Ebbert, Lawson

Ok let me explain that title real quick So for the actually quite high percentage of you who are not members of the Church, you might be confused. "Elder Ebbert, the twelve apostles died like 2000 years ago! You couldn't have sung to them!" First of all: fact check. John the Beloved and the Three Nephites baby. Second of all, an explanation: the calling of the Apostleship was restored along with the Christ's Church in 1830 (actually I think the first new quorum of the twelve was organized in 1835 but I digress) so today there are 12 Apostles and a living Prophet, the same as the ancient church! Anyways, onto the story. So this is actually kind of funny because I have since learned that my former companion and the absolute rat himself Elder Staker is responsible for recommending me but at the time we just randomly got a call from our Zone Leader, Elder Awerkamp, and he asked for me specifically. So, my comp turns the phone towards me. Act II, Scene II: The Phone Call E...

Whattup High-Golds, Ok so basically I was lo-key miserable the last few weeks haha. BUT then this week I had a division with our district leader Elder Saline; so not only did I get to leave my house for a day but I got to talk a ton with Elder Saline (a proud Texan) and another American, Elder Slade, and they taught me a bunch of things which totally revitalized basically my whole perspective. So I'm just gonna talk about a couple of these lessons because fun fact; writing is not only a coping mechanism, it's also a digestive learning mechanism!  Lesson 1: Be Joyful In Preach My Gospel and in various other sources it talks about how a mission will be an experience of more joy than anything else. Suffice it to say that I hadn't really experienced that yet, and I think I was waiting for some kind of grand, awakening moment like "yes it has been exceedingly difficult and full of suffering but the existential joy of helping people with the Eternal welfare of their souls ou...

Whattup Low-Golds, Last week I got to talk a little bit with my dear friends the Grovers because they are currently traveling with my family, and Sister Grover mentioned that she 1: liked my emails and 2: appreciated that I give a relatively honest accounting, in that I am pretty upfront with saying that "it sucks" sometimes. And I'm glad that somebody thinks that because I frequently worry that I complain too much, so my goal is to try and be accurate and honest: I want to convey that this is super hard and terrible sometimes, and I also want to convey that it's definitely like the best time in my life so far.   So with that being said, this week was... a week? A Week I don't even really know. Had some awesome days, and had some very tiring days. Highlights of the week were going to the Temple with a recent convert, my division with an Elder named Elder Santos which was awesome, the training we had the next day when I got to see all the other Elders from the CTM,...

Whattup Jades, This week was good(?) In terms of successes, I think I've mostly left the "existentially struggling with the burden of the calling" stage. In terms of... other things, I've officially entered the "dealing with interpersonal relationships" stage, which is actually harder in some ways. I already complain too much in this semi-public forum so if you want all the tea, email me. Jk lol. It is difficult but also simultaneously I'm feeling great about some of the triumphs we've had. The Work is going fantastically; I'm pretty sure I incidentally ended up in the best area in the Mission. We put someone on date for baptism this week, and we very nearly got somebody on date for baptism without teaching them a single lesson. Saw a lot of miracles this week. We've had some great opportunities to be pure disciples and experience a lot of joy, which I'm grateful for. Just goes to show that God doesn't need anything special or incredi...

Whattup Irons, It's been another interesting and challenging week. I hit a couple times this week where I just kind of... spoke and understood portuguese. It was nuts. Also had several times this week where I felt like a total idiot who couldn't understand anything. Also, my patience for some things is starting to run out. So, I've got my work cut out for me for sure. But it's good. My sister Alia started reading Cradle this week (possibly one of the proudest moments of my life) and one of the things Cradle teaches very well is that intense struggle begets growth- or, in other words, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, I'm not dead, so I'm looking forward to getting a lot stronger. Anyways- let's talk about animals. By Fire and Water Ok I felt bad putting the animal segment before the baptism segment so Imma do that one first. We had a baptism this week for my boy Igor! I love Igor. He's awesome, and the baptism was a very joyful occasion...