A Beautiful Scene from Layton, Utah and Who's that Elder with that Husky?

A transfer to Florida, Christ-like Attributes, A Letter to My Brother and, by the way, Right Now I'm on a Mission

 This week is cool because I'm on exchanges with my DL (district leader)  right now, a solid guy named Elder James who gets is getting transferred to Florida next week (he's been out 103 weeks and refuses to believe he's going home next week. Instead he's just getting transferred back to Florida and released from full-time service). We're working on developing Christlike attributes (see chapter 6 in PMG) and It's a really great learning experience.

To Stefan

 

Dude, that's awesome that you went out with the missionaries! Keep it up! It's so much fun!  I'm focused on a mission right now, and committed to living the mission standards in the handbook. Anyways, what I'm learning since I've been out is that pop punk is amazing, and I don't think I'll ever lose my passion for it, but amazing as it is, the gospel is a thousand and three times better. Right now I'm on a mission, and as much as I'm sure the new ADTR record is good, and as long as I've waited for it, I can wait another 20 months. It's worth the wait, and it's not worth being disobedient. That's one of the things I'm learning not only on a mission, but in life in general. A mission is better than the best punk album out there, hands down, and I know it's better than playing D1 college ball, or seeing VT have a miracle season and win a national title. If you're gonna do something, do it right, and right now I'm a missionary. The gospel is amazing, and the atonement is real. This work is the best work you can possibly do, and I can't wait until you serve a mission, which is why I want you to keep going out with the Elders back home. Keep calm and carry on, my brotha. peace...Elder Jake Lusk

Yes, Officer, We Would Love to Baptize You; Snow Covered Mountains and The Best Brisket Outside of Texas

So...we got someone on date for baptism now. His name is Officer }{, and he's a police officer. He's currently going through a divorce, and his ex-wife is LDS. He was raised [in a different church], but had been consistently going to church with his wife. Last transfer, he approached the Elders and asked for a Book of Mormon, and a time to meet up. We had a lesson with him on Thursday (his day off) and taught him the Restoration. He told us he already knew most of that and that he's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying a lot recently. I asked him if he's prayed to know if the Book is true, and he said he hasn't yet, just because he's assumed it's true. He was in church yesterday, which is great because you know when a cop says he'll be somewhere, he'll be there, and he'll be dressed sharp and on time. He said that now that he's on his own, he knows he's doing it for himself, and for his three-year-old daughter, who he wants to be able to baptize when she's eight. He said he's decided it's time to fully make the commitment, and at the end of the lesson was the one that asked us when he could be baptized. We've got him on date for the 12th of December, because that's the next Saturday he has off. The guy is golden and he's really cool. He was telling us cop stories and how the reading the scriptures and praying helps with stress even better than hitting the gym does, which is saying a lot for guys like us. Anyways, I'm pretty excited about all that.

    Last Friday we had Elder Bednar come speak to us. That was a really cool experience. It wasn't him standing up there and lecturing to us; the whole thing was interactive. The meeting was based off three talks that he told President Hansen to pass out to us a couple weeks ago, before we even knew he was coming. The talks were "Ask in Faith", "Seek Learning By Faith" and "Converted Unto The Lord". The entire three-hour meeting was him having us stand up and talk about something we learned, or ask a question based off those talks or other related things. He would almost always answer our question with a follow-up question, letting us figure it out for ourselves. The whole theme revolved around being humble, using faith, doing our part, and accepting God's will over our own. I would highly suggest reading those talks, because they're really good, and it's mostly what the meeting was about. 

     I guess the only other things I wanted to mention were that mountains completely covered in snow are beautiful, Famous Dave's has the best brisket outside of Texas, and 6-month old purebred Boxer puppies are absolutely adorable.

     Oh yeah, I also wanted to say that this work is absolutely amazing. I love seeing the joy and light the gospel brings into people's lives. The Atonement is real. Christ Lives, and this is His church as restored though the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Love,

Elder Lusk

The Elder Bednar, Not Enough Room to Receive all the Blessings and It Drives My Work

Hope everything is going well back home. Things up here in Layton are going great. I'm still stoked to be here. I'm also stoked because on Friday we're having a mission meeting where I'll not only be able to see the elders I served with in Glendale, but we'll also receive trained from the man, the legend, the Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. That's pretty exciting.

 

Our investigators are great! We got a guy to come to church for the second time this week, and he stayed the full three hours. We've got plenty of support and fellowship for him, so things are looking good. This week we're going to be praying on a date for him to get baptized. We're pretty excited about what the next couple weeks will be like for him. Most of our other work is with part member families, so helping them do what they need to do to get all of them baptized and then sealed in the temple. In terms of both dinners and miracles it's been an awesome week. We get dinners provided every night except Monday night up here in Layton. On Friday, one of our newly reactivated member we're working with swung by our apartment with a giant trunk full of food. We have enough a shelf and a half dedicated to oatmeal, and an entire shelf dedicated to hot chocolate now. We've got enough ramen to feed a small army (ramen is super good if you don't use the seasoning packets and put it Cajun seasoning instead!), and everything we need for our own thanksgiving dinner except the turkey. We've got so many canned foods that it looks like the shelf is about to break. You know that scripture that we'll get blessings and won't have room to receive them? It wasn't until; I've been on my mission that I realized it was literal. The people out here are awesome. In terms of other miracle, we were giving someone a blessing, and even though I wasn't the voice, I got a specific prompting to bless her a certain thing, and a second after I got it, Elder () said it, so that's how much the spirit was there. It's really cool how the spirit works. 

 

I'll just close with my testimony that I know that this church is true and I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bless everyone's life. The power of the Atonement is real and it's becuase of it that I'm out here and it drives my current work and it's driven me to come out in the first place. 

Love,

Elder Lusk

A Baptism in Sri Lanka or Was it Glendale and A Reflection on Dogs or is it People.

so...things here are going great. I got to go to a baptism down in Glendale on Friday. The Sri Lankan family that me and Elder {} were teaching finally got baptized and I got to witness that. The spirit at the baptism was amazing and there were a ton of people there. The entire relief society room was full.
 

We've got some good people we're working with up here and I'm excited for the potentials. Aside from that it's been a pretty average week. 

I guess since it's been on my mind a little bit and I'm not sure what else to write about, I just want to talk more about something I briefly mentioned last time. Everyone in Utah has dogs, and so far, I've gotten to pet a dog just about every day since I've been out on my mission. I'm learning a lot about people and reading emotions, but I'm also learning about how to read dogs. Like, how to know when the big pit bull that's barking at you when you walk in it's front yard wants to eat you up or if he's just excited someone is coming to pet him. Dogs are a lot like people. I firmly believe all of them are born good, and it's when people abuse them and raise them to be guard dogs and prize fighters that they turn mean. Big dogs like german shepards and pit bulls are some of the sweetest dogs I've ever met if their owners respect them. The other thing I've noticed is that dogs can sense fear, and they know when you're afraid of them, especially when you show it. If you show the dog you respect them and aren't there to be mean to them, they'll be nice to you. They just want love. People are the same way. You just gotta respect them and make sure kids are raised in a good environment. 

So, there's my gospel analogy for the week. My last little thing on that is that I definitely want a dog when I'm older I want something big, but not huge, like a husky mix. And I want to get it when it's a puppy, so I can show people that big dogs can be super nice and loving. And, I'm going to make sure you get to spend time around it so I can help you overcome your fear of dogs :)

 

I bear my testimony that this church is true, that the Gospel is for everyone, and that the power of the atonement is real. This work is absolutely amazing. 

Love, 

Elder Lusk

Repping the west side, fighter jets, new lifelong friends already and knowing you're been saved for such a time as this.

So I'm absolutely loving it up here in Layton. Once again I'm repping the west side, so the part of Layton I'm in isn't the super rich part. Even then, it's not ghetto by any means. It actually reminds me a little bit of Winchester, except there's no old downtown part. It's right next to Hill Air Force Base, so you can hear (and see, but mainly hear) fighter jets flying overhead all the time. Some people don't like it, but I think it's pretty cool. There's more trees up here in the northern part than there are in the Salt Lake valley, so it's looking pretty nice with right now being fall. There's also a lot of Utah State alumni up here, as opposed to SLC where everyone's Ute fan. We've got some pretty solid people we're working with and I'm totally pumped to be working up here. 

Elder {} is pretty cool. He's from  Minnesota and even if he hadn't told me, I would've guessed from his accent. I'm also really excited about the how the apartment played out because when I got there I put my stuff down, turned around, and got grabbed in a hug by a guy named Elder {}. Elder {} is from Fresno, California, and he came out the same time I did (we were in different MTC districts because he's Spanish speaking). We met each other on the UTA FrontRunner coming up to SLC from Provo. Thirty seconds into our conversation, we found out that we were both into{similar music} and were immediately best buds. The guy reminds me a little bit of Mike, but that's probably just because he's into the same bands and played for a  band before his mission. We were in the same district our first transfer, but we've never been in the same apartment until now. After our missions, we're planning on jamming together because he said he's probably going to BYU-I, but he's looked into USU and he's still thinking about it. Good stuff!

My last night in Glendale, we had dinner with a less-active Samoan couple that we had gotten pretty close with.[] , the guy, told me he's sure that there's people in Layton who are waiting for me and that I'm going there for them. I'm pretty sure he's right. My second night in Layton we visited a middle-age less-active  couple named {} and{}. I spent a while talking to {} and found out that she shares my passion for not only good 80s music, but also for sports and sports medicine, for cooking, and for dogs*. She grew up in LA and was raised playing basketball on the streets of Compton, so by her junior year of high school had been offered a bunch of Division 1 scholarships. She played D1 college ball and had the same Pre-style, do-or-die, losing-is-not-an-option, do-or-die mentality in sports. We talked for a while about crazy hard, long workouts we've done and that crazy mentality you get in during a competition, and we talked about performance enhancement, and sports medicine, and all that good stuff. I feel like she's someone that I've been prepared to help out. 

Like I said, I'm pretty excited to be serving here. This is a really good area. I know that this work is amazing and that God knows what he's doing, and that the power of the Atonement is real if we put our part in and let it work. 

Love, 

Elder Lusk :)

A new family from India and an upcoming transfer....oh, and peace out!

Hey!

This has been a pretty good week. Yesterday we started teaching a family from India that cooked us curried chicken and potatoes over rice. They have a strong christian background as well, so they're pretty open. The daughter is 22 and she's studying up at the U to become a civil engineer, so I'm wondering if dad might have some study/career advice to give for someone looking to go into that field. We also got our Sri Lanka family, back on date. They were supposed to be baptized a couple weeks ago, but when the ZL's interviewed them (Elder }{ DL...dad can explain more about how all that works), we found out they still {had questions}. We got a senior missionary couple involved and now they're completely getting baptized in a couple weeks. By the way, if you guys ever get the chance, you should serve a senior service mission. i can totally see you guys doing that. The senior missionary couples we have here are great. We also finally got to take {} to temple square. She's still not sure about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but I think temple square helped and we also got a good elderly couple to fellowship her. 

 

On a different note, guess who's got two thumbs up  and is getting transferred tomorrow out of Glendale and off to Layton? As much as I like it here and I know the area super well, I'm excited to be getting out and seeing a fresh area. Layton is up in Davis County, which is where a lot of those Utah Mormon stereotypes come from. From what I've heard, it's super rich and everyone's white and active Mormons. I'm going to be in the Layton West stake, though, which is apparently the only not as rich part of the county. Either way, I'm pretty excited about it. 

 

Oh, and I did here from Elder Martin. Sounds like he's doing great. I know that the gospel is true and that this work is truly amazing. The Savior really loves us all and can work in miraculous ways to better people's lives. 

I think that's all I got for this week, so peace out, 

Elder Lusk