Road Trippin'

Hello everyone!

So this week felt like one big long road trip. It was great! 

To start off the week, Monday night we drove down to Cardston after dinner. That's about a 2 hour drive from our area. We got there around 9 at night, and met up with the Zone Leaders there for Exchanges. Since they live so far away, for exchanges we just split off with them in their area for the day. So we spent the night there and got ready for the next day. On Tuesday, I got to be companions with Elder Todd (my MTC companion, reunited at last!) and we had a great day! We went to one of their district meetings, and then to a new Mexican restaurant for lunch! It was pretty good! Then we went out to Standoff, which is part of the Blood Reserve outside of Cardston. We were there to contact some less active members. It's a pretty shady place, but the Lord protected us and we didn't get mugged #blessings. And we found some potential investigators to boot! They we had dinner and a good member lesson, and went in for the night. We got to stay one more night with them, and then headed out to Lethbridge Wednesday Morning.

On Wednesday we exchanged with the Lethbridge Zone, Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Dredge for the day. He was in the MTC with me too! We got to go help one of their investigators move in the morning, and then stopped by a lot of less actives and part member families the rest of the day. In the evening, we had a lesson with the investigator that we helped move, Leon. It was a really neat lesson. Leon has been through a lot in his life, and he's been really humbled. We were reading Alma 34 with him, and teaching him about our life here on earth. He shared a really neat experience with us were he woke up in the middle of the night with a panic attack, but then he read from the Book of Mormon, and was able to calm down. Then he really felt the spirit hit him, and began to pray, sincerely thanking God for all that he had given him. He was really praying by the spirit, and he felt assured that everything was going to be okay. It was so cool to hear about this experience he had with the spirit, and we promised him that after he received the gift of the Holy Ghost, he could have that feeling with him all the time. That was a humbling moment for me to recognize what a gift the spirit really is in our lives. I think too often we take it for granted. 

The next morning we drove over to the east side of Lethbridge to exchange with the Lethbridge East Zone Leaders, Elder Owens and Elder Linford. I love both of these guys so much! We had a great day! I was with Elder Owens for the day, and we got to go out and contact some part member families, and meet with the head of Institute for Lethbridge, and do some service for Mariah, one of the less active members they're working with. For lunch a member took us all out to 5 Guys! This was a tender mercy of the Lord. Elder Owens and I, when we were both in the Bow River zone, would go to 5 Guys at least once a week. It was our tradition. And being back there just brought back a buch of great memories! Then we had breakfast for dinner! Our meals were pretty on point today. So starting Monday night, Elder Lee has been feeling sick, and still wasn't feeling well, so that night when he was going to bed, Elder Owens, Elder Linford and I sang him some hymns. I don't mean to brag, but they sounded dang good. Then the next morning, Elder Owens got up early and cooked us all breakfast! What a man. He mad biscuits and gravy, which they don't eat in Canada by the way, and eggs, and bacon, and smoothies. It was the best thing ever. Then we got to do our studies with them, and headed off back to Calgary.

On Friday we had an apointment with a family that we street contacted a while ago. They had met with missionaries before, and were open to have us over again! The mom wants us to help her teenage son make some friends with high standards, so we're going to try and get him involved in mutual. We have another appointment with them tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes!

On Saturday we were on exchanges again. I was with Elder Eaves, and Elder Lee was out in Cochrane with Elder Fox. We had a good time on exchanges, and got to teach a part member family! They were very welcoming, and willing to have us over again! Then Saturday Evening Elder Lee and I were invited over to President and Sister Miles' house to meet Sister Miles' family. We got to meet two of her siblings and their spouses, and her mother. Her two siblings are less active, and President wanted us to come over, eat some donuts, and then share a brief message with them. So we did. It was a really cool experience. We shared the story of Enos, and how he came to develop his own testimony, and they Elder Lee shared a powerful experience with prayer, and we both bore our testimonies on it. You could definitely feel the spirit in the room. It was a great experience. 

Well that's about it for this week! I don't have much time, so for the spiritual thought I would like to invite you all to read the Book of Enos and ponder the power that prayer has in our lives. I just want to leave you all with my testimony of prayer. I know that the Lord hears us. I have had experiences both before the mission, and on the mission, where I've seen prayers answered. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have to talk with our Heavenly Father whenever we want. He loves us so much, and answers every prayer we offer. Not always in the way we want or expect, and not always right away, but he does answer. 

I hope that you all have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

Breakfast

Exchanges in Lethbridge East!

Driving through Claresholm on the way to Calgary!

Exchanges with Elder Todd!

Exchanges and Miracles!

Hello my beautiful friends and family!

This past week we had 3 exchanges. Two of them were back to back. It was super fun! But exchanges can really throw you off sometimes. This week we have 4 and I'm pumped! But more about that in next weeks email.

So Tuesday was a pretty great day! I was on exchanges in our area with Elder McNeil. He's a solid missionary and we had a good time! We also had a super cool miracle! So we street contacted this guy named Bala the other day and set up a return appointment with him. We went over to his house for our appointment, and I'll be honest, my faith was lacking a little. I had hope that they'd let us in, but part of me just thought this would be another one of those appointments you make while street contacting where they don't even open the door for you. But Bala answered and let us come in! We sat down with he and his wife, Smita, and their little boy, and taught them the restoration! They're a super cool couple. They're from Mauritius (it's a small island off the coast of Madagascar) and they were both raised Hindu, but have been really interested in Christianity lately. Smita is going through a difficult time right now battling with cancer, but she has so much faith that the Lord is helping her and that miracles still happen today. They listened to what we had to say, and they said we could come back and share the rest of the lessons with them! They both really just want to build their faith right now. Prayers for them would be appreciated! We had some other sweet experiences that day, like street contacting a family that had missionaries over a while ago and wanted us over again! Great things are happening in Woodbine! I also cooked lunch and dinner for us, and I must say, it was a rockin' meal.

Wednesday was our zone conference! It was amazing. Let me tell ya'll, the spirit was so strong. We had a testimony meeting focused on Christ, and it was so cool. The gospel is true guys.

We had some more exchanges on Friday. I was up in west Calgary (by the temple) with Elder Ellison. We had a good day! There's a part member family in their ward, the Cavills, and the Husband is the brother of the guy who plays Superman in Man of Steel. So cool!

On Saturday we were on exchanges again! This time Elder Harrison was with me in our area. We got to help out with the food drive! It was so much fun. The church takes charge of the Calgary food drive every year because we have the organization to pull something like that off. We spent the morning pulling out food from peoples cars and loading them into huge boxes. What a blast!

So yeah that was our week! Spiritual thought: 1 Nephi 15:11

If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.

That's the key to personal revelation! We have to have faith, have an open heart, and be obedient, and we'll be able to receive answers to our questions!

Love you guys! Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

A deer just chilin' in the middle of the city. Only in Calgary

The awesome meal I made! I'm super proud of myself

Food Drive!

Trip Down Memory Lane

Hey everyone!

So I'm gonna have to keep this short. 

My new companion is great! His name is Elder Lee and he's from Bicknel, Utah. That's a tiny little village of 300 people in south central Utah. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The closest Walmart is 1 hour away haha. He's awesome! Such a solid missionary, and I'm going to learn a lot from him. 

We live in a four-plex. We have the upstairs, and the mandarin missionaries live down stairs. It's a party! I there are three mandarin Elders that live with us, and they're sweet. They're the funniest guys in the world and keep life interesting. It's not uncommon to have one climb up onto our balcony and then run through our house screaming haha. Random things like that happen all the time. I love it so much!

My new ward is great! We cover a few neighborhoods in Calgary, and then the Tsuu Tina Indian reserve. We have a lot of diversity in our ward which makes it fun!

So our week!

On Monday we had a lesson with Akbar and his kids again. We taught them about repentance and it was a great lesson. We just went through the steps of repentance, and talked about how it's all possible through the Savior, and bore testimony on Him. It was neat to see Akbar begin to understand the repentance process. I'm so excited for that family! The gospel is exactly what they need right now, and they're taking some great steps towards Christ. 

On Wednesday we had MLC, our meeting with all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in the mission. It was in Lethbridge, so we got to drive down there right through Claresholm! Then we had our meeting in the chapel I used to meet at when I served in Lethbridge! It's really cool to get to see old areas from the mission. Our meeting was great! We talked about helping people make commitments, and about less actives and how we can help them better progress. It was a spirit packed meeting! After it was over we had to rush back to our area to make it to our ward Corn Bust! It's the season of Taber corn again, so needless to say, I've been eating corn at just about every meal!

On Friday we got to teach Brother Mesa. He's a less active member that moved into our ward a while ago. He's a more recent member of the church, and really want's to become active again. We were able to share with him a message about how much God loves him. He doesn't have much of a doctrinal knowledge of the Church, but he has real intent which is great to see!

On Saturday we had exchanges with the Queensland Elders! I was able to go to Queensland with Elder Pugh for the day. It was so much fun getting to serve in my old area for a day! We got to see George and Doris again! We had a good chat with them, and got to talk about Family History and how the gospel blesses families. They're such a sweet couple, and I hope that they are able to come to learn more about the gospel. 

Sunday was fantastic! We had our regular church meetings, and then our dinner with President and Sister Miles. After that we went out contacting people. We saw our potential investigator, Rose, and she told us that she's been looking for a church to go to, so we told her where ours was, and she said, "Well I'll have to gather my kids up next week and come check it out!" So keep her in your prayers! We're really praying that she's comes to church next week! We also stopped by a less active family, the Pollards. We thought they had moved, but apparently they had moved back recently. Sister Pollard has been going through a lot with her health right now, and has some big decisions to make. We could tell that she was exhausted and very stressed. We were able to give her a blessing before we left, and the spirit was so strong. The Priesthood is really an amazing thing, and it's such a blessing to be able to use it. Please keep her in your prayers as well!

Well that was our week! For a spiritual though, I'd like to invite each of you to read the talk, "None were with him" by Jeffry R. Holland. Great talk about the Savior and his sacrifice!

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Moffitt

Transfer Week

Well hello again!

So this email is the actual one for this week. This was a very busy week too, and a lot of good things happened. 

So Monday we helped that crazy guy move the rest of his stuff. Just a piano and some other extremely heavy objects, no big deal. So that was fun. Then we got to play some ultimate Frisbee with the zone! The zone seems sweet, and I'm excited to get to know them!

Tuesday was a crazy busy and crazy fun day. We had our district meeting in the morning, then had to dip out early and drive up the the airport to pick up the new arrivals in the mission. We met President and Sister Miles at the airport, and HAD CHICKFILA FOR LUNCH!!!! I don't know if you guys realize how big of a deal that is. I'm pretty sure there's only one chickfila in Canada, and it's in the Calgary Airport. That was the first time I've had chickfila in over a year! It was amazing. Then we went and waited outside of customs and got to greet all of the new greenies as they came in! It definitely had me thinking back to when I was just a fresh missionary stepping off of the plane after having 12 days in the MTC and not really knowing what to expect. It was so much fun to get to meet all of them and get to know them. This is a good group of missionaries, and I'm excited for them to be here! After everyone got their visas worked out, we went to one of the chapels near the mission home, and they went through orientation while Elder Lee and I got pictures, and then headed over to the mission office to work on transfer stuff. We headed to the mission home that night to have dinner with the new missionaries, and then talk to them about the mission and answer any questions they had. Those poor guys had a long day and were just ready to go to bed by the time all was said and done haha. That night we went back to the mission office and sent out all of the transfer notices. 

Wednesday morning we had the pick up meeting where all of the trainers pick up their new missionaries. That was a really cool meeting too. We got to give some more trainings, this time to the new missionaries, and then the trainers showed up and figured out who their new companion was. That's always a really fun meeting because everyone is just so excited. After that meeting we took some sisters down to their new area that they were opening. We were wondering how they were going to get down there, and President just told us they could ride in our truck. That was super weird haha. Usually we're not allowed to give rides to sisters, but I guess this was the exception! So we loaded three sisters into the truck along with all of their luggage, and headed down to their new apartment (which was really nice by the way). That night we contacted more names that our ward council had given us. We found this guy named Ferdinand that said he would be interested in learning more, so we're praying that that works out!

Thursday was another busy day. We had transfer meeting in the morning, and loaded up all of the missionaries going south. We made the 2 hour drive down to Lethbridge for the south transfer (I said hi to Claresholm on the way down) and met at the south transfer station. We then made sure everyone had their new companions, and made the 2 hour drive back up to Calgary. President had us take sisters in our truck again, it was really weird haha. But anyways, after a long day of transfers, we went and had a nice late lunch at costa vida, the closest thing you can get to Mexican food here in Canada. It was great! Later that day though, the unthinkable happened. I was just going to the bathroom, minding my own business while doing my business, and then when I tried to leave, the door wouldn't open. I messed with the lock a few times and it still wouldn't open. My attempts to get out became more and more frantic. Eventually my companion heard my struggles and came to the rescue! We worked on that door for what seemed like a really long time. Finally I just pulled out my handy dandy pocket knife, removed the door knob, and finally escaped. I still get a little nervous going into bathrooms though. I really don't want to get locked in again. 

On Friday we did a lot of planning and more contacting. 

Saturday we got to help out at a move in the morning for a part member family. They were sweet! I'd actually met them before on exchanges as well. We had another lesson with Paris and Leslie after that. And then we had a zone goal setting meeting run by Elder Ajeman, whose now my zone leader haha. What a great missionary, I love that kid. We set some sweet goals for the transfer, and then went out and did some more contacting.

On Sunday we went to church as always, then had dinner with President again! We planned for our leadership meeting that we have on Wednesday, and then had a delicious meal provided by Sister Miles, and got to hear some great stories from them! 

So spiritual thought for this week. I encourage you guys to read 1 Nephi 11:1-2. In it we get some good insight on how to better receive personal revelation. It's pretty cool. 

Love you guys! Hope everyone has a great week!

Love, 

Elder Moffitt

Sorry for the terrible picture, but here's my new companion, Elder Lee!​

A Winkle in Time

So this is last weeks email, sorry it's so late. We didn't have time to finish up emails last week, so I finished it up today for you. Love you guys!

Top of the Morning!

This week was kind of crazy. But we'll get to that in a second.

So on Monday we got to see Nathaniel again! We read some more of the Book of Mormon with him. He's doing really well, and is showing a lot of commitment. Something that's really neat about being a missionary, is that you get to see the gospel changing peoples lives. And you really see how others value the gospel. Nathaniel for instance, grew up in the church, but lost his way. He wasn't active very much growing up, and made some poor choices in life. Because of some of these choices, he's faced some rough challenges. Eventually, he felt the spirit again, and knew what he needed to do. Now he's really trying to get his life back on track. He's been humbled a lot, and realized that he needs Heavenly Father in his life again. He's been taking the steps needed to return, and his life has improved. Not that all of his trials were taken away, but you can see that he feels the spirit again in his life, and he loves it. He's doing everything that he can to have the spirit with him, and it's so cool to see!

On Tuesday we had a pretty cool day! We got to go and help Sister Davidsen with her lawn again. We brought Conner Yee along with us, a priest in the Chaparral ward. I must say, we could open up a lawn care service because that grass looked DANG GOOD!! Just saying. Then we got to share a message with her, and she gave us some cookies. Bless. After that we had a great dinner with the Peppingers! They're a senior couple that serve in the mission office, and I LOVE THEM!!! They're the sweetest couple ever, and they're basically my mission grandparents. We had an absolutely lovely meal with them. And then we headed down to Queensland to meet George, a referral that Jason (a guy in our ward) gave us. We met him at the retirement home, and then went and knocked on their door. George and his wife invited us in, and we sat down and had a nice chat with them. They're an awesome couple. We talked about all sorts of things, and then the topic turned to the gospel and missionary work (funny how that happens :) ). Well apparently his wife had met with missionaries before, and knew a lot about the church. Then she started telling us about her trip down to Palmyra, NY. Like what? I've been a member my whole life and I've never been there, and this lady whose not a member begins to tell us about how she went down to visit the sacred grove where Joseph Smith had the first vision. She said that there was definitely a different feeling while she was there, and that it was one of the most sacred places she's ever felt that she's been. Talk about prepared! So we talked to her about that, and about the Book of Mormon, and invited them to read it. We're planning on visiting them soon to follow up! After we saw them, we ran to our next appointment with Sister Pawluk. That was cool too. We got to sit down and just go through the Book of Mormon with her and talk about some of the questions that she had. We were able to clear up a lot of her concerns. It's so cool to see her reading the Book of Mormon for the first time. I know that as she reads that in faith, with real intent, that she'll be able to get her answer that it's true. 

On Wednesday we were on exchanges. I was with Elder Manarii, an awesome missionary from Tahiti! We had a blast! We had lunch with the Choys, an awesome family in the ward, and got to do some service for them. It was great! Then we got to make a family mission plan with them and talk about their missionary work which was really cool. They're a super missionary minded family, and it was neat to see them talk about some of the names of people that wanted to help. After that we did a lot of stop bye's and tracting in both Queensland and Chaparral, and then headed to dinner. After we got out of dinner, it was about 7:45 or so, and we got a call from President. He told me that I was being transferred the next morning. So the rest of the night was spent packing. It was a long night. And then the next morning I went to say goodbye to Ben at 8, and headed over to the mission home to meet my new companion. I'm now serving in the Woodbine ward and my companion is Elder Lee! I'm super excited for this new area, but also sad to leave my old one. I met a lot of amazing people, and had some great experiences. 

On Friday we got to go to the meeting for new Trainers and give some training. It was an awesome meeting full of the spirit, and anxious missionaries. We did some planning for pretty much the rest of the day, and then had a lesson that evening with our investigators. We're teaching a part member family right now. Akbar, the dad, is muslim (kinda) and has had a lot of contact with missionaries. I think he's warming up to the gospel more and more. It's really neat to hear him pray in the name of Jesus Christ though! I actually got to meet this family a month or two ago on exchanges, so that was cool! Our focus right now is on Akbar's kids, Paris and Leslie. They're younger, but super smart kids! They've been through a lot of the discussions, so we're just focusing on reading the Book of Mormon with them and finishing up the last few lessons. They're super cool and I'm sure you'll hear more about them in the coming weeks!

On Saturday we helped with a move for this guy who was super nice, but kinda crazy. He taught us a lot about conspiracy theories, so that was cool. then we did stop bye's for most of the day. 

Sunday was an interesting day. We had our regular church meetings and I got to meet the ward. It's seems like an awesome ward, and I'm super excited to get to know the members! After our church meetings we actually went to the Chaparral ward. So I was signed up to sing in Sacrament meeting, and fully expected to still be in that area on Sunday. But I guess the Lord had other plans haha. However, I was able to get permission from president Miles to go because it's close to my new area! So I got to say goodbye to a lot of members there, and was still able to do the musical number. And Sister Shigahiro came! She's not a member, and neither is anyone in her family, so it was really cool to see her there. That night we had dinner with President and Sister Miles! They're seriously so great. I love them more and more the more time I'm around them. 

So spiritual thought of the week!

Here's a quote by some random person:

How we walk with the broken speaks louder than how we sit with the great
Don't know who said that, but it's pretty good advice! Just think of how Christ lived his life. He definitely walked with the broken, and helped those in need. That's how we need to live. 

 Love you guys and hope everyone had a great week! 

Pictures: My exchange with Elder Manarii, Saying goodbye to Elder Winkle, Saying goodbye to Ben, and Dinner with the Peppingers!​