waited for our Zone Leaders, who we live with, to pick us up. Then I had to get into the car, which is a different story.

Once we got to the apartment, I hobbled some more until I came to the stairs. And since bending my knees felt like, well, a thousand tiny cactus spikes in my skin, I used my considerable upper body strength and the stair rails to lift myself from one step to another without bending my knees. And finally I was safe in my apartment, except for the cactus spikes that I didn't know how to get rid of. 

So we called Sister Robinson, the Mission President's wife who is also like the Mission nurse, and she said she'd Google it and get back to us. So meanwhile we ate lunch. It was grilled cheese. That's beside the point though. Soon we heard back from Sister Robinson and she said that according to various credible sources on the internet, such as people who have internet access and have happened to post things on the internet, apparently if one rubs Elmer's glue on the area with the cactus spike in it and lets it dry and then pulls it off, the cactus spike comes with it. And the only other option is tweezers, which is pretty much impossible because they were tiny, invisible, and on areas of my body which made it quite difficult to use tweezers with any degree of accuracy. 

Anyway, we didn't have any Elmer's glue so we texted some members and they said they'd bring some over. So that was really nice of them.

While waiting for them to get there I decided to shower, in hopes that the water might magically convince the spikes to leave. That didn't work too well. A couple may have fallen out, but I'm not sure.

Then the member came with the Elmer's glue. And there's not really much detail to go into other than that I followed the process I described above. It was definitely not something I ever expected I'd do on my mission, or in my life, that's for sure. Also, I guess I imagined it would be like in elementary school when you put the Elmer's glue on your hands and peel it off for fun. It was a lot more painful than in elementary school. It actually worked though. So yeah that happened. 

It was a really great lesson to me. Because I think before this experience I had an attitude of, "I want cool/funny stories no matter how I get them." And now I have an attitude of "Be careful what you wish for because before you know it you're gonna be finding out some previously unimaginable uses for Elmer's glue." 

Well, after that I really feel like I need to share a spiritual message. 

2 Nephi 31:20, in the Book of Mormon says,

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." 

I just love that scripture. I know that as we continually seek Jesus Christ, we can come to know Him and our testimony of Him will be strengthened continually. And something that stood out to me especially this last time I read this, is the very last part. That our Heavenly Father says, as an eternal declaration, that if we do those things, pray, study the scriptures, strive diligently and humbly to come closer to Him, we will have eternal life. And I just want to leave that testimony with you. That as we continually, every day, continually, build our faith in Christ, we will eventually have Eternal Life.

Til next week, and I actually mean next week!

~Elder Oswald

Goodbye Paradise Valley

Well, this week is proof that you truly never know what is going to happen in life. 

As I have described in previous emails, every six weeks we have what is called "transfers" in which missionaries are subject to be transferred from the area in which the serve to another area. Well transfers is still about two weeks away. So I thought I was at least safe until then. As I said in the first sentence of this email however, you truly never know what is going to happen. 

I received a surprise phone call on Wednesday that I was leaving the Granite Reef and Shadow Mountain Wards in Paradise Valley and I'd be going to the Eldorado Ward in Scottsdale. Even though it wasn't the usual transfer week. I was super surprised and sad to leave my area. I've just come to love the people there so much. I will miss everyone so much. 

My new companion is Elder Bess and he's awesome. The Eldorado Ward is really cool too. Also, this is a bike area. Which means that our only mode of transportation is a bike. Just in time for the summer too. 

Well, with it having been Easter yesterday, I thought I'd share something related to that. To keep it short and simple, I'll share one of my favorite scriptures. It's Corinthians 15:20-21. 

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

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

Because of Jesus Christ we all will live again one day after we die. And because of Jesus Christ we all can be made alive spiritually as well if we have faith in Him and turn to Him continually. We can be forgiven, no matter what we've done. We can overcome any weakness we have and it can be made into a strength. And because of Jesus Christ we can find so much joy and peace and happiness in our lives. And Because of Jesus Christ that joy and peace and happiness never has to end. 

I hope you all had a really great Easter and I hope you all can remember our Savior every day of the year including Easter. 

Til next week,

~Elder Oswald

Kendall sent this picture just to make me jealous! Eegee's (as it was spelled when we lived in Arizona) was our favorite way to cool off on a hot Tucson day. Apparently some members in the Granite Reef ward in Paradise Valley had just returned from Tucson right before Kendall and his companion stopped by and they had brought back eg's to share! 

Elder Oswald in an old VW Bug.

Cupcakes that Kendall and his companion made with Doug--a guy they're teaching. Kendall says they turned out great "except the frosting looks like poop."

P-day golfing in Scottsdale.

As Short as Short Can Be

In case you are wondering, this title refers to the length of the email and not the height of its author. You see, it has been what many might consider a busy day, and so it is for this reason that I will keep this email short, and therefore it is for this reason that I titled this email what I titled it. 

So most importantly this week, Ron, the person that we've been teaching, was baptized on Saturday. 

There was an extremely long and crazy adventure leading up to it, but for the sake of time and my sanity I will spare those details in this particular email and save that story for another time.

I just wish you all could have witnessed what I witnessed during the process of teaching Ron. And I wish I had witnessed what others witnessed during the years leading up to us teaching him to see even more of the change that has happened in his life.

Ron has been through so much in his life and has such a powerful testimony of God and how absolutely important He is for our happiness. Even after beginning to grow that faith however, he wasn't all of a sudden ready to be baptized. Just a year ago, he wouldn't even let missionaries in his house, and neither would his wife Nanci who is a member who hadn't been to Church in many years. 

But the thing that I learned is that things take time. In just that year, after a lot of love from a couple members of the congregation, not being pushy or annoying or things like that, just showing that family that they were there for them, they finally accepted an invitation to come to the Christmas party this last December and they were just overwhelmed with the love the members of the congregation showed for them. Then it was soon after that they decided that Ron was ready to learn from the missionaries and that his wife was ready to start coming back to Church and to really gain her own testimony of Jesus Christ and His Gospel. And that is what happened. But it didn't all happen in just the 4-ish months we've been teaching them. It took their entire lives! And it took so many small little things for them to grow their faith into what it is now. They shared their testimonies in front of the congregation  yesterday and it was one of the most powerful things I've ever heard. I wish you all could have been there.

I'm out of time today, but before I go I just want to share that I know how powerful the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. And I know He can change our lives when we live His Gospel. I've seen it happen with Ron and Nanci. I've watched their faith in Jesus Christ grow and I've been able to watch my own faith in Jesus Christ grow as well. I want you all to know how much happiness I am blessed with as I strive to strengthen my faith and my testimony of the Savior. He lives and He loves us so much. And I don't fully understand everything, but I believe it is true. And I have seen so much good and so many blessings and so many miracles and so much joy and peace come into mine and others lives, all of which testify that we have a Father who lives in heaven who loves us and cares about us and the small little details of our lives so much that He has put families and friendships and so many wonderful things in our lives. And because He loves us He doesn't ever want those wonderful things to end for us, and so He sent His Son Jesus Christ to come here to earth to make it possible for us to have forgiveness and peace and joy and strength in our lives and also never-ending happiness and Eternal Life with our families and with God in the next life. I have no reason not to believe these things. In fact I have every reason to believe them.

So before I go, I would just invite you to think about your own personal faith in Jesus Christ. Whether you've been Christian your whole life, for only a little bit, or if you have no faith in Jesus Christ whatsoever, just think about it. What you chose to do is completely up to you of course. But I can promise that if you do things to develop your own faith in the Savior, your faith in Him will grow. 

Have a great week everyone, til I write again next week!

~Elder Oswald

Ron's baptism.

Yet Another Email with Yet Another Lame Title

Well everyone, another week has come to pass. Full of all kinds of exciting twists and turns and adventures.

We went on exchanges this week with our Zone Leaders. And Zone Leaders, are the missionaries who are appointed as leaders of a Zone. Our Zone consists of two Districts, one of which Elder Ellis and I belong to, it being our District, of which Elder Ellis is the leader, or District Leader as he is formally referred to as. 

So anyway, exchanges is when one missionary in a companionship is exchanged for one missionary in another companionship. So one of the Zone Leaders was my companion for a day. That was fun. We found a really cool lady we'll be able to teach. She was a referral from some other missionaries, and the only information that was sent to us was that she was from Canada. And so we used that information the best we could and we said something clever like, "So you're from Canada?" And she was actually really touched that we knew that. So it just goes to show that you never know how much the little things might mean to people, even if we think it's useless information at first. 

General Conference was also this weekend. And General Conference, for those of you who may not know, is where all of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all around the world are invited to listen to the words of the current Apostles and Prophets which God has called to lead His Church. Listening to their words this weekend has strengthened my personal testimony that those men really have been called of God. And that the words they have for us are the words that God wants us to hear right now. And I know how true that is because of the comfort and the knowledge and the insight that I gained and also the peace and the truth which I felt while listening to them. Because of that my testimony has also been strengthened that Jesus Christ's Church really has been restored to the earth, with the same organization that was used when Christ first established His Church while he was on the Earth. Ephesians 4:11-14 says:

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

That same authority and blessings and miracles and doctrines and organization and everything is on the earth today just as it was before. God truly is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so it makes so much sense to me that He would call prophets today to guide us and keep us spiritually protected in today's world of spiritually destructive influences all around us. Verse 14 up there is really accurate. We're surrounded by "cunning craftiness" and "the sleight of men" and it can be overwhelming to think about "every wind of doctrine" without knowing what is true and what isn't true. That is why I am so grateful that we have a living Prophet and living Apostles to help us.

On my mission I've been able to see how true it is that Jesus Christ's Church and His Gospel have been restored to the Earth. I've seen Christ's Gospel change people's lives and their families lives. And I've seen how Jesus Christ and His teachings have blessed and shaped me and my family's life. 

If I had more time I would explain things a little better and I could go into more detail about what it really means that Christ's Church has been "restored." But unfortunately time is something that I don't have in abundance. And so if you have any questions you can email them to me and I'll do my best to answer them. Or you can ask someone else you know who is a member of the Church. You can also browse around on the website "comeuntochrist.org" and learn more about various questions you might have. But my invitation for you is, if you haven't watched it already, to get on the handy dandy internet and find General Conference and watch it. Or at least some of it. The messages that they shared are just really inspiring and uplifting, which is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. It's a message of hope and peace and of the blessings that we get when we follow Jesus Christ. 

But anyway, that's what I've got for you this week. 

It's been a pleasure as always.

~Elder Oswald

No Food, No Money, No Miles

So this has been one interesting week.

Interesting because on top of recovering from being sick, as this week's catchy title suggests, we ran out of food, and money to buy more food with. And we also ran out of our allotted miles for the month and so we were on bike all week. It's also been like 90 degrees and sunny. And so I learned quickly the importance of being hydrated while biking. Especially when trying to recover from being sick. I do like to think I am getting a nice tan though. It's probably more like a burn cause it's kind of got a red tint to it and it doesn't feel super great, but I'm gonna say it's a tan. That's the other thing, sunscreen is also important.

So yeah. Many good lessons learned.

It was a good week though. We didn't teach a ton of people this week unfortunately, but we did meet with Ron a couple of times. Ron is just so great. He always has these really funny and surprisingly profound comments. We might be the ones teaching him the principles and the doctrine and stuff. But he has so much wisdom just from life experience that he's constantly teaching us almost as much as we're teaching him. He gets baptized in about two weeks now, so that's really exciting. He's super excited about it.

A lot of our week was spent biking and trying to contact people to set up lessons. There are a couple of mystery people we have as well, for example James and Maria, who seem like super solid people, but their address doesn't exist. Fun stuff like that.

Well, as I mentioned, I learned many valuable lessons about budgeting and planning and being prepared. Last month I wasn't prepared and I didn't plan grocery lists or anything which led to impulse buys like cheese balls and a box of 56 taquitos, which came in really handy this week actually. Similarly with our miles, we really just didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it, and so we went over.

Well as I thought of this, I figured that there is probably a spiritual lesson in here too. And I think you can look at that kind of planning and preparation in a spiritual sense. We need to be spiritually prepared for the trials and hardships that come our way in life. And we do that by building ourselves on a strong foundation. And the only truly strong foundation we can have is Jesus Christ. In the Book of Mormon, in Helaman chapter 5 verse 11 it says, "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

This scripture also reminds me of the story in the New Testament when Peter goes out onto the water towards the Savior. It's because of his faith in Christ that he is able to walk on the water. But it's when he takes his focus off of the Savior and he starts worrying about the storm around him that he begins to sink.

We all have our own winds and storms in life that come at us. And they could be things like fears, doubts, worldly things, heartache, and other challenges we face. But no matter what it is that the devil sends forth at us, if we have our faith firmly centered on Jesus Christ, not on anyone or on anything else but Him, then "we cannot fall." No matter what happens, we cannot fall if our faith is in Jesus Christ.

I promise you that that is true. And that you can find out it is true for yourself if you really put it to the test. If you honestly seek to develop your own faith in the Savior, and you do what is necessary to help that faith grow, then it will grow. I've been able to see that in people that I've taught and also in myself as I am constantly trying to strengthen my faith in Jesus Christ.

I hope you all have another fantastic week,

~Elder Oswald

An Email Shorter Than I Am

Well, like many times before, it is time for me to write an email. But unlike any time before, I will actually hold true to my word when I say that this will be a short one. It's kind of sad actually, I've quite liked this running joke. 

Before I proceed however, I must address that I am beginning to develop somewhat of a bad habit. For I have missed yet another week of email writing. I don't have an excuse, but what I do have is an email. And this week's email will sort of combine my draft from two weeks ago and the things from this past week, all together in one email. So get ready.

So transfers was this week. And the transfer news is... 

I'm staying! I survived transfers once more.

Elder Ludiker left however, and so we got a new Spanish Elder in the apartment named Elder Jenks. 

In other news, there was quite the fun activity on Saturday. That's Saturday a week before this past Saturday. The Shadow Mountain Ward had a fundraiser for the youth groups to do their summer camps. And it was a car wash/bake sale/pulled pork sandwich sale.

So we helped wash cars, while wearing dress clothes of course. So that was super fun. 

Ron, the guy we're currently teaching, he was there as well. Originally just to wash his car, but then because he just jumped in and started helping. He's awesome. 

It was also like 80 degrees that day. 

We also ate a lot of pulled pork sandwiches. Elder Ludiker holds the record at 7 though.

Also, I recently sewed my sweater which had a tear in it. I did it sort of weird though and so now it kind of looks weird. You reap what you sew I guess. 

So in conclusion, here is a brief spiritual thought. 

In the Book of Mormon, in Alma 37:17 it says that "...by small and simple things are great things brought to pass."

And that is very true. There are many times where I feel like I'm maybe not being the best missionary I can be, or the thing I'm doing might not be the most effective thing. But something that I've realized is that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ really care about the little things in our lives. And that's why there are so many missionaries that get sent out. Because we have the ability to go out for two years and pay special attention to those little things and to be able to minister to those seemingly small little needs that people have. And it really is those little things that make the difference. And as cliche as it is, even if it's as simple as smiling and saying "good morning" to a random stranger. It's things like that that we as children of God can do to help other of of God's children. We can be placed in the right place at the right time to help someone else be happy. And as small and as simple as that is, with the amount of people, not even just full time missionaries, but the amount of ordinary people that can have that mindset of just looking for the little ways to serve and love, great things really will come to pass. 

I hope you all have another great week.

Farewell.

One Email Later

The Words of Elder Oswald, written by the keyboard of Elder Oswald, on the cellphone of Elder Oswald, which doesn't have a SIM card and so it needs Wi-Fi for everything.

THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT, though sent on this day Monday the 11th of March, 2019, was written on another day, Monday the 4th of March, 2019. As a result of various unforeseen circumstances, such as a failure to foresee some circumstances, though having written mine epistle in full, was to my utter disappointment unable to send the very email which I had spent so many long hours composing. And it is for this reason that I write this paragraph, as a preface to the email which you are about to read, in hopes that you might understand that some of this email, such as the preface which I am writing now, were indeed written on this day, Monday the 11th of March, 2019, and some were not. And so to make things less confusing, I have taken the liberty of putting the words I write today into italics. 

And now behold having obtained some Wi-Fi, it is with all the various emotions which I might be feeling, that I end this preface, and bid you all another good week. Enjoy the email. 

~Elder Oswald

In life, some things can fly and some things cannot. Generally speaking, the things that can fly are physical things like dragonflies, airplanes, and toucans. So one would logically think that therefore, things which aren't physical, or non-physical things as I like to call them, such as concepts, ideas, or dark matter, would not have the ability to fly. However, there is one concept that, despite not needing wings, jet fuel, or a fancy beak, does seem to do a very good job of flying anyway. And that is the concept of time. And time has certainly flown this week.

So we had a weird week. We did a lot of service. We helped a family move on Wednesday and Thursday. Then on Friday we helped a lady who is being taught by the Hermanas paint a wall thing. Then the lady made us some delicious breakfast. The lady's  name Is Nancy and the breakfast's name is chilaquiles. I also bought a half dozen donuts all for myself that day. 

We also had exchanges on Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Tuesday I was in the Spanish speaking area. That was a lot of fun and it was good practice for my Spanish speaking skills. 

So Thursday we visited with a lady named Trish. She's been going through a lot and she loves board games but never gets to play them. So that night we played Yahtzee with her and it was so much fun, and so good for her. It has seriously been a miracle because she's just been in such a good mood despite everything she's going through and will be going through. Because before this, she has been understandably in a bad mood. These last couple visits with her though have just been wonderful though. It's just been really cool to see that change in her. So that's really cool.

Now it's time for spiritual thoughts with Elder Oswald, the part of the show where Elder Oswald comes out and says a spiritual thought. 

Today I want to keep it simple. And what's more simple than the first principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? That's right, faith. But not just faith, but specifically faith in Jesus Christ. It's something we hear a lot about. "I have faith" or "you just have to have faith." Things like that. But what does that really mean? Well let's turn to the scriptures. Paul says in the Bible that "...we walk by faith, not by sight." That's a pretty straightforward scripture, and it seems easy enough. But it can be a hard thing to do. It's a lot like trying to remember things. It's always a lot easier to think you'll be able to remember something while you're still thinking about it. But as soon as you're not thinking about it, it suddenly gets a lot harder to remember that thing. That's when forgetting things happens. Which unlike remembering things, is actually really easy to do.

But I think a similar idea applies to faith. It always seems like it's a lot easier to have faith when you can actually see and understanding everything that you need to. But as soon as doubts or trials or anything happens that clouds our view, suddenly faith gets a lot harder. And that's where people fall. Which unlike having faith, is actually really easy to do.

There's an awesome story in the Book of Mormon where a man named Lehi has a dream. And essentially, in the dream he sees the Tree of Life, which pretty much represents the place where we want to be, our end goal. It's heaven, eternal life, or living in God's presence, all of those things. It's the tree of life. And he sees people journeying to try and find the tree of life. But soon a mist of darkness comes. So now everyone's super lost and they're trying to get to the tree of life except they don't know where to go. Luckily however there is an iron rod that leads to the tree of life. And the iron rod represents the word of God. It's all the words of the prophets both in ancient and modern times that lead us to eternal life. So people just need to have faith and hold onto the iron rod til they make it to the tree of life. And I've always read this and I guess it's always seemed pretty easy. You just hold on. It's simple. But I guess it seems a lot easier when you're not the one actually experiencing that mist of darkness. Every time I've imagined this story, I imagine people walking and whatnot. But I've never really imagined the scenario from the perspective of the people in the darkness. Because that mental image isn't anything but darkness. 

And that's what it is sometimes in life. Sometimes we're in the darkness. We can't see everything and we can't explain everything and we don't know everything. But we have been given a lot. We've been given an iron rod. By that I mean we've been given words and teachings of Jesus Christ that guide us through our lives. And even though we've got a mist of darkness around us that makes it so we can't see with our eyes, we have a lot of light that we can feel when we just have faith in Jesus Christ, when we hold to that iron rod. And that's how we will make it to the Tree of Life.

Til next week my friends!

~Elder Oswald