The Best Two Years

Hello from Medicine Hat! I hope everyone is doing just great!

This week was a good one! Yesterday we got to see our friend Jim again. I think I've mentioned him in previous emails. We tracted into him quite a while ago, and have met with him a couple of times, but it's been hard to get set appointments with him. Since we saw him last, he's read the first 14 chapters of the Book of Mormon! He says he's enjoyed it so far, and we shared a little more about the Book of Mormon with him. He seems to have a really open mind, and is willing to put in the effort necessary to find out if the message that we share is true. He's great! We have an appointment with him tomorrow, so wish us well! We'll be going over the plan of salvation and answering some of the questions that he had on that.

We had a dinner with the Rushtons in our ward this week, and they invited their friend Nicole to come! She's not a member, but she seems really open to learn more! We had breakfast for dinner (a timeless classic) and then shared a message about overcoming trials through Christ and about the Book of Mormon. She's not very religious in her life, but isn't closed off to the idea. We're going to work through the Rushtons to try and meet with her again!

We had a lessons with Robert this week about the Sabbath day. He had been asking a lot about what keeping the Sabbath day holy means. We had a great discussion with him and used a talk by President Russell M. Nelson called The Sabbath is a Delight. We answered some of his questions and cleared up some concerns. Robert is definitely willing to make changes in his life to be prepared for baptism. It's really cool to see that. He was at sacrament meeting again this week! Now we're just working on getting him to all three hours of church.

As we were coming out of our lesson with Robert, we ran into the lady in charge of the food bank. Apparently she lives just a few doors down from him! We've developed a good relationship with her since our district began volunteering at the food bank each week. We talked to her for a bit, and she mentioned that they could use some help staining a fence at the food bank the next day, so we got to go down and help out with that. We had a great time getting to know some of the other volunteers there as we worked with them!

We also got to have a lesson with Gerald this week. We've really been focusing on the Book of Mormon with him, and challenged him to read with a question in mind so that he can get more out of it. He has been reading more often which is really positive. Helping Gerald out has really helped my own testimony of the Book of Mormon grow. I've really better come to see how it's blessed my life, and as I've been able to share experiences that I've had with him, the spirit is able to reaffirm to me that what I'm saying is true, and that the Book of Mormon really is the word of God. I'm so grateful for the blessing that that Book has been in my life, and how much closer to my Savior it's been able to bring me.

Fun story for the week. There's a part of our area where there's always kids running around outside, and they all know us because we're walking down that street almost every day. Every time we walk by, this one kid yells, "Missionaries!!" and then everyone comes running over. I showed a few of them that little magic trick where I take my thumb off, and now they all call me Magic Thumb. They all asked if they could have my thumb, and I think they got pretty upset when I said no. But I quite like the name Magic Thumb.

So now it's time for the bittersweet part of the email today. Today will be my last weekly email that I send as a missionary. These past couple of years have been absolutely incredible. I'm so grateful for the amazing people that I've had the opportunity to meet. I've loved being a missionary so much! My testimony of the gospel has grown immensely as I've had the opportunity to share it with others. I've seen just how much the gospel can really bless people's lives, and I know that it's true. I've really come to know my Savior, Jesus Christ, during my time in Canada. I've gone through different trials and struggles, that have really brought me to my knees, and given me opportunities to rely on Christ. I know that he's strengthened me, and helped me to bear up my burdens. I've really felt of my Heavenly Father's love as well. I've felt the love that he has for me, and I've also been able to feel, at least a small part, of that love that he has for all of his other children. I've been able to start to see others as God sees them, and that's an amazing feeling. I want to thank everyone that's supported me on my mission, and helped me to grow. I love you all, and it's going to break my heart to leave Canada, but I'll forever be grateful for the time that the Lord has given me to serve! I just want to leave you with my testimony today. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church restored to the earth, and that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God. I know that we still have a prophet on the earth today, and that through him the Lord is able to direct the church. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I've read it, prayed about it, and applied it's teachings to my life. I've felt the spirit witness to me that it is true. I know that God loves his children, and that he has a plan for our lives. I know that part of that plan was sending our Savior Jesus Christ to perform the Atonement for us, and that through Him we can gain forgiveness of our sins, and find strength and healing through trials. I know that he lives today. I'm grateful for the blessings of the gospel in my life, and I know that it's true. I say (or type) these things in the the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love ya'll so much!  I don't go home until next Wednesday, so I'll keep on working hard until then!

Love,

Elder Jaxon Moffitt

Ye are only in the service of your God

Happy Tuesday!

So our mission has officially changed our Pdays from Mondays to Tuesdays. I'm not going to lie, it was a weird experience to not have Pday yesterday. But from now on, emails will come on Tuesdays!

We had a pretty good week. We weren't able to meet with any of our investigators, but we had some good contacts with our potential investigators, and we got to do a lot of service!

We got to help out with a library book sale. They had us moving all of the boxes of books that needed to be sold, and then helping organize them. We were there with a lot of volunteers from the community. It was really fun to meet some of them and get to work with them!

We helped out at the Food Bank again this week. We have a standing appointment every Friday now. We got to talk with some great people there! The Lady in charge of it has been really appreciative of all the help we've given them, and we've formed really good relationships with all of the people there. This time we were just repackaging things, but they just got a new weed wacker, so next week we'll be taking care of the grounds again.

Saturday evening we had an appointment with our investigator Philip, but it fell through. However, Elder Todd and Elder White in another another ward here called to see if we could help with a last minute move. Turns out there were some Non-members moving into Medicine Hat who had gotten some missionaries to help them on the other end that needed help moving in. We were able to go and spend some time moving them. It was just a mom and her kids who had just gone through a pretty rough time, and they had no idea how they were going to get everything moved. Luckily we were able to round up some missionaries to help out! We were able to get everything moved for her, and she was really grateful. It was such a blessing to be able to help out a daughter of God when she was in need. As missionaries, we often wonder whether or not our time is being spent 'Effectively' or whether our service is 'Effective' in helping us fulfill our purpose. As I thought about the experience we had, it made me think of Mosiah 18, when Alma is teaching the people about baptismal covenants. He says,

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

When we're baptized, we promise our Heavenly Father that we're going to bear each other's burdens and help those in need. We have a responsibility to serve each other. We're all son's and daughters of a Heavenly Father, and need to take care of one another. I just feel like we're always being effective disciples of Christ as we keep our covenants to serve those in need.

We're going strong here in the Hat, and looking forward to this next week!

Love ya'll!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

Stopping to Smell the Flowers

Well, it's another beautiful sunny day in the hat!

We had a great week! I want to start off by sharing a miracle that we saw!

On Monday night we were walking over to our investigator Lana's house to set up an appointment because we hadn't been able to get a hold of her on her cell. We dropped by but she wasn't home, so we started walking to another part of our area to contact some people. On our way, a guy pulled up next to us in his truck and started talking with us. He recognized us as missionaries, and asked about our church services. He introduced himself as Jay, and shared with us that he had just split with his wife, and was looking to strengthen his relationship with God. He said that we could come over the next evening and meet with him. That initial appointment fell through, but Elder MacJanet and I decided to drop by him on exchanges a few days later. We were walking over to his house, and just before we got there, we walked past this bush in someones yard with some nice flowers blooming on it. Elder MacJanet stopped to smell it, and told me I should take a whiff. I decided to join him. So here we are out standing in front of Jay's house smelling some flowers (which smelt great by the way) and then all of the sudden, Jay open's up his door without a shirt on, and beckons us over saying, "Gentlemen! Come on in!" and he let us right in! We got to have a nice lesson with him. He was brought up religious, but sort of fell away from it after he was married. He knows quite a few Mormons, and has always loved the church's focus on families. He wanted to know why his Mormon friends were always so happy, and said that he was just looking for more. We taught him about the restoration, and shared with him the Book of Mormon. The spirit was there! He wasn't able to come to church this week, but he's excited to come next week! He's in the process of moving right now, and so I think he'll be moving up to the zone leaders area this week. He's so prepared! He said that missionaries had come to his door many times, but he was never ready to let them in. He said that he's ready now. It was amazing to see how the Lord had prepared him throughout his life! On our way out of the appointment we started smelling the flowers again just to see if anyone else would miraculously let us into their home. No such luck.

Lot's of good things the rest of this week too! We got to do some service for the food bank again! A group of us were around the back of the building picking up trash. There are a lot of homeless people that pass through there and so it get's pretty littered. While we were up there, there was a homeless guy that popped his head up from the corner of the building and asked us what we were doing. We told him we were picking up trash, and he told us to make sure not to throw any of his stuff away. Then he piled all his stuff in the corner and went for a walk. He was a nice guy.

We had Zone Conference this week as well! It was great as always. We talked about the importance of baptism, and a lot of other things we can do to improve as missionaries. We had a discussion on the Atonement at the end. It was a really spiritual meeting. We always leave them more excited to do missionary work!

We had a lessons with Robert this week. He's doing really well! He asked us about what a baptism is like, so we got to talk about that a bit. He's on date to be baptized in September. It's a ways away, but he seems committed to it. He's still coming to church every week, with or without his wife! I think he's started to get to know more of the members in the ward too, which is really good for him.

We got to help out with a stake primary activity this week! The theme was Nephite Ninja's. We got to teach a class about Captain Moroni from the Book of Mormon. It was a lot of fun! The first group of kids were super well behaved, and just the best! The second group was less so. Then we got to help run a little obstacle course for them. Good times!

We also did some service for the Redcliff Museum. Redcliff is a little town right outside of Medicine Hat. We got to move some of their stuff from a storage unit to the museum. I'm not sure I would consider all the things that we moved "ancient artifacts" but it was still fun! And as far as I know we didn't break anything!

Well that's about all for this week. Elder Crawley and I are doing well! We're working hard and really seeing the Lord's hand in the work!

For the spiritual thought, I wanted to share a bit of Elder Oak's talk titled, "The Atonement and Faith"

We tend to think of the results of repentance as simply cleansing us from sin, but that is an incomplete view of the matter. A person who sins is like a tree that bends easily in the wind. On a windy and rainy day, the tree bends so deeply against the ground that the leaves become soiled with mud, like sin. If we focus only on cleaning the leaves, the weakness in the tree that allowed it to bend and soil its leaves may remain. Similarly, a person who is merely sorry to be soiled by sin will sin again in the next high wind. The susceptibility to repetition continues until the tree has been strengthened.

When a person has gone through the process that results in what the scriptures call “a broken heart and a contrite spirit,” the Savior does more than cleanse that person from sin. He gives him or her new strength. That strengthening is essential for us to realize the purpose of the cleansing, which is to return to our Heavenly Father. To be admitted to His presence, we must be more than clean. We must also be changed from a morally weak person who has sinned into a strong person with the spiritual stature to dwell in the presence of God.

As we go through the process of repentance, we become strengthened, not just cleansed. That's the purpose of repentance, and the purpose of this life, to change and strive to become more like our Savior. I'm grateful for the principle of repentance, and know that it brings great peace and joy into our lives.

Love all ya'll and hope this week is a good one!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

The Ammon Approach

Afternoon everyone!

I'm emailing a little later than usual because this morning we got to take a trip down to Elkwater! It's an inter-provincial park about an hour away from Medicine Hat. We had a good time! I'll make sure to attach some pictures.

We had a good week! We didn't get to meet with too many of our investigators this week, but a lot of good things happened. We got to do some service for a former investigator named Brenda. She's an older lady that has some health issues, and so we got to help her out with some gardening. We had a nice chat with her, and we'll be going over again this week to do some more service and invite her to take the discussions again. It's been about a year since she's had contact with missionaries and she was really appreciative of all that we did for her.

About a week ago the Hydes in our ward referred us to their friend, Jocelyn. On Friday we had a lesson with her in the Hyde's home and it went really well! She was a little hesitant to set up a return appointment, but she said that she would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. She's been going through a difficult time, and so our whole focus of the lesson was on Jesus Christ and how we can find greater peace and happiness through Him. It's always powerful to talk about the Atonement and the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. She definitely felt the spirit in the lesson, so we're praying that she expresses more interest and lets us meet with her again.

This week we're going to try and set a firm appointment up with Robert for baptism. We're praying it goes well! We should also be able to meet with Lana. She texted us this week and said that she read a bit of the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, but didn't get an answer. She said that she's going to keep trying though!

This week I've been reviewing some of the talks from the past General Conference, and I wanted to share just a bit from Carol F. McConkie's talk from the Women's Session.

When Martha received Jesus Christ into her home, she felt a tremendous desire to serve the Lord to the best of her ability. Her sister, Mary, chose to sit “at Jesus’ feet” and to hear His word. When Martha felt burdened about serving without any help, she complained, “Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?”
I love the words of the most gentle rebuke that I can imagine. With perfect love and infinite compassion, the Savior admonished:
“Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
“But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

 Sisters, if we would be holy, we must learn to sit at the feet of the Holy One of Israel and give time to holiness. Do we set aside the phone, the never-ending to-do list, and the cares of worldliness? Prayer, study, and heeding the word of God invite His cleansing and healing love into our souls. Let us take time to be holy, that we may be filled with His sacred and sanctifying Spirit. With the Holy Ghost as our guide, we will be prepared to receive the Savior in the beauty of holiness.

Sometimes we need to just take a step back from our busy lives, and allow the Lord to teach us. We need to make the time to study His word and listen to His spirit. We need to put aside things of little importance to make time for things of eternal importance. I know that as we take more time to focus on the Savior and his teachings, greater peace, joy, and happiness will come into our lives.

Love ya'll!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

Transfers

Well this week was transfers, and It looks like I survived! I get to spend another transfer in Med Hat with Elder Crawley!

We had a pretty good week! We got to teach some lessons, knock some doors, eat some food. Just another week in the life of a missionary. We had a pretty good lesson with Gerald this week. We read a talk by Elder Bednar called, "If Ye Had Known Me" and talked about what we need to do in our lives to come to know Christ, not just know about Christ. I think Gerald is coming along slowly but surely. He's starting to realize that he needs to learn more through the spirit and not just through google.

We got to do some service for a member this week! We helped rip out a tree stump and cut down some other trees in his back yard. I love getting to do service! The weather here has been pretty great, so it's nice to get outside and work in the yard.

We had a lesson with a lady named Tracy the other day. We tracted into her about a month ago, and she's super nice! We got to teach her about the Book of Mormon and a little about the restoration. She's got a Christian background, and is willing to learn! She said she can get pretty busy, but hopefully we'll be able to see her again soon.

Since we're always walking or riding our bikes now, we've developed a good relationship with a lot of the neighborhood kids! Whenever they see us come around the corner you hear them yell, "Missionaries!" and then we'll exchange hi fives and they'll follow us around on their bikes for a bit haha. Well the other day, a couple of them come running up to us and say, "Hey Missionaries, you need to come teach our friend about God! He said he doesn't believe in God and we're trying to tell him that he's real!" So we followed them over and met their friend Nelson! He's an older guy that lives in the neighborhood, and was out working in his garage. Initially he said that if we were there to talk to him about God that he didn't want to hear it. But we talked to him a bit anyways and got to know him. He's a pretty interesting guy! He was an art professor at the college in town, and told us about a lot of his travels. We talked to him about what we do, and had a really nice conversation with him. He wasn't interested in taking any discussions right now, but we'll probably see him around again!

Spiritual thought for the week! I just wanted to share a quote from Elder Bednar:

A grand objective of mortality is not merely learning about the Only Begotten of the Father but also striving to know Him. Four essential steps that can help us come to know the Lord are exercising faith in Him, following Him, serving Him, and believing Him.

This is from the talk that I referenced earlier. I know that it's important for each of us to develop a relationship with Christ. We need to know Him, not just about Him. This comes through experience, faith, and action.

Hope ya'll have a great week!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

Here's some art we found in downtown Medicine Hat!

I got to try an accordion this week!

A pic of our district last transfer

Road to the Temple!

Hello!

We got to go to the temple this week! Going to the temple is the best! Usually if you're serving in Medicine Hat you don't get to go, but we had a mission wide temple trip, so President made an exception! We went to the Cardston Temple on Wednesday and got to see a lot of old missionary buddies there. It was fun!

I got to go on exchanges this week with Elder Vea. It was Cinco de Mayo, and a lady from Mexico in their ward made us Tamales for dinner! So good.

Robert came to church again! This is twice in a row now. This is huge for him! He's made so much progress since I've first met him. We challenged him to pray with his wife for a baptismal date. He's expressed that he wants to be baptized, and we're so excited for him!

Sorry this is such terrible email, but I'm running low on time, so I'll just make up for by sending a lot of pictures!

Spiritual thought! Alma 38:5

And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

As we turn to the Lord, He will help us! We just have to trust him!

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

Pics from our trip to the temple!

Service at the Food Bank!

Pic of our delicious Tamales

It's finally warming up in MedHat!

My exchange with Elder Vea

A deer right in front of our apartment that we almost hit

Birds and Bodybuilders

Hey everyone!

So we had a couple of good exchanges this week! I've had a couple of complaints about no pictures from last week, so I'll make sure to include those today haha.

We had a lesson with Lana this week! She's doing well. She can't meet very often, but our lessons with her are great! We taught her about the restoration of the gospel, and really focused on our invitation for her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She's really open, and said that she'll definitely read and pray, so please pray that she'll feel the spirit as she reads!

We had exchanges on Wednesday, and I was with Elder MacJanet! We were in our area, and I took him to go see one of our potential investigators, Mike. We had a great time talking with Mike and sharing the Book of Mormon with him! Mike is a pretty big dude, and so Elder MacJanet brought up bodybuilding while we there there. Mike then proceeded to give us a whole bunch of training and nutrition advice haha. It was great! Apparently he was a very successful bodybuilder. He even offered to write us up workout plans!

We got to help with a move this week for a part member family. It went really well! The husband, Henry, has taken the discussions before, and said that he thought it was time he took them again and got baptized! We let the missionaries in their new ward know. That was a pretty cool experience!

I also got to go on exchanges with Elder White in his area. We had a good day meeting with some of their investigators and had a couple of fun lessons! We went to visit one of the members in their ward, and he had a bird bath outside on his balcony. There were a lot of Robins there, so I got a chance to practice my photography skills. I think I'm going to just be a photographer for National Geographic when I get home.

Robert came to church this week! This is his second time this month! I think he's really getting close to deciding to be baptized!

Spiritual thought for this week: Go read Ether 12:27. I love how the Lord is able to take our weaknesses and make them our strengths. As we focus more on the Savior in our lives, he tends to magnify our weaknesses so that we really recognize him. But with his help, we can improve little by little, and become more like him.

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Moffitt