Talmage Mission

Good Morning! It's amazing how a wonderful start to the week can fall apart so quickly. After a wonderful Monday passes, Tuesday brings the news of my flight date . . . on May 10th.  To perhaps better understand the impact this had in my mind, I'll draw on a very recent experience of mine.  Imagine for a minute that one of your baby buffalo had slipped through the fence. There it is, standing outside the barbed wire, likely confused why the fence moved. So you talk to it reasonably. You love this buffalo, and you know that he'll do what you want if you gently coerce him back to the gate. Then he'll be safely contained, and you'll be happy knowing everything worked out just how you wanted.  This buffalo, #111, has different plans. After you try to tell him what he should do and guide him to the gate, he decides he's had enough. He turns and runs into the forest, leaving you behind and abandoning the fence you'd built just for him. You have worked hard on this...

Good Morning! It is time to celebrate, I'm officially being reinstated to the Utah, St. George Mission! I received the news last week Monday, but as I was having difficulties with my email I held off on announcing this. Another part of me was hoping to get my flight info reasonably soon after, but my Mission President is working with the Missionary Travel Department to organize a few more details. I'll throw something on Facebook when I have my plane tickets.  In retrospect, I'm glad I sent that email on Sunday. One day I'll look back and see what it was like waiting for my reinstatement, and contrast that experience to how I felt after finally receiving that good news.  I was waiting a long time for my reinstatement, and I'm still waiting for flight plans now. I've been waiting for almost four months to return to St. George. It is easy to ask God, why am I waiting? What purpose could he have for my delay? My mission has ultimately been delayed for a host of rea...

Good Morning! In a previous email, titled "My Two Year Calling", I mentioned sensing a figurative light at the end of my tunnel. It has been over two months since then, and that light is closer than ever before. I am still awaiting word from the mission office on my return. I've prayed about it every night, so I know that as long as I keep strengthening myself, I'll return to the Utah, St. George Mission on God's timetable.  I'd hoped to fill this email with the excitement of returning to my mission. Yet, that news isn't here yet. You'll notice I'm sending this on a Sunday. This is because my missionary email account access will be removed tonight. I'm not sure how this next week will work out, but my Stake President and I hope to be contacted soon, in which case I'll do what I need to keep everyone aware of what's happening.  Even though I feel that I know patience, God has definitely tested that capacity these past three weeks. Nevert...

Good Morning! This past weekend was General Conference, where we spent 8-10 hours listening to the Prophet and Apostles speak to the world. The messages they shared were amazing, you could learn something from every single talk. I took a lot of notes throughout the four sessions, and received answers to my heartfelt questions. It was very uplifting to learn more about Christ from every speaker. One of the themes throughout the conference was a question; how can we strengthen our belief in Jesus Christ? There were many routes offered by the speakers, but a similar question crossed my mind. It's easy to say "I believe," but does that belief always translate to action? Earlier this week while driving along the highway, I pondered over an interesting scenario. If the Prophet were to show up outside my house and tell me to do something outrageous, like move to Kansas or something, would I have the faith to do as he asked? We believe the Prophet is the mouthpiece for Jesus Chri...

Good Morning! Remember how that 10 foot post smacked me in the face? This past week all things wooden were my bane. I walked my face into an H-brace, cracked a rake handle across my forehead like they do in cartoons, fixed a shattered fence post, smashed my foot under that same broken post, almost took down a 50 foot tall tree with my bare hands (and grandpa), tore my jeans to shreds (via barbed wire, which I was attaching to a post), and successfully developed heat exhaustion. This isn't complaining, just stating my accomplishments. Needless to say, it has been a very eventful week. My grandparents abandoned us after two weeks of suffering at our ranch . . . I'd say their feeling was warranted. I've loved having them around, especially because it's likely the last time I'll see them for at least another two years. Earlier this week I found a certain playlist of my music that threw me back a few years. It's interesting to think retrospectively about your own lif...

Good Morning! The weather is getting warmer, as much as Texas will permit, This has signalled all the local wildlife that it's time to leave their homes and invade our space on the ranch. Aside from the ever-present buffalo and the new dogs, I've seen evidence of a number of other animals. I saw a butterfly and a caterpillar, two field mice that bounded away immediately, another pocket gopher (the mysterious rodent from a few emails back), a couple different lizards, and some new birds sticking around our bison. My dad called them flycatchers, I'm just happy to witness large herbivore/small bird symbiosis in person. Yes, I've been at the ranch every day this past week. The experience is good for me, and it's important to help my family, but I'm sore. My goodness. Since my grandparents are the helpful kind of folk, their arrival has doubled my time at Blackacre Ranch. I've helped demolish one derelict sunroom, three different carport roofings, and a garage ov...

Good Morning! Monday evening I had the opportunity to attend a lesson with our local missionaries. It was a fun reminder of what missionary lessons are like, though we held it in a park, when the weather was like 40 degrees. And I forgot a sweater, but it's fine. Not many unusual or exciting things happened. We're still working with the buffalo, but we found some new friends for them.  We now have two new ranch dogs, both are Great Pyrenees, and are super white and fluffy! The older one is a boy, he's just shy of two years, and we named him Mr. Darcy. Lizzy is the girl, she's just a puppy, and a little more energetic. Both are super lazy, so they'll follow you and then sit down, and they don't bark at everything that moves. We keep them near the buffalo, so far both sides seem okay with the other. Loud, energetic dogs are bad to have around buffalo because they resemble wolves and the buffalo don't like that. It makes things harder, which is why we like our ...