Fwd: Season 14: Skyway B. Episode 3:"I'll Never Forsake"

President and Sister Rasmussen! :D

Elder Northrup and I on the roof of our apartment building on an exchange.
In the very center between us is Seattle.

Hello Brothers and Sisters!

Some simple updates on things that are going on, I had a message that I wanted to share today of something I felt during the week.

President and Sister Rasmussen are amazing! We had a Zone "get to know you" meeting with them and I learned a lot. He is such a humble individually and she is very loving and and they are both definitely have been called here by inspiration. I know He is here to help me out in many ways and I am excited to discover that!

Jean didnt make it to church due to a car breaking down and grandchildren needing to be baby sat. We are working with her and had those situations not arisen, she would have been at church. Its tough to have these outside infulences stopping her because she said it herself that she would be here every Sunday if she didnt have those roadblocks. The work is still going well here in Skyway B though!

This week as Elder Cardin and I were driving to district meetings we were listening to some acapella arrangements of various Hymns in the church. One of these Hymns was #85 "How Firm a Foundation."

As we were listening to this Hymn I was filled with the Spirit and felt in particular a powerful connection to this last verse (this verse was also mentioned in General Conference).

"The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose

I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never,

I'll never, no never, no never forsake!"

The importance of living the gospel faithfully for all of our lives is essential! Living the gospel until you graduate from High School or after you finish your mission is like putting some bread to bake in the oven and taking it out. Without faithfully enduring through the furnace of affliction, we will ultimately fail in our grandeur purpose to return to Heavenly Father (Alma 34:32) and becoming more like Him. Its a hard task and at some points some could even consider it boring or not worth it, but its my testimony that the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith is the one and only way back to our Heavenly Home where our progression doesn't stop. Think about those words, "I'll never, no never, no never forsake!" Not for any reason at all. Are these words ones you can honestly say? Are you ever going to forsake these things you have promised God? Even if its just for a moment?

One of my favorite examples where I learn from his example of faithful enduring is Moroni finisher of "The Book of Mormon." With his father dead and his people gone, this is the society he is living in,

"For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ."

Will he deny the Christ? His life is on the line along with everything else. This is his response to that question.

 "And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ;" (Moroni 1:2-3)

 

​(picture from online art gallery from the church https://history.lds.org/exhibit/exceedingly-valiant?lang=eng )

Its a hard life, but he will never forsake. He completed what God wanted him to do and continued faithfully living the gospel alone with no friends. We dont live in a society where we are threatened to be killed for our beliefs, but we do live in a society where its easy to deny Christ and not stand up to all the promises we have made to follow Him. My testimony is that no matter where I go, how long I tarry, and no matter who I am with I will not deny the Christ and stay active my whole life. Whenever you are tempted to waver, remember to eternal perspective and what is at cost (Moses 1:39). If you have gone already, there is room on the "Old Ship Zion" and you will be welcomed back with loving open arms like the Prodigal Son was (https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/the-prodigal-son?lang=eng). I leave that with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love,

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 14: Skyway B. Episode 2:Searching For the Agents

On an exchange with Elder Payne :D He replaced me in Skyway A

These are all the languages we most commonly run into. I carry around pamphletts with me of the most common and these are left in the back of our car. The most common ones we run into are Tagalog, Vietnamese, Chinese. Other people we run to are Laos, Cambodian, and Somali to list a few. Serving here in Skyway is probably more foreign than leaving the country haha.

Its going here in Skyway B! Elder Cardin and I are tearing it up (meaning working hard. I like to visualize like tearing out carpet or asphalt lain poorly like in cars for the type of work "tearing it up" describes)!

Elder Cardin and I are really working hard on finding more and more of the elect (those who are prepared to repent and be baptized!) in our area. In Skyway we have a good problem where people are willing to talk with us for 45 minutes, but when it comes to teaching them and sharing more of our beliefs they are not all in for that. So one thing we do very often is filter the length of conversations that we have with people and which potentials we record in our area book. The way we filter is while we are talking to them (because we still talk to everyone) we teach them the lessons on the spot instead of asking for permission to come back and teach later. If they arent in a situation where we can talk for a long time, we try to teach them as much as we can and then we ask for a specific return appointment. We are being blessed with more and more people who let us teach them on the spot and then agree to a specific return appointment (that is what we define as a new investigator). This week we were blessed with 5 new investigators all ranging in their age and interest level.

Most people we talk to let us a come by as a result of our persistence and asking for it. I call that when its simply for that reason that they are "objects of our persistence." We are acting upon them, but our goal is to help them become agents. People who arent simply meeting with us because we ask, but who are meeting with us because they feel something, want to learn something, and feel a sense to continue to learn. At that point they become agents and are truly investigating. We want to find those who are going to be agents and who will truly in every sense of the word (like in reference to detectives like Sherlock Holmes) "investigate" the church. There is no wrong reason for investigating the church or meeting with the missionaries, but there are wrong reasons to be baptized. So while we work with them and help them make transition from object to agent by helping them see that the gospel and the message fits the needs in their lives, we pray for the gift of discernment to know what to best teach them. And if they arent willing to progress to be agents, we will move on to seek for those who are. 

Thats a little bit more in depth of what we are trying to do as missionaries. We are trying to find the elect who are going to investigate this church exercising faith in the beginning and in the process along with repentance unto baptism! That is the beginning of their journey to their road to the Temple and Eternal Life with their Father in Heaven and families.

Love you all so much! One of the "agents" we are working with in her case to discovery the truthfulness of this church is Jean. Her biggest struggle right now is coming to church. We are working with our newly called Relief Society President Sister Kemp. They are great friends and we have been seeking for revelation on behalf of Jean to help her progress because she hasn't been making the progress we are hoping for. She is exercising her faith and preparing for baptism on August 6th and we are going to be doing a multitude of things to help her progress to that point.

Love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers!

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 14: Skyway B. Episode 1:I Love Working!

Elder Cardon and I right after we found out we were being companions.

Elder Graham, Wagstaff, and I at the training meeting last week. I will be missing them as they are heading out soon!

The Posterity of Elder Graham thus far.

Starting on left Elder Higgenson (son), Elder Graham (self), Elder Lyon (son), Elder Sumsion (son, his first born in the wilderness :D), Elder Jackson (grandson), and Elder Cardin (grandson). Not pictured are Elder Duncan, Meads, and Asper who are as well his grandsons.

Ties from all of my past companions thus far. Starting on the left Elder Graham, Buchanan, Wagstaff, Duncan, Meads, Asper, Jackson, Nelson, John, Murphy, and Rex.

The week has been great and I have been blessed with an amazing companion!

Elder Cardin is his name and he is from Bennett, Colorado. One of the funniest things is this area where we are serving in is compeletely different from what I grew up with in good 'ol happy valley, but for Elder Cardin its the same. He keeps on saying things like "This place looks just like where I am from except for there are more trees." Haha I love him a lot!

The work here in Skyway B is going well. We are working hard to find those who are prepared for the gospel. One of the biggest things we are striving to do is to find families! I have been praying and striving hard to find a family (with Gods help of course because I cant do it without Him). One of the things the Spirit prompted me that I could do as I was thinking about what more I could do was to fast for this blessing. So on Saturday at around 5:57pm I started a fast and about an hour later, God blessed us to run into a very prepared Chinese lady named Suezhen with a family! We are going by tonight to teach her more and some members are coming well. God definitely is one who hears our prayers! I was filled with gratitude because of this experience.

I know that God hears our prayers and that we should all communicate with Him and express the desires of our hearts often because he truly is our loving Heavenly Father.

-- 

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 13: Skyway. Episode 6: Asking Questions Results in Revelation!

Us dropping of Elder Christiansen at the Auburn Stake Center who finished his mission on Monday. Elder Jones did as well! I love both of those Elders.

This was my district last transfer. Starting on the left Elder Sanders, Elder Hunter, Elder Sumsion, Elder Stucki, Elder Richards, Sister Wilkinson, and Sister Bailey.

Howdy Howdy Howdy!

First offs with transfers that is happening today, Skyway A and B are going to be separated back into their own areas and I am going to be in Skyway B. I am being blessed with another opportunity to train which I am very excited for! Training is the most important assignment one can receive on his/her own mission and I am grateful the Lord trusts me with such a sacred duty.

President and Sister Eaton this week had a special training for the mission on the Doctrine of The Family. To understand what that doctrine is check out these 2 talks:

Elder Bednar

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2006/06/marriage-is-essential-to-his-eternal-plan?lang=eng

Sister Beck

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2011/03/teaching-the-doctrine-of-the-family?lang=eng

President Eaton didnt want us to refer to this training as the "trunky training" because he did talk about some very important after mission events. With these after mission events he talked about how we would approach these concepts (including when to get married, who you marry, careers you choose, hobbies you have) differently when we understand the doctrine of the family and keep these choices in the Eternal Perspective. It was a great training and he really inspired us to find, teach, and baptize families! One of the things I am doing differently to find families is whenever we are driving and see a family at their home or yard is to stop and talk to them (if we dont have a set thing we are going to).

The principle that has been strengthened in my heart this week was one the importance of asking questions! I had the blessing to be on 3 exchanges this week and with each of them I prepared several questions to ask them. I was blessed by all three of their answers to the questions I asked. It didn't matter about their mission assignments (from Assistant, to District Leader, to Junior Companion) The Lord spoke through them to me through these questions I asked. I also took notes on the things that they shared because I didn't want to forget what they were sharing (because the answers were valuable gems and people typically forget things after about 7 hours or at least I do :) ). Elder Rex and I have also started to prepare questions in advance for dinners with members. There is a quote President Eaton shared that goes something like this:

"Every person you meet is a feature story if you ask the right questions."

All these members with over double my life experience or even a couple years have been blessed with their own experiences and lessons that are valuable for everyone to hear.

This practice of preparing questions will be a huge blessing that will bless me in the future whether its in my personal study of the scriptures or in my communications with my family. Try this experiment out. 

Prepare 3 questions that you care about for a upcoming experience (whether that be a visit to the grandparents, a lunch conversation with a friend, or a car ride with your spouse) with another human being. Even preparing questions for those who are less experienced than you (new employees, children, etc.) will bless you with profound results!

Love you all! Have a great week! I will totally keep you accountable to my invitation if you accept it. Just email me that you are going to do it and I will follow up and see how it went.

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 13: Skyway. Episode 5: Time! Is Marching On!

Mission Leadership Council on the 3rd of June.

Front Row: Sisters Young, Erickson, Linker, Lyman, Palmer, Huhem, Wright, and Richardson.

Second Row: Elders Snook, Knight, Li, Noh, Sumsion, President Eaton, Sister Eaton, Ha, Snyder, Nelson, Lee-Wen, and Chapel.

Back Row: Elders Cook, Caputo, Anderton, Rex, Nelson, Samuelson, Anderson, John, Riley, and Mousser.

Hello!

I loooove Skyway!

I dont have much time left for emailing! Sorry about that. Time is definitely going fast on the mission so make every second count! 

We got permission because this area is so diverse to have language study for 30 minutes, so right now Elder Rex and I are working on learning Tagalog! I love it a lot!

Gin committed to be baptized in September! Its great stuff!

--

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

Pic and Video Bonus

A special number of "When I am Baptized" in Tagalog version

Season 13: Skyway. Episode 4:Happy Skyway Days!

I love this week! I don't have tons of time to cover it all, so I hope you enjoy these 

pictures that tell the story!

On Tuesday morning we went out of our apartment to discover that our car window had been broken throughout the night. It looks like someone had a sparkplug and string and threw it at the window during the night. We found the spark plug when looking through the mess. Only two packages were stolen as the others were concealed by the Liahona magazine you can see there. It was basically like where people didn't steal the golden plates because they were concealed by beans haha.

As a result we are borrowing a another car from the mission. It just happened to be a very brand new one. I was able to drive the car right off of the Toyota lot at 6 miles. A different experience that I wont have very often in life.

Elder John did get emergency transferred and is now serving as an Assistant with Elder Nelson in the Clark Lake Ward in Kent. We met at the Auburn Stake Center on Thursday morning and I am now serving with Elder Rex and I in the Skyway ward. Things are still super duper busy, but I enjoy the hard work!

We were blessed with Ric being baptized on Saturday! It was a very powerful experience. After he was baptized he bore his testimony in Tagalog. It was about 3 or 4 minutes long, but very very powerful. The Spirit was present and everyone attending could feel it. Everyone on the Earth may speak different languages, but the Spirit speaks and testifies in one universal language that everyone can understand.

Starting on Left from heads, Bishop White, Sister Sablan, Estrella, Princes Joy, Reymark, Ric, Elder Jiao, Elder Jones, Elder John, Elder Rex, Elder Lappalainen, Elder Davidson, and Elder Bonney.

It was a great week and I am excited for the coming week!

Love,

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