Thanks a lot Jack Frost...

The Ho Family!

Top of the Morning!

I hope that everybody is doing just wonderful this brisk February morning. It looks like the winter is finally catching up to us. We've had quite the unusual run of warmer weather here in Alberta this winter, and it's been fantastic! There were a few days this week where we could go out in short sleeves! Alas, all good things must come to an end, and we awoke to a nice dusting of snow and some very chilly weather. It was bound to happen eventually I guess.

Well this week went really well for us! We were able to see Brother Alexander, our wonderful Jamaican friend. We're in the process of helping him return to church. He has expressed a number of concerns that we're working with right now. One of which is that he doesn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He also admitted he's never read it. Well of course you don't have a testimony of something you haven't read! It's like when Jaiden (shout out to my little sis) says she doesn't like a food that she's never even tried, how is that even possible?! Love you J, thanks for letting me use you as an example <3. So we retaught him the restoration, and now we want to begin reading through the Book of Mormon with him as well as addressing some of his other hold-ups.

We got to teach the Plan of Salvation to Shannon, another awesome less active that has decided to come back to church! Our lesson went really well (probably because we used a lot of visuals) and it just reaffirmed my testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I'm so grateful for the knowledge that we have of our Heavenly Father's plan for our lives. It truly is a perfect plan, and I love getting to share it with people!

In other great news, Thai and Katie Ho got baptized this Saturday along with Thai's two other kids, Ken and Kim! For those of you just tuning in, Elder Coe and I had the opportunity to teach Thai and Katie the first two discussions, but then had to pass them off to another set of elders because we found out that they weren't in our area. Or even in our stake. However, it was really neat to be able to watch them enter the waters of baptism and make those covenants with our Heavenly Father. The spirit was so strong at their service, it was such an amazing experience! And even more exciting, Katie's mom, who originally didn't express much interest in learning about the gospel, now wants to be taught and baptized as well! We're so excited for their family and the path they they have started on!

And now to wrap it all up with a spiritual thought. I wanted to share a verse out of 2 Nephi chapter 2 verse 25:

25. Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

I love this little one line sermon from the Book of Mormon. Our Heavenly Father's ultimate goal for us is to be happy. That's the point of providing us with this beautiful plan where we have the opportunity to come down to earth and receive a body so that we can experience life, and strive to live worthily so that we can return to live with him one day. It's all for our happiness. Wherever we are in our lives, we can find this happiness if we turn to the Lord and to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and strive to follow them.

Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

Shawarma anyone?

Shawarma selfie!

Hey ya'll!

So this week started out a little slow but really picked up! We kept busy visiting less active members for most of our time. We also got to meet Alain, a recent convert that just moved into the ward. He's awesome, and Elder Hewlett actually got to teach him in his last area and be there for his baptism! Our lesson with him went really well! We also had a lesson with Brother Alexander. He's a less active from Jamaica. He made us goat curry this week! It was so good. He also educated us on a bunch of Jamaican fruits. He's a great guy, just has some reservations about the church that we want to help him overcome. We really want to focus on helping him gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. This is so important, and I think that if we can do that, all of his other questions will be easier to answer. 

We had interviews with our mission president this week and they went really well! I love President and Sister Miles, they're so great. 

Elder Hewlett and I also decided to try Shawarma this week. It was really good! I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of delicious flavor. 

Well sorry for the short email, but that's about all I have for this week. How about we wrap it all up with a spiritual thought?

This thought comes out of the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, chapter 23. This chapter talks about the people of Alma, who left the land of Nephi and started the city of Helam where they could worship the Lord openly without suffering persecution. They were going along living righteous lives, and everything was just grand. However, in verses 21 and 22 we read:

21. Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.
22. Nevertheless-whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.

And in the chapter you go on to read about how these people were again put into bondage by the lamanites. This is a very important lesson for us to learn in our lives. Just because we're doing what the Lord wants and living good lives, doesn't mean that he won't allow us to go through trials. We are allowed to suffer trials so that we may grow and learn. However, if we trust in the Lord and seek his help, he will bear us up so that we can make it through the difficult times. 

Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

Our new companion Elder Crocker! Compliments of the Sisters

Happy Valentines Day!

Hey guys!

So as some of you may have noticed. It's Tuesday today. Yesterday was family day in Canada, and so all of the public libraries were closed. Ergo, no emails. However, everything is back up and running today, so lets get down to it!

So we had a miracle this week! A lady named Rose does home care, and found out that a family she helps are members. She proceeded to tell them that she was also a member! She was baptized in the Philippines, and, after moving around a lot, simply didn't know where to find the LDS church. Well she was referred to us, and we got to meet her! She's an awesome lady, and we're excited to help her return!

Not much else happened this week. We had some more lessons with less active members, and we're working really hard to find new people to teach!

We also had housing inspections this week. We had heard that the couple inspecting apartments was really tough, so we spent a lot of time cleaning our apartment. I cleaned parts of that place that I didn't even knew existed. But it was all worth it, we passed! Not only did we pass, but we got a 9.8/10! What a tender mercy. I was stressed out about that all week haha. 

For the spiritual thought this week, I want to share something that I read out of Our Search For Happiness, a book by M. Russell Ballard. He was talking about the moment that his belief in Christ became a knowledge. He said that once he knew that Christ was his savior and redeemer, following his example and keeping his commandments became something that he wanted to do rather than something he felt that he had to do. He wanted to follow Christ because he knew that it would bring him true joy, and because that was the path that would lead him back to his father in heaven. I loved that. We should want to keep the commandments and live a life like the savior's because we know that it will bring us happiness. 

Well I hope everyone has a great week! 

Love,

Elder Moffitt

When the spirit just slaps you in the face. . .

Hey everyone!

So this week was a little slower teaching-wise. We were able to meet with some less actives, but a lot of them couldn't see us this week. We've been trying to find some new people to teach, but so far no luck. We had some good experiences tracting though! We met a Muslim guy (I love Muslims, they're the nicest people) and he taught comparative religion, or something similar to that, and talked with us for a bit about how all the religions need to work together. He took the Book of Mormon before I even offered it, and said he'd like to study it, and then said he'd give us a call when they had another inter-faith meeting, and perhaps we'd be able to share more about what we believe. I thought that was pretty cool!

So although this week was a little slower, I was able to have some great faith building moments. We were teaching the restoration to Shannon, a returning member, and the spirit was so strong. It had been a rough day, and as I was bearing my testimony of the Book of Mormon, I was just hit so strongly with the spirit. It was truly an answer to my prayers. I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life, and for the influence that the Book of Mormon has had on me. I know that the gospel is true, and I'm excited to get out this week, and work hard to share this testimony I have with people!

So for my spiritual thought, I want to share a talk that I listened to this morning. It's called "Lord I Believe" by Jeffrey R. Holland. In it, he talks about how we need to acknowledge the faith that we DO have, and not the faith that we lack. If we recognize how strong our faith is, then it is easier to grow it, rather than if we focus on what we lack. Coming to a knowledge that the gospel is true begins with a belief, or even a desire to believe. I invite you to take the 15 minutes to read or listen to this talk. It's pretty good.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/lord-i-believe?lang=eng&cid=email-shared

Well that's all for this week. Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

Canadian ER

District Selfie!

Howdy everyone!

So it's been kind of a hectic week. We had transfers on Thursday, and my new companion is Elder Hewlett. He's a great guy and I'm excited to work with him! The night before transfers however, was a very long night. Elder Coe had been feeling sick recently, getting bad dizzy spells accompanied by bad headaches randomly over the past week or so. We had called Sister Miles to let her know what was going on and asked if we should perhaps take him to the hospital. She made a few calls, and then on Wednesday nightdecided that we should go to the ER. In Canada they apparently treat the ER more like a walk in clinic because of their free health care, and Elder Coe was getting transferred to Rosemary (A small village far away from civilization and hospitals) the next day, so they figured going to an ER was his best bet. Our Zone Leaders picked us up from dinner and took us down to the hospital (a very fancy one by the way) and we checked into the ER. It was a long night of waiting. Elder Coe got checked out by a number of nurses, and then waited a long time to see the actual doctor. President and Sister Miles came and waited with us. Those poor guys looked exhausted, but we were grateful to have them. Elder Coe checked out okay, but they referred him to a neurologist just to make sure there's nothing serious. We didn't get out of the hospital until about 1:30 am. President drove us home, so we felt completely justified in breaking curfew. The next day we woke up nice and early and went to the transfer station to meet our new companions. Elder Coe was shipped down south, and Elder Hewlett came with me! I'll really miss Elder Coe, he was a great guy, and we got along really well.

That's the big news for the week. We stopped by some other people and had a couple of lessons with less actives. We're looking forward to this next week! Our investigator, Dylan, is done with exams, so we'll hopefully have a lesson with him! 

So today I just want to leave you guys with something someone talked about at our Stake Priesthood meeting last night. He was relating the story of the stripling warriors, and the part that stuck out to me, was from Alma chapter 57:21-26. In these verses, the stripling warriors were fighting the Laminates. They fought valiantly, and ended up winning that battle without a single one of them losing their lives. Each of them, however, suffered injuries of some sort. In our lives, we will each be spiritually wounded, but if we have faith like these young men, and continue valiantly in our testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ, we will be able to overcome the adversary and win the battle. 

I'm so grateful for each and every one of you, and I hope that everyone is doing well!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

My Farewell to Elder Coe :(

My new comp Elder Hewlett!

Our trip to the ER!

Selfie with Gwen, a fantastic lady in the ward!

Here's a nice lady we helped chisel some ice with!