The Adventure Begins

After saying goodbye to his grandparents, bro-in-law Jeff Christensen and family (plus mom Rose) drove Elder Hadden to the new MTC (Missionary Training Center).  We got a blue stickie note on our windshield, and were directed to the underground parking.  There, a host elder met our car, and was ready to take Elder Hadden to all the places he needed to go, show him around, explain the ropes, etc.  A few tears were shed (none by Elder Hadden, of course, but he was a little nervous), and the two Elders walked off.  We drove off in another direction, and that was that.

We received an email from Elder Hadden a few hours later:

"Hey all,

I'm here. Everybody's super nice. I feel pretty good, and everybody's speaking in Mandarin. Hope you're doing great!"

Note:  Host Elder is Elder Addison McDaniel from Denver, CO, a "friend" of Elder Hadden's cousin, Marissa Hadden.

Farewell Talk in Sacrament

10 September 2017

(This talk is where the title of the blog comes from.  These are not Teancum's exact words; they were taken from his notes.)

I've been called to serve in the Canada Montreal Mission.

In his epistle to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul admonishes the people of Ephesus (I think that's what the country is) to "take unto (themselves) the whole armor of God".  You're probably familiar with this analogy.  I want to focus on one point.  The final piece of the armor is "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The Spirit is our tool, not only to defend ourselves, but to interact with the rest of the world.  These days, swords aren't very common. So for my purpose, let's change it to an ax.

I'm talking about using the Spirit like a tool, specifically in order to teach more effectively.  We all have need to teach by the Spirit in our lives, whether it be in church callings, with friends, as a missionary, with your children, in school or work--not specifically about the Gospel.

I work at a Scout camp. No internet, no phone service, very little electricity, no TV . . . heck, we don't even have books, for the most part!  So Scouts are forced to find other sources of entertainment.  One thing they find to do is chop wood, since there's so much of it around.

Watching 12-year-old Scouts learn to chop wood!  It's very exciting.  They are really bad at it, so it's fairly comical, and there's always the constant tension of them hurting themselves.  They put incredible amounts of time and energy into splitting logs. They try so hard, and get very little results for their actions.  Someone experienced with an ax can split a ton of logs very cleanly with relatively little effort.

I show them how it's done, and they are always amazed by how cool I am.  For the most part, it just depends on how they use the tool they have.  I'm going to use this example as a sort of parable to understand how we can use the Spirit.

We are all the woodcutter, and we need to teach others to help build the kingdom of God, just as the Scout needs to be taught how to cut wood to build his campfire.

None of us are Captain America; we can't split wood with our bare hands.  So the first thing we need to cut wood is an ax.  There's a scripture in D&C Section 42 which sums this up pretty nicely.  Verse 17 says, "And the Spirit shall be given you by the prayer of faith, and if ye receive not the Spirit, ye shall not teach."  So no matter how good you are, it is impossible to teach without the Spirit.

There's a story that illustrates this very well.  In Matthew 16:13-17, Christ is talking to Simon Peter:

     "When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying,  
      Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

     And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias,
     or one of the prophets.

     He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
 
     And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

     And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and
     blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."

None of us are strong enough to teach those around us without the tools with which we've been provided.  We need it both in our daily lives, and especially when we are actually teaching.  Luckily, the verses also explain how to receive the Spirit:  "By  prayer of faith".  We need to have faith in Christ and all that comes with that, and then pray to ask for the Spirit, and then we shall have it.

We have the ax (the Spirit), and we want to start chopping.  Now we need to prepare.  This is where the majority of our work comes in. We need to set the scene for the Spirit to do its work.  We need to keep our ax sharpened and precise at all times.  This is comparable to tuning our minds to the frequencies of the Spirit, and nurturing our ability to hear its promptings, and following them as they come.  Do this by living your life in such as way as to invite the Spirit and, as mentioned before, pray fervently and faithfully for it to accompany you.

In Preach My Gospel, it tells us the Spirit does not get our attention by shouting or shaking us with a heavy hand.  Rather, it whispers. It caresses so gently that if we are preoccupied, we may not feel it at all.  As we hone our attention to the Spirit, we become able to follow its directions and better penetrate the minds and hearts of those we teach, just as a sharpened ax cuts easily through logs.

Now we can begin to chop.  The main mistake I saw Scouts make as they learned to chop wood (and this is what also made it so entertaining to watch them) was that they tried to use their own strength to chop through a log, rather than using the weight and leverage that can come from using the ax effectively.  This tires them very quickly, and they accomplish very little.  Likewise, in teaching, I feel it is common that we rely on our own knowledge and teaching experience rather than the Spirit.  This is what I struggle with the most when it comes to effective teaching.  While our own knowledge and ability can greatly help, just as more strength can help in chopping wood, it is not nearly sufficient to touch lives and hearts.

Reliance on the Spirit requires a lot of faith.  In Exodus 4:10-12, Moses is speaking to the Lord in the burning bush:

     "And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore,
     nor since thou has spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

     And the Lord said unto him, "Who hath made man's mouth" or who maketh the dumb or
     deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?

     Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."

Like Moses, we may feel inadequate to teach the Gospel, or we may feel confused as to what we need to say if we are advised not to use our own knowledge. But if we act in faith, the Spirit will tell us what to say in order to effect those we teach.


Then, Teancum bore his testimony of the Spirit, and closed in the name of Jesus Christ.



At the Open House that afternoon, the grandparents and cousins mentioned that was more talking than they had ever heard out of him. By long shot.

The Call

Teancum had requested that when his mission call came, we drive up to Hinckley Scout Ranch with the call so he could open it amongst his many camp friends with whom he had worked for the past four years. He had expected to receive the call on 26 July 2017, but according to rumor, the Quorum of the Twelve was on vacation for Pioneer Day 24 July 2017, so nothing came on the 26th. He called home late on the 26th to see if the call had come and maybe we just weren't doing anything about it (forgetting entirely to wish his Dad happy birthday).  When the mailbox was devoid of large white envelopes on the 26th, he didn't expect anything until 02 August 2017.

However, on Friday, 28 July 2017, we were surprised by the large white envelope taking up a goodly portion of mailbox realestate.  Mom immediately mobilized the troops:  Sister Cat was texted, and she changed their family's dinner plans to head up to camp.  Dad was called, and Mom and sister Bethe headed through afternoon rush hour traffic to pick him up, then turned towards the East Fork of the Bear River. Sister RoseE in Minnesota was kept appraised of the situation, but she stayed put and waited for the results.

All mobile family members met up in Evanston, WY.  Hungry people were fed, then they all continued on as a caravan, arriving at HSR just in time for the Friday evening campfire.  Teancum was leading an activity in front of the whole camp in the semi-darkness. When he saw his father appear out of the shadows with a large white envelope, he knew immediately what it was, and totally lost his place in the activity for 30 seconds. . .

At the end of the fireside, the camp directors named 12 or 14 staff members (including all Teancum's closest friends, and girlfriend Caitlin!), asking that they should meet immediately after the campfire in the big room of the Lodge (where there was light enough to film).

Teancum Now and Then
(note prophetic maple bar in hand of younger Teancum!)

Once he had figured out (or been coached by sister Cat) that he needed to look first for the letter, he read it out to all.

Watch Teancum opening his Call here

What a shocker that he was going to a country whose native language is French (which he already knows), but he will be teaching in Mandarin Chinese!