Noah on a Mission

I left the MTC (very) early Monday morning and after some long and delayed flights made it to Columbus. I'm serving in the Westerville area, which is sort of its own city but also still part of Columbus, I've been told. It's cold here. But it sounds like I'm in a good ward, so I am excited! My new companion is Elder Penny. He's from Alberta, Canada, but his family currently lives in Dubai. I can already tell he's really great and we're gonna do great together. Same with President Stratford, who holds all the missionaries in "the Great OCM" to a high standard. I think this is a good mission. I look forward to seeing more of it. Not much else to say as of yet. My body is still working on adjusting to the humid cold and not being fed by the MTC three meals a day. Elder Penny and I were double-transferred into the Westerville area so we are both new to everything here. He goes back home to Dubai after this transfer, so I'l...

Dear family and friends, I have really enjoyed this last week in the MTC. We've been spiritually nuked, pummeled, round-house kicked, and fire-bombed on a near-daily basis. In seriousness though, I really like this place, and that's in large part due to my district and how wonderful they all are. Without them this would have been far less enjoyable. I also owe a lot to my teachers here at the MTC: Brother Smith and Brother Maekawa, who each did a lot to bring out the (good) teacher in me and answer my questions. I can't believe it, but I really have improved as a teacher quite a bit in my short time here. I am much more eager to get out and teach now than I was before. I've been reading in John in the New Testament, which is a good break from the war chapters of late-Alma in the Book of Mormon, though I enjoy those too. I highly recommend reading John 14-17. Oftentimes I get frustrated at how imperfect the Bible is, but these chap...

Hello everyone, That was a truly awesome conference weekend. Only problem is I don't know whether it was the best I've ever seen because it was really good or I just actually paid attention this time. I know that Russell M. Nelson is God's prophet. I could write many reasons for that but here's just one thing he said that struck me: "In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost." That's a prophetic statement if there ever was one. I hope the earth is flooded with it and other things spoken by the leaders of the church. There was an audible gasp throughout the bleachers when President Nelson said "we're getting rid of home teaching!" It was pretty funny. Sounds like a good change though. All in all, an amazing conference. I felt the Spirit more than ever before. I watched "The Character of Christ" talk by Elder Bednar and it was...