Week 3 in the field!

Hey all!

Elder Ang is gone - he got transferred to Lowell. So I'm officially in a normal companionship, with just me and Elder Wayne. We seem to get a lot more accomplished and we work more efficiently with just the two of us. We are SO busy though, all day, every day. It's pretty crazy. Our area is huge, since we're speaking Cambodian, but we also get all the English work in this area...my goodness. It's crazy.

We found 2 new investigators this week! One of them is the boyfriend of a member, and the other was a referral from Church Headquarters. Both of them have a strong desire to be baptized and learn of the gospel, so it's really exciting!

Last P-day we went to Salem, saw a couple lighthouses and piers, and went to the Salem Witch Museum! It was pretty interesting and informative. It's sad that so many innocent people got killed, but it was really cool to learn about causes and what happened. Elder Swasey had an interesting thought though - it could very well have been real. Not the witches, but the influence of Satan in that time. Think about it...America was founded for religious freedom, as part of what paved the way for the Restoration to take place. Why wouldn't Satan be fighting against that in any way he could? His influence could very well have been over the minds of the people and those young girls who accused so many. He could very well place fear in their hearts and cause a hysteria that could potentially destroy a society, but we know that truth and light will always win out in the end. I'm not saying that's what happened, but it makes sense!

The Sen family (the only active Cambodian family in our ward) has us over for dinner every Friday night, and this last Friday, the mother/grandmother asked us for a blessing. Elder Wayne delegated the sealing portion of the blessing to me, which I had only ever done once before. It was nerve-wracking, but also a wonderful experience to build my faith and testimony of the power of the priesthood.

One of the members of the ward fed us Hawaiian Haystacks the other night - it made me SO unbelievably happy!!! Mom would always make that when we had the missionaries over for dinner, and now I'm the missionary being fed it! I'll admit it, I took a picture with my food. =]

Cotter got baptized on Sunday (yesterday)!!! It was a really cool experience, and I'm thankful for the successes that our Heavenly Father has given us. It's crazy - I've been out here for only 3 weeks and we already had a baptism! I feel so blessed. Oh, did I mention that Cotter asked ME to baptize him?! Yeah. So not only did we have a baptism within 3 weeks of me getting here, but I was the one that baptized him. It was an amazing feeling! Baptism is the gate that we all must enter through, and it's incredible to know that I helped someone through that gate!

The MTC feels like an entirely different world now. I'm so grateful for all that I'm learning and all that our Heavenly Father is blessing me with.

Much love to you all!

Elder DeLong

Week 2!

I've officially been here in Boston for 2 weeks! The weather here has been interesting. Today and a couple of days last week it's been absolutely BEAUTIFUL, and then other days it's freezing cold (don't worry, I bundle up!) - one day it'll snow, and then it'll rain, and then it'll be clear, and then it'll snow again, and then it's gone and the skies are grey but no rain...it's crazy.

I've already learned some very important lessons since being here - always give your best effort, your attitude is the only thing you can control in a given situation, you always have more to learn...hmm, these all sound really familiar...maybe my parents DID know what they were talking about! Just kidding, Mom and Dad. I am so grateful for all you both have taught me and helped me to understand. These lessons are just being applied in new situations now.

So, transfers are tomorrow. I guess the Cambodia Phnom Penh mission's transfers are two weeks earlier than the Massachusetts Boston mission's...so everything seems to be evening out now. Elder Wayne and I are staying here, since he's my trainer, but Elder Ang is getting transferred to Lowell. The trio only lasted for 2 weeks, but that's alright - I think this will force me to do more and work harder, which is good! I have a lot more to learn, and I'm stoked for it. I don't always get along with Elder Wayne that well - I think the Lord enjoys teaching me patience and love. Hopefully things will get better as I work one-on-one with him.

Elder Phillips is getting transferred too - to Hartford, CT. He's been a great friend, I'll miss him. Thank goodness for emails and the postal service! And eventually, facebook. Wait, what's that? I forgot. ;]

Every Tuesday, we do service at a retirement home in Swampscott, which is right by the ocean. We play Pictionary and Hangman together; it's so great to spend time with them.

It's crazy how many languages I have spinning around in my head - English, Spanish (from our roommates), French (from our investigators Benedetta and Haura and talking with them a bit), and Cambodian! I've been getting headaches and getting really discouraged and frustrated with learning Cambodian - it's so difficult to study and learn anything when we teach in English most of the time. Then, the few times we do use Khmae, I barely understand what's going on, if at all, and I can't catch most of what they say. I don't know what I'm going to do, other than continue to try my hardest, and work even harder.

One of our investigators, Cotter, is getting baptized THIS SUNDAY. I've only been here for 2 weeks and we've got a baptism! I'm so excited and happy for him, and I'm so glad that I got here in time to see this change in his life. It's been way cool to see how my love for our investigators (and for the members here!) has really taken root and grown!

I get letters from friends and family every so often, which is really nice! I love getting mail, and I love writing letters back! Thanks to everyone who has written me! Keep them coming and I'll keep replying. =D
If anyone prefers email, we can do that too! Ask my Mom for my email address if it's not on the blog or on my facebook already! =]

We had an interesting experience with an African woman named Sophia the other day. She was a referral from the missionaries who share our apartment, and she seemed interested in meeting with us, so we set up an appointment with her. We got to her apartment building at the scheduled day and time, but apparently, she thought it was HER duty to be teaching US. She's a "born-again Christian", and she read the Restoration pamphlet that the other missionaries gave her. We started trying to teach, but she soon went off about how Jesus Christ was the ONLY foundation we can build on, and how the Bible is the ONLY thing to guide us, and how she pities us and how she promised herself she would correct us. We kept trying to testify and make points, but she wouldn't have it. She'd interrupt us and go off again. She said she read the pamphlet and liked it, and then she read the back page, which has an invitation to read the Book of Mormon and attend church. She said that ruined everything, because if we're talking about the gospel and about Jesus Christ, then it should say to read the Bible, not "some Mormon book" - it didn't matter to her that we said that we believe in and worship Jesus Christ. We testified multiple times that the Book of Mormon is from God, that it testifies of Christ, and that we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. She wouldn't have it. It didn't matter to her that we also believe in Jesus Christ, that we also have faith in Him. After a while we had to leave because she refused to listen as we testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and of our Savior. It made me really, really sad, and left me with an awful feeling inside. I had to quote scriptures to myself and sing songs to myself from Rob Gardner's "Lamb of God" to try and bring the Spirit back into my heart.

I found out this week that Revere's only claim to fame is that it's the home of America's first public beach. Fascinating, right? It's been really cool being here though. Like, this is THE Boston. I've been on THE Bunker Hill, and we're planning on going to THE Salem on an upcoming P-day. It's so awesome how much history is here!

This morning, we got up WAY early, and our entire zone went to the beach in Nahant to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic ocean. We got there a little late, the sun had already started rising, but that's ok. It was so beautiful! I got tons of pictures Mom, no worries.

I'm loving it here. We are constantly busy - the work moves forward, and I'm so psyched to be a part of it! It keeps hitting me that I'm a missionary now, a "real" missionary! I've been that for about 3 and a half months now, but now I'm in the field! I remember having the missionaries over for dinner and stuff, but now that's ME going and having dinner with members every night. It's so surreal, being here and teaching people every day. It's really hard sometimes, but I absolutely love it.

Much love and best wishes to all of you!

- Elder DeLong

My first letter from the field!

Hello all!

Wow. This is absolutely insane, but here I am! I can't believe I'm actually a missionary, teaching REAL people, with REAL needs and REAL salvation. It's crazy to think about. Every morning I wake up in a state of confusion - where am I? How did I get here? What's going on? And after a second or two, I realize that I'm in my apartment in the first area of my mission, and then I remember everything that's happened so far...which is a LOT.

To start off, our area is HUGE. We cover the cities of Revere, Chelsea, Charlestown, Lynn, East Boston, and a couple others. Our apartment is in Revere. (My address should be posted soon! Thanks Mom!)

My companions are Elder Ang and Elder Wayne - yep, I'm in a trio. There are 7 Cambodian-speaking missionaries in the entire mission, so I'm the odd man out, I guess. Elder Wayne is from Cardsten, Alberta, Canada - he's my trainer. He's pretty cool - he's been helpful so far for me. He's obedient, and he speaks Cambodian most of the time. He speaks very well, but he doesn't give himself enough credit in that department. At first I thought he was sort of annoyed with me or impersonal or something, but I think that's because he doesn't speak English most of the time. We've had a few conversations in English since my first day, and we've started getting to know each other, which is good. Elder Ang is from Cambodia! He had to learn English, and he speaks pretty well - he doesn't give himself enough credit with his new language, either. He's a happy, big-hearted guy.

Speaking of languages...I don't know anywhere NEAR as much as I thought I did in Khmae. I was doing pretty well in the MTC, but I got here and I didn't catch most of what Elder Wayne said those first couple of days. I definitely have a long way to go, but I'm working hard for it.

We teach mostly in English - we have NO Cambodian investigators right now, which is a bummer. There aren't many where we are...we try to find them, though! We've gone to a couple Cambodian restaurants and grocery stores and have talked to people. Not much success yet, though. Teaching in English is good though, it helps me to develop my teaching skills.

We're in an apartment with two other Elders - Elder Phillips (our district leader) and Elder Swayse. They're both from Nevada. They speak Spanish, and I love them already! Elder Phillips is especially awesome, since he's pretty into music, like I am. He plays oboe, and piano a bit. I get along with him really well, and I hope to stay in contact with him when he goes home in 6 months.

Let me rewind a bit, back to the day I left the MTC. It was really great to talk to my family members over the phone before my flight from SLC to Boston. 2 or 3 people (all members of the Church) stopped me in the airport to talk to me a little bit about where I was headed and stuff and wished me well. This woman on the plane who was sitting behind me introduced herself - she and her children, who were with her, are all members, as is her husband (who wasn't there). They had an exchange student from Brazil with them named Leo - he's been going to church with them and going to seminary as well. He likes it, but he hasn't had the missionary lessons yet. So, this woman volunteers me to teach him the first lesson right there and then on the plane! That was crazy - I had to take a while to gather my thoughts, since I hadn't taught in English in a while! It went well, I think. I probably missed a point here or there, and maybe I didn't teach perfectly, but he liked it. He has his own copy of the Book of Mormon and is reading it!
There was a man sitting near me on the plane - he bought me a little food during the flight, talked to me for a while, and later helped me with my luggage once I got off. He was really nice, and I thanked him profusely. It's crazy how much attention this tag attracts.

So, according to the letter I got from the mission office a couple months ago, it sounded like I'd stay at the mission home my first night, meet the president and his wife, have a nice evening, wake up, meet my companion, and start the work. NOPE. Pres. and Sis. Evans picked me up at the airport (they're both really really great!) and drove me to my apartment. Got there, met my companions, dropped off my stuff, and we were off. We had 2 or 3 appointments that night - my first night! It was nuts. I was way overwhelmed, and I was getting discouraged with my lack of language ability, and I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. We didn't have time to do anything other than just go and work that first night.

We got back to our apartment, planned for the next day, and I scrambled to try and unpack and figure out all my stuff before I had to be in bed by 10:30 PM. I didn't get it all done, and I went to bed all sorts of stressed out. I woke up in the morning and managed to start to figure things out, and things started chugging along. Elder Phillips and Elder Wayne made me breakfast that morning - pancakes, eggs, and a fruit smoothie, all colored green - my "greenie" breakfast! That cheered me up and made me laugh, and gave me the boost to get through the day. By the end of that day, I felt AWESOME. I had extended a baptismal invitation to someone they've been struggling with to get a commitment from, and she said yes! We had dinner with a member and the food was absolutely delicious, and then I shared the spiritual thought, which happened to fit right in with the mom's Book of Mormon study from that day. It was just a really great first day, and it got me pumped for this work! I was already way psyched to be here, but this day just made me even more so, and that excitement has lasted me till now and I have this feeling like it's going to keep on coming! I know there's going to be hard times (there already have been), but it's just so great to be out here!

Ok, so let me tell you about our investigators!
Demari - she's an older woman from Africa, and she speaks Swahili! It's so cool to hear her read the Book of Mormon and to speak. She speaks English too, but she understands Swahili much better. We have to teach super simply so she can understand in English, and the Book of Mormon helps her, since it's in her native language. She's the one that I committed to be baptized!
Cotter - he's a 19-year-old living with a member family. He's been coming to church and has a baptism planned for this next week! He's pretty great - we just have a couple things left to teach him and he's good to go!
Benedetta and Haura - these women are older, and they're from Belgium! I believe Benedetta is Haura's daughter, or maybe her younger sister. I couldn't tell, but they're family. They speak French, so we have a member from the ward come and translate for us. It was so fun trying to speak with them! I miss French. I forgot so much of it since I started learning Khmae, but I was still able to catch a lot of what they said! We had a really cool lesson with them yesterday. They both know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I can feel their faith, and they just agreed to be baptized! I'm excited for them, and I definitely want to pick up French again when I go home! I love Khmae more than French though, just to clarify. =]
Kanne - we were teaching her boyfriend, August, but he doesn't seem interested. Kanne, however, has such a strong desire to become closer to God. I hope to see her come to church soon and stuff. She wants to be baptized and know the truth, which is so great!
Florance - she's a member's friend, and she seems pretty receptive to the gospel. We just taught her the Plan of Salvation yesterday, and she liked that a lot, it seemed like.
Ricky - he's 45-ish years old and can't read, but he's such a happy guy. He wants to turn his life around and be baptized. His girlfriend that he lives with doesn't like us, though - mostly because of our last lesson we had with him. We were talking about the 10 commandments, and we got to adultery and explained what it means. She started yelling at us and almost kicked us out of their house, because the issue arose of needing to get married or separated before baptism. We have a couple other investigators with this issue, but it hasn't gotten this crazy before. Ricky was calm about it and willing to listen - he might be changing his mind, but at least he didn't go off the handle at us. It was a really uncomfortable experience...we'll see what happens this week.

We have some other investigators too, but those are our main ones that we spend the most time with!

We have dinner every Friday night with the only Cambodian family in our ward - that night was crazy. I didn't understand the majority of what they said, and they gave us SO MUCH FOOD, and we had to eat all of it...oh my goodness. It was crazy. I didn't know what to do with myself. Like I said before, I have a LONG way to go with this language. I did share a spiritual thought with them in Khmae, though! Simple and short, but still. I'm making progress!

We have a really great ward, and I'm enjoying getting to know the members when I can and when we eat dinner with them. The bishop called us Saturday night and asked us to speak in sacrament meeting the next day - all 3 of us. How's that for my first Sunday in the field? Hahaha. It went well though, I think. It was good practice for speaking last-minute!

I love being here (even though the wind can be AWFUL), and I'm so excited to see where this work goes and how these people progress! I've had all sorts of experiences the last few days, from an investigator running away from us into his house and not letting us in, to really moving and spiritual lessons as well. I'm learning a TON, and I'm psyched to see what else is in store!

Much love,
Elder DeLong

Last email from the MTC!!

I leave first thing tomorrow morning for Boston! The day is finally here! Needless to say, I'm beyond excited for this.

 

Elder Nicholson left at 8:00 this morning, and the rest of my district (who are all going to Cambodia) leave today around noon. I'll be with a couple of elders from our branch who aren't leaving till later the rest of today and tomorrow morning.

 

It's been interesting as we've had our last lessons with our "investigators" here. I started really caring about them, even though they weren't actual people. It was just one of my teachers in the chair across from me, but I had received revelation on how to help them and had spent time trying to plan lessons and learn Khmae to help them. I can't wait for the real thing!

 

On Friday we had in-field orientation, which was basically some large group meetings with all the missionaries who are leaving this week (about 300, I'd say) and a lot of breakout sessions (about 40 or 50 missionaries in each one) with several different teachers. It was a fun day, and I learned a ton. A couple years ago, the MTC decided to focus more on teaching during the missionaries' time here, and then teach all the other stuff all at once before they leave - thus, in-field orientation was born. We learned about finding people, working with members in our area, exercising faith, setting goals, making plans...it was pretty great!

 

Elder Federico showed me an awesome way to tie ties - you can tie it IN YOUR HANDS. It doesn't have to be around your neck! It's way cool, and it doesn't take as long to tie it. The knot looks great and the length is perfect every time. I'll definitely be tying my ties that way from now on!

 

On Saturday, we had our last TRC - I believe I explained this before, but if not, I'll do so again. We go as companionships and teach members, like a home-teaching appointment or something, except we're teaching in our various languages. Usually they're returned missionaries who served in Cambodia or in the states speaking Cambodian. There's one woman who comes every week though, and she's from Cambodia! She moved here after the whole Khmer Rouge thing ended. She actually lived in Lowell (a suburb of Boston!!!) for several years before moving to Provo. We taught her last week, it was great. ANYWAY this past Saturday, we knocked on the door of the room where the person we would be teaching was sitting, and he opened the door and it was Bro. Godfrey!!! For those who don't remember, he was one of our teachers, but he had to resign because of school and work. He was such a fantastic teacher, and I look up to him a lot. We haven't seen him in a few weeks, so needless to say Elder Nicholson and I were thrilled to be teaching him. I just want to say right now that that lessons was the single best lesson we've ever had, and not because we had Bro. Godfrey.

When we planned the lesson, we decided to teach lesson 3, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The main points of the lesson are: through Jesus Christ we can be cleansed from sin, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Since it was going to be a TRC lesson and the individual was going to be a member, we decided to give a bare minimum overview since they know everything already. With each point we had scriptures we could share or personal experiences, etc. We wanted it to be a discussion rather than a lesson.

So we get to TRC (stands for Training Resource Center, by the way) and I have this thought to switch "through Jesus Christ we can be cleansed from sin" and "faith in Jesus Christ". I wasn't sure why, but I told Elder Nicholson and we went with it. We got into the lesson, talked with Bro. Godfrey a bit, and had an opening prayer. During the prayer, I felt inclined to ask Bro. Godfrey if he read the Book of Mormon in Khmae and prayed in Khmae every day. It was totally random, but I followed the feeling and asked him after we closed the prayer. He said that he didn't really use the language that much anymore, and that recently he had been thinking about that. I shared with him the promise from one of the Apostles (Elder Scott, I think?) that if you read 2 pages from the Book of Mormon in your mission language everyday and pray in your mission language every day, then you will be fluent for the rest of your life (and forever). I invited him to do that, and he said that he had been feeling like he should be doing more, so he promised to do so.

After that, we started talking about faith, and we hadn't said more than 2 or 3 sentences when Elder Nicholson asked him if he had any questions about faith or any particular needs concerning faith that we could help with - turns out he did. A couple of things had been bothering him lately, and I knew exactly how to answer his questions. I knew exactly what to say. We talked about how the Lord works through our faith, how miracles come after the trial of our faith, how obedience is an act of faith, how a testimony is never enough, and how we need to be CONVERTED unto the Lord. The words seemed to just flow out of our mouths, and it was exactly what Bro. Godfrey needed to hear. It became a discussion about our Savior, Jesus Christ. We had him read Isaiah 53:4-5 out loud, and I testified of Christ and expressed my feelings about Him. We went over on time because we were still talking about it. It was one of the most spiritual, powerful, and amazing experiences I've ever had.

From that lesson I learned the importance of being guided by the Spirit, and I had a glimpse of what we as missionaries need to be and how our Heavenly Father can use us as His missionaries to meet the needs of His other children. Though I didn't always know that I was receiving promptings from the Spirit in the moment, I know that we were guided by Him. When we had planned what to teach, we were guided. When we changed around the order of the lesson to talk about faith first, we were guided. When I felt like I should ask him about the use of his mission language, I was being guided. As we taught to his needs, we were guided. It was absolutely incredible. I will never forget that.

 

On Sunday, our district sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Khmae in our branch's sacrament meeting. That evening we had a departure devotional with the mission presidency - they gave us some final advice and farewells, and Pres. Brown had us stand as he read off the missions we were all serving in. I'm the only one in this batch going to Massachusetts. No pressure.

 

Packing has been crazy. Meeting the weight requirements is so difficult! I'm going to finish all that up today, and hopefully things should be good!

 

Yesterday, we had our last class sessions, and we said goodbye to our teachers. I'm so grateful for them, they've helped us learn and grow so much while we've been here. We also took pictures with them, and with all of our friends/fellow missionaries here. We had a huge picture-taking party/gathering sort of thing in the lounge of our building. I'm going to miss these people, especially those in my district, but I'm so excited to get to Boston and hit the ground running! I'm so stoked to start working and serving - I can't wait for tomorrow!

 

D&C 31:3

 

Much love,

Elder DeLong

ONE WEEK LEFT!!!

Believe it or not, the time has finally come for me to leave the MTC! Well, not quite, I still have one more week, but still! I'm pretty dang stoked for this. I'm so excited to get to Boston, for new experiences, and for this chance to serve the Lord and help bless our Heavenly Father's children!

 

We got our travel plans this last week! I leave the morning of Feb. 22nd - my shuttle from the MTC leaves at 6:30 AM, and my flight leaves from SLC at 9:45 AM. From there I have a straight shot flight to Boston, and I'll land there at around 4:25 PM their time.

 

I've loved being here at the MTC, and I've learned so much, but I'm very much so ready to leave! My teaching skills aren't perfect, and my language abilities aren't perfect, but I feel SO ready to leave. I'm so excited! I feel kind of bad saying this, but I'm also really looking forward to getting a new companion. Elder Nicholson and I still have rough patches, and though I wish him success as he departs, I'm glad he's not going to the same mission as me. I've about had it with him - it's been a rough 11 weeks here. The Lord has really been teaching me charity and patience, though, and I have grown so much. Even from the start of the MTC with him until now, we've grown as a companionship...but I'm ready for a new companion. I clearly still have a long way to go in learning Christ-like love.

 

Last Tuesday, Bishop Richard C. Edgely of the presiding bishopric of the Church came and spoke to us for our devotional! He spoke about conversion, how we help our investigators through their conversion process, and how we help ourselves through our own. He said that he hopes that the day we leave our missions will be the hardest day of our lives. He also spoke about how we as missionaries have truth and power, and that we "don't need to be intimidated by ANYONE." He also mentioned the faith of the senior missionaries and how much they are appreciated in this work - I've heard many things since being here have made me want to serve another mission later in my life, and this talk was one of them. It was a really great meeting.

 

On Sunday, it snowed almost ALL day - it was so beautiful! After the Sunday evening fireside, we got to watch the recording of Elder David A. Bednar's talk that he gave to us here on Christmas. It was just as incredible the second time hearing it! I will never forget that talk - it has definitely made an impact my life.

 

Last Wednesday, we got to be host missionaries! Basically, what happens is the family drives up to the curb at the front of the MTC, drop off their missionary, says goodbye, and they're off! We take the missionaries to get their name badges, ID card, room key, etc, take them to their rooms, take them to get their teaching and language study materials, and then to their classroom where we hand them off to their teacher. It was such a blast, I really really enjoyed it. We get to do it again tomorrow! I'm pretty excited to be helping out again.

 

Think about it - I am only sending out ONE MORE EMAIL from the MTC. I'm so thrilled to be heading out to the field to really begin my service to the Lord. I'm thankful for all of His many blessings (especially in learning this language!) and I'm excited to be leaving in just one week!

 

Much love to you all!

Elder DeLong

10 weeks down, 2 to go! .....and then another 21 months!

I'm officially in the double digits of my MTC stay. This is week 10, and that means I have only 2 weeks left! It's crazy how fast time has flown by. I can't wait to get to Boston!

 

As a quick sidenote, one of the newly-arrived Thai elders seems to be as much of a music nerd as I am. His name is Elder Gibbons, and most nights we get a group of elders together in our residence hall and sing hymns in 4-part harmony. I really miss singing, and I've loved doing this and getting to know Elder Gibbons a bit. Hooray for music and new friends!

 

I love fast Sundays here. It's awesome being in a testimony meeting with the other missionaries in our branch and hearing everyone testify of what they know to be true. I love most Sundays here, but fast Sundays are especially special. That's a fantastic choice of adjectives, I know.

 

So you're all probably wondering about the devotional we had last week to commemorate the MTC's 50th anniversary...the First Presidency wasn't there, I think that was probably just a rumor I heard. BUT there were about 6 or 7 members of the 70, including Pres. Jay E. Jensen of the presidency of the 70, as well as Elder Russell M. Nelson and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland!!! We got to hear from Elder Holland first (my life is now complete. Just kidding, but seriously, he's incredible. I really wanted him to come and speak to us while I was here, and he came, so I can check that one off of my bucket list!), and he spoke to us about honoring the history of missionary work. He gave us an incredible testimony, and said that we are "under solemn obligation" to honor and live up to the history of missionary work in this church. It was really a very powerful address, but what else would you expect from Elder Holland? Or any apostle of the Lord, really? I wish I had my notes with me so that I could share some of his exact quotes and points. Elder Nelson then spoke and told us a lot of this history we are to honor. He shared many incredible stories of the early saints and the missions some of them served. Then, after his talk, Elder Nelson re-dedicated 5 of the 19 buildings here on the MTC campus. It was incredible to hear an apostle pray to our Heavenly Father, much less dedicate some of the buildings we use! Those buildings have been renovated in recent months, and so they were rededicated last week. It was a wonderful prayer and an awesome meeting.

 

Last night one of our teachers, Brother Merrill, was talking to us in Khmae about something, and after a few minutes, I realized that I could understand every word that was coming out of his mouth. I was absolutely thrilled and I felt like I was being flooded with happiness. I love this language so much, and I am indescribably grateful to the Lord for His help as I have learned Khmae. I still have some things to learn, but I have come so far already. I love the Lord and I am honored and humbled to be part of this great work.

 

He has also been blessing me with the strength I need in a variety of ways. I'm still working to get along with Elder Nicholson, and things are better, but I still struggle sometimes. He's helped me with that. He's helped me when I've felt inadequate and incompetent, He's lifted me up in my times of despair and worry. He's strengthened me as I've served Him, and I know those blessings can only increase as I continue to give Him everything I am. I know that things are going to harder, but I'm so excited to get out there and teach these people. Brother Merrill showed us some pictures from his mission last night so that we can sort of put faces to these names, to these "investigators" that we're teaching. It was incredible, and somehow everything became so real when I saw those people. My heart is swollen (in a happy, poetic way) and I can't wait for the 22nd of this month, when I fly out to Boston.

 

Much love to all of you!

 

Elder DeLong

Well hello there!

Alright, we're 9 weeks into the MTC. I can't believe how fast time has flown, and I can't believe how much I've grown, intellectually and spiritually.

 

The other day I was sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch, and looking at all the different name tags that people are wearing. It still amazes me how many languages we can preach the gospel in, and I can't help but think of the primary song - "All over the world at the end of day, Heavenly Father's children kneel down and pray, each saying thank you in his own special way..."

It's so wonderful. On the floor of the building our classroom is, we also have the classrooms for Thai, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, and some Spanish. Just being around all of these different people, I can say "hello" and "how are you", and sometimes "thank you" and "I love you" in several languages now. I can bear a brief testimony in Mandarin! Languages are so interesting and awesome.

 

Last Tuesday night we had Elder Alonso of the 70 speak to us at the devotional, it was really awesome! If you remember last general conference, he gave the talk about doing the right thing, at the right time, without delay. It was really cool to hear him speak!

Tonight, the First Presidency is supposed to be here! I'm so excited!!! It's the MTC's 50th anniversary, so the devotional tonight is going to be a big deal. I'm psyched! I'll be sure to let you all know about it next week.

 

At the suggestion of Sis. Taylor (the one sister missionary in our district here), I've started a gratitude journal. I write things in it that I'm thankful for, obviously, but what surprised me is that once I started writing, I couldn't stop! I've filled up several pages of my little notebook already, and I only started writing last night. The Lord is constantly showing His love unto me, and I am so grateful for His tender mercies in my life.

 

Elder Taylor (not related to Sis. Taylor) and I sang in church this last Sunday! We sang a duet of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief", and it went so well. We were well-received, too. I'm grateful for the chances I have to bless the lives of others and to bear my testimony through music.

 

Speaking of music...as I mentioned before, I got added to the MTC accompanist list, so I've been accompanying musical numbers for firesides and meetings left and right. It's a little stressful, but it's alright. I'm glad to have the opportunity to assist others.

 

And speaking of the piano, I'm teaching one of the Thai-speaking Elders, Elder Adams, how to play the piano. It's really interesting having to get into the mindset of a beginner and teaching them the things I've known for over 12 years now. Those basic skills are second nature to me, so it's difficult to teach them sometimes, but we're having a good time.

 

Another one of the Thai-speaking Elders, Elder Federico, has become a good buddy of mine. He showed me a couple days ago a better way to tie my ties - it was crazy trying to learn, since I've gotten in such a habit these last 19 years. It's all good though - my knots look much nicer now. =]

 

We had a funny experience with one of our "investigators" yesterday. His name is Som, and we had planned to teach him about the end of the Plan of Salvation (Spirit World, Resurrection, Judgement, Kingdoms of Glory, etc.) - that all got scrapped though once we got in there. We were asking him about how he likes church, since he's been "going" every week and he's been "reading" the Book of Mormon. He's really progressing in the gospel, and we asked him if he had any questions about church. He asked us something, and I didn't quite understand what he was saying. I asked him to repeat his question for me, and then I tried to answer it according to what I thought he said. To me, it seemed like someone had quoted a scripture that he wasn't familiar with, and he didn't know where it was. I assumed he meant the Doctrine and Covenants, so I explained to him where that book of scripture comes from and how God gives us modern-day revelation. Elder Nicholson was even more off than I was, and so he goes off on a tangent about how the Book of Mormon and the Bible support each other and how they compare and contrast. After about 15 minutes of trying to answer his question (in our given 20-minute time slot), I asked if it all made sense, and if we had answered his question. He said that what we said made sense, but that we hadn't answered his question at all. He repeated his question again, and I finally got it. He wanted to know how everyone knew where all the scriptures were and how they could all turn there so quickly after the speaker or teacher gave the reference. He was concerned that he didn't know where everything was. I laughed a little bit at my own foolishness, and addressed his worries by telling him that he would learn the order of the books in the scriptures in time, and I promised him that he would be blessed if he continued to read each day. Oh, the joy of language barriers! Not so much of a barrier anymore though, I'll tell you that. The Lord has blessed us so much! I wish you could all hear me now. 

 

I had another experience that I wanted to share from this week - lately I've been praying for boldness and the courage to be able to speak up and talk to complete strangers without reservation. I want to be able to teach with power and conviction to people I've never met before, and be able to bear my testimony to strangers with boldness. That's something I've been scared about, so I want to be ready when I get to the field. I've wanted to work on this, but I'm scared to talk to people, even to set goals to bear my testimony in Khmae to other missionaries here.

In my personal studies on Sunday, I was reading a few talks from this last general conference, and I got to the talk by Elder Holland at the start of priesthood session - "We Are All Enlisted". My goodness, if you haven't heard or read that talk, I would EXHORT you to read it! It's incredible. He calls for more and better missionaries, calling the young men to be worthy and active in the church and to prepare for service, and calling others to preach as well. The main point of his message wasn't what I needed, but there was something he said in there that really, really struck me. He said, "I am looking tonight for missionaries who will...with the Spirit of the Lord and the power of their priesthood, open their mouths and speak miracles." Jumping to the end of his message - "I ask for a stronger and more devoted voice...unbind your tongues and watch your words work wonders."

Wow. Powerful stuff, right? What better pep talk than from Elder Holland! It was a real kick in the rear, and also a motivating message of love and encouragement from the Lord that I needed right at that moment. I realized that I can't afford to keep my mouth shut as a missionary. I have a mission to perform, and I will not let my Father in Heaven down!

 

Thanks to all of you for your continued love and support. =]

 

Sincerely,

Elder DeLong