Chapter 42: Zone Conference and Quantum Physics

Elder Anderson looks like he's exhausted by the end of the day!

I'm not really sure what kind of a caption to give these next two pictures...😊

4/13/2021

Today we had a pickup lesson and unfortunately it didn’t go too well; The woman that we talked to reviled against what we said and went to Facebook for support against what we had taught her. We also were late to our interviews with President because of her, but fortunately he was running late as well so we didn’t cause him any problems. Interviews went well, and afterwards we went back and did our lessons for the day. The lessons went well.

4/14/2021

Today I got to do a service project with a family of potential investigators. They had a broken computer and asked if I knew anything about computers and if I could help them out. I consented and did my best to inspect the area, and after a couple tests was able to figure out that the heart of their computer was damaged. I did a lot with the virtual side of computers back at home, but not the physical, so just the fact that we were able to narrow down what the problem was ended up being an incredible miracle.

4/15/2021

Today we went to do service at the food bank again. We got to see some of our friends from last week, and everyone was incredibly thankful for our efforts and all that we did to help out. the majority of volunteers were in the 60+ age range, and everyone else was definitely over 45 years of age, so they were grateful for a couple of “young backs” to keep things going while they were working. I was impressed by how well we worked together, despite this being our second time helping, we were able to get everything going smoothly and had a lot of fun doing it.

4/16/2021

We had Zone Conference today. Today was the first time that I’ve had it in the afternoon, and was amazed at how fast the day disappeared because of it. We had to drive for two hours to attend, and the meeting was four hours, and as missionaries we have about three hours in the morning to study, so that was pretty much our whole day. It was crazy to walk outside and see that the day was already done. The conference was very engaging, I even got to do a roleplay with Elder Eden in front of everyone, and it felt a little too natural to be up there joking around like we used to in a mission setting.

4/17/2021

Today was amazing! We had a service project with a few investigators and a couple of members. The nonmembers were all kids between the ages of 14-16 and were all very smart youth. I found out they were interested in coding so I spent a while teaching them about a couple of coding concepts and we even talked about quantum computers for a bit. After the service we taught them about the importance of the Gospel, we didn’t share a story with them or teach them about any principles, we just talked about the importance of the Gospel, and then gave them an invitation to pray. Afterwards there was one boy who said, “I think it’s time that I started going to church”. We had Stake conference tonight and swapped back companions, and it made for a great day.

4/18/2021

Today we finished off Stake conference. The speakers did a great job, especially one youth, a convert, who spoke first and spoke of the difficulties of her decision to join the church and her continued efforts to be faithful in the church. After Stake conference we were slammed with lessons. Thursday and Friday this week we weren’t able to do many of the lessons we hoped we could, which was disappointing, but they all lined up for today, so we were quite busy all day. The lessons went well, and this was our major “test group” for the Zoom class program we’re going to try doing, so we’re looking forward to seeing some of the results of our efforts on Tuesday.

Today for a spiritual thought I wanted to share 2 Nephi 9:18.

But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever.

Unending joy comes from Jesus Christ and His way. His way is not one of "casual Christianity" His way is one of courage; courageous saints willingly bearing the crosses, or burdens, they are called to bear, and going the extra mile with them. We talked to a lot of people who were carrying heavy burdens this week. Know that God is never nearer than when we're struggling under the weight of a heavy burden, and that God has the power to refine us through those burdens. This perspective shows us that our burdens are not heaven turning its back on us, they are blessings with thorny coverings, blessings that if borne with patience will refine us and help us to reach heaven.