November

Hello all,

Life is great. Super busy, which I like. Have meetings from Tuesday to Friday from 9am to 4pm. Trying my best not to be stressed out - just doing my best and leaving the rest up to the Lord! Last week we had the privilege of going to the Isaac Morely Farm with Karl Anderson - us, President and Sister Sorensen, the Zone Leaders, and Training Sisters. It was a wonderful experience. We read from D&C Section 50 (the Morely Farm is where this Revelation took place) and discussed it. A total of 13 sections came from the Morely Farm: Section 45-50, 52-56, and 63-64. Karl Anderson taught us so much and helped us gain greater insight to who Joseph Smith was. (He's pretty knowledgeable. When the church presidency has a question, they call him. In fact, he met with President Eyring yesterday...). Joseph and Emma were residences of the Morely Farm for 6 months (from March 1832 to September). It was an incredible experience that I'll never forget.

We've been doing a lot of service lately is seems. We helped an old lady who lives by a member family do some yard work and afterwards taught her about the Book of Mormon. We continue to do service at that barn for the less-active member I've mentioned before. Service is such a great way to fill everyone with gratitude, love, and the spirit.

About once a quarter, the office puts together a mission newsletter and we, as the Assistants to the President, have a little column we write a message in. Elder Parkinson and I came up with the topic together and then I just wrote it. This is it:

Elders and Sisters,

Can you believe that November is already upon us? What an exciting time of the year this is! With the change of weather, the change of leaves on the trees, and the change of hibernation patterns of Ohio residents, we hope we can continue to change, or grow, as a mission to reach our goal to baptize monthly. A profusion of purpose is rapidly overtaking this mission as our “faith, hope, charity, and love” (D&C 4:5) illuminate the Ohio – these very grounds where our beloved prophet, Joseph Smith Jr., once walked. We hope that we, as a mission, may continue to lose ourselves in this great and marvelous work. We hope that we may all qualify for that constant companionship of the Holy Ghost – for without this aid, we are nothing. We hope for great success in each proselyting area as we watch the Atonement transform mankind. This hope drives us; it consumes us.

In a 1984 BYU fireside address, Elder John H. Groberg posed the question “What is hope?” His response: “As near as I can tell, hope is light. It is a light within us that pierces the darkness of doubt and discouragement and taps into the light (hope) of all creation –even the Savior. …Hope, in a word, is the Savior. Hope is a part of the deity in us that attaches us to the Savior. Don’t let that thread be cut. No matter how tenuous or thin it might be, there is always hope.”

To qualify for the work, to fulfill our purpose and callings as representatives of Jesus Christ, we must have hope. We must become hope. Thus our responsibility is to “lift hands which hang hopelessly down” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell). If hope is light, then in D&C 88:67 we learn that the fundamental process to become hope is to align our will to the will of the Father – our eye single to His glory; to, again, lose ourselves in the work. May our threads of hope which bind us to the Savior become cords of hope. As this process takes place, we will see our goal of monthly baptisms come to pass. We know that Christ lives and is the Savior of the world. He is our light, He is our hope, He is our friend; May we look to the light this holiday season and qualify for the work.

Love, Elders Dransfield & Parkinson

I had fun writing it. We continue to search for people to teach. Yesterday we found a handful of potentials through tracting (they accepted a Book of Mormon and gave us their phone number for a possible lesson). We're being hopeful ;) We unintentionally did a lot of less-active work this last week; got a hold of many families who have been hard to contact and set up appointments with. A few are making huge progress, others don't have any desire to change. Dallin H. Oaks said in his April 2011 General Conference talk, "Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our change, our achieving, and our becoming." We've been trying to help these people gain a desire or create vision for themselves, which really all comes down to understanding the Atonement.

The weather is getting colder and the thick snow jackets are being pulled out of the suitcases. Soon it will be snowing (no!!!) and I will be permanently cold for the next 4 months... (just kidding...but seriously). In other news, President took us out to lunch today to a Mexican Restaurant and by the end I had to loosen a belt buckle because I couldn't FIT!!!! hahaha... But don't worry, by tonight I will have shrunk down to normal size.

WELL, I have an appointment we have to get to in an hour and 15 minutes. Before that we're supposed to wash the truck, get our hair cuts, and go grocery shopping. Guess I'll be fasting all this week! Have a great day!

Love, Elder Dransfield