Week 63 "Thanks Mom"

Something worth noting - President Pack recommends that Christmas
packages be sent early to avoid problems etc etc. Also Captain Bob
sent me a nice email and I responded - I asked him to give you some of
those color changing starfish for my Christmas package (assuming I
haven't been forgotten :) and that you'd pay him out of my account.
But, knowing captain bob, he'll send a helicopter with 30 other object
lessons and a bunch of money. Side note - he sent me a package a month
or so ago, with $110 as a reminder to always give 110%.... Oh Bob. I
seriously have more than $200 in American cash from grandmas and Bob.
I'll make sure to pay tithing when I get home, which will be easy
cause I can't spend a dime here. President Pack also says "toys" and
"candy" are bad things to declare, but "missionary supplies" is just
fine. Oh, and one other thing - a package valued at more that $50 will
merit large taxes. I figured that wouldn't be an issue but I got one
from Grandma Maxfield last week valued at $47 (there was a tie on the
inside). So I would recommend either cheap packages or lying about the
value. Option 1 is much better for your salvation and wallet :)

That's all that boring stuff. I want to share with you a cool thought
I re-discovered the other day. I was reading part of Hugh Nibley's
Temple and the Cosmos, which I'm pretty sure Dad has. And he made an
interesting comment about religious study - it all goes in a circle,
never really answering anything. He said that there's only one
question worth answering, the "terrible question", and it's the same
that no one except Joseph Smith was ever willing to answer. Is there a
life after this one? We did a cool activity in NDH the other day where
we answered hard questions with the LDM, and much more so than the
bible the Book of Mormon tells us exactly what happens. Thank heavens
for the Book of Mormon. It answers, and we can KNOW that it does.
That's something great we learned this week as we've been practicing,
asking each other harder and harder questions and answering only with
the Book of Mormon.

That's actually been really, really fun. We talk about which
scriptures express certain ideas better or answer certain questions
the best. Like I asked my companion to find a scripture that testified
of Christ's atonement using his name as "Jesus Christ" and not as Lord
or Messiah or another title. What comes to mind? Alma 7:11, Mosiah
3:8, 3 Nephi 11:11-12. Or explain Adversity without 2 Nephi (we're
doing it the hard way to expand our knowledge) We have a great time.

Today, as my companion took a nap, I cleaned the fridge. (Note what
that says about his cleaning ethic... I call it learning to adapt)
(It's ok to do that with dish soap, right? We're limited on cleaning
supplies). It was super gross beforehand because that's something
NOBODY does (missionary-speaking) I found black mold and random sticky
spots. I also washed dishes for the first time in a week - it was an
attempt to make my companion do it for once. Didn't work, but I still
love him.

Mom, thanks for all your support. I am so lucky to have a mom like you.

Love, Elder Maxfield