Online Missionaries

Dear  Dad and Moms,

First off, when I got called to be a DL I was not excited. I am not looking for leadership at all. If I get called to do it, I will. If I've gained any attributes on my mission thus far,  it's humility.

I have been working extremely hard in trying to find those who will receice us. We have 3 with baptismal dates so we're working with those. One of them is a tiny old lady from Taiwan and she has a date for July 2nd. I hope she can make that! I also gave my first baptismal interview the other day. Man, what an experience. That was awesome! I hope I can do many many more of those.

I hope g-ma is okay! Give her my love. I'll be writing her next week.

So this week on Thursday I went to a leadership training meeting in Santa Rosa where I learned a TON. One of which is that the mission world is changing and adapting to the times. Our mission is a pilot mission for many different programs such as online missionary work. Right now our mission has 20 something online missionaries and that number is going to increase a ton next transfer. So, it is very likely that I will be an online missionary as well, which means that I will be on FB and have a blog. I will teach the gospel online and receive and give referrals. I love President Bunker. He is a man with a vision for this mission. He is a 0% tolerance for crap guy. I love it. He still likes to have fun and he isn't extremely strict. But 0% tolerance for crap meaning that if missionaries aren't on the same page as him for doing this work. He is a very passionate man, and he is also very inspired. I love and admire him.

Speaking of online missionary work, I wrote on a guest blog for one of our Zone Leaders while on exchanges because he is an online missionary. This is a draft of what I wrote and it's titled "2000 Stripling Warriors".

I am honored to be on here today and Elder Jones was kind enough to allow me to share some thoughts about something that I have recently studied.

First, I want you to imagine yourself in your teenage years. Then think of your country being invaded and being extremely outnumbered. Now imagine yourself fighting that war, on the front lines, being the example for even the most seasoned warrior. Would YOU do that?

I want to talk about an event that took place in the Book of Mormon. It is the story of the Stripling Warriors. The word "stripling" means young, around the early to mid teenage years. These young men were of such age. In about 77 b.c., a group of Lamanites came to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, thanks to the sons of Mosiah during their ministry in the land of the Lamanites. Along with their conversion, they entered into a covenant with the Lord to never take up arms and go to battle against their brethren and shed their blood. However, the children of these people who became known as the Anti-Nephi-Lehites didn't enter into that covenant because they were too young. So 13 years later when the Lamanites began to invade the Nephite lands, these very young sons took up arms and went to battle with Helaman, the sone of the prophet Alma, as their leader.

What COURAGE and FAITH it must have taken for these extremely young men to leave their families to fight for the liberty of their people! "They were men of TRUTH and SOBERNESS for they have been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before Him." The respect and admiration I have for these young men is immense. They were willing to die for the cause of liberty, the cause of family and the cause of God.

It was now time to put their faith and courage to the test. They went to battle against a very large army of Lamanites, much larger than their small band of 2000. When Helaman asks his "sons" if they should go to battle, the answer that was given are some of the most inspiring words that I have ever heard, especially from the mouths of such young men. They answered saying, "Father, behold our God is with us and he will not suffer that we should fall; them let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone." (Alma 56:46)

These young men have never fought before, and "yet they did not fear death" (Alma 56:47). Have you ever seen so great courage? They were selfless; they thought more "upon the liberty of their fathers" than their lives (Alma 56:47). What even amazes me further is this is how they were taught by their mothers. Their mothers taught them that, "if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." These sons did not doubt, they also "[did] not doubt [their] mothers knew it" (Alma 56:47-48).

These young men go on to fight many battles, in the which that not one of them was lost. Because of their upbringing, the teachings of their mothers, and their extremely firm faith in Christ, God preserved their lives so that they were all able to return to live with their families again.

I know that God keeps his promises to us. If we live according to the commandments that we are given, we too will become as these young stripling warriors. We will be delivered from adversity, we will overcome temptation, and we will triumph over the adversary. The fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth through the prophet, Joseph Smith. I am grateful for the knowlede that I have received from my loving parents, it is invaluable. I, like the stripling warriors, DO NOT DOUBT that my parents know of these things. I know with a deep conviction that God lives, His Son, Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world and that through Jesus Christ, we can obtain "never ending happiness" (Mosiah 2:41), forgiveness of our sins, and eternal life.

These things I leave with you in the name of Him whom I love and trust so dearly, even Jesus Christ, amen.

What do you think? I love that story! Anyway, gotta go.

Love, Elder Edwards