Noah on a Mission

First week in the MTC! It's...weird. Hah, yep, it is weird being here after having already been out for twelve weeks. It's not the kind of place [large campuses]  that I normally love being in, but it's been fun nonetheless. Our classes have been very good, my district is really great, and I'm never hungry. Speaking of that, don't bother sending me food. It's always a nice gesture, but I definitely do not need it. They feed us well. I haven't touched any of the snacks I already have since I got here, and my new companion, Elder Neddo, shared some Easter candy with me yesterday that I also haven't touched yet. I don't know what I'd do with more yet MORE food! So, conference starts today! I hope everyone is excited to hear the new prophet speak. I am looking forward to it. Remember to take some personal, spiritual questions you have to conference and prepare to have them answered. God is trying to speak to all of us, thro...

Dear family and friends, I am approaching my last week here in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's been pretty crazy in many ways. I think Ohio will be pretty manageable after everything I've done here. (I'd hope it's less crazy than this place in Ohio, anyway!) Ensign articles for you: "Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders", March 2017 Ensign, "Revealed Realities of Mortality", January 2016 Ensign, "Worship the True and Living God", June 2013 Ensign, and "Mormon's Miraculous Book", February 2016 Ensign. There's also this awesome quote: "[Heavenly Father] can tell the difference between someone who truly is striving to become like Him and an individual who is pushing the edges but trying to stay just inside the acceptable limits." - Elder Allan F. Packer, "Heavenly Father's Fixed Standards", August 2015 Ensign The church has been putting out a new account of church history recently, called ...

Dear family and friends, We had Zone Conference this last Thursday, and though I still have trouble getting excited about long meetings, it was good. After it ended, President Walker came up to me and pulled me aside. I assumed it was something about my two-transfer mission, because that had happened before. What I didn't expect was what he said next: "We've got your mission call." Whaaaat? I had expected it to come over two weeks later, as that was what happened to another two-transfer missionary. Apparently it isn't always the same! For those who have not yet heard, I am going to the Columbus, Ohio mission after this transfer ends on the 27th. We received a referral a few days ago. A woman named Brinca was going through a hard time and was inspired to look randomly at Snapchat, of all places. There she found some kind of ad for the Book of Mormon as a place to turn for peace. She saw she could call and order one for free, so she did, and it got ...

If you liked the Ensign article I shared last week, get ready, cuz I've got lots more. Are you all reading church magazines? You ought to be! Read the Ensign. Maybe read the Liahona, even though I have no clue what the Liahona is. Have your kids read the Friend. Have your teens read the New Era. I usually skimmed the New Era when I was younger. I'm sure I missed a lot of great stuff. First off is a short but nice story called "The Last Sacrament Cup", December 2015 Ensign. I really like the Isaiah scripture quoted near the end. Next is "Making Your Young Adult Years Productive", "When Doubts And Questions Arise", and "Satan's Rebellion", all in the March 2015 Ensign. They're all quite good, but I especially like "Satan's Rebellion" because it points out something I've learned a little bit about a while ago and haven't seen talked much of since, which is that Satan's plan wasn't to ...

Dear family and friends, It's been an interesting week. Before I say anything, if you read nothing else in this email, read this article I'm recommending. I just read it today and it's really great. The article is "The Temple and the Natural Order of Marriage" by Elder Bruce C. Hafen, found in the September 2015 Ensign. It is not just about marriage; it talks about Adam and Eve, temples, and sacrifice. Again, it's really good. I ask all of you to give it a read. I've been thinking about missionary emails. We are supposed to keep our emails positive--refrain from complaining and trashing the area you're in, and I get that and I have no desire to do that--but it has the effect, I think, of making us look pretty good. Better than we are, maybe. I probably come across as some kind of spiritual guru who's on top of things. But really, I have many days sullied by difficulties, some external and many internal. It's really hard sometimes. My compan...

Happy Monday everyone, I'm with a new companion: Elder Smith. He's a great Elder, and we're enjoying ourselves. Even doing things I'm normally not into has generally been pretty enjoyable, like tracting. Knocking on people's doors is not something we do as a first resort, and usually I'm glad for that because it's often so unpleasant on both ends. But Elder Smith makes it fun. He's actually into the whole "finding" thing, and he's really good at it, which I love. It really helps me get into it when my companion is good at it. We've already found a good amount of new people to teach in this short week. Some great potential investigators. Something new I learned about yesterday at church was the Orson F. Whitney vision. Orson F. Whitney was an apostle from 1906 to 1931, and he saw a vision/dream of the Savior's Atonement. It's super cool. The vision as he recorded it can be found in "The Divinity of Jesus Christ...

Transfers are upon us! I'm now halfway done with my time here in Las Vegas. My companion Elder Knowles is leaving my area, but I am staying and getting a new companion, Elder Smith. My scripture for you all today is John 10:15-18. They made this section into a  bible video: https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/the-good-shepherd-and-other-sheep-i-have?lang=eng There's incredible power in Jesus's words here. He gave up his life 100% willingly. He had the power to lay it down, and he had the power to take it again. One thing that was hard recently was losing Kaylene, our new investigator, and her family. Everything started off wonderfully and we thought we had a shot at baptizing them. No such luck. She liked everything up until we started talking about "James Smith". Though she accepted a Book of Mormon, she claimed she wasn't "spiritually in a place where she can read it" right now. She found reasons not to trust us in the mistakes we mad...