Q & A

Questions we asked this week:

• Ainsley says, "Does he still remember us?" haha
• What are the highlights of your week?
• What are your insights on ministering?
• What's the schedule coming up, so we can be aware?
• How was the conference with Elder Haynie?
• Why haven't you sent any photos lately??????

Hey all,

It's been a busy week again, LOTS of travel. We went down to Halifax on Wednesday, stayed in Moncton for the night, and had Zone Conference on Thursday. So we were out of town for quite a while, but they were pretty good meetings. 

First, MLC. We didn't do a lot, we pretty much told Elder Haynie what our mission was like so he could know what to do and say for the conferences. He was super suprised at how obedient our mission was. He kept asking if there were little groups of Elders who would heckle, or be disobedient, etc... and he was amazed at how that's not a problem. He was also pretty impressed by how hard working our mission was. We were able to ask him a few questions, and there were a few pretty cool things he shared with us!

The Zone conference with Elder Haynie was super good too! He talked a lot about gathering scattered Israel, and the importance of that. (BTW one of my previous companions had a sister in law who worked at the missionary department, and she told him they were going to change the name of missionary work! I get the feeling that its going to be Gathering Scattered Israel or something...) Elder Haynie also hinted that General Conference is supposed to be another exciting one!

Friday and Saturday was this huge music festival, for like Blues and Jazz or something, but it evolved into pretty much every kind of music. I've never seen so many people on my entire mission. We walked around downtown a bunch. 

We got a new couch on Monday, which was nice. The old one was broken, and would sag in the middle, so it's nice to have that.

Haha, yes, I remember you. But I remember you a year younger than what you are now, so I guess if you've changed a lot from then, then I wouldn't really know you anymore. 

Schedule wise, there isn't anything that changes things around. Theres another MLC, they're going to start having those monthly now instead of transferly, which is a pretty big change for our mission. In the past we would have one in person, and then if there was anything else really important that needed to be addressed, we would have a skype call together, but this way they will be more frequent, and all in person!

 Anyway, love you lots. Sorry my week was pretty boring, but I love you all!

Elder Marsh

2nd email (he must have had more time later):

Insights on ministering:

Maybe it's different back home, but people have made it such a big disscussion point about ministering, and how come we're not ministering, and who knows how to minister, and what is ministering, and on and on. I think that people are thinking too hard. Ministering entails a very few items. We love people, and we are accountable for them. It's pretty simple in my mind. People worry WAY to much about "the what" of it, (I'll get into some simple "what to do's" later) and I don't want to be rude, but thats a really dumb reason not to minister to others. Because there are so many ways to solve that problem. 

While people are having such a big hold up with this, it also is probably the most needed thing in the Maritimes. People here NEED to learn this. I've seen incredible differences as people HAVE started. It's amazing.

So back to ministering. We need to love people. That means we take care of them, physically, mentally, and spiritually. We talk to them at church, sit next to them, bake them cookies, invite them to dinner, take them on a temple trip, go get hot choclate with them, I don't really care what it is, so long as you are loving them, and trying to take care of them. (This also implies that you have to be taking care from people, you can't just push them away, but that's another topic.) In my opinion, as you take care of those three needs, physical, mental and spiritual, you will go a long way. You should know things about them, the bits about their lives that are important to them. What do they need service wise? Do they have kids? What do their kids need? Clothes? School supplies? What activities do they like to do? Go skiing with them, etc. When are they bored? Cheer them up, invite them to do fun things with you. You could buy some really cheap RC cars and do a crash derby with them. What are their skills? Maybe they're a really good cook, or a pro sewer-person-thingy. Invite them to teach you how to do it. You should also know when the last time they went to the temple was and how often they go. Help them on the covenant path. You should share scriptures with them, and maybe even invite them to teach you how to study the scriptures. 

It is literally so easy to minister to people, the saddest thing about being a missionary is that I'm not allowed to really show this to members, and even if I was, they wouldn't listen to me, because I'm just a 20 year old kid, so what would I know?

The second part concerning ministering is accountability. As you take care of these people, you need to make an accounting of what you do to your leaders, so they can understand and assist in their lives as well. You should be accountable for yourself, not just checking the box, but seeking to report your work. The measure of your desire to report your work will reflect the power of your actions. It is literally an eternal principle. In the creation of the world, God had regular reports of actions. Learning to be acountable to your leaders will show them your love for your people as well.