One year in, the halfway point

First day. . .

to the present.

Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me.

For I, the Lord, will cause them to bring forth as a very fruitful tree which is planted in a goodly land, by a pure stream, that yieldeth much precious fruit.

(Doctrine and Covenants 97:8–9‎)‎

District Leader

Last Tuesday, we had our last District Meeting of this transfer. It's such an incredible thing how quickly the days, weeks, months, and transfers pass by. My theory is that by the time all of the prayers "Greenies" offer about allowing the time of homesickness and problems with transitioning early in the mission to pass by quicker are finally answered, the missionary would much rather the time slow down. Ha ha.

We got the opportunity to fly our District Leader home to Las Vegas. It was very fun and thankfully we did it in the cultural hall as opposed to the Primary Room, because he would've flown through the roof with how high we tossed him. lol. Don't mind my priceless face in one of the pictures. I don't know what was going on in my face there.

The district getting ready to fly our super District Leader home.  His replacement as DL is the 2nd person from the right. . .Elder Irvine!

Good thing they did this in the cultural hall.  They would have launched him through the ceiling otherwise.

Monday was no cake walk. Since we weren't getting transferred and it was a holiday and the library was closed, we hit the pavement hard, making efforts to start this transfer out great. And it turned out fantastic! I can't even get to the half of what we did, but in short we visited and taught many people - all with a brilliant attitude. Funny story though - I had been having inclinations and promptings earlier during studies: "What would you do if you were district leader? How would you help the Elders in your district" etc. I pondered it briefly but thought it was absurd that I'd be a district leader, especially not now. So it came to my surprise, that in a text while we were tracting (during the time that Transfer Meeting was going on): "Irvine is District Leader." Wah!

SO while I'm not moving this transfer physically, I'm definitely moving toward greater humility in being able to serve the Elders in the district as their leader. Mark 10: 43 - "And whosoever of you will be the [leader], shall be servant of all." I have been praying constantly since I got the call and I would appreciate any additional prayers on our behalf - that I may be able to lead and serve and train well, though, I feel like I will be the one being taught the most. I am humbled and excited to serve the Elders around me.

I know that callings are from the Lord, and that leadership callings are opportunities to learn and grow and develop as one puts his whole "heart, might, mind, and strength" into serving others (thereby serving the Lord). I'm grateful and happily frazzled to be given said opportunity. It has already helped me turn my focus to higher ground of what I can be doing. I'm definitely going to be studying up on Christ's leadership example.

I love all of you. I appreciate your prayers - and like President Monson asks every Conference, please continue to pray for me.

Love, Elder Irvine

Birthdays & General Authority visits

On Saturday (August 18th) we went as an entire mission to a stake center to hear from Elder Bussie (an area Seventy), Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Seventy, and Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Twelve Apostles. It was a very special opportunity to be able to begin the meeting by personally shaking each man's hand along with the Mission President and his wife. Then as a mission we sang the EFY Medley (As Sister's In Zion & We'll Bring the World His Truth) for the Apostles. The Spirit then testified of many truths through testimonies of Sister Morby, President Morby, Elder Bussie, and Elder Clayton. I liked especially Elder Bussie's remarks as he helped us recognize that not only should "[we] believe in Christ," but we should also remember that "Christ believes in me." What a beautiful statement to ponder and cherish!

Then Elder Nelson proceeded to answer any questions that we presented him. Several missionaries got up and asked questions doctrinal and Apostle-specific. I received an answer to my question as I realized how Elder Nelson chose to teach us. Rather than saying "I'm going to teach you about this lesson or that lesson, and then you can ask me questions if time permits at the end," he taught us what we needed to hear based on what questions we had. It was a remarkable epiphany for me as lately I have been really trying to improve my teaching skills. I look forward to more revelation this next week as Elder Corbidge comes.

Yesterday, Elder Baba and I were asked to join in and participate in teaching the Relief Society lesson in one of our wards. It was on "Sharing the Gospel Effectively" and the Relief Society teacher figured we might now a little bit about that. Alas, we did our best. Ha ha. We presented a "Training & Practice" and had the Sisters role-play sharing their testimonies with one another just like we would in a district meeting. It was super cool to see how teaching works the same way across all situations and settings.

20th birthday lunch.

Meeting with President & Sister Morby.

Happy 20th Elder Irvine!

The hill tells a story but the smiles burn the miles.  At the scripture states:  "And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence" (D & C 133:30).  Couldn't be otherwise with this kind of attitude.

And a happy 20th birthday smile!