Halfway Through Summer

I saw that Traverse mtn was on fire this weekend, how is everything going with all of that???? Everyone is in my prayers. Is everyone ready for the wedding this weekend on Saturday? I'm so so excited for Kelly and Lucas! :).

Marissa: Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Marissa (on the 4th 😁), Happy Birthday to you! I hope you have such a great day, thank you for your example to me.

Well, we have all made it through another week, and not a whole lot has happened. Day 105 in quarantine, and still chugging along😎. We are really really trying to be creative and do anything and everything that we can possibly think of. With not being able to even talk to people as we pass them on the streets on our walks, it has made it interesting to just only say a quick, "hi, have a great day!" and keep on walking. We have been having a couple member lessons here and there, via zoom and messenger calls and so that has made it nice to still be able to "talk" to people somewhat. Me and Johnson have gotten pretty used to just talking with ourselves over the past few weeks, which has been nice too cuz then we can ponder and think.

Alrighty, so to spice this email up a little and make it exciting, I thought I would give a devo/talk/fireside/whatever we want to call it, type of thing:

" I have been thinking the last few days (which is good that I'm still thinking 😉), and truly pondering about the importance of HOPE & FAITH, and how the two connect and correspond together. What it led me to was this -- Faith is like a little seed, and if planted, it will grow. But how will it grow if we don't have the hope to keep going day after day, week after week, to water and nourish it. That stuck out to me. Why does having hope and faith, mean that every time we want to have something happen, we have to be patient and we have to allow it to grow within ourselves? When we truly yearn for something, we put Heavenly Father to the test; meaning, that we petition Him to help us accomplish our tasks in life. When Parker was sick with Leukemia, and it was very taxing on everyone, we asked God to help us and not necessarily take away our burden, but to help us get through it. That's what hope and faith both are, it's when we can accept what God throws our way, and then go forward with hope and optimism, having the faith that we can get through it one step at a time as we talk with God and ask for His help. Something else that has stood out to me for a while now, is when we see the light at the end of the tunnel, and are striving and pushing to get to the light, but forces and the natural world, are telling us it isn't worth it and we shouldn't try to go towards it. That then made me think of Christ on the night of His crucifixion, when He went into the garden of Gethsemane, and prayed and suffered for many hours, and then came back to find that His apostles had fallen asleep, and were not there for/with Him. He then asks them, 'Can ye not watch, but 3 hours with me'. He goes back to pray in the garden, and comes back to find them asleep again. He does this a 3rd time and same thing. And through all of this, Christ teaches us a simple yet powerful principle, "The way is never easy when we are talking with Heaven. But, He has promised us that He will be with us as we look to Him in every. single. part. of our lives." I know this to be true. I have never known it to be true, as much as I know it to be true today. Because I know, that God knows that I know, that Jesus Christ lives and is our Redeemer. He has bled from every pore of His body, so that we dont have to. He was rejected and left alone and forsaken, so that we wouldn't be. "Dont give up on the Lord, because He hasn't given up on you". I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope everyone liked reading that ❤ Just some thoughts that have been on my mind lately, and have really made me think about why it's so important to turn to God, and hope and pray for good things to come.

Some fun things that we did this week: 

- Went on 2 bike rides around Wadsworth, which was super fun and really good exercise. 

- Took some pictures and videos on Saturday to post on Instagram and Facebook to continue sharing the Gospel.

- Did a puzzle that had the Avengers on it, that was fun :) 

President and Sister Stratford leave to head home to Utah in 24 hrs from now, and we are going to miss them  A TON. We are stoked to have President and Sister Horgesheimer get here to Columbus TONIGHT, and take on the reigns and roles of this mission and to continue to further the work here in Ohio. Oh also, this is just a random fact that doesn't have anything to do with mission presidents, but I got bit by a black spider on my earlobe a few weeks ago, and it is kind of swollen today, hopefully the swelling goes down. I had forgotten to mention it when it happened, and I remembered when I saw it swollen today :).

I'm going to be getting some glasses at Walmart today for my eyes. My eyes have gotten really bad the last few months and now I'm pretty much squinting everytime I try and look at something. Happy 4th of July/Wedding/birthday week this week!! Its going to be such a fun week for you guys and I'm so so excited to see pictures from this weekend with everyone there!! Tell Kelly and Lucas congrats for me!! 💯

I love you all oh so very much, and I pray for you guys everyday! Thank you for your support and for your examples to me each and everyday 🤙 Heavenly Father knew I needed people in my life as awesome and incredible as all of you guys! Keep on keeping on. I wanted to do a quote this week: "When our gaze is on the finish line, and we are laced up at the starting line, then everything in between will be overcome as we keep running this race". I miss you guys so so much! Dont give up, we got this, together ❤😁

I'm so excited to talk to everyone today!

I love you forever and always :)

Elder Dylan