The Lincoln Life

Week 33 Oct 21, 2014 5:11 EDT The Lincoln Life

Well world, transfer day was a blur trying to double out and take care of last minute appointments and get two sets of luggage (which by the way, does not fit in a Corolla) to two different areas and switch our car to a new sisters' area and get the elders' luggage coming into Parkland to our apartment sans vehicle and hand off keys and area books and all sorts of fun things. In short, I am now in Lincoln and loving it.

Sister Lomu and I are having tons of fun walking/biking the streets of Tacoma and finding lots of people to teach. We also both rock the bike helmet look.

She is from West Jordan (which makes 5 for 5 of my comps to be Utahns. I'm sensing a pattern.) and is a perfect balance of hardworking and easygoing. We share the Lincoln ward itself with Elders Durgin and Andersen - and the ward is so organized and structured when it comes to missionary work. The members are very involved with our lessons and who we are teaching, which is awesome.

This past Sunday we had the Tacoma Stake Conference. The stake itself has two zones in our mission, Tacoma East and West and when they had all of the missionaries stand at the Saturday evening session, we had more than 50 missionaries there (including a few senior couples). This place is certainly prepared.

My district itself has 14 missionaries in it (up from 6 in Lakewood) which makes for slightly rowdy but great district meetings. I'm in the same district as the Cambodian sisters - just some of my best friends out here.

We even celebrated President Blatter's birthday this morning (:

There's nothing like a card signed by half the WaTac and some chocolate chip cookies to make a mission birthday better.

The WaTac has been reading through The Book of Mormon together to finish it before the end of the year, and so far it has been great to be on the same page (literally) as everyone else.

In 1 Nephi 8, Lehi has a vision of the tree of life; verses 5-11 read:

"And it came to pass that I saw a man, and he was dressed in a white robe; and he came and stood before me. And it came to pass that he spake unto me, and bade me follow him. And it came to pass that as I followed him I beheld myself that I was in a dark and dreary waste. And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies. And it came to pass after I had prayed unto the Lord I beheld a large and spacious field. And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen."

Just prior to him tasting that fruit which is most sweet and most desirable, Lehi faces some opposition that we can sometimes overlook. The Lord asks him to follow, and he does. But sometimes when we follow the Lord, we have to go through a whole lot of darkness. Sometimes, that time spent struggling in the dark feels like we are alone and at the end of our rope, but it can be a way for us to become fully dependent upon the Lord. Sometimes what is most precious in our lives comes only after some long hours spent in the darkness; but when we have the Savior by our side we are filled with His light and His hope.

Because if I have ever learned anything, it's that even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.

I love you all - now I'm gonna go kick it with my main man, Abe.