Yesterday and today I am on exchanges in the Foothills. Right as you enter into the Yuma Valley, there is a large section of town called the Foothills which is chuck-full of snowbirds. It is a rarity to meet somebody under the age of 55 here.
The concept of a snowbird seems quite pathetic to me. A husband and wife work their whole life to build up savings and establish themselves and work towards a worthy retirement only to abandon everything they have and blow their money on a ridiculous motor home or a sad trailer in a place where they have no attachments and nothing to do but go to the casino and play shuffle board and bingo with all the other old people who don't have lives either.
The gospel teaches us to establish a righteous lifestyle of service, of sacrifice, and good works and to "endure to the end." This wave culture of snowbirds works against the gospel of Jesus Christ and frustrates years of righteous service to their fellowman. Especially in the Church, it must be viewed as unacceptable for healthy, financially stable elderly people to desert their responsibilities for unworthy ends. There is a "Snowbird Branch" in the Yuma Stake which has at least 700 members who are not serving in significant callings, not serving in the temple, not serving missions and losing their last years of mortal life to selfish and useless endeavors. It is a true tragedy.
I hope that we, as a family will remain faithful until the end. That we will spend our lives, our whole lives, in the service of God is my prayer for our family. It is such a rich blessing to serve others, and anyone who wants to use their life to achieve happiness will seek in the service of their brother. I love this Gospel and know it is true. I am so blessed to be on a mission, and I love you all. Take care.
-Elder Sam Bostwick
P.S. I realize this ended up sounding strong, but I really do feel strongly about it.... In the end, the Father knows the heart of each one of His children and He will be our final judge. Where I might lack mercy, He holds it abundantly. Good thing I am not the judge.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
slow
For some reason, time has slowed down a lot. For a long time I had been whizzing along the time warp of mission life and I was frantically searching for time sufficient to accomplish all the things I needed to do. I don't know why, but all this warp-speed has led up to a standstill, though nothing significant has changed.
I have been in San Luis for close to 8 months, roughly half of my mission and things continue to go well. It is remarkable how we always always, always find new and fruitful things to do. I know everything about almost all the member families we have on the branch list—I have personally visited 95% of them. We find new potentials and new investigators as we go about doing our things, we have success in teaching and I have witnessed further conversion to the gospel in myself and in several others in and out of the Church. It has been a miraculous time spent here and I just wonder why God let me be here for it. I continually feel that, though we go about doing good all day every day, the greatest good that is done is completely out of our hands and the credit can go to nobody else but our Father in Heaven. I told the mission president in a weekly report that I didn't know whether to beg to stay or beg to leave San Luis. We'll see what happens.
Elder Villasenor and I are almost comically different. While on an exchange, another missionary told me, "You two are quite the pair." Our opinions very rarely agree and we are always struggling to understand the others' point of view. It has been such a blessing to be with such an extreme opposite of me and find middle ground. We find happiness together in doing the Lord's work, because nothing else would make us both happy. It is a joyful challenge, and we are blessed.
My time is almost done, and I better sign off. I love you all. Be good this week, and as always, I'd love to hear from you. Bye!
-Elder Sam
I have been in San Luis for close to 8 months, roughly half of my mission and things continue to go well. It is remarkable how we always always, always find new and fruitful things to do. I know everything about almost all the member families we have on the branch list—I have personally visited 95% of them. We find new potentials and new investigators as we go about doing our things, we have success in teaching and I have witnessed further conversion to the gospel in myself and in several others in and out of the Church. It has been a miraculous time spent here and I just wonder why God let me be here for it. I continually feel that, though we go about doing good all day every day, the greatest good that is done is completely out of our hands and the credit can go to nobody else but our Father in Heaven. I told the mission president in a weekly report that I didn't know whether to beg to stay or beg to leave San Luis. We'll see what happens.
Elder Villasenor and I are almost comically different. While on an exchange, another missionary told me, "You two are quite the pair." Our opinions very rarely agree and we are always struggling to understand the others' point of view. It has been such a blessing to be with such an extreme opposite of me and find middle ground. We find happiness together in doing the Lord's work, because nothing else would make us both happy. It is a joyful challenge, and we are blessed.
My time is almost done, and I better sign off. I love you all. Be good this week, and as always, I'd love to hear from you. Bye!
-Elder Sam
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
quickly
This week has passed rather quickly. We had a good week lesson-wise last week, teaching more than we normally do. I think that helped move time along.
We also had a week full of exchanges and baptismal interviews, a zone conference and a lot of fun new things for me. I have really enjoyed the new experiences that have come my way, it makes me very grateful for the ability to cope with it all. We constantly work to improve our area, find new people to teach, and help our current people progress. With so much time in this area, I really, really want to leave it considerably better than I found it. I wish I had a small view of the grand scheme of things and see if my efforts are being wasted in unfruitful activities.
One of the best things that happened this week was finishing up with all of the college headache. All my applications, auditions, essays, resumes and everything have been completed and sent off. All I have to do now is just wait. And I am so ready to be done worry about it all. Hooray! Thanks one last time to everybody who helped with sending me stuff and reviewing my essays and deciphering all of my poorly-explained requests. It is done now!
My time is gone, I love you all. Keep doing good. I am doing well and happily engaged in the work we do. Much love!
-Elder Sam Bostwick
We also had a week full of exchanges and baptismal interviews, a zone conference and a lot of fun new things for me. I have really enjoyed the new experiences that have come my way, it makes me very grateful for the ability to cope with it all. We constantly work to improve our area, find new people to teach, and help our current people progress. With so much time in this area, I really, really want to leave it considerably better than I found it. I wish I had a small view of the grand scheme of things and see if my efforts are being wasted in unfruitful activities.
One of the best things that happened this week was finishing up with all of the college headache. All my applications, auditions, essays, resumes and everything have been completed and sent off. All I have to do now is just wait. And I am so ready to be done worry about it all. Hooray! Thanks one last time to everybody who helped with sending me stuff and reviewing my essays and deciphering all of my poorly-explained requests. It is done now!
My time is gone, I love you all. Keep doing good. I am doing well and happily engaged in the work we do. Much love!
-Elder Sam Bostwick
Thursday, January 8, 2009
new year
Holidays are just great. In our world, there is so much to get discouraged about. We lose hope and happiness every time we see the news or the papers or check the mail (the only thing that would be worse than getting no mail, is getting bills in the mail!). It is an unfortunate situation that we find ourselves in, feeling smaller and smaller in a world that seems to get meaner and meaner, with demands that grow higher and higher. God, in His knowledge, surely knew this hopeless and sad day would come, and therefore gave us a reason to celebrate. In this country, we even are blessed with federal recognition of God-sent celebrations. We have been so blessed this year to lift our spirits and our cheer, to first give thanks to God, refocus in the Savior, and then make new goals and plans to be better. What a wonderful flow, inspired to bring us joy!
As much as I don't want 2009 to be here, it has come. I continue to try harder and harder every day, praying that my pithy efforts will be accepted in the end and counted to me for righteousness. I even still feel as though I don't know how to do as much could as I should, but it is a daily process, and I imagine we all go through similar feelings of inadequacy from time to time. Each time we jump one hurdle, another one comes into our path to help us with our eternal progress. I wonder if the day will ever come in this life where I am completely content with myself—I imagine not. We are commanded to be perfect, even as our Father or Christ are perfect and the Lord will never give us a commandment without providing a way to accomplish it. I love that principle and I rejoice in our eternal potential as children of God to become all that He is, and receive all the joy that He has. Our message is true and it must be shared. Why did I wait until a call came before I began to preach the gospel? Did I not remember the promise I made and remake every week to witness of the Savior? Our call has already come and we must worthily endeavor for the glory of God. I love you all, thank you for doing good in the world and for always setting the example for me. Let's always do better.
-Elder Sam Bostwick
As much as I don't want 2009 to be here, it has come. I continue to try harder and harder every day, praying that my pithy efforts will be accepted in the end and counted to me for righteousness. I even still feel as though I don't know how to do as much could as I should, but it is a daily process, and I imagine we all go through similar feelings of inadequacy from time to time. Each time we jump one hurdle, another one comes into our path to help us with our eternal progress. I wonder if the day will ever come in this life where I am completely content with myself—I imagine not. We are commanded to be perfect, even as our Father or Christ are perfect and the Lord will never give us a commandment without providing a way to accomplish it. I love that principle and I rejoice in our eternal potential as children of God to become all that He is, and receive all the joy that He has. Our message is true and it must be shared. Why did I wait until a call came before I began to preach the gospel? Did I not remember the promise I made and remake every week to witness of the Savior? Our call has already come and we must worthily endeavor for the glory of God. I love you all, thank you for doing good in the world and for always setting the example for me. Let's always do better.
-Elder Sam Bostwick
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)