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| At the main bus terminal in Reno |
March 14, 2016
Howdy!!
Congrats to my Dad, Mary Jane, and Nathan for running the half-marathon
this past weekend! You are my heroes!!!
That is awesome. It sounds like we have a family full of runners...and I am not
one of them. But maybe I can beat you guys in a race on the Wii some day.
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| Biking with Elder Peterson |
Here in Reno, we have had a great week. I got to go on exchanges
with Elder Peterson in the Truckee River ward for the day on Wednesday, and it
was a lot of fun. He is a great elder who came out last summer – so he’s been
out about 8 or 9 months. The Truckee River ward is a biking area, so I got to
bust out my bike and put it to use for the first time in a few months. The Truckee
River ward covers downtown Reno, so it was fun to be biking around all the big
buildings. It is lots of fun to be on a bike in that area because it is
arguably the most densely populated ward in the mission, and we are like moving
billboards for the church, so tons of people see us out and about. It was a
beautiful day that we were out working, which of course makes it more
enjoyable.
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| I'm a total map nerd. I LOVE MAPS!! |
I actually had so much fun on a bike for a day that Elder Han
and I thought it would be a brilliant idea if we rode the bus and biked for a
day, instead of using our car like usual. We cover most of Reno except for the
North Valleys and the Southern part, so our area is pretty big, and we live
outside of the zone in Sparks, so we couldn't realistically do the whole day on
bike. But we decided we would do it on Saturday, and a few days before, we went
to the bus station downtown and got the bus book and map, and then I went to
town mapping our route with the appointments we had set and stuff. Of course
anyone who knows me knows that I am a map nerd and love doing stuff like that,
so I really enjoyed figuring it all out.
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| Elder Han and me |
It cost us 5 bucks for a day bus pass, and we were able to use
it a handful of times throughout the day. We took our bikes with us because
each bus here in Reno is equipped with bike racks…so we would just throw our
bikes on the rack, hop on until we got to our stop, and then jump off and bike
to our appointments. It was actually a BLAST. We got to talk to so many people,
and sitting on the bus was a great opportunity to talk to lots of people. We
started many conversations with the question, "Have you ever talked with
missionaries on the bus before?!" and most people said "No! But I’ve
seen you walking around before!" So it was lots of fun to talk on the bus.
We would try and scout out the Hispanic people and sit by them if we could
manage that.
We saw a few miracles riding the bus, as well! On our first bus
ride of the day, we sat next to a man named Angel and he was a pretty chill
guy. He was just on the way into town to
gamble a little bit. We talked to him for the ride, but he didn't want to give
us his information or let us come by. We left him with our number and that was
all. But then, our very last bus ride of the day, we hopped on the bus, and
there was Angel again, this time with a funny smile on his face that almost
said, "DANG! I can't get away from you guys!" We talked to him some
more, and he admitted that it was no coincidence that we rode the same bus
twice in a day. This time he accepted the invitation to let us come by and
teach him, and we were able to get his information and pass it along to the
other Elders.
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| Bus map of Reno |
Then, Thursday night we had an awesome first lesson with a man
named Gabriel and he committed to baptism on April 23rd in the first
lesson! Unfortunately, we went 2 days
without seeing him again or talking to him, and we were quite bummed out. But
then on Saturday morning, we got off at the transfer station after our first
bus ride and lo and behold, Gabriel was getting on the very same bus that we
were getting off! So we had a few
minutes to talk and set up another appointment with him, and he apologized for
missing the last one. Another miracle!
Finally, we were on of our last buses heading home for the night
and a Hispanic man jumped on. We were chatting with a different man, but Elder Han
leaned over to me and said, "I know that guy, I can’t remember his
name!?" I didn't recognize him. As we got off at the transfer station he
came up and we started talking to him, and it turns out that it was an
investigator that called us my first day in this area and told us that he read
the Restoration pamphlet and wanted to be baptized – but the number he called
us on was no longer in service, so we hadn't talked with him in about a month! So we got his new number and that was a HUGE
miracle. Elder Han and I had a blast riding the bus all over town and doing
some biking here and there in between. We want to do it more, but our budget
doesn't really allow for extra bus rides.
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| Opening Hermano Guillen's car |
One more quick story...this week, Elder Han and I prayed
specifically that we could do one random act of service throughout the
day. We were walking around this
apartment complex where we have a few investigators and we saw two other Elders
in the English ward over in the corner so we went over and said hello and they
were actually helping a Hispanic man named Luis try and open his car door because
he had locked the keys inside. He drove this van that had the back windows open
just a crack, and Luis had dug out a long pole thinger from the garbage to
stick through the crack and open the window. The 4 of us spent about a half
hour trying to get the door open and I was about to throw in the towel because
at that point it seemed useless, when we finally got the door open! We switched
up our approach last minute and it worked. The man then invited us into his
home and wanted us to meet his family. He has 4 teenage kids and a nice wife,
and they invited us to come back and meet with them! We haven't been able to
meet with them since, because they have been super busy and super involved with
their other church, but he was really grateful for our service. It was cool to
see how our specific prayer in the morning before we left the apartment was
answered, and it gave us an opportunity to serve and find a new family to
teach, the Guillen family. I will keep you posted on them in the future.
My ponderize scripture this week is Doctrine and Covenants
42:61…
"If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon
revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and
peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal."
I chose this scripture because it is so important and crucial
that we understand how to receive our own personal revelation. Joseph Smith once
said, "Salvation cannot come without revelation" and so we all need
to learn how to receive that personal revelation...and the scripture tells us
plainly..."ASK." I know that we can all receive revelation and
answers to our prayers by simply asking questions and then pondering and
waiting for answers. Too often we pray and we just ramble on for a while
without letting Heavenly Father talk back to us. It would be like if I called
someone on the phone and then, without letting them say anything, I just went
on and on about how my day was and all the things I need help with and then
hung up without letting the person on the other end of the call say a single
word.
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| The 6 missionaries in our branch |
At MLC (Missionary Leadership Conference), the Assistants
trained on this exact topic and had a Sister missionary come up to the front
and call another companionship of missionaries and without explaining what was
going on, they had the Sister just ramble on about how great her day was so
far, and then hang up before the missionaries on the other line could say
anything. It really put it into perspective for me of how important and sacred
our prayers should be. If we want it to be, we can make each prayer a
revelatory experience. A few months ago President Perry trained about prayers
in an MLC meeting and it changed my life. He told us that we don't always need
to pray out loud, but definitely not every prayer should be in our mind. I have
found that praying out loud helps me focus during my prayers and make them very
spiritual experiences. I know that prayer is a two-way communication, and we
really can receive answers.
This was a great week. We had lots of fun on bikes and the bus,
and teaching the truth. I can't complain!
I love you guys!!
Love,
Elder
Todd
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| Exchanges with Elder Peterson |
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