Tuesday, November 27, 2012

North Pole and Laundry

Elder Record standing by "the North Pole" in
North Pole, AK
Hello!

Elder Higley says it's three degrees and perfectly good weather. It's kind of cold, but yeah it's not that bad. Elder Higley is from Missouri, the Ozark's region, which is southwest.

Elder Record: What is your favorite thing about Alaska? [Pause]
Elder Record: Okay, least favorite thing?
Elder Higley: It's cold. It's dark. The sun doesn't go down in the summer. Everything is expensive.
Elder Record: That is true. Okay, so now let's think of positive things. For every negative thing, we have to say five positive things.
Elder Higley: I get to drive a truck. I get the gas.
Elder Record: We get mail. I never got mail before my mission except for bills.
Elder Higley: Well, I passed where we are supposed to go.
Elder Record: That's okay. Sorry, I was distracting you.
Plaque for "the North Pole"

So this week was kind of hectic because it was transfers, and we had to move people around, staying up late, and helping people at the mission home, zone conference that we had to plan for and carry out. So it was a busy, busy week. But, we were still able to do a lot of work and see a few non-members. We got to go out and visit a lot of less active members.

We have a really cool ward mission leader. He is really proactive and just a great guy. This ward is really cool. I am excited to be serving here, because everybody seems to want to work. There are a lot of returned missionaries.

For zone conference we basically talked about overcoming challenges and concerns. We talked about how in order to get charity and love, to have a desire to work and to have love for others, and hope that good things can happen; you need to apply Moroni 8:26 which says after you receive a remission of sins, that brings meekness and lowliness of heart. So as you remember the atonement, and what the Savior has done for us; we are humbled. That humility invites the Spirit. When we have the Spirit it then says that comforter fills us with hope and perfect love; so charity and hope. There are some really good definitions of those in Preach My Gospel. With that, you have to be humble and you have to have virtue. So you have to have good thoughts, and constantly be putting good in. Otherwise, you cannot develop those attributes and have the Spirit with you. That's kind of what I studied and a little bit about what we talked about in zone conference. That was the focus to be focused and have a change of attitude, and to go out and work with a fresh determination. We also talked a little bit about finding new investigators, and how to go about doing that and working with the members. We had some training from President and Sister Beesley and the assistants. A lot of it was kind of talking about the same thing; which was kind of ironic, but not really when working with the gospel. It's not ever a coincidence. The Lord tells us how we need to improve, like it says in Ether 12:27.
Elder Record sitting in Santa's chair,
but is he naughty or nice?
Probably just missed Santa.

[Water running the background]
Right now I'm a little distracted because I'm doing laundry.

Anyway, it was really fun. It's fun being a zone leader...

Elder Higley: You want the bags of laundry – the bag itself?
Elder Record: Yep. Oh, alright, there we go. Do I have any other darks?
Elder Higley: You have your glove.
Elder Record: Oh!!! My glove, thank you. Okay, so... [washer door slams in the background] uuh...
Elder Higley: Was the stuff you're wearing...
Elder Record: Yea, that was my white shirts. Alright, anyway [washer door slams] ...ooh!! that was the weird stuff; Fels-Naptha. Anyway, sorry. I'll talk to you guys next week I guess.

Love, Elder Record

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Goodbyes and New Opportunities

Hello..... I'm in Anchorage!.... and I don't have my audio recorder. I didn't do an audio this week though. I've been really busy with transfers and such. I have been transferred to the Sand Lake Ward in the Anchorage Stake to be a Zone Leader. I'll be serving with Elder Helaman Higley from the Ozark region of Missouri. Elder Beirne will be in the Fairbanks 3rd Ward still, and his companion will be Elder Woolbert. I love Fairbanks and I'm kind of sad to be leaving it. But I am really excited to be serving closer to the center of action in the mission here. President and Sister Beesley actually live in my zone. Looks like I'll probably be here right in the middle of when we get all those new missionaries. I have to admit though, it's a little weird being back in Anchorage again =). It's almost like I never left, lol. Only this time I'll be in South Anchorage.

This last week was an interesting one. With all the Goodbyes, packing, and whatnot, we weren't able to do quite as much as normal. We also had some interesting truck issues... =) But life is good and even though I'm a little sad to be leaving, I'm happy to have a new challenge ahead that will test my abilities and leadership skills. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I know he is our savior. The more I come to understand Him and His atonement in my life, the more I am filled with a desire to share it with others. I'm grateful for all of my family. I'm so happy to see how much fun you all are having in the new ward. I love you all, and it won't be long before I see you again...Christmas =) I love the Book of Mormon. I know it's true. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Question: If life were a color, what color would it be and why?
Well I think life would be white. Not only because it is white up here, but because it is filled with so much hope and promise it's like writing on a fresh sheet of paper.

Love, Elder Record

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Freezing, Tracting and North Pole

Alright, so this week we have been going a little crazy; probably because it cold and you guys know how I get hyper when I get cold (haha). It has been like -20, which is cold. For like one day it was like 20 on Friday. Anyway, we took advantage of that and went tracting. The houses on the street were close together, but they weren't (haha), so we ended up walking through a ton of snow. There were a couple people that answered their door; literally just a couple out of like... twenty. It probably just because nobody was home. But that's okay, it was fun. I have a really good coat.

This is the last week in the transfer. Come to find out we are actually not going to go to Huslia this week. They are going to do the trip just after Thanksgiving. That will work best because then the member up there will be off work, so he will be able to go out with us and help us teach. It will be really good because he knows everybody there. It will help people think about the message a little harder, and honestly put the effort into finding out if it's true or not. It's always nice when that can happen.

Questions:
1. Will you open Huslia up as a new area?
Yes, the fact that there are currently no missionaries up there, and again we will probably only be there a couple days.

2. Is there a branch there?
No, they are a part of the Fairbanks 3rd ward and video broadcast in. [NOTE: Huslia is over 250 miles away from Fairbanks, accessible by plane.]

3. Will you keep Fairbanks as your assigned area and just travel to Huslia to teach?
Yes

4. Will you be able to communicate via email in Huslia?
I know they have email capabilities, but I don't know if we would access them.

The Huslia trip won't be happening until the 23rd or 24th probably. It probably won't be any longer than a week either. The member out there is a school teacher and would be going with us to teach just about everywhere. That way it would be more effective. We will organize cottage meetings where the community can come and learn our beliefs. We would also want to do some community service.

Elder Record: Let's see, freezing, tracting... what else did we do Elder Beirne? We worked hard, I promise (haha).
Elder Beirne: Yeah, we did work hard. But I guess when you are working hard in the Spirit, you forget a lot of things. Because you are so diligent that it really doesn't hit you unless it's extremely powerful. It wasn't really extremely powerful this week, but it was still powerful; but not powerful enough to help us remember. Either that or we just watched Trumen Madsen for a while, so it's hard to think because that man was very intelligent.
Elder Record: True. Very true.

There is one person we are teaching. We are preparing him for baptism in a week or two. He is really progressing. I mean, he's grown leaps and bounds since we first met him. He came from not much of any religious background at all to really knowing that his Heavenly Father loves him and cares about him. So that's always fun to be a part of. He is right now working on listening to the Spirit and discerning answers to his prayers. We are excited to see what happens there. We have been seeing a lot of different people. So as far as stories that stand out, that is kind of the one that stands out to me.

There are a lot of good members up hear, a lot of good people. It's fun to rub shoulders with them.

Today for P-day we are going to North Pole to take pictures of all the Santa Claus stuff. You can't come clear up to Fairbanks and not take a picture of the north pole. They have like a legit north pole; like it's a pole that was a North pole. I think there is a story behind it. They have one that got dropped off up there at the North pole, but this was one of those but somehow they got it. But anyway, it's something like that; it's a North pole, and it's in the city of North Pole. Everything is decorated in candy canes. Even the McDonald's sign – the tower – it's colored like a candy cane. They have elves running around everywhere – just kidding, they don't.

I look forward to hearing from you all this week. It's exciting to see what might happen here in a week after transfers. Good luck to everybody. Have fun in school, if you're still in school; yeah, you're still in school. Just thinking about it, is going to be kind of weird seeing Annelise graduated when I get back. Chris will be taller than me and probably stronger than me. Eric is going to be tall too. Yeah, it's like the RM when he comes back and sees little Joe and little Joe is not little anymore. Anyway, good bye.

Love, Elder Record

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Preparing for New Missionaries

Hello!

This week was the week of Halloween. Because everyone was out trick-or-treating, we had to go home early at like 7:00pm. Oh, it was kind of neat, earlier that day we had dinner with some of the members in the ward, and we went to this place called Shogun. It's like that Tepanyaki's place in Provo. Anyway, they did a show, like they cooked the food in front of you at the table. It was really neat, and really good food too.

While we were in at seven, we had a kind of radio show that was playing for all the missionaries because we were all in. That was really neat. They shared various stories and things. I was able to share a story from one of our ancestors. I chose to share the conversion story of Mary Magdelaine Cardon Guild. That was a pretty neat story. I had one of the sisters read part of it in first person; the part about the conversion and the testimony. She did a really good job and it really brought the Spirit. I thought Mary would appreciate her testimony being shared for the other missionaries.

So that was neat. I probably would rather have been out teaching the people (haha), but everybody would be busy on Halloween. Being inside was probably more for our safety, like people out partying on the streets, or whatever. We got to go ice skating today. We had some fun there.

There is a pretty cool announcement here. In February we are getting 100 new missionaries in our mission 50 of them are sisters.  Right now we have just under 150 missionaries including senior couples.  =D  Virtually everyone will be training.  I have no idea how that will effect our mission, but we will probably send them out into the villages and double up in wards and apartments. Normally they get 700 applications per week, but after the announcement on age changes it changed to over 4000 per week with just over half of them being sisters.  In the missions in the lower 48 they will be getting 250 new missionaries each.

It looks like I might be going to Huslia. There are some members out there who are doing some good work in preparing people. We are going to finalize the plans here this week, and head out to teach the people there.

[NOTE: We are not certain about the details of Elder Record's assignment in Huslia. We hope to find out more next week. Here are some web sites that talk about this tiny village about 270 miles East of Fairbanks. Wikipedia and Alaska Community Information Summaries].
 
We are keeping busy and we are still teaching people. Life it good. The Lord definitely has his hand in this work, and helps us be where we need to be. I like the Book of Mormon. I like how much I'm reading it. It gives me a bigger picture for everything and helps me have the Spirit with me. I'm staying healthy. I'm not chubby (haha). I'm taking my vitamins, especially vitamin D; so I'm combating the sleepiness of winter. Fairbanks is snowy. The people are nice and friendly. We have a lot of potential people we need to contact. There are a lot of good people in the ward doing a lot of good missionary work and helping other people. We had some less active people who normally don't come, came to Church on Sunday. We were able to say “hi” to them and be friendly. That's my favorite things, just being friendly and happy with people, and associating with them and just trying to help people do their best.

We'll see what happens in the future. There are a lot of exciting things happening and a lot on my mind. So we'll see how it goes. Anyway, talk to you later, bye.

Love, Elder Record

Testimony of Mary Magdelaine Cardon Guild (1834-1914), daughter of Phillipe Cardon (1801-1889) and Mary Tourn Cardon (1799-1873)

I, Mary Magdelaine Cardon Guild, desire to bear my testimony to the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that our Redeemer lives and that His church and everlasting Gospel is re-established on this earth for the last time. God has seen fit in this last dispensation to reveal His marvelous light for the purpose of bringing about His great work which will continue to increase until the end of the world.

Now, my beloved children, I feel my age coming on and my strength gradually leaving me and, as a matter of course, I know or feel that my days for this world cannot be many, as I am nearing now my three score and ten years and though a few of us may live over four score, yet I realize that the young may die. I must, therefore, discharge my duty to you as a sincere mother and well-wisher. I am duty bound to bear my testimony unto you all, especially to those of you who have not yet embraced the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I earnestly ask you, my beloved children, each one of you, to read the New Testament through and find out for yourselves whether this everlasting Gospel is true or not. I promise you, in the name of the Father and of the Son, Jesus Christ, that if you will humble yourselves and ask God with sincerity of heart to give you wisdom in all things pertaining to your salvation and eternal life and future happiness, and that you may know the true Gospel—I say unto you, my beloved children,that you shall in due time receive and answer which will enlighten your heart and fill you with knowledge and the wisdom to lead you on the way to righteousness. It is true that God will at all time answer our prayers if we will ask for the true path of our duty, and we shall obtain the necessary knowledge to guide us through our lives and prepare ourselves for the day of judgment. When we shall appeal at the judgment seat of God and be seen just as we are, whether good or bad, faithful or disobedient, our mission while we lived on this earth will be seen.

I feel greatly impressed to write a few incidents which I will remember, the first one in particular.

I was then but a young child, between six and seven years of age. One morning, while in bed, I had a wonderful dream, or vision, which has proved to be one of the greatest blessings that my aged parents and family could ever have received on this earth. I shall relate herein just what happened, for the benefit of my dear children and for whom it may concern.

It seemed to me that I was grown up into young womanhood, instead of being a small child. I thought I was out by my father's vineyard on a small piece of meadow taking care of some of my father's milk cows so that they would not go into the vineyard. I thought I was sitting down on the grass reading a book, and as I raised my eyes I saw three men standing before me and looking at me. I dropped my eyes instantly, as they were strangers to me. I felt somewhat alarmed, and as I raised my eyes again and looked them in the face, one of the strangers said unto me. “Fear not, for we are the servants of God and have come from afar to bring unto you and all who desire to be saved into the Kingdom of Heaven the Gospel. We are sent to reveal the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is re-established upon the earth never to be taken away, for that it should be re-established in its fullness was revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., a boy of fourteen years of age, he being very desirous to know which of different sects or churches was the right one. He asked God, in humbleness of heart, that he might know the true religion, and while in humble prayer he heard a voice speak to him, saying, “There are none that are right at present, but the true Gospel will soon be revealed in its fullness.” These three strangers spoke of many future things which would come to pass. They handed me two small books, one with a pale blue cover and the other a pale green and they asked me to read them carefully and said that if I would obey the commandments of God, I would be saved. They said the day was not far off when my parents and family would embrace the Gospel of Christ, ye, and all of the House of Israel would be gathered together. The first step to this Gospel was faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, and the laying on of hands after baptism for the gift of the Holy Ghost. They said many things concerning our departure from our home and of our journey in the wilderness and that God would be our guide throughout our journey to Zion, and they then departed and disappeared out of sight.

I awoke and felt...weak and somewhat strange. I walked into the kitchen where my mother was busy getting breakfast. She looked at me and saw that I was very pale...she tried in vain to find out what was the matter with me, for I hardly knew what to say, but soon my father came in and my mother called his attention toward me and asked my father to try and find out what was the matter with me. He took me on his knee and talked to me for awhile.

Finally, I told him all that I had seen and heard and what those three strangers had said to me. My parents were not learned for they had had no chance for education, as they were a remnant of the Waldenses, who, on account of their religion, had been persecuted and driven to the mountains. In order to protect their lives, they lived in caves on the Alps; therefore, they had no chance of education; but nevertheless my parents both stored up every word which I told them. But I forgot all about this as a child of my age naturally would.

When I was between seventeen and eighteen years of age, I well remember my dear father coming home early one Saturday, in the afternoon, and telling my mother to get his best suit of clothes ready, for he had just heard a man who had come from La Tour, a city quite a distance from where we lived at that time. The man had told my father and my brothers and the men who were then working for my father ( he was an architect, then building a large house) that he had heard some strangers preaching a very strange doctrine at La Tour and he told of all he had heard.

My father knew then that these men were preaching and teaching the very words which I had heard when a child from those three strangers. He put his tools down immediately and said to his men that he would go and find these men. He instructed my brothers and the men at work what they should do in his absence and he came home and got ready as quickly as possible and started off on foot.

He walked that afternoon and all night and the next morning, over the mountains and down the valleys. He reached the Palais de la Tour in time to find those men and to hear them preach.

After the meeting he went to them and kindly invited them to come to our home and make it their headquarters, and they gladly accepted my father's invitation. They had been but a short time at the Palais de la Tour and they were laboring hard to open the way and to succeed in their undertaking. They had been allowed to preach on the streets without being molested, but it was very hard to make a start.

President Lorenzo Snow was one of the three elders who were sent to Italy to open the first mission of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and, if I remember rightly, the names of (the others) were Elder Stainhouse and Toronto.

At that time (when they first arrived in that area), President Snow proposed to take a walk up to a high mountain called Mountain Vandarin and there fast and call upon the name of the Lord to open up the way before them and to guide them to those what were honest in heart, and that their journey into that faraway country might not be in vain, and while in fervent prayer, as they were kneeling on a large flat rock in humble petition to God, he heard their prayer and answered them that their work should not be in vain, but that the way would be opened before them, and that, inasmuch as they would call on him in sincerity of heart, He would bless them in their undertaking. President Snow then called the rock, on which they were kneeling at the time, Mount Brigham, in honor to our president, Brigham Young. They then returned to the Palais de la Tour, and at the next meeting they held there my father met and brought them to our home.

When they arrived, I was not at home, as it was part of my work to keep my father's milk cows from our vineyard. We had a small meadow joining the vineyard and I was keeping the cows from doing any damage to the vineyard.

On the way from the Palais de la Tour to our home, father had told the elders of the vision which I had seen when a small child and said that he could not rest one moment after he had heard of them from the man whom he had just hired. He knew truly they were the servants of God and he was very anxious for me to meet them, so he brought them where I was, and as they came near where I was sitting, my father was the first to speak.

I had not heard nor seen them come, as walking on the grass made no noise, and being quite interested in my book, I heard nothing until my father said to the elders, “Here is my daughter who had that vision concerning the three strangers, who appeared to her and told her that they were the servants of God and that they were authorized to reveal the everlasting Gospel of Christ to all the nations of the earth.” President Snow and one of the other Elders handed each of us a small book which contained the Articles of Faith of the Mormon Church, etc.

Just then, I well remembered of seeing those books in my vision and the same three men who called themselves the servants of God. I remembered may things which I had heard them say to me when they had first appeared; and under these circumstances I could say but very little to them for I was not prepared for such an advent.

I had been confirmed in what we called the Vaudois Church and had received my certificate of honor, etc., and we soon went home. Mother had supper ready. We all has supper together. Father, my four brothers, and the three elders went into another room, while myself and mother did the supper work. Then mother and I joined the elders and our family. My sister, Catherine, was not at home, nor had she been for some time past. She was living with our pastor as governess over his children, as the pastor's wife was not in very good health at that time.

My parents and brothers were soon converted and were baptized. I believe that my father was the first member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in that country, but I felt rather backward in being baptized. It was, of course, a great change of religion and it seemed as though the whole country were now excited to the utmost pitch of gossip and comments of all kinds. My father talked to me considerably because I did not get baptized when he and my brothers were baptized, but I was very serious on the subject and thought much though I said but very little.

I took to read the New Testament in great earnestness and when I read some passages that I could not quite comprehend, I would ask God to give me wisdom that I might understand what I read and obey his commandments and overcome my weakness and not care whether my friends would scorn me or not on account of my joining the Mormon Church. (Because of) My reading, fasting, and praying in secret to my Father in Heaven I soon realized and felt assured that these Elders held the Priesthood of the Gospel of Christ which He had once more established on earth, and I felt that each one of us were responsible for our own sins and acts. That is, of course, we know that our Redeemer died for our sins, but we must follow him in deeds and follow his footsteps. He commanded us to repent and be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.

After going in secret and humbly asking my Heavenly Father to give me wisdom and knowledge concerning the Gospel and doctrine that the elders taught us, I received a testimony from God that these elders were his servants and had been ordained to go among the nations of the earth to preach the everlasting Gospel to all the world. I then was ready to be baptized, but President Snow had been called away shortly before that, and Elder J. B. Woodard, J.D. Kaiton, and Thomas Marquets now came to relieve the first three elders who had come. Elder J.B. Woodard baptized me into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I felt thankful to my Father in Heaven that he had caused me to live in this last dispensation, and for the great privilege to have an opportunity to learn and obey the true Gospel.” (Story recorded by Eva May Cardon who was granddaughter of Louis Phillip Cardon, Mary's brother).