New Investigator!

Hello All!

So let's get right into it! On Tuesday we had our return appointment with the Jehovah's Witness that we tracted into. Our purpose in coming was actually to let him talk about his religion and learn more about what he believe, and then see if he had any questions for us. Apparently he just had questions for us which was great! He seemed relatively new to the Jehovah's Witness church, which was good for us because it meant he was more open to learning about our beliefs. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon, what it is and how it supports the bible, and briefly about the plan of salvation with some restoration sprinkled in there. It went really well! His name is Tayson and his friend Jaidah (pretty sure I just butchered those names) listened as well! We left them a Book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet which they said they would look through, and we set up another appointment for tomorrow! He said that he wanted to make sure that he was following the true church, which was super serendipitous because that's what we're here to help people do! He seems like a great guy, and we're excited to get to teach him again this week! Oh and one interesting thing he told us about what Jehovah's Witnesses believe; apparently they believe the war in heaven was in 1914, and it was then that Satan was cast out and it resulted in WW1. Never heard that before.

On Wednesday the family feeding us dinner asked what we wanted, so we asked for Hawaiian Haystacks, which they so graciously prepared, even though they had no idea what they were. It was a fantastic meal! We also had mini cheesecakes with Saskatoon berries that they picked from their garden. Everybody has gardens here, it's so cool! Another sister gave us a giant Zucchini that she picked, I have no idea what we're going to do with a zucchini, but it was very kind of her! We ended up naming it Zach, and I think we're going to use him as an investigator during our role plays.

On Thursday we helped bishop pour some cement on his property. There was so much to pour that he had to hire two cement trucks to come. Elder Stone and I were assigned to dig up a part of the yard and prep it for the cement. I have to say that I have a newfound respect for pouring cement, it is an art.

That night we went to a barbecue that some members were having. We met a kid from the ward that just got home from his mission in London, really nice guy! We also got to play some volleyball and tag with all of the kids there which was great, and had some ketchup chips and pink cream soda which are both normal in Canada.

We got to meet with the new mission president for interviews this week! He's a great guy. He's really nice and helpful, and is doing everything he can to help us become more successful missionaries! I'm excited to see what changes he starts making in the near future!

I attended the Champion ward for the first time this Sunday. It's really small, only about 70 active members. The ward is really nice though. It's just a challenge to get the work going in that area because we're not down there very often.

In other news, I looked at a map this week and learned that our area technically goes all the way to the BC border, these ward boundaries are ginormous. That makes our area about 2.5 hours from end to end.

Spiritual thought!: Alma 25:16
Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses;
but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ. . .

This verse just really reminded me that our focus should always be in Christ. Salvation doesn't come through the commandments, it comes through Christ. The commandments are given to us to help turn us to our Savior, and strengthen our faith in Him. We need to always keep this in mind, and strive to strengthen our testimony of Jesus Christ.

Love you all! Thanks for your prayers and emails! Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

REAL MEXICAN FOOD!!!

Hello Family and Friends!

So this week definitely had some high points! On Tuesday Elder Stone told me that I was in charge and could do whatever I wanted. Now because we have no investigators currently, and his only rule was that we couldn't work with members, I decided that we should go tracting. This was my first time, but because it was my day, he said I had to knock all of the doors and take the lead. Now if any of you aren't aware, I'm not the most outgoing person ever, so this was quite a terrifying experience the first time. However, I was determined to be faithful in fulfilling my purpose, so I agreed to take charge. I had given myself to much prayer that day, asking for a good experience. And in my personal study, I prayed to find strength and courage in the scriptures. It just so happened that I read about Abinadi that day. What prophet was more bold and courageous than Abinadi? He was willing to die for his beliefs, surely I could have enough courage to knock on doors! So with this in mind we began to tract. The tender mercies were abundant! One girl said that we could stop by again after she got back from her camping trip in a week or two. Another guy said that he was Jehovah's witness and wasn't interested but he was willing to set a return appointment to talk about what he believes, so we'll see where that goes! We also ran into a family whose daughter was a member, not sure if she's active or not, they weren't interested, but when we offered to do any service for them, the wife told us that the husband was working on his shop and might need some help. So we went back and talked with him for a bit, and he said that he'd need some help moving stuff, so we gave him our number and he said he'd give us a call when he needed us! Then we saw some members from the ward unloading a bunch of furniture and such from a truck so we stopped and helped them. After that we ran into a lady that loved the missionaries. She wasn't a member, but is very open about religion, and even suggested that we come over for dinner! She was awesome! She struck me as a hippie, and kept talking about how love was the most important thing and showed us around her garden. We got some fresh strawberries and stuff from her, and she accepted a Book of Mormon from us, so we'll see where it goes with her!

So I'm pretty sure Elder Stone's purpose in going tracting was to show me how ineffective it is, because he really doesn't like to go, but that kind of backfired on him because I felt that it was one of the more effective things that we've done.

On Wednesday we had youth ball again. I really love all of the youth in the ward! They're a great group of kids, and we had a ton of fun. We played dodge ball, it was great!

So in regards to the subject of this email: WE HAD REAL MEXICAN FOOD THIS WEEK!!! Yeah, it was a great day. We had dinner with Griselda, a recent convert in the ward. She's from Mexico and loves to cook Mexican food for the Elders. We had real tacos with homemade salsa and corn tortillas and everything! She even made cantaloupe aquas frescas, it was so good! And she even invited three of her nonmember friends to come, so we had great conversation with them about all different types of things, and they were really into the spiritual thought which was great! Next dinner with her, her friend from the Philippines promised to make us Filipino food!

The family we stayed with in Vulcan this week were the Smiths, they were great! They actually served a mission in Seoul Korea, and they know Jacob!

It looks like we'll have a pretty good week, we have some service lined up, and some return appointments, so we'll see what happens with that!

Spiritual thought of the week is really short and sweet. Jacob 6:12 - O be wise; what can I say more?

I love Jacob, he speaks so boldly! We know what we're supposed to be doing, so lets just do it. Don't be dumb. This is the advice they gave us at the MTC. We know the rules, so lets follow them. We know the difference between right and wrong, so lets choose the right. We know how we should act as members of the church, so lets act that way. The Lord's plan for us is not supposed to be confusing and complicated, in fact its extremely simple and straightforward, just choose the right and you can't go wrong!

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Moffitt