Email Update: 3/30/2015

Dear Everyone,

Well, I guess people like reading novels from me, with all of the different comments that have come my way since the last letter, so here you go. You asked for it! ;-)

This week we've had a lot of really cool experiences, with the necessary slow times in between. I've decided that Monday's are some of my least favorite days out here, because we can't really get much work done, and we are quite literally an hour and a half away from the closest missionaries, so no getting to spend time with them. (Exception: this week all of the Baker City missionaries are coming up to John Day, and we're gonna go bowling). Wednesdays tend to be better, but still hard, because of District Meeting. We aren't able to do much work then, either, because we have to go down to Baker City for the meeting, and we often don't get back until later in the day. Basically, in time for dinner, and not many people like us stopping by in the evenings here. 

Other then those, the days have been pretty great. We are still working with Lindsey, who is doing just as awesomely as before. We actually taught the 3rd discussion at Nick's (her official-unofficial fiance) house, in his "Rave Cave."

It's the basement of his house, that he decked out with sheets hanging on all of the walls, which he and anyone else that he invites over painted with a bunch of different paintings in neon colors. Of course, there is the necessary six blacklights all over the area, so all of the paintings popped out, and our with shirts were as bright as spotlights. With everything the way it was, if felt like we were in a perpetual evening, right at that perfect time where the sun has just gone down, but everything is still so bright and colorful. The lesson itself went really well, too. Like I said, it was on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and just like everything else, she soaked it up like a dry sponge. I really love teaching this lesson. It really is the foundation of everything that we teach. Without faith in Christ, we wouldn't ever feel the need, or even the desire, to keep His commandment. We wouldn't believe in a possibility of life after death, or a chance to progress to a point where we are like our Heavenly Father, because there would be no way for us to overcome our mistakes and sins. Without a belief in Someone who cares for us more than life itself, enough to create an Earth for us to live on, and to give His life for us, there would really be no hope for a better life then the one we are living now, whatever that life is. With that faith in Christ, we don't have to face struggles alone. We have a friend who knows everything that we have gone through, exactly as it affected us, and how to help us overcome it. We have a guide, Someone who has walked ahead of us, and knows where we need to go in order to be safe and happy, happier then we can even think of until we feel it. We have the opportunity to repent, to see that we need to change something in our lives, to feel the pain that comes with sin and poor choices, to tell our Heavenly Father those things that we have done, and to work never to do them again. We have the chance to be completely forgiven for anything we have ever done, and to feel the peace and joy that comes with that forgiveness, that knowledge that we have nothing to fear, nothing holding us back from being the absolute best that we can be.

Which, when you think of it, we are the children of God. That's pretty huge potential.

Now that my speech is finished, continuing with the story. We taught her all of those points, along with Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. She was really excited about it all, and for her baptism coming up this Saturday. Funny story to go along with that... Nick had mentioned that the day he was baptized was the best day of his life, and Lindsey had agreed with him by saying that there really couldn't be much better. So, like the missionary know-it-alls we are, Elder Reischman and I both start listing off all of the things that will be even better, later on in life, including going to the temple, getting married, having kids, grand-kids, etc. Note, neither Nick nor Lindsey had made any mention about marriage or anything of the sort---everyone else just already knew it was going to happen. So, after we finished going through the list of different things, Lindsey said that Nick and her weren't to interested in having kids, because it would be a mini version of the both of them (picture your closest four year old, and add a lot more intensity and mood swings, with a whole lot of awesome, and you have Nick and Lindsey). That is when Elder Hitch Reischman asked very pointed question, "So, did you just announce that you two are getting married?" *Cue obnoxious grin from me and Elder Reischman*

They both laughed, and Nick said, "Well, everyone has been asking us when we were getting married, so I guess it's not that awkward." Lindsey goes on to say that it would be really great if we could both be there when it happens, and we all make some more fun of each other for a while, until we realize that we only have a few minutes until we are supposed to be home. Gotta love unchanging lighting messing with your sense of time.

Yesterday, we had a lot happen, too. As usual, Sunday was our busiest day, with church, a lesson with Cody, a lesson with Lindsey, and a lesson with the Kilmer family. Cody's lesson happened right after church, and though it was a shorter one, he progressed a lot. First off, Cody was a plaid (plad?) shirt and jeans kind of guy every Sunday before, and he, without any encouragement from us, showed up to church in a white shirt and tie. Always a good sign. For the actual lesson, Cody had met with the Bishop before church, so the first thing that Cody said to us was that he wanted to get baptized in May! I always love it when people make their own choice to be baptized, because it shows that they really do believe in what they are doing, and know what they are getting into. It doesn't hurt that Cody's already awesome, and working to live the commandments that he knows. He even grabbed a Tithing slip before he left the church building! We haven't taught tithing yet!!! So, with a newly set baptismal date set for May 2nd, Cody went off to have dinner at Audry's (who is now Cody's girlfriend) house, the daughter of our High Priest group leader. (According to Seth, her brother, Cody is hogging their sister, but he's really fun).

The last lesson of the week was another one with Lindsey, and it was probably the smoothest lesson on the Commandments I've ever been a part of. She's already reading the scriptures, praying, coming to church, keeping the Ten Commandments, and Keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Everything that is prohibited in the Word of Wisdom makes her violently sick to use, including coffee and most tea. She has already had a learning experience with the Law of Chastity, so she has no more problems there. General Conference is the same day as her baptism, so she'll get to have that exposure to all of the Apostles and the Prophet. On a slight side note, this was the least awkward time I've ever taught the Law of Chastity, mostly because I didn't worry whether or not it would offend her. Usually, I've tried to ease into the subject, beating a nice wide circle around the bush, until they have to figure it out themselves. This time was a straight forward no sex before marriage, no pornography, and marriage is between a man and a woman. It was also so much easier to explain the blessing that come with keeping the law, the self confidence, the strength, and the love shared between two people bound for all time and eternity, with children as a gift from God, to bring joy into our lives, and to further teach us to be like Him, the perfect Father of All. I know why I've had such a hard time in the past, and I'm so grateful that I don't have that hanging over me anymore. I am so glad that I was able to learn that God is there for all of us, and that regardless of who we were, or what we've done in the past, we have a Savior who died to free us from those sins and temptations. I would be a lost and terrible soul without that ability to repent, and now I know the joy that comes from turning it all over to Christ. I think that is why I was able to be so bold and confident in what I was teaching Lindsey, and I'm glad that I could help someone grow and be better then they were before.

Those stories should've filled at least a few minutes of your time. Thank you again for all that you do for me, knowingly or not, and all of the prayers on my behalf.

Love and Insanity,

Elder Stuver

Email Update: 3/23/2015

Dear Everyone,

Yeeeeaaaahhh... I talk too much. Sorry... I'll try and keep it a little more readable this week, though no promises are made.

The exciting news from this week goes pretty much along with last week's; Cody and Lindsey. They are both moving along so rapidly, it can be hard to keep up with them! On top of that, the members in the ward are starting to get the missionary fever, with everyone doing boatloads to fellowship, share, teach, and invite. We actually had one of only a very few dinners where the members invited one of our investigators! That one was for Lindsey and Nick, and it went awesome. Lindsey even asked for a priesthood blessing afterwards, and once again said how much the Spirit has touched her over the past few weeks. Thanks be to Nick for being so out going and fearless! Now, we are just counting down the days until she gets baptized, which happens to be on General Conference Saturday. We're excited... 

On Cody's end of things, the mission is full of all kinds of firsts, and I had another one on Saturday. I went to my first Baseball Game! ...It was good, just slow. We left after the third inning, because it had already been two hours, and we had work to do. It was still really fun, and Cody was the one who invited us, so it was a great chance to get to know him a bit more, and for me to learn about something new. One of the things that stood out to me? Baseball is as much of learning a new language, as learning a sport. The words these guys were spitting out just flew right over my head half of the time, and the other half stayed just low enough to clock me in the forehead, before jetting passed me. By the time that we left, I did start catching on to some of the lingo, but it was still hit or miss.

We did have another really good lesson with Cody, too. It was Sunday afternoon, and he had stayed through all three meetings, like he usually does. This Sunday, though, both the Elder's Quorum and the High Priest group were missing their teachers, so we all met with the High Priests, and the Group Leader gave the lesson. It kind of devolved into a jumbled up discussion about Adam's authority, Priesthood Lines of Authority, and other deep stuff that I can barely get a grip of. I looked at Cody towards the end of the lesson, and he had an expression on his face that was somewhere between shell-shocked and deer-in-the-headlights. When class was over, I asked if his head had stopped spinning yet. He smiled and shook his head hard.

During the actual lesson, Cody said that he had been to a lot of churches over time, and none of them had what we had, with the priesthood and the different quorums, and all of the different titles that were being thrown around, such as elder or high priest. We were able to show him how Christ had set up His church while he was on the earth, and as part of that, he gave different people various callings, along with the authority to act in God's name, in other words, the priesthood. That led smoothly into teaching the Great Apostasy, and the Restoration through Joseph Smith. It never stops standing out to me, how much that simple phrase that Joseph uses to describe the First Vision affects people when they hear it.

"I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head, which descended gradually, until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other, "This is my Beloved Son. Hear him.'"

Just like it always does, that hit Cody pretty hard, from just what I could see. As the lesson went on, Cody told us that he's been thinking a lot about baptism, and something keeps telling him that he needs to do it, but he wants to make sure that he understands everything that he needs to before he makes that decision. We were able to tell him that when he is prompted to do something good, it's the Holy Ghost telling him, and that we don't have to know everything in order to be baptized. I made sure to stress that the fact that he is reading the scriptures, that he's praying, and that he's coming to church, really is enough. He'll learn the things that he needs as time goes on, and just the fact that he is willing to do those things that will bring him closer to Christ, shows that he is doing what he needs to. Elder Reischman challenged him to read 2 Nephi 31, and I have a feeling that we will see some major progress the next time we teach him.

Well, I did a little bit better. It's only half mind numbing, rather than all the way. Thanks for reading these things, and for everything else.

Love, Elder Nathanael Stuver

Email Update: 3/16/2015

Dear Everyone,

Tell Jeffrey that I'm just a little jealous of his new job; it's the kind that I was hoping for when I first went looking for one. Also, I say hi back to everyone back, with a good luck to Guido. ;-)

As for my week, it seems to be a little faster paced then yours sounds. Actually, never mind---most of the week was death. Sunday, on the other hand, was amazing. We had three investigators at church, Lindsey, who I told you all about last week, a young man named Cody, who Lindsey actually invited to come and to take the lessons with her, but who decided to take them all on his own, and a girl named Shania, a foster daughter to the 2nd councilor in the Bishopric. Cody was the best news to me. He actually blew a tire on the way to church, something that would end the day of a totally active member a lot of the time. As for him, re ran all the way back home, grabbed his tire jack, ran back to his car, switched the tires, and still made it to church before Sacrament meeting was even half done. While we were waiting for Gospel Principles class to start, Cody told us that he had been wanting the past week to just fly by, so that he could come back to church again, because he felt so good last week.

Lindsey was just as amazing. She'd gone with her mother to the Catholic church last week, because of how her mom was feeling about just not knowing much truth about the LDS church, so we missed her then. This week, however, not only did she come, she told us that, during the High Councilman's talk, she got the intense feeling that everything he was speaking on, and the church itself, was true. Apparently her and Nick were both balling almost the whole Sacrament meeting because of how strong the Spirit was. As if that wasn't enough, were were able to have a discussion with her after church, and it hit the questions that she said she had been wondering for a very long time. You know the ones, "Where did I come from? Why am I here?" and next appointment will cover, "Where am I going?"

It's always so awesome to teach Lindsey, because you know that the Spirit is testifying to everything that you are saying, the entire lesson. She is so in tune and prepared that we are barely doing any teaching at all, just sharing what means most to us, and watching her soak it up. Time and time again we've gotten to see something that we say hit her hard, and see the light shine even brighter in her eyes. Elder Reichman was talking on the phone to our district leader last night for our weekly report, and he said something that really explains how these lessons feel to me, "This is why we pay $10,000 and two years of our lives to come out here!"

You'd think that would be all you could get in one day. Wrong. We still had a lesson with Cody to go to.

I've long said that Sundays are our longest days, and today really supported that statement, because we were at the church building from 8:00 in the morning, until 3:00 in the afternoon. Even the Bishop goes home before we do!!! The difference between most Sundays and today, however, I didn't feel tired by the time that we left. Our two appointments were just so awesome. Cody told us that he had felt so good after last week that he couldn't even sleep Saturday night, he was so anxious to come to church. During the week, though, he did have some family that threw the standard "anti-Mormon" lingo at him, which hit him pretty hard. The main one that he told us bothered him was when he had an aunt that told him that "Mormons aren't Christians." He said that it was really hard on him to have that kind of judgement from one of his family members, about something that he would never judge anyone else on. We were able to address the issue, reaffirm that we are indeed Christians, and that everything that we do surrounds the Atonement of Christ. Without that Atonement, there would be no repentance, no forgiveness of sins. We wouldn't be able to grow or learn, and we would be unable to live with our Father in Heaven, because no unclean thing can dwell with God. Because of that Atonement, we can repent, we can be forgiven of our sins. We can truly feel the peace that comes from being free from guilt or pain, and knowing that we are clean in God's eyes. We make the choice to walk through the doors of Baptism, other ordinances, and of keeping the commandments, but it was Christ who carved those doors out of the mountain that we're in in the first place. Jesus Christ is our Savior, and He is the only reason life has any meaning, any hope at all.

We were able to share that with Cody, and be reminded that God has perfect timing, because all of the lessons in church were on Baptism and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Even the talks in Sacrament meeting were focused on the Grace of Christ and our need for him. By the end of the day, Cody said that he knew that we worshiped Jesus Christ, and that we are Christians. He accepted a Book of Mormon to read, and set up an appointment for the following week. Then he headed off to go be fellowshipped by the High Priest Group leader and his family, who happened to include one daughter that he works with every day, another daughter that he was a camp councilor for, a son who he already got along really well with, and another daughter who basically grabbed him and pulled him into the family. Yeah, Heavenly Father has it all figured out. Oh, and did I mention that the Elders Quorum President and one of his councilors each individually coached him in baseball growing up, and the first thing Cody did when he was told all of the things from his aunt was go to the Elders Quorum President while he was coaching, and ask him a bunch of questions?

Aaaaaand that was our Sunday.

On the subject of Howren Charles Hall, I have to start off by saying that we have an amazing Family History Director in John Day, who also happens to be our Land Lady. She did what I've been trying to get FHC consultants to do for the past year and a half, and actually show me what to do after I could get logged on to Family Search. She showed me how to use all of the indexed records that have been logged on to the database to attach sources to existing names in Family Tree, from all of the work that everyone has done before. She showed me how that solidifies the person, and gives more proof to when and where they lived, along with who is related to them. The funny thing is, with all of these new records being indexed, more info is available on different people, including children and parents that hadn't been able to be found before. Howren was one of those children, one that Sister Sintay (the Director) helped me to find on the first day she showed me to source people. 2 1/2 hours and 5 different census records attached later, we had all of the info that we needed to request his ordinances. This was after we traced the Stallings line for all of that time, working to just attach sources, and found Howren as a son of one of the daughters in the Stallings line, whose father was named Arthur Hall. More and more records later, we had all of Howren's names, and even found a wife and kids, though I haven't been able to find many records on them as of yet. Needless to say, I was pretty excited after all of that work. I gave his name to the youth group up here to take on their ward temple trip and do his Baptism and Confirmation, then I sent the card to you, Mom. It was cool, and it would be even cooler if I could take his name through for my returning temple trip up here. All in all, it's been pretty fun, and now I can actually be honest when I'm teaching about Family History to investigators and less actives.

I think that will be it for this letter. Thank you all for taking the time to read these novels that I send, and for all of your prayers for me and all of the missionaries. Trust me; we need them.

Love and Insanity,

Elder Nathanael Stuver

Email Update: 3/9/2015

Dear Everyone,

It sounds like a pretty crazy week for you all. I bet Grandma Marie would've liked to join you at the Disney on Ice trip---I hope you sent her some pictures too! As for Nunsense, I'd be totally freaked out if I had to learn a leading role after a performance had already happened, so kudos to her! Finally, Jocelyn is home from her mission??!?!?!?!?!?!? I have been out here so long... Tell her I said congrats, and hope the transition goes well!

As for things on my end, it's been pretty much awesome, with the standard slowness liberally mixed in. I believe I told you about Lindsey W, Nick Smith's girlfriend that he invited to church. Well, we've now had two utterly fantastic lessons, on the Restoration in two parts. If I didn't tell you about her, and that was the part that I'd left out, well, Here you go! Lindsey grew up in John Day, then moved to Portland for collage and life in general. After a while, things were not going well for her at all, and she bound herself in a lot of bad situations. One day, she was praying what she should do to fix her life, when she got a call from Nick, about a scarf that she might have left at his house at some point (turns out, they have no clue where the scarf came from, because it wasn't hers). She got a strong feeling that she needed to come home, so she packed up, got in her car, drove to John Day, and never looked back. Nick invited her to come to church, and she said that at first, she had the immediate cross-your-arms-in-front-of-your-chest-in-a-giant-X reaction that had been ingrained in a lot of the world about Mormons, but she decided that she would come. It happened to be Fast and Testimony meeting that week, and Nick got up and bore his testimony. In the process, he said, "I'm not sure how many of you noticed but i brought someone with me today. She's sitting in the back over there, if you wanted to meet her."

Obviously, everybody looked back, and her face went red. That was my first clue that she was going to be golden---most people would have gone straight for the door if someone had done that to them from the pulpit.

Instead, she stayed through the whole first hour, met a bunch of the ward, and even held her ground when one of the elderly ladies told her that she (Lindsey) was going to get baptized, marry Nick, and have 10 kids (although the number 10 did make her pause mid step for half a second). She came to Gospel Principles class, was willing to read and participate, and said at the end of the class that she had been feeling like something was missing from her life, and now she knew what (the lesson that week just happened to be on Faith in Jesus Christ). A few days later, we set up the first appointment, and she committed to read the Book of Mormon, come to church the next week, pray to know if what we were teaching was true, say the closing prayer at our nest appointment, and be baptized on the 4th of April. It was awesome.

Even better then all of that, when we met with her and Nick on Thursday, she had read all of what we had left with her to read, and she was super excited for the lesson. We taught the 2nd half of the Restoration, and she described that when she read the Book of Mormon, she felt good and peaceful, and that everything that she read was good. We read Moroni chapter 7, verses 12-15 with her, and described how that is exactly what the Holy Ghost feels like when he is teaching and testifying of the truth to us. She told us that that was the exact same feeling that she'd had when she decided to come home from Portland, when she started taking the lessons, and at church on Sunday. She recommitted to pray about whether or not the Book of Mormon is true, and then she committed to invite someone to come to her next appointment and learn the same things that she is. She didn't end up coming to church this week, because her mom freaked out and wanted her to come to the Catholic church with her (in the words of Nick), but Nick feels (and I agree) that she will just end up bringing more people to the gospel, rather then any harm being done.

To top it all off, yesterday we had a man named Cody come to Sacrament Meeting, who told one of the members that he needed to start going to church again. We're pretty sure that he is not a member, but he stayed through all three hours, read during each of the lessons, and took a Gospel Principles manual to study. We were able to get his phone number, and it turns out that a lot of the Elders Quorum already knew him from coaching him in baseball, and Nick just knew him as a friend. He was well welcomed into the groups, and seemed glad to see that he was just included into everything. We'll have to see where it goes from here, but I have a feeling that he will continue to be interested in learning more.

Well, those are the really exciting things from this week. Thank you for everything, and thank you for helping me to be out here, doing what's right.

Love and Insanity,

Elder Stuver

Email Update: 3/2/2015

Dear Everyone,

Thanks for continuing to keep in contact with me; it really means a lot that there are people outside of the mission that remember that I exist... ;-)

Tell Sister Opel congrats, and the Barsdorfs that I say hi!

As for how the week went, it was a pretty interesting one. It started off a little slow, as it has been for a while now. Then, things started picking up on Friday. That evening, we had a ward talent show, and there was a lot of really cool acts (along with some that were just for fun). One of them was a light show by a recent convert (well, a 3 year convert) named Nick Smith. If you know what rave gloves are, he used those and a bunch of colored light balls on a cord in a really cool dance. The coolest part of all of that was the fact that his girlfriend, Lindsey, and her family all came, and they're not members. I'll get back to her in just a little bit. For now, the only sad part of the show was the fact that I had signed up to sing, but then we thought that we were going to be driving down to Baker City that night, so I scratched my name off of the list, and once we found out that we were going to be able to stay, I didn't get my name back on in time to perform. Oh well, it is what it is.

The next really awesome thing happened was on Saturday, the reason that we thought that we would have to be traveling that night. We had a mission-wide conference in Nampa, with all of the missionaries in one big chapel. There were a few keynote speakers at that meeting, namely Elder Brent Neilson, of the 70, Sister Neill Marriot, 2nd councilor of the General Young Women's Presidency, and Elder L. Tom Perry, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was really cool. Before the meeting started, they gave us all a chance to go up and shake each of their hands, and the whole time, Elder Perry was cracking jokes with all of the missionaries. He's tall, too! He was almost as tall as my chin when he was sitting down. 

Once the meeting got under way, Elder Neilson was the first speaker. He spoke on the fundamentals from Preach My Gospel, that we learned in the MTC, focusing on The Commitment Pattern (we teach, we invite, we testify, we follow up) and receiving revelation through the Book of Mormon, and through coming to church. He also used the story in 3 Nephi 17, when Christ was closing his "first discussion" with the Nephites, to teach us about Teaching People, Not Lessons. One of the lines that stuck out to me during that part of his talk was, when Christ looked on the people and saw that they wanted Him to stay for a little longer, Elder Neilson said, "And I think that it's safe to say, that Christ [rescheduled] his appointment with the Lost tribes of Israel."

He stayed, and blessed and healed the Nephites, and blessed their children. That's something that I have a really hard time doing, messing with our schedule, especially canceling or rescheduling, so I think that's why that line stood out to me so much. Anyways, it was a really good talk.

Sister Marriot spoke on her conversion story, and it hit a little hard home. She told how she was a combative, devout Methodist, that a member had introduced with her friends to the missionaries. She said that she was one of those investigators that loves to debate and was going to use her English major as an excuse and an answer to all of the questions. She told us that it took her 5 months to finally be honest in her prayers, and that was because of the last lesson that they were going to have. Right before the group of members and missionaries was going to leave, one David Marriot (unknown future husband) said that before they left, he wanted to go around the room and ask all of the girls a question, "What do you think about the Book of Mormon?" 

​Sister Marriot said that she'd had her answer all planned out, that she was going to say that, as an English major, she found it very poetic. When he got to her, she said instead that she thought it was true, because she had already been having experiences that were helping her to learn, but she had been hiding them from everyone, so that she, "could go on being a Methodist, and still believe in the Plan of Salvation!" But, that didn't happen. Instead, David asked her what she was going to do about that, and she said that she​ would pray honestly if it was true. She said that her prayers had all been along the lines of "They have a good message, but I'm not going to change!"

This time, she prayed that if it was true, she would do what she needed to do. She said that she immediately heard a very soft voice, just in her head, that said "It's true." So, she jumped up, said out loud, "It's true!!" and went to bed "without even an Amen." She was baptized the following day.

The thing that really hit me was that, when she had allowed the missionaries to teach her, she had said that if they ever mentioned baptism, they would not be allowed back, and they agreed. She then told us, "Never do that." I have a real problem with doing that. I get afraid that I'm going to push the people, that I've grown to love, away from the gospel that means so much to me. I tend to dance around things that are important, because they "might be offended." More then all of that, my biggest problem, as it has always been, is that I get scared of messing up, of saying the wrong things, or that they wont like what I say. I still get far to scared of what other people think of me, and I don't know how to share these things that I love with the people that have grown to mean so much to me, without losing that bond that has grown. I find myself going overboard when I actually do start, basically overcompensating for my lack of confidence in myself, and spitting out a bunch of words that, though they are all true, are too much at once to handle.

Like I'm doing right now.

Anyways, that talk really hit home to me because of that. I want to be able to share this gospel that has changed my life with those around me, but I want to do it in a way that will mean the most to them, and will be right for them at that time. If anyone has any suggestions, they would be very appreciated. How would I share this with you, if you were the one that I was going to share it with? What would be the best way for me to touch your heart? What would mean the most to you?

Well, I've still got a lot to write, but I don't want to take up more then the hour that I already have, so I'll save it for next week, and just preface it be testifying that I know that Jesus Christ cares about all of us, that he died for us, and that we can have access to the Holy Ghost to teach us the truth, as long as we are looking for it. I know all of this, and have seen it in my life, with more surety then that I am typing this now. 

Thank you for being patient with me, and for putting up with my rambling.

Love and Insanity,

Elder Stuver