Talmage Mission

Good Morning! It's been two months since I came home, as of yesterday. I know, it's hard to believe. I can confidently say that my Stake President and I have a plan in the works to send me back out. My return date will hopefully be around March 30th, which conveniently is also the next transfer date for the St. George Mission. However, the date isn't set in stone, so it could change over the next month. Nothing's certain until it's happened. Elder Gerrit W. Gong in his previous conference talk (Oct. 2021) stated; "Perhaps we don't see ourselves in the Church, don't feel we fit, feel judged by others." Feeling judged by those around us is a very common affliction, and one I've had to face head on quite recently. As you can imagine, coming home from a mission, with a two-year commitment on my shoulders, was challenging. Before I left St. George I spent about a week in denial, wishing the verdict would be reversed, that somehow I could stay and av...

Good Morning! Ever heard the phrase, "I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole?" Well, in my case the pole had other plans.  Our days at the ranch were busy, I was working most of Friday and all Saturday. We removed some of the ten foot wooden posts to make room for a different project, but it wasn't all smooth going. My dad lifted a post with the tractor, but it caught in the forks and the leverage slammed it into my forehead, dropping me to the ground. No concussion yet!  See an epic five-minutes-after photo below.  We set about 80 metal posts on Saturday in preparation for our future handling facility. We were working from 7am to 7pm, and throughout the process I moved 8,000 pounds of concrete and 2,000 pounds of metal poles. That's definitely one of my favorite physical accomplishments so far in life. And yes, I went home and ate 5 slices of pizza, 3 glasses of milk, and crashed. Sunday was a day of rest and recovery from the sunburns (sunscreen is for wimps...

Good Morning! I've had the opportunity to focus my studies on Abraham and the events of his life. Perhaps the most commonly told event in his life is how he trusted God enough to lead Isaac, his only son, to an altar to offer him as a sacrifice to the Lord. One lesson to understand is that Abraham had a deep faith in God, which led to his desire to obey God's command, even when it didn't make sense. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we put a lot of weight in building your own testimony, or conversion, to Christ. This process begins with faith, and is continually developing throughout our lives. Regardless of the reasons I'm home, I am striving to build and fortify my own testimony farther and higher than I had thought possible. I began my mission with what I felt was a decent enough faith, or conversion, but going through this coming-home process I've discovered the need for constant work in my own testimony. Not because of a lack of fai...

Good Morning! If you're anything like a human being, then you have questions. The best part about your nature, and mine, is that we don't usually know the answers to these questions. Isn't it funny how that works? So what does one do when they can't answer something for themself? Most of you have a religion you're a part of, or a strong set of moral beliefs you follow. Most of you also acknowledge the existence of a God, or a supreme being, and I daresay that 99% of you also consider prayer to be a real thing, perhaps something you've used in your own life. I wasn't certain of a theme for this email, until I attended church yesterday. One person talked about how they would ask a question in prayer, and expect to find an answer fairly quickly. Yet, this was never the case for them. Her realization was that, in reality, one spends more time waiting for an answer, than actually receiving one.  Let me expound upon her view. A wise man once taught me that there a...