Birthday follow-up

Enjoying my raspberry cheesecake from Wholly Cannoli

 

 

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, especially to my mom for her amazing surprise! She ordered me a cake and a dozen cannolis from this famous place here in Worcester called "Wholly Cannoli" - I definitely had to share all those delicious treats. It was a good birthday, especially since I didn't get to focus on myself too much. Life is happier when you spend your time serving others.

 

Happy Pioneer Day, as well! What a great heritage we have. I'm thankful for those early Saints and for the sacrifices they made to pave the way for the Kingdom of God to grow on the earth!

 

We found out this week that the 4 visa-waiting sisters in our mission got their visas! Sis. Telfer and Sis. Goodrich, who I've met and come to know, are 2 of them. It's sad to see them go but I'm exciting for them to finally be going to Argentina!

 

There was another fireside this past weekend - it went very well. It's been a privilege to be part of these firesides.

 

The work is good. Slowly progressing! Not a whole lot of time today, sorry everyone. Much love!

 

-Elder DeLong

21 Years

Today is my 21st birthday! Thank you so much to those of you who have already sent me emails, cards, and gifts to wish me a happy birthday. Favorite part of my birthday so far: a T-shirt that my mom sent me. It says, "I live in Arizona but I love Boston!" =D 

One thing I thought of this morning...some people feel like turning 21 brings them more freedom with the opportunity to legally purchase alcohol. I realized today that true freedom comes with having this legal permission, and still choosing "liberty and eternal life, through the Great Mediator of all men" (2 Nephi 2:27) - our Savior, Jesus Christ. I have chosen Him and His gospel (including the Word of Wisdom!), and thus I have found true freedom. 

This weekend we had a MASSIVE activity: a BBQ with both Worcester wards! Many less-actives and non-members came, which was very exciting. We also had another musical fireside; this one was in Bloomfield, CT. It went very well, and I felt really good about it. The Spirit was definitely present! I sang yesterday in sacrament meeting as well, this time with Bro. Becker in a duet arrangement of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief," with Sis. Andros on the piano. It was ward conference, and so the stake president was there along with many other stake auxiliary leaders. We had the privilege to sustain the general authorities as well as local authorities and leaders. Our investigator, who was there, raised his hand to sustain each individual, including The First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 Apostles. Granted, this may have been because he didn't know what was exactly taking place, but all the same, it was awesome to see this manifestation of his growing faith. 

I saw a quote this week on a member's fridge that has stuck with me, and I really wanted to share it with all of you. "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" The author is unknown, but I'm grateful for this powerful, thought-provoking sentence. The Lord is with us, and through His power we cannot fail in this work. 

Love, 

Elder DeLong

Pictures from my adventure

 Waving to my royal subjects...haha!

Ready to head to Nantucket Island with the Packards for musical fireside on 7/13/13

Worchester isn't going to know what hit it!!!

Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 9:26 AM

Transfers are this week, and I'll be here for another 6 weeks with Elder Broadhead. All 8 of us in the two Worcester wards are staying, and I'm thrilled to think of what's going to happen here this transfer! There is such great potential here, and I'm excited to be part of the Lord's work here. 

Sis. Buchanan is going home for some medical things but she'll be back in a couple of months. We're going to miss her, she's been awesome in our ward. 

Reg let us come to teach him twice since I last wrote, and we took Isaac along with us, our one and only priest in the ward. We're doing our best to help him prepare for his mission! We've also been going with a few members of the ward to help them with their home teaching, and that's been both productive and fun. We got to tour the Bishop's Storehouse for New England this week, helped a family in the ward move, had incredible fish and chips at a little hole-in-the-wall/mom-and-pop place that's only open on Fridays, did exchanges with the zone leaders, exchanges with the Marlborough Elders, AND I had the wonderful opportunity to go and sing with some elderly folks at the local senior center/rehabilitation home. A member in our ward works there and asked if I would be willing to go and perform for them a little bit. I went and sang some jazz standards and classic songs for them, playing the piano for myself, and I got them to sing along for a few of them. They really enjoyed it, and I did too! It was a blast! 

I've saved the best part for last...the Nantucket musical fireside! If any of you don't know where Nantucket it, google it before you read any further. It's a tiny island off of the coast of Massachusetts - about a 2-hour ferry ride, or a 30-minute plane ride! There's about 5 members on the island...it's a "twig" and they're hoping to make it a branch, so we came out to help with the effort! (They hold Sunday meetings in someone's home, and we had the fireside in their yard!) There were only 6 missionaries participating, and since we were few in numbers, we all participated more. I sang with Elder Stone and Sis. Jordan for "Know This That Ev'ry Soul is Free" which was the opening number, and I also did a piano solo ("All Creatures of Our God and King" by Josh Wright) and a vocal solo ("Make Me Whole" by Rob Gardner, the one I've done for the other firesides). I also accompanied Sis. Jordan on her solo ("God Speaking") and Pres. Packard's duet with his daughter Natalie ("Savior, Redeemer of My Soul" by Rob Gardner, with violin solo by the very talented Sis. Sorensen!). I also shared a personal experience of revelation in my life and bore my testimony of how our Heavenly Father has spoken to me and of the reality of revelation - the heavens are open! The whole fireside went really, really well: about 25 non-members came! After everyone left, we had a BBQ in the backyard of one of the members along with the Nantucket Sisters. The reason that only 6 missionaries were able to participate in this fireside, along with Pres. Packard and his family, due to transportation restraints. Can you imagine getting 20 missionaries or so to an island and back safely and easily? The stake president of the Hingham Stake (who is VERY wealthy) chartered a private jet for us to fly in to get there and back. It was a wicked cool experience to be on a private jet, one that probably won't ever happen again in my life! Look at me, using New England slang. Haha. Anyway, 3 of the 6 missionaries rode the plane, the other 3 (plus one more, the odd one out's companion) rode the ferry over there. Elder Stone was my companion for the day - an awesome guy, by the way. Fantastic missionary and a true friend. I've known him for almost my whole mission. He and I, along with Sis. Jordan and the Packard family, rode the plane there. (After the fireside, Elder Stone and I rode the ferry back to give the other sisters a chance to ride the plane, and that was a fun experience as well!) I got tons of pictures and videos from our incredible day. It was an unforgettable experience. 

Much love, 

Elder DeLong

Missionary Life is the Good Life

 

 

My mom just sent me an email asking what I'd like for my birthday...that's strange to think that it's almost my birthday already. I'll be 21 in just 2 short weeks! Wow. Speaking of time flying, yesterday I hit 19 months as a missionary. I love doing this all day every day. Yes, it's terribly difficult, but it's the best thing I've ever done so far in my life, even better than any of the performances and such things that I've been involved in.

Last P-day, we went to a member's house and had a blast on their zip-line (they have a HUGE backyard)! Great times. We did a lot of service the next day, including staining a fence, cleaning out a bunch of poison ivy, weeding, and removing a front door!

On the 3rd, we went to a fireworks show in Rutland, a town in our area. Several members gathered at the home of a member of the bishopric, and we enjoyed snacks and games until the fireworks started. It was a pretty good view from their street!

I didn't go to Boston this year - we were only allowed to go up to 15 miles outside of our area to see a good fireworks show, and we're too far away. Last year was plenty for me - public transportation was packed and impossible to get through, and the crowds were just insane. A small-town show was good enough for me this year. It wasn't bad, either! We were actually able to see another show on the 5th, when I was on exchanges in Marlborough with Elder Starley, and that was fun, too. But no firework shows on the 4th this year! Worcester held theirs on the 3rd, and we figured being at a ward function would be better than dealing with the crowds in the city. On the 4th though, we attended 2 separate cookouts: one at lunchtime, and one at dinnertime. It was a great day, and a time to reflect on the freedoms we enjoy. I'm thankful for the inspiration of our Heavenly Father to our nation's founding fathers, and even more grateful for the Restoration of the Gospel that was able to take place because of the freedoms provided for us here.

Our week rounded off with a surprise visit at sacrament meeting! President Clayton Christensen (1st counselor in our mission presidency, dean of Harvard Business School, and author of "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" which you should ALL read) and his wife came to our ward's meetings. We had no idea they would be there, and it was a pleasant surprise to see them! They spoke with the four of us and counseled us after sacrament meeting for quite some time about our ward and the struggles we're facing here. Their counsel (and even just them being there) was invaluable. I'm glad that the Lord knows our needs and sends us help when we need it most. May He bless you in your needs, as well. Godspeed, my friends and family!

Love,

Elder DeLong

Happy Independence Day!!! =D

It's July already?! Wow, this year is going by very, very fast. Happy 4th, everyone! 

This week, I learned that here in Massachusetts, if you take your recyclables to a local grocery store, they give you 5 cents for each item. The Ciuncis gave us all of theirs from the deli's trash and we got $7.10 out of it! 

The work has been picking up here, and I'm getting really excited! We had more appointments set up this past week than we've had the entire time I've been in this area! The Lord truly recognizes our best efforts, and helps us to do better when we're not doing our best. He is at our side as we labor together in the vineyard! I was having a rough day this week, and who do I get a letter from? My aunt Lori, my mom's sister. She had written me an encouraging letter that I really needed at that moment. Our Father in Heaven works in mysterious ways. =] 

We're getting REALLY close with one of our part-member families...the wife has been less-active for years, and came back to church about 3 months ago. Now, she's on fire with family history, food storage, and all sorts of stuff. She studies the Book of Mormon in-depth on a regular basis and has truly caught the "light" of the gospel. She's completely different from when we first met her. Her husband loves having us over, and though he's not ready to join the Church, he let us teach him the Plan of Salvation this week. It was incredible...his father died when he was only 9 years old, so he had plenty of questions for us. We're actually going to their home this week to have dinner on the 4th and watch fireworks...the wife wants us to teach another lesson. Prayers for them are appreciated! I definitely have a testimony of the power of prayer. 

A man referred himself to us via mormon.org - he works in Salt Lake City from time to time, and wants to understand more of what we believe. He said that he'll invite his coworkers out for coffee or to get a drink after work at a bar, and they always turn him down! That was his initial interest, but he quickly developed a desire to learn more about the doctrine we hold so dear. We met with him at the hospital - he spends most of his time there because his son was born inside out. No, really. His son (he and his wife's first child) was born with a hole in his abdomen, and his stomach and intestines were outside of his body. The thing is, the skin and muscles had to stretch to make room for the organs since his body had developed improperly. Over the past 4 months, the doctors have been able to get all of his insides back where they are supposed to be, and the skin is "sealed up" so to speak. This miracle baby is now taking food orally instead of intravenously, and he's starting to gain needed weight! Throughout this experience, his parents have stayed faithful to God. They have faith in Christ as our Savior, and it was really great to meet with this young father. His wife is opposed to missionaries of other faiths and so she didn't want to meet us, but our time with this man was wonderful. He had several doctrinal questions for us, and we ended up teaching him the Plan of Salvation as well. Hopefully things move forward for him this week, too. 

Yesterday, I was asked to sub in Primary for singing time. It reminded me of being Primary chorister in my home ward for 3 months before I went to college...that is seriously the best calling in the Church. (Second only to being a missionary!) I love our Lord and Savior, and I love being a part of His great work! =]

Love, 

Elder DeLong