Elder Noah Toney: The miracles are unceasing

Well, Hey There!

Time truly passes quickly when you are enjoying it! Definitely an eternal truth.

Random thought: Writing is a very tiring, although cathartic process. Especially when you never leave yourself enough time to say what you want. Please don't mind the grammatical errors--I have to write like a bat out of... well you know. Other random thought--I do not understand that phrase.

We had a smashing week! Yet another random thought--I learned a while ago that one adds the "n" to "an" when it goes in front of a word that starts with a vowel! Ever since then, every time I write "an" I stop and marvel at that little piece of grammatical geniousry (is geniousry a word?). I learned that rule about eight months ago and I´m still thinking about it! We are preparing for three baptisms this week: Yader and Susana (who are also getting married) and Adrian. We were going to do it last Saturday, but there was a paperwork mix up and a lawyer mix up. I'm not gonna lie--dealing with lawyers is not my favorite part of the mission because they are just hard to get a straight answer out of and they never answer their phone. Now, if you are a lawyer and you are reading this, I am 100% sure that this doesn't apply to you! :-) But it looks like things will turn out smoothly and we should have a good turnout because we are offering food (which always attracts people) and because they are a handsome couple.

There are days (and weeks, and months) where it seems as though the miracles are unceasing. There is nothing more beautiful than to hear an investigator declare in an unwavering voice, looking you steadily in the eye, "I know that the church is true, and I know that I am not mistaken." It is a humbling experience to be a part of this process.

I have also learned a lot about myself, including this realization: Happiness is a life style and a choice.

I feel that we as humans are a fist-shaking type of breed. Something bad happens and what do we do? We start shaking our fist: at our parents or our family, at friends, at work, at plain bad luck, and even at God. The interesting part is that as a rule, when we are shaking our fist at some entity that has "caused all our problems" we tend to neglect to remember to think of our own involvement. I know that is obvious, but let´s take it further. For example, a child is born into tough circumstances and grows up scared and beat upon, missing out on lots of great opportunities because of his situation and he can't move forward because he feels stuck and hurt. I believe that, individually, we had a much bigger part in deciding the trials we would have here in the life before this one. Our trials were and are tailored to who we are, built to help bring out the best in us depending on the faith and desire to grow that we had in the life before.

Miss-comprehension of this truth causes us to shake our fists at God and ask, "What did I do to deserve this, it just isn't fair!" Or on a more subtle note, we find ourselves quietly discontented with our circumstances in life, and while we do not shake the fist or yell, we do wonder why and we never learn the lesson. We live our lives beneath our potential. We ourselves are the only real barrier to happiness, success, and more fulfilling relationships or lives. I have realized that I make myself unhappy because I have not learned how to be happy.

Anyway, enough meta cognitive stuff. If I had more time, I could make that make more sense! As it is, if it makes no sense, just ignore it and know that I love you

Pensively,

Elder Noah M. Toney