I thought that this was hilarious!
The First Epistle of the Elders to the Dead Letter Writers
Chapter 1
In the beginning was the
mailbox and the mailbox was
void of letters.
2 And the missionaries said,
"Let the box be filled," and the
box was not filled.
3 And the missionaries beheld
the continuing void and were
not pleased.
4 And lo, it was the first day
of the week and there was no
mail delivered, but this was
good.
5 But on the second day was
the mail delivered; yet the box
remained empty.
6 Yea, even from the second
day unto the seventh was the
mail delivered.
7 Even so, the box retained it's
void.
8 And yea, great mists of dark-
ness spread forth from the void
and enshrouded the missionaries.
Yea, and did bring much sadness
to their otherwise cheery days.
9 Even the long hours of fruitless
tracting, being attacked by
the fowls of the air, and being
pursed by the beasts of the
field were not as disheartening
as the lack of blessed objects
known as letters.
10 Yet they persisted.
Chapter 2
And, Lo, on the second day of
the second week the mists still
encircled the mailbox.
2 And on the third day, from
within the depths of the void
was a single postcard.
3 And this postcard put forth a
ray of light that pierced the darkness
and overcame the mists.
4 And the missionaries were
well pleased, and there was
much rejoicing.
5 But, alas, their exclamations
of joy were in vain. For the
postcard was for someone else.
6 But if their joy was so
exceedingly great over someone
else's mail, how great would be
their joy at partaking of their
own mail?
Chapter 3
But some will say, A letter.
A Letter. We have already
written a letter. We have no
need to write any more letters.
2 Know ye not that there are
more days than one, and more
events than one in a day? Why
think ye that these events need
not be reported?
3 Yea, and ye need not worry
that your letters will go unanswered.
4 But you should say, I will go
and write the letter that a
missionary requests. For I know
that he giveth no requests
except he be prepared to
speedily respond.
5 And we give unto you the
parable of the self-addressed
envelopes.
6 When the missionary
departed into the far off land he
gave a certain number of self-
addressed stamped envelopes to
his friends.
7 Unto one he gave five, unto
another he gave two, and unto
the third he gave one.
8 And while he was gone, he
that was given the five envelopes
wrote five letters, then in his zeal
wrote five letters more.
9 The same with him that had
two envelopes; He wrote two
letters and then two letters
more.
10 But he that was given the
one self-addressed envelope
became slothful and careless.
And he lost the envelope, even
that which he was given.
11 And when the missionary
came home he went unto his
friends. And he that had written
ten letters was warmly greeted.
12 The same with him that
had written four letters.
13 But he that had written
none at all was given nothing
more than a fishy, wimp-like
handshake.
Chapter 4
And the missionary said unto
his friend; lovest thou me?
2 And the friend said, of
course I love thee. then the
missionary said, fill my
mailbox.
3 He saith a second time,
friend, lovest thou me? And the
friend said, thou knowest that I
love thee. He then said, fill my
mailbox.
4 He then spake a third time
saying, lovest thou me? And the
friend said, thou knowest all
things, thou knowest that I love
thee.
5 Then the missionary said,
stuff my mailbox.
6 And the vision is become
unto all as the words of a letter
that is sealed in the envelope
that men deliver to one who is
not serving a mission saying,
Read this, I pray thee; and he
saith, I cannot, for it is not
mine.
7 And the letter is delivered to
him that is serving a mission
saying, read this I pray thee;
and he saith, why sure.
8 Therefore, you should
proceed to do a marvelous work
for a missionary, even a marvelous
work and a wonder by
writing a letter.
The days have kind of blurred together but everyday has been a blessing!
General conference was spectacular! I'm sure everyone was on the edge
of their seats when our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson talked. I'm
sure everyone in that building was praying for him and thousands around
the world! A few days after General Conference we had Linda K. Burton
come talk to us and she mentioned what happened at Conference and then
asked the question, "Do we really appreciate our Prophet and what he
does for us?" That was truly a wake up call for me! I always thought
,"If the prophet dies then another one will be called" but I have not
been grateful enough to Thomas S Monson and how much he sacrifices for
this church and I'm also grateful that the Lord would not keep us in the
dark but allow us to have a prophet. Also right after Elder Hollands
talk the entire MTC could be heard sniffling and coughing (trying to
cover up crying) and I'm pretty sure everyone there had their eyes
water.
Vocal
point came and sang and talked to us which was pretty cool. Probably
one of my favorite things here is volleyball. Everyday we go outside to
play sand volleyball! We also had another wonderful lesson with Marco
and it was just as heart felt as the other ones! I love teaching him!
So
I've had a goal to not eat sugar for 2 weeks and I made it a little
over a week and then.....they had pumpkin pie for lunch and it's October
and it's Fall and I'm not going to have thanksgiving for who knows how
many years and I wont be able to eat pumpkin pie in Nicaragua! Those
were almost all the excuses that I came up with to eat the pie...so I
took a bite....and it tasted like leaves changing colors, like hot
chocolate and sweaters, like cinnamon and pumpkins, like cool crisp air
and IT WAS AMAZING!!!! I think it was the best piece of pumpkin pie I've
ever had!
Words of Wisdom for the day:
It
took Michelangelo twelve years - one brush stroke at a time - to paint
his biblical scenes in the Sistine Chapel. It took Brahms twenty years -
one note at a time - to compose his First Symphony. It took Edmund
Hillary and Tenzing Norgay eighty days - one step at a time - to climb
the 29,000 feet of Mount Everest.
Word by word, brush-stroke by brush-stroke, note by note,
step by step, problem by problem, prayer by prayer - this is the secret
of Achievement. -Author unknown
Hermana Partridge
