Dear Mom, Dad, Eric, Belle, and Coffee,
In a matter of hours my companion will be entering the TaoYuan airport and boarding a plane that will take him back to his
loving family. It's a new move call and a time for change once
again. The rest of my senior companions are heading home to begin their
lives. My companion has been telling me for three months all of the
things he plans to go do when he returns home and I am surrounded by
non-missionary life on all sides. It's mentally straining to be certain,
but I've come to realize something from all of it: I have become resilient.
I don't know whether I have always been firm in obedience and diligence or
whether it has been developed on my mission, but I now know that I WILL be
obedient and I WILL work as hard as I can no matter what. I know why I'm
here and I will not "lean unto [my] own understanding." The
Lord is my King and I know my purpose. I will not falter, but will
persevere in all things. I can't wait to start a family of my own -- one
that is built solidly upon the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I will read with my family daily out of the scriptures, I will have family home
evening every Monday night, and I will pray twice a
day as a family. These things will build a barrier of eternal protection
against the horrible temptations of the world. President Bishop told
Elder Croft to make sure he does these things because no matter how much you
want them to be, THEY WILL NEVER BE CONVENIENT. You must prioritize and
you must do them. I feel like all principles in the church are like
this. Church, Sabbath observance, tithing, the Word of Wisdom, and all
other commandments are INCONVENIENT, but they must be obeyed if we want the
blessings that they bring. I want an eternal family (children serving
missions, a temple marriage, and worthy to be a servant of the Lord).
This is what I want and I must change now in order to be remotely prepared for
that time. I must change. My time is short and I can't imagine
accomplishing the change that still needs to happen, but I will do all I can.
Tell BYU I will be returning on January 6th.
Elder Croft and I baptized yesterday.
President Blickenstaff comes on on Friday. I don't know how to feel. I will miss President
Bishop so much, but he doesn't want to be the special Mission President and he
doesn't want to be better or worse than President Blickenstaff. He's so noble and
righteous. It will be a huge change at any rate.
How was World War Z? There wasn't much in the way of analysis of
it in that email. Any good? How are these movies coming out?
They seem like an eternity away. They're so strange to me now. So
alien. These new missionaries come on and talk of the Hobbit and The Dark
Knight Rises as relics and to me it's newer than new.
I got your package, but I never purchased any clothes or food or
anything. I'll think about it. There's no point in buying clothes
now though because I will just be getting rid of them again once I get
home. I feel like that's a bad idea. I should just wear them until
the end. It will be much better for money's sake. Granted,
everything is cheap in Taiwan. Actually, I wanted to run an idea by
you. In Taiwan, you can get hand-crafted, tailored exactly to your body
shape suits that are incredibly attractive for about 4000-9000NT which is about
$130-300 USD. I don't know how that compares to a normal suit, but what
do you think about it? If I did something like that at the end of my
mission for example, what would you think? I just wanted to run that by
you. I 'm not thinking about it too much, but I just saw an incredible
one that a missionary just bought. It is really nice and from what they
say it's cheap. I don't know if that really is or not though. They
are honestly like Super Star Suits. They construct them according to your
body shape, etc. Not just tailor a premade suit. They make it for
you. Super cool.
I love you all so much. I'm getting my new companion here
shortly. He is Taiwanese. My first Taiwanese companion. His
name is Ye Wei Hao. He is was finishing his
training as I was beginning to be trained so we have known each other for a
while. It should be a lot of fun. Keep working hard. I'm fine
here and I will not let up.
- Elder Woolsey
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