Week 2 in Laramie

Another Great day in Laramie!

So the "Standards of Excellence" set by our mission president is to do 10 hrs of community service per week, have 20 lessons (which includes dinner appointments if you share a message) per week, have 3 new investigators per week, and have 1 baptism a month. This first week was definitely hard; we weren't close to that since neither my companion nor I was in this ward in the last transfer (6 weeks). So this week, we plan to step it up doing some more community service, teaching more lessons, and relocating past investigators (the missionary before wasn't the best at updating the area book so we had no idea what he was doing before we got there. haha. It's sometimes an adventure!)

Also exciting is that we are now in a part driving area! The first week (since I don't have a bike and it's snowy) we walked a lot or got rides from members. We walked 5-7 miles on Friday. That was pretty intense. But it was exciting! Building character. Tomorrow we'll start sharing the car with another pair of missionaries here since ours is the largest geographical region in this area. It'll help a lot. We won't have to use 35 mins to get from our place to the campus!

A couple awesome things. My companion and I have the opportunity to live in an apartment with the Zone Leaders (two missionaries helping coordinate ~20 missionaries in our Laramie Zone). They are so awesome! They are some of the most obedient missionaries! I am so blessed to be living with them. They are great examples to me of what it looks like to be engaged in the work and truly serving people. They are super inspiring and have the Spirit with them. Seeing Elder Marble speak is impressive. He is only 19 too! He is like an all-star missionary who truly loves those he serves - the missionaries, members, and investigators he teaches. I showed him yesterday after he shared some thoughts to our zone that one of the notes I wrote was "19 year-old baller!" He laughed and told me I am awesome. He's humble. I've learned a lot from him and his companion about doing everything you can to hit goals (they taught 5 lessons on Sunday to hit their goal of 25 lessons during the transfer week). Super awesome to watch them work!

Wow! The members here are so awesome. Last week we didn't have someone signed up for dinner once. I mentioned it to a couple people at the Institute and a girl immediately picked up the phone and ordered us a pizza. Another time a guy forgot he signed up and had plans at night so he gave us $40. We ended up taking 2 other missionaries out for dinner with us. Super blessed to have so many people stepping up to serve us! I thought we were the ones that are supposed to be serving! Maybe it is by both of us serving each other both are uplifted.

My first Sunday out here was so good. It was Ward Conference and the Stake President talked during the 1st hour and 3rd hour of church. Wow. I'm extremely humbled by him. He speaks with so much power. I know it is both because of his preparation and that he is called of God. It takes so little time for me to feel it. He shared something really applicable. He taught about having no "ites." In the book of Mormon after Christ came in 3rd Nephi, there was a number of really prosperous wonderful years. In 4 Nephi, it says:

15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.
16 And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.
17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.
18 And how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless them in all their doings; yea, even they were blessed and prospered until an hundred and ten years had passed away; and the first generation from Christ had passed away, and there was no contention in all the land.

The stake president described Laramie as a place of healing. People come from all across the state to Laramie. They don't need to have people bringing up their past. Their past doesn't really matter. We in Laramie are here for each other. School rivalries, town rivalries, past transgressions, etc are left. All the baggage is left behind. This is a place of change and new beginnings. He went on to talk about how a former apostle/prophet in the church said his favorite smell in the chapel is cigarette smoke because that means we are truly loving and accepting people where they are at. People are comfortable coming to Church even when they are not following standards in the church. That is AWESOME. He also said how he doesn't care what we wear to church (as long as we wear something) because the most important thing is renewing our covenants and being together. AMEN. I agree.

I want to testify that this Gospel really changes lives. We had the opportunity to attend a Baptism on Saturday. She didn't even believe in God before and now has a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Amazing to get to know her a tiny bit and hear her story of when she felt it in her heart and knew it was true. Another convert of 3 months shared his story with the zone today. He talked about the amazing power of the Gospel. I can tell he truly literally is a different person than he was 4 months ago when he came out to Laramie. I met another guy named Tim who joined the church just less than a year ago. He, like me, knew he needed to go on a mission before he joined the church. He is preparing to go this summer. It is such a blessing to have gotten to meet these awesome people that are just around my age. I can see the hope of Christ and transformative power of the Gospel.

Lastly I want to relate part of a talk you can find online by Brad Wilcox called "His Grace is Sufficient." He compares living the Gospel to learning the piano as a child. Your parent pays the price for you to get lessons (as Jesus paid the price for our sins). No matter how good we do at playing the piano we never actually pay the price for the lessons (like no matter our good works, we never pay the price Jesus did for our eternal life). We make mistakes and need to practice playing a lot (as we sin in life and need to repent/change). We can make our parents proud by not quitting and trying again even when we mess up (see Romans 8:35-39 because God loves us no matter what). And that we can make good on the payment by striving to be the best we can (living the Gospel our best - without condemning ourselves for our mistakes, but learning growing and changing).