November 20 & 27, 2017

Family,
This week was a good week. It was definitely more of a normal week! Our mission has a goal to help 36 people enter into the waters of baptism this transfer. To help with that we are doing a transfer long fast as a mission. Each day 2 companionship's will fast until the end of the transfer. It was our zones week to fast and we saw a lot of miracles from it!

Yesterday at church there was a missionary homecoming talk and there were 2 nonmembers who came to it. One lady was in her 50's and she had a 26 year old daughter who came with her. After sacrament the members introduced her to us and she was telling us how she is interested in learning more about the gospel. She was adopted and just recently she had the chance to meet her birth family. She found out that she is a direct descendant of Parley P Pratt! She was super excited about this. She said she needed to find out more about what her family believes in and more about Mormons. She is super awesome and way prepared. We are definitely excited about that!

This Thursday from 9 am until 12 we will meet with the south half of the mission and play sports like last year. I'm excited for that it was fun. Last year I wore shorts and my boots and everyone is expecting me to wear them again this year. I don't know if I will or not. ha ha it is starting to rain a lot more here. Winter is starting to come. It is so crazy to think that it is already the holiday season again. I'm excited. I love this time of year in the mission field. Peoples hearts tend to be a little softer. 

This time of year is a great time to really think about the things that you are thankful for and then give thanks for them. I am thankful for my awesome family and friends and all of the love and support. I am also super grateful for this opportunity that I have to be on a mission. I'm grateful for the things that I am learning and for how much I have grown. I'm most grateful for our loving Heavenly Father and for all that he gives to us and for our Savior Jesus Christ and for His Atoning sacrifice.

This time of year I think a lot of us do give thanks for the things we have but I think we should all remember what we learn in Alma 34:38.

That we should live in thanks giving daily. Let us not forget the things that we are grateful for after the holidays are over but to continue to give thanks for the things we are blessed with.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving!! 

Elder Ethan Stucki
November 20, 2017




Family,

This week was a good week! Even though not a lot happened. We went on an exchange with one of the companionships in our Zone which was pretty good. One of the Elders goes home soon so he is pretty trunky. 

Thanksgiving went really well! Yes. I did wear my boots and shorts to play basketball. I also took my tennis shoes. It was a lot of fun. I didn't know like hardly anyone there. We have so many new missionaries that have come out recently and I was in one zone my whole mission until now. So I have not met a lot of missionaries. So it was kinda cool to meet a lot more people.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with 3 member families. So there were a lot of people there. We got talking about family history and we got on the "find a relative" app and found out I was 4th cousins with one of the members there. So that was cool.

I'm trying to think of what else happened this week but not much. We haven't been able to meet with our investigators they have been sick and out of town. We think one is even ignoring us. So that's kinda lame. Everything is going good and we are having a good time!

I love you all and miss you!

I hope you all have a good week!!

Elder Ethan Stucki
November 27, 2017

November 13, 2017

Family,

All I can say was this week was wild!!! It went by way quick but a lot happened. It started out really well last P-day we went bowling and that was way fun. It was just me and Elder Rudd. The owner of the place paid for us so that was way cool! Then on Tuesday we had 2 really good District meetings and then later that day we set up a lot of lessons with potentials we have been trying to teach.

Wednesday we taught one of the potentials. She is 28 and has 2 kids. The dad left them. Her brother is a convert of 5 years who is super awesome. He is going to be moving in with her soon to help her out. We are excited to be able to start teaching them!  We also had a really good lesson with Sister N. who is an investigator who is super close to baptism. We were finishing up the day and writing in our journals about 10:15 when we got a call from President Rasmussen. It's never good to get a call from President that late at night. The last time I did we met him at the hospital to give a sister a blessing who ate something she was allergic to and got way sick.

     
Anyways this time he asked us to meet him over at one of the companionship's apartments. One of us needed to bring a bag of stuff because this companionship was not getting along. So we needed to split them up. Well we thought it was just going to be an overnight exchange. So I was like "Elder Rudd you can pack and stay the night there." because we had 2 set exchanges planned for Thursday and Friday night and I was going to be gone for both of those so we decided he'd go stay there for Wednesday night and I would be gone the next 2 nights.... Well it wasn't what we were expecting.  

Long story a little shorter it ended up being a 3 day exchange. I was with one of the missionaries in my area and I have only been here for 1 week so I didn't know where anything was at and Elder Rudd was in the other area for 3 days with only one change of clothes. ha ha  It ended up being an emergency transfer and those 2 missionaries were split up. They just were not getting along and it made the work stop in that area. There was a lot that happened and I was just like geez "what else could happen" wrong thing to say...

We got another call Saturday night and the sisters in our zone couldn't stay the night in their apartments because there was a homicide that happened in the apartment complex... So we had to get President and get that all figured out as well. ha ha  It was pretty crazy and we were tired on Sunday that's for sure!!

But in all of the chaos that happened this week our Zone still ended up having the best week with a bunch of investigators found and a lot on date as well which is good!! Elder Rudd and I had some awesome lessons as well!!

It's good to hear you are all doing well at home.
I love you all!!

Elder Ethan Stucki

...I met Sister Mertlich's mom and we have FHE with her brother Jared and his family.

November 6, 2017

 This is me after a long day. I was beat.

Family,

This week went pretty well! It is different being somewhere outside of Enumclaw but I'm starting to pick up on the new area and I really like it here. There is a difference in the feel yes. I'm in more of a wealthy area now. There are a ton of nice big homes and they are on the lake and things but it's nice here I like it. The members are pretty awesome and for the most part pretty missionary minded. So that is a plus! We had the Festival of Finding this week and that went really well! As a zone we found 22 potential investigators. Which was really awesome so hopefully this next week we will be able to find quite a few new investigators from the potentials we found! Seven of those we found in our area so we are excited about that!

It was kinda funny we didn't know that it was daylight savings yesterday. So when our alarms went off we woke up, said our prayers and I went out in the living room. Then Elder Rudd came out after and was like Elder did we sleep in it is 730! We were so confused. Then we looked at our phone and it said 6:30 so we figured it must have been daylight savings and sure enough it was.

Elder Rudd is pretty cool. He is from Gilbert, Arizona. We both came out at the same time but we have never served around each other until now. We got to go to a couple of baptisms this week which was fun. One that was in our Zone and one that was in Renton. It was someone that Elder Rudd had taught in the past so that was exciting!

In our area we have one main lady that we are teaching. She is like in her 70's but she is super awesome. I haven't had a lesson with her yet. I only met her briefly at church yesterday. But she is a sweetheart! She could be baptized right now and she wants to be. Her husband has just been having a lot of health problems so it is hard for her to leave him for to long. I'm sure she will get baptized here soon!! Other then that there are a lot of good things to come. Lots of people we hope to start working with here soon!!

As for what you asked about the importance of scriptures. They are so so important!!! You can read Alma 13:20.  

20 Now I need not rehearse the matter; what I have said may suffice.

Behold, the scriptures are before you;

if ye will wrest them it shall be to your own destruction.

Is it kinda harsh?? I don't know. I do know that it is true! There are so many less active families in the wards where I have served. As I'm sure there are in a lot of wards but as we go and talk to the less active families "the families that don't come to church" we try and figure out why they stopped coming and why they don't come. I kid you not most all of them...  it started with... they quit reading their scriptures.

We go around and we teach the C. P. R lesson to these families. Just like how physically CPR can save your life there is also a spiritual CPR. Church - Prayer - Reading. As we continue to do these 3 things through out our lives it can and will be what spiritually saves us! When we quit reading our scriptures it gets easier to quit praying and even easier to quit going to church. It sounds kinda crazy. Right? Like those things are so simple but it's true. It happens all to often. I am so grateful that we have the scriptures before us. We can read them each day and strengthen our testimonies and our faith in Christ.

It is good to hear you are all doing well!
I love you all and hope you all have a good week!!

...It was like 70 degrees here 2 weeks ago and now it is 32 and snowing. It doesn't snow in Washington usually and it already is. I think we are going to have a wild winter. ha ha

Elder Ethan Stucki

October 31, 2017

 

Elder Stucki & Elder Rudd

 Elder Stucki - Elder Payne & Elder Palmer

Family,

This week has been a really good week! We were able to find 2 new investigators this week and one came out to church also. One of them is named R. and she is super solid. She is from a part member family were the dad is not a member and is really against the church and the mom is less active just because it's hard to go when he is against it. But R. is really awesome she is 18 and just had a boyfriend who left on a mission and she wanted to wait until he was gone to take the lessons because she wants to take them for herself and not feel like she is being pressured into it. Our other investigators are doing really well. kinda -sorta. The older couple we are going to drop because they don't have a desire to change. They are super nice they are just old and kinda stubborn and stuck in there ways. Super hard to teach them because of some health problems and Alzheimer's. 

So I've got mixed emotions right now. ha ha I'm being transferred and it will be OUT OF THE ZONE!!  I have served my whole mission so far in the Enumclaw Zone and have served in 4 out of the 7 wards here. I will now be going to Puyallup as a Zone Leader with Elder Rudd. Elder Rudd came out into the mission the same time I did. So it will be pretty fun to serve with him. I'm kinda sad to leave Enumclaw but I'm excited to see more of the mission. The stake I served in covers half of the mission. Kinda cool. I remember when I got my call I was looking at the map of the mission and I pointed to like the more rural part and said that's were I want to go and that is were I have been until now!! Anyways I don't have much else to say. 

...ya I'm already packed and I don't know how but I have accumulated more garbage then I came out with. I will be getting transferred today so I will be sleeping there tonight. Elder Rudd has been serving there so he knows the area.

...kinda funny you asked if anyone was leaving because my 2 favorite people left. Elder Palmer (Salem, Utah)  and Elder Payne (Emery, Utah) They slept in their beds back home last night!! Weird. I love these 2. Elder Payne the one in the pink tie says he will be waiting for me in Utah with guns in his truck. hahaha

I love you all!!!
Elder Ethan Stucki

Here is a copy of a letter we received today:

31 October 2017

Dear Elder Ethan Wayne Stucki:

I am pleased to let you know that you have been assigned to be a zone leader. Your assignment came as a result of earnest prayer. It reflects the confidence that both the Lord and I have in you to influence others for good. Thank you for your willingness to take on this important responsibility.

Of course, your assignment is a temporary but sacred stewardship from the Lord, not a promotion. As Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught, “There is no ‘up or down’ in the service of the Lord. There is only ‘forward or backward,’ and that difference depends on how we accept and act upon our releases and our callings.” But your assignment does give you both focus and license to lift and help others in a unique way. In fulfilling this critical role, let Doctrine and Covenants 121 and pages 55 – 66 of the Missionary Handbook be your guide. Study them carefully and regularly.

You and your companion, as zone leaders, will by example set the tone for the zone. Show them just what it looks like to obey with exactness out of love and to strive wholeheartedly to be the kind of missionary described on pages 10 and 11 of Preach My Gospel. Help them see what is possible by the way you live. Whether your zone has a culture of casual commitment or wholehearted service will be determined, in part, on your personal conduct. This will especially be true as you go on exchanges with each of the district leaders in your zone.  You should go on a transfer with them once each transfer at a minimum.  Additionally I may ask you to go on exchanges with other missionaries in your zone on occasion. Exchanges provide an extraordinary training opportunity. Plan them prayerfully, seeking to know what the greatest needs of each elder are and how you can best help him. Seek not only to enhance an Elder's skills and effectiveness, but to strengthen his faith and deepen his own conversion. Look for ways to enhance his insights and his spirit, to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5). Elders should come away feeling inspired and illuminated rather than critiqued and criticized.

Zone training will provide you with a great opportunity to teach missionaries in your zone, but your primary means of influencing your zone will be through your district leaders. Build great relationships with them; lift them and help them develop the skills they will need to lead their districts well.

To help focus your efforts, review More Lasting Conversions 2014 regularly. Help the missionaries with whom you work obey and serve out of love, exercise faith to find and baptize those God is preparing, teach the doctrine of Christ with clarity and power, and become progressing missionaries. As you teach other principles, whenever possible, connect them to these core principles to help missionaries internalize them.

Use the scriptures and Preach My Gospel often in your conversation and teaching with other missionaries. Let them see how you use the scriptures to find answers to your own questions and how you engage in the cycle of improvement described on page vii of Preach My Gospel by studying, applying what you learn, evaluating what they do, and then seeking to improve regularly. As you plan together, help them discover the power of setting inspired goals that will stretch them and turn them to the Lord for help. When a missionary's drive to improve is fueled from within by love and faith, he will improve more quickly and more permanently.

As you help missionaries improve, praise them more for who they are becoming than for what others are doing in response to their efforts. While we want to provide missionaries with an opportunity to be accountable for the goals they set regarding their key indicators, changes in heart and character will lead to greater changes in key indicators than talking to missionaries about key indicators will.

Finally, as zone leaders, you will often see minor misconduct that you will need to correct. It is especially important that, as the Mission President’s Handbook states, you “make sure relationships between elders and sisters are in harmony with gospel teachings and missionary standards.” If you become aware of serious violations of the rules, such as missionaries interacting inappropriately with those of the opposite sex, leaving mission boundaries, or engaging in other conduct that could harm the work and endanger their spiritual welfare, please contact me directly and immediately, remembering that your “loyalty is first to the Lord, then to the mission president, then to the missionaries” (p. 62, Missionary Handbook).

Thank you for accepting this calling, and all of the challenges that come with it.  You will find that as you serve those in your zone through inspired leadership, that you will be blessed as well.  May the Lord bless you in this wonderful and important assignment.

Sincerely,

President Sterling A. RasmussenWashington Federal Way Mission

cc: Parents, Bishop, Stake President

October 23, 2017

 Here we are outside waiting for haircuts

 This is my apartment

Family,

This week went pretty well! It started out really great on Monday when we were out tracting. We were out in the farm lands of Enumclaw 2nd ward and we knocked on a door of this older couple and they just let us right in! They were the nicest couple and we shared a part of the restoration with them and they said we are welcomed back anytime. I guess about 4 years ago the missionaries used to stop by but for some reason they stopped and they didn't know why. It was actually kinda funny because they are older like 85 and 83 and he has Alzheimer's. Anyways we asked if we could share a message with them and if we could start with a prayer and they said yes. I said a prayer and right as I said "amen" he stood up and walked over to us and shook our hands and said "thank you so much for coming over and visiting us today" he thought the lesson was already over. It was funny. His wife sat him down and said they are not done yet. Funny things are always happening here! There were 4 other investigators that were found by other missionaries who are now in our ward so this past week our teaching pool in the 2nd ward went from 0 to 6! So we were definitely blessed this past week!

The ward missionary work here is picking up. The stake president is really big on missionary work and is really pushing that right now because the wards here are so small they used to have around 200 people in sacrament each Sunday and now it's down to about 70 in the 3rd ward and around 110 in the 2nd ward. So they are really pushing missionary work which is good. There are tons!!!! of less actives here. It has been fun seeing all the members doing missionary work and then just getting excited about it! Missionary work brings so much joy as we do it!!

Other then that we didn't do much this week. I guess we had zone conference which was good! We basically just watched a worldwide MTC devotional that Elder Bednar gave back in June. It was so good!! I'm not even gonna try to describe what he said cause I will just butcher it but basically he like explained deeply the tree of life and what it all means. He also talked about Alma 32 which I thought and like everyone else thought it was about faith, which it is, but he also talked about how the seed is "the word" and then he talked about how the word is the scriptures and prophets and a whole bunch of things but it was really good!!!

Anyways it's good to hear you are all doing good.
Sounds like the Wittwers and Dylan had it pretty wild!!
I love you all!!

Elder Ethan Stucki



Bishop Ferguson asked for the missionaries in the wards testimonies to share with the youth for missionary work so I would share with you.

    Thank you for the letter and the prayers! I have definitely been able to feel them while I have been out here! Missionary work really is the greatest thing that we have an opportunity to do while we are here on this earth. Before coming out on a mission I really feel now, that I took the gospel for granted. I didn't really understand what it all meant and the purpose of the gospel and how much it will really truly bless our lives as we live the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is so humbling to me to think that Jesus Christ loved each of us and His father enough to take upon him the sins of all the world. Not just you and me not just the righteous not just those who say they believe in him but every human being who ever has and ever will come to this earth. This suffering caused Him "the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore" (D&C 19:18) That suffering is what makes it possible for each of us to return to the presence of God!

Now this is something that I'm sure all of us have heard a million times growing up. I know I have. But I never realized how much this actually meant, or how much of an impact this has on my life and the life of others until I came out on a mission and have witnessed the mighty change that this brings into peoples lives! I have had experiences I will never forget. Experiences that have changed my mission and also changed my life and the way that I view things and others. Experiences I know I would not have had unless I had chose to serve a mission. My knowledge and love for the gospel has grown so much! After all this life is really about preparing for the world to come. I love the scripture in D&C 130:18-19

18 Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. 19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life

through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much

the advantage in the world to come.

The only thing that we will be taking with us into the eternities is our knowledge. Not the car we have or the money we have earned or any of the worldly things, but the knowledge we have gained. I am so grateful for this mission in which I have been called to serve in and represent the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that God lives and that he sent His son into this world so that we, through him, can be perfected in him and come to have the things in which he has. I know that God called Joseph Smith to be his prophet, seer, and revelator in these the last days and that Joseph Smith was a tool in the hands of the Lord in bringing the FULLNESS of the everlasting gospel back to the earth today. The Priesthood has been restored. The same priesthood by which Jesus was baptized. The same priesthood by which Jesus performed all the many mighty miracles like healing the women with an issue of blood, causing the blind to see, raising Lazarus from the dead, and many, many more! Miracles still happen today as well. I am grateful for this gospel and I know it to be true!
I love it!
Elder Ethan Stucki

October 16, 2017

 (they made a cake for an investigators birthday and when he was not home

Elder Holden smashed it in his own face)

Family,

This week was a good week. It went by way fast to. I went on two exchanges. The first one was with Elder Chistensen in the Buckley 2nd ward.  That went really well. The other one was with Elder Holden in the Victor Falls ward. Elder Holden is awesome. I can really tell that he just wants to work hard and be obedient but yet still make the work fun and enjoy it. It makes the mission so much better when you can have fun. The kid cracks me up I will send some pics of him later.

Elder Heal and I are doing good. We were struggling there for a while to even get anyone to talk to us. Lately that has been picking up and we have found a ton of potentials in the past couple weeks. What we are struggling with now is just getting people to answer their door on the return appointments we get set up with them. We had a zone fast this past week and I really feel like we are going to see a lot of miracles coming for the district and us in our area. So I'm excited!

Funny you have a talk you have to give on the priesthood. Saturday night about 8 o'clock once again the 2nd ward calls us up asking us to give talks because they can't get anyone. The wards are small so people have to talk quite often. Anyways so we had to talk again yesterday and it was on the priesthood!! The things I really focused on is how the priesthood is absolutely essential in all of our lives! If we didn't have the Priesthood we could never return to live with our heavenly father or our families after this life. The Priesthood is what allows us to perform saving ordinances such as baptism and also makes it possible to seal our families for time and all eternity. Many miracles and blessings come from special priesthood blessings we are able to perform in the name of God. True to the Faith says something along the lines of "God gives his Priesthood authority to worthy male members of the church for the salvation of others." We should always strive to live worthy of the priesthood so that we can use it when we need to! The Priesthood is amazing!!

We also went on a really fun hike last p-day I will send some pictures. We hiked up Mowich Lake and could look down over the lake. We were also at the base of MT Rainier! It was sweet! I'm glad you are all doing good. I love you all!!

...yes, I love the mountains!!
...I sent a birthday card for Madi to you so could you get it to her? I just sent it today so hopefully it gets there in time!

Love you all!!
Elder Ethan Stucki

October 9, 2017

Family,

This week went pretty well. Elder Heal and I have been struggling to find new investigators lately so we decided to come up with something we could sacrifice. So we did a car fast. On Wednesday we were on foot for the whole day mostly just finding people. We went the whole week and found a few potentials but never found any new investigators. Until Saturday the hermanas gave us a call and they found an investigator for us! We were super excited and were definitely blessed. Although it's kinda fun when you find investigators yourself. We will take them any way we can get them. ha ha

Saturday night we were out walking and we got a call from the Enumclaw 2nd ward young men's president asking us if we could do a fireside for the youth on Sunday night at 7:00 on Christlike attributes. I swear we are always getting called to do things last minute.  ha ha
But it's fine. Whether I have 2 months to prepare or 1 day I will probably prepare it the day before so it really doesn't matter. It was pretty fun. We got a feeling that we should do it a little bit differently and we started out asking the youth if they felt like there was a lot of expectations in the church. Obviously everyone thought there was and we made a huge list of tons of expectations there are in the church. Then we talked about how in 3 Nephi 27:27 Christ says what manner of men ought ye to be, even as I am. So then we talked about a lot of Christlike attributes and how as we develop them and start to live them we will start to see and understand the expectations that the church has. Then they won't seem so much like expectations anymore but we will realize the blessings that come from them as we do them! 

One of the attributes we focused on was knowledge. It is so important to gain a knowledge of the gospel in this life. I love the scripture in D&C 130:18-19

18 Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life,

it will rise with us in the resurrection.

19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life

through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much

the advantage in the world to come.

    Our knowledge is the only thing that we will be taking with us into the next life. As we gain a knowledge we "will have so much the advantage in the world to come."

This past week I also got a letter from my mission President congratulating me for serving for 1 year and he invited me to take some time to ponder the past year and make some new goals for the next year. I took some time to go out by a lake (he said in his letter this was okay to do)  and ponder this past year. I definitely  feel that I have grown a lot since I came out. Growing up in the gospel I definitely feel like I took it for granted a lot of the time. I didn't really understand the importance of it all. I have grown to love the Book of Mormon so much. I feel my days go so much better as I really read, ponder and pray about it. From reading the Book of Mormon I have also felt my love for the Savior grow. I am so grateful for His atoning sacrifice and for the infinite amount of opportunities we have to strive to become better and more like Him.

   As I was thinking about what goals I needed to set for this next year nothing was coming to my mind. Now I know that there is a lot I need to improve on and become better at but nothing specific was coming to my mind. I ended up going on with the rest of my day not feeling like I got a specific answer to what I need to improve on this next year. Later that night we got a call from the young men's president of the 2nd ward asking us if we could do a youth fireside the next night on Christ like attributes. When he said that it kinda hit me like that was the answer to my prayers. That one thing I need to work on this year is studying more on the life of Christ and striving to obtain Christlike attributes. So those are some of the things I will be working on for this next year is studying more of the life of Christ and working on developing His attributes.

That is something I would invite each of you to do to. Study more of the life of Christ. I know that as we do so we will be able to feel his love and presence more in our lives. I love each of you! Have a good week!!

YOUR THE BEST I LOVE YOU!!!!!❤
Elder Ethan Stucki

October 2, 2017

Family,

This week went by so fast it was weird. Like nothing even really happened either. I don't know how it went by so fast. I did go on an exchange this week with Elder Medley back in the Victor Falls Ward. It was fun. It is always cool to see the wards I have served in again and talk to the members.

As far as General Conference goes it was amazing! I'm sad it is already over. I remember conference was always so hard to sit down and have to listen to it on nice comfy couches in our home and it seemed like it took so long!! Now I watch it at the Stake center on the wooden pews and they are not as comfy but yet it just flies by! All of the talks were so good. I was going to bring my notebook today so that I could write some of the talks but I forgot it at the apartment. So I will do my best from memory...

I really love the talk from Gary E. Stevenson about the solar eclipse and how he tied it into the gospel. I liked how he put it all in perspective of how small the moon is from the sun but yet it still covered almost all of the light. Then he said how even our thumb, if we let it get close enough to our eye, will block our ability to see the sun. The same goes with the adversary. If we let things of the world get to close to us, it can, and will, block our ability to see what all the Lord has in store for us.

Along with that I forgot who said it but they talked about looking at the things we can't see. Sometimes we don't always see the full picture what the Lord really has in store for us. I think it was Elder Hallstrom that talked about miracles. I like how he talked about how we should have full faith that the Lord can and will show us miracles. But if we don't get the miracle that we are looking for, we need to have full confidence that the Lord has a plan for us. That's something that is really hard to do. To put your full trust in God. It takes a ton of faith. Even though I know that God has a plan for each one of us it is still hard at times. 

I always think of that picture where there is a little girl and she is holding in her arms a small teddy bear and then you see Jesus and behind his back he has a Huge teddy bear and he is asking the little girl to trust him and give him the little teddy bear. It is hard for her to give up something she loves so much because she doesn't yet see the bigger thing that Christ has for her.

I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It allows us to become so much more then we ever could become on our own! We just have to first TRUST in God. I forgot who said it but someone also talked about how we should Fear Not. It is all over the scriptures. I started marking it and it is in there quite a bit. But it is so true, as we have faith in God and put our TRUST in Him we will have no need to even fear. As long as we do what he asks of us, because he has a plan for us.

There were lots of talks about the Family Proclamation. So I decided to memorize that too! I wish I could go to college on a mission because I have been able to learn things so much better out here then I ever have before. I started memorizing it on Saturday night and I memorized all of it by Sunday morning! I don't know how. Well I guess it could be because I hung it up above our shower and took a 40 minute shower that night before bed just reading it aloud but hey it worked.

One last cool thing I thought of about conference. It was sad that President Monson couldn't be there this conference, but it was almost like he was. I don't know if anyone else noticed but I swear just about every talk given, they mentioned or quoted something that President Monson had said before. It was pretty cool! 

Anyways I hope all is going well back at home. I love you all. Have a good week!!
Elder Ethan Stucki


Here is part of Kailor's letter he sent me this week. It really made my day!

......................... Gospel Principles was awesome! Our ward mission leader taught about Priesthood, and he's like I feel like someone in here needs a blessing.  Anyway our recent convert said he wanted one.  It was such a great experience and it made me think like how special it is that we have that authority to be able to act in Gods name, to perform miracles, cast out devils and all the other blessings that goes along with it.  It is just so awesome.  I have been thinking about all my mission buddies a lot and the great examples they are to me.  Ethan is who got me out here and he is just putting in work I'm so dang proud of him, and my son Kaibo down in Mexico is just puttin' in work and surviving earthquakes ha ha prayers to them!! We are doing the best work known on the face of the earth and I just love it.  There is some rough times, man, I'm not gonna lie, but when you see lil' miracles everyday it is so awesome.  I hope you all have a good week and I love you all! - Elder King......................................................

(this made my day!)