Mom Says to Write More!

Hey y'all,

So I got an email from my mom saying they have to tell people "as far as we know he's doing great." I guess I need to lengthen out my emails a bit. 

I really am doing well. I love being a missionary. It's hard, often we have long stretches with little success but there are so many little miracles that make it worth it. 

So a little more about my companion. His name is Elder Yates, he's from Oregon and lives on mount hood. He is very service oriented and is always looking to do stuff for people. We ended up busting concrete and then pouring new concrete foundation on Saturday for a deck that one of our investigators is building. We do a good job together in lessons because we both know our stuff and are seeking to follow the spirit. It's fun too because he might play college basketball when he gets home (I can still beat him 1 on 1 though). 

As for the work it was a good week and a hard week. We had one of our best days in a long time on Friday. We were in homes teaching with members almost all day and those lessons each felt like they really helped our investigators feel the spirit and see the things they can do to progress.

It started off with our investigator that is progressing the fastest. His name is Roland and he's about 70 years old. He referred himself to the missionaries by calling the mission home and asking for a large Book of Mormon. When we dropped it off to him he asked, "is there any way you could come back and explain the church a bit more to me?" Naturally we got super excited and when we came back four days later he apologized for only reading 10 chapters! (We normally struggle to get people to read a full chapter in a week.) "I'm really just trying to take it slow and soak it all in" he said. So we explained the restoration to him and asked if he would be baptized and he looked at us and said "of course." He explained that his wife died and he's lonely so he really wants to have a place for fellowship and something that will inspire him so that's why he asked for the Book of Mormon because he knew so many Mormons through the years that seemed so happy. He keeps saying "if only I had this 40 years ago."

He's definitely an example of someone that has been prepared by people that have been planting seeds. When we explained the priesthood to him he said "yeah, you have melchizedek and aaronic right?" and we asked him how he knew that and explained that he worked with a Mormon once that he was driving home from the airport and explained it to him. He said "yeah, people said he would go far, his name was Monson, have you heard of him?" and we said "Thomas?" and he said, "yeah, did he end up becoming president or anything?" We're pretty sure he's already a member and is just messing with us at this point. 

It's super inspiring to work with him. It shows me that the Lord is preparing people all over the place and we just need to find them. We biked past his place ten times before we got that referral from Headquarters and all that time he was waiting there being prepared. He's going to set a date for early December so hopefully I'll still be around for that, not that I'd complain if my visa came in but I really love this man. He has some back issues and so originally when we talked about when he would be baptized he said "you gotta be patient with me, I'll do it but I want my back to be well for it. So how's... sayy... March?" Ahhh, I'm sure glad he's healed well since the blessing we gave him and he feels good enough to do it sooner.

Well that's been the big miracle from this area. There's been little ones too though. Of course it feels like a small miracle any time someone invites us back. We just met a kid my age that plays basketball and believes in God but doesn't go to church and we really felt the spirit when we talked with him and as I encouraged him to read the Book of Mormon. We're going back on Wednesday so we'll see how that turns out next week. 

I wish I could write about all of the people we're teaching but I can't. Here's one more though before my companion drags me away to go get our p-day stuff done. His name is Emilio and we're teaching his whole family. He really knows how important God will be in his life as he raises his kids. The cool part is that when we stopped by the first time after he said we could come by some time he told us about a dream he had the night before where we were riding our bikes in the rain and there was a light around us and we were completely dry while all the elements were clashing around us. He's been really good about having his kids join the discussion and hopefully they're coming to church next week. 

I'm having a good time, I love sharing this message, I'm getting better at staying on my bike, and I love you all.

Que perseverem ate o fim,

~Elder Della-Piana

Bike Crash #1

Hello Everybody,

Colorado is a mighty interesting place. Maybe it's just being a missionary here. In fact I'm sure that's what it is.

President and Sister Murdock
with Elder DP

I met my first false prophet this week. He claimed to be "Bishop, Apostle, Prophet and Reagent of the United States of America." He talked a lot about how many billions of dollars Obama owed him by divine right and how the United States would struggle until he received it. It was actually kind of sad because he looked like he was probably homeless and it was a bit scary how serious he was about it. I also had a drunk guy toast me and then yell at me to go back to Utah. Ahhhh good times.

I also had some awesome experiences. Last night we had a devotional with Matthew Holland, President of UVU and son of Jeffery R. Holland. He shared with us how he knew the Book of Mormon is true. He said that he went to the mountains to pray and try Moroni's promise but he prayed and fasted and read and kept doing all these things and felt nothing. Finally after a crazy attempt to summit another peak he was on his way back down and he had the line "line upon line, precept upon precept" running through his head. When he talked to his father about it he realized that that was how he had developed a testimony. He already had one. He had learned bit by bit as he experimented upon the word and found that it was true by experience. It made me think of my own knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I am sure that the Book of Mormon is the word of God because every time I read it my mind is enlightened and I gain new insight and feel that peace that can only be explained as the spirit. Although for me it was not one spectacular moment of the Spirit as some people have described I believe that our witness of truth can come in many different ways as we seek it humbly.

One super cool experience I had this week was that we had a super motivational Zone Meeting and I got really fired up to talk to everyone I saw and the first person we came across gave us a conversation! That never happens. He had actually investigated the church previously and talked about how he had half-heartedly tried Moroni's promise and didn't feel anything after he read a couple pages. He talked about how he assumed that other people had and that not every member of the church was dishonest or hadn't received it but he expressed a desire to hear people express how they had received that promised witness. We explained to him what a Fast and Testimony meeting was and how he could come to a meeting where he would feel that and then I shared with him my experience of how I came to believe that the Book of Mormon is true and that the teachings of this church are true. After all of that it turned out that the day after he was leaving to move to Minnesota and so we won't get to hear the end of the story but he told us he would go to a Testimony Meeting on Sunday and try it out again. He was a super humble guy and very astute. He posed some really good doctrinal questions that were sincere and we were able to clarify misunderstanding as well as explain to him what we believed. It was an all around superb experience. It was cool to see how sometimes you will plant a seed and never know how it turns out.

So our area is one ward and we bike the entire distance. I'm still getting used to the whole biking thing. The other day we were going down a hill and I had a loony-toon-esque crash. I was reaching back with my right hand to get a flashlight from my bag as it was getting dark and we were headed down an unlighted trail. As I was doing this my companion slowed down quickly to make a turn. I reacted quickly so I wouldn't run into him and hit the brakes. Unfortunately my left brake is my front one and as we all know when you hit your front break your bike tips forward. This, combined with my exceeding momentum, caused me to catapult over my handlebars. I almost caught myself on my feet but I lost it and went down hard on my hands. Fortunately there was a patch of grass to my left and I was able to roll myself onto the grass so my looong skid would be a bit softer - whether this was by my own quick instincts or maybe some kind of Angels in the Outfield type thing I am as of yet unsure. My wrist has been a bit sore since it and I was pretty scraped up but other than that I came away in one piece which was good.

I love you all, thank you for the emails and letters. You are all in my prayers and I'm thankful for yours as I serve the Lord.

Ate Mais,

~Elder Della-Piana

Conference Weekend

Chilli and Cheese on Eggo Waffles
(Normal people don't even think of doing this - missionaries do)

There are so many things I want to write about today but I don't have very much time. This weekend's conference was so sweet!!! I came away from each session with added understanding and increased desire to do the Lord's work.

Adam said it snowed hard and melted quickly
(Snow is tricky when you packed for BRAZIL)

This week we had a lot of hard days, but many rewarding experiences on top of them. It's hard to talk to so many people that are not interested in even talking to us. We've had days where we have spent hours trying to contact people that had been interested or trying to meet new people and had no success. It's hard to have a message that is so precious to my life be so easily rejected by other people. Even when we just offer a card so they can contact us with service opportunities we get shot down regularly. Fortunately, I know the Lord's hand is in this work and there are people out there that we will be able to help.

We got to the email late and we're getting kicked out but we are excited about one investigator that apologized for "only reading 10 chapters" of 1 Nephi and has been prepared by positive experiences with members throughout the years. He even knew President Monson from work. He rocks.

Sorry this is so short, I love you all

~Elder Della-Piana

Denver - "Fifty-two eighty"

OI!

I thought about writing this in Portuguese and making you copy it into google translate so I could practice my Portuguese while I'm here but that's not very fair. I don't think my Portuguese is good enough anyways for that to work.

So, Colorado has been sweet, they call Denver the "fifty-two eighty" because that's the elevation. I'm in a biking area which is kind of nice because it's getting my cardio back into shape. The other day we had an appointment on one side of our area and then Dinner right after on the exact opposite end, we ended up doing near 20 miles on the day.

It's fun though, one of the coolest things is meeting so many new people. In our mission we call it OYM or "Open Your Mouth" so we'll just stop and talk to any given person about whatever and then at the end we'll offer to pray with them or come by and share a lesson with them and if that doesn't work we ask if they know anyone else that might be interested. We've had some success with it, a good number of people will at least let us pray with them but fewer have let us come back for a lesson. We've had some fun with it too though, like the other day we stopped and shot around with two guys and played some basketball with them for a bit and ended up sharing a spiritual thought with them. They didn't seem all that interested in becoming investigators but we at least had a cool conversation with them.

There are some cool people that are investigating the church though. It is so inspiring to see people seeking to turn their lives around. There is a man that we are teaching that has had a hard life with drugs and jail time but he is learning so much about the church and has a real desire to change. He has learned how good he feels when he seeks to turn to God rather than to his old habits. He's cleaned up so much and has overcome some hard trials even in the past week. I shared the scripture with him from Ether 12:27 about how God gives us weakness so that we may be humble and that God promises that if men "humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." I truly believe that principle.

I've been learning to eat like a missionary too. This is our first Preparation Day so we've been making due with what we had until we get to shop today. We ate lots of grilled ham&cheese sandwiches but the best meal was when we heated up some canned chile and threw it on toasted eggo waffles - we were hungry.

Well I gotta go, sorry I don't have pictures this week, I'll remember to bring my camera next time we email.

Love you all,

~Elder Della-Piana

First Note from Lakwood, Colorado!

Hey Hey Hey!!
How's it going all! I just have a few minutes to shoot off a quick email to let you all know my new address and let you know Colorado is SWEET!!! I love my mission president so much already and I love the people so much already. We had an awesome first day in the field. We had a couple lessons with investigators and less-actives that were so fun to be a part of, I fixed the breaks on a bike for one investigator, had breakfast with a member that gave me a bike to use for a little while, and just all around had a great day. My trainer is Elder Yates and he's way cool - he is 6'7 and loves to play ball so this is going to be SWEET! The field is so awesome, yesterday was day 1 and it was seriously the coolest thing. A lot of interesting people that weren't easy to teach but were easy to love. I can tell he's an awesome missionary and that I'll learn a bunch from working with him. He looks for opportunities to serve at every chance we get.

One big thing in our mission is OYM - Open Your Mouth. What we do is just whenever we see someone we look to strike up a conversation and even if it doesn't turn into a gospel discussion we try to leave them feeling good about missionaries and knowing that we would love to come by and pray with them or share a message or even just serve. It is so cool to just go out and talk to people all day and just enjoy being around people. We contacted so many cool people. 

One of my last days at the MTC we did an activity where we went around to the pictures of Christ in one hallway and looked at them as we read accounts of his earthly ministry from the Bible such as when he walked on water, taught in the temple as a boy, washed the feet of his disciples and appeared to Mary after his Ressurection. As we read those accounts and I considered Christ's life I was so touched by what my savior has done for me. I want so badly for everyone to feel this joy that I feel as I follow the example of my savior and as I improve when I make mistakes.

I love you all and I love hearing from each one of you, 

Ate Mais,

~Elder Della-Piana

Lakewood, CO

Last Letter from the MTC

Querido Familia e Amigos,

Mason, Sara and Adam
OCTOBER 2000

After six weeks at the MTC it's strange to be heading out. Sometimes while we're here we've forgotten that there is an outside world almost, hard to imagine a place where people don't have nametags, walk around with phones and hold hands with the opposite sex. Every once in a while we will see a teacher or a senior couple pull out a phone and we're like WOAAH!! WHAT IS THAT? Honestly that's not even an exaggeration. Whenever we walk outside my companion points to the mountains and says "Those are fake," and some days we question reality when they look just a little too much like a fake backdrop for an old movie....

Speaking of my new companion, I HAVE A NEW COMPANION! Yes that is companion number FIVE in SIX WEEKS. I guess I must be difficult to work with or something because I have just blown through companions. Actually what happened is that he is headed to Toronto Canada Portuguese speaking so he needs to be able to understand the Continental Dialect which his first district was studying to go to Africa in Mosambique and Cape Verde and then he spends this week studying the Brazilian dialect with us. It was actually really hard to see his district go because we grew almost as close to them as we did as a district. They left Monday and Tuesday morning and I couldn't believe how much I was missing them after only knowing them for a few short weeks. 

Elder Langdren and I have had a great time together. Since this has been my first time with just one companion it has been a new experience and I've loved every second of it. We have a room to ourselves as well which is nice to just have a bunch of extra space and it's been really cool to just have deep conversations in our down time. It's been cool for both of us because we both want to be super diligent and obedient and we have had the Spirit edify us so much more as we have worked for it

.

So one of the things I've thought about the most this week and at the MTC in general is the scripture in Alma about "Having the image of God engraven upon your countenance." There are some videos that we get to watch on sunday nights that are recordings of previous firesides at the MTC from Apostles and Prophets and I'm pretty sure they are only available here. The number one video is by far the one from Elder Bednar at Christmas 2005 about the Character of Christ. He talks about how the Character of Christ is that when the natural man would turn in, Christ turns out. He describes the natural man by paralleling it with the Cookie Monster "I want cookie NOW!!!" and how sometimes we as missionaries say "I want Baptism NOW!!" or "I want investigators NOW!!" and we forget our purpose. "It's not about you" he says, "so quit worrying about yourself and get to work." As a missionary I am a representative of Jesus Christ. That means I am standing at doors and sitting in lessons acting more or less doing what Christ would do if he were ministering. In order to do that effectively I have to turn out as he would do. Elder Bednar says that as he talked to recent converts and asked why they let the missionaries keep teaching them they said that often they understood very little of what the missionaries were saying, whether out of complexity or inability with the language, but they let them back because of how they felt. I hope to be able to be a conduit of Christ's love for the people of Colorado and then those in Brazil.

On a fun note my former companion Elder Moore caught a little bird the other day. It was cool and he was petting it and everything and I know that he loves baby animals and that's a calming thing for him while he's away from his farm so I was happy for him. So we went to lunch and he kept it with him just kind of holding it and petting it and next thing I know a Sister made him jump and the bird goes flying around the cafeteria!! It was ridiculous. He caught it back pretty quickly but not without making a bit of a disturbance. Good times.

One last note I saw my man Sean Clancy here the other day. He came to my table and looked past me and after asking if we were speaking spanish or portuguese asked if we knew an Elder Della-Piana, then I did a double take and realized who he was and it was super awesome to see him. 

Well I'm signing off for now, I love you all. Know that Christ loves you too and wants to hear from you so pray and then search the scriptures because that is where you will find answers.

Love,

~Elder Della-Piana

A Visa-waiter in COLORADO

Hey y'all!

President & Sister Murdock
Colorado Denver South Mission

So we got our reassignments today and I'm headed to the Colorado Denver South Mission on Monday!! I'm so pumped. My flight is at 7:24 and I land in Colorado at 8:46 and from there I presume I will hit the field straight away! I'm so excited to hit the field. Honestly I could care less where it is because I'm just ready to start serving. Honestly it will be kind of nice to adjust to being a missionary in English before I try it out in portuguese, I just hope it doesn't take too long for my visa.

COLORADO DENVER SOUTH MISSION
(UTAH on Left and WYOMING at the top)

We had an "in-field orientation" today where we got a bunch of awesome training about how to be super awesome missionaries. One of the things that stood out to me the most is that you can do good things your whole mission and not fulfill your purpose, to fulfill your purpose as a missionary you have to consistently do the best things. What an inspiring concept in any facet of life, if we consider in every decision what would be the BEST choice rather than just a good one then we will always find satisfaction in whatever we do.

Okay well I've got to run. They just gave us a few minutes tonight to let our family know about travel plans and reassignments.

I Love you all!!

~Elder Della-Piana