From: jacobaccorso@gmail.com
Subject:
Getting Acclimated?
Date: January
15, 2013 - 10:58 pm
Hey Brad,
I hope this
finds you adjusting to life at the Missionary Training Center. Of course, as a
convert, I don’t know nearly as much as you already do about how it all works!
Glad they set you up on email. I know it’s only been 2 days since you boarded
that plane, but we’re missing you already because we know how long you’ll be
gone, and typing this out and sending is much easier than having to do the
snail mail route.
Two whole
years in Milan. Or 22 months after your two-month language training at the MTC.
Seems like just yesterday that the announcement came that changed your life. I
still remember everyone’s faces while we were watching General Conference in
front of the TV that Sunday morning last October. Most of us half-awake, still
in pajamas. The president of our Church telling us about how the Lord is
hastening His work, and that we all need to get on board. And then the
bombshell. Young men who are 18 can go on missions. They don’t have to wait
until 19. And young women can go at 19 without waiting until they’re 21.
As I tried
to come to terms with the full import of what President Monson had just said, I
scanned our family room to see if your reactions would give me a clue about how
I should react. Sara’s eyes were wide open and she was furiously scribbling
notes. Clearly, she was excited. Mom was still finishing up in the kitchen
after breakfast, and called out, “Did he say something about missionary ages
changing?” Nathaniel, with hair all askew from the previous night’s sleep, had
a complete TV zombie face. Either he was concentrating really hard, or it was
washing over him, just as a mindless action scene from the Avengers might. As
for Andorra, she was much more curious about the bendability of paper clips
than anything being said by our prophet.
But the one
who surprised the most was you. Instead of the half-distracted person I had
seen just a minute before, your posture and manner were completely transformed.
You were engaged with the action on the TV in a way I had only seen in the
ninth inning of a particularly close Angels game. I could tell you were
responding to what he had said.
I was even
more bowled over after the session when you immediately asked your mom and me
about whether that meant you could go on a mission. I guess there was something
that clicked for you, and I remember going to bed that night wondering what it
was, but extremely grateful for how the Lord’s influence comes. We had to
scramble a little after that, but it wasn’t too hard to get BYU to defer your
entrance into college for a couple of years. Had it been another school, forget
it. And then just the overall adjustment of expectations for how life will
proceed for the next two years for our family.
Anyway, this
email thing will make it much easier to stay in touch with you over the next
two years. Hopefully it will be a nice outlet for you to process your
experiences, but not too much of a burden. If it gets too burdensome, let me
know.
I know
you’re still struggling to understand some things about yourself, who you want
to be, and how you can share the gospel with others when you’re still trying to
come to terms with how to apply it in your life. I can only say that in my
experience, when I have focused on serving others, the problems that I have a
hard time figuring out seem to work themselves out or seem to be less of a
problem. And don’t forget to “tune in” every day to the Lord. He’s given us the
scriptures and the direct line of prayer. I know your companions and trainers
will help keep you straight J
Remember what President Gordon B. Hinckley’s father wrote to him when he
expressed despondency on his mission in England? “Gordon, I received your
letter and have one thing to say. Forget yourself and get to work.”
That brings up something the bishop mentioned today in Church just after the other speakers finished. He said that truly preparing ourselves to be disciples of Jesus Christ involves what he called “becoming unconquerable.” He said the ancient Chinese writer Sun Tzu talked about this in the Art of War. But in our case, instead of fighting a physical war, we’re fighting a spiritual one against temptation and sin. He talked about the 2,070 teenage “stripling warriors” from the Book of Mormon. Why, when they fought in the hottest battle, where every last one of them received a wound of some kind, did none suffer death? Because they remembered the words of their mothers with strict obedience, and the Lord blessed them.
So I guess
the counsel there is for you to pay attention to what Mom has taught you, and
you’ll have this mission thing wired.
Well, let me
know how things are in the MTC, maybe a little about your daily routine. Then I
can share with the rest of the family.
Know how
much I love you and believe you are doing exactly what you should be doing.
Take care,
Dad
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