Incredible November 16th, 2020

 Family and friends,

  **Quick Note**

(This email was started last week but I just never got around to finishing it so now you get last week's update and this week's!)

LAST WEEK

   It was a solid week and I'm not sure where to start! But we attended English Connect for the first time which was great! We're really there to assist if needed. We are still working with one of the students there to help her practice English and it's going well. She always enjoys messaging us in English so we're always in contact. Her 14 year old son will be doing some group activities with the young men every other week so we'll actually try to attend a few of those. Two of the people we are teaching are getting pretty close to baptism. One of them just needs more faith so we're trying hard to help him. He really wants to be a member so that he can feel more part of the congregation when he attends, but he thinks he just doesn't know enough. 

   This weekend we got pounded with rain. A tropical storm came through and flooded a few places. I'll send a photo. I thought we weren't going to be able to get out but the water went down later in the morning. Then early this morning around 5:00 I woke up to my companion moving his bed around and I asked what was going on and he said there was water dripping on his face. That was probably the best scenario if we would ever have a leak so we could start catching the water early enough. But the maintenance crew in the complex said that they're going around fixing like 40 other places that had leaks. They recently did roof work and I guess they messed something up since everything is now leaking. It could have been worse though so it's fine. Streets were just flooded though. One member had an Alligator wash up on their street and they sent us a photo.

   We have a mission tour with Elder James Martino starting tomorrow so I'm really excited! We're supposed to find out more about that tonight. So I'll talk more about that next week!

THIS WEEK

   That week flew by but it was another one for the books!

   The mission tour with Elder Martino was just incredible. Brilliant even! He gave such great training and I walked away with so much. We were inspired to try new things and be better! It was one of those moments that make you love the mission even more.

    Those two I had talked about from last week ended up attending church with us! With another over zoom so we had three. But I want to mention the first two that were in person. Before Sunday, I had watched the recent missionary devotional by Elder and Sister Bednar. They did a companionship study together on following the Spirit! And the idea was casting out fear by not worrying about what it will lead you to do. Of course Nephi's example of going to get the plates was used! And later that Sunday, that is exactly the similar experience I had! We welcomed the Mother and her son as they came in and then we sat down. I then had the thought to just give them a chapel tour right after the meeting. I wasn't worried about it or anything since I assumed we would walk around the church building telling them about different things. We just hadn't planned for that so I had not much of an idea about what was going to happen. After the meeting they accepted the invitation! So we began. And immediately the Spirit just flooded all of us. It was "one of those moments." We started walking down the first hall and they stopped at a painting of Joseph Smith. The Mother asked who that was with a very anxious look, like she just needed to know! And I broke out into the biggest smile! Of course they couldn't see it since I was wearing a mask. But I began by saying he was the one who God used to restore Christ's lost church on the earth again. That struck many follow up questions. And right there we just had a mini lesson on the restoration. It was perfect! We shared Joseph's experience searching for answers and how he came to his conclusion. We told them about the first vision and what Joseph said of it. And in that moment of relaying the Spirit, it hit its climax. Directly after testifying, we asked how they felt. She said that she couldn't think of the words to accurately describe it besides beautiful. And her son, looking very wide eyed, nodded up and down slowly to agree. After that they were extremely interested in the rest of the paintings as we passed by them and it seemed to all fit into some sort of order! After Joseph's it went to Angel Moroni showing Joseph the plates, then onto the Savior's birth and other events in His life, then Joseph of Egypt being blessed by Israel, and it then ended with the Lord's Second Coming. After it was all done they asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon in English and in Spanish and thankfully we had both on us. They said that they want to come every week! We can't wait.

   It was a great week and I look forward to sharing more next time! Take care!

- Elder Markham   

Alligators, floods (neighborhood, street at the chapel, our parking lot, etc..) and bird :)

Quick Email November 3, 2020

 Family and friends,

This email will be quick! I don't have much time. Transfers are this week so my pday was switched to today.

But it was a solid week!! Three of the people we are teaching attended Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. It was awesome! The Mom wants to get her daughter involved in primary so we got her in contact with the primary president. Then the lady we help with English for the English classes is interested in having her son be involved in the youth activities so we will try to attend more of those with them! I am staying here in Silver Lakes for yet another transfer! Six more weeks!!! Actually no one from our district is changing so that's a plus. We watched the young adult devotional by Elder and Sister Bednar this weekend and that was absolutely incredible!!! Hopefully I remember to mention things about it next week.  

 There's always lots going on! Sorry I couldn't say more! 

- Elder Markham

1) Balling with Elder Hurd

2) Surprise from Zone Leaders

Just a Great Time October 26th, 2020

 Family and friends,

It was an enjoyable week! I'll give an update. We've been doing in person teaching a bit with the granddaughter of our Elder's Quorum president. It was a pretty crazy lesson this last Saturday. Their family can be a little intense with how they address each other sometimes and it seems normal to them. (As a quick background to this, our EQP's granddaughter wanted nothing to do with the missionaries or the church before and last we asked about her he told us he's been trying to figure things out about it for a while. Her parents aren't members. And they don't want anything either. Out of nowhere, when we scheduled a time to visit and teach the EQP's family, their granddaughter was there and it seemed this was all set up to have a lesson with her. We weren't prepared for that but it still went well. She's only 11 so it wasn't too bad )  So we were in a later lesson with this family and granddaughter about a question she had which we prepared for. And that was about why the lessons are important. What was supposed to be a short 5 minute lesson actually turned into her asking tons of questions that didn't exactly always make sense. Or they just weren't really relevant. So we were kind of all over the place while trying to relate each comment or question back to the topic. Based on her previous feelings about the church, you already know that baptism was out of the question. Then the craziest thing - Her Grandpa, our Elders Quorum President, made a comment on something and closed that with, "So what do you think about being baptized two weeks from now?"  I nearly choked on my mask. But the second craziest thing happened, she leans over in her chair and responds with saying, "Well now I'm thinking twice about it." So she requested some time to think about it. Of course we said that's fine. But we'll need to talk more with the EQP on her needing more time at least for the lessons. President Pingree oversees all convert baptisms in the mission which means she will need each missionary lesson unless there is special permission. We are only able to teach her once a week so it would be impossible to have her ready in only two weeks. But with that lesson, you can easily see that the Lord works in mysterious ways so you never know for sure. More to follow on that! 

We have started English classes using EnglishConnect and that is bringing in a couple people. One person wants us to help her with her English twice each week so we are excited. It's incredible to see all the miracles that are occuring. In person church has been so relieving! It's nice to be back. I gave a talk last Sacrament meeting after being assigned the day before so that was fun. I spoke on temples and eternal families. I had fun doing it! But now I'm assigned to give another talk soon. I don't mind doing that though. I love writing essays and talks. We also recently had a video call with the branch about different cultures. Usually every year they all get together to share different things and foods from their countries. As small as our branch is, they are all very diverse in culture. Many are from places like Venezuela, Peru, Mexico, Columbia, Honduras, Guatemala, and many others! The first person who shared was one of the counselors who is from Mexico. It was awesome! He spoke about the Church's history there and I gotta say, I was blown away. He shared some photos of these different ancient drawings and structures. One of them is believed to be something like an ancient drawing of a depiction of Lehi's dream from the Book of Mormon. And another thing shared was something that is believed to have been a baptisimal font. None of it is confirmed for sure but it's just so cool to hear about it. I'll share some photos. Other things we are doing now is going on an adventure to find all the less active families. We're also figuring out how to assist the branch in learning things about technology and family history. It seems everyone wants to have those lessons but no one is ever able to schedule time, even though most of the members are retired. Hopefully we didn't spend hours putting together different presentations for nothing haha. 

I'll close with a couple miracles given from two different missionaries in our past mission zoom call. One shared about an experience being at a sacrament meeting and under preparing for the sacrament since their branch's meeting only consisted of him, his companion, and the branch president. At least out of those who attended in person. So they prepared like 10 cups for the bread and water. And for some reason, 10 others decided to show up just shortly before the sacrament began. The Elder felt really pressured to hurry and prepare a couple more cups for the ordinance. In the process he completely forgot about adding more water cups and he didn't realize until it commenced. He said he felt terrible and that there wasn't anything he could do about it, it would just have to be an experience to learn from. He assumed that he and his companion wouldn't take a water and maybe one other person. But he said as the passer brought the trays back to them (they were the ones blessing the sacrament) there were three cups left. And everyone had taken one. So the passer and two missionaries were able to take the water. It reminded everyone of Jesus feeding the 5,000. It was awesome! The other miracle had to do with a Sister Missionary's aunt who was cured of lyme disease. I don't know much about that disease but I know it isn't exactly the easiest thing to cure. She was simply given a blessing, then it disappeared. Things like that are always testimony building! Wait on the Lord and He will direct and bless accordingly. We see what is being fulfilled in a statement from Elder Bednar in the recent training given to President and Sister Pingree which talked about the flood of people to soon come. It's awesome!  

Take care!

-Elder Markham

1) Chair Soccer

2-5) Branch culture call

6) Best Eggnog I can find... so far?

7-9) Incredible sunrise!

10-11) Crazy lizards

Quick Email October 12, 2020

 Family and friends,

   October is going by so fast; it's scary! Hehe 

   No one here is decorating much for Halloween so that's a bummer. Hopefully it isn't the same for Christmas. It's bad enough that it doesn't snow here so you would think that the least they could do is throw something artificial out on the front porch. We'll see I guess. Tradition is dying, evidently...

It was a great week, as always! We had our first district council and long story - short - it was long. Oops. We talked about teaching by the Spirit as the discussion was split into four main topics; Being Worthy, To do and To Be, Humility and Priesthood Power, and Love and Harmony. It was a great time and there was lots of participation. We had interviews with President Pingree during it so Sister Pingree sat in on the council which made it more exciting. President ended up participating at the end and Elder Ramirez and I did a role play with him. His name was Kyle and he was a guy with a very stuck perspective. He also had serious concerns with political issues so it was interesting. At the end we decided as a district what we would do better to teach by the Spirit.  And here is the miracle!!!!

Earlier in the council we had one of the Elders give a training on humility and at the end he invited us to become more humble by letting God prevail in our lives. President Pingree was not in the room at the time, as he was doing his interviews. But as we discussed at the end of the council about what we can do better, we decided on becoming more humble by being more willing to have our lessons we prepare be adjusted by the Holy Ghost according to the needs of the people we teach. Also having that principle be visible with anyone we talk to. And then later record how we saw that we are not alone in the work. Anyway, President Pingree then goes on a small rant and somehow ties it in with the other Elder's invitation on letting God prevail as he specifically mentioned the same things the Elder did. Both ideas were connected and we all just had our minds blown. It was an incredible moment.    So that's all for this week!

Take care!

-Elder Markham  

1) Crazy lizard. I've seen every reptile now out in the wild except an Alligator

2) Pet Cemetary!!! :)

3) Snickers the dog. A sweet sentiment in memory of a beloved from our family

4) Olive Garden from Sister Carreño! Best branch members ever

5) Arepas and Malt from Sister Zambrano

6) Feeding the ducks that always hang out next to the dumpster in our apartment complex

7) Post Zone Conference celebratory pic after an incredible tech presentation!!!

Quick Email Oct. 12th, 2020

 Family and friends,

   October is going by so fast; it's scary! Hehe 

   No one here is decorating much for Halloween so that's a bummer. Hopefully it isn't the same for Christmas. It's bad enough that it doesn't snow here so you would think that the least they could do is throw something artificial out on the front porch. We'll see I guess. Tradition is dying, evidently...

It was a great week, as always! We had our first district council and long story - short - it was long. Oops. We talked about teaching by the Spirit as the discussion was split into four main topics; Being Worthy, To do and To Be, Humility and Priesthood Power, and Love and Harmony. It was a great time and there was lots of participation. We had interviews with President Pingree during it so Sister Pingree sat in on the council which made it more exciting. President ended up participating at the end and Elder Ramirez and I did a role play with him. His name was Kyle and he was a guy with a very stuck perspective. He also had serious concerns with political issues so it was interesting. At the end we decided as a district what we would do better to teach by the Spirit.  And here is the miracle!!!!

Earlier in the council we had one of the Elders give a training on humility and at the end he invited us to become more humble by letting God prevail in our lives. President Pingree was not in the room at the time, as he was doing his interviews. But as we discussed at the end of the council about what we can do better, we decided on becoming more humble by being more willing to have our lessons we prepare be adjusted by the Holy Ghost according to the needs of the people we teach. Also having that principle be visible with anyone we talk to. And then later record how we saw that we are not alone in the work. Anyway, President Pingree then goes on a small rant and somehow ties it in with the other Elder's invitation on letting God prevail as he specifically mentioned the same things the Elder did. Both ideas were connected and we all just had our minds blown. It was an incredible moment.    So that's all for this week!

Take care!

-Elder Markham  

1) Crazy lizard. I've seen every reptile now out in the wild except an Alligator

2) Pet Cemetary!!! :)

3) Snickers the dog. A sweet sentiment in memory of a beloved pet from our family

4) Olive Garden from Sister Carreño! Best branch members ever

5) Arepas and Malt from Sister Zambrano

6) Feeding the ducks that always hang out next to the dumpster in our apartment complex

7) Post Zone Conference celebratory pic after an incredible tech presentation!!!

Increasing Polarization Oct. 5th, 2020

 Family and friends,

   The week of conferences! We had Zone Conference last week as well as General Conference this weekend. 

   Zone Conference was fantastic! We talked about recognizing the Spirit and making prayers more meaningful. Those were the two big ideas. It was exactly what I needed since I have been working on that. Two things I decided to do differently afterwards-- First, ponder about what I should pray for before doing so, and second, do companionship morning prayers. We always close the day with a companionship prayer before bedtime but what are we closing exactly if we never opened it up with a morning prayer? So after we wake up, we have a companionship prayer. That's helped open our eyes to seeing smaller miracles. For example, just last week we were given permission to be able to go inside a home if  we are first invited by a person we are teaching or a member. That opened the opportunity for us to be with a part member family to watch a session of General Conference. If I'm being honest, I would not have seen that much as a miracle but I would have seen it as a nice convenience. So I'm glad that the Lord finds ways to humble me.

   We had a first lesson with a member and her husband. The husband is not a member and he says that he doesn't belong to any religion but he's read a good portion of the Bible. When we talked about commandments, it was incredible because he was able to relate the fact that all commandments point to the first and greatest one which is to love God first. It was amazing that he got that on his own and we felt it was the workings of the Spirit. We really hope that we get another opportunity to talk with him again. He is on call working at the hospital for the next couple of weeks so he won't be available for a while.

   I hope you were all able to take some personal things from Conference! I certainly did and I will probably take more when I go back to read the talks. The Conference was wonderful and humble. No big changes or huge adjustments, just messages of hope and reassurance as well as warning. The gospel is a gospel of hope and warning. It's often difficult to live in a world that is becoming further distant from the virtues, values, and standards of Heavenly Father. And it's even more difficult when we don't keep the commandments. I want to make a special mention of Elder Bednar's talk. https://youtu.be/-UUJqQCK7QM

 He mentions how increasing polarization is becoming more and more evident. We are arriving at a point where having one foot in the water will not do. We've heard it said that we cannot serve God and mammon. That is as true today as it was when it was written. The longer time goes on, the more we can see the gray area fading. The casual one day a week worship is beginning to fail. We need to continue the at home gospel learning. As was spoken, over these last several months we've been tried, proven, and examined. At the beginning of all this, Elder Oaks https://youtu.be/fiMCvmenrdQ  even said how the Second Coming was not yet happening, but this was more of a test run to see just how prepared we are. I think of it in a sense as when Jesus comes again, will we think, "He is finally here!" Or would we be in shock that we didn't actually think it would happen? The Savior will come again whether we believe it or not. Elder Christofferson https://youtu.be/KS3iK9mr40M  has taught this principle well when he talked about mankind being free to choose. He said how consequences or many following events are not affected by someone's actions, as in the Second Coming will occur whether we believe it or not and whether we are prepared or not. Jesus Himself said that it will be at a time when no one would be expecting it. Alma taught that now is the time to prepare to meet God. Not tomorrow or next week or next year. The question is, how do we prepare? First, you need faith. You need faith in Jesus Christ and not only believe in Him, but also believe what He says. The follow up question- Do you believe in Him? Yes. But do you believe Him? He says He is the life of the world. He says He suffered and descended below all. He says He can make your burdens light. He says His word is sharper than a two edged sword to the dividing asunder. He says ye need not fear. He says ye need not fear again. He says that all things will be made right at the last day. He says the voice of His prophets is the voice of Himself. He said, "Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments." Those two of believing in Jesus Christ and believing Jesus Christ are inseparable. Obedience is of course the first law of heaven and to act on our faith we obey so it grows. That is faith, not that we have a perfect knowledge, but that we hope and are willing to act. If I remember correctly, Elder Johnson talked about his experience of their microwave catching on fire. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2020/10/56johnson?lang=eng  His daughter, not realizing it, turned the microwave on and set it at 30 minutes. Because there was nothing inside to absorb the heat and energy, the microwave lit itself on fire. Elder Johnson likened this to faith. We need faith to burn because when we walk through life, going through metaphorical furnaces of trials and afflictions, we will need something to burn. Otherwise it will be us who will burn to spiritual death. The faith is what absorbs the trials and afflictions. How many of us have seen many fall away in life because of trials where they lacked faith? Or even in these last several months? It's sad to see it happen. It's heartbreaking. And it's not going to get easier. In fact, Elder Uchtdorf  https://youtu.be/-3qVFFGPX8M just said in this Conference that things might get harder before they get easier. Back to the point Elder Bednar made about increasing polarization, that ties in with many other things mentioned in Conference. Including Elder Anderson's  https://youtu.be/UAf8B9X51WE sermon of how we should speak more of the Savior. As the world continues to fall away in its fallen state, people are finding it more and more awkward to talk about the Savior as we do. They are going further down the path about how religion is old and just weird. Funny thing- Paul said we would be a peculiar people. And Nephi said that in our day, we would be small in number compared to the rest of the world. That makes it pretty weird or awkward to the world if you ask me. If today isn't a prophecy fulfilled then I guess I'm not sure what is haha. I hope we take these invitations from General Conference seriously and not roll eyes at something that we think might be ridiculous or said too harshly. One very sad thing is that even members of the Church will begin to deny the faith. Maybe not through words directly but in the form of actions. Little by little, some will participate in not so great things. Things that we are encouraged to stay away from and avoid. Even if it's small and seems insignificant. We learned directly from Elder Soares https://youtu.be/S3YmruFk_b4  that this is how the adversary works into our lives. It begins with impure thoughts or small actions that lead to something more severe. We're not expected to be perfect now. But we are asked to give an effort. As things become more yes and no, I hope we all strive to stay good examples! Talk more of Christ. Recognize Him more as the world recognizes Him less. Elder Oaks https://youtu.be/fiMCvmenrdQ  laid down a pretty impressive talk by claiming and clarifying again the standard of the church in dealing with worldly cruelty. I was thoroughly pleased and impressed. With his correction and claims, we can have confidence in talking more of Christ. But above all, remember charity and treat others as the precious souls of God they ought to be treated. Brigham Young once said that even the lowliest and least person in the earth is still worth worlds. I think for me, the most touching and heartwarming talk was given by Sister Craig https://youtu.be/nEHfIgZgpM8  when she spoke of the experience at the store. Those small and simple things are often what means the most. If there was just one thing you could do, it would be to love. I'll end here with part of Elder Holland's talk, Be Ye Therefore Perfect- Eventually. This talk is by far one of my favorites. Please, when you find time, watch or listen to the full talk. It's absolutely necessary to hear Elder Holland's voice. https://youtu.be/3DVpRFRFKME

Leo Tolstoy wrote once of a priest who was criticized by one of his congregants for not living as resolutely as he should, the critic concluding that the principles the erring preacher taught must therefore also be erroneous.

In response to that criticism, the priest says: “Look at my life now and compare it to my former life. You will see that I am trying to live out the truth I proclaim.” Unable to live up to the high ideals he taught, the priest admits he has failed. But he cries:

“Attack me, [if you wish,] I do this myself, but [don’t] attack … the path I follow. … If I know the way home [but] am walking along it drunkenly, is it any less the right way simply because I am staggering from side to side?

“… Do not gleefully shout, ‘Look at him! … There he is crawling into a bog!’ No, do not gloat, but give … your help [to anyone trying to walk the road back to God.]”

I love you all! 

-Elder Markham

Great Week! Sept. 28th, 2020

 Family and friends,

   That was fast. I'm already back emailing this week! 

   Transfers were pretty crazy. It got delayed with some problems but on the bright side, I am now with my new companion, Elder Ramirez!!! He is awesome! I honestly think he is the most humble and kind missionary there is. He is willing to do whatever is asked of him. He is from California but he was originally born in El Salvador. His family moved here when he wasn't even one yet. He doesn't speak Spanish but he can understand it really well! Even better than I can sometimes. He is working hard to learn. He has been on the mission just about four months and this is his first area assigned to Spanish. He enjoys film and video and actually before the mission he played as an extra in T.V. shows. He's been able to meet lots of other actors. I'm excited to have more time with him, it's already been so great! 

   This last week was full of new things! We started teaching this guy who's wife is a member. We were invited by her to have a lesson with them and she asked us to talk about how keeping commandments brings blessings. It went so well! They want us to return this week on Friday so we are looking forward to that. It is in person but we do it in their backyard on their patio. We were happy to hear from his wife yesterday that he enjoyed the Sacrament meeting call with the branch so that was great! We've been preparing and setting things up for the other people we teach to watch General Conference this weekend. A father of a part member family actually invited us and some others in the branch to a BBQ to watch Conference at his home. We will need to see if that will be allowed since we would watch inside. Hopefully it gets an okay from President Pingree! Last Saturday we helped a family in our branch move and two of the people we are teaching showed up to help. What a blessing that was! They both enjoyed it. Yesterday we had our leadership training with President Pingree about conducting baptismal interviews, exchanges, and district councils. I enjoyed it and learned lots! And this week is a double conference with our zone conference and General Conference!!! I'm so excited!!! It was a busy week with late nights and early mornings. Speaking of early morning, we got to teach seminary last Friday!!! That was a highlight. We spoke about the Stripling Warriors and it seemed like all of the kids enjoyed it! We got a set of missionaries again in our branch and we are excited for that so we can balance out other things! They are the tech Sister missionaries for the mission so they will be a huge help with giving slide presentations to the branch about how to use technology. It was a bit of a pain splitting areas again over area book. We were told Salt Lake was having technical difficulties so that delayed us getting everything we need. But we're at least glad it's getting sorted out!  

   I hope you all had a great week! Take care!

-Elder Markham

1) Elder Ramirez and I

2) Saturday's move with the Branch!

3) Sad last day with Elder Enz