Dear family,
This week is
going great! Elder Thomas and I are getting along. He is a great missionary and
has a lot of good experience which has been really helpful. He has taught me a
whole bunch. It is going to be a
good learning experience when I have to leave this area, but I know it will be
pretty hard. I wonder a lot about why it is that change and saying goodbye is
such a big theme in missionary work, and kind of life in general. I have some
theories, but God is obviously trying to stress that point for missionaries to
learn.
I really need to
get onto the bishops here about us speaking. We haven't given a talk in church
yet, but we have borne our testimonies and done a few firesides. That is
something that I have found that I enjoy doing a lot as a missionary,
firesides, especially with the youth. It is really fun to be able to help the
youth get excited about missionary work. I have an opportunity to tell them all
the things I wish I had understood about missionary work before I was a
missionary. Focusing on the cares of the world is a big problem for the
people out here it seems. We pulled the prospective elders list for the stake
and there are 52 pages for a grand total of 788 prospective elders. With all
the miners and oil field workers, work is one of those cares of the world that
they let get in the way. There are plenty of good members who are active and
oil field workers, so it is not a good excuse. They also say that this is where in actives come to hide from Utah Mormons.
We
went to Manila and McKennon this week again on Tuesday and Wednesday and we
picked up a new investigator that wants to be baptized. We are excited and have more
things to do now when we are there. We have a baptism tomorrow that we are
really excited for! We are just doing the final preparations today.
Christlike
attributes I am working on this week are humility and charity. Humility, specifically
to humble myself before the Lord and listen to the things He would have me do.
This is his work and I need to submit myself more to Him.
This
week I had an opportunity to go on an exchange with Elder Bass in Evanston. At
the beginning of the exchange we were setting goals to accomplish during the
time we were together. I had a feeling to set a goal to pick up three new
investigators. I thought I was being a little crazy, but I set it anyway. We
had an amazing night and we prayed like crazy for guidance with everything.
With Gods help and guidance, we did it. He guided us to three new investigators
to teach. We also set a goal to see a miracle. While we were at someone's house
teaching, there was a man who walked in, talked to us for a bit and then went
into the other room. Towards the end of the lesson we asked our investigator if
she wanted a Book of Mormon so she could do the nightly reading that we
committed her to do. She wanted one, and the man that we thought had left,
stepped back in the room and said, "Can you grab two?" He was listening
the whole time; we just didn't know it. Setting worthy goals with God's
guidance, and then working towards those goals, is an inspired pattern. I know
this to be true.
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| "This is our legit cabin when we're in Manila." |
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| "Here's the inside of the sick legit cabins we can stay in when we come to Manila, UT at least once a week." |
Today we might go
hike to see some Indian petroglyphs here in Green River. If we find them, I
will send some pictures.
Here is an entry
from my journal. I have started typing my journal on my iPad instead because of
advice from a general authority before I came out:
There is this kid
named _____ and when we first went over to his house because of advice from the
sisters, he was super disinterested. We figured that he wasn't too promising,
and didn't think that we would ever come back. One day when trying to figure
out something to do, we parked on the side of the road, and this kid pulled up
and asked if we could go meet him at his house and talk. We said of course. We
had no idea what was going on. When we got to his house, he told us that his
parents were at the church right now and he didn't know if they were going to
stay together. He was scared and didn't want to have to be a dad to his younger
siblings. He said he had been praying and driving all over Green River looking
for us. We had a really good meeting, but then in the meetings after, he seemed
really disinterested and wouldn't get off of his phone. So
tonight, when we went over to meet with him, the whole first half of the
meeting he seemed disinterested and was on his phone the entire time. He was on
his phone even when we were sharing a video with him. I was frustrated that he
was paying no attention at all and I wasn't going to say anything after the
video was over. Elder Thomas was talking after the video and he asked him about
what he thought about the video. He said stuff about how it caught his
attention when the guy in the video said something about suicide and how that
caught his attention and how he could relate or something. After that, he went
right back to playing on his phone. I was just sitting there thinking and the
spirit told me to ask him, "are you happy?" I was expecting him to
say that he was because he is popular and stuff. But the spirit kept telling me
he really wasn't and that he knew that he wasn't and to ask him the question.
When I asked him, he opened up again and said that he wasn't happy. He said he
doesn't really know what that means and he never has. We promised him that the
gospel could bring him happiness and that is the only place to find it. This is
the Lord’s work. He is at the helm. I am but a tool in his hand and I know
that.
There are so many
occasions as missionaries where people's problems are so much bigger than we
alone can help them with. I have no idea what to tell someone who has PTSD,
depression, epilepsy, a hard addiction, or whose only parent just ran away and
left them. I can do nothing to help them. So it's a good thing that I am not
on my errand; I am on the Lord’s. He knows EXACTLY what these people need to
hear and what they need to feel. Through me as a tool, HE CAN HEAL THEM. I am
nothing. He is an all powerful, all loving, all knowing Father to all of us and
all I have to do is listen to HIM. Getting out of the way for Him to do His
work does not mean doing nothing and just letting Him take the wheel. It means
crushing your own pride and desires and doing all that you can to have His
spirit. Actively searching day and night to know His will for His children.
That is my work as His missionary.
God is our Father.
Jesus lives. He has restored His church.
Love,
Elder Moe
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| "Notice the John Deer in the filter thing." |
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| "The Sisters made us Sushi." AKA rice crispy treats wrapped in fruit roll-up with a gummy fish. |
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