Week 37: Racked With Torment, Filled With Joy

Dear Friends and Family,

HAHA I know I mentioned the Atonement last week in my email, however it is such a great thing so I wanted to mention another insight that came from my personal study throughout the week! One day I was reading in Alma 36, which is the story of Alma the younger after he came back from preaching to people about the church. And in Chapter 36, he is talking to his son, Helaman. And I wanted to share a couple thoughts that I had throughout the reading.

And now, O my son Helaman (Elder Stonely), behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day (Alma 36:3). 

I took from this verse the fact that anyone who trusts in God will be able to be supported. No matter the circumstance, we have this gift. Later on in the chapter Alma recounts his conversion story about how he used to be a crazy sinner. He explains in the following verses how he felt during these times. And I thought to myself, "How bad would this have to feel?" and "how hard would this have been?"

But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins (Alma 36:12).

Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death (Alma 36:18).

Alma the Younger Called to Repentance. Artist, Gary L. Kapp

I thought about how that must feel to really be "encircled about by the everlasting chains of death" and to feel at your all time lowest as if never to escape. And Verse 18 is actually when he is praying and asking for forgiveness. And in the preceding three verses he explains how he "was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" (Alma 36:20) and in the following verse, "so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy" (Alma 36:21).

As I took time to ponder those scriptures I really understood the importance of repentance and trying to perfect yourself. I thought back on the week and how there are just little things that are keeping myself from feeling the spirit on a 24/7 basis. And in a way, I felt like Alma where the "chains of death" were upon me. Though the extent of my own self wasn’t as bad as Alma, I felt a little bitter. As if tiny little disobedience was causing such a weight on me. And I love how he compares the pains to being bitter and the joy to being sweet. Because as we strive as missionaries to be exactly obedient and to work our hardest despite the world around us, we really can feel this "sweet Joy." 

And I also feel this applies to all people. As you continue to strive to be a better person and to repent daily one can come to feel the sweet joy as described by Alma. And one person can really enjoy the fruits of the Atonement. I am so very grateful for every day that I have to walk in the service of others and to really appreciate what I have been given on a daily basis. I am SO grateful. If I were to express the amount of my thankfulness or whatever you call it, I think I would explode. HAHA 

Thank you all for a great week and for all of your love and support! I love you all and can’t wait to talk to you later on :) 

Much love from Foley, AL #goingonninemonths

Elder Stonely :)

Trying on some shades.

Hangin with some members.

Now there is a yard sign I can believe in!

Week 36: My Favorite Subject, The Atonement

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope you all had such a great week this week! It was so great hearing from all the adventures that are happening back home. And I thank you all for your love and support! 

I wanted to start by sharing some feelings that I had throughout the week. Mainly focused on my favorite subject, the Atonement. Though I feel my testimony of the Atonement has so much room for improvement, from what I know, it is one of the charitable acts that anyone would have done. Our savior Jesus Christ, a perfect being, went through physical, emotional and spiritual pain that none of us have or even could experience. This week one of the biggest parts of his suffering that I noticed while studying came from the fact that the He went through it alone. The savior suffered through the pains alone. His apostles couldn't even stay awake while he was in the Garden, He cried to his father during his hardest time. I only could sit and imagine how He must have felt. I was listening to a talk by Elder Holland and he said something along the lines of how the savior must have been prepared physically and temporally, but not as well emotionally or spiritually. For me this week it was something that I was very happy to find. That the savior knows how I feel in times where I feel lonely or in times where I feel like I can’t do anything. He knows how I feel and knows how to help me best in order to give comfort and guidance. I am so very grateful.

Well on a fun note, Elder Sturdevant and I bought stuff to make Mexican style enchiladas which were on spot!  They were super good and we still have leftovers in the fridge :) That will be something to look forward to cooking a lot when I have time :) I learned how to roast chilies which was super good!

Mexican-style enchiladas! Now who is Boss!!

I hope you all enjoyed your week and I hope that you all have a great one coming up! I love you all and look forward to learning and growing more this next upcoming week! 

Much love, 

Elder Stonely

Missionary vehicle.

Riley riding down a typical bike path in Foley, AL.

Week 35: I Packed All My Stuff for Transfers

Holy COW!!! oh wait ill start out formally I guess...

Dear Friends and Family,

So we have been blessed to see many miracles this week! We recently have picked up three more families to teach the gospel to! We are so excited for that! And one of the families originates from a previous investigator. Victor (a young man in the ward) has always helped the missionaries visit his friends, and he was explaining this to us before how he always helps them, but not many of them really progress or want to change at all, but we were over at Silvia's house. Silvia has been taught by missionaries and committed to baptism. However a couple days before her baptism, she bailed for some reason or another. So the missionaries ended up dropping her as an investigator. Well Victor and us decided to go visit her again! and when we went over there, her mom was also there. And her mom loved the missionaries, however she only speaks Spanish and the previous missionaries only spoke English. She was super surprised that we spoke Spanish when we showed up! and then she just got talking to us! So she brought up a random question that a lot of people ask, "Why don't you drink coffee?" And so we answered her concern very simply in less then 2 sentences. And surprisingly she responded, "I'm gonna stop drinking coffee now." And for her that was huge! She had told us right before asking the question that she drinks a TON of Coffee. And she pushed her coffee mug, which was on the table, away from her and said she would never drink it again! HAHA So that opened up perfectly for us to begin teaching her. We shared the Restoration with her and gave her a Book of Mormon. She was super excited and said she will read and pray about it! Man the whole lesson and all the interactions we had previous with her family fit so perfectly into place in that lesson to allow the spirit to teach her. And we know that their family will get baptized. All it takes now is a little patience and diligent work! 

So that was only one of the COUNTLESS experiences that we have experienced this week. If I share all of them, this email will be as long as the Old Testament. So just know that there were so many great tender mercies like that one!

Now I think I mentioned to a couple of you how transfers were this upcoming week. My memory is terrible, so I don't remember how I mentioned it. HAHA However, I have been in Foley for 5 transfers already and man I have been so down lately because I simply did not want to leave this area. If any of you remember how I felt about 2 transfers ago... Well it was that but like 100000000x worse! HAHA I felt so sad that I was leaving such a great area and leaving at a time when many blessings started to come! Now for any of you who know me really well, when I start to get really sad or stressed I start to just do random stuff to occupy myself. HAHA So along with that, I started to go into the stages of denial and so Saturday night, (night before transfer calls) I packed up ALL of my stuff into my suitcases and was ready to leave! HAHA I was for sure that I was leaving and I was a bit sad. HAHA So we got the call Sunday night and guess what????? I'M STILL HERE IN FOLEY!!!!!!!!!!! HAHA and lets just say I am now telling myself every day how dumb I am for packing all my stuff. HAHA so this morning I spent unpacking. So I guess you could say I got transferred kinda?? HAHAHA Funny story :) Oh and I had also told Elder Sturdevant that If I wasn't getting transferred that he could tell me "I told you so" for the next six weeks. HAHA Its gonna be a long one...

So yeah! Still in Foley and still with Elder Sturdevant for another 6 weeks! Maybe at the end of that transfer I'll pack up my bags for real! HAHA As well as feeling really dumb for packing, I feel really blessed to be in this area for another short period of time. That means the Lord's work for me here is not done yet! And I set a goal to baptize one of these families before I leave, so I best be hauling myself through every day!

Love you all super duper much! You all are Bosses for being who you are and reading my Crazy emails! Love you much :)

Until I get transferred again,

Elder Stonely :)

Valentines Day package. Thanks MOM!!!

Matching Valentines Day ties!

A Boss activity with the Ward!

Week 34: My Amazing Companion!

Dear Friends and Family,

:)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :0  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :) *)

Yup, that pretty much describes my whole week! HAHA There was a lot of smiles, crazy faces, fake smiles and just a lot of "what?" Oh man have I learned a lot. And I feel as if I continue to miss learning opportunities as well! (which I'm not proud of). 

For starters, I want to tell you all about my companion, Elder Sturdevant. Now he is something else! He is pretty great :) HAHA this past Friday we went biking so we could save some miles. We had planned to visit someone a little farther away which required us to go through this road through the woods. So we parked the car, then hopped on the bikes and skirted out :) And one thing elder Sturdevant likes to do on his bike is run over soda cans that will then stick to his wheel which creates the sound of a motor bike as the wheel turns. So We were riding, probably a mile away from the car, and he sees a couple soda cans on the side of the road. (now keep in mind, this is a dirt road, so it has soft dirt sides) So he tried to get one of them and slipped a little on his bike. He said, "that was a close one..." I turned to him and said, "better be careful! you're gonna crash!" And two minutes later he went for another can. This time he wasn't so lucky. His wheel got caught in the dirt causing him to go flying over the handle bars. HAHA It was hilarious not gonna lie... HAHA But he was ok and he continued the day with a smile :) So the next day, we are riding on the same road, but it was a little before the dirt, and it was paved. So he did the same thing, but this time he got caught of the road coming up and flipped over on the pavement. HAHA It was HILARIOUS to see because it was the second time in two days, but also really kinda scary. He had scraped hands and ripped pants and it was just terrible... HAHA yet what did he do?? He had a smile on his face and had such a great attitude! 

Elder Sturdevant and Elder Stonely.

I learn so much from my companion. This week was another slow and hard one for us, but he showed me the importance of having a positive attitude and putting on a smile even when things are hard. I really appreciate him for showing me that without realizing it.

To end this weird email, I wanted to share with you all something that I was reading throughout the week. I recently started reading from "Teachings of Presidents of the Church" the one of Brigham Young and I was reading in Chapter 3 "Living the Gospel" and these two quotes stood out to me:

We have the Gospel of life and salvation, to make bad men good and good men better. Pg: 21

It is written of the savior in the Bible that he descended below all things that he might ascend above all. Is it not so with every man? Certainly it is. It is fit, then, that we should descend below all things and come up gradually, and learn a little now and again, receive 'line upon line, precept upon precept, her a little and there a little' [see Isaiah 28:9-10; D&C 98:12 ] until we can reach into eternity and embrace a fulness of his glory, excellency and power. Pg: 22

I was pondering those passages, and though I may have took it the wrong way as intended, I thought of them as a help to me. I have wanted to really apply the gospel to me and to really try to live it. And I find so many things that I want to change and grow, though when I look at it all at once, I get a little overwhelmed. And I read this and thought, "you know? All I have to do is work on it little by little...and that is what will make able to live the gospel more." And I love the first one because the gospel really is to help bad men become good and good men better. And I want to become better and know that through the gospel I can do it. 

I am so very grateful for all of you all back home! Thank you for your help with missionaries anywhere :) We all feel united! 

Love you much!

Elder Stonely

District selfie.