"Today's a way good day!"

It appears they will be hearing on their transfers very soon.  And just when I finally mastered how to spell AND pronounce Szczecin!  

Lance begins by thanking us for his package, which contained healthy foods and toiletries, as well as another copy of his CD.  Good news, he reports, is that the mission president has given them permission to listen to other music besides MoTab.  So that means he can officially listen to his own music!  

He says that he and his companion are out on the streets for at least 8 hours a day.  They've taught 18 lessons on the streets this last week.  And he reports that his feet hurt so bad!  He says that he has noticed that as they are teaching a lesson to someone that is interested, there are various distractions that always show up.  As an example, in the midst of teaching a lesson, a person will come up and try to interrupt by making random comments and ask distracting questions.  He says that he knows this is adversity at its finest.  So, they just ignore the random person and continue teaching the lesson.  Eventually, that person will give up and leave.  

He shares an interesting story from his train ride to Bydgoszcz for their recent conference.  They met a nice young woman who happened to have a harp with her, which she let him play.  He bought a copy of her CD.  She plays for events like Renaissance fairs so they had a LOT to talk about!  There was also a young man there who became interested in the conversation.  So Lance and his companion were able to do some teaching and make some new friends.  

This week's spiritual thought has to do with fears.  He points out that as humans, we all have fears of some type or another.  It's just a part of life.  Sometimes we just ignore them or blow them off.  He says to make a list of those fears and give yourself an opportunity to look up the scriptures that "destroy" those fears.  Dissect and eliminate the fear with prayer and scripture study.  

He gives a few scripture references that showed up for him in conquering his own fears.....

2 Timothy 1:7

Psalms 27:1

D&C 122:7-9

And finally...his favorite scripture of all time...the one that changed his life...

2 Nephi 1:15
"But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love."

He goes on to mention the importance of "trials" (a.k.a. tribulation, adversity, burden, complication, difficulty, etc.).  Trials help us to grow closer to God.  Without these annoyances, we might as well be like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden...innocent.  There would be no reason to want to improve and grow.  God is always there to help, but we HAVE TO ASK.  It's up to us to use our agency.  

Mosiah 24:15 tells us how we can overcome these trials (see http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/24.15?lang=eng). 

Instead of asking God to just take it all away, they asked to be strengthened to overcome.   

Lance closes by saying "It's the life!"