Season 15: Skwyay B. Episode 5:The Bell Lap

Selfies this morning at the computer :D

Hello friends and family!

This week has been really swell! I am just super duper happy. The more I have lived and progressed in life, the more I have recognized that happiness is a choice! That is what I choose to do and funny enough I enjoy life more. There is so much to be happy about. The challenge is seeing it and remembering it. One invitation of the Book of Mormon is to "Look!" Another is to "Remember and perish not" (See 1 Nephi 1:20, the beginning of chapter 11, and Mosiah 4:30). Choose happiness!

In short we were blessed to find a great family this week! Tiera is the mom and she has had some health problems and struggles. She is a single mother of many children and is very kind and open to us. We were going to meet with her on Saturday, but due to being sick she was unable too. She is very kind and interested in learning more. We have already had the chance to meet with 2 of her daughters Mequella and Jazzie and they are both committed to working towards baptism on the 8th of October. God has blessed us so much!

One of the reasons I feel happier is because I am setting goals and doing many more things to work much much harder! I am not sure if it is a thing in other missions, but in my mission missionaries when they have 3 months left they get a letter called "the bell lap." Apparently the bell lap is the last lap of a race. When the last lap begins a bell is rung so the other runners know that it has been started (for you gamers its like in Mario Kart when the person starts the last lap and the music picks up the pace). If the runner at the last lap begins it and thinks that he can now coast to the finish or have a nice pre-celebration with all the fans, he is in for a hard truth if he wants to win. The last lap is for the hardest work in sprint of the whole race. The last lap is amazing too because those who have fallen behind in the first couple of laps still have the chance to catch up.

As a missionary in the last lap, its not time to slow down or get distracted about things that happen after the race. Now is the time for me to strive to work harder and harder. I am grateful for the spirit of that letter and how it has inspired me to work harder this week. Though as call as successfully finishing may be, my goal is not to do it to win a prize. I am working harder and harder because I owe it to me Father in Heaven. I love Him and Jesus Christ. They have done so much that I can never repay them for. But if by working my hardest I can show love for them, I will do it. I desire to teach repentance baptize converts these coming months for Them. :D 

 

Love you all! Thanks for all your support and love. I can feel it and it strengthens me. Choose to have a happy week :D

Elder Sumsion

"Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost." -Elder Kevin W. Pearson

Season 15: Skyway B. Episode 4:Love Big and Hurt Big

This is Elder Northrup and I on the exchange Friday-Saturday​

Apparently one thing that happens for missionaries is writing who has been in the
 apartment on the back of picture frames. This is one in the Garrison Creek Elders apartments. Some of the Elders on their were serving before 2000 when the wrote their names on the
back of the frame 0.0

Howdy Howdy everyone!

This week has been swell! Not to many unique words to describe it other than hot and humid. Friday and Saturday were some really warm days, but nothing that occasional shade and LOTS of water cant solve. I love water :D

The lesson we had with the Shepherds went well. She committed to reading the Book of Mormon everyday, but we haven't been able to have to much communication with them since. We are scheduled to go by tomorrow and have a great member of the ward coming.

Sister Fabon is doing great. She came to the mission devotional last night in Auburn and is going to be teaching us about Tithing tonight. The mission devotional went really well. During choir practice on Monday I was as the back up conductor for the choir just incase she would have been still out of town yesterday for a funeral, but she made it back. Preparing to conduct a choir like that was intense, but I knew the Lord would assist me.

Last night we had dinner with Sister Beck and Sister Stevenson, senior missionaries in the ward. One of the things they had at dinner was mashed potatoes and gravy. It has been a long while since I have been able to have homemade mashed potatoes and gravy in a while and I ate a bunch. After eating all of the servings I got myself, I felt like my brother Lance and wanted to go lie down on the couch and moan. Then after some more room is available go back and eat some more :D (I didn't do that just so you know).

Yesterday in Sacrament meeting there was an amazing talk that really spoke to me. Throughout the talk the speaker really highlighted several aspects of feeling love and having our hearts grow. One of the things he said as he had continue growing and serving in the church that his heart and emotion have grown so much more for the members of the church. I have felt that in myself throughout the mission and I pray to experience it even more for everyone. There is a the phrase I have heard on my mission "You love big and you hurt big" (because you love them so much). I am more earnestly praying and pleading for that love, that Charity, and its making a difference in my missionary work. I am seeing the world with different eyes when I love the people.

It is amazing.

Love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Sumsion

"Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost." -Elder Kevin W. Pearson

Season 15: Skyway B. Episode 3: I Love The Gospel!

Elder Cardin and I riding around this morning. Can you tell which one is me? ;)

My Third exchange with Elder Perkins :)

Last P-day I went and swung my first official golf club against my first official golfball being in my first official driving range! I had a great time and it had a great view of Seattle.

Howdy Howdy! One thing that I have just loved doing is listening to General Conference and BYU speeches from Apostles. On speeches.byu.edu they have a plethora of talks given by former prophets and apostles which I have loved listening and learning from. There is so much on there I don't think I could ever listen to all of it! All that I do listen to though I am benefited so much by! It keeps good things going through my head and the Spirit with me.

If you would like some suggestions of good ones that have been discovered feel free to ask. I would love you point you in the direction of some ones that I really love!

We had a pretty awesome experience meeting a former member of the church. He was very kind to us and was telling us how he believes in the Book of Mormon. He said "How could it now be true? No one could have just made that up." His biggest struggle was believing that the church has living prophets today and he agreed for us to come by this evening and also to have a lesson with his wife who is interested! We call them Brother and Sister Shepherd and I am really excited for the lesson this evening! Its going to be awesome.

We have been having some great progress with returning less-actives in the area. We have been teaching them for a little bit and are making such great progress. (Sorry if I am repeating details I have been given before. Its hard to remember if I have shared some things with you already without having to go back and check my last emails, but I don't have tons of time for that). Ivar is a 16 year old who was baptized 8 years ago and has recently started coming since school is out. Last Sunday he received the Aaronic Priesthood and yesterday he passed the Sacrament for the first time! That was a special thing to watch as he passed it around.

Another one is Sister Fabon. She is making great progress after falling away for some years after High School in college. She loves family history and we have been doing a lot with her. Her main goal right now is to obtain her temple recommend again so that she can go to the temple and perform ordinance work by proxy for her deceased ancestors.Its going to be a very special experience and we are excited for her! For the lesson this evening with her, we invited her to teach us! So she is going to teach us about the Word of Wisdom in about 5 minutes. I know for me personally I always learn the most when I am teaching something, so we figure it will be the same with investigators and less actives.

Both of those persons are Filipino along with other members in the ward. I am still picking up more and more here and there. I basically only know simple phrases in Tagalog,but its so fun communicating what I can! I have learned how to say a simple prayer of gratitude, so when we have lessons with Tagalog speakers and they ask me to say a prayer I saw a little prayer in Tagalog. It was nerve racking the first time I did it! It was like I was praying all over again for the first time, but its easier now and is great.

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! The gospel is true! Christ and the redeeming powers He offers as well are very real and we can and will experience as we exercise faith in Him and His Atonement and make changes in our lives to be more in line with Gods.

Elder Sumsion

"Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost." -Elder Kevin W. Pearson

Season 15: Skyway B. Episode 2:

I thought it was a little sad with the orange one...

Hello Family and friends!

Hope things are going amazing and happy for you in this beautiful gift of a life and time we have all been given. Being alive and making righteous choices really does bring about the blessings of God!

The work is still progressing here in Skyway B. We still talk to lots and lots of people (in the best Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Cambodian we can muster :D ) and I am enjoying it! Here in Columbia City there was SeaFair that happened recently. I didn't even know it was a thing, but it gets pretty popular and the Blue Angels even fly around on a weekly show. So on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 1:15-2:15pm there were jets flying low and loud! That was exciting! We got some really great views because they close down all the air traffic and I-90 bridge for an hour and the Blue Angels don't have a height limit so that was an enjoyable event.

On Friday a painful sore throat and sheer exhaustion got to me and the mission nurse had me stay in for the day. That was a different day because I slept most of it! I am feeling much much better now and I am excited to continue the work! In the evening we went to a baptism in the ward of an investigator from Skyway A and afterwards started an exchange with Elder Rex and Elder Payne.

On Saturday I had a great day working hard and talking with many many people with Elder Rex. I love that Elder so much! He is an amazing example to me of diligence and exact obedience. One particular experience I had was when we were following up with one of their potentials Mike. His wife passed away recently and every time they had taught and talked about eternal families he always got to be interested so much more! So we stopped by to talk to him and he shared that he was good and wasn't interested in changing at all. He was comfortable with where he was at and just expressed the hope that it might work out one day for him where he can see his wife again.

I was saddened by that because he doesn't just have to hope that it will work out, but he can know and experience with a certainty that he will be with his wife again sealed and bound together for all eternity. We tried our best with persistence and love, but he still chose not too. As we were walking to the car I was reflecting on that experience and recognized that in my heart I was sad that he hadn't accepted this message, but I genuinely did hope that in a divine perfect plan that he would be able to be sealed to his wife and be together for eternity. I wasn't bitter that he chose not to learn more, but I really did have that desire and love for him to be with his wife. It was just a cool experience for me to recognize how The Lord has changed my heart throughout  my mission to more genuinely care for the people we see and work with.

Hope that all made sense! I don;t have much time to edit it.

I discovered a great video on defending our faith and believes in a Christlike manner. Its here in this link. I invite you to read the article and watch the video. Its great! 

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/video-series-mormons-defend-religious-freedom-respect-differences

Love you all!

--

Sincerely,

Elder Sumsion

"Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost." -Elder Kevin W. Pearson

Season 15: Skyway B. Episode 1:Goals to Save Souls

(I got my camera ready now. Here is a picture of my new planner cover. I love it.)

I am unable to get a picture from my camera right now, so here is an
old one from over a year ago! Happy August!

Howdy!

If there is one thing you learn about the Northwest is that blackberries are no rare thing. Elder Cardin and I spent some good time this week hacking away at them doing service for Michael and Phyllis. Their backyard, in the short space of two years, has been over run by them. Eleazar, Elder Cardin, and I have been clearing a path. Our blackberry weapons have consisted of a rake, tree branch clipper, and a machete. Its good work :D

We both have set the goal to help two people receive the ordinance of baptism by the end of this transfer. If we want to help those people, we have got to find and qualify for them by working hard now at the beginning of the transfer. So Elder Cardin and I have been working hard to find more and more new agents. This week we have the goal to find 10 new investigators. The highest we have gotten so far is 7 so it is going to stretch us!

One thing we are doing is instead of just driving from potential investigator to potential investigator, we spend time knocking on doors and talking to people in that area. A lot of time on a mission could be wasted driving around in the cars and rarely will you find people just by doing only that! So our specific goal is before we get back into the car we will keep it locked until we talk to 4 more people/knock on 4 doors. That little goal (which gets me both uncomfortable and stretched (its funny after almost 2 years of doing it, talking to people is still a tough thing to do)) has been a huge blessing as we have found new investigators this past week specifically from doing that!

I was reading a talk this week and it had an amazing quote from Marion G. Romney about reading the Book of Mormon as a family. I wanted to share it with you all!

“I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to that counsel. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness.” (Marion G. Romney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1960, pp. 110–13.)

Those are some really amazing promises. I testify that as I have implemented a daily study of the Book of Mormon, that I have grown closer to God. The Christlike attributes and blessings of God have flown freely into my life and I have been blessed with a mind and eyes to better see them. I invite you to make The Book of Mormon a "keystone" of your life! Instead of making time to read The Book of Mormon daily in your daily schedule, make this sacred text the focus and build your schedule around it. 

For additional testimony on The Book of Mormon, read this amazing talk:

"The Book of Mormon—Keystone of Our Religion"

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1986/10/the-book-of-mormon-keystone-of-our-religion?lang=eng

I have got to get heading, but I love you all and am so very thankful for your prayers and continued support.

Stay Celestial!

Elder Sumsion