Skip to main content

Week 9


9th week... I've been here for 8 weeks and a day now. My visa isn't through so this may not be my last week at the MTC. The rest of my district leaves next Tuesday andWednesday. I'm losing my companion who has become one of my closest friends and I'm trying to emotionally prepare for that by just being super excited that he gets to go to Anaheim and serve the Vietnamese people. His Viet name is Thắng For those of you in Southern California, go visit the Viet branch sometime and say Hi for me. Take him cool things, just not chocolate, he doesn't like chocolate.
I have finished my goal of reading through the entire Book of Mormon during my stay at the MTC, and it was glorious. This is probably the first time I've read through the Book of Mormon with purpose and actually trying to understand instead of just reading to read. That's not to say I've never studied it, I have and understood a lot of the doctrine before, but I have a much greater conviction of how the Book of Mormon can help in people's lives. There are several of you who may be reading this who have never read the Book of Mormon, you may not even believe there is a God, but I testify to you, there is a God. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ to Atone for all of our sins and to ease our spiritual burdens. If you have any intention of ever trying to find out for yourself, go to Mormom.org and request a copy of the Book of Mormon. In combination with the Bible, the Book of Mormon gives a great understanding of the Doctrine of Christ and of the Father. It truly is a restoration of the truthfulness of His everlasting Gospel.
I want to thank everyone who has written me. Your letters, packages and emails have really meant a lot. I have been strengthened by your support and want to thank you all for your prayers. Being a missionary can be a great sacrifice, but it also brings so much joy.

Popular posts from this blog

my feelings

The rest of my mission can be summed up through reading my posts sent via email. The purpose of this post is to sum up some of my final feelings and bring some closure in my mind to the events that led to me finishing my mission early. Earlier today I read a blog post by another missionary who served in the same mission that I did. She went through a similar experience. She was so open and honest, and through her display of courage, I figured that I could do the same. (Her post can be found HERE ) To provide a short disclaimer, the things expressed in this post are entirely my own thoughts based on my own knowledge and experiences. They may not always be accurate because I don't know everything, and I would encourage anyone and everyone to investigate and form their own conclusions. In August of 2013, 5 months after I left on my mission, an ugly beast that had plagued me most of my life, decided to manifest itself in the most forward and unavoidable way. For most of my ...
Read more

Pre-Story ( I love Context!)

My journey to becoming a missionary was far from your stock-standard, trial ridden, discovering of myself experience that it seems to have been for most of the missionaries that I served with. For me, the experience was pretty much just normal life, decisions, and an increase of trust and faith. Anyone who is familiar with the culture that exists in most LDS congregations (wards) will understand; missionary service is highly respected, and highly encouraged (even expected) of young men. At an early age, in Primary (Sunday school for children) I remember being taught about the great calling of missionaries. We would sing songs about hoping to serve a mission, color pages and write letters to missionaries serving from our ward. Growing up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the church) I don't ever really remember being confused about what it was that missionaries did -- Even if my original idea was that they came to people's homes ate dinner and shared scriptur...
Read more

Preparation

Sorry for not writing for a fairly long while. the plans I had to write regularly kind of went up in smoke. Despite my best intentions, and my several recurring attempts, I never seemed to manage converting the thought and intent into reality. ...Continued As I left the temple that day, I was riding in the passenger seat of my friend's car. I pulled out my iPhone 4 and called my boss at the time. In a concise way, I informed him of my decision to quit, that I felt it was right, and that I'd be willing to work it out to make it as smooth of a transition as possible. We decided that it would be best for me to give it a few weeks, and I decided that it was okay not to be hasty. When you quit a job without a contingency plan, it can be a very stressful experience. All of a sudden you have bills that you know you're not going to be able to pay, the things that you've become accustomed to will vanish. But despite all of these fears and worries, I knew everything would b...
Read more