Season 16: Skyway B. Episode 1:Become Better

Elder Richards and I this morning.

We participated in the Renton Day of Service Saturday the 10th. We did some good work cleaning up yard waste around a members newly bought home which had not had any yard work done on it for 50 years. Fun stuffs!

Hello Family and Friends! My journey of being in the Renton Zone and serving in the Skyway ward continues on through my 7th month here. Spending large amounts of time in areas has been an experience I am familiar with on my mission.

Missionary work is a compelling experience which I love. "Doing your time" for 2 years is one thing, but actually devoting all your "heart, might, mind, and strength" is another. The latter is difficult and stretching every day, but that is what will result in the biggest change of character in my self. The Lord molds and shapes you into the person you need to become, but can only do so if you are willing. We need to be willing and when we are it happens!

Two little quote thing-y's. "God can make the willing able, but not the able willing." When we become willing for God to shape and mold us, it is at that time we are endowed with power knowing that all of our experiences shall be for our good (D&C121). We are given a multitude of experiences and we choose our response. The other quote is something we can do when we are faced with our challenges, trials, and hardships. In the end there are really only two results and this truth is highlighted so well in The Book of Mormon. "We can choose to become bitter or to become better." It is a fact that everyone is going to face some sort of challenge and trail, but the difference is on how to choose to react to that fact. 

Heavenly Father is always so good to me (even when my finite mind doesnt understand why at times). We have as always been blessed with a multitude of blessings and miralces this week. One of them involved the Relief Society President again, Sister Kemp. Earlier in the week we had another lesson with Mia and during the lesson we came to understand how truly connected she was to her belief towards Mary and praying to her. We had some members who addressed her concern well, without us going out and directly saying "We dont pray to Mary or any other Saints. Only to Heavenly Father." We understood though that we needed to talk about this.

We brought this up in a coordination meeting with the ward to find out that Sister Kemp used to be Catholic and totally understands Mia's concern. In her busy schedule of being a Relief Society President and in finishing a book she made the time to come to a lesson with us. Having her there connecting with Mia on her level with her understanding of where she was coming was amazing. During the lesson Sister Kemp was the one who told her, but because we taught this doctrine and difference of belief with love and Mia received with an open heart she understood. If she did know that this church was Gods church, she said she would join it. 

She came to church on Sunday and enjoyed it. She really likes the church, but feels that spiritually everything is the same or pretty similar to what she believes in. What she does notice as the difference is the sense of community and the focus on family that her other church is lacking for her. She really loves Relief Society and feels the Spirit here, but shares she feels it at her old church as well. This week some of our goals is to help her understand the Plan of Salvation and just how important it is to join. She is praying, but not recognizing her answer yet. 

Another man who come to church on Sunday was John. We met him contacting and was very kind to listen to us. He is from Alaska and is an Eskimo! Here in south Seattle, you meet all sorts of different races and cultures. Its awesome! John has had some strokes and lives in an assisted living place pretty close to where Sister Fabon lives. She took him to come to church on Sunday and helped him out. It was really kind of her and I am glad she is able to play a part in helping the work move forward in the ward.

Elder Richards my new companion is super awesome! He has been out for just over 13 months and is from Bountiful, Utah. I love his desire to improve and progress as a missionary.

Thats about all for today! 

Sincerely,

Elder Sumsion

Season 15: Skyway B. Episode 6: Fightin' the Pride

Farewell selfie this morning with Elder Cardin on the roof of our apartment building.

The District this transfer. From left, Sisters Beck, Stevenson, Livingstone, Tayco, Elders Sumsion, Perkins, Northrup, and Cardin.

Pictures with the Stephens at Coulon Park. These members are so kind. They took us out to eat on P-day last week.

Picture of Lake Washington from Coulon Park. The area that is in the middle of the horizon is Skway B area/South Seattle/Columbia City. On the left end is actual Skyway. On the Right is Mercer Island.

Picture of Lake Washington from Coulon Park

This week has be excellent as always! We have truly been blessed with a multitude of miracles and blessings. God is good and I am grateful for the opportunity to share with you some of the things that have happened.

In another neighborhood that we received a subtle impression to go rescuing in we knocked on the door of Mia. Mia is a mother who grew up Catholic. She isnt very active in the church now, but still believes... sometimes. She wasnt very interested at the start of our conversation. We tracted into her, taught her on the spot the restoration, and ended with the invitation for us to come by and share more. We said "The worst thing that would happen is we come by for 15 minutes and waste your time, but the best thing is that it would change eternity for you and your family."

She asked "Only 15 minutes? Can we do it now?"

We had the opportunity to sit down and teach her about how to recognize the Spirit and she ended with a prayer. By the end of the experience she was much more open and let us come back on Monday/yesterday. She hasnt received her answer yet about Joseph Smith, but she is still praying and committed yesterday to read the Book of Mormon. She is awesome!

An update on Tierra on her family is that we finally got to sit down and visit with her on Saturday. We brought the Senior Sisters in the ward and it was just an amazing visit. Tierra has had tons of amazing experiences in her life and has definitely seen the hand of the Lord in it. Elder Cardin describes her and other people who are prepared to receive the gospel as "over done." Doctrine and Covenants section 4 says "The field is white already to harvest" and these individuals we are blessed to be working with are very ready to receive it! 

The Shepherds are individuals who we are still working with. Sister Shepherd was very hesitant to meet with us weekly in a lesson setting and so we have had to push for another lesson every time. We came to find out that the reason she didnt want to meet with us often was because she didnt understand why were coming by as missionaries. That is a bad on our part because we hadnt set the expectations very well with them. We met with them yesterday and explained that we are guides as missionaries to help them get to the spiritual destination of receiving and acting on the revelation of this church being Gods church. It was pretty awesome because as soon as she understood more of what our purpose was as missionaries (she thought we just came by to answer questions), she was motivated more to meet with us weekly. She committed to coming to church on Sunday :)

One last amazing experience that God blessed us with was with Michael and Phyllis. A week ago on Sunday night we talked to Phyllis to find out that they were not interested in meeting with us anymore or studying. We bore testimony and asked just for one last time to meet with her and Michael on Wednesday. That Sunday night I could feel my heart breaking just a little bit, but we prayed and exercised faith and the lesson on Wednesday went great.

We brought Sister Kemp the Relief Society President with us and let her know what was happening with this lesson. She understood that this lesson was pivotal. We went in and Michael was expressing that he didnt want to study anymore and he wouldnt even let us share a scripture or pray with him. I didnt know what to say and my heart was just breaking after all the service and potential they had.

Then when Phyllis and Sister Kemp met they looked familiar and then we had the most amazing "its a small world moment" I have ever had. Long story short, Sister Kemp is very very good friends with Michaels mom and knew Michael and Phyllis when they were teenagers. This reunion totally brought that Spirit as Sister Kemp boldly told Michael "You are not stopping these studies, you are going to continue to meet with them." The Spirit was so strong and they had a come 180 degree turn around. He said that he isnt going to stop studying. This experience was just so amazing. I wish I could go into more detail, but suffice it to say Heavenly Father is the perfect Orchestra-tor of life.

Those are some of the tender mercies we have experienced :)

Lastly transfers are today. Elder Cardin is going to be transferred out of zone leaving me here in Skyway B likely for the rest of my mission. As a result of him being transferred and of 17 new missionaries coming into the mission, I was basically expecting to be training my last two transfers. I was expecting a call yesterday to train, but it didnt come. Then later on in the evening I come to find out that basically everyone in the zone will be training and I felt bad that I was being blessed with this opportunity. I felt this pride of "Why didnt I get this honor and why did others?"

Its been an amazing experience for me reflecting and developing a deeper testimony that there is a perfect plan as to why I am not training. I dont know it all, but I do know that Heavenly Fathers plan is way better than mine ever could be. As I have been studying humility and praying for it, I have been blessed to more deeply recognize that I need to be more submissive to His plan. "I'll go where you want me to go" is what we should be saying rather than "I'll go if its where I want to go." 

This morning as I was recording some thoughts on humility, I recognized that I need to be more like the pen I am writing with. It doesnt say "use me only for journal writing" or "I am only available to be used after 6pm." Nope, the pen is completely humble to everything I will it to do. I am willing to do whatever the Lord needs me to do while I am serving on my mission (and afterwards of course). Its not so much about what you do on your mission, but its about your heart and if you willingly do all that you are asked (or not asked) to do. 

Elder Richards is my companion this coming transfer! I have already spent some time teaching with him when we would teach Gin in Skyway A with Elder Jiao. Now I get the opportunity to be with him full-time for which I am so excited. I love that Elder so much already and I look forward to the coming month with him.

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: 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