Bonjour mes amis!!
C'était un bon semaine! I am so tired. Well where to begin... since last week I have had quite the scheme of events. One of my Soeurs had an ovarian cist (no clue how to spell that) and she had a trip to the er and I gave her a blessing as soon as she came home. Also one of my Elders is struggling with some pretty serious depression and I have tried so hard to help him out. One night it was apparent he was really suffering so I just threw his sweatshirt at him told him to put on some shoes and we went for a walk around the MTC for a good while at 10 pm. Boy was that fun to report to the zone leaders and the branch president on sunday in branch council. Apparently they hated me as district leader though. I have already been released from that assignment...and now I am assigned to be Zone Leader!! Mon collègue missionaire, Elder Erickson and I begin work as the zone leaders on Sunday.. How wild is that? Elder Gneiting (a good friend of mine just got released and I got called...he jinxed me). But in all honesty I am excited and a little overwhelmed about the assignment. I got stressed being District Leader, with only 11 people to worry about. Now I have 5 Districts with over 60 missionaries to minister to. Pretty big jump. I am excited to serve all the Elders and Soeurs in my zone for the next few weeks. I love the zone leaders that preceeded us and they have set a high standard. Guess I have to raise the bar eh?
French...I LOVE IT. Elder Erickson and I have taught some pretty impressive lessons apparently. We actually teach our teachers (who act like investigators they taught on their mission). So last night we had planned to share the first 2 points of the first lesson: God is our loving Heavenly Father and The gospel blesses families. She however doesn't believe in God anymore.. She was asking us if there was a God, why would he let bad, horrible things happen to good people? Elder Erickson turned to 2 Nephi 2:11 and she responded that that didn't help her, didn't answer her question or make her feel any better. Then I told her "voulez-vous lire verse 13, s'il vous plait?" and she read it. Tears streamed down her face as I bore testimony that I know that God gives us challenges and misery to show us what happiness feels like. If we didn't know what that felt like, we wouldn't be able to distinguish between pleasure and pain. Then I bore my testimony. She ended the lesson a little early because s Soeur Sandoval (our teacher) wanted to give us feedback.. She was crying and said that that was "the most amazing lesson" she had heard. Elder Erickson and I were thouroughly surprised... How about that?
This week we had some great Devotionals. Last Sunday we got to hear BYU's Vocal Point, they all bore their testimonies of how they have been blessed by serving their missions. Then last tuesday night (a week ago) Elder Gerald Lund spoke to us. He gave a beautiful talk about personal revelation. Some main things that stuck out to me were that we have to be sure that we aren't distracted when the Lord is revealing things to us. He warned us of counterfit revelation, that Satan does have power to tap in to the channels of revelation and we must be extremely careful about everything we do. He also warned that emotions also get in the way for revelation. He shared 1 Nephi 4:6 saying that we should receive the revelation (often times "not knowing beforehand the things which I should do"). The biggest thing he said was a warning when seeking personal revelation. He said that when we seek revelation, we need to not only remember that we are seeking the Lord's will (not our own) but also HIS TIME NOT OURS. I've shared that many times in District meetings. Its crazy how we all expect the gift of tongues so immediately but we don't understand that we need to wait for the Lord's time.
Last District meeting on Sunday, I was conducting the weekly goal setting. Without even knowing what I was doing, I walked over to my desk (mid meeting) and pulled out my journal. I read a quote from it to the District, "In Band of Brothers there is a scene where a young private paratrooper is shell shocked. He is scared out of his mind. After an intense battle he is laying in a foxhole he dug in the ground and an officer comes by. Private Blithe says to the Officer, Lieutenant Speirs, "Sir, when I landed I didn't really look for my unit. I just hid in a ditch and just stayed put." Spiers replied to him, "Do you know why you hid in that ditch, Private?" Blithe said, with tears rolling down his face,"because I was scared" Spiers firmly declared,"We are all scared private....you hid in that ditch because you still believe there is hope. The sooner you realize that you are already dead, the sooner you will be able to function like a true soldier is supposed to function." The sooner I realize that I am not here to do my will, to receive letters, to write family and friends, tour France, learn French, but to do the Lord's will, with 100% exactness and obedience, the sooner I will be able to function like a true missionary is supposed to function" That changed the whole spirit of the evening. I believe I gained a lot of respect from many of the missionaries in the room. I wasn't trying to intimidate I guess, I just felt that I should share that and it provoked a very nice discussion about how many of the missionaries haven't been putting their focus on the right things. Many of them began to write that idea down and said to me how grateful they were to me for sharing that thought. After the meeting, i shared another quote I love. Dick Winters, if you've never heard of him LOOK THIS MAN UP PLEASE, is probably one of the most impressive men I have ever heard of in my life. He led countless numbers of assaults in WWII and led Easy Company with full diligence and obedience. He cared for his men, like none other, he is recognized for doing things in the war that are just astonishing. Anyways, one of his grandkids walked up to him and asked, "Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?" Grandpa said, "No, but i served in a company of heroes." What a man. I love how humble he was though he truly was a hero. I told my district thats how I feel. I am in a district of amazing missionaries and we are going to be amazing in France. However, we really need to focus on the things that matter to the Lord, NOT US.
Ok last story, I was talking with the Elders to one of the teachers the other day and he shared with us a story. When he was on his mission, he served his last area in a place full of domestic abuse. Full of it. Well one day a drunk man started a mess on a boat and picked a fight with Brother Wilcox. Well Bro Wilcox didn't want trouble so tried to ease the situation and they couldn't leave because they were on a boat. To shorten the story, he was beat by the drunk man (who was a security guard so a huge feller), and was sent home early. He spent the next year recovering from the hit, which should have broken his neck and killed him. He suffers from short memory loss now and its slowly getting better. He can barely go to school because he can't take more than 6 credit hours a semester because he just can't do it. He told us elders that he wasn't upset at what happened. He had plenty of reasons to be, He lost so much just because of that incident, but he said that he gained more. He lived his mission to the fullest every day. EVERY DAY. He came home with no regrets and he loves what God has blessed him with. He truly is a role model to us elders and we all strive so hard to follow his example. Tout jour chaque jour.
It has been a wonderful time here. I would love to hear from y'all!
Je vous aime!
Love,
Elder Alec Stephen Dover
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