Has it really been a year??? - Monday, April 8, 2013

Hello Family!!!

Wow! It has been such a great week! I love being a missionary!!

Tuesday, we were out and about proselyting like we do, and we met a woman named Darlina. She is about as golden as they come. We sat down with her and had a good talk to get to know her, and to identify some of the spiritual experiences she's had in order to help us decide whether or not she is some one that God has been preparing. Whelp... She is one of those people. The lady has attended every church that she could think of, in search of the truth. She told us that she really likes some of the churches, especially the 7th day Adventist's (mostly for their "word of wisdom"), but for some reason or another, all the churches she's attended have just felt wrong. Finally, she told God that she was gonna do her best to follow His commandments on her own, and wait until He sent her the truth. :) So... God sent us. :) She really is just a fantastic lady. She is the mother of 2, her husband is a super good guy (that was, in fact, an answer to one of her prayers :)) and never drinks or smokes or does anything dumb. She loves her family with all her heart, and wants SO badly to be with them forever. She wants to do what's right, and we are gonna help her learn how. :) 

 

Also, that same afternoon, we met with a kid named Marcos that we've been visiting for the past couple weeks. He's a 21 year old college student, and he's a genius. We sat down with him and had one of the best lessons on Faith and Repentance that I've had thus far. To find a base of his Gospel understanding, we asked him what Faith was. He responded with a thought out metaphor that compared faith in God, to confidence in your cell phone company; if you are obedient, and "pay your bills on time" you can always trust that God will "support your phone calls" just like He told you He would when you "signed the contract." ha. I just bert stared him.... I spend all day everyday teaching people about this stuff, and I don't even understand it as well as Marcos. haha. SO cool! I have extremely high hopes for both Marcos and Darlina! God is trusting us with many of His prepared sons and daughters as of late. :) It's exhilarating! This truly is HIS work!!!  

Wednesday I directed my very first District Meeting... Ha. We spent the morning in search of the church keys so we could go have our meeting in the Relief Society room, and we even went to a member's house to borrow some, but they weren't home. Turns out, the other missionaries accidentally took our set home with them last P-Day. So... We had a meeting in our front room around the little, white, plastic, patio furniture style table in our kitchen. haha. Despite the fact that I was an arms length from my bed, the meeting went of without a hitch! :) We each picked a random Attribute of Christ and gave a short talk about it, then we had a good discussion on how to better help each of our progressing investigators. 

 

In the afternoon we had some rockin lessons. We talked to Anni, and she expressed some feelings of emptiness. We asked her why she thought she was feeling that way, and explained to her that God gives us as much as we give to Him; if we give Him our WHOLE heart, He will fill it ALL THE WAY up. Then we discussed ways that she could show the Lord that she really does have the desire to serve Him. We decided that prayer was a good place to start, and then helped her find ways to make her prayers more personal and spiritual. :) 

Later on we taught Victor (that guy I told you about that has two boys named Coby and Bryant), and had one heck of a discussion on repentance. He was EATING IT UP! Everything we talk to him about he just soaks up like a sponge! It's so cool to see things click for him. He's constantly saying "I started going to that church when they built it, why in the world did I stop??" :) Our Church is SO true. And it just makes sense to people. :) We have THE answers to EVERYTHING! :) Yay for modern revelation! 

Thursday was April 4th, 2013. The day of Elder Fassett and my anniversary. ha. Better said, OUR YEAR MARK! We are officially half way there! It's all down hill from there! :)
It was the perfect day. :) We started it off with a nice session of X-Stretch (cuz we just finished "rest week" on our journey through the jungle of P90X... Where even "rest week" is extreme. ha), a solid study block, and then we went out for lunch with Elder Wadman and Elder Nelson at Shock Pizza (a real life Italian man owns it, and he cooks in a brick oven. Ha. He moved to the DR cuz he fell in love with a Dominican lady. ha. And thank heavens he did, cuz his pizza made my day). 

Our day of proselyting also rocked. We had a second lesson with Darlina, and talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and right there and then she accepted a baptismal date. :) She's SO great! 

 

Then, that evening we met with Jisela, Dilka and Daniela. I can't remember if I told you about them or not... They are a family (mom and 2 daughters)  that we've been meeting with for a couple weeks now. They live two doors down from the Montero Family (the ones we just baptized), they witnessed the effect of the gospel on that whole family and asked us to pass by. So we did, and it turns out, they've been waiting for the truth just like Darlina. Anyway, on Thursday night there was no power (which is semi normal, and actually often ends up working in our favor), so we taught and testified of the First Vision and the Restoration of Christ's one and only True Church by candle light. It was INCREDIBLE. I cant even tell you how strong the spirit was in that room. At the end, Elder Fassett and I felt impressed to invite the family to be baptized, and they accepted without skipping a beat. :) God works miracles in the hearts of men. I testify of that. :) 

 

Then to finish off the perfect day, we came home and burned our Year Mark shirts. :) We used some sketchy lighter fluid we found at the super market for the equivalent of one American Dollar. haha. It worked really well. :) Lots of fire, and it left almost nothing behind. :) Then, to seal the deal, we read our journal entries from that fist night in the Provo MTC out loud, and just laughed at how far we've come spiritually, emotionally, and everything else-ally. haha. Missions are cool. To all those currently considering missionary service, I highly recommend it.

Friday we had interviews with President Rodriguez. :) Subject to form, Hermana Rodriguez talked to us while we all awaited our turn in the hot seat. She talked about obedience, and likened life to a suspension bridge and the commandments and mission rules to the fence/barrier on either side of the road. The rules aren't there to restrict us, they're there to protect us. We need to keep our fence well mended by being obedient, because Satan is constantly trying to poke holes and drag us through them. If we do as we are instructed by leaders, and if we follow the example of "good fence menders" in our lives, we will be safe, and we'll make it all the way to the other side. :) Then she talked about trials and hard times. She likened the mission, and/or life, to a race and every time we come to a hurdle, we need to exert more force to leap over it instead of giving up and waiting for the hurdle to move. Every hurdle we leap will get us one step closer to the finish line and it will give us more strength and self confidence to clear the next one. I'm grateful for inspired leaders. God really does send them to help us and to guide us. :) 

My interview with President was good. It was short and to the point, but that's all I really needed. :) Plus, I was the VERY last one, and he was a little tired. haha. During the interview he told me he barely recognized me, and asked how much weight I've lost on the mission. haha. P90X must be doing something for me. ;) 

Saturday and Sunday were like Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. :) Conference was EXACTLY what I needed! I've been mulling over some life plans as of late, and I received some much desired counsel from our latter day Prophet and his Apostles. :) My favorite talks (yes... there's more than one... I figure since you all talked it out last night, and I have all your attention, I'll just tell you about 'em) were:

 

First, Elder Richard G. Scott's talk on Saturday afternoon, because A. He is a boss, and personally translates his conference addresses into Spanish. :) He sounds the same in Spanish, and it made me really happy to hear his voice instead of a translators. And B. He compared the gospel to asphalt that fills in all the pot holes of the roads of our lives. THAT IS SO TRUE!!! My life, AND the lives of my investigators are SO much smoother when we are living the Gospel. :) 

 

Second, Elder Bednar's talk from the same session. I took TONS of notes, because it was SO clear! Sometimes (even with a year in the mission), the Law of Chastity is a little tough to explain. I am so excited to print that talk out and share it with a specific few of my investigators. :)

 

Third, Elder Uchdorf's talk on Sunday morning. He has a gift. I love that he uses real life examples, and relates them to each of us personally. Christ truly does invite all those that are walking in the darkness, to come and enjoy the warmth and protection of His light. He is the light and the life of the World. If we give ourselves to Him, we will never need to fear, no matter how dark and dreary the way. 

 

Fourth, and finally, Elder Holland's talk on Sunday afternoon. "Do not fear; only believe." If we have faith in the Savior Jesus Christ, and believe on His word, we will never need to fear. We have all been taught the things that are right (if you ever need a refresher course, read the Book of Mormon), and if we do what we KNOW we're supposed to, we'll be taken care of. :) 

 

Basically every word spoken during the conference was music to my ears. JUST what I needed to hear. :) God is SO good to us! We are SO blessed to have a living Prophet today, and to be able to listen to his words through modern day technology, NO MATTER WHERE WE ARE! We are blessed! 

 

My heart goes out to Riley... Only 2 weeks in the field, and already had to sit through conference in Korean... I know the spirit speaks all languages, so I hope you give lots of heed to the parts that you understood! :) You're my hero bro. ha. Thank heavens I got called Spanish speaking! 

Anyway. I love all of you people. And so does our Heavenly Father. This church is true. And I'm not saying that cuz the constant repetition of that phrase has brainwashed me into believing it; I say it cuz I've witnessed it's power, and truthfulness. I love being a missionary. I challenge you all to get a hold of the May Ensign ASAP and re-study all those talks! They're FULL of good stuff! 

Who's on the Lord's side, Who? I am. At least trying to be. 

Anyway. I gotta go. I still have to get a letter off to Pres, and then we're headed to Taco Night at Anni's house for Family Home Evening. :)

All my love and prayers,

Elder Cade Mooney