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