Holey Moley I gotta type fast,
Yes I still have my coat. Currently it smells
like fish from our New Years Thai dinner. I ate 4 Thai chilies; they were all
freaking out. Lol. "Elder eats spicy!" Brother Sukans son Joseph was
like "You're more Asian than me..."
I have my snow boots as well. It snowed like
another 5 inches today...
I am fine!!!! I don't need a new pillow. Elder
Yates gave his to me; its half memory foam and half pillow, and his memory foam
mattress topper. With the new sheets, I am sleeping like a king.
Transfers are a week from tomorrow! I am
racking my brain to see if we have met Sister Chamberlin's parents?? That is
funny! So many Utah missionaries. Lol
This Sunday was so good! We spoke and we taught the
youth class. I am still trying to figure out how speaking works and what kind
of preparation works best for me, but the youth class we taught went so
well!
MIRACLE:
So we are working with this super awesome couple
that live in Alabama but have a home here as well. They are so awesome! We
don’t normally go to their ward because we are supposed to focus on the Thai
ward and they meet at that time. We were there and our awesome senior couple
the Ranglacks came in with this Middle Eastern couple and their little baby.
They told us that they had been reading the Book of Mormon and they want to get
baptized. They came to church themselves and happened to come to that building
at that time but they lived in Millcreek. At first we were just going to have
them stay and get them the address to the building they could go to next week
and we would also get a hold of their bishop. She explained to us in broken English
that she was leaving for 2 months to go see her father that was very sick and
she wanted to take more lessons and be baptized before then. We decided we
would take them to their building. They followed us in the car over there to
the one on meeting house locator and had them wait in the foyer so we could
bring the missionaries or the bishop. We turned the corner and Elder Blumquist
and Elder Bailey were there and said that the wards switched buildings. During
the course of all of this time, she especially, was thanking us and crying
because of how grateful she was that we were helping her and how much she
wanted this gospel in her life. We were able to get her to the right building
with the right missionaries and the ward had started later than we thought so
they were able to make it to sacrament meeting. We saw Elder Mauu and Elder
Beckman as we were walking up. I couldn't imagine what they thought when we came
walking up with this family and said, "this is _____ and ______ , she has
been reading the Book of Mormon and they want to get baptized before the 16th of
January." It was so cool and I hope I did the story justice. Elder Mauu
was even able to speak Arabic to them that he had learned from talking to
people in the area. This family was just radiating and were so kind and humble
and so good. We could have been at another building, sent them to the wrong address
or so many other things but our Heavenly Father put us in the right place at
the right time to help some of his children with so much faith. I know this
gospel is true and this message is for all the ends of the earth.
Love,
Elder Moe
Here is the letter I wrote to our Stake Young Men's
presidency. They asked us to write to the young men in the Stake to use for
training:
Dear Brothers!
I feel like just
yesterday I was in your shoes; looking forward to my mission and doing what
little I felt like I knew I could do to prepare. Hopefully from my perspective of
being out, I can give you some ideas to help you be more prepared!
The first thing to
remember is what I mentioned at the beginning, time is short. Now it may seem
like you have all the time in the world before you leave and maybe you can
prepare more tomorrow, but trust me, the time is now! D&C 31:3 "Lift up your
heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall
be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this
generation."
The second thing is
advice given from Elder Bednar! He said that the best preparation that anyone
could do would be to become a missionary before you enter the mission field.
Going on a mission doesn’t make you a missionary. You have to BECOME a
missionary by keeping the commandments of God, diligently following the
promptings of the Holy Spirit and realizing that, "...the thing which will
be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people,
that you may bring souls unto me..." (D&C 15:6) Do not be tricked into
thinking that opening your mouth and sharing the gospel will be any easier in
the mission field than it is at home. At some point you are going to have to
swallow that lump in your throat, lay aside your fear and JUST DO IT. If you
can do this, you will see your Heavenly Father pour out blessings to you and
you will feel the joy of this work that just fills you up. Do everything you
can to be an example of the believers and look for every opportunity to talk about
the gospel. When I was in high school, one of my teammates on the pole vaulting
team was Nephi Vang. Nephi, Stephen, Preston, myself and others had some
awesome opportunities to tell people where Nephi's name came from!
This one is so
important. Read the Book of Mormon every day. Commit to read the Book of Mormon
everyday for the rest of your life. As you read you will understand. Don't
worry about not making sense sometimes when you read, don't worry if the person’s
scriptures next to you in seminary looks like the Color Run and you only have a
few outlined in red. Just don't let a day go by that you don't have personal
prayer and scripture study. Read with a desire to feast. Sometimes it might not
feel like you are feasting, but I promise you that the days will come where as
you read, you are filled up with light. In your days at school or at work,
those scriptures will come into your mind and you will have greater light and
greater power.
If there is anyone
wondering if a mission is worth it or even if the Gospel is true, I am here to
tell you IT IS. For your whole lives you will be tested and tried, questioned
and pushed down, but if you build your foundation on our Savior Jesus Christ,
YOU. CAN. NOT. FALL. "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon
the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build
your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea,
his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall
beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of
misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a
sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
(Helaman 5:12)
Never forget this,
"Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the
work;" (D&C 4:3) You are called to the work here in the heartland of
America and you will be called to labor in another place when the time comes,
but remember, you are a disciple of Jesus Christ the Son of God and have been
called of him to declare his word among his people that they may have
everlasting life.
Love,
Elder Moe
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