Christmas Season in Estonia from Elder McGavin!

"I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."

Update from Elder McGavin!

Hey Everyone!

Wow just another week down.  Time just keeps going its way weird the warp you are in on your mission.  I was in Riga for 2 days this week on an exchange with the Assistant to the President.  His name is Elder Nielson and he graduated a year ahead of me in high school at Olympus. He is a great guy.  He told me quite a bit about how transfers work and how missionaries are chosen to train. Next week we have our Christmas zone conference. I will have to do a lot of teaching as the zone leader next week at zone conference, lets just say 6 hours worth over a 2 day period.  Preparation Day will be on Wednesday next week, just to let you know.  

I have a good story to share with you.  This week we have spent a lot of time working with active members.  We have actually had really good success receiving referrals from them.  One of the members gave us a referral of her son in law who works as a shoe smith and locksmith at one of the local stores.  She said to go there and try talking to him but to not mention her name.  We went the next day and scouted out the situation.  She had explained how he looks and when we walked in the grocery store and saw his little shop off to the side, we knew it was him.  We approached him and asked him if it would be more worth it to buy new shoes or repair the hole that is on Elder Barney's heel.  We got talking to him and he told us all of the pros and cons.  We told
him it is hard to find shoes that will last for 2 years, the 2 years that we are here as missionaries.  We were slowly easing the conversation in that direction.  In the meantime we asked him if the grocery store would have a certain light bulb that we needed.  He asked where we are from and we talked a little about that, and we told
him that we are here to talk to people about God.  We asked him if he believes in God or not.  He said he does but he has never felt a large need to learn any more than he already knows.  He said, "But my mother in law
goes to sunday school somewhere here in Pärnu."  "Oh really," I replied, "What's her name?" He said, "Zoja..."  Then we asked "Zoja Idvani?"  ..."Yeah thats her!"  We told him how awesome she is and how good she is at coordinating game night.  We mentioned that she always brings her grandkids along. He said that those are his kids.  We told him that the Book of Mormon is the difference with this church and that it proves the Jesus Christ's true church was restored. We talked a little longer, and he said that he would be interested in talking another time.  There was a nice little Euro change wallet he was selling that Elder Barney was interested in that will give us a good excuse to go back.  We walked away after meeting Mario and just thought to ourselves, that couldnt have gone better!  We meet with member, member gives us referral, we contact referral by happen chance, and now referral wants to meet.  Elder Barney and I are going to talk about that for years to come and still be amazed at how well that somehow turned out.  We have some other really promising referrals that we are excited about from some of the other members. We kind of realized that if President Hinckley said missionary work is through the members, we need to give it an extra hard push and see what comes from it.  Our zone is doing well with many baptismal dates going around right now.  

The Christmas spirit is in the air.  As the song goes, "I'M DREAMING OF A (person dressed in) WHITE (on) CHRISTMAS" Everyone is hoping for a baptism on christmas cause that would just be awesome.

I love you all.

Vanem McGavin

Merry Christmas from Elder Heaton

I love you all and wish you all a Very Merry Christmas. Let us all remember the spirit of Christmas isn't about gifts. But about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Remember, he was born on a "silent night" in the most humble of situations. I love you all!!
--
-Elder Heaton

Philippines Bacolod Mission

Elder Heaton's Year Mark!

Elder Heaton has been a missionary for 1 year officially!

Elder Taufui's Baptisms!

Thanks so much for everything. So this passed week was pretty fun!!! We finally got this one guy baptized. His name is Sitiveni and he's been taking the lessons for about 6 years b4. His wife is a member. He was suppose to be baptized like a month ago so the day b4 he was suppose to get baptized, the branch president called us, he had to wait cause he's not married and he's staying with his ex wife. So i guess they got married b4 and then a couple months after they got a divorce, but they still lived together. So finally we had the wedding then the baptism. It was good! The next day he got the priesthood. Then after, i was able to go see another baptism in my last area but ya so good. This was another part member family. 


So b4 me and my companion were working with them, but man couldn't really get them to commit to do anything. It was just hard. But finally the sister missionaries to get the mom in the lesson. (the member) and i guess it all worked out. And b4, the mom, she had a lot of anti-mormon things and she felt like when she was baptized, she said that it felt like she did it cause she was forced to do it. But at the baptism she had a few words and she was telling everyone that she just started to come to church and started to pray, man the spirit was there so strong. Hecka tight and then her husband, that just got baptized and his testimony was way tight too. He got up thanked everyone for everything. Then started to bare his testimony. And he was telling everyone about a dream he had and that if felt like it wasn't a dream it felt like it was real life. And he said that in his dream that he got baptized and he said it felt like it was right for him and his kids to do. And he also said that when he came to the church that day he felt like he was baptized. So it's always good to hear new converts bear there testimonies. And its the spirit is way strong when you get to see them get baptized when they are making that promise with God. The best feeling man just makes ya wanna cry!  hahaha its tight tho I'm so blessed to help these peoplez out here. 


But ya it's cool how God can communicate with us and let us know what were are doing is right. Just wanna share an experience I had this last week and it had to do with a dream. K, I had a dream and I was in a group or something and someone was asking us what our favorite scripture was. and everyone started to share theirs and the person b4 me gave theirs Mosiah 3:7. So I was like what the heck! Mine is in that same chapter. So the morning came and I forgot about the whole dream. And I was studying the plan of salvation and when I was pondering about the atonement, I was thinking of my dream for some weird reason. And I remember the reference of Mosiah 3:7. I didn't know what it was going to say so I looked it up and it was talking about what Christ did and what he went through cause of us. It's tight cause at that time I was studying the atonement of Christ and man it was crazy so now its one of my favorites scriptures and I know that God does love us and he does communicate to us through every way, in our own way. thanks for everything 
love ya 
BYE

Elder Heaton's New Friends... ;) ...and a few updates...

(The Real Friends...)

Yeah my mission president is an amazing man. I love him. He's just called me to be a district leader and trainer so I get a greenie fresh from the states! haha but it will be interesting. so elder stokes {companion} is transferring. elder nasis and headman are also leaving so I'll be getting 3 new elders in the house. so we will see what will happen. im excited. a bit nervous for the new leadership but i know with the Lord's help I can do it. I'm loving the work.

The work is going well I am really learning to make and acheive goals. Goals are way important. it helps give us direction in life. in the things we are doing. I wonder if that's why some of us don't progress to our full potential. We find excuses instead of ways. I once told my companion. A good missionary finds ways not excuses. So effective goals and planning for goals is extremely important. Without them we don't receive revelation for ourselves our work or anything else. Goals are what the Lord has given us to help us find what we want in life. It is in the setting and achieving of goals that we progress to happiness, wealth, health, success, and even godly perfection. I have strong testimony that goals help us to move along with life and not get stuck into a plateau. God's plan is a plan of progressing. Being better than you were yesterday. I know thats true.

Being a representative of the Lord is even better but like all things it bring lots of responsibility. if I don't do what im supposed to do or what Christ would do how on earth can I get them to hear this message of truth? How can I show them that what I'm teaching are the words of Christ? Like in spider man, "with great power comes great responsibility" how true it is. We have seen some amazing things here and I don't think that they will stop. I'm loving this work and loving all I'm doing.

Airport Shenanigans... On to Peru!

They had to be at airport at 4:00am to catch a 6:00am flight that got cancelled! This was the day after the ‘big blizzard’ that hit us. Long story but they got another flight out and arrived at the MTC in Lima at 2:00am (12:00am MST) Nov 24th. Dane is the one in the funny Peruvian hat!

Elder Madsen's last Provo update!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Provo MTC

Thanks mom so much for all the packages you sent me. I love all of them and so did my comps, district and zone with all of the treats lolz. I’m doing great and all is well here. I’m totally focused and barely think of home at all. I’m getting lost in the work but can still do better. Things are hard but the spirit is strong and I love it here and love what I’m doing. I can’t believe it’s been 2 weeks since I got here. Wow time flies. I can’t wait to get out to Peru and can’t wait so serve the lord. I’m gonna send a lot more letters and stuff home today when I write to tell you more about stuff. I love you all so so so so much. I love my family and love the gospel and love my mission work. I got to go to the temple and was able to see Uncle Mike again today and was able to give him a huge long hug at the veil. That felt so amazing and I really felt the spirit when I did. Tell him thanks and that will probably be the last time I go to the Provo temple while I’m here cause we leave at 6 am next Wed. We might try and do a Tues sesh but we will see what happens. Well hope all is going well at home. I love all of you so so so much. Keep the letters and stuff coming I love them and tell Lynda and Judy and gma Madsen thanks for the letters. You all will be getting letters from me today hopefully and keep the letters coming. But I want you to know that I love all of you so much and I’m doing great. Don’t worry about me. I love it here and all is going amazing. I can’t wait to be in Peru in 8 days. I’ll write a lot of letters and send them home soon. No worries. Love all of you so much and I’ll talk to you soon.

Dane

Photos from Elder McGavin!

Elder Madsen Provo MTC Update!

Wednesday November 10, 2010

Provo MTC

Hey family,

Sorry I forgot to tell you my companion’s name is Elder Biliter. He’s from Florida and went to BYU Hawaii for a year so he is a surfer dude and hates the cold but he’s nuts and we get along perfectly together. Even though he’s a Cougar, I still love him lol. He wants Erika to write to him lol.  Thanks for writing to dear elder. I get those and letters everyday but emails only on pday which is on Wednesday.  So my roommates are so so awesome and so funny and my district is so tight and so funny. We have 8 elders and 4 sisters in my district so it’s a good size and they’re all awesome. Our zone is all Spanish and they’re pretty sweet too. One of my elders in my district wants an autographed book by John if that’s at all possible. It’s been a roller coaster of emotions this week but I can’t believe that a week has gone by already.  It was long days but fast weeks. It’s crazy.  I love the spirit here and the work is so so hard. It’s the hardest thing I have ever done but I’m loving it and I’m not gonna quit!!  We get up at six twenty am every day and have class and study time for so so long. Ahh it kills me but we get exercise time everyday so I won’t go insane and get too fat. I’m eating so much here. The food isn’t the best but it’s not that bad. The MTC is pretty sweet and the spirit here is strong. Today we got to go to the temple and I got to see Uncle Mike and it was so nice to see him and it was really nice to go to the temple. It recharged my battery. Good luck with the Rosetta stone. Start now, you’re gonna need it. Spanish is confusing but I’m getting there slowly but surely. I hope I get fluent before I go to Peru but doubt it lol. Tell momma Heaton I love her and I hope I can get on to see the blog. I love you mom and dad and the girls too. I can’t wait to see the family pictures. Give Zeus a big hug for me and let him sleep on my bed lol, I miss cuddling with him. Hope to hear from you soon and give my love to everyone.

Peace and much love

Elder Madsen

Elder Madsen and Elder Biliter

Provo MTC District

Elder Madsen's first letter from the MTC!

So today was pretty sweet. The MTC is so so so so sweet. I got to see Jace, Devin, Sam Sherrif, Eric, and Bobby Shiazawa. I’m lovin it and I can’t write again till next week but it’s all good. I’m trying to get settled in and we’re just getting use to the rules and what’s going on. I got to wear a orange dot so people know I’m a rookie. and my comp is so so so so so sweet. He’s from Florida and there is another companionship that is going to the same mission as me the same day too. I’m so so so stoked and I’m ready to do this. Forward this to whoever wants to read it. Anyways stay strong and have fun. and tell everyone I love them and I’m having a blast. My district is sweet and my comp is way tight. Well I’ll have more next week. Much love

Elder Madsen 

Dane

Elder Madsen entered the MTC on November 3, 2010.

He will be serving in the Lima, Peru East Mission.

Devin

Elder Rowley entered the MTC on October 27, 2010.  
He will be serving in the Kennewick, Washington Mission.

Elder Goldhardt's Letter!

Below is a letter Elder Goldhardt sent to Momma Heaton.  He can't send email to anyone but family, but was able to send a scan of a handwritten letter.  If you want to read it bigger, just click on each page to enlarge it!

Elder Taufui and his toys... :)

okay here is a picture of me and my Fijian companion at a preparnes fair thingy, but ya i had the coolest experience the other day. so every week we have a "blitz" its were we go and we tract from 6-8 on Sunday night. and we go on little exchanges but ya anyways, i went with elder Li the first missionary FROM china to Come to America. anyways it sucked at first, all the houses we knocked no wasn't trying to listen so this one house we knocked this lady was so nice she said we could come in, i think she let us in because of my charm.. na jk but no funny thing is she is from Fiji, she's half Fijian half indian but anyways the nicest people so we taught them pretty much about our belief and touched up a lot about the resto, and the bom

. oh ya she had every religion belief in her house. she had buddah, jesus, little saint statues, and so we asked what religion she was and she said that she was a child of god, or a daughter of god, but it was pretty tight cause the whole time we were talking i didnt feel uncomfortable with them or anything, man prolly the best lesson i've gotton out here on the mission, she for sure felt the spirit man! no joke so i read to her the last two paragraphs from the intro and i asked her if there was anything that stood out to her. man and then the husband came in and was like are you trying to convert me and i think i said ummmm, ya but all we are doing is sharing our message and just having you ask god if its true or not. and then i committed them to be baptized and she said she'll ask in jesus's name if the book is true man this lady was just looking at me like a little puppy wanting to hear more. hecka tight, then i was like can i get a picture with you guys cause i havent met any ones that is like you guys. daang so i hecka got a picture with them. they were so tight but im pretty sure she'll get her answer soon  YADIDIMEAN hahah sike. but it was hecka cool. 

    but ya miracles happening here in my area. like this lady straight out of tonga came here to cali to have her baby here. she's staying with the ward missionary leader. and last week she just had her baby blessed. but she took the lessons b4 but the main thing that was holding her back was her husband down in tonga. his name is pretty big in the CHURCH OF TONGA. like i guess his grandpa almost became the president of the church so he's pretty active in his church. but ya that was the thing holder her back was him cause she didnt want to loose him so yesterday at church the relief society spoke in church and she found out her answer!!! good thing the old ladies talk in tongan cause Asinate the one taking the lessons doesnt know much english. but i guess when they went back to the home from church the ward mission leader (who stays with her) said, how was church, and the lady said that today was a special day at church. and it was during sacrament meeting. and so thats when the ward mission leader invited her to be baptized on the 30th of this month so freak man she's ready to go. we're just praying for the hubby right now to accept her being baptized b4 she heads back to tonga man its hecka crazy out here.

Elder McGavin's Year Mark!

Elder McGavin has been a missionary for 1 year officially!  

Elder McGavin's first fight!

After coming back from service at Vend Petrov's on Wednesday, we caught the number 5 bus.  Elder Broby and I were in our regular clothes cause we had been chopping wood.  Elder Lane and Elmer actually helped as well but they were in the proselyting clothes.  They had a lesson directly after.  We all got on the number 5 bus.  We pulled up to the next stop and four kids got on the bus and made their way to the back, where we were sitting.  They all looked like they were about 20 years old.  They started speaking to us in Russian and then when we told them we speak Estonian they started speaking in Estonian to us.  They were clearly Russians though.  The one kid who I am going to call Jerry for the purposes of the story, was talking to Elder Elmer, and saying a few things in broken English.  He was pretty short, had short brown hair and had a Brazilian soccer jersey on.  The other kid or Rasmos for story purposes, was about 6 feet tall, blonde hair, and he was smoking on the bus.  Believe it or not, that is even banned in Estonia.  He was a little bit tipsy and when we turned the corner he fell back against the door, and the door luckily didnt open, it just kind of opened out a little bit but springed back in.  The other 2 kids were just kind of over by themselves.  It was obvious they were all somewhat intoxicated with either alcohol or drugs or something.  The two kids off by themselves, or the followers of the crowd, may not have been as intoxicated.  Rasmos and Jerry were talking to us. 


 They knew we were Americans and that we were missionaries.  Even though we were dressed normally they knew we were with the other Elders.  The other Elders got off at the next stop to go to their lesson and we stayed on the bus.  Rasmos looked at my watch and said, "Oooh, look how blue your watch is!  Where did you get such a blue watch?"  I am pretty sure the face of my watch was tripping him out with whatever chemicals he was on.  He looked at my watch and said, "Let me try it on..."  I told him no, that he cant try it on, he can only look.  He insisted again that I let him try it on.  I told him no.  He demanded and I refused.  He started to grab at it and try and pull it off as he was saying, "Come on just let me try it on!"  He was getting extremely forceful and demanding and wasnt taking no for an answer.  His attitude was changing a little bit, and I didnt want there to be a problem so I finally told myself he could just try it on, and I hoped that this would avoid any problems.  He took it off my wrist and put it on his.  It didnt even fit him, and it barely snapped shut. We started to get closer to center, where we needed to get off and I told him, "Okay give me my watch back now."  He rolled down his sleeve and said, "What watch?"  I thought to myself, "He wouldnt dare, he doesnt realize who he is messing with."  It was immediately clear to me what was going on.  I told him to just give me the watch back and there wont be a problem.  He told me no again.  I told him I would call the cops if he doesnt give me the watch.  I also told him I wasnt going to leave without my watch.  


At this point Jerry got up and came over and grabbed me by the collar.  He looked me in the eyes and said "It WAS your watch, and you arent calling anyone!"  I somewhat chuckled inside that this little Jerry thought he could intimidate me.  They were just a bunch of punks.  Finally I went over to Rasmos, and grabbed him by the wrist.  I started to try and shimmy my watch off of his wrist.  He raised his fist and told me to get off of him.  He started backing away as I still had his wrist.  He kicked me in the middle of the bus and was getting frustrated that I wasnt going to just let him get off scotch free with my watch.  The interesting thing about the whole thing was that all this was happening and all of the many people on the bus were just watching.  Finally after I just kept telling Rasmos to give me the watch or I will call the cops, A lady said, "I will call the cops dont worry about it!"  When Rasmos saw that she was calling I think he got scared and it was right as we were pulling into center.  He backed off the bus, when the doors opened, and I still had his wrist.  We were on the ground now, and before I knew it Rasmos clocked me on the side of the head with his fist.  I kind of ducked to avoid another punch and he came from underneath and blasted me in the forehead/top of my head, with his elbow/forearm.  


I couldnt believe it.  The reality set in.  I was at the main bus station in Tartu, Estonia, in a fight.  I looked over out of the corner of my eye, and saw Jerry and Elder Broby in a fighting position.  Broby had his fists up by his face and Jerry was trying to swing at him.  We were in a brawl in the middle of Estonia with some Russians, over MY watch.  My first fight in my life, when I was a missionary.  My adrenaline got pumping but there wasnt much I could do.  Rasmos was just trying to run away and all I could do was hold on tight to his wrist and slowly wiggle my watch off.  In the mean time he clocked me a few more times to the head.  Somehow he distanced himself from me and kicked me on the side of the head as well.  At one point I saw Jerry coming after me for the double team and luckily Elder Broby shed him off, and took care of him the whole time.  Elder Broby was about twice his size.  Finally I bear hugged Rasmos from behind, held him tight and wiggled my watch off.  Once I got the watch, They all ran off, knowing the police would soon arrive.  I couldnt believe that Elder Broby and I were in a brawl in Estonia.  It was literally a brawl at the bus station with plenty of people watching. 

TAMAZUNCHALE, MEXICO?

     How's it going? So guess what? I'm in MEXICO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been here for 2.5 weeks sorry I haven't written yet but I'm really strapped for time here. I'm in a town called TAMAZUNCHALE and it is a very humble town but I love it haha. Spanish is coming slowly but surely and only with the help of the Savior. 


We have a very small branch here of like 30 and like 19 or 20 activos it is not like everyone thinks Mexico is. Everyone here is stauch catholic and we will be lucky to get a couple baptizms here in the next couple months. Sorry I don't have any pics my camera sorta broke but I'm working on it pronto haha. 


My comp Elder De La Fuente is a native Mexican that doesn't speak a lick of english so it is kinda hard to communicate but he's teaching me spanish and I'm teaching him english. So far I have taught him 'knawm sayn' which is slang for 'do you know what im saying', 'i hate my life', 'dont drop', and 'good morning bishop how are you today' hahaha!


well i gotta go
te amo mucho


Elder Hedin

Elder McGavin Update with a few old pics!...

 Kallid Sõbrad,

     A mission is a wonderful thing.  It is a new adventure, a new language, a new culture, a new life... The list goes on and on.  The word wonderful or "suurepärane" as it is said in Estonia is a good way to sum up a mission.  I have only been a missionary for about a year now, so I have only seen the first half of the blessings that come from doing the Lord's work.  I have learned some valuable lessons, that I otherwise wouldnt have learned with out becoming a missionary and coming to Estonia.  I have learned that God knows us all personally.  He knows each of our needs, and exactly what ways we need to grow.  He gives us certain experiences that prepare us to be better people.  He gives us tasks that he knows if we complete, we will untap some more of our full potential.  Life isnt easy and missionary life is definitely not the easiest part of a lifetime, but I have come to realize that this is truly where I belong, and where all young men this age belong.  

Estonia is a beautiful country, with a beautiful culture, and wonderful people.  The history here goes back centuries and centuries through years of occupation by other countries.  The general feel about religion is for the most part on the skeptical side.  It is hard for people to identify any good that religion has done for them here.  The longer I am here the more I can see from their viewpoint and feel for them as we try and address there concerns.  Missionary work here is difficult.  We are still able to see success though.  We are still able to see God's hand in our every day work as people are prepared to hear this gospel message.  

I had a recent confirmation that the Lord really is preparing people for us to teach.  We have been teaching a man and his living companion for a while now.  They have a little boy as well.  I contacted him on May 28th, 2010 so it was quite a while ago.  We taught them twice at the first and then they went on vacation for a while and couldnt meet.  It just seemed that they werent extremely interested but every time we called them they said we could meet and that they wanted to meet.  Just recently we started teaching them again.  Last week as we were at their housing talking to them, his companion started talking about things that are unexplainable.  She said that a few months ago he woke up one morning and told her the dream he had had the night before.  He saw a guy, whom he thought was God.  That was the first impression he had that he saw God in his dream.  The guy didnt speak to him, but when he woke up, he felt like God was trying to speak to him, trying to send him a message.  They discussed the dream and decided that it was something special, but didnt know what to think about it.  That was the morning of May 28th.  That day he took his son into the city and that is when I approached him and asked him if we could share a wonderful message from God about his restored church.  He willingly accepted and everything is history from there.  They are really taking this whole thing seriously by investigating the church.  They realize that this dream he had wasnt a coincidence.  They are wonderful and are coming along.  It made me realize though, that it wasnt a coincidence that I was right there, placed in his path.  It is a testimony that we always need to be working hard as missionaries, doing our best to always be talking to people.  We will never know who has been and who hasnt been prepared and therefore we need to talk to everyone and eliminate any chance.  

Miracles are evident in every day missionary work. Week to week we can notice the Lord's hand in the work.  For example, this last week was a wonderful week here in Tartu South.  We came off a good week the week before thinking it couldnt get much better.  We worked hard though, and the hard work paid off.  We were able to find a lot of new people who are interested in hearing about the gospel.  On Saturday we met with a young man.  I was going through my old planners calling people that had been contacted a couple months ago and I came across him.  We set up a lesson and met with him on Saturday.  He is a younger guy about 23 years old.  He is shy and held back but very humble.  As we started to talk with him he mentioned that he had been thinking about baptism lately.  We taught him about the restoration, and towards the end he said that he feels like everything is correct that we talked about.  He had a good feeling about it.  Luckily we had a member with us and he was able to explain to him that that was the Holy Ghost testifying to him about the truth of this message.  We asked the investigator at the end of the lesson if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper authority from God.  He said he will.  We set a date for October 2nd.  On Sunday we had 23 lessons at 7 pm at night.  The exact same number from the week before.  My companion and I were very pleased with this, but we looked at each other and said, "We have to get one more.  There has got to be someone out there that wants to be taught and hear about the gospel, someone that can be brought closer to Christ."  We were determined to get one more.  We said a prayer before we walked out the door and we asked that we could find someone to teach.  I dont know about my companion, but I had the idea that I wasnt going to come back in until we had found that person.  I am pretty sure my companion had the same thought.  So we went out and starting heading towards the teaching center.  We started to make our guesses on how tall the man was going to be that we teach.  What color of hair he is going to have.  How old he will be.  We were ready as can be to find someone who was ready to find us.  We got into center and starting talking to some people.  After about 5 minutes a man walked up who had been an investigator referral a while ago.  We never had the chance to talk to him.  He looked a lot different than our guesses had been but I knew he was the one we needed to teach.  He was willing to talk and we ended up having a wonderful lesson.  He must have thanked us numerous times for our willingness to talk to him.  He said he gets really bored here without his family.  He really enjoys talking to people and he is thankful that we are his friends.  

It was a great lesson for me to see the hand God has in everything.  We were able to pray in faith that we could find just one more person to teach before the end of the week and our prayer was immediately answered.  We were able to end the week with a slam dunk, being on a spiritual high, knowing we did our part this week to find those prepared for the gospel.  I know that this is the true church.  I think maybe that is the largest lesson I have learned in my first year as a missionary.  I know when I talk to people about this gospel, that it is the truth, the truth restored the Joseph Smith.  I would advise anyone considering going on a mission to not consider it but to just do it.  Work hard, and get about a year into the field and you will know why you did it.  It is sometimes hard to imagine the future, especially a future as a missionary, but it is even harder once you are a missionary to imagine the past without your past as a missionary.  Ma tean et see kirik on õige.  Mina olen tänulik oma tunnistuse eest, oma perekonna eest ja oma koguduse eest.  Ma tean et kui meie usaldame Jumalat, me suudame teha kõiki asju.  (I know that this church is true.  I am thankful from my own testimony, family and ward.  I know that when we trust God, we are able to do all things.)  Always do what would please God and you will find that this is most pleasing unto you as well.  I am not a Lord of the Rings fan, but this is a good quote that can be compared to Joshua 1.

"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!"

We must never give up in a time of adversary.  We must always fight, fight for what is right.  Fight for the true Church of Jesus Christ on the earth today.  Always stay strong and never, ever give up.

Armastusega,

Vanem McGavin 

With Love,

Elder McGavin

с любовью,

старейшниа мкгэвин