[11/27/2014] Week 90: Irony

Hey!

Man, it's crazy how fast time flies. I've been in the Silver Lake ward in Everett for five transfers now, which

Went bowling with the district

is abnormally long. And what's weird is that I've worked super hard the whole time I've been here, yet not a whole lot of people have progressed in their learning about the gospel. But this past week, we had a ton of success finding people and meeting with them to teach them more. It's been a blast. But it's just weird how it didn't really start happening until my very last week in the area. I think it was a humbling experience for me. We as humans can't really do anything for ourselves. In this kind of work, God is really the moving force behind everything. I definitely learned that. I just offer Him my best, and let Him do with it what He sees fit.

This week, we taught one young lady named Sarina. We got a member fellowshipper there and everything, and the lesson was awful. The room was loud, Sarina and the member did not click, our teaching was clunky and our questions were canned, and Sarina seemed less and less interested as the minutes rolled by. Then, at the end of the lesson, we invited her to pray. She did so, shyly. She buried her face in her arms on the desk, prayed silently, and said "Amen!" when she was done, almost playfully, as though she hadn't taken it seriously. Then she described her experience: "I got butterflys! I don't know why, but it just brings me to tears." Later, she texted us saying, "Thanks for meeting with me today. It was exactly what I needed." So that just goes to show that we are not the teachers; the Spirit of God is.

Makin' s'mores with Elder Foster after a long day at work!

[regarding long underwear] Pops, I don't really know. I have the waffle kind now, and they do well, but I'd be happy to try the synthetic. Whatever's cheap! And was that first line of your email a pun? If so, good one. If not, good one.

When you get a chance, go watch the "He is the Gift" video newly created by the Church. It's a good reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. Then post it to Facebook! And get ready to share with friends the pass-along cards that come with this month's Ensign. Member missionary work to the max!

Love y'all!

Elder Cole Martin

[11/17/2014] Week 89: My Testimony

Yo!

Emailing didn't go as planned this week, so I'm short on time. But I think I'll just take a moment to bear my testimony of the restored gospel.

I know that there is a God. I know that He has a very particular and a very perfect nature. We as a people are made aware of His nature by virtue of a prophet -- a man called of God in modern times to describe the nature of God to others, to broadcast and testify of God's plan for the salvation of all men, and to invite others to experience the very real power of God in their lives, that they might gain for themselves a life changing conviction of what is real and true. Such conviction comes by exercising faith unto repentance. Repentance is the precious opportunity God gives us to change, to recognize our true nature and realize our true potential. If a person truly wishes to experience lasting change for the better, I encourage them to read the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It is full of witnesses of God's power. It is full of true accounts of people whose lives have as well been changed by looking to the example of Jesus Christ and modeling decisions after it. I know I have been changed by the word of God. I almost didn't even notice it. Gradually, I have changed in my heart. I have changed in my thoughts and my desires. I have changed in where I place my love and my trust. If one were to sincerely study the message of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they would see as I have seen that it is a masterful creation that could only have been created and orchestrated by the hand of God. The priesthood of God has been restored for the salvation of all men and women who choose to come unto Christ. God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent and yet He knows me. He is aware of me. He knows I chose to come here in spite of the mistakes He knew I would make. He blessed me with a Savior. It is a perfect plan. When I am not enough, I turn to Christ for repair. When I am alone, I turn to Christ for refuge. When I am wronged, I turn to Christ for recompense. When I forget who I am, I turn to Christ for remembrance. I have been blessed in my life to have been led to a knowledge of God's plan for me and of the reality of a Savior, and He invites all people to afford themselves the same opportunity to learn of Him, follow Him, and become like Him.

I love being a missionary, and I love to do God's work. I love to see the change that occurs in others and simultaneously witness a powerful change in myself. I'm grateful for this opportunity I've had.

Elder Foster and I set a goal last week to work with members more. This week, we've been spending the last [and darkest] hour of each proselyting day to sit down with members of the ward and help them establish a personal mission plan. So far, it's going pretty well. We're already seeing stake referrals flow in! And get this: some of them have come from members outside of our ward with whom we haven't set up mission plans. Blessings all around!

Well, all for now. Ta ta!

Elder Martin

[11/10/2014] Week 88: Humbled by God's Love

Hey, hey!

This week was awesome in that I learned a lot about the love of God and my love for Him. It was not awesome in that we didn't get to see a lot of our investigators or they otherwise dropped us. But that's the nature of the beast, I guess. We're just gonna keep our shoulders to the wheel!

On Tuesday, we had zone conference with the Lynnwood zone and we got to watch Meet the Mormons. If you haven't seen it yet, do everything within your power to go and do. Moreover, do everything within your power to get a nonmember friend to see it with you. It will shatter any false or "weirdy" misconceptions they have about the Church of Jesus Christ and its members. It will also help them feel the Spirit of God testify that what they are watching is true. It's great.

On Wednesday, I went on exchange in the Mill Creek ward with Elder Nelson, who just entered the mission field two months ago. We had a fantastic day and we saw so many miracles tracting and just had so much fun working hard together. On top of that, it was my first time back on a bike in a while, so that felt great. I missed my girl, Gwendolyn (that's what I named my mission bike). Then I crossed a busy street a little too soon/late and came pretty close to a Jeep, so I had to book it across and ended up popping my tire trying to hop a curb. I guess road bikes aren't built for that. Let me tell you, it was a huge blessing to work with a new missionary. I felt rejuvenated! He has so much faith and is so far along already in his growth as a missionary. He recognizes clearly the difference it makes to work hard and be obedient. If you remember my mention of a young married couple, Brady and Haley, Elder Nelson and I went back to teach them again and now they are investigating in the Mill Creek ward!

On Thursday, we attended the most powerful mission leader council of my mission. We discussed how to create a celestial, Zion-like culture in the Washington Everett Mission. There was a lot of great discussion and really open, sincere comments. It seems like sometimes we as missionaries focus on the wrong things, or we do the right things for the wrong reasons. We forget what it is we're really doing out here. This is the work of salvation! This is how Heavenly Father reaches out to his children and invites them to come back to Him through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We must never forget that this is His work. We determined that it has a lot to do with virtue and charity. It has to do with the true desires of your heart; the pure love of Christ and of Heavenly Father for His children -- including us, His servants; and aligning our will and our ways with His. If we can all purify ourselves and become like Christ, we will, by necessity, come together and be "one mind and one heart" -- the definition of Zion. Elder Foster and I had the privilege of giving a short spot of instruction on love during mission leader council (hence how I learned so much about love this week) and it ended up being really powerful for us. I can't believe sometimes how blessed I am and how much God loves me. Really, we are all so incredibly blessed to live at this time in this dispensation, and in fact, God loves all of His children uniquely and personally. It's up to each of His children to determine and seek out that relationship and learn to recognize His affection.

I'm grateful for the support I receive at home and abroad. You're all swell! Thank you for your sacrifice and I encourage you each to keep on truckin'!

Elder Martin

[11/03/2014] Week 87: Rocks and Rills and Socks for Christmas

Dear fambly,

Again, this week was a looker-upper. We found two new investigators, taught our first member-present lessons in quite a while, and were "this" close to having investigators at church.

We taught Abdul twice this week, and he kep
t all of his commitments perfectly. He understood clearly Alma chapters 40-42 and found that reading the Book of Mormon answered all of his questions that stemmed from reading the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. So when we came to teach him and follow up on his experience reading the Book of Mormon, he had no questions for us! We moved into teaching him the gospel of Jesus Christ, focusing on a standalone lesson on repentance. We employed the bold commitment found in Preach My Gospel, "Will you repent of your sins?" to which he joyfully responded that he would. He has a tender heart -- as it seems most African people do -- and was highly concerned with how to properly perform restitution for mistakes he made in Africa when he is now living in America. We taught him that we may not always be able to perfectly restore the damage we do, but that it's important to remember the last step of repentance listed in the pamphlet: "Acknowledge the Savior". We testified that though we cannot ever become clean and pure for ourselves, the Savior provided a way for us to bridge the gap between spiritual death and eternal life--a bridge that, when crossed, is not meant to be looked back upon. I love repentance. I love the opportunity to erase our mistakes through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and move onward and forward with happiness in our hearts, peace in our minds, and priceless experience in our remembrance.

Last night, Elder Foster and I contacted a potential investigator that the Thomas Lake elders initially found. His name is Canyon, and he's way interested in learning more, but I want to touch a little on what happened after we got back in the car. It ended up being that I said and taught a lot more during the contact, whereas Elder Foster said relatively little, which is uncharacteristic of our companionship. When we sat in the car, I asked whether there were any particular reason he hadn't talked as much, as I had tried to provide opportunities for him to transition in. When I asked this, I came off accusatory and condescending, though I didn't intend to. What followed was a heated argument about our companionship and whether we communicate effectively enough. Once we calmed down, we had a really, really effective companionship inventory-esque conversation about where the breach really seems to be in our communication. What we learned is that each of us admires the other more than he realized and is internally trying to "measure-up" to the other. We talked a lot about the strengths we see in each other and how, even though we're two very different people and think entirely differently, we can work together really well and complement each others' weaknesses.

I found out today that my trainer, Elder Deakin, is getting married in December. #mindblown

Christian, all of the elders emailing here with me enjoyed hearing about your encounter with the storm trooper. It's little moments like that that make a mission priceless.

Oh, Mom and Pops. I don't really need anything for Christmas. If anything, I'd really like your help getting some things home (like my mission bike, stuff I've acquired, etc.) when the time comes. I think a couple of pairs of gray and blue socks would be helpful just to make it through these last few months. But that's all. Otherwise, use the extra money on other people at home, or on other Elder Martins! On that note, I did get your Halloween package, as well as one from the Sanfords (they are awesome). Thanks so much for your love 'n' care!

I love y'all!

Elder Martin

[10/27/2014] Week 86: Blessings of Faith

Hey, y'all!

This week was awesome! Towards the beginning, things were a little slow-going, but by the end of the week, we saw some pretty cool miracles.

Last night, Elder Foster and I went to go tracting in one of the nicer complexes in Mill Creek and we started at building Y. The first door we knocked was answered by an older gentleman who was not excited to see us at all. He firmly expressed his disinterest, and firmly shut the door. We moved on to the next few doors, and a few moments later, his wife popped her head out darted a glare our way, and yelled at us saying, "What you're doing is illegal! There's no soliciting here! Get out of here now! I know who you are. You're Mormons. My great-grandfather was Wilford Woodruff! Now leave before I call the office!" So we were cordial as could be and walked away. From her apartment building. And went to another one in the same complex (what we do isn't illegal because we don't sell anything). So we tracted that building out and on the top floor, we had a miracle! We knocked on a door to find Brady and Haley, a newly wed couple. They told us they were staunch Christians just moved up from Alabama, heard a quick door approach on the message of the Restoration, kindly told us they weren't interested, shook our hands, and shut the door. We moved on. Oddly, we knocked the two doors on the other side of the floor before coming back to knock the second one across from Brady and Haley. When we came back to try their neighbors across from them, the door we'd already knocked flew open, and Brady and Haley walked out. We stumbled awkwardly because we thought they were just leaving and here they'd caught us about to "swoop in" on their neighbors. They stared at us, beaming, and invited us in. We weren't sure how to react. She reiterated: "Come on! Come inside." as she might have called puppies inside from the cold. Eventually, we wiped the bewilderment off our faces, shuffled inside, and perched ourselves on their felt sectional. They told us they had gotten to thinking and decided that it would make sense to invite us in to hear more about our faith and beliefs so that they could be well-informed. They felt it would be the Christlike thing to do to invite us in and hear what we have to say. What followed was an edifying discussion on the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how our Church differs from what they believe and practice. It was awesome! They are open to hearing more about the Book of Mormon from the Mill Creek family ward elders. I know that during the short space of time between when they first shut the door and when they opened it again, the Spirit worked with them and softened their hearts to help them understand that we truly are representatives of Jesus Christ. It was a miracle! This young family with their first baby on the way will be well-rooted in the restored gospel in no time!

If you remember my mention of a contact with Mark, a very wealthy, very humble man in Mukilteo, Elder Goodey and I went back to see him on Saturday while we were on exchange together. The timing was such that we caught him home -- usually he is out with his wife on Saturday afternoons, but she is out of town on business -- just before he was about to go work out. He was happy to see us again, and invited us right in. We taught him the Restoration and really utilized silence to let the Spirit do the talking. Elder Goodey did an incredible job bearing testimony, especially as he his recounted his experience learning that the Book of Mormon was true. When Elder Goodey described the feelings he had had and the profound joy he felt after praying over it for months, Mark remarked, "Yeah, I've never had anything like that..." And so we promised that he could. We testified that he could know as we know that this message is true if he would ask. And he committed to do so, understanding that his answer would come over time. When asked when he could meet again, he made sure to schedule a time that his wife, Kim, could join in the discussion.

Last week, Elder Foster and I tracted into a prepared lady named Sarah, who has been married for nearly 2 years and just had her first baby 6 months ago. This past week, she and her husband met with the Mill Creek elders and agreed to meet again this coming week.

So, as you can see, we've been really blessed to find people who are certainly prepared and seeking for the family ward missionaries in our zone. And that's ok, because I love to teach the gospel and see people make progress regardless of age or marital status!

In other news, we had a powerful lesson with Adam this week that was mainly about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. A lot of his concerns are about whether God really does care about him specifically and whether the Plan of Salvation really makes sense. I tell you, the Spirit was so powerful. I felt the Holy Ghost guiding me so clearly in what to say, when to be silent, and especially in the questions I asked. He remarked at feeling over and over through the lesson that he just needs to get back into studying his scriptures. Then, the Spirit prompted me to point out that what he was describing was revelation from God, thus proving that He loves and is reaching out to Adam even now. At this point, there was an outpouring of love and joy from the Spirit, and he knew what I was saying was true. He's making great progress!

Wim

We also found a new investigator, Sarah, yesterday who just moved out of her mom's house and into her first apartment. She was way open and invited us back next weekend. I believe we found Sarah -- as well as Brady and Haley -- not only because we had been obedient and diligent all week, but because we stuck to the plans we made to go tracting after church and followed through with faith.

That's so weird to see a picture of Wim! Glad to see he's still happy and healthy.

Elder Martin

[10/20/2014] Week 85: And the Beat Goes On

Well, it's been a great week.

We recently went to the bishop of the Snohomish ward to talk about the young single adults in his stewardship and how we could help out. He gave us a list of all the members between 18 and 30 and included detailed notes about each of the ones he is familiar with. This was extremely helpful for us. Elder Foster and I went to work on this list and met a few of the key names the bishop asked us to focus on.

One young man, named Adam, was kind and excited to meet us. He served a mission in McAllen, Texas not too many years ago, but has since struggled to remain active in the Church. Based on a few hints here and there, we think he may face same-sex attraction. We asked him yesterday about his testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith, to which he responded that he still believes it all firmly, but expressed concerns with the Plan of Salvation such as, "If God knows me perfectly, then why does He send me here when He knows I'll fail? Do I really have agency if God knows perfectly everything that I'm going to do, or am I predestined? I have a cousin who is 100% gay. Why did God put him in that situation if it's exactly in opposition to the Plan of Salvation?" For a moment, Elder Foster and I were stumped at these deep, heart-wrenching questions. However, we role played these concerns this morning and we totally received revelation! It was revealed to us that, yes, God does know the end from the beginning, but we don't. Though he admitted to having made some serious mistakes in the past, Adam is selling himself short, or, rather, selling himself out to the devil by believing the lie that he is going to fail. Mortality ain't up yet. Adam can change now and succeed at last, but the adversary is keeping him from believing that so that he chooses not to repent ever. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Adam -- and every one of God's children -- can achieve absolute victory over sin and death.

We will be meeting with Adam again on Wednesday evening.

On Saturday, we stopped by the house of a former investigator, Joe, whom we haven't found home in quite a while. As we walked up, we found him out on the porch, smoking. Elder Foster and I have been working more on asking inspired questions lately, and this was an opportunity to try it out. Elder Foster asked, "If you could have anything in the world right now -- aside from money, cars, whatever --, what would you want?" Joe responded in a word: "Peace." Of course, a person could respond to that question in a lot of different ways, but I know Elder Foster was inspired to ask it because of how Joe responded. We testified of how the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to receive from our Father in Heaven true and lasting peace. We knew it rang true with Joe. We'll see him again on Friday.

On Wednesday, we taught Abdul, who is from Sierra Leone and was raised as a Muslim. When we followed up on our previous commitment for him to read the Restoration pamphlet, we asked what questions he had about what he'd read. He said, "I have only one. What is the 'Atonement'?" What a spectacular question! We taught him about how without the Atonement of Jesus Christ, none of us could hope to return to our Father in Heaven, and yet that is the whole purpose of this life; to prepare to return to live with Him!

Mom, it sounds like you are being a Christlike example in your visiting teaching assignment. Way to be! I know that you are having a profound impact on that sister and are strengthening her testimony of the gospel through your diligence and charity (both Christlike attributes, found in Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel).

Elder Martin
Silver Lake ward

[10/13/2014] Week 84: The Members Make All the Difference

Hey, hey!

This week was slightly better as far as finding and teaching goes. But I found that the more productivity was found within our companionship. Elder Foster and I had conversations not a few about what's really happening in our area, why we're not being able to find people who will progress, what the Silver Lake sisters are doing right (admittedly, it's hard not to compare, but we're just trying to learn from them), how to remain humble, and how to serve each other better. You know, I thought I was a pretty good companion. But I learned from Elder Foster yesterday that I've done a pretty sorry job at serving him on a deeper level. I learned that he's felt really frustrated at his circumstance. He's finally got an area that has seemingly limitless potential -- which, at the same time, is an overwhelming prospect --, but we can't seem to do things right. I mean, we keep the missionary schedule, are obedient and virtuous, work with members, strive to serve our zone, are diligent from sun-up to sun-down (I guess the phrase has less meaning in these Washington winter months!), and pray with great faith. And things just don't go the way we'd like.

Honestly, I've tried to think about what the deal is the whole time I've served here, and I've come to one conclusion. Tell me what you think: In Blaine, I was certainly an obedient missionary, but it's become more of a quest here in Everett. Yet, the investigators and baptisms just flowed. The members brought us people to teach left and right. It seemed we hardly had to do anything for the Lord to bless us. Here in Everett, I've become the best missionary I've ever been and I'm working harder with my companion than ever before, and at the same time, the baptisms just...stopped. The conclusion I've drawn up is that I'm having to learn that it really has nothing to do with me or my efforts. I don't know. I mean, I know I have to be obedient and worthy of the Spirit, but that is simply so that Heavenly Father can do His work through me. He's still the one doing the work. So whether I'm a stellar missionary here in Everett and not seeing baptisms, or whether I've still got a lot to learn in Blaine and baptizing monthly, it's up to the Lord to bless the area in which I serve with people for the missionaries to teach, and it's not up to me. I think I'm learning to be humble.

But tell me what y'all think? I'm not sure if it's doctrinally correct... Haha.

Well, we just got transfer calls. Elder Foster and I are both staying. That's five transfers, or seven-and-a-half months in Silver Lake YSA. Crazy! I'm excited!

I am blown away by Margo's missionary efforts. That is so awesome! I love to hear about member missionary work going on at home. That's the way it's supposed to be! And kudos to the missionaries for getting her family involved. As President Bonham would say, "We need to find somefamily to teach!" (see Preach My Gospel, "Talk with Everyone" p.156)

I love y'all!

Elder Martin