Heart, Might, Mind, & Strength : Temple Time, A Change of Scenery, and General Conference!

Hey everyone!

I have so much to tell all of you because this was one of the busiest weeks I've had in the mission field so far, but I'm also on a tight schedule. I'll keep it simple, but sweet. Also this week, we are becoming a Facebook mission!

The first part of the week-- normal missionary life (biking, adventure, teaching, and laughing). Thursday I got to go through the Mesa Temple for the first time. My enthusiastic Mission President surprised us all by joining us for the session. He loves to wink, a lot, and I even caught him a few times winking to missionaries during the session. Haha! The Mesa Temple is such a neat temple, it has the older architecture like the SLC Temple, but is so special in its own way. I love the wonderful thoughts and feeling I received in the temple, and I got to keep those feelings with me for the rest of the week. If you didn't believe the church was true before entering the temple, you would sure know it coming out.

After the awesome experience at the temple, it was moving time. What happened was Elder Kuewa and I moved into a really nice apartment that the Beverly Ward Elders used to live in. They're now living with the Zone Leaders (who we used to live with), so we have an apartment all to ourselves. Yes! The greatest part is that there's carpet! I can now pray easier, do push-ups easier, and live easier. Once we moved into our new suite, we helped the other Elders move into theirs. The housing coordinator, Elder Schmitt, is a really hard working guy that doesn't mess around. We started moving everything into the trailer around 2:00 and finished unloading all of it (at the new house) around 6:00. It was a great feeling of accomplishment when we were done, but Elder Schmitt was just getting started. We all piled back into his truck and he took us to a restaurant called Culvers. It was actually out of the mission boundaries, so all of us felt a little rebellious and nervous. Elder Schmitt said that as long as we were with him, we'd be fine. After a much needed meal, we were each assigned a shopping list of things we needed to buy for the new apartments. We finally finished our hard days work and climbed in bed around 11:00. Oops. One of my favorite parts of serving a mission so far has been the adventure and excitement I get.

When I thought this week couldn't get any better, I remembered we had General Conference. Members invited us to their houses for breakfast/lunch for all sessions. The members are so kind down here, and it's good to know that the church is true and strong and real wherever you go. When I'm with the members, it almost feels like I'm back in my small mountain town. I've never sat down and watched a General Conference session that went by as fast as this one did. When the last talk was given, I was begging for more because I had learned and felt the Spirit so much in the last two days. There were many talks that I loved and I don't think I am able to pick a favorite. One of the main messages I got this time was the importance and power of the Book of Mormon. I loved President Nelsons story of the tribal king and how he had come to love the Book of Mormon more then diamonds and ruby's. I asked myself; is the Book of Mormon more valuable to me then these things? One of our less-actives said he would take the diamonds and buy a mountain of Book of Mormons to give to the world. I really loved this quote from President Nelson: "The full power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is contained in the Book of Mormon. Period."

The last great adventure this week actually happened this morning... at 5:00 AM. Elder Kuewa and I accepted the challenge to hike Camelback Mountain with the district, and I loved every second! My legs were aching, but it was the greatest feeling once I reached the top. There were two thoughts going through my head during the hike. First, the song "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel" kept running through my head. Second, I thought about the Mormon Message "Mountains to Climb." If you haven't seen it, you should watch it ASAP. It touches my heart every time and I feel an overwhelming sense of Jesus Christ's love for each of us.

You are all wonderful, and there is no one else like you on the planet. You are special and magnificent. In our Heavenly Fathers eyes-- all the beauty in the world and in the universe does not even begin to compare to the beauty of who you are and who you can become. Thank you for your examples. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Stay safe and be brave.

Love,

Elder DeGraw

Mesa Temple trip:

Mesa Temple

Mission tour with Elder Wilson

"The cats I've caught, and what we've named them."

"Our new apartment has a Christmas room under the stairs. I put on my one and only sweater (given to me by Elder Gibbons) and took a picture with my bestie."