Being a Pre-MTC Missionary

June 9, 2019

Being a Pre-MTC Missionary

გარმერჯობა, ყველას!

Before we begin, I want to lay the groundwork.  I don't know how these emails will be.  I don't know how much detail there will be.  I don't know what I'll be willing to share, but we'll find out.  This is a much bigger audience than my previous weekend recaps from college, so I find myself making references that many of you may not get, but just ask or go along with it.  Another primary reason for this email is to ensure people have my email address.  If you want my emails to be sent to another email or know of someone that isn't on the list that wants to be, let me know and I can make the change.  Additionally, if you made it onto this list by mistake and do not want my emails, please let me know that as well. 

Alrighty, let's just jump right into it.   I am now, officially, a set apart missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I got set apart Friday, giving me four days when I am a

missionary outside of the MTC.  This allows me to send this email on a Sunday and several other things.  I have been able to listen to some wonderful books and do some extra study that I would not do if I were not yet set apart.  

One fantastic book by Bruce C. Hafen & Marie K. Hafen, Faith Is Not Blind, is an amazing book that gives a wonderful approach to looking at faith.  What I love about it is how applicable it is to learning knowing things of spiritual, scientific, and historical nature.  A professor I had last semester, Steven C. Harper, emphasized learning things like a historian.  In history, there are no certainties, but you can get really close by analyzing all evidences, proofs and facts.  The same can be said for matters of faith.  We can take things as we've been told them.  Blindly follow the things we are told in school or in church.  If we do that, we can miss many of the enlightening nuances that come with certain gospel or secular topics.  We must learn for ourselves through both study and faith.  

One pitfall that is present when we start to do so, however, is this added level of complexity.  With new facts, questions and nuances that we introduce ourselves to, we can start to question the basics that we thought we knew so concretely.  Although we may start to doubt, we should not let that repel us from learning, nor should we let it cause us to step away completely from believing.  A problematic piece of new knowledge should not repel.  Take imaginary numbers.  As soon as you learn about square roots, they say you CANNOT take the square root of a negative number.  Years later, what do they tell you?  You can, it is just called an imaginary number.  Have you been lied to?  No.  Because for almost everyone in the world, imaginary numbers are useless.  A normal person cannot root a negative number.  Only electrical engineers use them.  They are a very interesting concept, but an unimportant complexity (no pun intended)  that is unneeded for almost everyone. 

[After typing this analogy I realized that dividing by zero might be more relatable subject, but that is a bit more useful, so I'm keeping what I have.]

That is the final stage of learning and faith.  Being able to dismiss or make peace with all the complexity that we find in our study.  When we find a contradiction or ambiguity in commandments or doctrines given by God we need do nothing more than look at them through the lens of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  All things, our loving Heavenly Father has done for our benefit. Oftentimes, God does not explain Himself fully, but we need to have enough faith and trust to know that He is doing it for our and others' good.  All of this is explained better and more fully in the book.  Again, it is a great read for both religious and secular contexts.

This email is much longer than I planned on.  I go into the Provo MTC on Wednesday, so I'll be able to see any emails you send until then.  After that, we get time on Wednesdays to email.  I will always try to keep my mass emails succinct.  I'll try to respond to as many emails as possible, but I will prioritize some before others.  For example, my mother and that's probably it.  Time for this fun adventure to begin.  TTFN.  

ნახვამდის!  

We spent the day in Salt Lake City at the Temple, Visitor's Center, and Conference Center.

It was a great day with family before heading to the MTC in Provo.