Week 104 (10/20/2020) The Curtain Falls

 Dear y'all,

It has not quite sunk in yet that I am actually leaving. I mean, I know I am, and my bags are packed, but it still seems surreal. 

This week has been a fitting conclusion to my full-time missionary service. On Wednesday I was privileged to perform L__'s baptism in a members pool, and be a part of her confirmation on Sunday. Those were awesome spiritual experiences, and she has an inspiring testimony. 

Looking back on these two years, my own testimony of the Savior and His grace has grown immeasurably
. I love the Savior, and I am filled with gratitude for his sacrifice on my behalf. Truly I am nothing without Him, but I can do all things by being unified with Him. 

My full-time service may be drawing to a close, but He still has my all, and will for the rest of my life. I am grateful for all of the experiences that I have had, all of the people I have met, and the ways I have seen the hand of the Lord.

I conclude as I will continue, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen

Elder DeFord

Week 103 (10/12/2020) The Last One

 Now, I suppose I could make a liar out of myself and send a weekly next week anyways, and I may end up doing so, but this is the last full week of my mission. 

Looking back over the last two years, it is crazy to think that it was both so long and so short. I don't even remember what it was like to not be a missionary. The thought of having something that is so deeply rooted in your life end is oddly intimidating. Which, I suppose, is why they have the myplan program to try and link the mission and home life together. In any case, I have learned a lot, and will be carrying these memories and lessons for the rest of my life. One of the most powerful things I have learned is the efficacy and all encompassing nature of the Savior's atonement, and what it means for each of us. I am so grateful that He chose to take upon Himself all of our weaknesses so that we could, through Him, overcome them. 

On the more here and now, we had my last zone conference this week, and I had the opportunity to bear my testimony at the end with all the other departing missionaries. 

We continued meeting with L__, who is just awesome. She is so on fire with the spirit, and whenever we teach a principle she immediately integrates it with what she knows and has experienced. I love talking with her; yesterday during our lesson, we talked about the spirit world and read from Alma 40, and she exclaimed that the Book of Mormon has to be true because it explains what she already had come to believe through the spirit. It is awesome, and she is preparing for her baptism this Friday! 

On that note, which is probably a suspended fourth waiting to be resolved, we will close this email. 

Elder DeFord

Week 102 (10/5/2020) Conference

 I strongly considered just not writing these last couple of weeklies, but I haven't missed a week yet, and my pride won't let me blow it off. 

This was a very good week! Of course, the highlight was getting to watch our Prophet and Apostles speak at general conference. Their remarks were very timely in a troubled world. I think it is very clear that they are praying and seeking direction for our needs today. I also loved Elder Anderson's emphasis on focusing on Christ, that is something I often think about, and I am glad that it was addressed. 

There were some technical difficulties in watching, but nothing too severe. On the first day the broadcast started in Spanish, which was quite awkward for the majority of the room. It mostly ran smoothly, though. I an definitely grateful for the technology that makes conference so very accessible the world over. 

We had a midweek transfer this week, no one in my district was affected, but one of the Spanish Elders that lives in our complex was transferred and we have a new Elder fresh out of the online MTC. 

Teaching L__ is still going very well. She thinks deeply about the scriptures when we read with her, you can tell she is pondering and synthesizing information. It is awesome to see how sincerely she is seeking for the truth. She worked in the afternoons, but was able to catch the morning sessions of conference. 

Signing off from Texas,

Elder DeFord

Week 101 (9/28/2020) Close Calls

 Y'all,

Well, Hurricane Beta was really only tropical depression Beta when it passed overhead, dropping an abundance of rain, but nothing we hadn't seen before. Even thunderstorms at home are comparable. 

We are still teaching L__ with the B__s. On our Thursday lesson with her, we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and extended a baptismal date to her for the 17th of October, and she happily accepted! Teaching her is a lot of fun. She has a very intuitive understanding of the gospel, and when we say something she thinks about it for a second, and then exclaims that that is the missing puzzle piece of her understanding.

Friday we got to help a couple of families move out of the ward. They had a full sized semi-trailer, and when we had to leave it was a good half way full, with plenty more to fill the space. They had been living there for ten years, so they were pretty well settled in. It was nice to be out and helping, though. 

We got to meet with the M__s again this week. Our contact with them had been pretty sporadic as they redid their house and were out of town, but we were able to schedule a time to meet and read the scriptures with them. 

With it being fast Sunday, I thought about something which often buzzes around my head on fast Sundays, that we as Latter Day Saints often assume Christ. What I mean by that is because Christ is so central to our doctrine and beliefs, we don't explicitly mention Him perhaps as often as we should. It is assumed that anything we believe or care about is rooted in Him, but we don't always say it.

In any case, I wanted to offer my testimony of the Savior. I truly know that Jesus Christ lives. He is my Savior and my Redeemer. He gave His life for me, because He loves me, and He did the same for each of us. He carried an unimaginable burden so that we could be, as the scriptures say, perfected in Him. And I praise His name for it. He advocates on our behalf, and He satisfied justice so that we could have mercy. His is the greatest gift anyone has ever given, and I love Him. 

I haven't shared my testimony a lot in these emails, again because I assume you know I have one. But let it be recorded, that I know that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God.

Elder DeFord

Week 100 (9/21/2020) Week 100

 Dear y'all,

This weeks highlight reel has some actual highlights, so buckle your seatbelts, make the big bar make the little clackety sounds as you pull it down, an attendant will come by and check.it for safety. 

On Tuesday we got to meet L__ H__, someone who got interested in the church talking to some members, who she is currently living with. The members are the B__'s, which sounded very familiar to me when I first heard the name. Indeed, when we arrived at their house, they called their brother down to join us for dinner...and it was a member I knew from the Jasper branch! He didn't specifically remember me, but it is crazy how small a world it is. Anyways, we had an awesome lesson with L__. Definitely a case of someone who has been kept from the truth simply because she didn't know where to find it. During our lesson, she kept exclaiming that we were giving her puzzle pieces she had searched for for years. 

We also had exchanges this week, which went fine. I am never a huge fan of exchanges, since they just break up the normal routine, so I wasn't sad when the virus made those unavailable, but they have decided that we can do them again. 

We are looking at a hurricane dumping through the next couple of days. It looks like it is slow moving and filled with rain, so they are anticipating a good amount of flooding in low lying areas. We may be spending the foreseeable future mucking out houses once it passes through. It certainly is a record breaking year for disaster. It really makes you appreciate all of the time when there isn't something catastrophic going on around you. Which is most of the time, really. 

I hear the smoke mostly cleared at home, at least for now, so I hope everyone back that direction breathes deep and clear.

Elder DeFord

Week 99 (9/14/2020) It's Been a Week

 Heyo,

It started out a week like any other. And pretty much stayed that way. Well, I mean, last week was transfers, so Elder Johnson has been settling in. I believe I already mentioned that he is from the Seattle area? Well, we are both glad we can at least breathe the air here. It looks like the whole #can'tbreathe movement took it a little far in the pacific northwest. 

We had a great lesson with L__, the right L__, for anyone remembers that fiasco from about a month ago. She is loving the Book of Mormon, and was going to log into our broadcasted church service, but slept through it. Next week!

We also got a call from a member here in the area, saying that they have a friend investigating the church! So we are going to teach them here this week. Sounds like she has a lot of interest!

Still working on Facebook, and by working, I mean making videos at a slow rate. But if anyone wants to like the page, it is Followers of Jesus Christ in Summerwood TX. 

Well, there we go, love from Texas

Elder DeFord

Week 98 (9/8/2020) Laura Continues

 Y'all,

It is still just incredible to me to see the destruction that winds can cause. We went out to help cleanup in Lake Charles again this weekend, and I just wish we could do more. While some buildings emerged completely unscathed, others have 50 ft trees through their roofs, or the wind just completely blew the roof off. We saw one house that had previously been on stilts, but got knocked down. The only reason you could tell that it didn't used to be a ground floor house is the car crushed halfway underneath it. And there is so little we can do to help, we can tarp roofs and process fallen trees, but so much of this work will have to be done by professionals, to get power back to these people. The fellow we were helping on Saturday said that they might not get power back until January. It is all tragic.

Speaking of the hurricane cleanup, yours truly is on the churches news article about it. You have to scroll through the pictures a little, and ignore the mask, but Elder Gregory and I are in there. And speaking of Elder Gregory, he is headed home tomorrow, so a big salute to him. I am staying in Eaglesprings, Elder Johnson is my new companion. It will be nice to continue to be able to work with the S__'s and the rest of the ward, I am looking forward to it. 

Oh! For anyone wondering, Elder Saftsen, my last companion, is currently on the airplane to Sweden, so he is finally getting to go to his original assignment! He stopped by yesterday to say bye on his way to the mission home. 

Other than that, we filmed some videos for Facebook, taught some repentance, baptized converts, well, not the last one. But hopefully here in the next month. 

Elder DeFord

P.s. we had to take another Elder to a doctor's appointment in Houston, so we got to stop by the Houston Temple and take pictures.