Pushing a mission vehicle

Dear Mom,

I am doing pretty great things have definitely been crazy here!! 

Good job bowling a 204, wow that's a good game. It scares me that Brooklyn is driving all the time, makes me nervous haha.

I have been thinking about some things, how we deal with family and friends and decided, I feel it is important we let those people around us know what we believe in, but it is not our duty to tell them they are wrong or judge them, when they are trying their best.  We must love them as the Savior does, which means if necessary we must be willing to go to Calvary and back for them. (Deep thought I know). I know that if we treat these tender situations with care and have the spirit with us, so it may be with those we care about when they are in our presence, through our example they can come to the knowledge that Jesus is the Christ and that this is his one true church, and they will wish to live by its laws, but we must be wise and prayerful in all things.

(I shared with him that I made homemade soup, rolls and a new pumpkin desert that tastes similar to pumpkin pie for conference Sunday)So now you make the really good stuff once I am gone... Okay I see how it is. I don’t mind pumpkin pie it is quite good, so I would probably like that desert.

What were a few of your favorite talks?  Where did you watch Conference on Saturday and on Sunday?  Did you get any good food involved with Conference?  Did any investigators go to Conference?  I really enjoyed every talk; there was not one talk that I did not write something down for. Some of my favorite talks were by Elder Robbins, Elder Eyring, Elder Klebingat, and Elder Monson's in the Priesthood session.  Both Bertin and Carlos came to conference for at least one of the sessions so that was amazing.

(I told him that we heard his Cousin Elder White had been assigned to an area called Sepota, Chuck.  He is in the Micronesia Guam missioin.  I told him that he told his parents he would be living in a hut, sleeping on a yoga mat with no electricity, no running water and no toilets.  And that he would not have access to email and his parents would receive a hand written letter from him once a month when he goes to a bigger island for zone conference. His parents feel like it is straight out of the movie The Other Side of Heaven.) That would be super fun to be there with Nick!!  I think that is a crazy awesome adventure, I am a little jealous. I do remember that movie.

Speaking of Movies, I got to see Meet the Mormons!! It is an awesome movie we watched it at the specialized Spanish training.

I hear you Seymour Elders are so far out you are exiled and that no one expected you to be successful in getting your investigators to chuch because they have to drive so far.  But, you have had investigators to church every week.  Hahahaha yep that's us Seymour Elders for you, doing the impossible one step at a time. Just following the Master.

Who is the Drew you mentioned hearing from last week? This is Drew Hunt! So it was amazing to hear from him.

Have you met any new people?  Do have much reason to meet up with the sisters in your area?  Are they in a car or are they on bikes as well?  How far do the sisters live from you?  Is there an English ward or branch in Seymour?  If so do the sisters get fed often?  Have you had any meals lately? How are your investigators doing? B is doing well, he is trying to get work off to come to Church with us, and he is reading and progressing.  We are having trouble putting him on a date for baptism though because of some family things. Carlos is scheduled to be baptized on the first of November, and Freddie is doing well.  We have met a few new people, but as of now, none are really progressing. We don’t interact with the sisters too much, we sometimes eat with the sisters, or see them around. They have a full time car as do ALL sisters in my mission..... no comment..... The sisters get fed very often; they live about a 5 to 10 min walk from our house. There is a ward in North Vernon that all of the English members in Seymour attend.

How was Spanish training?  Did you enjoy it?  What was it like?  How was it seeing Elder Hjelm. again? Do Elders even hug each other?  Yes mom Elders hug, probably a little too much actually. Ha ha! It was awesome to see Elder Hjelm again, he was really busy because he was partially in charge of the training meeting. The meeting was awesome and we learned a lot, and like I said we got to watch Meet the Mormons, which was a super good movie.

Did you get your packages? Sorry your Butterfingers were opened, daddy had one and I had one.  I did get my two packages and I am very grateful for them. I loved the fruit roll-ups they were super good, and nice to have. The butterfingers made it and were very good. I assumed they were taken out for dad haha. The weather has been good, this weekend it dropped to the 50's but is coming back up into the 70's and 60's this week. I have not needed my coat or the sweaters; I handle the cold pretty well surprisingly. I have had to use my rain jacket only twice.

Have you heard from any of your other missionary friends?  Like your MTC companion Elder Johnston, Trenton, or Joel or anyone.  Do you get many emails each week, if so who writes besides me, Bailee and daddy? I have heard from all of my friends since being back, and I usually average 11 to 12 emails a week. Also I am in constant contact with Elder Johnston my companion in the MTC.

It is almost getting time for you to have your blood drawn.  I will research a place for you to do that and send you the info either in a mailed letter this week or in next week’s email. :)  You should probably have it drawn next week.  Yea get me all the paper work and everything. Sister Steadman is actually in the process of doing all that stuff. I really like her a lot; she gave me a hug the first day back in the mission in front of all the sisters. Then she proceeded to lecture me about things like weight, diet and such in front of all the new sisters. So not only did I break a mission rule by being hugged by a female in front of them, but then was humiliated in front of them by Sister Steadman. I love her, she is like a goofy Aunt.

Ok so first I have a request, I need more music, I have every song of the Work memorized and can harmonize with them now... It’s kind of sad. Okay stories and such. First off Elder Rowberry and I, whenever we are together interesting things happen, like this week. I pushed the mission vehicle for over a mile so we could get to an appointment and still have the miles to drive the car home. Crazy stuff, and it happens whenever he and I are together.  It is pretty great!!

Excerpt from Elder Rowberry’s email this week, shared to me by his sweet mom, telling the same story:

Dear Family and Friends,

I have come to the realization that Elder Paxman and I should avoid each other at all costs. Too many ridiculous things happen when we're together. (Elder Rowberry’s way of saying they are having a good time)

On the last day of the month, we had District Meeting and I decided to go on exchanges afterward. And all was going well until we realized that we were nearly out of miles. We had appointments to go to and had no way to get there. I thought that I had budgeted everything out sufficiently, but I suppose things must have come up and there weren't enough miles.

So, we did what we had to do. Our appointment was 7.2 miles roundtrip, and we only had 7 miles left. So, we threw the car into neutral and we pushed it for about a mile. (A little more than we needed to, but we wanted to make sure that we were covered.) Elder Paxman and I had a blast pushing it, and it turned out to be a spiritually uplifting experience.

However, it was really awkward as we pushed the car past bystanders. "Do you guys need a jump? Some gas?" At first we tried to explain the whole limited mileage situation, but it was so bizarre and long to explain that we eventually resorted to, "Nope, we're just doing this for fun!" But, I'm grateful to know that there are still good people in the world who would offer their help.

We made it to the lesson. The lesson went phenomenally well, and we came in under our mileage allotment.

Now a story from Conference. First though, sorry this is really sporadic and badly written I have very little time, but did not want to cut down on the length of my letter to you. So it was the first session in General Conference and a Seventy gets up to speak, Elder Robbins. He gets up and as he is giving the talk and I felt like he was speaking directly to me.  He rebukes me and calls me to repentance through the Spirit of the Lord...  I learned that I had not been facing the right direction, I have been so worried about pleasing those around me that I had forgotten about the reason I am out here and Who I am serving. It was a very humbling moment for me... Although very enlightening, as it gave me the tools, strength, and inspiration to change how I act and who I am to be a better servant of God. Many of us, I believe suffer from this same thing. We are not facing the right way. We worry about what others will think more than what God will think, which will almost undoubtedly cause us trouble in the long run. Remember that the Lords way is always the best way. I learned that I need to stop fearing those around me and be the servant of God I am meant to be, not just who people want me to be. So that was one of the greatest lessons I learned from Conference this week. One more thing, this week on Friday I have to give a 20 minute training in front of the whole ZONE!! I am freaking out a little yet feel as though I can do it with the help of the Lord. It is going to be on "How to motivate the Zone to be better servants of the Lord, or how to help them be motivated to continue to be good servants. Sadly I have felt the impression to follow the first. I will be needing the Spirit in such an abundance so that it may carry the message that I share to the hearts of those listening, As well as to my mind as I research this subject. So this interested me. What inspires us to act? Now many people would say, well a Love of God, or something along those lines. All though that is great, I know that, that is not all true! Do not tell me those primary answers.  We are all motivated by different things. One should always be the Love of God, but I see many other things as well, but people are just afraid to admit that they are weak or many other things. This is what is going to be hard in this training, because I cannot inspire someone unto greatness, only they themselves can change to be the person they want, and need to be. And so with it Inspire and motivate themselves every day. I know it is hard, I have seen in my life being motivated by fear, lust, pride, duty. Many things, some are even good, but are they the best. So I ask your help this week and all those who might read my blog, if they want to participate. One, I need your prayers to be able to give a spiritually powerful training, second I need your input. What have you seen inspire you to be better? Anything it can be absolutely anything. If you are not sure, stop and think "Why am I doing this? What is my motivation behind it? Is it what God wants me to do?" And many other questions like unto these. Any feedback is awesome!!  Plus searching deep in oneself, we often find the deepest yearnings of our soul, and what we desire most. If it is good keep it, if not throw it out and change, repent and be better as I had to. So if you could do that for me it would be great. I can promise that blessings will come as we are motivated by righteous things to act in accordance with Gods will. If we are not than we are all invited to change by the Great Healer even Jesus Christ, I have felt this as of late, it is humbling and a little hard, but the feeling of being better and closer to God will triumph any of those other feelings, I know it because I have felt it. So there is my challenge and my plea. If you could help that would be amazing!

Well I love you so very much Mom and all. I hope everything is going well for you at home and that you aren't too sore from resuming the duty of Mowing the Lawn, remember he mowed it first hahaha (okay maybe I shouldn't say that, it sounds like sacrilege). Anyway I love you and hope to hear from you next week or sooner, if you wish, so that I can have your thoughts by the time I train on Friday, so by Thursday!

With much Love, Elder Paxman

PS. Pushing a mission vehicle is not my idea of having a full time car..... hahaha Love you!