Aidan--Archery and Other Things

all,

This week marks a scary week for me. Elder Sabey and Hermana Atkinson were here about 6 weeks ago. This is my last transfer in the mission field. I'm terrified. All I can do is work harder than last week. Given that my companion was sick for two full days last week, and I was sick for another one, that shouldn't be difficult.

but anyway, no one wants to hear about my throat ulcer, so I'll move on.

This week, minus the sick, was great. I love working out here. It always is in the back of my head that it's going away soon, but I don't let myself think about it. Thinking about it always gets me off subject, like Playing Legend of Zelda, watching the Hobbit, doing archery with Aidan, College, Zelda, Google, Zelda...

see what I mean?

This week has been about doing what we can, where we can. We can't help everyone out here, but as Elder Holland said at Harvard, our purpose is to make a world, or a nation, or a community, or a family, or a person better then when we found them. I think we succeeded this week. After a lesson, We helped one of our family's make dinner. they wouldn't have gotten it done in time, but we were glad to help. We helped one of our members who had to go to the hospital. We got to simply brighten someone's day. I think that's the essence of missionary work. Love and Service. Anyone who tells you it's about getting converts doesn't care about people, they care about numbers. Converts are a side-effect. The real goal is love. I hope people can see that.

Anyway, love to you all. I'm not counting, but it's not hard to do the math anymore (even for me).

Love from the North,

Elder Darcey

Here's your Mom Fix

Dear Mom,

You don't know me; I'm on vacation in Alaska and I'm from Gilbert AZ. I saw the missionaries at Office Depot and had to send the mom's a picture. I am a missionary mom as well.  

Mrs. Letta Olsen

Zone Conference -- Elder Bednar

All,

This was a week that will never happen again, as Long as I live.

Let me tell you about Zone Conference.

First, There is a joking movement in the Mission to get me "elected" AP. That likely won't happen.

Anyway, We drove up to Palmer and had a handcart trek for Zone Conference. We had three zones there, so it was a big gathering. We pushed handcarts for only about 6 miles, but the terrain was designed to be rough. We went from 10 that morning to 10 that night. We pushed through lots of sand, up cliffs (literally), through rivers, mud, and so many other things. Our district did it all while my companion rode in our cart, he being handicapped with a cane.

It was a great conference. In the middle we broke our the wood that we had brought in and made fires, and cooked dinner. The whole trek was incredible.

Next, just two days afterwards, Who should come up but Elder David A. Bednar, of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. He was accompanied by a member of the Presidency of the 70, our Area 70, and Bishop Causse, 1st councilor of the Presiding Bishopric.

Like I said, This would never happen again.

Just a few thoughts about what Elder Bednar said to us. It was a one-on-one, with just the missionaries, so it was amazing. Mostly he spoke about action. Before we should expect help or guidance from the Lord, we need to act for ourselves.

We need to be Agents to act, not just Objects to be acted upon. And when we teach, we need to let everyone we talk to be Agents as well. We can never treat anyone as objects, because we are ALL children of God, with INFINITE potential.

We got to have a question and answer session with him. He said things to us that blew my mind. One was on Apostolic Authority. Basically, when we read the Doctrine and Covenants, we're reading history. When an Apostle reads The revelations, given through Apostolic Authority, it's just as if the Revelation was being given anew.

It was amazing to think about. There are only 15 men on earth with that power and authority, and I got to shake hands with one. It was an amazing experience.

Anyway, Love you all. I'm about out of time, but know that this was an awesome week for me.

Love from the North,

Elder Darcey

Branch Party Photos

Hey, we had a great weekend branch party. The clouds were thick and the rain sporadic, but that didn't stop our water balloons or pinata!

Agency: Do we really need it that much?

All,

I'm having the time of my life up here. My companion's caught another cold, which will probably turn into a sinus infection again, one investigator completely regressed back into his "wait and see" mode, I'm so tired all the time, and I have less weeks left than most missionaries have months!

HOW am I so happy up here?

...oh yeah. I'm doing the Lord's work, and when I'm serving the Lord, nothing else matters. That's why I'm so happy up here, even with this week falling through and failing miserably. 

anyway, some questions answered, then my thoughts on agency:

We are wondering about your typical day at spiritual work.  What do you do?

Every day is really different. We have our typical list of people that we see on a certain day, and we schedule out where we drive, since we're trying hard to not rack up miles on our vehicle (we average around 2000 a month).

We try to bring members with us everywhere we go, not just because we need the language help, but just because members can bond with people in a way that we never can as missionaries.

And what happens on PDay that keeps you so busy?  Dad wonders what goes on these days.
nothing, really, except for driving time. Anchorage is Sprawled out. Plus, we always have missionaries that want to play board games with us, or something. Occasionally, but not too often, we'll go out hiking or something, but not as much since the weather's been starting to turn on us.

Are the summers really hotter?

YES. I'm DYING at 75 degrees.

Do you still see the fabulous veggie crop growing that you did in POW?

...There weren't any fabulous veggie crops in POW when I was there...

How are summers different there than in POW?

This summer has just been completely the opposite. Last summer, both POW and Anchorage, it almost never stopped raining. It was dismal. This year it's almost never been cloudy. We've jsut surpassed the record for most days over 70 degrees in a row. Last winter was one of the coldest on record, the winter before THE snowiest.

Weather enjoys messing with us.

anyway, I have only 4 minutes left on the computer.

Think about the ability to choose for a little. Sometimes, working with people who are stubborn and don't want to be change, we wish we could take their agency away, just for a little bit, so they could see the happiness that we're offering them. 

THIS IS A LIE OF SATAN

God Loves us. He's given us agency. We fought a WAR over it in heaven. Agency is one of the greatest gifts we have on Earth. It's the reason we're here, to make choices. 

Be grateful for your ability to choose. Don't give it up for anything. Don't give it away for anything, because it's worth more than everything.

30 seconds left.

Love from the North,

Elder Darcey