Elder Edholm -- week 65

 This week went really well. We had a 3 day service project, which was really awesome to have. An older couple needed help with some landscaping things, so we moved a huge pile of dirt to two different parts in their yard one day last week, they put the black landscape tarp on top, then two days this week we moved a ton a rock to put over the tarp and also around some of their shrubs that they had. It was super fun and it helped fill our morning hours with something different. Also this week I crashed on my bike! I'll explain what happened but I have to give a little background. So during the week my companion and I decided to eat out a little more because we had only been out to eat like 2 in the last 3 months. Anyways we were eating out and we saw this guy moving some cabinets and shelves from this cookie ice cream sandwich store so we went and helped him and then went back to finish eating. After we finish he comes up to us and says he's trying to get rid of some ice cream from the store, so he gives us a 5 gallon tub of ice cream that was a little more than half full. Fast forward to Saturday, it is the birthday of one of a member of the family that we helped get baptized, he's turning 9, so I try to carry the ice cream on my bike. It was working for a little but then I tried to shift gears and the handlebars turned too much and the bike went off the curb and I went over the handlebars. Lucky I did not rip my shirt or my pants, the only thing that happened was that the tub of ice cream got a little dent and that my shoulder and back of my shirt got really black.

Ruby, the person who is getting baptized this Saturday, is doing really well. She and her husband were able to watch General Conference on Sunday and they really enjoyed it.

Talking about general conference, it was very uplifting! What I took out of it was probably the same thing that most people learned, it's that trials are going to come, hard time are crucial for our growth. Everyone is going to through their own difficult times, I have too. I have been stressing out a little because I feel like I'm not doing well as a missionary, like every other missionary has the "mission" down and I'm here still trying to figure it out after 14 months. I've not been super confident in myself. After conference I leaned a couple of things that I'd like to talk about. The first is what I already said, that tests in this life are essential. The second is what Sister Lisa L. Harkness said, that we need to believe in Christ. That statement with these two scriptures that I read really helped me, Helaman 5:18, "And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did preach... with such great power and authority, for they had power and authority given unto them" and also 3 Nephi 5:13, "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." As a missionary I have been called and have been given power and authority. If I don't have confidence in myself, then in turn I don't have confidence in the power that has been given to me. Also if I don't trust that I can change, that then means that I don't trust in the atonement of Christ and his power to help me change. I had never thought of it in that way before, I feel as I start thinking and behaving with this in mind, it will build my faith and change me. I hope you like my insight, it really helped me so I hope that it will help you too!