One Last Chance

Well, I won't keep you all in suspense longer than is necessary. I'm getting transferred tomorrow! I'm headed to Madison, Connecticut. Not a single person here in Worcester (no H in Worcester, Mom!) has known where it is, so I had to figure it out on a map...it's about 20 miles east of New Haven, right on the coast. For those of you who remember, it's where we had the mission conference the night before our Hurricane Sandy cleanup day! I already know my new companion, Elder Gibson - he served in Nashua while I was in Lowell. I'm glad to be serving with him. The most interesting part about this transfer is that both of us are getting transferred there, and both of the missionaries there are being transferred out. Some people call it "white-washing" and some call it "shot-gunning"...our mission calls it shot-gunning. The most interesting part? We're replacing Sisters. This is the first time I've ever heard of that happening! Sisters have replaced Elders several times since there have been so many new Sisters coming in and new areas being created, but I've never seen Elders replace Sisters...so I'm excited to see what happens! I'm really looking forward to my new area; this will be my first time shot-gunning and I'm ready for the challenge. When I read the T-text with my name on it, I felt the Spirit rest upon me similar to the way He did when I opened my mission call. I know God wants me to be in Madison, Connecticut and the call came from Him through President Packard. I feel as though He's giving me one last major assignment before I go home. This will most likely be my last area, and my last chance to give my all to the Lord.

It always seems like the work begins to pick up and things start coming out of the woodwork right before you get transferred...that's okay though. Elder Broadhead is a hard-working and capable missionary. This area is in very good hands, whether he agrees with my compliments of him or not! =]

It's been a good week. I enjoyed having a mini-missionary with us - he's very intelligent and very prepared for his mission when the time comes for him to put in his papers after his last year of high school. It was an honor to teach him and be a part of a great experience and fond memory for him. I went on exchanges with the zone leaders here on Wednesday, and had a great time with Elder Rushforth (he's also going to BYU in January with me and Elder Young). I actually got sick AGAIN and we ended up having to go back to their apartment so that I didn't puke everywhere...not a fun time. I was feeling better by the next day, so everything's fine. 

I'm actually doing really well, now that I think about it. I'm happy, I'm healthy, I'm loving my mission, and I can't wait to see what my new area has in store. It's been nice having everyone say goodbye to me, expressing their sincere appreciation for the work I've put in here, as well as their love for me. Four months here went by really, really fast. I'll miss it here, but Heavenly Father has need for me elsewhere. "Shall we not go on in so great a cause? ...Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!"

With love, 

Elder DeLong

An High Priest of Good Things to Come

What a week! It's been crazy. Things are picking up, and though we still aren't having as much success as I'd like, I can feel the hand of the Lord leading us along each day. We did some street contacting in Clinton this week, and it was great to be out in the beautiful weather talking to people. It's been a while since I've done that, and I really enjoyed it. I think we'll go again this week! We had a few great teaching experiences and spiritual experiences as well this week, and were able to give blessings to a couple of people in need of them. I read on LDS.org recently that the number of full-time missionaries has passed 75,000! What an incredible time to be serving a mission! 

This week, we have a mini-missionary with us! His name is Hunter, he'll be a senior in high school next year, and he got here Saturday night. He's from Mystic, Connecticut and will be staying with us until Friday. He's literally a 3rd companion and will be coming with us to all of our appointments, meetings, contacting efforts, etc. He gets to live the missionary life for a whole week and see what it's like! I wish I would have had an opportunity like this when I was his age. This is organized through the stake and through our mission president. Mini-missions, as they're called, can last from a couple of days to a week. This is the first time I've had the privilege of hosting a mini-missionary, and we're excited to have him with us. 

Sister Horman, one of the senior missionaries who works in our mission office, called me this week to confirm my departure date and schedule my plane ticket home. That phone call tore me apart. It bothered me and upset me more than a lot of things have, recently. A while ago, I had to start getting things figured out for school when I go home - I did all of that, got my application to BYU in, and couldn't do anything else. For the past month or so, I worked without much thought of going home...and then Sister Horman called me. This past Friday marked 99 days left on my mission, and as a tradition here in the Massachusetts Boston Mission, we went out to lunch at this restaurant called 99 that seems to be only in New England. Elder Broadhead figured out that 99-day mark, and announced it in our district meeting. This week has been rough for me in regards to these feelings of not wanting to go home and of time slipping away from me. Elder Hanberg reassured me, however: he told me that the Lord needs me in other places. There are other people who need me. I'm going to BYU for a reason, I just have to find out why. He's right! This work doesn't end when my tag comes off; it's only just begun. This is just like another transfer...only it's farther away and into the unknown as I take "one step enough for me" as the Lord lights my path just enough to go a little further (see Hymn #97, "Lead, Kindly Light"). 

Also on the theme of "endings" is the fact that we had our last musical fireside last night. I wept at the thought of this marvelous thing coming to a close, and felt the Spirit bear witness to me afresh as I bore my testimony through piano and voice. I'm so grateful to have been a part of this fireside - over the course of these 11 evenings, I have learned and grown more than I thought I could. This has been a major tool in the hands of God to change and shape me forever. Naturally, I'm sad that it's over, but I know that the Lord has more in store. I still have 3 months left, and I will serve Him with everything I've got. He guides me each day and will continue to guide me when I eventually return home. He is "An High Priest of Good Things to Come" (see Jeffrey R. Holland's talk of the same title, Oct. 1999), and I will forever trust in Him. 

With love, 

Elder DeLong

Child of Light

 My zone helping someone move (wearing my family reunion shirt)

 Me and Elder Thorn at zone conference

This was an incredible week. We got a new investigator (that was the first real investigator lesson we've taught in a while), we had zone conference on Friday, we did another musical fireside on Saturday...some unforgettable experiences, for sure. 

Last P-day, we hiked through Purgatory Chasm (not as scary as it sounds), which is a small, rocky canyon just outside of Worcester. Sorry Mom, I forgot to bring my camera...pictures will have to wait. We had a good time! Not sure if we have any monumental plans for P-day today...we'll see. 

I had the great privilege of substituting for the Primary Chorister this week (yesterday)! I loved it, and had a blast with the kids. Primary is a special place, and I'm glad I got a chance to serve there this week. It reminded me of when I was called to serve in that calling in my home ward - I cherished that time I was able to spend teaching those kids! 

More service this week! We continued helping Reg lay flooring downstairs, and did some yard work for two different elderly couples in the ward. One of those two couples has been out of town, and we did it as a surprise! We've done some work for them before, and they mentioned how badly some more things needed to be done...they'll get home this week to the surprise of those hedges being trimmed a bit, the lawn being mowed, the garden cleaned up and taken care of, and those HUGE rose bushes cut back. It feels good to help others in need, especially when they can't do those things for themselves. Same goes for family history and temple work. =] 

Zone Conference was amazing. I always love those, because of inspiring messages, seeing old mission friends, and getting trained on how to be better missionaries. This time, it was held at our chapel in Worcester, and our ward's Relief Society provided lunch for us. It was great to see some familiar faces from other zones, including Elder Langford! He was there to talk about the digital mission (he was called to be it's project manager), which was really cool to hear about. What they're basically doing is gathering articles and personal experiences written by members of the Church in our mission to a blog, and then "injecting" themselves into places where "religious" topics are being discussed. There's a search engine that was "built" to find these topics, used by those in the digital mission. For example, it could find an article written about the tragic death of a teenager and how his high school classmates are having a hard time coping. One of the missionaries could post a comment on this online newspaper article offering condolences, and saying how someone they knew went through a similar experience. "If you'd like to read a a blog post on how he dealt with it, click the link below. Stay strong!" and that link would take them to an article on RealLifeAnswers.org! It's a really cool concept. On that blog site that I gave, there's a chat link to speak with our digital missionaries, and they can then connect those people with the missionaries in their area! If the person doesn't live within our mission, then they will direct the individual tomormon.org and the referral system there. Pretty cool, right? Sister Bringhurst and I did a musical number: "Blessings," originally written and performed by Laura Story. I played piano and sang "backup" as Sister Bringhurst sang the main part - it went very well. The rest of zone conference after all the trainings was very spiritual. Each of the members of our mission presidency spoke, and it was wonderful to hear them. We closed by singing "The Spirit of God," and it was probably as powerful as I've felt that song be sung. 

In the musical fireside this weekend, we added a new number: "Child of Light," originally written and performed by Mindy Gledhill. Sister Jordan had asked me to write out the string parts as heard on the track, and to arrange things otherwise as needed. That took a bit of time over the past couple weeks in my spare moments, but I did it and felt good about it. For the fireside's performance of it, Sister Jordan played piano, Elder Jones played guitar, Sister Hoellein played viola, Sisters Rainsdon and Sorensen played the two violin parts, and Sister Bringhurst sang. It came together so beautifully, and I was deeply touched. The Lord worked through me to make that piece happen. I truly feel that He showed me a glimpse of my calling in life; I was filled with such peace and joy as I listened. The Spirit was so strong, testifying to me of the truthfulness of the doctrine that the song teaches, and also of the path that the Lord is taking me on in my life. I trust in Him, and He leads me along. 

May each of us learn to trust in Him as we take one imperfect step after another on our lifelong journey of discipleship. Godspeed! 

Love, 

Elder DeLong

Serving and Working Miracles in the Name of Our Savior

Apologies to everyone again for my short, detail-less email last week. It's a bummer when you're only allowed to use a certain amount of time on a public library's computer...anyway, I decided to write my group email FIRST instead of last this week. =]  

I didn't get to mention in my email last week that a recent convert in my last area got her mission call - she'll be serving in the Arizona Gilbert mission, right next door to my home town! How crazy is that? 

We got to do some family history work this week! I found a couple of names in one of my lines that are ready to go to the temple to have their work done, which is exciting! I took as many of the lines as far back as I could...the farthest I got back? Raphael de Podio, born in Rome, Italy in 1011. Cool stuff! I also found photos and stories on my ancestors on my mother's side of the family who were the first ones to join the Church: Mary Ann Huntley and her husband, James Lewis Burnham. They were baptized when Joseph Smith was alive, and then moved to Nauvoo. James actually worked in the quarries to help build the Nauvoo temple! 

We're doing a new musical number for the next couple of musical firesides: "Child of Light" by Mindy Gledhill. I transcribed and the string parts from the recording and arranged a few other things for the strings to play to fill in the gaps. I can't wait to hear it all put together!  

I got really, really sick this weekend...some sort of stomach bug. It was a nightmare. I'll spare everyone the nasty, gory details. Long story short, we stayed home and missed church yesterday. I'm feeling better today, but I'm still taking it slow as far as eating goes. Don't worry Mom, I'm doing just fine. =] 

We did a LOT of service this week. Painting, laying hardwood flooring, all sorts of things. I'm only beginning to see the power that service can have to soften the hearts of others. We have a potential investigator named Joe - we haven't even started teaching him yet, but he agreed to let us come and help him fix his brother's porch. We met his brother Craig, Craig's wife Stephanie, and their young two sons. They were very hospitable and Craig even ended up making us lunch. He had all sorts of questions for us about how missions work and who we are and why we're doing what we're doing. The entire time, I couldn't help but wonder if he would have even given us the time of day if we had knocked on his door in normal missionary attire. Now we have another potential family of investigators in addition to Joe, all because we spent a Saturday morning helping to fix their porch. I believe that as missionaries, we're doing what Christ would be doing if He was here: serving and teaching others. 

To close, I'd like to share a true miracle that happened this week. Most of the time you hear stories like this at general conference or in someone's sacrament meeting talk, but this one happened to us. A woman in our ward has had problems with her big toe on her right foot for quite a while, and had part of it taken care of but still needed surgery on it. The day before her surgery appointment she asked her home teacher to come and give her a blessing; he called us and asked us to assist him. I anointed, and the home teacher sealed and gave the blessing. The next day, this home teacher called us, saying that this sister had just called him. She said that during the blessing, she felt tingles from her head to her feet. When she went in for her appointment, the doctor unwrapped the bandages on her toe and just stopped what he was doing as he looked at it. He said that he wasn't going to even touch her toe, because it was healing perfectly. That was my first time being part of an instantaneous healing. I am truly grateful for the privilege it is to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, to be made worthy to exercise it in righteousness through the Atonement of Christ, and to have been part of this sacred experience. 

This work is true, and our Savior stands with us. 

Much love, 

Elder DeLong