Chipper's Mission Blog: Week 22--December 14, 2015

Well, this week was definitely a crazy one! But Elder Golden and I are literally having so much fun, we can hardly take it! Mostly just the idea that eventually we'll get transferred is what kills us, haha. But we don't have to worry about that for a while!

So like I said: Crazy week. Like CRAZY week. Sad news out of the way: Both of our investigators dropped us. Brianna stopped texting and Marcus.... well... That's another story I'll get to.

Monday night: we're busy. But we get a text that we'll be getting a surprise cleaning inspection of our apartment by a senior missionary couple.

This apartment has not been cleaned in months.

Literally. And the desks? Still had Christmas pass-along-cards from LAST year. Like, it was atrocious. Trash everywhere, past missionaries left their clothes EVERYWHERE. It was a nightmare. The kitchen hadn't been cleaned in forever... fun stuff.

I'm partially to blame, yes, because I was there last transfer and didn't do any cleaning, but it was pretty overwhelming with just how bad it was.

Then that next morning, the alarm didn't go off, and they came an hour early. So they caught us off gaurd in our Pajamas having had no time to clean. They literally said they'd never seen an apartment in worse condition, and threatened to move us out if we didn't fix it by Friday Morning when they would have a return appointment.

It was fixed. After hours and hours of cleaning, it was spotlessly scrubbed up and down. All the missionaries could say was "Wow! Wow! This is incredible! We'll never say anything bad about you two again!" I was contented.

Then Marcus: Set up an appointment and told us that he was bringing a friend. At first, we were excited! And then we got there and saw that he had a brief case and papers... Just for bashing us. We tried to get out of there as fast as we could because he was very mean and demeaning. They're beliefs (of course) were skewed. They were close to the truth, but just not a 100% right. (like every other church) It was sad to lose Marcus like that. But we told them both that until they had read the book of mormon themselves and genuinely prayed, that they couldn't tell us they'd investigated our church.

It was really discouraging, because getting bashed always is. But luckily, Elder Golden is also a very funny person so we were able to laugh it off, shrug it off and move forward.

We sang in the ward choir. I sang tenor. Yes, you read that right. I was the only guy who could. Equation for a Train Wreck: (Elder Brown as a Tenor)-(anyone else singing tenor)+(a choir of a bout 10 people)

But it was a fun experience, and I can officially check it off my bucket list.

Well, for my thought today: The mission is not always easy. And since I've recently finished the Book of Mormon, I started over with a question in mind: "How can I best make it through afflictions and tribulations?" because I wanted to know how to best make it through the Mission with how hard it is. Luckily, 1 nephi is packed with it. And I've gained a lot of insights. But at the end of the day, we have a group of people who literally experience a trial in order to receive the promise land. Nephi, Laman and Lemuel all experience the same things, and yet only one of those 3 allowed themselves to be changed and fully received the reward of the promised land. And what was the difference?

"And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands"

It's as simple as that. Being obedient to God's commandments allows us to grow through our trials. That's the biggest difference between missionaries who just go through the mission and the missionaries who legitimately allow the mission to go through them.

Obedience. As missionaries, we're all on a mission. Different trials, yet a similar overall "wilderness", and obedience is what makes the difference between Nephi missionaries and Laman/Lemuel missionaries. Let's not forget that Laman and Lemuel did make it through, and technically got around to obeying the commandments. They went back and got the plates, they left their home, they helped with the boat, all of that. But they had a lack of faith to change, and a lack of faith to move forward.

I could talk on this for a long time. but that's the main part of it.

I love and miss you all! If you made it this far, you get 20 brownie points because this thing is pretty freaking long. But you guys are all the best!

Church is true!

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