Elder Collin DeWitt: WEEK NINETY SIX

So. Missionaries do a lot of service, especially helping people move. A lady called the mission office asking for the missionaries to come and help her move. People don't usually call the mission office asking for service, so we were a little confused. She didn't tell us how much she had to move, or how big of a truck she had.

As I was telling this story to our stake president last night, he stopped me and asked, "Was she a hoarder?" I said, "No, she was a scrapbooker." He laughed and said, "Same thing right?"

We got the missionaries that are over the area she was moving into to come and help as well, but we still were there for much, much longer than I would have liked. We had to miss our dinner appointment because we were still in the middle of moving. She went from a basement apartment to the second floor of an retirement home, so we had to use a small elevator and carry things one by one down a long hallway. We were there from 2:00 PM to 7:30 PM. We finally had to just leave the other set of missionaries to finish since we had a billion things to take care of. (They had three elders, so don't feel too bad for them.)

We didn't get to change out of service clothes all that day, because in the morning we volunteered at the stampede breakfast! The Calgary Stampede is a yearly event that everybody gets really, really excited about. Missionaries are not allowed to attend for quite a few reasons, but we are able to go to the stampede breakfasts that happen all over the city for weeks leading up to the Stampede. I was the pancake guy. I got really good at putting pancakes on people's plates. All the stampede breakfasts are free, so they draw really big crowds, and people wait in really long lines for two normal pancakes and two normal sausages. It was a fun service though, and a good chunk of the zone came out to help! That's the only thing I got pictures of this week, so hopefully you enjoy them.

I got kinda sick on Friday, which was totally not cool. Luckily for me, I had a big box of Rice Krispies, which always makes you feel better. Also, the sisters in the district are super awesome and went and bought me some crackers, some vitamin supplements, and a stuffed unicorn beanie baby thing. They're the best.

We had a good week teaching wise despite the weird things that happened! We were able to meet with Pearly on Wednesday, and it was awesome! We followed up with the reading assignment we gave her in Alma 7. She was able to read about half of it and didn't have any questions. We asked her the first two baptismal interview questions, which are, "Do you believe that God is our Eternal Father? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior and Redeemer of the world?" She said yes to both of them! We talked about the good feelings that she's felt when we talk about the scriptures, church, God, etc. She said she feels peace and calm. We helped her recognize that as the Spirit. We talked about how faith and repentance help us come closer to Christ, and were about to talk about baptism when she said, "What about baptism?" So awesome. We invited her to be baptized on July 13th, and she was very pleased and surprised that we thought she was ready for baptism. She said that she would think about it, and we invited her to pray to know if it was right. She came to church on Sunday, and we're going to meet with her on Thursday again. She's doing so well!

We also started teaching a new guy named Michael! We had been trying to meet with him for a while, but he was really busy. He's a very accomplished violinist from Ireland, and a really nice guy! We mostly talked with him when we went over, but his wife and daughter did sit down with us for a little bit too. (His daughter's name is Niamh. I have zero idea how to pronounce that.) They liked meeting with the missionaries, and he said they were seriously considering joining the church at one point. We asked if he had been taught the discussions, and he said that missionaries had just shared scriptures with them and prayed. We asked if we could teach him the discussions, and he said yes! They're really good friends with the Torrie's in the ward, so that's great!

In personal study this week, I read what has to be the spookiest chapter in the whole Book of Mormon. Alma 45 comes right after a great victory of the Nephites over the Lamanites. The chapter begins talking about the rejoicing that happened, but Alma suddenly goes to Helaman and asks him some questions about his loyalty to God. Then he commands Helaman to tell nobody about the prophecy he is about to have him record. He prophecies some pretty heavy things, and that the Nephite nation will turn away from God and be destroyed. With that, Alma leaves the city of Zarahemla supposedly to go to Melek, but disappears Amelia Earhart style. Pretty darn spooky.

One verse in that spooky chapter has a particularly interesting part that stood out to me: "And he said: Thus saith the Lord God—Cursed shall be the land, yea, this land, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, unto destruction, which do wickedly, when they are fully ripe; and as I have said so shall it be; for this is the cursing and the blessing of God upon the land, for the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance."

It is instructive that Alma refers to the cursing of the land to those that do wickedly both as a curse and as a blessing. The punishment we experience for the sins that we commit is a blessing, because it helps us recognize both the temporal and eternal consequences of the things we do. Many times, it seems like wickedness goes unpunished and in some cases is rewarded. All sins committed without subsequent repentance will be accounted for and payment will be required. An earthly punishment helps us to remember the Lord, repent, and thereby be free from a more severe and lasting consequence. The people that "get away" with doing wrong often find no reason to prevent them from repeating the misdeed. Those who are chastised for their choices are hurt for a minute, but are then blessed with the wisdom that comes from experience.

Love you all! I hope you have a great week.

Elder DeWitt

The missionaries who volunteered at the stampede breakfast. Back (L to R): S. Bateman, E. Bastian, E. Darrington, E. Johanson, E. Herrera, E. Kohl, E. Pinales. Front (L to R): S. Kamaradova, S. Spears, S. Barrow, me, E. Ratima.