Hello There

Hello good people, I am officially almost 1 week into the MTC. I start in Provo next Wednesday, and go to California on the 28th. I think this email is long, so my bad. I guess just read whatever. 

1. Getting set apart

2. First days in the MTC

3. David A. Bednar talk

4. Nacho Libre

1. So I got set apart Sunday. And I now know the exact feeling of having that weighted blanket, and gunpoint. When I first heard it, I thought when people said blanket, it was like a warm blanket that makes you all cozy, but no. It felt like a freakin 200 lb trying to drag you to the ground. And it was weirdly difficult to stand up for the first night. Also, God hired a Spiritual Hitman, who's job is to take me out, onsite, if I don't exercise exact obedience. I don't think I've had exact obedience this week, but I'm still alive, so maybe he doesn't have those exact orders. But I've definitely got a red dot on me.

2. Sunday night I moved into my Grandparents basement, because my house is too loud for me to make comments on zoom classes, or be able to do anything MTC really. Anyway, the first day was long, but since Tuesday, everyday has gone by super fast. Zoom calls take up probably like 7 hours of the day, but we take breaks like every hour. It really isn't that bad as long as I'm focused. But at the end of the day I'll be getting ready for bed and it's like "Didn't I already just barely set the bed? Is it time for Bed already?" I would say I am Medium-High busy. When we're not on calls we do Personal and companion study, and go through the mission portal. One of those things being the Safety Zone videos. I was warned that my sense of humor would deteriorate, but I like to think that I haven't lost it yet. Safety Zone is my main source of entertainment, but I don't really think it's funny. I feel like I'm just waiting to find something funny. Also because I don't really have any sources of entertainment. But it's been good. Coming to the MTC from working in Pennsylvania has definitely been an easier adjustment.

3. While it has been good, Tuesday was kind of a rough day. I woke up  late, really sore from exercising for the first time in longer than I will say. So I skipped exercising because I was sore, and I lost the time to exercise because I was asleep. To top it off, I cut myself while shaving with a new razor. I grabbed it from my Parents basement while I was packing. They have a stock pile of things like razors, sunblock and a lot of Body wash? I thought it was like a survival thing at first, because that's kind of what it looks like. But in an emergency, like if the house is on fire, we're not gonna head downstairs and grab 6 boxes of Old Spice Body wash, like what? And this was only my second day in the MTC, but it felt like it should've been like a week by that point, because Monday went by super slow. And thinking you're 2 days in out of 700+ is not a great one. But, anyway, I was at a kind of a low point and had guilt for not having that exact obedience. Later that night we had a devotional from David A. Bednar which really helped, and covered all the concerns I was having. He said things like "You're not gonna be perfect, you're 18 years old". I don't really remember much else, and don't feel like looking through my journal to find out, but basically he helped me feel better about all those things, and the talk made me laugh a lot too. He also said something that I already knew, but just didn't remember or realize that it applied. And that was when he said something like "The way you will get through this is by relying on Christ". And like, no duh, that's how you do it, we've all heard that before. I'm like a missionary now and have probably even said that by that point without realizing or thinking that it applied to me. But that especially helped me feel better about how this is a 2 year package.

4. A couple of days ago, I got this song stuck in my head from Nacho Libre. I don't know why, because I haven't seen the movie in years, but it's like the intro song when he's a kid. I just could not get it out of my head and so I looked it up. It's called "Religious Man" or "Hombre Religioso" and I actually really liked the lyrics. I am sorry, if that's not righteous, I have not read through the whole Missionary handbook yet, but I felt the lyrics passed the test. I did honestly feel the spirit while it was playing. The lyrics go: "I am I am, I am I am, I think I am, I thank I am, I'm glad I am, I'm proud I am, A real religious man". Those lyrics kinda helped me feel like "Yeah, I'm a Religious Man", not to mention the song is kind of a bop. But I would say those lyrics kind of represent how I'm feeling right now. Check in, in a couple weeks when I'm in San Diego. I would actually love it if I could have this song playing in the background like when I'm shaving and getting ready, putting my name tag on, etc. But go listen to it, because it's great.

https://soundcloud.com/gabriel-zanoff/hombre-religioso-religious-man

That's pretty much it. I don't get why people have said that the MTC is "hard but good" because for me it's pretty much just good. Everyone knows the field is hard, but I think I'm probably living my best life out here. Sure it's work, but I don't feel like it's a burden in the slightest. I just really like that I can devote 100% of my time to bringing forth the Kingdom of God. Anyway, I don't really think I have much else to say, feel free to send me an email, and have fun

- Elder Wride

Set Apart

Well, we've got three missionaries! Look at these great kids, my heart is happy. 

That pic above is the one Ethan took. The screen shot I took made it look like Hyrum was already a little overwhelmed/unsure of what he had just gotten himself into.

Our stake president and his two counselors came over to our house to set Hyrum apart. Here's my four pic panoramo of the room - Me holding Peter, who fell asleep in my arms at just the right time and he was quiet during the whole meeting.

We all got to say nice things about Hyrum and give him advice. Joseph arrived a little late but we were glad he was able to join us.

My parents and Corey's parents all came. My kids are pretty lucky to still have all of their grandparents alive. 

Corey held the phone so Ethan could hear and join in virtually.

It was going to be at 6 but then we changed it to earlier at 4 so that Mel could join us, but then she got her time difference mixed up and wasn't on when we started and didn't join until 5 when it was over. So she was a little sad about that but then it was ok cause they were able to talk for a little bit. Ethan had to go though, and Mel was a little sad cause she wanted to talk to Ethan. They both had p-day on Monday when they were in Missouri and Indiana, but since they have both gone to their original assignments of the Dominican Republic and Brazil, their p-days are on different days now (Eth on Monday still, Mel is on Wednesday). So this was one of the only chances they would get to talk until Christmas. So she was a little sad about that but they were able to say hi and then Ethan had to go, but Mel was able to talk with us and Hyrum for a bit. It was really funny though, cause after he got set apart, he was like "AHH!! I can't take this pressure!! I feel like I have a gun to my head!!!" The missionary mantel is real. I remember feeling it as a missionary - the urgency of talking to people and working and planning your day and not wasting any time and focusing on teaching others of Christ. And I remember when I was released - I physically felt the pressure removed from off my shoulders and I could relax for like the first time in months. Hyrum was like "I'm 2 hours into this.... I can't live like this!!  I gotta go sit down - I have a head ache!" and Corey and I just chuckled. The responsibility is real, but you'll get used to it. 

Farewell Talk

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters

My name is Hyrum Wride. I have been called to serve in the San Diego, California Mission, and I start the MTC on September 6th.

I would like to start off just by going over the summer I had, out working in Pennsylvania with my older brother Joseph. It was my first time on my own, and man-oh-man did I get a whoopin’. I started off the summer as a door to door salesman, where for about 8 hours a day, I would walk around knocking doors trying to get people to sign up for the service. And as it turns out, 99% of people do not want to buy Pest Control from a door to door salesman. And if you don’t make any sales, you do not get paid, regardless of how many hours you spend on the doors. Well I was not making very many sales, and it became harder for me to not get discouraged over the next couple of weeks. After knocking doors for a little over a month, something had to change, because I needed to make money for college. So, I talked with my boss, and I was able to switch to technician work, where I would be servicing the houses instead of selling.

In June, I came back to Utah for my High School Graduation and to kind of take a breather from work. And when I returned to Pennsylvania was when I switched to technician work. Because I was only 17 I was an Assistant Technician, so I would be working with another Technician for the day. We would be assigned more stops for the day because we could service the houses almost twice as fast. But technician life was no smooth sailing either. We worked 12, sometimes 14 hour days, 5-6 days a week, and it as not fun. Even though I was now making money, I was still getting discouraged. I was definitely not making as much as I would like to have, and would even worry that I wasn’t making as much as I needed to have.

Before the summer, I had always thought that payday was everyone’s favorite day, but funny enough, the times I would get the most discouraged was when I would get paid. With each paycheck I would think “That’s it?”. The realities of taxes and rent were hard for me to deal with. And in times like this I would question why I was still there. I was working long days away from my friends, family, and free rent. I could avoid having to spend much on food or rent because I would be living at home. I was only there because I was there and said I would be.

But through one Sacrament meeting I was able to really change my mindset. Moment of truth, I have literally no idea what the speaker was talking about, because I was off in my own little world. But all of the sudden they said something that hit me and it was just the phrase “Trust in the Lord”. And that really stuck with me. I was doing what I thought was right, and what was in my control, so I just needed to leave it to the Lord. I would also like to share my testimony of the Restoration of the Church. On the drive back from Pennsylvania, my older brother Joseph and I visited many historic sites like the Priesthood Restoration site, Palmyra NY, Kirtland OH, and Nauvoo IL. Each of the tour guides jumped at the fact that “Joseph and Hyrum” had come to their historic site. I did not necessarily learn a whole lot, as I have been well taught about the restoration of the church. But I can now more distinctly remember what happened at each place and not get them mixed up. There were also smaller details that I was able to learn about, or had missed when reading the Doctrine and Covenants.

One being from the story of the Whitmers. You guys already know the story, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery asked the Whitmer family if they could stay with them to finish the translating of the Book of Mormon. David was willing and eager to bring them to their home to take part in the work of God. But before he could go, David needed to plow 20 acres of their farmland. He worked as hard as he could for the day, but he had not made very much progress. The next morning, they were astonished to see that 5-7 acres of the 20 had been plowed overnight. His father Peter said (quote) “There must be an overruling hand in all this”(quote) and he encouraged David to finish plowing and bring Joseph and Oliver as soon as possible. But, Heavenly Father had not plowed the whole field. David still had at least 13 acres of land to finish before he left. And from my summer experience, I am a witness of how much land that would be in that weather. I was just doing Pest Control, with a little spreader thing, and the most I had ever treated was 4 acres. That took like 40 minutes to an hour. The worst part being, the East Coast in the summer is ridiculously hot and humid so you're basically melting. So, going back, David still had a lot of work to be done. This to me is a perfect example of the principle that God will not take away our burdens, but make the light. God had done some of the work for David, and had given his family the reassurance that they were doing the work of God. Joseph and Oliver were there able to complete the translation of the Book of Mormon without interruption.

While Joseph and I were on the road, we got a message from our Grandma telling us that while we were in Historic Nauvoo, to make sure and stop by the Old Bakery site. That Bakery we learned, was run by our 4th Great-Grandfather, Lucius Scovil. He wasn’t actually a baker, but a really good businessman. And like many of the other saints in Nauvoo, he had given a lot to help fund the Nauvoo Temple. In 1846, at the time the Saints were making preparations to make the Journey West, Scovil received a Mission call to England. I would like to share a quote from him upon receiving this call. (quote) “It seemed like a painful duty for me to perform, to leave my family to go into the wilderness and I to turn and go the other way. But inasmuch as I had been appointed to go, I was determined to fill my mission if it cost me all that I had on this earth ... I thought it was best to round up my shoulders like a bold soldier of the (kor) corps and assist in rolling forth the kingdom of God (close quote)”.

While on his mission in England, he also commissioned the creation of this Plate with the Nauvoo Temple on it, as well as the names of the Apostles at the time. There were 50 plates that were made at the time. With the plates, he was able to use them while performing missionary lessons and spread more awareness about Nauvoo and the temple. After his mission, Scovil made it to Salt Lake and reunited with his family.

Out of all the stops we went to, my favorite was Carthage Jail. On the tour, we saw the rooms the Prophet and his friends stayed in while they were there. Being in the original building, I got a better understanding of how they lived there. Being on the same spot kind of changes how you see the whole thing. We saw the window Joseph jumped out of, and the original holes in the door from gunshots. While we were sitting in the room where they were martyred, we were given a moment to ponder and sit in silence. That moment brought a very strong spirit to me of humility and peace. And in that moment I wanted to pause and recognize the spirit I felt so I could not forget it.

I cannot say that I know that the Church is true, but it’s because of spiritual anchors like these that remind me why I believe in the Church and why I am devoting two years of my life to spreading the word of this church to the people of San Diego. For most of my life I have worried about whether or not I am in the right church or doing the right thing. But something I have realized is, we shouldn’t worry about such things if we are doing what we honestly believe is right, for the things that are in our control. So while I may not know for a fact that this Church is true, I feel at peace with my decision to serve a mission and believe it’s the right thing that I need to do. I know it will be hard and there will be times I wish I was home, but I believe it is what I need to do and where I need to be. As President Thomas S. Monson said “May we ever choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong”. I would like to now extend that invitation to you. Life is going to be hard no matter what, so you may as well do the right thing. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Church History Tour with Joseph and Hyrum

Joseph and Hyrum arrived home today from their cross country trip. Their adventure started on Tuesday, they first went to the Priesthood Restoration site. Here is the Susquehanna river behind them. 

They took the long way up to Palmyra next, allowing them to stop by Fayette to visit the Whitmer Farm where the church was organized in 1830. 

Then they visited Palmyra next to see the Smith Farm, the Sacred Grove... Hyrum said there were tons of mosquitos that attacked him in the Sacred Grove. They also went to the top of the Hill Cumorah. We visited Palmyra in 2007, and we saw the Hill Cumorah pageant, but we didn't walk up to the top of the hill. I think we were a bit late arriving and the show was about to start, or maybe because we had 5 kiddos and it might have felt like a bit too much to handle to make them hike up the hill. Joseph learning how to fold a signature at the EB Grandin Print Shop.

Joseph and Hyrum didn't come with us to the Crandall Print Shop here in Utah, but it is a real treasure to have something like that here locally. But good to know you can also go to Palmyra to see it. The Palmyra Temple.

That was all Tuesday. Wednesday they started with a sunrise view of Niagra Falls (...but the sun was behind them and the falls were in front, so next time they are going to go to the Canada side.) 

On to Kirtland Ohio to see the Kirtland Temple~

Touring the Newel K. Whitney store - 

and the upper room where the school of the prophets was. We all just studied that this month, with the school of the prophets and the word of wisdom, very cool! I think it's great that they both got to go see these sites. It helps things make more sense when you actually visit and know the places and understand things from that personal level.

They ended Wednesday's drive with a drive by Nauvoo and their arrival in Carthage. They spent the night there, and then toured Carthage Jail on Thursday morning - The room where Hyrum died, with the same door that was there that day in 1844. You can see the hole from the bullet that shot him - 

Joseph and Hyrum said that lots of their tour guides were so excited to have "Joseph and his brother Hyrum" visiting them! haha

And then toured Nauvoo for more of Thursday. The Nauvoo temple - 

The statue of Joseph and Hyrum

and Joseph and Hyrum taking one last opportunity to enjoy being Joseph and Hyrum, as they imitate Joseph and Hyrum's bronze statues called "Calm as a Summer's Morning"

"I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; But I am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me — he was murdered in cold blood." - Joseph Smith uttered these prophetic words June 24, 1844, in the final moments of what would be his final horse ride from his beloved Nauvoo. He was dead three days later.

In Nauvoo, they went by the Scovil Bakery. Corey's parent's called Joseph and Hyrum to tell them to be sure to go by the bakery, because Lucius Scovil who owned that bakery was their 4th great grandfather. (Lucius Scovil b. 1806, daughter Alodia Scoville b. 1864, daughter Lula Loveless b. 1887, son Reid Franklin Curtis b. 1910 is Corey's maternal grandpa.) The missionaries who gave them the tour were excited to have Lucius' real live descendants in front of them!

I really liked this quote by Lucius - 

"It seems a painful duty for me to perform, to leave my family to go into the wilderness and I to turn and go the other way. But inasmuch as I had been appointed to go, I was determined to fill my mission if it cost me all that I had on this earth...I thought it was best to round up my shoulders like a bold soldier of the corps... and assist in rolling forth the kingdom of God." - Lucius Scovil

Lucius commissioned this plate to be made that had a picture of the Nauvoo Temple and the names of the 12 apostles around it. Joseph and Hyrum bought one and brought it home as a very thoughtful gift for us. 

So they left Tuesday morning and arrived home today at 2. They drove all night last night, and I guess I'm glad that they didn't tell me they were going to do that or I might have stayed up all night with worry. I went to my phone around 11:30 today to check their status today and saw on Life360 that they were in Evanston! So yeah, they drove all night. Not a great idea, but I guess not as bad of an idea if there are two of you. They took turns driving and stayed awake by singing songs. That works for me too. I need to sing along to John Denver or Brandon Flowers, cause they are in my voice range. Or listening to Brian Regan is great too. They were driving through Des Moines Iowa last night at 11 pm and after saying a prayer, they decided they didn't want to stop, pay for a room, and face a 15 hour drive in the morning, they felt ok to do it now. So yeah, it's great to have them home for the weekend! Joseph was crashed out on the couch most of the day. Abi is on the right. 

Hyrum stayed awake. Maybe Joseph did more driving and H got his sleep on the road. Hyrum had a little package waiting for him - his mission name tags! 

Corey made crepes for breakfast this morning, (cause I took Lily to jazz band) and there were some left over for Hyrum and Joseph to have for lunch. And Daniel ate some too - 

Silly Daniel, wearing Sophi's sweater on his head to be his hair - 

Feeling pretty fancy and striking a pose for me. So it's great to have them home. We're looking forward to a nice weekend with most of our kids at home for two days before Joseph goes to Provo and starts school on Monday. 

Hyrum is Called to Serve

 Hyrum was told a week ago, when he had his interview with our Stake President to finish his mission application, that it would be here on Tuesday. And that was today! It's nice that it just comes over email now, so there was no having to wait and watch and be disappointed several days in a row for that snail mail white envelope to arrive like we did with Joseph. Sure, there is some fun in that tradition, but this was great. Hyrum got an email early this morning saying his assignment was ready. He had already set up a zoom time for this evening and we made sure family and friends who might be interested were able to join in. We were excited and ready when 7:30 rolled around. Here is the man of the hour!

7:30 Utah time, 9:30 for Hyrum and Joseph out in Philly, and Mel in Michigan, who had permission to join. Ethan also had permission, 8:30 for him. And this was the 3rd day in a row that we were able to talk to them! Sunday for Mother's day, yesterday for p-day, and then again today for Hyrum's call. What a new missionary experience these young people are having from what it used to be! But hey, I'm all for new and better traditions! I prefer this much better over the twice a year phone calls, as special and memorable as those were. Wes making sure we're all set up.

So we waited a few minutes to make sure people were on. There were two screen's full of friends, that's a pretty good showing. 

Here is his virtual opening from our end. He was killing us a bit with the play by play, it was funny. At 3:42 he gets to the exciting part:

"You are assigned to labor in the California San Diego Mission and will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language." He reports to the Provo Missionary Training Center on September 8th and will go to San Diego on September 28th! He'll be the first of our missionaries to go to the Provo MTC! Lucky man! We'll keep our fingers crossed that it will be open by then and he won't have to do Home MTC, (not that there's anything wrong with Home MTC!)

I asked for Joseph to send me a picture of Hyrum with his call, pointing at a map, but they don't have a map in their apartment. And Hyrum didn't print the call (they might not have a printer either) so this is the best we got. I'll take it.

So that is great! We are so excited for him! Congratulations Hyrum!!