Week 2

                          

Hello to all my friends and family!

            What a crazy crazy week. Elder Stayner and I had a lot of missionary business to complete this week so we were driving all over the lower half of Michigan. It was super awesome to be able to get a good look at the areas we drove through, especially because all the snow melted on Tuesday. Now we have lots of freezing rain, which is super dangerous for driving, but a lot of fun for slipping and falling while we door knock. We had our district meeting and President Jacobsen wanted to do interviews this Friday as well. Then from Friday afternoon till Saturday afternoon, Elder Stayner and I had trade-offs with the Zone Leaders. I'm not sure if you all already know this but the church changed the way trade-offs work. Now both sets of missionaries go to the zone leader's area, instead of one set in their area, and one in ours. Basically, every trade-off is now a sleep over, so they are 100 percent more fun haha. However, because of the things we had to take care of earlier in the week, we didn't pick up any new investigators which was a bummer.

Yesterday, in church, Elder Stayner and I were sitting and waiting for sacrament meeting to start when a young man walks in. The Hastings ward is rather small, so we knew he wasn't a member, and we immediately stood up and introduced ourselves. His name is Ethan and he had been Catholic for a year, but he really disliked how they treated him. He agreed to meeting us at 4:30 that evening to learn more about our church, and he stayed all three hours. At 4:30 we taught him the restoration, and the spirit was super strong. He said he somehow knew that what we were teaching was truth, and we explained the Spirit. I invited him to be baptized and he said he would! What a miracle. We are meeting with him on Tuesday to continue the lessons, and follow up with his reading and praying, and we will try to set a date for his baptism. Other than that, our week was hectic, but not unimportant. I'm so grateful to all of you that sent emails this week I am trying my best to respond. 

            Just a spiritual thought I wanted to share: "What a blessing it became to set aside my self-interests to the greater interests of the work of the Lord", President Hinckley.  I found this quote in chapter 21 of Pres. Hinckley's Teachings of Presidents of the Church. I think that's what the book is titled lol. It's the book we study in Elder's Quorum. Anyways, that quote hit me hard this week, along with his father's statement to: "forget yourself and go to work". I am struggling hard to "forget myself" and all things back home, but I get closer each day and can see the Lord's hand in this work.

Your challenge should you choose to accept it is to set aside some of your self-interests one time this week and do some missionary work. Whether that be sharing the gospel yourself or striving to refer some friends or family to your local missionaries. I can promise you that you will be happier and will be blessed by the Lord for your efforts.

I love and miss all of you and am grateful for all the prayers and support from back home. Please pray for Ethan to continue feeling the spirit. Hope you all have a splendid week! Email me about your experience if you accept my challenge.

 Love Elder Moberly 

PS...Jake would love some real letters that he can read not just during the hour that he has online for PDay...here is his address if you are so inclined:

Elder Jacob Moberly

620 Barfield Dr Apt #10

Hastings, MI 49058