Whitewashing and Other Stories
Hello family!
I've been transferred! Can you believe it? I know it's hard for me to actually believe it as well. I was only in Salem for 6 weeks (one transfer)! Well, now I'm serving in the Beaverton 1st and Summerlake wards with Elder Burroughs I have very mixed feelings about the transfer. I really didn't want to leave the Fairgrounds ward so soon, and to top it all off, we were whitewashed! That means that both Elder Hunter and I were transferred at the same time and two new missionaries came into the ward. That was really a shock because we had some good work going on. But I know everything happens for a reason, so hopefully the new guys (one of which I know! Elder Chapman) will do well and will keep the good work going that we had. Anyway, so, where I'm now at is actually right next door to my greenie area (Tigard 1st and Fanno Creek). That's crazy! I just left that area 6 weeks ago! And actually, the Summerlake ward meets in the same building that Tigard 1st and Fanno Creek meet in. Even more crazy! I'm pretty excited about that, though. It'll be kinda cool to see the old wards again. And then Elder Hunter (my last companion). Where was he transferred? To the area right next to me (no, not Tigard 1st)! And he's my district leader now. Crazy! So it's cool that I'll still be around him quite a bit. The wards seem pretty cool, we met the bishop in the Beaverton 1st ward yesterday and he seems pretty cool. The Beaverton Stake Center is HUGE. I'm serious. It's two levels, the chapel looks/feels like a symphony hall, and it's just crazy huge. I'll hopefully get some pictures to you soon.
Had you heard that they've changed the way you drop missionaries off at the MTC? There's no more little movie you watch and then go your seperate ways. You drop your missionary off at the curb and the missionaries go in, and the families leave. Crazy! But they said they were planning on doing that for awhile now, they just implemented it a little faster with the outbreak of the flu that happened there (I think there were 10 or 20 missionaries they came down with it).
I really love y'all. I hope all of you know that! I love you Dad! I love you Mom! I love you Jill! And I really can't believe I've been out for 7 1/2 months. I really still feel like I've only been out for a month. After this transfer I'll be out for 9 months. That means my trainer will have been out for 18 months. That's so crazy!!! The time really has been flying by so far. This past transfer went by so quickly. I feel like I was in Salem for only a week or two.
I love y'all!
-Elder Michael Starks
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
June 4, 2009
Hello family!
Well, another week has gone by. It's really weird how time feels as a missionary. It seems like it drags on forever during a day, but then each week seems like it was just the other day. Anyway. You'd think that at some point I'd stop being amazed at how fast time seems to fly by. But not yet.
So, how goes the work. Well. It's about the same. We met with one of our investigators last Friday and she was honest with us and told us that she is afraid to commit to God because she likes to be rebellious some times. We're working with her and mostly working with her to come to the knowledge that the Lord has her best interests at heart and knows best how to help her in her situation. Aside from that, the rest of our investigators are the same as well. We're working hard, but it can be a little discouraging when it's not readily apparent progress is happening. But the Spirit is present when we teach and we feel good about the lessons after they're through. So that's good!
Elder Hunter and I get along famously! I really love him. He's an awesome guy and I really couldn't ask for a better companion.
Transfers are coming up (June 17th)...I'm pretty sure I won't be transferred, but I think Elder Hunter will be. He's been in this area for 6 months (and it's his greenie area) so he'll probably go. That's sad, but I'm sure the Lord's timing and will is best. That's one of the coolest things about serving a mission, coming to really trust and rely on the Lord.
I love you guys, and I'm really happy to be serving the Lord. I hope all is well and that you guys know I'm doing my best.
I love y'all!
-Elder Michael Starks
P.S. I got a letter/card from Logan this week with some pictures from India. It was awesome! He gave me advice I was asking about for working with people without a Christian background. That kid is awesome!
Well, another week has gone by. It's really weird how time feels as a missionary. It seems like it drags on forever during a day, but then each week seems like it was just the other day. Anyway. You'd think that at some point I'd stop being amazed at how fast time seems to fly by. But not yet.
So, how goes the work. Well. It's about the same. We met with one of our investigators last Friday and she was honest with us and told us that she is afraid to commit to God because she likes to be rebellious some times. We're working with her and mostly working with her to come to the knowledge that the Lord has her best interests at heart and knows best how to help her in her situation. Aside from that, the rest of our investigators are the same as well. We're working hard, but it can be a little discouraging when it's not readily apparent progress is happening. But the Spirit is present when we teach and we feel good about the lessons after they're through. So that's good!
Elder Hunter and I get along famously! I really love him. He's an awesome guy and I really couldn't ask for a better companion.
Transfers are coming up (June 17th)...I'm pretty sure I won't be transferred, but I think Elder Hunter will be. He's been in this area for 6 months (and it's his greenie area) so he'll probably go. That's sad, but I'm sure the Lord's timing and will is best. That's one of the coolest things about serving a mission, coming to really trust and rely on the Lord.
I love you guys, and I'm really happy to be serving the Lord. I hope all is well and that you guys know I'm doing my best.
I love y'all!
-Elder Michael Starks
P.S. I got a letter/card from Logan this week with some pictures from India. It was awesome! He gave me advice I was asking about for working with people without a Christian background. That kid is awesome!
May 28, 2009
Being a missionary...is...like nothing else in life. That's the best way to describe it. The Lord really supports His servants and helps them out when they're feeling down. The longer I've been out and the more my desire is to serve the Lord. I suppose more than anything else, the best way to describe those thoughts/feelings is to say that I feel like the Lord is slowly helping me turn toward serving him and "forgetting" the things of home. As I have desires to fully serve the Lord and am working on lining up my actions with those desires then the Lord will help me place those things of home in a place that won't distract me as much while serving Him. I really do want to serve the Lord with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength. I really do want to forget myself in His service...By serving the Lord will full intent of heart and giving myself fully in His service, it will strengthen me and help me to become the man the Lord would have me be. And that after this short time of service, I will be most ready and excited to investigate future possibilities!
I suppose one thing I'm learning is that we many times just don't see that the timing the Lord has planned is actually the best timing. He knows the process of events that need to occur in order for us to be the MOST happy that we can be in this life. And as we stay close to Him and follow the promptings of the Spirit to guide our lives, the best timings will occur and the most happiness will be able to be experienced by us. It's so cool! And the coolest thing is that even when we decide to not follow His counsel, He has a multitude of opportunities and chances in our paths to correct ourselves and still have as much happiness as possible from that time forward! It's SO COOL! And even when His timing brings us pain or sorrow or separation or what ever, all of those things are instruments or tools in helping us to have the most happiness and joy in this life and the next. We have to learn and many times learning is more difficult than we'd like. But once we do learn, we're able to apply that knowledge in our futures in order to have more happiness than we'd be able to have if we didn't have that knowledge. It's Sweet!
Alright, so, this email is starting to feel like quite the journal entry more than anything else. Hopefully everything I've written (or even some of it) has made sense or helped someone in the family in some way. I'll move on a little though.
The work. Well...it's about the same. Not much has changed. We're still working with the same people we have been, and one of our investigators has been forced a little to quit smoking or drinking coffee because she hasn't had the money to buy the stuff. It's been a bit difficult for her, but she's getting through it! Our biggest challenge, I think, is that of getting our investigators to keep their appointments. Now, the hard thing about that is most of the time the reasons they cancel are good reasons. Most of them are having relatively large trials in their lives that many times have interfered with our appointment times. But we've still be able to reschedule or stop by another time and catch them home. So all is good. We're going to be doing more tracting, as well as going after some potential investigators we found in the Area Book that no one had ever followed up on (or at least neglected to record). So, fun times! The ward is starting to get the idea of Elder Ballard's plan for the ward missions and that's exciting. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll start seeing some results from that! Overall, the work is progressing. Probably not as fast as Elder Hunter and I would like, but it IS progressing. Yay!
Um...What else? Oh! Jill's banquet dress looked really cool! She looked beautiful (even if the picture wasn't good) and I thought she looked better than the other girls (she looked like a princess, the other girls looked like they just threw on a bath towel or something else that wasn't all that elegant). I'm so proud of that girl! She's such a smart and amazing woman. I'm not going to even probably recognize her when I get home.
Y'all should check out all the vidoes on www.mormon.org they're pretty cool. And the ones on LDS.org as well. Go watch the Mother's Day video they put together.
I love y'all. I really hope all is well. I hope dad gets to feeling better and I hope he tries to be more careful. Tell him I love him and that I really look up to him. I'm proud I'm his son and that he taught me how to work on things. I wouldn't let him teach me as much as he knows, but I'm glad he made the effort and really did teach me to be self-sufficent when it comes to working on things on cars or around the house. I love him! I love the example of being a righteous Priesthood-bearing father he set for me. And I'm so happy and grateful for my family. I'm so grateful for the way in which I was brought up and the things that were instilled in me at an early age. I love you guys! I love y'all!
Your Son and Brother,
-Elder Michael Starks
I suppose one thing I'm learning is that we many times just don't see that the timing the Lord has planned is actually the best timing. He knows the process of events that need to occur in order for us to be the MOST happy that we can be in this life. And as we stay close to Him and follow the promptings of the Spirit to guide our lives, the best timings will occur and the most happiness will be able to be experienced by us. It's so cool! And the coolest thing is that even when we decide to not follow His counsel, He has a multitude of opportunities and chances in our paths to correct ourselves and still have as much happiness as possible from that time forward! It's SO COOL! And even when His timing brings us pain or sorrow or separation or what ever, all of those things are instruments or tools in helping us to have the most happiness and joy in this life and the next. We have to learn and many times learning is more difficult than we'd like. But once we do learn, we're able to apply that knowledge in our futures in order to have more happiness than we'd be able to have if we didn't have that knowledge. It's Sweet!
Alright, so, this email is starting to feel like quite the journal entry more than anything else. Hopefully everything I've written (or even some of it) has made sense or helped someone in the family in some way. I'll move on a little though.
The work. Well...it's about the same. Not much has changed. We're still working with the same people we have been, and one of our investigators has been forced a little to quit smoking or drinking coffee because she hasn't had the money to buy the stuff. It's been a bit difficult for her, but she's getting through it! Our biggest challenge, I think, is that of getting our investigators to keep their appointments. Now, the hard thing about that is most of the time the reasons they cancel are good reasons. Most of them are having relatively large trials in their lives that many times have interfered with our appointment times. But we've still be able to reschedule or stop by another time and catch them home. So all is good. We're going to be doing more tracting, as well as going after some potential investigators we found in the Area Book that no one had ever followed up on (or at least neglected to record). So, fun times! The ward is starting to get the idea of Elder Ballard's plan for the ward missions and that's exciting. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll start seeing some results from that! Overall, the work is progressing. Probably not as fast as Elder Hunter and I would like, but it IS progressing. Yay!
Um...What else? Oh! Jill's banquet dress looked really cool! She looked beautiful (even if the picture wasn't good) and I thought she looked better than the other girls (she looked like a princess, the other girls looked like they just threw on a bath towel or something else that wasn't all that elegant). I'm so proud of that girl! She's such a smart and amazing woman. I'm not going to even probably recognize her when I get home.
Y'all should check out all the vidoes on www.mormon.org they're pretty cool. And the ones on LDS.org as well. Go watch the Mother's Day video they put together.
I love y'all. I really hope all is well. I hope dad gets to feeling better and I hope he tries to be more careful. Tell him I love him and that I really look up to him. I'm proud I'm his son and that he taught me how to work on things. I wouldn't let him teach me as much as he knows, but I'm glad he made the effort and really did teach me to be self-sufficent when it comes to working on things on cars or around the house. I love him! I love the example of being a righteous Priesthood-bearing father he set for me. And I'm so happy and grateful for my family. I'm so grateful for the way in which I was brought up and the things that were instilled in me at an early age. I love you guys! I love y'all!
Your Son and Brother,
-Elder Michael Starks
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