Date: May 6. 2013
Subject: Structural collapse, Cultural gaps, and simple conclusions
Good (insert time of day) everyone. Checking in from Ludington, Michigan. I have been in my new area for a grand total of 13 days. Things are going fairly well and I'm having a good time. Some things have been happening which have been interesting.
First off, I got to Ludington and after my first Sunday, we found out there was some structural damage to the church. It appears to be leaning to the west. I think it just wants to go for a swim in Lake Michigan. The church building here is over 100 years old and it's an old baptist church that was renovated and made to look sort of LDS. It's a nice building I suppose. BUT, we are no longer allowed to use it for the next few months so we will be making a trip down to Hart, a city just south of here about 20 minutes.
I think there is the potential of some sort of gospel parable blossoming out of this building fiasco. I will endeavor to develop one.
Second, my companion keeps teaching me about mexican culture. It's pretty fun. We get along really well and have a lot of fun together. He constantly quotes Nacho Libre, which is funny. Not because I think the movie is funny, just because he loves it and it's sort of stereotypical. Oh, and I fell asleep to him singing "I'm Proud to Be an American" which I thought was ironic.
Third, I personally have been running into a lot of my own questions about things. But, I realized something about simplicity in the last two weeks. About 95% of the things we do are extremely simple. We do simple things. We just overcomplicate things. At the heart of every question, at the heart of every sin, at the heart of every single problem, or anything that we do, there is a purpose or a "why" as to why we do them. There is a base problem to each small issue and they all stem to something related to the gospel.
So my challenge is that we don't complicate things. I'm just out here trying to teach people the gospel of faith and repentance, but I get wrapped up in the small things: the planning sessions, companion exchanges, paperwork, commitments, etc. when in reality all of those things are just means to certain ends.
To quote the great band Fireworks: "I stopped searching for the answers, I learned my lesson: life is just rhetorical question."
I have about 3.5 months of my life to go. Then, I have to start real life or something. To those scragglers who have yet to develop a need to write me and desire to do so...
Elder Damon Chlarson
1400 Abbot Road Ste. 310
East Lansing, MI 48823
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