The Best and Worst of Times

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."  That is how Charles Dickens starts his epic novel, A Tale of Two Cities.  The phrase also describes perfectly the summer of 1989 when I was in Santa Clara, California, serving as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was the best of times because I was involved in teaching five people who chose to enter the waters of baptism.  It was the worst of times because of some challenges presented by the four companions I was assigned to serve with during those seven months.

I had been out a little bit more than a year when I was transferred to the Santa Clara II Ward in the West Valley Zone of the California San Jose Mission.  When I learned of the transfer, I was also informed that I would finally be a senior companion, meaning that I would be the one in charge.  Mormon missionaries, of course, are assigned in pairs; the senior of the two calls the shots, deciding which streets to tract – door-to-door contacting – and where to go and what to do.  The junior companion is supposed to go along and do what the senior companion wants, but it doesn’t always work out that way.

Some senior companions want to take it easy, which can be a challenge for a junior companion who wants to work hard.  At the same time, some junior companions can be difficult to motivate, which can cause some headaches for a senior companion who also wants to work hard.  I had been on the first side of that equation as a junior companion, and now I was to be on the other side.

The four companions I was assigned in Santa Clara each had some issues they were dealing with.  The first had been a senior companion only to find out that he would now be junior to me which, naturally, led to some negative feelings on his part.  The second was with me for the last two months of his mission, and he was still a junior companion, never having had the chance to be a senior.  He was a good missionary, but may have lacked the maturity needed to be a senior companion.

My third companion in Santa Clara also never had the chance to be a senior companion, but for a very different reason.  This missionary had some disciplinary issues, and during the month we were together, his mission teetered as if on the head of a pin.  In the month before he was transferred he had done something particularly egregious, and was almost sent home; instead, the mission president put him on probation.  For days and weeks my companion debated with himself whether to stay or go home.  In the meantime, while I gave him a taste of hard work, I didn’t want to work so hard that he would feel like calling it quits  He ended up staying, and completing his mission, but that might have been the most difficult month of my mission.

My last companion in that area had been with me in the Missionary Training Center, and he was another missionary who never had the chance to be a senior companion.  This elder – the title given to male Mormon missionaries – had a reputation of working as hard, or as little, as his senior companion, but by the time he was assigned to me I think he had given up and was just biding his time until he could go home.  It also seemed that I did not have the same authority, if you will, as his previous companions because we had both been out on our missions for the same amount of time.

The first companion of the four, while understandably frustrated at being demoted, was willing to work.  More importantly, we were able to teach a young girl and her family.  The baptism age for children born in the church is eight; when a child turns nine and has not been baptized, they need to at least meet with the missionaries before they can be baptized.  We taught not just this girl, but her entire family, which proved to be a blessing for all.

My next companion and I taught another nine-year-old girl.  We also tracted into – found while door knocking – an older woman that we taught.  She said she had been baptized as a young girl in Hawaii, but a search in Salt Lake City did not find her records.  Therefore, she was baptized again.  Then we started teaching the friend of one of the ward members who might have been called a dry Mormon – just add water.

My third companion in Santa Clara and I had one teaching appointment with our new investigator and then the member who gave us the referral went on vacation for a few weeks.  As it turned out, by the time we next taught our dry Mormon, I had another companion.  After he was baptized, the bishop of the ward gave us another referral, this time to a part member couple.  The husband was interested in coming back to the church while his wife was investigating the church.

This really was the best and the worst.  While it proved to be a challenge, the wife did eventually choose to be baptized, which was one of the best moments of my mission.  But my companion at the time was another challenge.  I tried several different things to motivate him, or to at least get him out of the apartment so we could go to work, but found little success.  I did not put the blame for this on my companion, at least not all of it.  I was the senior companion, I was responsible.  In losing momentum on my mission, I began to lose confidence, and soon fell into the depths of depression.

I can still remember the disappointment on my mission president’s face as I took responsibility for the lack of work in my area.  I was in my seventh month, and in my third month with my fourth companion in that area.  I was tired and defeated.  I could have put the blame on my companion, but I didn’t, I took it all on myself.  I was senior and ultimately, I felt, it was my responsibility.  At the same time, by being able to stay for that seventh month, I was there for my final baptism, which was truly a wonderful note to go out on.

At the end of that month I was transferred out, and in my next area I would start as a junior companion.  Now I found myself in the same position as my first companion in Santa Clara.  I am sure I felt some of the same emotions he did, but I decided to quietly accept my demotion.  While my companions in Santa Clara had presented challenges, I made my own choices, and some of them were not as good as others.  Perhaps not everything that happened in that area was my responsibility alone, but enough of them were that I felt my demotion was appropriate.

Two months later, I was a senior companion again, and I had a junior companion willing to work has hard as I wanted to.  Both of us were of a mind to stretch ourselves to do more, to work an hour or two longer each day than we were already working.  After two more months I was on my way home.  In the end, I was able to finish my mission on my own terms, as it were.  Though we didn't find many people to teach in my last two months, we worked hard and, as noted, stretched ourselves, which brought its own satisfaction.

Sometimes we are called upon to endure relatively brief challenges of great intensity; at other times we are called upon to endure unremitting difficulty lasting days, weeks, months or even years.  Regardless of the circumstance, and the nature of the difficulty, it is best to press forward in faith, to "gird up [our] loins, fresh courage take," and to remind ourselves that "our God will never us forsake."

Our Heavenly Father may not immediately relieve us of the challenges we are facing, instead he may strengthen us to carry the load.  When the challenge is finally over, we may be able to look back and appreciate how the experience has changed us, hopefully for the better.  That is, after all, the purpose of our sojourn through mortality, to learn and grown and become more like our Heavenly Father.

CSJ Week 2: Trouble in Paradise

January 27, 1988

Life is great here at the MTC.  It's hard to believe I've been here two weeks already.  One more left.

About my comp, he's a big guy from Arizona.  About all he ever talks about are the relationships he had with girls back home.  He tried to get to know me, but every time I started talking, it seemed, he interrupted me with his own story.  Sometimes this guy really drives me bananas.  I'm doing all I can, I just don't know how to deal with him sometimes.  There are times, however, when things are good.

Last Wednesday, my comp and I had a big argument. We went to meet the new Laei District for which my companion was acting DL, and he told these missionaries that Laei would be their first district in the mission field. Because I am joined at the hip with Elder Fox (figuratively speaking) I attended the same ADL orientation meeting he did and read the same material that was handed out. I have no idea where he got this idea from, and I contradicted him in front of the new district. Big mistake.

We then took the district over to our branch meeting room to meet with the second counselor of the branch. We left them there and returned to our class room. On the way Elder Fox [names have been changed to protect the innocent] said something about not being able to believe what I said. I don’t remember exactly how he said it. Initially I thought he was referring to a joke I had just made in the branch meeting room. He clarified that he was talking about my contradicting him on whether Laei would be the new missionaries district when they got to Hawaii. I then compounded my error by saying “Well, they’re not going to Laei as their first district. That’s just the name of the district here.”

“No, Laei will be their first district.”

“No it won’t,” I said. “Their mission president couldn’t have called the MTC and told them where their first district was going to be. He doesn’t know that yet. In any case, three of them are going to different missions than the rest. And for all we know, Laei isn’t big enough to be a district.”

We walked into class arguing. It wasn’t long before I started feeling guilty. I suddenly remembered my brother telling the prep class that we should never contradict our companions in front of others. I had just done exactly that, and now I was feeling low.

Fox and I went out into the hallway and he apologized. I was the one who should have. He said he was trying to impress the new district, and he said he was wrong. This just made things worse for me and I struggled for something to say. I forgave him and we went back into class. I missed the opportunity to apologize for what I had done.

Then there was this morning   He starts getting up at 4:45 so we can go to the temple, but I didn't want to go.  I'm concentrating so much on my mission that I guess I'm not into the spirit of temple work right now.  Last week I went but I couldn't get into the spirit of the whole thing.  Last night, when our district was talking about going to the temple to do sealings, my companion didn't ask whether I wanted to go or not.  This morning he didn't say anything until he was ready to go, and I said that I'd rather not go.  So we didn't go.

At 6:30 I was up and ready to go to breakfast, but my companion had gone back to sleep.  I woke him up and mentioned breakfast and he said he wasn't hungry.  I couldn't believe it, that he would do that just to get even.  He then proceeded to sleep until 10:30.

Now, you don't have to tell me I was in the wrong this morning, I already know that, but I did not do it to spite him.

One minute things are great, but the next there is a little contention between us.  It's getting hard to tell which end is up.  I don't know what to do.

I get a long great with my other roommates and the rest of my district, they are a great bunch of guys.

Last night, after the weekly devotional we had our weekly culture class.  We talked about labeling and did an exercise where we each got a label to put on our foreheads; we didn’t know what our label said.  We were supposed to do to each other what the labels said.  Everybody started arguing with me, and afterward I learned that my label said “ARGUE WITH ME.”

We then watched a film about a third grade class that did an experiment where one day blue eyed people were designated as superior and brown eyed people were designated as inferior.  The following day they switched.  But what made the biggest impression on me was when I related this all to my past.  I was labeled inferior in first grade because I was skinny (I was called “The Six Million Dollar Weakling) and had to wear Sunday shoes because I had crows feet or something like that.  It took me almost ten years to beat that.  Even now I am haunted by my past on occasion.

The spirit is so strong here it is incredible, I'm learning a lot.  The food is pretty good and I am eating well.  Ever since my first Friday here I just haven't had time to get homesick.

Saducees, Not Pharisees

I read a very interesting piece yesterday on the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the opposition to Jesus.  It is a chapter in a book on the life and teachings of Christ by Jeffrey R. Chadwick; the book is a compilation of chapters written by different authors.

Chadwick suggests that it was the Sadducees rather than the Pharisees that as a group "represented a significant and imminent threat to Jesus' life or liberty."  While there were some Pharisees that opposed Jesus on some matters, as a group the Pharisees were generally benign regarding him.  "But the chief priests and Sadducees despised Him and felt threatened by Him for reasons that were doctrinal, economic, and political," writes Chadwick.  "These are the men who conceived and carried out the plot that led to Jesus' death."

The Sadducees were the elite priestly part of Jerusalem, and were descendants of the Zadokites.  Zadok was the Aaronic priest loyal to David and Solomon, and appointed by Solomon to be the high priest at the Jerusalem temple.  The family of Zadok became the clan of Aaronic priests who, generation after generation , perpetually managed the temple in Jerusalem.  The Greek term Sadducee most likely represents the Hebrew work tzaddoki, or Zadokite.

Joseph Caiaphas, who held the office of high priest, was a Sadducee, even if he was not a Zadokite by lineage.  Most of the high priests in the first century were from on of four Sadducean families, one of which was the house of Annas.  Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas.  Since Hellenistic times, the office of high priest had often been bought from whatever monarch or governor happened to be ruling -- to include the Roman governors.  Caiaphas paid the Roman governor Valerius Gratus a large fee to obtain the office of high priest in 18. A.D. and continued to pay to remain in the position when Pontius Pilate became governor in 26 A.D.

"The relationship of Caiaphas and the other chief priests and Sadducees to the Roman governor was essentially that of collaborator to occupier," writes Chadwick.  "This arrangement worked well for both Rome and the chief priests and Sadducees.  The local government functions of Jerusalem and Judea, from legislation and taxation to police control, were under the control of the chief priests as executives and certain 'elders' or aldermen appointed by them.   The high priest himself reported directly to the Roman governor, who exercised overall executive discretion for security, military control, and capital punishment."

"Thus," continues Chadwick, "Caiaphas could order the arrest of Jesus and preside over a trial to convict Him of a crime for which execution was the punishment, but only Pontius Pilate could mandate that Roman soldiers be present at the arrest and carry out a capital sentence.  Still, by any measure, the chief priests, elders, and Sadducees in general were allies of the Roman occupiers of Judea.  They were resented by a great many of the common Jews of the country as well as by other Aaronic priests who served at the Jerusalem temple.

The Sanhedrin was the Judean senate, and assembly of 70 Jewish "elders" or aldermen, and the only place where the chief priests and the Sadducees shared their control of Judea.  The Sanhedrin, which was initiated during the second temple period, was presided over by the high priest, bringing the total number of senate seats to 71, an operated as the local governing assembly for Judea.  Positions on the Sanhedrin were alloted by monarchs or governors, after which they were of hereditary.  During the reign of Hasmonian queen Salmome Alexandra, Pharisees were appointed in large numbers to the Sanhedrin, and thereafter constituted a majority vote in the body.  However, the Sadducees could get around the Pharisee majority by calling a quorum of Sadducees, often a little more than 23 members, which has been referred to as a "small Sanhedrin.

Other than the Sadducees, twenty-four courses or clans of Aaronic priests served at the temple.  The members of these 24 clans served voluntarily, and gained no wealth from their temple activity.  The Sadducees, on the other hand, made their living at the management of the temple and the industries associated with its rituals and purity.  The chief priests control the franchises for merchants who traded in goods used at the temple, for those who sold sacrificial animals and birds, and for the money changers who provided coinage acceptable for donations at the temple treasury.  "When Jesus cast out the money changers and animal sellers from the temple courts during his first visit to the temple at the beginning of His public ministry," writes Chadwick, "He was not only challenging the authority of the chief priests but also interfering with their source of income."

In stark contrast to the financial activities of the Sadducees and chief priests, stood the students of the scriptures known as the Pharisees.  "When the information available about them from the New Testament and other sources is carefully considered," writes Chadwick, "we see clearly that many of the Pharisees were either respectfully benign or enthusiastically supportive in their attitudes and actions toward Jesus.  It is unfortunate that the Pharisees have been so maligned in Christian commentary and conversation ove the centuries.  Too often, Christians have laid blame at the door of the Pharisees for events that were actually the doings of the Sadducees."

Of course, that doesn't mean that there were no Pharisees who opposed Jesus, but the Pharisees were not a monolithic movement, and they held different and often contradictory religious views even among themselves.  The term Pharisees comes from the Greek form of the Hebrew word perushim, which can be translated loosely as "separitists."  It also carries the connotation of being holy and can therefore be rendered as "saints."  The Pharisees emerged in the second century B.C (or B.C.E.), during the Hasmonian period, as opponents of the trend toward Hellenistic interpretation and influence in Jewish religious and social life.  They advocated that the Jewish people should remain holy by keeping themselves apart from the corrupting Gentile influences, which they believed had been the case during the centuries before the Hasmonian revolt.  As the Sadducees moved increasingly in the direction of Greco-Roman philosophy and religion (such as denying the physical resurrection), the Pharisees became strong advocates for the traditional, biblical teachings and practices that had prevailed in the centuries after the return from Babylon.  These were the "traditions of the elders" that the Pharisees wished to preserve, including the notion that many of the traditions were actually an "oral law" given by God to supplement the "written law" received by Moses.

The Pharisee, as it turns out, did not always agree on just which tradition or "oral law" was actually correct.  This was because there were two different sects of Pharisees, or followings of the scholars Hillel and Shammai.  Hillel was a scholar who moved from Babylon to Jerusalem during the reign of Herod the Great, and became the most revered teacher of his time, recognized by consensus at nasi (president) of the diverse community of Pharisee scholars.  Hillel is said to have been active in his teaching from around 30 B.C. to 10 A.D.  Shammai was probably younger than Hillel and became the av bet din (chief of court, or vice president), also by consensus.  But Shammai stood in opposition to Hillel on many questions of interpretation and procedure about Mosaic law.  Based on the Talmud and other early Jewish sources, Shammai and his disciples represented only a minority of Pharisee opinion.  The Shammai were less concerned for average citizens than they were for the wealthy, and were more extreme in their interpretations of the law of Moses than Hillel and his supporters.

In a famous story, a Gentile asked Shammai to expound the entire law of Mose while he stood upon one foot, meaning he wanted a summary statement.  Shammai drove the Gentile away with a builders cubit, so he then went to Hillel.  Hillel answered the Gentile's request by saying, "Whatever is hateful to yourself, do to no other person -- this is the whole law, the rest is but commentary.  Now go and do it.  Hillel's "golden rule" was well known among the Jews during Jesus' lifetime and Jesus' "golden rule" is but a positive rephrasing" "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."  We can safely assume that Jesus was influenced to some degree by Hillel.

Hillel and Shammai established academies in Jerusalem where Pharisees and others could study scripture and the oral law (or traditions of the elders), beyt Hillel and beyt Shammai.  One significant difference between Hillel and Shammai that would play out during the ministry of Jesus, was on the question of Sabbath day healing.  The Shammai ruled that practicing the healing arts was not permitted on either the weekly Sabbath or the festival Sabbaths.  The Hillels took a more pragmatic view, however, that danger to life or health suspends the prohibitions of the Sabbath and that the healing arts were permissible.  Hillel himself had received medical care on the Sabbath when he was young.

Source:

Holzapfel, R. N. & Wayment, T. A., Ed. (2005). The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ: Vol. I, From Bethlehem Through the Sermon on the Mount. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book -- Chapter 3, "The Jerusalem Temple, the Saducees, and the Opposition to Jesus" by Chadwick, J. R.

The At-One-Ment of Jesus Christ

For us the blood of Christ was shed;
For us on Calvary's cross he bled,
And thus dispelled the awful gloom
That else were this creation's doom

The law was broken; Jesus died
That justice might be satisfied,
That man might not remain a slave
Of death, of hell, or of the grave.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has written that “The central fact, the crucial foundation, the chief doctrine, and the greatest expression of divine love in the eternal plan of salvation . . . is the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Much goes before it and much comes after, but without that pivotal act, that moment of triumph whereby we are made free from the spiritual bondage of sin and the physical chains of the grave . . . there would be no meaning to the plan of life, and certainly no happiness in it or after it.”

The atonement, or at-one-ment, “is the act of unifying or bringing together what has been separated or estranged," continued Elder Holland. "The atonement of Christ was indispensable because of the separating transgression, or fall of Adam, which brought death into the world. In the words of Moroni, 'By Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall of man came Jesus Christ. . . .; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man. And because of the redemption of man, . . . they are brought back into the presence of the Lord.'”

The Atonement includes gifts that are both conditional and unconditional. The unconditional gifts include the Savior's ransom for Adam's original transgression and the resurrection from the dead.

The conditional gifts require such effort as repentance and faith as they are predicated upon the moral agency and personal discipline of the individual before they can be fully effective. “There are principles of the gospel that [we] must follow and ordinances of the gospel that [we] must obtain" wrote Elder Holland. "Mormon stresses this commitment to fundamental requirements: 'The first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins; and the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart, cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.'” 

But there is more, so much more.

“Virtually all Christian churches teach some kind of doctrine regarding the atonement of Christ and the expiation of our sins that comes through it," Elder Holland continued. "But the Book of Mormon teaches that and much more. It teaches that Christ also provides relief of a more temporal sort, taking upon himself our mortal sicknesses and infirmities, our earthly trials and tribulations, our personal heartaches and loneliness and sorrows – all done in addition to taking upon himself the burden of our sins.

“Christ walked the path every mortal is called to walk so that he would know how to succor and strengthen us in our most difficult times. He knows the deepest and most personal burdens we carry. He knows the most public and poignant pains we bear. He descended below all such grief in order that he might lift us above it. There is no anguish or sorrow or sadness in life that he has not suffered in our behalf and borne away upon his own valiant and compassionate shoulders.

“That aspect of the Atonement brings an additional kind of rebirth," concludes Elder Holland, "something of immediate renewal, help, and hope that allows us to rise above sorrows and sickness, misfortunes and mistakes of every kind. With his mighty arms around us and lifting us, we face life more joyfully even as we face death more triumphantly.”

Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish;
Come to the mercy-seat, fervently kneel;
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish,
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

Joy of the comfortless, light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure;
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying—
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure.

Here see the Bread of Life; see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above;
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing
Earth has no sorrow but heaven can remove.


Sources:

Holland, J. R. (2006). Christ and the New Covenant:  The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon.  Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.

Hymns: While of the Emblems We Partake & Come, Ye Disconsolate.

The Germans were Never In the Abbey

The allies landed at Salerno, Italy, in September 1943, and Naples was captured in the first days of October.  After that the allies marched into the mountains south of Rome, which the Germans used effectively for defense to hold up the allied advance until the spring of 1944.  The most significant obstacle in the German Gustav Line centered around the town of Cassino, and the mountain that rose above it.  It was atop Monte Cassino, in 529 A.D. that St. Benedict of Nursia established a monastery, which became the source of the Benedictine Order.

With it's gleaming white walls, the two story Abbey drew the gaze of every soldier on the front line.  As the battle on the Gustav line devolved into a stalemate, the Abbey soon became the object of blame.  Surely, said the infantrymen below, the Germans had to be occupying the Abbey and using it as an observation post.  The Germans, with the advantage of commanding the heights, had almost unlimited viability and could call down artillery on any movement made by the allies.  But the Germans didn't need to be in the Abbey itself to have this commanding view, instead they needed only to occupy the ground outside of the monastery.

Even so, the Abbey became the fixation of every allied soldier.  A general claimed to have spotted the sun flashing off German binoculars on the second floor.  Even pilots flying over the Abbey claimed to see Germans inside it.  As every move to penetrate the Gustav line and make it into the Liri Valley -- with a straight shot to Rome -- was thwarted, some soldiers called for the destruction of the Abbey by air attack and artillery.  Other soldiers countered that bombing the Abbey would give no advantage, that, in fact, the Germans could make better defensive use of the ruins.  Though some of the first soldiers knew those other soldiers were right, the pressure mounted to bomb the Abbey.

And so, in February 1944, the allies bombed the Abbey, and the Germans moved into the ruins, and continued to thwart allied efforts to break the Gustav line.  Perhaps what is more remarkable is that the allies repeated the same mistake just a month later when they bombed the town of Cassino.  In the fight that followed, the New Zealand infantrymen faced such difficulty that they soon began to call the town "Little Stalingrad" after the monumental urban battle on the Russian front in 1942.  Eventually, the Kiwis admitted that they could not drive the Germans out of Cassino, and the stalemate continued.  The good news, if you can call it that, is that eventually spring would come, the allies would break the Gustav line, and race up the Liri Valley to capture Rome on June 5, 1944.

I recently read an excellent book on the campaigns in Italy, The Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson, and I followed that by watching a movie called The Story of G.I. Joe.  The movie follows war correspondent Ernie Pyle, played by Burgess Meredith, who at times meets up with a company commanded by Bill Walker, played by Robert Mitchum, a character based on a real soldier who was killed during the battles on the Gustav Line.  In the film, the soldiers of Walker's company become fixated on the Abbey atop Monte Cassino and cheer when it is bombed, but then Pyle notes the irony of war in that the Germans made good use of the ruins.

As I have been thinking about Monte Cassino, I have thought about things I have at times become fixated on, that later turned out to not be as I had supposed they were.  In aerial combat there is something called target fixation; in chasing or bombing a target, the pilot becomes so fixated that he has tunnel vision, and sometimes the result is that he flies into the target.

It seems that we often have such fixations: if we could buy that house then all our problems would be solved; if we could ask a certain girl out, then life would be wonderful.

Often we become fixated on the weaknesses we see in others.  We want to remove the sliver in the eye of another and we become so fixated on it that we miss the telephone pole in our own eye.  At other times we become fixated on a perceived slight, and we cannot let go.  And sometimes we become fixated on having things done our way, and if they are not, we become disaffected.

Whatever our fixation, we should remind ourselves that the Germans were never in the Abbey.

CSJ Week 1: The Missionary Training Center

January 19-20, 1988

Life is great here at the MTC.  It's hard to believe I've been here a whole week.  The spirit is so strong here, and I'm learning a lot.

I got mom's letter today; I was in the cafeteria with my comp and other members of my district when our DL brought in the mail.  It was just like a sailor overseas, getting word from home.  It was exciting.

My comp and I are at the BYU Health Center checking his swollen ankles.  It seems that his socks are too tight and are cutting off circulation

My companion is a big, hefty guy from Mesa, Arizona; we get along pretty well.  We are in the Foster City District and living in the Addison Pratt building. About half of the elders in this district are like me, called to the California San Jose mission, the rest were called to the California Sacramento Mission. There are also two sister missionaries in the district; they were called to Arizona.

Right now we are on the shuttle back to the MTC -- thank heavens!  The minute you're off the MTC campus, the spirit weakens, if it doesn't leave you altogether.

On Thursday night we had a Branch meeting; we are in the Joseph Standing Fourth Branch. The spirit was so strong that tears welled in my eyes and I had to fight them back. It was truly great, my testimony was strengthened.

At one point the branch president turned to John 4:24, which says that God is a spirit. He then called on us to answer. One of the sisters in the branch turned to Genesis 1:26-27, which says we were created in God’s image. The branch president replied that he believed we were in God’s image but that God did not have a body. I raised my hand and turned to Genesis 5:3, which has the same wording as Genesis 1:26-27 in describing when Adam begat Seth. The branch president was not able to refute that, and I had the impression that he had not anticipated this argument – score one for the missionary prep program of the Bountiful Central Stake.

The branch president then shifted gears and said that we should read more into John 4:24: “They that worship him must worship him in spirit.” Then the branch president asked, “Must we step out of our bodies to worship?” No, of course not never mind it being impossible. Again, the meeting was awesome!

We had a gospel studies class on Sunday; the lesson was on the Book of Mormon and its origins.  It was a great meeting.  By the way, do you know why the Nephites had such big muscles? Scripture chasing with the brass plates.  Ha ha.

I'm now watching the sunset outside my window.  I've got my camera ready.

Yesterday we had a large group meeting.  We watched The First Vision and The Restoration of the Priesthood.  The spirit was so strong in that meeting, it was the greatest.  After watching the videos we had a testimony meeting.  Wow!

The sunset was great.  I got a few good shots.

As a district we went to the Temple this morning -- after getting up at a quarter to 4:00 in the morning!  A funny thing happened.  As we ere leaving the locker room for the chapel, I realized that I had left my recommend in my locker, so I went back to get it, only to find that my locker was jammed!  After about five minutes I finally managed to get my locker open, but by the time I got to the chapel, my district had gone into the session.  I had to wait ten minutes for the next session, which I went through without my comp.  Oops!

Well, that about covers it.  I miss everybody.

A note for the prep class:

I'm learning a lot here, so I should be able to Phi Slamma Jamma in San Jose.  It's too bad I missed float night, but I wouldn't trade places with anybody.

I guess I got lucky on companions, he is a good guy.  Here's a funny companion story:

As I said earlier, we went over to the BYU Health Center because my comp's ankles were sore and swollen.  In addition to his his sock cutting off his circulation, he may also be allergic to the dye. My comp now has to dump all his black socks, but doesn't have any other socks to wear.

After our cultural orientation meeting last night, an elder came up to me and asked if I had noticed that my companion wasn't wearing socks.  I said yes and he asked why.  When I told him he said that he was wondering whether my comp could afford socks.  He then said that he would have been willing to help buy some socks for my comp.

On the one hand, that was really kind of cool.  I guess it goes to show just how much people care about each other here.  On the other hand, it was also kind of funny.  I couldn't stop laughing on the way back to our room.

One last thought before I close: that black name tag I wear is to me just like a naval aviator's wings of gold.  It's an honor to me that I can wear it, that I can be a missionary in the service of my heavenly father.  Just think, I can be an instrument in God's hands.  It's the greatest.

Missionary Prep: Preparing to Serve

On the night of May 2, 1987, I attended the Senior Ball; the next morning I was up early for the first class of a missionary preparation program in the stake I grew up in.  High school was ending, my mission was beginning.  A few months earlier I had been lying in bed on a Saturday morning when the realization suddenly hit me that one year from that moment I would be in the mission field.

The missionary prep program in my stake held classes early on Sunday mornings, with another meeting on Tuesdays nights.  The teachers were returned missionaries who taught us everything they knew.  But perhaps the most important aspect of that prep program was the fireside.  As often as once a week we had the opportunity of teaching a mock discussion to members, and these discussions were called firesides.  Sometimes we would teach a return missionary who would put us through the ringer with arguments based on those they had often heard on their missions.

I attended this program for eight months and it provided real and practical preparation.  When I entered the Missionary Training Center I felt that I was so prepared that I would take the mission field by storm -- it didn't work out that way, but that is another story, suffice it to say that I believe that the Lord felt I needed a little humility.

The program wasn't an easy one, and at times during the first few months I felt that I could do nothing right as I taught mock discussions or as I role played handling objections during the Sunday classes and the Tuesday night meetings.  I believe that the adversary was working hard to discourage me from going.  But I persevered and my confidence began to grow.

I attended the prep program for as long as I did because I could not leave on my mission until seven months after I graduated from high school.  Now, of course, the rules have been changed, allowing young men to leave immediately after graduation if they are 18.  A prep program of several months may no longer be practical, still I believe every prospective missionary could benefit from some instruction by return missionaries, but most of all from teaching mock discussions to members.

It was an advantage to me that when I arrived in the MTC, I already knew the first and second discussions and that I had experience teaching them.  It was an advantage to me that when I first taught a discussion to an investigator that I didn't have to worry about overcoming stage fright.  It was also an advantage to me when dealing with objections from real investigators that I learned and role played some answers in the prep program.

The U.S. military services gained advantages during World War II by rotating combat veterans back to the continental U.S. and assigning them to new units or to training units.  This allowed the veterans to pass on what they had learned in combat to those who had yet to experience it.  In the same way there is value in return missionaries passing on lessons that they learned to prospective missionaries.

If there is no organized missionary prep program in place where you live, I would recommend a little do-it-yourself project.  Get a copy of Preach My Gospel (it can also be found online at: http://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service?lang=eng) and familiarize yourself with the discussions, then find members to teach mock discussions to.

In addition to learning and teaching the discussions, you should be learning how to teach with the spirit.  In addition to mock discussions, perhaps you can ask return missionaries in your area what they learned on their mission, or about common objections they got from investigators and how they handled them.  A little preparation in these areas before you enter the MTC will go a long way when you reach the mission field.