"A Plug for the Scriptures" 1 Nephi 17:8, 21 & 18:1

Heyo party people! This has been a week haha! But through all the ups and downs I have grown closer to my Savior, and that's the most important thing to me. We have some cool fun facts for the week:

• We had a mission-wide fast for the "finding" in our mission to improve, we're kind of in a little dip right now and so we're needing to really try and involve heaven in our finding! It was an awesome experience!

• Our leading friends we thought were going to really struggle with the Word of Wisdom have actually done amazing this last week! It really shows that through the Lord, all things are possible. We still have a little ways to go, but overall they're killing it! 

• We saw 44 different license plates this week: 2 of those included DC and Ontario. But we're hoping one day we can find all 50 states. We don't know how we're going to get Hawaii or North Dakota, but we will keep our eyes peeled ;)

• We have elevators in our building, and for some reason, it's just so hard to stay serious when we're in them with others. Elder Hofhiens and I have an unofficial game of trying to not laugh but seeing if the other person will. It's a good time haha! 

Anywho! Sorry, this week's email probably won't be super long but maybe you noticed I picked some random separate scriptures for this week! We're going to do some jumping around and it's going to be awesome! Quick side note, I'd just like to put in a plug for the scriptures! They are seriously the best! Right now I'm trying to read the Book of Mormon again and I am just loving it! What an amazing, inspired, true book made just for you and me. The scriptures are like prerecorded voice messages from God! How cool a thought is that?!?! 

So this week I have 3 different scripture verses and we're just going to go one by one! Starting off in 1 Nephi 17:8 we have the Lord speaking to Nephi saying, "And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters." In the next verse (I don't have it included but paraphrasing a little…) is Nephi's response... alright, where should I go get tools? Man! What a crazy response! Nephi doesn't even flinch! Right now he is in the wilderness, he's been traveling for ages, his brothers absolutely loathe him, he pretty much has put the family on his back because he's been the only one to get them food when they've needed it, and so forth! Did I mention that there's no Home Depot in the desert?! Building this ship is going to be no small task! It's going to take a lot of manpower from people who really don't care much for Nephi.

So now we jump to the next verse I have, which is verse 21. Laman and Lemuel are pretty fed up with the whole thing. They think Nephi is just bonkers along with their father, Lehi. And they put their foot down and say we're just not going to help you. In verse 21 they say, "Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy." Now I'll be the very first person to admit… I have had a perspective like this one before. And sadly, there were some moments when I was thinking something pretty darn similar to this. I don't want to compare myself to Laman and Lemuel because I think I have a slight leg up on them haha. But there have been some moments where I've questioned.

I've only been in Virginia for 3 weeks but there are lots of nights where we just don't interact with a single person. In fact, a good night is when we talk with maybe 1 or 2 people, and a fantastic night is when we somehow get someone's phone number... who usually doesn't text back. It's definitely not suffering in a desert, but I wouldn't put it under the fun category! And sometimes I've had a similar thought of, "I could have enjoyed my possessions and would have been happy." I absolutely love school, I have the most amazing best friend in the whole world, family game nights are off the wall, and so on! And those things all make me pretty darn happy! But I've been asked to give my all to the Lord for a little bit and, in the end, I know my Savior's end destination for me is a "promised land." He never said it was going to be easy but sometimes I could do better to take on Nephi's example of saying, "Okay, you've asked me to do this hard thing. Where can I get the tools/resources to help me accomplish this?" That's something I definitely need to work on. I'm lucky because I have great examples in my life who are amazing at this. When they get a curveball thrown their way, they don't focus on the negative... they turn to the Lord and ask Him what the next part of the plan is. I'm so grateful for these examples! 

The Lord asks us to have faith in him, which isn't always very easy! I'm a math guy. I like a definite answer. A formula that, when I plug in the variables, I can get one output and move on. But that's not always how it works. God likes us to try out a couple different formulas and when we get the right one, sometimes we still need to check our answer because every once in a while, we can get multiple answers. And often we can get the same answers by multiple different methods! 

I love 1 Nephi 18:1. Towards the end of the verse it says, "And the Lord did show from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship." The Lord didn't give Nephi a blueprint plan. He didn't lay it all out for him right then and there. No, rather he wanted Nephi to focus on the journey more than the destination. I'm sure there were multiple times when Nephi started doing something to the ship and the Lord popped in and said, "Hmmm... are you sure you want to put the pole there? Think long and hard because you're eventually going to be tied to it." Just kidding:) I guarantee it wasn't that specific, but I'm sure there were lots and lots of little corrections that needed to be made. But Nephi trusted in the Lord, was patient, and believed that through him, the Lord could work miracles! 

I'm so grateful for these verses and the help they give me in my life! I feel like the scriptures never let me down! If you aren't super familiar with the story, reach out!!! I would love to share more because there are so many more cool stories inside of this book... the truest book to ever come about! I'm working on being grateful and enjoying the hard moments. I'm eager for the Lord's guidance step by step. I know He'll give it to me, and He'll give it to you as well. He just wants us to enjoy the journey as well:)

Have a great week everybody! GOD IS GOOD! 

再见，

司长老