Busy, busy

Sorry! Couple of things came up in the office yesterday. But here I am! I'm aliiiiive!

 I'm pretty fried right now, because I've been working a lot. But at least I had a small P-Day. I can see why some people become workaholics...the working cycle becomes familiar, and after some time...easy to follow.

 I guess that's why it's so important we have a good source, like God, to tell us where it is we need to be a workaholic. Because I know being a workaholic like I'm being right now wouldn't work in a marriage, let alone with kids. But hey, I'm not married. SO. I'm gonna work until my arms (or in the case of the office...fingers!) fall off. WORK TIL YOU DROP BABY

 Willingness to work also helps. It helps get things that are sometimes neglected done, like the study sessions, getting to bed on time. I like to have things like that to have a little regularity. Regularity is a luxury that sometimes I don't have.

 Another thing I've noticed, which is related to being a workoholic, is RESTING. Resting is really important. Two weeks without a real P-Day helped me to appreciate the value of just being able to CHILL for a bit, without worrying about doing much of anything. Obviously P-Day's not vacation, as it's our time to maintain all the little details that accumulate in the form of dust and other dirt in the house, and to restock our coffers, but in general it's very restful when done properly. I love my rest time now.

 Rest is also something that I got as I listened to E. Bednar, because I got a few things that I normally don't do(ask myself life-bothering questions!) answered. I loved being with an apostle. I just sat back...and focused on getting as much out of it as I could. I didn't have to teach. I didn't have to demand. I didn't even focus on writing every little thing he said, because he told us not to. It was very neat. But I need to make this one a letter - I believe that it's worth that much, to review the thoughts and learning I had again by writing out the experience again. I just gotta make sure you guys can read it later.

One thing I would like to share, though, is a connection that I made with his words and a talk that he had assigned the mission to study. E. Bednar gave us the talk Converted unto the Lord, which talked about the parable of the ten virgins, among other things. He compares the possession and increase of oil in the lamps of the virgins to the increase of testimony we have to have at every opportunity, though he says it's "drop by drop". Quoting him here:

Were the five wise virgins selfish and unwilling to share, or were they indicating correctly that the oil of conversion cannot be borrowed? Can the spiritual strength that results from consistent obedience to the commandments be given to another person? Can the knowledge obtained through diligent study and pondering of the scriptures be conveyed to one who is in need? Can the peace the gospel brings to a faithful Latter-day Saint be transferred to an individual experiencing adversity or great challenge? The clear answer to each of these questions is no.

As the wise virgins emphasized properly, each of us must “buy for ourselves.” These inspired women were not describing a business transaction; rather, they were emphasizing our individual responsibility to keep our lamp of testimony burning and to obtain an ample supply of the oil of conversion. This precious oil is acquired one drop at a time—“line upon line [and] precept upon precept” (2 Nephi 28:30), patiently and persistently. No shortcut is available; no last-minute flurry of preparation is possible.

As I've accumulated time here on the mission, I agree that the greatest strengths I feel in my life, especially the spiritual ones, are the results of long, concentrated efforts in development. It doesn't all happen at once - we don't go from testimony issues to Brother of Jared in a week. It requires long, and careful studies, pondering, and seeking the Lord's guidance in whatever forms available. I'm grateful for the time that I've had to invest in learning about God's communication with us, and I look forward to all the time in the future I'll have to connecting my life with the content of the scriptures and the words of modern prophets.

E. Bednar, actually, connected this parable with the brother of Jared. He made an interesting point about how it must have only been possible for the brother of Jared to see the stones after a few were already lit. He repeated this concept many times as he spoke about it: "uma por uma", or "one by one". He told us that Jesus, although he was certainly capable of snapping his fingers and just lighting them all at once, only touched the stones "uma por uma" because in that way his faith was allowed to develop.

In the same way, God stimulates this process of development of faith by showing us the experiences we need for the augmentation of our faith in parts at a time. In the long run, this is the way we develop a lasting converstion to Him and not to any single event or other person or thing. By perservering, we see more and more stones illuminate our spiritual vision, and we become less and less afraid and more and more sure of our path. E. Bednar says that in his experience as a local and general authority, he has seen many people "light up" in this same way - and I've been fortunate enough to see it a few times too on my own mission. I'm grateful for this chance I have to help others make the choice to let God touch the mundane parts of their own lifes and transform them into brilliant blessings of the Atonement.

Alright. Well, something tells me that I've written all that I should for now. I'm gonna go rest for a bit...because I got into the office at 7:30 to attend to something, and technically office hours aren't until 10:30. So...until next week, gente! Tchauuuuuu! Everybody, don't forget to WRITE ME and let me know you're alive!

Elder Bednar

Welp. Here I am. There's a lot that's happened...and I'm finally coming up for air to tell you guys all about it.

First off, hey! Everything's all right. I'm pretty stressed sometimes. But that's because there's always a ton to do. I'm busy day in and day out, and I think that it'll help me in the long run to be a better worker. Actually...I'm writing this letter now because I just had to suck it up and allocate time. I had to write down in my planner "I AM WRITING EMAIL AND NOTHING ELSE"

To summarize, we had the following three things happen:

1) Transfers. Oh mah GAWSH, that stuff is whack. I think I worked more that week more than I had ever worked in my life. I'm not sure I'm gonna want to repeat it, but now I'm a little wiser, and it'll almost certainly go smoother than the first time around...especially since two Elders ended up missing their flight and causing a nightmareish disruption in our agenda. Buuuuuuuuuuuut all resolved now. :P

2) New companion(s)! Actually....I have TWO new companions. The trio went to a quartet. Crazy, huh? Did you ever imagine your son would get into a QUARTET? The formation's like this:

E. Douglas (Senior, ex-Financial Secretary)

E. Gubler (Mission Secretary)

E. Rios (New Financial Secretary in training)

E. Lima (who's just here for the ride)

...it's weird. Really, really weird. And cool, because now there's enough to split up if we need to. Much more useful here in the office. There's still only two secretaries, though, and it should go back down to two people next transfer.

3) I just spent the entire morning with Elder David A. Bednar, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I'm freaking happy. I learned some really cool stuff today. And I'll be more than happy to summarize it to you guys in a paper letter. I think it deserves that much attention, even at the risk of you guys not being able to read it. I learned mostly some techniques I'll be using as a family member, with respect to helping my beloved ones. I think the principles that were learned and reinforced today will have a huge hand in my life (and probably several other convenant-sealed lives) in the future. That's...kind of a weird perspective to have.

One thing I DO want to share, though, is an interesting comment about records-keeping. E. Bednar executed the meeting according to "small plates standards" - he made it so that the focus was not in keeping "large plates", but in a valuable record. His dialogue was roughly the following:

"First off, before we even start this meeting, we're going to change the pattern....You're used to sitting there, diligently taking notes and pretending to be attentive....Stop it. Don't do that. Don't teach your children to do that. It's silly. If you just write notes, you're writing large plates."

He reminds us of the first plates that were lost by Joseph Smith in his first work of translation that he effected, which are the large plates of which he speaks. "What did the large plates have? A secular history. It was far less important than the small plates, which had the spiritual things."

Returning to his explication, he instructs us: "You want small plates. Write your small plates. Because you won't lose them....Just produce your own small plates."

I think that I've been on a crusade to do the same thing. I have the blog, which is a form of small plates (though I modify things to make them suitable for a blog). My small plates are my periodic journal (the green one you guys sent!), which I write in fortnightly. It's a great system, when combined with what are literally my large plates (daily happenstance!) in the IntelliServ journals. It just takes time to maintain I haven't really had lately. But it looks like the work is in a waning stage...hopefully. But I hope to make these records meaningful for you guys and for everybody back home. If I ever survive to that point.

Also. It's super weird that I tell people I have a year now. WHERE THE DID THE TIME GO?!?!?!

As always, I leave my love with you guys and everybody who reads my blog.

-Erich

Christmas in the mission field

It's been interesting to see how my perspective of my family as changed since I've gotten to see and compare with a lot more of them here on my mission. I never realized how sticky of a proposition it is placing 4 people together and expecting them to live in harmony - especially when we've got the genes we've got, huh? ;). The house I'm living in is kind of like a family right now. We all have our own agendas, sure, but it's a pretty peaceful thing - everybody in the house is part of the office staff. :P We all do very different things, and we work ourselves like dogs every day. We're always nipping at each other's heels verbally, but we still say "Oi, cara, te amo" at the end of the day right before we all hit the sack. It's been weird being in a tripanionship, but I think God wanted it to happen so I can compare to other small-group relationships I might have in my life later.

Dad, I've developed more sympathy and respect for the decisions you've made for me too, now that I see young boys with differing families, and the type of leadership that they can have. Even if sometimes we say you're a Scrooge, at least you do your darndest to make sure your boys have all the conditions for a good future. I'm just lucky I made enough of the good decisions...and now I gotta make a whole bunch more for the rest of eternity, I guess!

I know I'm a heckuva good secretary while I'm focused - and I'm getting better every day with learning to focus. I think this secretary position's my golden opportunity to help me get some good organizational essentials in my head now. :P I like to do things efficiently, and unlike any other secretary before on this mission (incredibly) I have computer science magic to help me out. I'm learning how to prioritize and focus my efforts in the best place - I've already lost a few hours thinking about making programming projects for retrospectively ridiculous things, but I believe I may develop some nifty solutions to some of the annoying work shortly to make life immensely easier for everyone in the future.

Shawn: Look out. You might have an entirely Linux-based house when we get back, excepting Mom. :P I didn't have much opportunity to talk to you during the call personally (since you wanted to wave a weapon around in the background O_O), but I can see you've been adding to your knowledge and have changed a little bit. How exactly I don't know...but we'll have at least 6 months to get to know each other again after my mission, huh? I'm looking forward to it, man. Who knows, if you're lucky and get called to Brazil, I can teach you some basics with the Brazilian across the street!

Actually, Dad, I did get a little stumped as to the call I wanted - I didn't want to talk about home because I technically wasn't even halfway through my mission! There's a difference in the Spirit when I'm focused on what I've got immediately in front of me - figuratively speaking. I wanted to leave something spiritual with you guys. I still think that was the most important of all the things I could have said to you guys - something to strengthen my own family, and if I'm lucky show that a mission is making a difference in who I am. But you already knew that'd happen, huh? I really am loving the time I'm having here, getting the know the scriptures, spending time with so many people who are trying to live the celestial standard.

I WILL, though, take a little opportunity to talk about the things back at home. I find myself caring less and less about Facebook and more about cool projects I could do with the nerd friends of mine. I already knew this before I stepped in the MTC, but I am one of the biggest nerds I know. And I let people know it too. Whaddya think, Dad? Your son's a huge nerd. But he thinks it's cool.

I'm so ridiculously excited for the Hobbit. I'll have to bring somebody along… was it good? Was it up to the quality of the LotR movies? Tell meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Returning back to the call: Actually, the reason I took the opportunity to talk a bit about my mission history and review the problems I'd had was to help you guys realize that I'm not gonna tell you guys all of my problems while I'm sending email, because the primary purpose of my emails is to give you the highlights of the second-greatest calling I'll ever have!...and personally because a little idle complaining was good. If I have something I'm having difficulty bearing something, of course I'm gonna ask you guys for help. But there are some things that I know I can/need to handle just here on the mission. President's a pretty capable guy, and technically he's entitled to receive revelation on my behalf if I have companion/area problems. There's tons of leadership to help me with virtually any missionary problem here. I gotta use that first - then I can draw from the collective strength of my family. Just remember that it'll probably be different when I get back home - a mission is different than any other part of your life, as you guys well know!

Well...those are all my thoughts for now. I always maintain a list in my planner, because I always forget little cool things if I don't - so have no fear! I hope that you all enjoyed Christmas, 'cause I certainly did - and that you guys won't be too fried after the bubbly at midnight. You guys ARE gonna do that...right? It's a fetching tradition. ;) Just don't get so fried you forget to write a week after! I love you guys, and wish the very best to y'all.

Erich