Elder D 12.19.12- "Reminds me of both Santa Claus and Garfield"

Here's my letter to home.


My beloved brethren and sisters. How humbling it is to be here in the Great Ohio serving the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been so blessed to be out here serving my fellow man and sharing with them the message of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. I am so privileged to be a member of this great church and to be one of His disciples I have seen Him not only bless my life but the lives of the people that I serve in Beaver Creek. Me and my Elder spent 10 hours with a man, who reminded me of both Santa Claus and Garfield, chopping wood with him and becoming his friend. He was so grateful for our help and for taking the time to talk to him. We tracted into this man and had only talked to hm a few moments. I know the Lord has led us to Dan.
There are now 2 more people on date to be baptized in the next 30ish days. Dave Finch on the 29th and Duane Schutrum on the 12 of Jan. We have done our best to get these men in the waters and it finally payed off. At the beginning of this transfer, Me and my Elder had set 2 goals for a baptism and a confirmation for weeks 3 and 4. We are currently in week 3 and Kate Wilson is being dunked this Saturday. Dave is next week. God has helped us to fulfill these goals. We have pushed the mission goal forward from it originally being 500 at the end of the year to 501. I did not think this would be happening but it is. The Lord as blessed me with participating in all the lessons following up to baptism. Beaver Creek is now on fire with the Spirit. I thank Him everyday and night for calling me to serve in this area with an amazing companion. He is teaching me to be as bold as I have to be.
The missionaries serving in Xenia, the neighboring area, has taken the time to giving the missionaries they know  a Star Wars name. I have been named Darth Vader. I went on exchanges last week with Elder Daw from Xenia and he changed my perspective on being a missionary as Darth Sidus did to Anakin Skywalker while my Elder Maughan has been dubbed C-3PO because of his intellect. I thought it was very entertaining.
There isn't much more to say now. All my thoughts have been recorded for your entertainment. Please enjoy. Hand right me letters. Missionaries love HAND written letters.
Love, Elder Ephraim Kade DeCoursey 

 

Amicherie last email from the MTC

Family,

This week will be my last week here. I am having a great experience here with my companions and with the investigators that we have been teaching.

One of them is a sweet lady named Ivelsese. The first time that we met her, she was a put off from our message and we weren't really able to build a relationship with her. The second time we met with her we went in with an attitude of wanting to just be her friend and answer any questions that she had about the gospel. As we went in there was a totally different feeling. We have become really close over the last few times that we have taught her. We invited her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, to find out for herself if it was true. Yesterday when we met with her, she told us her experience with reading the Book of Mormon. As she read the story of Sariah doubting Lehi because her sons hadn't come back from getting the scriptures, Ivelsese was able to become friends with her (her words not mine). She said that she was able to understand how Sariah felt when she started to doubt if her husband was really a prophet of God because she has been doubting that Joseph Smith was a prophet as well. After reading about this experience, she prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true and also to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Upon finishing her prayer, she waited for an answer to come. It wasn't until that night, when she was about to fall asleep, that she received her answer. A thought came to her mind that she knows wasn't her thought. The thought was," The book if true" At that moment, she knew that was the answer to her prayer. She was so excited that she started to have family scripture study every morning before the kids would leave for school. They would read from the Book of Mormon and pray to know if this is the way that they should go as a family. Needless to say they feel really good about the church and are now working towards baptism. Which is great...except she is already a member. She is just role playing an investigator for the sake of helping the MTC missionaries learn about how to teach investigators. Normally, she doesn't tell missionaries that she is just playing an investigator however because of how close we had become she shared the story that I just shared with you about her real conversation. Super nice and sweet lady.

The food here is good. The water tastes like I liked a wet rock. Needless to say the water here is horrible. I have been buying powerade and bottled water just to get by. I'm learning a lot about teaching in general here. I'm also learning about how to help others come closer unto Christ.

Ma, I will be leaving the MTC at 5:00am on Wednesday for the airport. My plane doesn't leave the until 8:30am so I should have some time to call home. Dear Elder me what phone you want me to call. Also, I probably wont be getting on the computer next week because of just getting into Minnesota thing. I got the package, Thanks! Are you guys in Utah right now? Dear Elder me and let me know.

Dad,
Happy Birthday! I love you! Be safe.

Dallin and Louie,
I miss you sooo much. I hope that school is going good. I know that you will be fantastic at anything you do. . I love you guys. I wake up in the morning and think that I have to go wake you up so that we can hang out and I can bug you but then I remember where I am. PS.....you smell! :)
I hope that you got my letter and that you are going to write me that story. Have mom show you how to get onto dear elder and write me a short letter. I want to know about what's going on with you and your crazy stories. You should probably send me a picture because you know I love them even if they freak me out.

Love,

Sister D