April 5, 2010

Dear Home,

First of all, it's transfer week, and I've been in the Oakwood area for 6 months, so I'm /probably/ going to be moved. Everyone says it's a for-sure thing that I'm moving, but I thought my move was a for-sure thing last time, and I was wrong then, too. It's all up to God. Let Him send me wherever He wants me, and keep me there however long He chooses. But, if it were my choice, I'd move to another part of the city. I don't want to leave Saskatoon- Saskatoon's great! -But some kind of change would be nice. Maybe I'll hop the river and go back to the District I was in when my mission began. What do you think?

Last Monday, we played football (Don't worry, Mom. It was Two-Hand-Tag Football. No injuries.) And we played the same thing again his week. It was beautiful weather both days. We've been so blessed. ^^ And I'm getting better at playing football, too. I make a good 'final defender'. That's what I call it. I stay towards the back, and don't let anyone from the other team get behind me. That way, if the other team goes for a long pass, I tag them out before they can make it a touchdown. I haven't found my offence position yet. I guess that'll come with time and practice.

On Tuesday, I lamented the fact that there's never enough time on P'days. Sure, we have all the time we need for Activity, Emails, and buying what we need, but by the end of the day, there's just not enough time to write any letters. It's a terrible dilemma because my family deserves the best that I can give them, but I haven't been able to give them anything! D= I came up with a solution, though. I would just write letters whenever I wanted. Who cares if there's a rule that say to only write letters on P'days? I'm just too busy then! There's no time! God understands, right? Well, God understood a little better than I did, and He decided to teach me a lesson that altered the course of the rest of my mission. That night, I lost my wallet on the bus.

Allotment card, GONE. Home card, GONE. Bus pass, GONE. Temple Recommend, GONE!! I was in BIG trouble!>

Wednesday morning, I prayed. I knew God wouldn't necessarily fix every problem that came into my life, and it wasn't like I couldn't fix this problem myself. A few quick phone calls, and I could cancel anything a thief could use. Then I'd buy a new wallet, get the replacement cards I need, and NEVER let it happen again. Maybe God meant for me to loose my wallet. Maybe He had a lesson for me to learn. But... at the same time... I REALLY wanted to get my wallet back. I prayed HARD, but as much as I asked God to preserve my wallet in the Sask-Trans Lost and Found, I told Him that I would accept His will. Then I remembered: When God wants to reveal His will to the children of man, He often does so through His Prophets. The white handbook, the little rulebook that says I can only write home on P'days, came from the living Apostles, whom we sustain as Prophets, Seers, and Revelators. Therefore, as it is the will of God that we should keep the commandments that He gives us, even through His modern prophets, I promised God that whether I got my wallet back or not, I would accept His will and not write any more letters on non-P'days (Sorry, Mom). A few hours later, I got my wallet back. It /was/ at the lost and found.

But there was another lesson God wanted to teach me this week, and it also concerned His will. As if loosing my wallet wasn't heart-stopping enough, I lost my camera also. Luckily, I knew for a fact that my camera was in my apartment, so I looked in all the likely places, then a few unlikely places, then prayed. I told God that I had done my best. I had searched everywhere. I couldn't find my camera without His help. No answer seemed to come. I kept searching. Desperately, I kept a prayer in my heart, begging God to lead me to my camera. He didn't. But after a while, I got the feeling that my camera was in the bedroom. I looked in there, and couldn't find it. I knelt down, prayed again, and kept looking. No camera. Frustrated, I started looking in other rooms again, but still, a constant thought in the back of my human mind told me that my camera was in the bedroom. I searched that room, thoroughly, top to bottom, North to South, East to West. The camera Was Not in there. I searched elsewhere, but still felt like searching in rooms other than the bedroom was a waste of time. I prayed again. I asked God where in the bedroom my camera was. He didn't seem to want to tell me.

Days later, I found my camera in an inner pocket of my overcoat, which had been in the study room, not the bedroom, the whole time. I opened Preach My Gospel and studied Chapter 4, Recognizing the Promptings of the Spirit. At the back of the chapter, I found a quote which I'll now paraphrase (everyone else is done Emailing by now). "It is good to want to be led by the Spirit, but the Spirit won't give us direction in all things. Sometimes, we ask God for an answer that He, in His wisdom, doesn't want to just GIVE to us. Those who persist in seeking the Lord's guidance in an area where He has decided not to answer us, we might create an answer of our own fantasy." Which is exactly what happened with me. I believe that God was trying to teach me to be patient and diligent in searching, rather than asking Him to just tell me where the camera was.

But now I REALLY have to go!

Bye!-Elder Andrew Robarts