Monday, September 23, 2013

A wonderful week!

Dear family, friends, acquaintances, and others,

Things in the Idaho Boise Mission are going great!  We are slowly moving forward with this new mission.  This past week we had Elder Martino of the 70 come and give some training at a zone conference, and it was a great experience.  He is an amazing man, and he gave us some amazing ideas!  The big focus was having us work with members to find and to teach.  I've heard it before, but he gave new insights and ideas.  I look forward to applying them and seeing things soar!

Elder Taylor and Elder Kinderknecht are two awesome missionaries!  I really love serving with them. While at times they may be a little quiet since their still getting into the swing of things, they have been a great asset to the work.  It's a super fun experience to be able to serve with them.

Man, what shall I share from this past week?  It seems like it just kept ramping up and up.  We had some great lessons, and we're looking forward to keeping that up and improving.  We really want to help some of our investigators really start progressing toward baptism, so hopefully we can inspire them with that this week.

One of my favorite quotes from Elder Martino was actually from Pres. Hinckley.  In giving some advice to missionaries, he said he had 3 things for them to do:  1. Smile.  2. Smile bigger.  3. Smile all the time. :)  I thought that was really something that I wanted to work on, knowing it would help to make me happier in the work.  So I wanted to set a goal, but setting a goal to smile more is cheap, broad, and utterly useless.  After more thought, I came up with the idea (inspiration!) to make 3 other people smile during the day. Haha, that is one of the coolest goals I have ever set!  Try it sometime! You have to smile to get someone else to smile!

Basically, that just made my week amazing.  I think that's the happiest I have ever been thus far on my mission!  Just smiling helped to change my entire attitude.  Everything just went well, even though things went wrong.  Attitude is really everything!  And I had no idea that just a smile can really change everything.

Yesterday was just the best of the best though.  Sundays are so much more amazing when you know people at church to talk to!  I had such a great time talking with others, laughing with them, and just enjoying their spirits.  Add that to some amazing meetings after church with our ward council and ward missionaries, and I was so uplifted!  That evening we taught, uplifted, and helped others.  And to end it all, with Elder Taylor's pushing, we helped one of our less-actives stop smoking right then and there.  She broke all her cigarettes and flushed them down the toilet!  She has really been moving forward, and we are super happy for her!

Thank the Lord today for everything He has done for you!  I am so grateful for His help and guidance!  Here are the questions of the day:
  • Read 1 Nephi 10:23.  Why should we be happy that we have agency?
  • How are you grateful for the freedom that you have been given?
  • How can you find more joy in acting according to the Lord's will?
HaHA!  It's been a great week.  I truly know now a little more of the joy of missionary work.  By knowing some of the pains and sorrows and trials, I have been able to appreciate more of the good.  I know the Lord has sent us here to find JOY, and JOY I will find!  Yeah! 

Love you!

--Elder Usevitch

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