For two years I will be preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and serving the people in the area of the Salt Lake City East Mission! My mother has volunteered to post my letters and pictures on this blog so you can follow me. I have been preparing for my mission for 18 years by exercising faith and building a testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and His amazing Gospel. Please email or write me if you have any questions or just want to talk!
This week has been jam packed
with good stuff and I am sorry if It doesn’t all get included here! We
had the awesome opportunity to go to the Salt Lake City Temple this week and
have zone conference. The temple was awesome as always and zone
conference was the bomb! We sang first as a zone and I am super glad because we
weren't the best. Hahaha! It was just cool to be able to do it all together as
a zone. Luckily no one recorded it (sorry mom).
We had a late birthday lunch at
the Peterson's and we ate a bunch of amazing grilled meat kabobs and some fancy
stake that has a French name that I cannot spell. I will send pictures
next week because she took them and I didn't get them... (Again sorry mom).
They have slides that connect the floors to their house it's pretty
sweet.
We have been going through lists
of ward members we want to meet and knocking a ton of doors and contacting a
ton of referrals. We have gotten a ton done, but haven't found anyone new that
we are working with. We have been teaching a bunch of active member lessons as
well.
The other day we met this super
awesome lady that was 91 years old. Her name was Elsie and she was so funny.
Her house had a bunch of dog training mats like all over the floor and it
reeked of dog pee. Elder Pau'u was dying. We were there for her son who was
just out of the age range for YSA and was super stubborn. He was offended when
he was younger. We talked to him for a good 30 minutes with her in the living
room with us. We prayed with them at the end, and Elder Pau'u said amen and we
look over and she still had her head down. I said amen super loud and then she
looked up and said amen! After we were done she asked us "Who are you here
with?" And I said very loud, "THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER
DAY SAINTS." She was like, "Ohhhh Elders!" And her face just lit
up and she gave us some Smarties. It was sweet!
I love you guys so much and loved
the videos and pictures this week. Thank you so much again for the package! I am
still enjoying stuff from it! I flipping
loved the shirts! I have worn mine twice already this week!!! Forgive me for my
forgetfulness. They are AWSOME and I am not just saying that. I loved getting them especially because I wasn't expecting them. I seriously wish I could go back or
at least tell you how much I really do appreciate it... It is one of my
favorite birthday presents I've gotten and it actually means something. Thank
you so much!I still feel like a
piece of poop for not thanking dad for the shirts last week.
Elders Pau'u & Moe, Sisters Parker & Hathcoat and new member!
Dear Family,
I had a great birthday! It was
super fun just knowing that I was nineteen. It reminded me of something this
super funny older guy said every time we saw him in Murray. "I'm another
day older and still a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ." He said it with
so much enthusiasm it was awesome. But how true is that. I am another year
older and still a believer in Jesus Christ. It's way sweet. I feel like I have
grown so much this year.
We didn't do anything too crazy
for my birthday. It was just another great Sunday out on the mission! I bore my testimony in all the wards we went to but that's
normal. I made it my goal to bear my testimony in every fast and testimony
meeting possible. I got a ton of super cool
insights from all the testimonies that were borne.
One girl said "sometimes we
think of the enabling power of the atonement like when we are running a
marathon and we get tired Jesus comes and carries us but I think it's more like
running a marathon on water. I need him every second." How true is
that. I do need him every second and I am glad he has provided the miracles that
have carried me through another year of my life.
Here are a few of my journal
entries for the week!
March 6, 2016 Sunday 2:43
PM
So apparently Brandon Covey is a
super good wide receiver and he bore his testimony in our ward today. Kinda
cool. I don't really know who he is.
6:48 PM
So a recent convert from before I
came into the area, from Elder Tanner and Elder Otuafi, told everyone over the
stand that he was moving to California tonight. He is gonna be alright though
because apparently he biked here from Nashville. Like bicycle.
10:08 PM
So this is my birthday. I just
read my letter from my parents and family and I love them a ton. They are the
bomb. We finished off the day with dinner at a bunch of girls’ house.
(They invited a guy so we could be there.) Then we had a lesson with Ian and he
taught me another scale and how they work together. I kinda understand scales
now, which is pretty neat. Ian is less active and thinks he is an atheist but
he is pretty cool! He has taught himself music theory. After our lesson, we
went to the ward prayer at a member of the bishoprics and he came with Skylar
(his good friend that is active). We had pie after we were done.
March 3, 2016 10:04 PM Thursday
So I am on this awesome exchange
with Elder Conn. He is a great missionary from Michigan! We started the
exchange by going and contacting this less active guy that is returning to
activity and there was a DO NOT ENTER sign on the door and the house has been
condemned. We called the number on the piece of paper and they said there was
meth there so that sucks. We had a good day though! It was awesome to get out
on my feet and walk again. I am like physically drained which is super good to
feel.
Council Meeting - Elder Moe gets to see Elder Prestera from home!
Elders Pau'u & Moe with Javi - "Javi is teaching me
Spanish."
We have been doing great here. We
are starting to get close with some of the families in the area and have been
setting up lunch appointments and stopping by just on a whim to grab
clementines. We will take a picture with them when we go over to lunch this
week. We found out that our zone has to sing at zone conference and it will probably
end up being only three of us because this isn't the most musical zone. WE GET
TO GO TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK! I am pretty stoked!
Something super interesting and
different is ward ball. It's the real deal. Especially in the YSA. It gets
super intense. They have official teams they get together and refs and jerseys
and everything. Preston would love it. The best is watching the girls play. It
is super scary. Apparently there was almost a fight at one of the games a few
weeks ago. The girls at dinner were telling us about it. For some reason they
have three refs at the guys game but only one at the girls game and the refs
typically aren't very good. We watched a video from one of the games last week
and bodies were hitting the floor left and right.
I met another like real islander
this week and he called me Elder Moé. He informed me it meant to sleep.
Sweet...
I love all you guys hope this
letter was good.
P.S. shout out to Dain for
teaching my dad the whip and nae nae.
"Continuation of selfies with animals"
"Elder Wolhfahrt is from Germany and he is
a punk."
Video: Dinner appointment in a YSA Stake
Preston...
How could I forget about the off key all stars...
Thanks for
reminding me though! 😂 Feel free to email me back in
school. I
approve. Just don't get in trouble. What class do you have
this hour?
You think it's weird for you that I am 19... It's flipping
weird for
me! Your 16, that's weirder. You've been shooting with your
left hand 😳.
Baller. It really sounds like dad loves coaching your
team!
Remember when he coached my team for YMCA we were the real all
stars. Ha
ha Bro they have a band you have a band it's perfect. You
guys need
to preform at one of the dances. Just join together and make
one band. I
am gonna be so super bad at guitar when I get back. It
won't be
funny. You should learn this song! I will send it in another
email.
Spend
as much time with great grandpa as you possibly can. Go
chill with
him even if it's just you two. I am serious Preston. You
will never
regret it. Take Becca as well. You are a
stud!
Remember God gave you everything. Your talents your mane your
social
skills. Thank him every day for the little things, because trust
me, they are
HUGE. I love you and cant wait to hang out when I am back.
"This is Williamson. He is in one of the YSA wards and is the happiest coolest kid you could meet."
Dear Family,
I
had a good week this week. I am really starting to appreciate the thirty
minutes we have in the morning to exercise and I have been running every
morning! I actually am starting to enjoy going on a run at 6:30 in the morning.
Sounds super weird right. I really do notice that I feel a ton better
throughout the day. I have also gotten a little ahead in the 100 days Book of
Mormon reading challenge schedule; I just finished it today. I, over the last
month, have changed/grown a ton and I have an insane amount of love for the
scriptures. It's not just studying, because I am studying, but because I
actually want to really bad! I get frustrated when that hour flies by and have
occasionally been getting up at 5:30 to read. (Don't worry mom I don't do it
too often)
We stopped by the Gelwix's! At first Sis. Gelwix didn't recognize us and then she was like "OHHH I CAN'T HUG YOU!!" and put out her hand. She talked to us for like 30 minutes! Hahaha! She said if we needed an Elders Quorum that needed to be whipped into shape, Bro. Gelwix could come and do some motivational speaking.
One
of our investigators has been making a ton of progress and actually gave up his
e-cig to us this week. He is so sincere and has been seeing a ton of blessings
in his life. Sometimes I wonder why that doesn’t happen with all of our
investigators. Why can’t all of our investigators pray and feel the love of God
all around them? I have realized that it’s because of faith. When Don prays,
he truly trusts in God and that he will answer his prayers. He trusts us and he
trusts God.
Moroni 7
36 Or have angels ceased to appear unto the
children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or
will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall
be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?
37 Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith
that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister
unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of
men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.
I truly know if we trust in God enough then we can
be like the brother of Jared. We can literally move mountains like he
did. We can see Christ. I have always wondered what made him have so much
faith? Can you guys study some about the brother of Jared? What made him have
such powerful faith?
Love,
Elder Moe
"Plastic didn't want the corned beef you sent, so Sister Uelese literally screamed and took it from me."
"This was our Assistants baptism. I got to interview a few of them!"
"This is Sister Johnson and James. Sister Johnson is from Claremore! She's a convert."
The emails were awesome this week! I love all the
pictures. I am really wondering why my entire life we didn't have any quorum of
the 12 general authorities come all 18YEARS of my life and as soon as I leave
they come what seems like once a month. They probably saw the righteousness of
the stake go up after I left and wanted to see what was going on.
Not that I can complain at all because we did have
Elder Ballard come and speak to us on Saturday. It was super sweet!He is so funny
and we all got to shake his hand! He spoke with two other general
authorities of the seventy, Elder Pingley (?sp) and Elder
Christensen. Elder Ballard told a story of a missionary in his
mission he was over in Ontario Canada that came to him and told him he was
going to be his best missionary. He explained to him that he made a covenant
with God that if he worked as hard as he could and was the best missionary then
he would keep his dad alive. He told of his first day in the area were they
went straight to a members home for dinner. After eating this missionary
looked at his watch and told his senior companion that they had been there for
forty-five minutes and needed to leave.
Olympus District B Meeting
The senior companion told him of the
-30's temperatures outside and how he didn't think it was a good idea. The
missionary told him "I need your help to save my dad." He told of his
diligence as he worked to be the best servant of the Lord he could be. He was
released as a mission president at the same time this missionary went home and
was able to witness this valiant missionary run to the arms of his father. Some
of his really funny quotes were:
"You have a great mission president. One of
the reasons why is because he married over his head... It think we all
have." Looking back on the stand
This was when he was telling us that there didn't
used to be any missions or missionaries in Utah:
Elder Ballard: from the stand. "Now how
many missions do we have in Utah?" Looking back at sister
Eberhardt "4? 5?"
Sister Eberhardt: 9
Elder Ballard: "Wowwwww!"
He said that if we could go to our knees every
night and say to the Lord, "I did my best," then we are great
missionaries. The spirit testified to me that here is an apostle of the Lamb. I
have gotten way ahead in the 100 day BOM reading challenge and am in 3 Nephi 20 and just
like the apostles called then, I know that the same is still true of them
today:
7 And the disciples did pray unto the Father also
in the name of Jesus. And it came to pass that they arose and ministered unto
the people.
8And when they had ministered those same words
which Jesus had spoken--nothing varying from the words which Jesus had
spoken--behold, they knelt again and prayed to the Father in the name of Jesus.
This week was pretty awesome! Thank you so much for all your letters and
pictures. So yes, we went to the Warners and ate dinner with them! It was crazy
awesome! But to rewind a bit I guess, I have been making quite a few
connections lately. Being in YSA has a lot to do with it. So before a sacrament
meeting, I ran into a kid named Lars that served around Jonathan Moe! That was
pretty fun and I realized that I hadn't seen him in like forever and Lars told
me that he was studying abroad in Jerusalem right now I think. But after that,
we were standing outside a sacrament meeting and there were four guys all
trying to sit on this couch in the foyer. A kid in the ward wanted to take a
picture with the guys on the couch, so I remember looking and I think at that
point I just thought someone had looked familiar. (That happens a ton by the
way, you meet so many new people and see so many faces. I have seen people that I could promise
I know and then talk to them and I have never even met them before.) But anyway,
we were still in the foyer and I had looked over there a few more times and
then I looked a little closer and I was like "Dang! That kid looks just like
Gilbert Warner." Then it hit me... Wait... So I looked again and he was
realizing the same thing at the same time. The light bulb came on for both of
us at the same time. He jumped off the couch and was like ELDER MOE!
Elder Moe & Elder Pau'u with the Warners!
And I was
like NO WAY!!! Then someone stepped out gave us a dirty look and shut the doors
to the chapel. We just caught up for a bit and then we ended up stopping by
there for dinner. They were our first dinner of the night. We ended up having 2
more... But it was super awesome! Shoot me The Gelwix's address too because I
am pretty sure they live in our area or zone as well.
Preston, we all have to pull a Brandon Conrad every once in a while.
Speaking of that, is my hair (that I taped to the wall) and mine and Stephen’s
race tallies still on the wall at track? I’m glad you are keeping the party
alive in Owasso! Try to include everyone you can when you are doing stuff. Send
some pole-vaulting videos too bro!
Becca, this is what I say when people ask how many siblings I have:
"I have a little brother that is 16 and a little sister that is 13 and she
is more mature than both of us." Fo real though, you are one of the funniest
people I know. You have a personality where just videos of you talking are
funny. We have an Olan Rodgers (Ghost in the Stalls) in the making.
Dad, send some more of the warehouse and your “plastic hoodie” and all
the fun stuff with the business! People ask what you do for work and it's
awesome being able to talk about how fun it is building this business. Send
some videos of the zone activity! I love hearing about all the work and
progress that is going on. I can't wait to be able to come back and help some
more with it. You are going to be screen-printing pros.
Mom, I love you so much and I just know how happy it makes you when you
get pictures and videos from people! I learned so much from you and I’m
glad I did because I see a ton of Elders who haven't learned how to clean, be
responsible or be polite and kind.
Love,
Elder Moe
Met Lars who knows my cousin Jonathan
"No comment needed"
"This guy is retired and one day he was walking down the road jamming to music and kinda bouncing in his step and someone told him he should dance, so he did! He's been dancing on street corners ever since. He just does it for fun and exercise. People honk and wave and a ton of people know him now!"
To answer some of your questions - Elder
Pau’u and I are serving in the Olympus Zone in the Holliday YSA (Young Single
Adult) Stake. We cover five wards: East Millcreek, Mount Olympus, Holliday,
Wilford and Canyon Rim. It goes from 2700 to 6200, then from Highland to the
top of the mountain. We live in a pretty nice apartment and drive a Volkswagen
Jetta (there are only 2 in the mission) - It's pretty sweet.Elder Pau’u is Tongan but he grew up in
Southern California so all the Polynesian Sisters tease him and call him
Plastic because he’s really Americanized - They say "yo, Plastic!"
He has really been helping motivate me
to actually work out in the morning, which has been super good! I am getting
back into shape and am trying to develop more self-motivation. I’m taking
thirty minutes everyday to read through the Book of Mormon out loud in Spanish.
I’ve set a goal, and am trying to keep motivated in doing something that’s not
easy long term. It’s one of my weaknesses that Heavenly Father has shown me and
that is how I am working to overcome it.
It has been interesting trying to figure
out how to do missionary work here in the YSA Stake, but I feel like I am
learning quicker than before. Your social skills have to be a ton better than
anywhere else I’ve been and I am really working on that right now. It’s really
pushing me out of my comfort zone. I feel like I can get along with adults
better than with kids around my age and that’s what I have been doing most of
my mission, talking to adults. It’s an adjustment that I need a ton of my
Heavenly Father’s help with, which is super good.
In my studies, I have been looking a lot
into diligence. Christ's example of diligence is amazing. After performing the
Atonement, the hardest most excruciating feat in the history of the universe,
he didn't rest; He didn't take a day off, he didn't sit back. He did the exact
same work that He had done on earth, the salvation of mankind. He labored in
the spirit world teaching the spirits in spirit prison. He organized the way
for those spirits to be taught and saved by the Atonement He had just
preformed. If He didn't take a break, after all that He did, why do I think I
would ever be entitled to one. He inspires me on those days when I am dead
tired and don't want to do anything. I can find strength through Him and
because of Him. Look up the talk by Henry B. Eyring, Act In All Diligence. (This is the link)
I ran into this guy we used to know
as “Elder Baxter” in one of the YSA wards.He used to serve in the Ranch Creek Ward in the Oklahoma
Tulsa Mission.I’ll send a
picture!
This week has been
crazy and awesome! We had a baptism of three, a wedding, and the sister’s
baptisms (I baptized one of the boys). It was awesome! Crazy awesome. I couldn't
think of a better way to leave the area. I am trying to get pictures of all of
the crazy events so I can send them. I loved all the pictures and videos and
letters this week. This family is awesome and I am proud to be a part of
it. I am sorry I don't have a ton of time to email today. Today is crazy…
With no more transfer meetings, it’s crazy. This is a first time for all of us
and so I don't think anyone really knows what is going on. This scripture was fulfilled in part
this Saturday with the baptisms - 2 Nephi 21:26. We only have a few pictures
from everything but I will send more next week. I love you guys!
2 Nephi 21:26
The wedding
Baptism of three
Goodbyes
More goodbyes
Sisters Elias & Uelese, Elders Moe & Archer
Elder Moe ran into a friend of his cousin Jessica!
