Happy Birthday - 03/04/13

Sunday was Tyler's birthday.  He turned 25 years old.  Here is what he had to say:

I enjoyed my birthday yesterday. It was a very spiritual fast and testimony meeting in both of my wards yesterday, and I felt so energized and uplifted by everything. My recent convert was amazed at how much energy he felt in the chapel that day. I am so uplifted and optimistic about the future. 

I woke up to a bunch of balloons in my face. My homeshare had rigged up the door with a tarpful of balloons. That was awfully sweet of them. They also printed out birthday wishes and put them on our bathroom mirror, bathroom door, refrigerator door, and pantry door. I think that was partially to pay me back for my Valentine's Day shenanigans. I took about 30 heart-shaped post-it notes and hid them around the house with "We Love You! -The Elders" written on them. It took our homeshare about a week to find them all. I had a lot of fun with it. They also bought me a gift and made me a cake. It was a pretty delicious and moist cake, too. You make it in a crock pot with lots of gooey chocolatey stuff in it. I don't know the recipe but I kind of want it now. 

Between District Meeting, Zone Meeting, and the aforementioned super-duper-spiritual sacrament meeting, I've found a lot of spiritual insight since the last time I wrote. Whatever hard feelings and self-doubt I had expressed earlier are pretty much buried under the terrific weight of the Savior's love that I've been feeling lately. I just couldn't stop smiling yesterday. It drove my companion a little batty, actually. He was all grumpy about fasting and how hungry he was and how low his blood sugar was. I've gotten dizzy and extremely tired on fast Sunday before, so I can kind of relate, but when you really learn to appreciate the power of the fast, it gets a lot easier. At least, that's my experience. I loved fasting yesterday. It was truly an occasion to rejoice.

 A lot of our appointments canceled this week, which goes along with the recent trend. I think we started with 18 appointments and ended up with 13 lessons total. That got my greenie pretty depressed. I think I was able to play therapist well enough to get him motivated to keep trying hard. I was a bit worried there for a moment that he would just give in to learned helplessness and not try hard anymore. We got him on the phone with the mission nurse about his insomnia, and she wants him to see a doctor now, so that should help. She also basically promised him that he would get to be in a bike area next transfer. I could definitely see that happening, and that it would help him feel a lot better. It would make me feel a lot worse, actually, but it would make him feel a lot better. And I can just adapt. That's what missionaries do.

There are a couple of ways that he could be put in a bike area. My guess is that they will take away my Murrieta Hills ward and give it to a pair of Sister Missionaries with our car. Cole Canyon would become a bike area. My companion could either stay here and bike or leave here and bike. I think if they do that, they'll keep me here another transfer so they could make use of my knowledge of the area while the new people get used to the Murrieta Hills ward. Or maybe just to aggravate me by making me man up and learn to bike.

 

I was looking through my letters that I've gotten from my favorite letter writer (yes, I do have favorites) and noticed a trend. I do spend a lot of time worrying about how post-mission life is going to pan out. I just do. Well, I got an awesome letter this week from a returned missionary friend of mine. He noticed that trend, too, and told me to man up in no uncertain terms. Well, he told me to go read the Sermon on the Mount. And pay special attention to the last half of Matthew 6. And pay extra special attention to the last verse of Matthew 6,

 

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

 

I needed that. Don't know why it took him being so blunt for it to sink in.

Well, I'm off to go save the world. I love you tons! Thanks for the prayers.