Dear
Mom,
Man I
miss the classic food that we have for conference! We were talking about that
today even haha. That is sad that Dad went alone, but I am glad that him and
Eric hooked up there! (He is speaking
about Priesthood Session) How is Eric doing by the way? How is all the
gang? Scott? Kenny? Eric? Perkins? I was curious how they have all been. I
loved conference as usual. It is like a
missionary vacation of awesome revelation! We did get food in between sessions.
For the sessions we just watch them in English in the Chapel with a bunch of
missionaries and members. I loved all the talks, but especially and as always
all the ones in the Priesthood session, they were amazing. I also really enjoyed
Eyring’s talk, he is one of my favorites to listen too. I just loved all of
conference!!! Elder Holland’s talk reminded me of a movie that a recent convert
showed us the preview too, and it looks way good. It is called the Saratov Approach, It is
about two missionaries in Russia that got abducted and beaten, it is a true
story, although you probably shouldn't watch it... knowing you, you will have
weird nightmares... hahaha.
(We have had quite a few auto break in’s in the
last few weeks in our neighborhood, it’s teenage riffraff I’m pretty sure and
the neighborhood is starting a neighborhood watch.) That sucks about the
break-ins and stuff. I always hated the
stuff that goes on especially by the delinquents... So hopefully all will go
well in the meeting and things that follow.
(I asked how it has been returning to an EXACT area
he had already served in. Same apartment
and everything.)The
coming back into an area is not very common at all on the mission, and so far I
have not heard of that happening at all! So that is kind of awesome. We will keep
the car I am sure, but I will probably have to ride a bike again sometime in my
mission... Driving in the city is stressful there are a lot of morons out there
hahaha, but it makes for good and funny stories. I really like my companion, he
is a great guy with a good heart. He is
a crier like me, so I don't feel so alone on that front anymore haha. We get
along well and I am sure we will get along better with even more time. We have
investigators of course, but we are trying to find a lot more. (I asked him if they still do language study,
companion study and companion prayers. Just
because I don’t know and was curious.) Yes we do language study and also we
do companion study every day. We go over lessons and do a bunch of stuff like
that we also talk about things we have learned and know and all that kind of
fun stuff. I like them they are fun for the most part. We do pray together.
(I always see reports on their weather and
asked him about tornado plans etc. And I
had heard that they had flooding in the White River and wondered how close he
was to it.) We
have a few tornado plans, pretty much hide and pray hahahha, I have no idea.
The White River is right next to the church and there hasn’t been that much
extreme weather yet, but sometime here soon I could see that happening. Yes,
the river you have seen in my pictures of Indy is the White River, I know not
very white...
Bahahahaha!!
Thanks for sharing the story about Trenton buying whiskey, knowing Trenton it
was probably him that made that mistake hahaha that is a really funny story. Do
you remember my Friend Tyler Augenstien, he is serving in Florida near Disney
World and he is baptizing Mickey Mouse!! I died of laughter.
I had
the follow up Doc appointment; he just changed the anti-biotic I take, so we
will see how that goes. Also sadly I got really sick this last week after I
started the new medicine, which sucked because it has been a while since that
happened... (But not too alarming, it’s
not uncommon for him to have problems with his stomach when he first starts new
medicine before his body adjusts)
(I told him that as a family we started a new
thing called The Book of Mormon Translation Challenge. It is that the book of Mormon was translated
from April 7th to June 30th 1829. The challenge is that if it could be
translated in that amount of time we could read it in that amount of time. So we took the challenge and I said if he had
time he could do it also.) I might try to read that much, but time wise we will have to
see if I can do it, I read slower usually so I can get more out of each verse,
and I’m already studying some other things.
(How long do you think you will serve in this
area? Any ideas?) I am thinking… well really I
have no idea for how long I will be back in this area, we will see with time I
guess. Well so far not a whole lot new
has gone on, we are just looking for new investigators, but it is funny because
I swear I have knocked every house in this place so knocking them again is
weird and fun. Not much new has happened though. Conference and the Doc and being sick took up
most of this week... So I will go to studies and such until next week haha
sorry not much new like I said. So, one thing that I have and am going to start
studying again is the Pre-earth life. I really enjoy this subject, I am not
sure why, but I always have. Also, I like to study a lot about Christ and our
relation to him. One thing that stuck out to me though this past week was with
the story of when Christ drove all the merchants and stuff out of the temple. I found in Jesus the Christ it elaborates on
it as well, so I read that and also the story in the bible to get my own
insights. One was that no one really tried to stop him or got angry at the
moment, I think this is because they all deep down knew he was doing the right
thing. Something came up like Vice cannot stand when the hand of Virtue is
raised, I related this to a comment in a talk at conference, that talk about
how there will always been opposition to Truth. This is so true. As a
missionary we fight opposition daily, we are the front lines if you will, and
that opposition can come from many different sources. One of the greatest sources
of opposition is trials, but, another one that is more subtle but just as
deadly is one’s self. I feel as though often times we are the only thing
getting in the way of happiness in our own lives. Whether that is Pride, a lack
of Confidence (my personal fall back) or simply a lack of desire, we all have
those things inside us that make continuing on the straight and narrow more and
more difficult as the days go by. Overall though these things can way us down
and drag us back as chains of great weight or they can help us move forward. I
have also found that after carrying a large load we often feel lighter than
before, not because the load got lighter but because we got stronger. So yea, it also related to Elder Bednar’s talk
and how we can gain traction. One last side not before I end, Do you remember
that night Damon and I got stuck in the Blizzard hahahaha, I do and Bednar’s
story reminded me of that moment which is actually a pretty spiritual story,
that I realized I have never shared with you. Oh well a tick for another day.
Well I love you all and hope you have a great week! Stay warm in the wonderful
weather..... And have fun!
Love, Elder Paxman
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