The Arm of the Lord

Hello everyone!

Do you know what's so exciting?  To see miracles.  To see the Lord doing the heavy lifting and giving you the results.  This week has just been FULL of that!

To give you a taste, one day we went to visit a guy in the ward and we noticed a girl out trying to fix her bike.  We went over and helped her out with that, and then she accepted an invitation to hear the lessons with us.  Another day, we were trying so hard to plan and figure out how we could get one of our investigators, Jim, to get excited about the Book of Mormon.  Lo and behold, we go and he says "I have a bunch of questions for you."  He had been reading and wanted to know more about Nephi's vision.  After we talked about that, he then said "Well, let's keep going!"  We then kept on reading.  In another visit we had with him, he was just even more excited about what he had read.   Of course, he remembered how he had told us how he wasn't sure if the Mormon church was for him, so he added "Now don't get any ideas..." We know better though.  He is starting to feel the POWER in the Book of Mormon!

Then, a lady in our ward brings two more people in for us to teach.  She helps out some from the homeless shelter in getting settled here, and that in turn opens the door for her to share the gospel.  One of those was Marc, a guy from Oregon who literally walked into the shelter, and she was the first person he met.  We had the most amazing first lesson with him!  The Spirit was just so strong as we taught and testified of the Plan of Salvation.  I was so grateful for what I have learned about teaching for the past few months, for that really helped me to work with my companions to bring the Spirit there!

With another of our investigators, Robert, we went to the Boise temple to tour the grounds.  His girlfriend's dad explained what we do inside, and later as we were teaching him he described feeling just a warmth come over him as that was being explained.  We had a great lesson after, and he committed to setting a baptismal date in November.  Wahoo!  He is such a solid guy.  I can't wait to see how the gospel keeps helping and changing him!

So yep, what a week!  The one sad thing that happened was that Elder Kinderknecht was transferred to be with another missionary, so now we only have Elder Taylor and I left.  He will be missed for sure!  We'll keep on trucking here - things are always going up!

I thought a lot about commitment this week. (Thank you SO much, David, for starting me off on that one.)  What I have realized is the following:  Our commitment to the Lord shows in ALL areas of our life!  Everything really plays off each other.  This is partially why the Lord gives us commandments such as the Word of Wisdom:  as we become more committed and diligent physically, we develop a greater capacity to be committed spiritually, emotionally, mentally, etc.  Likewise, if we improve mentally, it will have repercussions in other areas, and so forth.

So, what that was to me was a big wake-up call.  For if I want to be really committed to serving the Lord, I need to be committed in every aspect.  For if I make excuses in one area, I usually will make them in all.  If I am lazy in one aspect, I probably am lazy in all.  And if I am not diligent in a certain thing, my diligence in all else suffers.  A chain is only as strong as its weakest link!

I can be more committed to the Savior by making slow improvements in every area of my life!  I realize now that if I show more commitment in any area, my capacity to be committed improves.  And if I improve in all, then those improvements will play off each other and my progress will be exponential!  This is why we are asked to offer our whole souls to Christ - it is only by giving our ALL to Him that He can help us become like He is!  Each link in our chain will be strong, and we will not break under pressure or temptation.  Life is a game of fixing weak links.

Thank you ALL for your prayers in my behalf!  I feel them.  I know the Lord is there.  He is there for all of us!  Let us get closer ourselves and then invite others to "Come, join with us!"

Love,

--Elder Usevitch

No Subject

Hallaballoo, everyone!

I had another great week in the mission field.  The weather has been nice, the trees are spectacular, and hearts are warming up to the gospel despite the few frosts.  Transfer calls were yesterday, and all three of us are staying here in this area!  I am really excited for that, since there is a lot happening in the next month or so.  We have a great Halloween neighborhood/ward party, Rake up Boise, and a ward rake up coming, all of which bode well for future opportunities to teach....

Had two exchanges with other missionaries this week.  I like being able to work with other missionaries to be inspired and to try to inspire.  One crazy experience we had was knocking doors in one apartment complex.  It was basically the most successful tracting experience ever.  We got 2 or 3 return appointments, had a great conversation with a guy who used to be Special Ops in the Army, and shared a lunch with a Muslim family.  It just so happened to be Ede that day, one of their big holidays (kinda like Christmas, they said), so we joined and had some delicious rice, lamb, meatballs, and homemade yogurt.  Yum.

It's crazy how the Lord works out miracles in many different ways.  On my other exchange, we stopped to talk to a lady outside the house of one of our appointments.  She was out walking her dog, and we had a good conversation.  I was a little disappointed when we didn't get to tie it into the gospel, but moved on.  

Imagine my surprise when a lady in our ward calls us the next day to tell us that she has a friend at work who she invited to come to church to hear her sing.  Her friend was super excited to come, and then told her about how she met some missionaries the day before.  She said that usually missionaries she has met try to push the gospel on her, but these ones were different and just had a really nice conversation with her.  Upon being asked for a description, she told of how one was really tall from Texas, and he just had a great smile.  (Pride alert....)

Soooo crazy!  So this lady comes to church, I met her again, and ... wow.  Sometimes just being happy and smiling can be a great missionary tool!  I'm so glad I learned the value of being happy. =D

I had a great time this week learning more about the principle of grace and salvation.  I looked again at one of my favorite talks - the one by Brad Wilcox with the piano lesson analogy of grace.  LOVE that talk.  Everything just made so much more sense as I tried to explain it in our companion study.  I just love those times when it feels like revelation just keeps flowing into you!  It is amazing to understand more that Christ paid for the full measure of our salvation, and we do not do good works to pay any part of that, but we do so to access and use the power of His Atonement.  As we use that enabling power, we are able to improve and become more like our Father in Heaven.

I know the gospel is true!  I am so grateful to be learning that more and more every day.  Thank you all for your prayers and support.  I really do feel it every day that I go out and serve.

Love,

--Elder Usevitch

WHy do I have so many things to say that it gets super long and...

First off, I would like to say, that I have had my knowledge renewed again this week that music is my fuel.  Man.  I love it so much!  The times that I am happiest, I always have a song in my head or my heart!  Sometimes I wonder if I bother others with my random singing, but I don't think about that too much because I am having too much fun lifting up my voice and pouring my heart out!  Singing when I get up, singing in the shower, singing during the day as we go along, singing when we come back at night, and singing right before I go to bed, ahhhhh....... :)  Of course, it would be nice to have time for more piano, and it would be nice to have a harmonica or recorder, but singing works well with multi-tasking, so it is what I resort to.

If you ever get down, if you ever feel sad,

If you ever feel happy, or feel like you're glad,

Then SING IT AWAY and pour out your heart,

And feel all those feelings come out and ...

Ok, so I have to admit that I am bad at being impromptu Dr. Seuss.  Come up with your own ending and make that terrible poem better. :)  But singing is great to just feel your feelings come out and make you feel better!

Anyways, now that I have gotten past explaining my abnormal obsession in that area, I have news!  We got a message that I received a LARGE package in the mission office.  I was super confused, until I found out more.....

Whoa.  Whoa.  Can you say BRAND NEW 2014 Chevy Cruze?  Only 8 miles on it when we got it?  Well, I can. :)  Haha, that was a HUGE surprise.  So our missionary work has changed somewhat, I have to say!  At least I will be warm this winter, granted only if I stay here and don't get transferred...

Other than that, we had some great times this week in teaching.  We found a guy on the street and invited him to see the inside of the church on a tour, and he accepted!  We also had an amazing time teaching one of our investigators, Robert, in the home of his girlfriend's family.  Teaching the Plan of Salvation with a family there to testify of it's importance is super sweet.  I really feel like he felt the Spirit in that lesson!

Thanks for all your prayers for me!  I really feel their help.  Just like I felt it during General Conference when they prayed for missionaries in just about every prayer.  The Lord really listens to prayers!  In fact, story time....

We have an investigator who has a hard time with prayer and says he has never had a prayer answered.  He has been meeting with missionaries for a long time, and we have made very very slow progress.  We had Stake Conference this past week, and they broadcasted it from the stake center to our building.  Right before Dan got there, the video broke down.  He got there and joked it was because he came that it was broken.  After a few minutes, he said to me "Will you join me?"  I was super confused at first, and then he said "Let's say a prayer to help it work!"

Whoa.  Dan?  What?  I was shocked, but we each said a prayer, and a few minutes later, it came back on.  I was humbled by his example and his words that "We're in a church, the LORD'S HOUSE, so why don't I see anyone else praying to help it to work?"  Yeah, he taught me a huge lesson.  It was awesome.

Love you all!  Thanks for all your stories and inspiration to me!  It helps me so much. 

--Elder Usevitch

Stepping it UP!

Kkkssshshskksh... Hello again from Boise North!  This is the Elder speaking. Kkshhsshhkhshs...

What a week.  The Lord has been kind!  We had a bunch of meetings to go to, such as a new missionary meeting for me and my companions, zone meeting, and then General Conference.  Sometimes I like it when I listen and am happy and inspired and things are great.  This time around, though, the Lord took this week to let me know that I need to take another step up and get on a new level of missionary work.

Challenge accepted.

While it is hard to hear correction from the Lord, I am so happy that He did that!  I really needed a wake-up call to get myself going!  Like it was said in GC, He knows what it takes to get us to be like him, and He is going to do all He can to help us along that path!  I am grateful for what I have learned about goals while I have been serving, because I can now make ways to develop myself and see my progress grow as I work to achieve those goals!  I love the times when you get fired up about doing things, because that provides the fuel for the times when it will invariably get rough.

We had some amazing miracles this week.  My favorite one was stopping by a less-active family that we had been by many times before.  This time, however, we were invited in for the first time by the father.  We came in and started talking with him and his wife, and she almost immediately started bursting into tears, telling about how she had lost her job and they weren't sure about whether they would be able to pay the rent to keep their house.  She said we stopped by at exactly the right time that they needed it.

It's times like that that I am so humbled that the Lord is willing and able to work through me as an instrument in His hands.  We were able to talk to them, comfort them, give them both blessings, and then refer them to the bishop.  They were worried because they hadn't been active in over 15 years, and didn't want to just call to the church only when they needed help, but we reassured them that the bishop would love to meet with them and help out.  Bishop had a great meeting with them, and I'm looking forward to see how this experience starts their return to activity!

The Lord really loves each of His children.  He is doing the heavy lifting in this area.  He needs us, ALL of us, to make the next step for Him and be His hands!  How are you working with the family to increase your missionary efforts?  I loved Elder Ballard's talk on that.  Little things - start out with little things!  Inviting people over to feel the Spirit in your home, praying for opportunities, developing more friendships, meeting more people, talking to everyone, etc., etc.  There is so much potential in each of us to bring more people to the fold.

Studying the doctrine of the gospel also helps us gain desire to share, I know!  So the questions for today come from 3 Nephi 27:16.  After you read it,

• What does it mean that you will be "filled" after you have repented and been baptized?
• How have you been filled because of your decision to follow Christ through baptism and confirmation?

That really reminded of the line from the song "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" that states "my cup with blessings overflows."  The Lord has really filled my life with so much because of my decision I made long ago when I was 8 to follow Him. I am so grateful for what He has done!

Love you all!  Thanks for all your examples!

Taters and onions,

--Elder Usevitch

P.S. If anyone has a copy of the sheet music to that song, I will pay you big bucks to get it. :)  Extra cash if you can find the arrangement that the a cappella group Reprise sings.  The piano part in that is SWEET!