WEEK 46 - Black Mold
Certain things on the mission just sneak up on you. They creep up behind your back, sometimes standing there for months at a time, only to appear at terribly-timed moments. Like, for example, how long I have been out on my mission and the amount of time I have left. I feel as if I just arrived in the mission field, and yet, I am closer to my one year mark than when I had arrived. The personification of time is drawing ever nearer with each completed day. Bad habits, your past, testimony, age, inexperience, friends, family–all these things can sneak up on you, seemingly all at once. But, what snuck up on us this week was the black mold fermenting in all of our air vents.
About 3 months ago we moved into the Seal Team 6 apartment building. We noticed that some of the air vents had little black specks on them but, with a phone call from a senior missionary, they were discredited and we went about our daily business, every single day. That is, until Elder Phan began to develop a rather unhealthy sounding cough, revealing itself every single time we walked into the apartment. Its absence was felt outside of the apartment as he was able to breathe without difficulty and without obstruction, but as soon as we walked into the apartment, it would be ever present. We couldn’t figure out why until a couple nights ago when we linked the two problems together, discovering that–as we took the air vents off–our entire ventilation supply was infested by black mold. To our horror, we quickly evacuated into the Assistant’s apartment and are now staying with the Vietnamese elders while our house is cleaned of the mold. Problems begin to become problematic when solutions are not offered in timely manners. Like unrepented sin, they can sneak up on you at your worst moments, just like the black mold in our apartment.
This week has been incredibly busy as we have been in and out of meetings about the Rudy event, the Christmas Campaign I’m organizing, and the future of Seal Team 6. On top of that, our mission is prepping for a mission tour (basically a mission-wide audit from a Church authority) so we have been working overtime to ensure that everything is in order and that our p’s are q’d and our q’s are p’d.
In other news, Donald Trump won the election so that means cô Hiền has no more excuses to be baptized. I guess that means one good thing did come out of the election. I wonder what Trump Burger in Bellville did to celebrate, but I digress. I’m astounded by what becoming a missionary has done to me because before the mission, this election would have lingered over my head for the entirety of the fall season, and yet–whether because I’m afuera de worldly affairs or because I have no access to the news–I am more at peace than I could have ever imagined. God will not forsake us, especially not now. Within the Church, we must not divide, yet unite. We must always remember, as President Dallin H. Oaks said in his April 2021 General Conference talk, “There are many political issues, and no party, platform, or individual candidate can satisfy all personal preferences. Each citizen must therefore decide which issues are most important to him or her at any particular time. Then members should seek inspiration on how to exercise their influence according to their individual priorities. This process will not be easy. It may require changing party support or candidate choices, even from election to election.Such independent actions will sometimes require voters to support candidates or political parties or platforms whose other positions they cannot approve. That is one reason we encourage our members to refrain from judging one another in political matters. We should never assert that a faithful Latter-day Saint cannot belong to a particular party or vote for a particular candidate. We teach correct principles and leave our members to choose how to prioritize and apply those principles on the issues presented from time to time. We also insist, and we ask our local leaders to insist, that political choices and affiliations not be the subject of teachings or advocacy in any of our Church meetings.”
Politics, like black mold and unrepented sin, can creep up on us if we let them. I encourage each of us to take the time to rid ourselves of those creeping things through our Savior, Jesus Christ. As I have been striving to always remember Him, I have seen my entire mission change. When I take the time to live consecrated, faithful, and diligent in this work, I have begun to have no desire to do anything contrary to the will of God. My goal before the end of my mission is to get to a point where I can live in constant revelation; to live so closely in line with the will of God that there is nothing blocking me from revelation when I need it most. This week I have started to see what power that truly has from being able to balance all of these different stressors, tasks, and challenges that I am faced with. I know that I can make decisions that are guided by God in split-seconds and I am seeing the blessings that come from those decisions. Get rid of the black mold in your apartment and breathe of the fresh air that comes from repentance and always remembering our Savior; never wanting to stray from Him.
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM:
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WEEK 46:
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