So I was just playing piano on pday last week, just minding my own business, trying to not write Supersonic by Oasis for the fifth time. Then, I get asked how good i am at sight reading. I'm decent at it, not as good as I once was.
So I get asked to play hymn number 340. Me, not knowing which one it was, agreed to doing it. Then they put the sheet music in front of me, and cover up the song title so I can't see which one it is. I start reading the music, and realise the trap that I've fallen into. The gambit they've played and the predicament that I'm in.
Hymn number 340 is the star spangled banner.
I almost died. My scottish ancestors must have enough of me by now. It just adds to the list of things that I've done over there that would make them roll in their graves.
They asked me to play another one, and i did. I was already dead, so I needed a little resurrection. Luckily, there's also the British national anthem in the hymnbook, so I played that. Then i played "Caledonia" by Dougie McLean for good measure. That brought the Scottish spirit back. Anyway, i almost spontaneously combusted. Still here though, obvs.
Woke up at 5am to get to the transfer meeting. Since I'm finishing Elder Stoddard's training I needed to go to a "train the trainers" meeting, which was basically a really long way of saying "see everything that you're doing now? Imagine you weren't. Teach them how to do it and be an example." Still very productive though, and i got to see a bunch of missionaries that I served with in the past, and that was awesome. They closed my first area, Seattle YSA B, due to the lack of students that will be on campus this transfer. So many great memories from that area.
I got sent to the Laurel ward! It's a great ward from what I've seen so far. We've got a lot of dinners lined up, which is awesome, and it's really great to see just how much the members are missionary focused!
The flat we're staying in was really messy. Or rather, was really messy. We cleaned it up to the best we could, and it still looks like a tip, but it's better
All I seem to be doing up here is clean up the missionary flats. That's my calling up here, to invite others to clean their flats through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonment, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and cleaning to the end.
Anyway, it's been a good week. The area has been popping off, and we met our finding goal on the first day of the week this week. Which is awesome!
A lot of great friends to teach out here. One of them we taught in a masonic temple. We didn't know it was one until we rolled up to the place, and he didn't know we were missionaries for our church until he saw the Book of Mormon in our hands. He's still interested in meeting with us, and will probably have a lot of eventual potential.
It'll be interesting to see where it goes
We went down to the temple today, and again we stopped by seattle on the way up to get lunch. Stopped by the institute again, and it was great to see everyone.
The Bellingham zone lost a lot of good missionaries this last transfer, but we got a lot of good ones. Last district was probably one of my favourite ones that I've been in. But this transfer is gonna be awesome as well, and we're gonna baptise nations!
Hopefully
Being on the mission has been a great time. You just have to treat it like a one-way motorway. Just keep going. The experience is gonna follow you back home.
You gotta be a street light shining, a wild light burning bright for other to see
It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these, time and time again
You might feel a little divided, asking yourself "should i stay or run away, and leave it all behind?"
But stay, please. Because it's times like these you learn to love again, to live again. It happens time and time again
Spiritual thought comes from a talk i listened to the other day called "The First Great Commandment" by the late great Elder Holland. He says,
"“If ye love me, keep my commandments,” Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it. It was this truth, this reality, that allowed a handful of Galilean fishermen-turned-again-Apostles without “a single synagogue or … sword” to leave those nets a second time and go on to shape the history of the world in which we now live."
How are we not back in bellingham yet. I started writing this when we left seattle an hour and a half ago. All I know is I'm gonna sleep well tonight.
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