CHALMETTE CHRONICLES: CHAPTER NINETEEN

Compatriots of Israel,

Have you ever had a week where the autopilot in your cranium drives you to and fro, with the side effect of absent-mindedness and without slightest recollection of the roller coaster that was the past seven days? The automobile of this week was a fifth gear joyride, where Jesus quite literally took the wheel. The realism of, "going through the motions" came to life this week... I don't actually have a conscious remembrance of most of the apostolic awesomeness we partook in.. BUT, where sunburns abound aplenty and the humidity shows his malicious grin-  springtime in New Orleans is here ladies and gentleman. Now, I'm no botanist, but flowers are quite lovely- and this past week our floral friends have sprouted in grand magnitude, quite a sight really. So amidst the loco hot cocoa week we had.. we were able to admire the simple beauties of life. What tender mercies did you see this week? How are you preparing yourself to commemorate the sacredness of Easter and chow down at the spiritual feast that is General Conference? These questions and more.. in this weeks edition of the CHALMETTE CHRONICLES. 

I think my relative perception of what, "cold" and, "hot" are have drastically changed now that I have fully fulfilled my evolution to a native Louisianan. To my Washington homies- 60 degrees has never felt so nice, and I can wholeheartedly say, snow is a hot commodity (ironic, no?). Do not take the mountains for granted, for one day you might find yourself in the bodacious bayou, formulating road bumps into Mt. Rainier. The desperate mind comes up with creative ways to make familiarity out of scarcity. And to make a Gospel application.. don't take for granted the fullness of the Gospel. We are endowed with righteous principles and sacred ordinances that most others dream of receiving. As the covenant-keeping people, we should never strive to assume superiority or dominance as a result of our blessed state. We are given this knowledge in faith... Faith in God that we will use our learning and our understanding to bless the lives of others! Have you ever considered how much we take for granted in our lives? Food and shelter are not commonplace for most of the world... technology and social media are not rampant in other hemispheres.. sadly, our character and threshold for happiness are entirely determined by our acquired definitions of those attributes we wish to acquire. SO, I challenge you to redefine what makes you happy.. to couple it with an eternal perspective and use your covenants to enrich the lives of others. Charity, the pure love of Christ, is what should motivate the mandate of our service. And if love is the motivation, we can trust in confidence that we emulate the Savior and his actions. Charity is not simply something we have... it's something we become. 

This week primarily consisted of, the missionary favorite, finding the sheepish elect. And let me tell you, the holiest of cows, Saturday was a day and three quarters. As the missionaries we are, we deemed it appropriate to schedule return appointments for the weekend.. that way families could be together, strengthen each other, get baptized, and live happily ever after..  However, the celestial hypothetical in New Orleans is subsequently a fantasy... "Saturday is a special day... it's the day we hide from the missionaries." 34 people. 34 doors. 2 pounds of sweat and a freckle line later... nobody. Not. A. Single. One. Mind you, these potential disciples gave US the return appointments to which we most jauntily agreed.. but t'was all for naught. But here's the thing... nothing is as contagious as enthusiasm. Natural enthusiasm is the great nursery for genius. I truly believe that a person can accomplish anything in which he is absolutely enthusiastic. And this Elder wasn't having no negativity.. so with two doors left, I tried a "different" approach.

Door 35. Not really sure if that is a heavenly number, but for the case of the story we will roll with it... This investigator was one we hadn't seen a whole awful lot, he works from home- yet, he surprisingly is always out on business.. but it had been a good minute since we last tried him, so we tested the odds and gave it a go. Now, I would like to bring your remembrance to a certain, "Christian Rock Fiasco" we previously attended...

A certain phrase was used that quite caught my attention in a hilarious manner...

"Y'all ready to have church tonight?"

Six words. As a matter of fact, Elder Flores has taken quite a liking to this phrase and in turn yelps it in his Mexican dialect as it echoes through our apartment complex at the prime hour of 9PM.

It was a long day, and I don't know if it was the Christian crazy in me or what.. but I decided that I would use such an invitation in our approach. SO, we approach the family- conveniently, they are all outside.. already a good start.. and in my quirky and ever so attractive manly voice... I holler, "YALL READY TO HAVE CHURCH TONIGHT?" My fearless squeak echoed through the neighborhood, for this performer would never deny an opportunity to project. Now, I am sure I emulated the Shih-Tzu in surprising these poor unfortunate souls.. because our investigator was so taken by the spirit, he actually toppled over in his lawn chair. As he rolled across the lawn and gave a mighty grunt in hopes of sitting up.. he proceeded to stare at me in great confusion, and amidst the awkwardness mutter a simple, "right here, right now?"

I knew we were in. 

We advanced our maneuvers to preach the Gospel by testifying of the Lord's restored church. It was a much-needed lesson. I'm sure Elder Carter would agree, we craved conversion.. and the hunger of our discipleship was satiated all at once with the full meal deal in this lesson. We were so excited that we even got a little ahead of ourselves and just jumped straight to baptism.. but these people were READY to have church tonight, and accepted on the condition of answers for truth. 

I'm certainly never going to discount the power behind another Christian proclamation again. 

With the splendid spiritual blessing of General Conference and Easter coming up, I challenge you all to prepare yourselves.. both body and spirit.. to treat this event like it is. An opportunity to hear the words of living prophets and apostles. Have you ever said to yourself.."Wow, I don't understand the children of Israel.. if Moses were here, I'd give him a listen or two.." but then you coincidentally choose to wash your car instead of listening to conference? Now, yes, there are special circumstances in which the record button is a mercy in itself- but really, giving good ole' Russell M. Nelson a listen or two can really change the pace of your day and your outlook for the next six months. Now, I was once like you... I looked forward to playing conference bingo than I did receiving modern inspiration.. but I have repented and changed my ways and I KNOW with no surety of doubt, if you come with questions, they will be answered. Seriously. Try it. However mundane or insignificant you think your desire may be... God knows it.. and there is a chilling arithmetic in the availability of answers to the faithful in this Gospel. You will never receive an answer if you don't ask the question. Take this weekend as an opportunity to cleanse your insecurities and purge your pride, turning to God with complete faith that his arm will be revealed unto you. The key to improved prayer is to ask the right questions. Really, there are no stupid questions when it comes to God.. just stupid fear. This applies to EVERY ONE OF US. "Something wonderful happens when we really know, without a doubt, that God loves us—our questions completely change. Instead of asking, 'Why did this happen to me?' or 'Why doesn’t God care about me?' we say, 'Well, I know God loves me; I know that. So what can I learn from this experience?'" Trust in your Savior's love, ask the right questions, and come out of conference being the disciple you were destined to be. 

Well Y'all, that was our monstrous week of magnificence!

This Weeks FB Post:

Israel, Israel, God is calling- do you recognize his voice?
Before this life, our recognition of such a voice was imaginably immediate. In this life we are reacquianting ourselves with his perfect mildness as we come unto him and magnify our callings. We are each called to an action we are divinely qualified for, enlisted in a royal army destined to overcome the adversary.
The good shepherd beckons for the safety and progression of his sheep. Each member of the flock has an infinite and irreplaceable value to the shepherd. As God's children, we are each individually loved and cared for. No matter what relationship you think you have with your Heavenly Father, his connection to and understanding of you is both intimate and perfect. God is in the details of our lives.I may not know much, but I know that God loves his children. I know that he qualifies whom he calls. And he calls you. Answer the calls as they come- we alone are not great, we are made great as we magnify our callings.
#LBRMSingingSundayAlma 5: 60
(Be a good sheep and read the scripture.) ☀️

Side highlights:

-Someone had the bright idea to ask me to play piano at a funeral this weekend. You'd think these Louisianans would get someone who can ACTUALLY play? :)

-We've got a whole new District up in here, I'm excited to see where this transfer takes us.

- The branch is as lovely as ever.. these people are the craziest coconuts I could ever be pleased to call family. 

I hope y'all have really inspired weeks- truly. Remember how chosen and privileged you are to be on this Earth at this present time. It is no coincidence that you are in the last dispensation of the fullness of times. You are numbered among the infinite beauties of God's people. Look for some tender mercies this week! Sing with the sunshine and make a new friend! Make this week one of such gorgeous grandeur that you have no choice but to be absolutely pumped for conference and Easter. Remember the reason for the season.. and remember that sunburnt Elder Boyd and Jesus love you! Prayers coming your way... you're all treasures to the most high God. :)

With powerfully pleasant praise and appreciation,

Elder Boyd

The Hills Are Alive With.... Jeremy and his Companion 😁

CHALMETTE CHRONICLES CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Fondest greetings little flock,

My time is up my time is now...

As transfers roll around,

I say a prayer, and then pray all day,

Hoping that in my holy land I stay

Yes, ladies and gentleman, it is the equivalent missionary, "dead week." When you know that you have the possibility of leaving, and you don't really want to, we call this, transfer week. You may be able to sympathize.. imagine you have just moved to a new area with your dad's job- and it took about our months to settle in, but you're finally getting the hang of things. You're making friends with the community and finding your role in this place you now call home. But every six weeks, someone has the power to send you somewhere else.. to send you to a not so familiar land, where the process starts all over again. This, my friends, is the transfer experience. Now, in terms of missionary work, everything is okay because it is hands far better than ours... God's. And with his perfect exercise of agency, you know that you're meant to go wherever he sends you and that angels above will support and guide and uplift you through even the most uncomfortable of changes. Get comfortable with the uncomfortable. SO was the week of CHALMETTE CHRONICLES: CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

Now, I bet you're all wondering, what was the fate of our anxious protagonist for this six week period?

Well, for this particular chapter of our story...

I'M STAYING Y'ALL.

Yes indeed, yes I'm pleased- another six weeks in the "Chalestial" kingdom [Jeremy is a "punny" guy]. District Leader Elder Boyd has the privilege of spending a quarter of his mission in the homeland of the East NOLA/Chalmette area. Hallelujah. The church is true. Sister Banner is going home this week- which is weird because I've known her as long as I've been alive in the mission. She will genuinely be missed- she has been a big part of my adjustment out here. But I know she will bless the lives of those back home with the same spirit and sunshine that she shared out here. 

Now with all that stress out of the way- this week was a rambunctiously radical and righteous roulette of experiences. I can't wait for you to vicariously ride this rollercoaster of a week.

STORY TIME:

Most of the time we hear a "mission" in the connotation of a super-secret spy escapade of pyrotechnic proportions- not knocking on doors to share the good word of God. So, as you can probably envision, us white-shirt-and-tie-wearing emissaries, are often confused with the more debonair and diabolical.. 007's of the world. Think about it, "what did President say about the DM? Should we call the AP's and the ZL's about the PI's? We're gonna have to get the STL's in on this one.."- to the non-LDS filter, we sound pretty official, to say the least. Well, this misconceived perception and the rambunctious reality of ministry actually aligned for a short moon.. or so it felt- but Agent Boyd and Agent Carter were on the job. Mission Impossible: Made possible through the plan of Salvation and the tender guidance of the Holy Ghost. 

- a little context-

We tracted into this incredibly sweet Nigerian family a few weeks ago while we were reaping in the fields of the East. Her percussive accent attracted our attention to share the Book of Mormon with her, and she graciously accepted. 

So we were in the area visiting a PI [potential investigator], who eventually fell through, and as we were driving away, the mother of the family, waved at us with the most radiant smile. Seriously you couldn't replace that effluent light with a thousand light up sneakers. Suddenly, I felt prompted that we should go see her.. Elder Carter felt the same and so naturally we made our way over to her house to deliver a Book of Mormon. Well, little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. We knocked on the door and her first reaction was, "Please, you must help me." Turns out she was in quite the conundrum. She gave birth to two babies in the U.S. but they were due back in Nigeria in a week- the payment for their passports was due at the local bank within the next hour or they'd be stranded in Louisiana. But here's the catch... She didn't have a ride to the bank... So this was the very favor she was requesting of us. Naturally, liability prevents missionaries from giving anyone without a nametag or baptismal record a ride anywhere.. so we were in quite the helpless debacle ourselves. With great trust that God would deliver his prayerful people. 

We ended up working out a plan: Two steps- Step One: drive over to the bank ourselves, Step Two: try to make the deposit for her- simple enough, eh? She even trusted us with this big wad of cash which was quite flattering really. Well, as a matter of fact, proxy deposits can only be made through a check. So we returned empty handed and THIS is where it got real... She dropped to her knees and begged us to take her with us... We even called President, but alas, we were without a means of transportation. We called each and every contact in our phone and even knocked on the surrounding doors, some of whom were our investigators in the area.. to our surprise, nobody was home or willing to help this unfortunate mother.

 BUT THIS IS A GOSPEL OF HAPPY ENDINGS FOR GOOD PEOPLE

Luckily,  by the good grace of God and after much prayer and scavenging, we returned and saw that a car had parked in her driveway. Her sister had come to write a check and make the deposit. A happy ending to a rather unnerving hour and a half. 

I learned several things from this experience, 1.) God really does answer our prayers through other people.. if we had never followed the prompting we wouldn't have been in that position to assist this distressed mother. 2.) All that spy stuff? Not all it's cut out to be.. in cases of national espionage.. the sweaty collar and atomic wedgie from pacing up and down the road.. really aren't worth it. And 3.) God knows our struggles PERFECTLY, he's just waiting for us to exercise faith and lean upon his perfectly catered help. God knew how that entire fiasco was going to end. He knew that her sister would be able to make it on time. 

But why lead us along, you might ask?

Often God does not give us perspective until we are in a position to learn from our experiences. Really, if we saw every encounter as God sees it- we'd never complain- for the growth, we inevitably inherit outweighs even the most tumultuous of trials. I know that we were lead to help that woman that day. And I am grateful that we were in a state of worthiness to follow the prompting... And accomplish our super secret mission. 😊 

ANOTHER SURPRISE-

I think I have a smaller idea of how our Savior feels when we make good decisions. This past weekend I had the opportunity to baptize this incredible champion of a kid- who we've been working with for such a good minute- and rejoiced in watching him grow and enter the waters of baptism. Y'all,  he is a future missionary for real. And when they say that we are to be, "converted unto the Lord" I think my boy knows what's up. I also had the blessed opportunity to confirm him a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and bestow upon him the sacred gift of the Holy Ghost. It was really a blessing to be apart of such edifying experiences. Isn't it the coolest thing that the Lord trusts us to do His work? Like, really... I feel so unworthy to responsible for such sacred ordinances, but I ALSO know that the Lord qualifies whom he calls. It's such a humbling experience to walk side by side with someone in the footsteps of discipleship, It's like a gardener waiting patiently for his seeds. he knows their potential.. but he also knows what is necessary to help them achieve such greatness. The end result is never inevitable- we must be gentle with the soul we are entrusted to guide and to help. It is our responsibility to supply them with every spiritual nutrient and mineral so as to never deprive them of their endless possibilities. In turn, they must accept the sustenance given and use it for their benefit- they must brave the wistful winds and plant their roots deep, so as to never fall away. If we do not establish roots, the trees of our labors will falter and tremble under the influence of an external adversary.. but as the roots penetrate deep into the soil of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.. we can adhere strictly and abide by the wise counsel given by our beloved former prophet... "Good timber does not grow with ease, the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees." 

In anticipation of transfers as well, we went all out on the member relations this week... visiting with all of our favorite Chalmatians. Brother Landers, Brother Hatcher, Mama Caswell, the Farrell family- really it was an all-out splurge to get our member time in before we'd be whisked away to another holy land... Luckily, in my case, and most everyone in the District, we can savor in another six weeks of these magnificent members. Really, they are such a dedicated group. Like I said last week, they very much so encapsulate the essence of ministry and hold true to their callings and responsibilities as faithful members of this church. I love them all so familiarly... I know that we are all apart of the same eternal family and for that, I am most sincerely grateful. 

I love my ward family at home and I love my branch family out here. This is a Gospel where home does not depend upon your surroundings.. but your heart. I feel my heart anchored to two separate sides of the nation- a part of me definitely resides in the humble abode of the Lutheran Pre-school off of Paris Road. 

Another crazy experience this week came as we likened the scriptures once again.. realizing the necessity of loving those that persecute you:

"But behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you;" ~ 3 Nephi 12:44

What we intended to do and what we ended up doing.. were completely different on this particularly ripe and sunny day in New Orleans. We INTENDED on visiting a really cool investigator that we found while out street contacting- she understood our message and purpose and was totally groovy to learn more. So we tried stopping by, Restoration pamphlets in hand, ready to preach repentance and baptize converts-and as our anxious knuckles scraped the mahogany door.. she didn't answer. Rather, this absolutely ripped fella with the largest hands opens the door and proceeds to interrogate our purpose in being there. Turns out, just our luck, our investigator's father is a local Christian minister, who definitely doesn't skip leg day, and loves to entertain colorful discussions about the book of Job. 

For the next.. forty-five or so minutes, we endured a rather bodacious beratement, in which the only words I got out were... yes, we're the Mormons. It was an interesting experience. We were instructed to learn our, "craft" (educate ourselves about the majestic ministry of Sir Archibald Wickboldt the Third... no, I still have no idea who that is. He told us that we weren't qualified to minister and that we should go along our merry way and study the Bible before we declare that another blasphemous book of scripture exists and that another prophet besides Job (who wasn't even a prophet.. but a righteous man, might I add) ministered in ancient America. We played on his curriculum and in those circumstances, the only thing you really can do is smile and agree to disagree. 

BUT HERE'S WHERE IT GETS SPIRITUAL- I reasoned within my person that it wasn't worth arguing with this yolked individual.. so I just politely encouraged him to check out the website and learn for himself- when suddenly (because his door was open for an hour straight) his wife noticed that their dog had slipped through the cracks and ran away. Our conversation was gracefully interrupted with an all-out scavenge for this little white canine.. but he was nowhere to be found. Then, something interesting happened.. the scripture above popped into my head and I realized that even though he may not have treated us as the disciples we were... we still had the authority to preach the Gospel and to pray for our investigators. So I did just that. I offered up a sincere plea that this family would be able to find their dog, and I kid you not- when I said amen the little guy was jumping on my pant leg (NOT IN THE SHIH-TZU MANEUVER THANK GOODNESS). So, even if you aren't on the best of terms with some of the children of God here on the Earth.. you should still pray for them- we ARE one big family after all.

Some other little highlights of this week:

-We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders where Elder Dover and I had this incredible two-hour lesson with one of their investigators- AND we had a little graffiti photo shoot. 

-We did service as a District over at the Chalmette cemetery, reorganizing headstones with this fancy crane gadget. 

So yes, my friends, that was our week! So much went down and this past transfer went by so fast, it's kinda difficult to keep track of it all. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father that I have been given the opportunity to preach the Gospel. I love this church and I know it is so true. The Book of Mormon is seriously one of my favorite books- I encourage you all to read it prayerfully, pondering its teachings and their effects in your life. 

Let's all prepare for General Conference by becoming more spiritually nourished by the good word of God and in serving our fellow members and brothers and sisters. I love you all- I know it and I hope you know it too! I'm super excited for this upcoming transfer.. stay tuned for more adventures from the "Chalestial" Kingdom.

LOVE Y'ALL, HAVE A GREAT WEEK! 

With the sincerity and gratitude for all the lovely human beings that you are,

Elder Boyd