Week 5

I will be leaving for the Marshall Islands in a week and a half, and excited to be heading out to the mission field soon. Last night we had skype calls with people who spoke Marshallese. It was difficult between the bad connection and not really being able to understand the language. It was not too nerve wracking because she was a 19 year old BYU Hawaii student, Marshallese was also her second language and we felt a lot more confident. I gave her a promise that if she read her scriptures and prayed everyday she will see blessings. Sometimes I feel like an inadequate missionary because I forget my prayers or to put on my garments sometimes, but it is a work in progress that I am getting better at. At the end of our skype call she quickly told us about her Great Uncle in Marshall Islands who she took to church. She told us where worked and his name and that when we served in Majuro to go find him and start taking him to church. Overall really great experience. Another great thing is that we will have general conference right before we leave and we will get to watch it the very next weekend in Marshallese on the islands. The Utah County grandmother accent still puts me to sleep, but I am working on staying awake and am getting better at it. On Sunday we participated in the Ogden temple rededication.It was really amazing to see some of the Church Presidency in their white suits. The spirit in the room was really great and overwhelming. It will be sad not being able to go to or even see a temple while serving my two years. However that Suva Fiji temple will be mission temple, so it will be cool to know that I have done baptisms for the dead inside. The mock investigations that I have been doing our going well this week I can teach somewhat of a gospel lesson without notes and we committed our mock investigator to baptism and he said yes with no hesitation. My little cousin Faith Bingham wrote me a letter saying how her brother is already two and my other cousin just turned 10. It is sad to think that I will miss a lot of time in their life but I know that serving a mission is the best example I can give them. That a full time mission will not only greatly bless me but all of my family as well. I miss everyone, it has already been a month and I feel like no time has passed at all. So it will be no time until I will be back. I am so glad that I made the decision to come on a mission, and now that this is the best thing I could be doing in my life right now.