Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Conference Week

First off i have to talk about Conference because it was simply incedible! Oh man it was the best two days ever!  Mom I'm with you on no one really standing out because they were all wonderful.  I mean i used to only like to listen to a few apostles and that was all i would pay attention to or learn from.  But this conference i was just soaking it all up from every individual.  SOOOOO AWESOME!  The main thing i learned is that apparently i need to get married right after my mission haha.  They were really stressing that ha.  Good Stuff.  I don't even know where to begin but i guess i will start with the whole underlying message of conference for me.  Almost every talk was about ACTION in some way or another.  They talked alot about: we feel sympathy for people in need, we take notes from conference about things we want to change, we see other examples and we would like to be like them, BUT WE DON'T EVER DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.  We have to turn all that into action.  DO SOMETHING!  Don't just sit and wait for something to happen.  Cause that change.  It takes effort to be a Latter Day Saint.  I love what Ezra Taft Benson said as quoted by President Eyring, "I Love this work, for it is work!' I also love what i learned from Elder Steven E. Snow: Hope alone does not lead us to succeed.  We must act! (he spoke in priesthood session and speaking of priesthood session, all those who didn't get to watch it, mainly women, WATCH IT ONLINE :)  Another thing in Priesthood was President Uchtdorf when he said, "Set our 'Do IT' switch- always to 'the NOW!"  Whenever we learn something that we need to do or change, do it now.  Too often we set it aside and then eventually forget about it.  If you don't do it now, it will never happen.  That is the major lesson that i learned in conference.  Every conference i would write things down that i wanted to do to become better.  but every conference i would set those notes aside and forget about them.  NOT THIS TIME!  I am taking advantage of hearing/learning from the Apostles of the Lord and i am going to act on what i have learned.  I hope that you all will do the same.  As President Packer said, its all about our desires.  Just have that desire first and let it grow. 
I have to tell you that one of my favorite talks was by Elder Quentin L Cook.  Mom and i was thinking about you the whole time and this kind of talk was so needed.  The sisters in the church really are incredible.  They do so much and deserve much appreciation.  So thank you to all you women in the church!!!!!!!  We only have Cambodian women in our ward that are active and i love them so much.  They are so solid!  So i can relate to his statement that women are more spiritual than men... but then again no surprise ha.
Just FYI i think my favorite talk was by Elder Scott on Sunday PM.  He gave that same talk in a CES fireside this fall that i saw while at SVU.  He is awesome.
Ok so a quick update on the goings on for this last week:  M. is progressing really well.  We've seen him about every other day and he has completely stopped smoking! CRAZY!  It only took a week.  That was a huge miracle.  He still has other challenges but he is doing his best. He is set to be baptized on the 24th of April! Pray for him!
So i don't remember if i told you about this other M.  He is a crazy guy who stands out side his house all day every day.  We pass him multiple times a day and we have contacted him a few times.  This week we got into his house and watched The Restoration movie.  He was quiet the whole time.  When the movie ended we asked one question and BOOM! he just started talking and talking and talking about nothing!  it was so random and impossible to follow.  It was also impossible to not laugh.  Elder W.and I were laughing out loud just in his face cuz it was so funny and we couldn't help it.  It was hilarious!  Elder A. kept a straight face but after we left he let it all out.  but ya it was the funniest experience ever.  I still don't know what happened in there ha.  we were there for like 45 mins and 2 times he just randomly stopped talking and went to the bathroom and then came back in right where he left off.  I feel like im not doing it any justice but it was hilarious.
Ok to answer some questions:
Im not getting transferred and i think our 3-some will stay together for at least one more transfer.  But im happy.  I feel like there is no real actual training going on but its fine with me cuz im used to things by just learning on my own.  Elder W is the senior comp.  We have a very nice apartment except for almost this whole week the heater didn't work so we were quite cold ha.  but its fixed now :)  We have a car yes.  IT is a mazda 3 and pretty dang nice.  Only Elder W gets to drive.  I want to drive so bad!  I guess i don't trust anyone driving except me ha.  Feel free to send my cleats.  For conference we didn't do any translating cuz we just hook it up to the satellite and there are professionals doing it for conference.  We watched Conference at our church building.  Sat AM it was us 3 plus the 2 spanish elders and then 3 other people.  Sat pm was just us 5 elders.  Sunday there was a bit more people there.  We are fed very very well by the members almost every night.  We ate at Y's house (cambodian) and it was so delicious!  My cambodian is.... ok but its just hard to practice when we don't have many cambodian investigators.  Oh and just to tell you how most days go,  we usually drive all over town to the people we have contacted once or twice and try to have a lesson but they are never home or don't have time.  So most days we teach like 2 lessons to investigators, tract for about an hour or two and then visit inactive members.  I love what Bro Luekenga told me, "not every day is good, but there is good in every day."  That is so true.  Most days just aren't good or successful but there are miracles in every day and i see them.  I have been blessed with great optimism since being out here and i am very grateful for it. 
Alright i need to go.   I hope i answered all the questions.  I love you all very much and pray for you every day!  Take what you have learned from conference and APPLY it in your lives! 
 ~"Remember, the future is as bright as your faith!''~

Oh and for P day today we are going to Boston for a few hours with the Cambodian elders in Lynn.  Last week we went to Cambridge to this huge and i mean HUGE stake center and met alot of other elders. 

2 comments:

  1. While it's easy to laugh at people with mental illnesses, a little more is expected of missionaries and Christians.

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