Clean Your Ears Out and Learn to Listen

Elder Ward and Elder Wachob

MTC District

MOMMY!!!  AND FAMILY!

Well…let’s get right into things! To answer your questions, Elder Wachob is going to New Zealand too, so it is just the three of us.  We are leaving Feb 6th!!! ON MONDAY!!! It is kinda blowin my mind. So I'm not sure when I will call, just be ready. I will try and do it around 3 to 7 pm during my layover in Los Angeles (you know for the childrens). I cannot tell you how excited I am to get there and I'm really trying to force some serious enthusiasm about the 21 hour flight (with layovers). It is also going to be super crazy because of the 20 hour time difference. So I will arrive in New Zealand probably sometime on Wednesday. As a joke in my missionary planner for Tuesday I just wrote in really big letters TIME TRAVEL. It makes it sound really exciting...

So if my letter last week sounded like I was having a hard time at all, it's probably because I was. (Don’t worry, I still haven't cried)... It wasn't too serious. I was just starting to question if I was “born ready”(Connor’s motto)... Don't worry though because I figured out the problem this Monday. I got to go to the Health Clinic! Don’t worry…I don’t have ingrown toenails or MRSA (like Trevor). I just had about a pound of ear wax sitting in my right ear. They put a nifty squirt gun with hot water and shot it into my ear to clean it out... it kinda hurt! But, all is well! I have improved and grown sooo much since last week. I have learned to better listen to my investigators, listen to the spirit and most importantly listen to my Heavenly Father. So, the moral of the story is this life is TOO HARD if you can't learn to clean your ears out every once in awhile. We were all born ready not because of how we were made, but who we were made by.

Dad I got your letter and you talked about mom and how she does so much... You did not mention anything about how you have been doing on your challenge I gave you. YOU BETTER be taking me seriously and that is all that needs to be said. Oh, and thank you for the poem. You are right, I LOVE IT, except it printed out with all these weird ":?:"L? thingies within the text.   Don’t worry though because I have kept a copy of the whole thing in 2 Nephi 31:20 or I guess next to chapter 31. Oh, and good news father…sometimes I will be walking around the MTC and I can easily picture friends and family walking through the courtyard, studying in classrooms, or singing called to serve shoulder to shoulder with me and 2000 others. I picture people like Trevor, Brent, Jackson, Travis, and Joey.(boys who are currently serving missions)  But you would be happy to know, I can easily see a few of your priests walking next to me here like Seth Bloomfield, Brooks Dillard, and of course Collin. :) I know you can and will do amazing things with them.

I absolutely love it here! I’m learning so much and it is getting A TON easier as I strive to be the best that I can be, and it definitely helps that I can actually teach lessons now! I love and miss you guys! Be good!

Love,

Elder Ward (Connor)

p.s. Mom, I need a new set of scriptures and a copy of my mission call.

p.s.s. Today is the 50th annual somethin somethin of the MTC and I've heard rumors of the first presidency coming for the devotional!!! Fingers CROSSED

p.s.s. NOTHING makes me happier to know that you are all going to the temple... NOTHING! it really is the house of the Lord. I also got to finish reading the BOM again in the celestial room there today. It was one of the most AMAZING experiences of my life. I felt the spirit so strong and I KNOW the BOM is true. 5 4 3 bye  (MTC computer clock countdown..I guess his 30 minutes was up)

First Week...REE DOO DOO Diculous!

FAMILY!!!!!!

       All I have to say is this first week has been REE DOO DOO diculous! I knew that this was going to be hard, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. Mom and dad, you were right. My laziness and going to bed in the very late hours of the night did not help me prepare... but don’t worry, all is well and I’m back on a good schedule! Thank goodness for Moxie pest control and Coach Vee for teaching me how to be a man. Sorry I feel kind of rushed, so I’m just throwing out random thoughts in a very unstructured way but let’s start with day one. It was crazy overwhelming! One hour you’re holding your mom and eating J Dawgs and the next hour your teaching "real investigators". Don’t worry though, I know that the Lord will help me and in Aubrey’s words “always be my shield” and I definitely have had to rely on that... in fact that’s probably the only reason I did not cry myself to sleep the first night (you would be surprised how many missionaries do.)

My companion’s name is Elder Wachob he is such a boss (cool) missionary. He is from Bransen, Missouri, and has a family with 9 other siblings, nuts huh??? We get along great and we work really well together. He is positive almost all the time which really helps a lot. In my district there is me and my companion and then 8 others. The only person going to New Zealand is Elder Adams. He is in my room and he is doing great I have had “hold the plank” exercise competitions with him and we played bravest man with the Captain America shield. Everyone is awesome but I would have to say one of the coolest elders is Elder Sekona. He is about 235 pounds, 5'11”, and is TONGAN.  He worked at the PCC and is just about one of the nicest, funniest guys in our group. From time to time we will shoot Dragon Ball Z spirit bombs at each other and other cool stuff like that. Oh! and I got to hear him pray in Tongan which was super awesome.

Aubrey, Mom and Dad thank you so much for your letters!!! And Collin, don't be a bum... nah jk man. I read your letter several times to help keep me sane, actually all of yours. Dad thanks for the letter and what Trevor said to your young men was super cool! Speaking of which, can you tell Trevor that I said happy birthday??? It's funny now that I’m on a mission it kind of gives me a new perspective on what Trevor is doing and makes it so much more real if you get what I'm saying... Anyways make sure he knows that I love him a whole bunch and for his birthday I will always give 100% effort.

I love teaching! It is not easy. What I will do is plan what I feel the investigators need to hear and try to understand as best as I can. Me and elder Wachob will write up a general lesson plan, and then when we go in to teach (which we do a lot by the ways) it all goes out the window and you HAVE to bring the spirit in or you’re just going to be saying a whole bunch of words that go in one ear and then out the other! This first week I have definitely learned that teaching by the Spirit is important, about my purpose and the first discussion, but most importantly that God loves me A TON!!! Everything good in our lives comes from him and he always wants the best for us. I think Nephi said it best: I do not know the meaning of all things but surely I know that God loveth his children. (Something similar to that)

So I cant figure out how to attach these pictures...

Sorry

Also, I forgot to mention that yes it is cold up here!  It has snowed twice.  All the missionaries make fun of me cuz i think its such a big deal... haha. I love you guys so much!!!  Elder Ward