Experiences from Nauvoo

Spiritual experiences I had during EFY in Nauvoo (before I forget them)

• Monday, pretty much all day, I was really nervous about having a group of 16-18-year-olds after having younger kids all summer. I was afraid that I wouldn’t know how to work with them or be an effective counselor for them. From the moment I found out that I would have older guys, I had been praying that the Lord would help me to be the best counselor I could be for them. During meet your counselor, when I asked them what they expected of me, I was expecting to get the same answers I had gotten all summer – “hook us up with the ladies”, “be awesome”, “let us stay up as late as we want”, and similar “worldly” expectations. Well, my guys blew me away by only stating two things: “be cool, but make sure we still follow the rules and do what we need to do”, and “keep track of us – be our shepherd (but not in a babysitting kind of way)”. NEVER has any group ever kept it that simple or that spiritually-minded. This helped a bit, but I hadn’t yet had a teaching opportunity with them until the evening devotional. During the devotional on recognizing the Spirit, I wanted to give them a chance to share, as I always do, by asking them to share personal experiences they’ve had in their lives where they’ve felt and recognized the Spirit. Right away, Michael raised his hand. I called on him, and instead of contributing to the devotional, he almost pleads for help on filling out the damage report from the other five guys (he had previously taken it upon himself to fill it out). Right then, a wave of peace and comfort rushed over me. THIS WAS WHAT I WAS USED TO!!!! Guys with irrelevant questions in the middle of devotional! It’s like the Lord was trying to tell me that everything would be okay because they weren’t really as big of a new experience as I had expected them to be! Even thinking about this over a week later still chokes me up a little. The Lord DOES hear and answer our prayers, even over the little things, because he knows that they’re important to us (a point illustrated by Chuck’s snow boot story during the Tuesday night devotional)!
• Tuesday night, Steve told me that he wanted to take some family names to the temple on Wednesday when our family went to do baptisms for the dead. There wasn’t much I could do about it that night, but Wednesday morning after the morningside, he and I went into the BC office to clear and print the names. We were able to print one name, but for some reason, we couldn’t get it to print any more. Steve and I went to the Family History Center at the stake center and asked if we could print from there, but we had the same problem. We eventually broke it down and found out that one specific name kept glitching out the system. We printed all of the other names and were ready to go. I had the opportunity to baptize Steve for his ancestors, and it was amazing. I KNOW they were there watching their work be done for them, and that they were happy about it! I’m not sure if they’ll all accept it, but I know that they’re grateful that we did it for them because now they have a choice and can use their agency. It was one of the best temple experiences I’ve ever had!
• Wednesday night’s Atonement devotional was a powerful one as well. I could have pretty much just let Chandler and Steve teach the whole thing. I can’t remember what all was said, but I know that Chandler had so much he wanted to share that he even wanted to keep discussing this with our group after I closed the devotional! I can’t believe how solid my group was, especially Steve, Chandler, and Chuck. The others were great as well, but those three could pretty much pack their bags and go serve missions right now!
• Thursday’s visit to Carthage was another amazing experience. It was the first time I had been there (or to Nauvoo, for that matter) since before my mission, so I was definitely looking at everything from a much different perspective. When we went to the room where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred, the senior missionary giving us the tour played an audio dramatization for us. The Spirit was so THICK it felt like we were swimming in it! I was almost moved to tears (I may have even let a couple slip out). My testimony of Joseph Smith doubled in strength after that experience, and then seeing the film Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration Friday morning strengthened it even more. I have seen the movie several times, but never in Nauvoo, where a lot of it takes place. I know I cried during the film. I’m so grateful to Joseph Smith for enduring all of the persecution and trials he had to endure so that the gospel could be fully restored for us.
• Friday night was pretty much amazing!!!!!!! (yes, all of those exclamation marks are necessary) First, after the Taking It Home fireside, our family stood in a circle and sang the EFY Medley (which has been done every week). As we were singing, and especially when it was just the guys, I took the time to look at each one of them (again, as I’ve done every week). This time, though, something different came to me. As we sung the chorus of “Army of Helaman”, I looked at each one of them and saw them in a white shirt, tie, and a missionary nametag. After having the chance to hear all of my guys (and all of Josh’s group as well) bear their testimonies at some point during the week, I KNEW that they are going to make excellent missionaries, and that their testimonies are going to bless the lives of many people some day (maybe even now). This insight has only come to me once – my very first week of EFY in Normal, Illinois, last summer.
• As we were walking back to the hotel Friday night, I stayed behind to talk with Chuck. He told me that the other counselors and I were great examples to him and that he really looked up to us. I told him that I really looked up to him and the other youth I’ve been around during 10 weeks of EFY because of how spiritually strong some of them are at such a young age. I shared with him that I didn’t actually have my own testimony of the church, and specifically the Book of Mormon, until I was 19 or 20 and just about to leave on a mission. I then asked him how old he was when he got a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and he told me that he hadn’t yet. I was surprised because Chuck had been one of my “on fire” guys all week. I asked him if he had ever read the Book of Mormon and he said he had, and that he was about ready to start Alma. When I asked him if he had ever prayed about it, he said no. I testified to him that this was the only way to know for himself for a certainty. He knew it was good and he desperately wants to find out if it’s true. I committed him to pray before and after reading from the Book of Mormon from now on and that as he does this, he’ll get an answer. I also counseled him not to wait, but to start ASAP! This walk back was a great opportunity to talk with Chuck one-on-one – something that I now know that he needed, and something that I had never really taken the time to do with any of my youth. I think that part of why the week was so amazing was because I made sure to talk to each of my guys individually at some point during the week, just to get to know them and have fun with them. It definitely helped!

A welcome change

This morning started off pretty crappy-like for me. I woke up and my throat was killing me, then a few minutes later I started to get a headache. Both of these were probably from my allergies and eventually went away. On top of that, though, was my super-tiredness, and as a result, I was just grouchy and cranky with my guys for most of the morning.

At the Young Men's activity, for the big meeting, I was part of a quintet that sang "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy." As we were singing, the Spirit began to soften my heart a bit and my crankiness subsided. As the day went on, and I moved on to musical program practice, the day got better and better as I began feeling the Spirit more and more strongly. After our lunchtime musical program practice, when I met up with our company for the variety show, I pulled my guys aside and apologized to them for being so grouchy earlier. Just like a small child or a puppy, they all forgave me instantly! I love my group!

Tonight at the musical program... O-double M-G!!! It was GREAT!!! Everything went even better than I'd hoped! The Spirit was super strong, and one of the guys in my group even told me that part of it moved him to tears! Doing the musical program was an interesting change of pace for me. Although it used up most of my time during the week, the time was definitely well-spent!

I'm so glad that I get to work EFY this summer. Since this is the last time I'll be able to be a counselor, I'm doing all I can to make the most of it and help the youth with the best of my ability. So far, I feel fairly confident that I'm succeeding, and I've definitely felt the Spirit help me out with it. I look forward to the rest of the summer!

Until next time,

~David~

Current Media Experience: "What Heaven Sees In You" by Mindy Gledhill, from the 2005 EFY CD.

Trenton R. Foust Memorial Quote of the Day:
Reed: We have to keep the Law of Chastity until we're married.
Me: You still have to keep it once you're married.
Reed: But I thought it was okay after you're married.
Me: It's never okay to break the Law of Chastity.
A few seconds later (as this conversation continued, Reed said something about not knowing how you'd break the Law of Chastity after marriage)
Josh: It's called the Internet!

After the Trial...

So my company name for the week here in Missouri is "After the Trial," and so far, it's been an interesting choice. Today has definitely been full of trials. First, I totally failed at singer tryouts. Well, by that I mean I just wasn't feeling my singing voice so I didn't do very well. Then, sometime between Meet Your Counselor and the time we left Orientation to go to dinner, I lost/misplaced my cell phone and haven't found it yet. And, to top it all off, tonight, after I spoke with Brother Peterson (the session director) about my devotional this evening, I was locked out of my dorm building for about 10 minutes. Okay, so really only one of those is a serious trial, but today has just felt like a super trying day for me. I just want to find my cell phone. Of course I'm praying for help to find it, and I've looked around and asked several of the counselors. I guess I'll just have to do what it says in Ether 12:6 and just have faith and then the witness (finding my phone or whatever) will come...

That's all I feel like writing this evening...


Until next time,

~David~

Current Media Experience: Nothing tonight. Matt, my roommate for the week, is studying his scriptures so I don't wanna disturb him by playing music (although he is randomly drumming on the desk lol).

Trenton R. Foust Memorial Quote of the Day: Again, I don't feel like doing this either...

THIS IS FOOLISHNESS!!!

So I'm at my first session of EFY for the summer. It's at Gustavus Augustus University in St. Peter, Minnesota. It's the first time I've been to Minnesota (and Wisconsin, where I stayed on Friday night on the way up here), and I must say that this is one of the most beautiful parts of the country that I've ever seen! It reminds me a lot of the areas of Ontario where I served, especially up north around Petawawa/Deep River, Ontario.

Anyway, the youth got here today. I have twelve 14-15 year olds this week, and I'm co-counselors with Doug and Donielle. I think there are 36 youth in our company. Our company's name is "This Is Foolishness." So far, they seem like a very fun group, but also VERY in tune to the Spirit and very smart in that area. I'm super-stoked to be with them this week.

Well, this was basically just a short post to start my summer escapades :) I'm sure I'll post more later this week. I'm gonna try to use the journal time for its intended purpose this year lol.


Until next time,

~David~

Current Media Experience: nothing tonight

Trenton R. Foust Memorial Quote of the Day: "My counselor said we didn't have to follow the Word of Wisdom after EFY." - Me, after I told my guys that they weren't allowed to drink the coffee or tea from the cafeteria this week. The quote came sarcastically as I explained that they shouldn't drink it ever.

Starting to figure it out

Things are finally starting to be clear to me now...

First, an update. I found out on the first day of Spring Break that I was not accepted into BYU. At first, I was kinda upset and confused, especially since I had received such a strong confirmation that I was supposed to go out there. I was able to meet with an admissions adviser the Friday that I was out there, and found out that the main reason that my application was denied was because my GPA wasn't high enough. It's a 3.11 right now and it needs to be at least 3.65 before they'll even consider me. Also, once I hit 90 credit hours, they won't look at my application at all. I was able to persuade them to ignore the "test-out" credits, which would leave me with like 54 hours. They told me that if I could boost my GPA without going over 90 credits, I'd most likely be admitted. Up until recently, that was the plan...

Now, however, after meeting with two of my French professors regarding changing my major to just French, I now have a new plan. I will be applying for two different French teaching assistantship positions - one at the university in Nancy and the other could be at an elementary, middle, or high school anywhere in France - for the fall of 2010. Hopefully, I'll be able to graduate from Ball State at the end of the spring 2010 semester. For that summer, though, I haven't decided if I'm gonna do study abroad in France or just work to save money for France in the fall. The teaching programs both pay well and offer benefits from the French government, and they'd be great opportunities for me to get experience in French. Oh, I forgot to mention that I'd be teaching English classes during this assistantship program.

Now, I still don't know why the Lord told me that I needed to go out West if I wasn't gonna get into BYU. Maybe it's for something I'm supposed to do later. Maybe I'm supposed to go to grad school out there. I don't know. But I do know that if I had transferred to BYU and left Ball State, I would more than likely not be able to do either one of these teaching programs (the one in Nancy is only offered to Ball State students because of a special agreement between the two schools). I know everything happens for a reason, and the Lord will let me know when/if he wants me to move out west (be it to Utah or somewhere else).

Part of what's helped me to really rely on His timing is my new and improved habit of daily scripture study. For the past couple of days, I've studied faith in depth, and it's proved to be very helpful to me. I'm just making sure that I keep myself on the right path that way the Lord can bless me and the Spirit can guide me in what I need to do.

Until next time,

~David~

Current Media Experience: "Boys of Summer" by The Ataris

Trenton R. Foust Memorial Quote of the Day: "That's irrelevant! You don't serve the ball with your junk!" - Me, last night, when Michelle said that Jacob deserved a do-over on his serve because he had gotten trashed in the crotch about 10 minutes earlier by the volleyball.

I'm back!

So yeah...

I haven't posted in here since June!!!

Anyway, I just want to write a couple of things that have been on my mind recently. First and foremost is the big news that I'm gonna be transferring to BYU this fall. Those of you who know me well probably are wondering why I changed my "anti-BYU" stance all of a sudden. To explain that, I'll need to go back a bit, almost to this time last year. I was at a zone study in Montreal and everyone was hounding me to go to BYU when I got home from my mission. The plan was to just go back to Ball State and continue my studies there. However, I realized that I had never really prayed about where I should go to school. That night, I knelt and prayed for a long time asking for guidance as to what to do - continue at Ball State or transfer to BYU. The answer I received was to stay at Ball State for the year and then evaluate the decision again. So fast foward to now. The whole fall semester I had been feeling like I was just drifting/coasting along in life. School just seemed to be wasting my time and I didn't think I wanted to be a news reporter anymore (something the jury's still out on). I basically had no idea what I needed to do, so I decided to pray about it. I didn't get an answer right away, so every time I prayed, I would ask about school. And every day when I'd think about maybe leaving Ball State, the only other school that came to mind was BYU. So then I started asking if BYU was where I needed to go. Again, nothing came, but I kept thinking about BYU. I even began the process of finding out which classes would transfer from Ball State to BYU. Then, last Wednesday night (January 14), I decided to pray and basically leave it in the Lord's hands. During my prayer, I decided that whatever the Lord wanted me to do, I would do, even if that meant leaving everything here and going to BYU (which, as I've mentioned before, I've always been dead-set against). The next day, when we were going on a tour of the athletic facilities for my walking class, it hit me as clear as day - Transfer to BYU! There was no doubt, no question about it. I had gotten my answer, and so now I am in the process of applying to BYU for the fall. I will more than likely be rooming with my MTC companion, who recently decided he's attending BYU as well. In fact, it was after talking with him last week that I really became motivated to pray and find out for sure what I needed to do. So there you have it. The application is due March 1 and classes start August 31. I'll definitely keep this up to date about the status of my application, although I am almost positive I'll get in.

The other thing I want to write about is somthing I just learned about today. My family has been renting a storage unit for a while. However, I guess the bill hasn't been paid in about a year, so the other day, the storage unit people sold everything that was in there. Normally I wouldn't care because it was mostly junk in there anyway, but there's a very good possibility that all of my mission souvenirs that aren't currently in my apartment were in that storage unit. My mom is in the process of getting in contact with the person who bought the stuff, but if my stuff was in there, there's a good chance I'll never see it again. Fortunately, my journals, photo albums, and books weren't in there, but all of my letters and a bunch of irreplaceable things were in the "mission box" - including my call letter. I really hope my mom can get this all sorted out. Now there is a chance that the box is at my house somewhere instead of the storage unit, but I'm not too optimistic about that.

Well, I guess that's it for this post. I'm waiting at the BSU Health Center and I'm gonna go so I'll be ready when (or if) they call me back there...

Until next time,

~David~

Current Media Experience: The sounds of the Health Center

Trenton R. Foust Memorial Quote of the Day: "Apparently, 3 square meals a day is torture." - someone from my News 202 class, in reference to why President Obama is planning on closing the prison/detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (this quote does not represent the views of this writer).

EFY!!!

So last week’s EFY was amazing, but the one this week has gotten off to an even better start! Despite all of the mishaps that I endured on the way here (thinking I lost my wallet and locked my keys in the car, getting to Ypsilanti just in time for the session director fireside, and not being able to cash my Papa John’s paycheck at Wal*Mart because their machine wouldn’t read the numbers on it), today, the first official day of this session, was great! First of all, I can tell from today that my guys are most likely gonna be a lot less rambuxious than last week, which is kinda surprising because this week I have 12 and last week I only had 8. And, they all seem to want to participate and listen during devotionals and meetings. We had our devotional on faith this evening. I played the intro to The Restoration and then we discussed how our faith affects ourselves and those around us. Most of them participated in the discussion, and I thought it went really well. I shared with them the story of the time Elder Toupin and I went to contact one of Fallowfield’s media referrals, and how the guy asked us why we were so happy, and we told him that it was because we knew that the gospel had been restored and it brought us so much joy that we couldn’t help but be happy. This triggered a discussion of times when other people have noticed that we are “different” because we actually live what we believe and it makes us better people spiritually. The Spirit was there and I think the devotional was a success. And, to top it all off, it’s 11:00 and they’re ALL in bed with the lights out! I’m so happy!

On a random side note, I got to go to Tim Hortons today and get a dozen donuts plus 20 Timbits. I used the dozen donuts as part of the “Getting to Know You” activity. They each chose a donut (each one was different), then I asked them to explain why they chose the one they did, and how it represented them and their personality. As far as I can tell, they really enjoyed it. I thought it was fun and it worked really well, especially since it was a last-minute substitute for the activity I did last week (I couldn’t find where I put the Starburst cards).

Well, that’s all I’m gonna write for today. I think I’m gonna take advantage of my group’s awesome obedience and actually go to bed before 11:30 tonight!

Until next time,

~David~

I don't know the English word for what I'm thinking...

So I know it's been an insanely long time since I've even tried to post on here, but I've been busy, and honestly, I just haven't even thought about this thing in a long time. So, in the tradition of my procrastinated journals, I'm gonna very briefly summarize what I've done since my last entry on this thing.

• Finished at Papa John's
• Bought an iPod Nano
  
• Had an AWESOME weekend in Houston
• Attended a crawfish boil at said Houstonian weekend
• Decided to volunteer for a week at Ransburg with my brother before starting EFY

So yeah, that about sums it up. Right now, I'm sitting in the new staff cabin (well, new since I was last down here) at Ransburg. I'll be working as a ridge commissioner this week, which is actually something I've always wanted to do. So far, so good. James is down here too, working in Scoutcraft. I think he said he's teaching Emergency Preparedness. We'll be here until Friday after the closing campfire, then we have to go home so I can get ready to leave for EFY on Saturday morning. That's something else that I'm super-stoked about!

I've also been really slacking on the French version of this blog, http://dtcscoutfr.blogspot.com. I think I'm gonna pretty much leave it for now. I'll keep it open so I can post my randomness in French if I feel the urge or want/need the practice. I anticipate that I'll be using it a lot more once school starts and I'll be taking 2 French classes.

Well, honestly, I think that's about it for right now. I'm super tired and it's kinda late. Plus, I have to be ready for breakfast at like 7 in the morning. Hopefully I'll post again before the end of the week, but if the past is any indication of the likelihood of that happening, I can't make any guarantees. :(

Until next time,

~David~

Current Media Experience: Background noise of people playing video games and music in the cabin.

Trenton R. Foust Memorial Quote of the Day: "Do this, do that, while I get old and fat!" - DJ Smith, while performing the "If I weren't a Boy Scout" skit. That was not only not his line, but no one else in the whole skit was using that part! (it's the Scoutmaster's line - he was the lifeguard - "Mouth-to-mouth resuscitate, what a way to get a date!")

JEEEOOORREEAARRB!!!!!!!

So yesterday was the first day of my new job at Papa John's. I'm working there as a delivery driver until at least mid-June, when camp, vacation, and EFY are gonna start. I worked yesterday and today, and so far, the job's not too bad at all. It's A LOT better than that McDonald's job I used to have (twice). And, unlike the last "job" I had (serving as a missionary), people are actually happy to see me ringing their doorbell!

The other big news is that my parents and I have had to reschedule the Canada trip. I don't know when we're gonna be able to go up there. My mom said July, but with EFY, I don't think we'll be able to go up until the end of July, and that's when half of Canada goes on vacation. But, if most people are gone, that means we wouldn't need to spend as much time up there, which would give me more time to work, either at EFY or Ransburg (I'm gonna apply for the end of the summer).

Well, that's about all I can think about for now. I've gotta go to bed soon because I'm picking up my mom from work at 5:30 in the morning! Then, it's off to Muncie to get a paper signed by Elder and/or Sister Andrews for the EFY job, then to try to give plasma. Finally, it's work tomorrow from 5-8 PM. It should be a busy day...

Until next time,

~David~

Current Media Experience: "30 Rock" from last week

Trenton R. Foust Memorial Quote of the Day: "Don't speed in Ingalls" - just about everyone at Papa John's yesterday and today.

Thoughts

I had an awesome entry planned for Sunday. For some reason, though, I never got around to posting it. Now that I have time, I can only remember one of the two things I was gonna post. Hey, it's a start, eh?

This is something that happened during my mission that never made it into my mission journal. I remembered it because of our lesson in Elders' Quorum on Sunday. We were discussing Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk from the most recent General Conference. His talk was called Daughters of God. Anyway, one of the suggestions he gave in his talk was that husbands should make sure that their wives have time to do things on their own. The exact phrase he used was "Third, give your wife a “day away” now and then. Just take over the household and give your wife a break from her daily responsibilities. Taking over for a while will greatly enhance your appreciation of what your wife does." This might sound stupid or like a huge stretch, but I had an experience during my mission where I was the recipient of a "day away". Well, it was only a "night away", but it was awesome! Here's what happened:

It was November of 2007. I was serving as District Leader in Ville-Marie Sud over the largest district in the mission (at the time, there were six companionships, including mine), and was very stressed with all of the responsibility and adjusting to being in my first French area since May 2006. Elder Nelson was my companion, and at the time, we were staying at the Snowdon apartment because ours was being renovated (and a mouse problem was being eliminated). I talked to Elder Nelson about how I was feeling, and he asked me something about writing in my journal. Since I had to call every companionship in the district every night, I rarely had time to write in my journal, as I usually didn't finish phone calls until 10:00. He asked me if I thought it would help if I could write in my journal. I said yes. Then, he offered to make all of my DL phone calls that night so that I could try to catch up in my journal. As I was writing, an intense feeling of calm came over me, and for the first time in weeks, I was able to relax and not feel so stressed. It helped a lot! I'd like to say that I stayed caught up on my journal, but that wasn't the case. But, I'm very grateful that Elder Nelson was willing to fulfill some of my responsibilities so that I could try to chill a bit. It was one of the most charitable things any of my companions did for me.

Honestly, that's all I want to post right now. I may or may not post later...

Until next time,

~David~

Current Media Experience: "Star Trek: Nemesis" Special Edition DVD

Trenton R. Foust Memorial Quote of the Day: "What are you bumping and grinding to in there?" - me, in response to the music my brother was listening to in the other room last night.