Morgan Letter 3 / 2014 Kona, Big Island, Hawaii 1-27-14

Dear Family!

What a great week I have had here in Hawaii. This last week has flown by so fast, its hard to believe that I'm sitting here at the computer emailing the family again. But maybe thats because we have been extremely busy this last week! 

So first miracle I want to tell everyone about happen on Thursday. We had an appointment with Kona and Maile at 1pm. Our Ride had to cancel last minute, and we had no car still. So we decided we would just start walking to our appointment, knowing it would be like an hour long walk making us a little late. So we are walking on the side of the Highway, and Elder Painter says to me " That would be cool if a member gave us a ride." I was like "Yeah but there is no way thats gonna happen, we are in the middle of no where, and there's not much members who live out this way." Like 10 seconds later we see a car driving towards us in traffic pull off the opposite side of the road. So were like wow, maybe there gonna give us a ride. So the Car gets closer and I notice its an older man with glasses. He gets even closer and I'm thinking,  Wow he looks really familiar, I wonder if I know him? He gets even closer and I'm like Wow he looks kinda like our Mission President, President Warner. Finally he is straight across the Highway from us, and I'm like Holy Smokes thats President Warner who pulled off the road in his car!! He asks if we need a ride, and we say yes, and he picks us up. He told us that this morning he decided to fly to Big Island to drop in at a couple Elders Pad to check up on them. He dropped in on Waimea Elders, Waikoloa Elders, and was headed to Ka'u Elders at the bottom of the Island. So that's where he was headed when he saw us walking. So he changed his plans and wanted to come to our lesson at 1pm with us. 

 

The Lesson went so amazing, the spirit was there super duper strong. Everyone was able to share their Testimonies of the Plan of Salvation. It was probably one of the best Plan of Salvation lessons i have ever been in. We shared lots of scriptures and learned so much together. President Warner is an awesome teacher of the Gospel! Kona and Maile were grateful to have him at the lesson with Me and Elder Painter. It was a total miracle for President Warner to see us. I was thinking about how everything had to perfectly align for that to happen, and i know Heavenly Father had a big hand in that. President Warner is only on the Big Island like once every 6 weeks. If we had left our house 1 minute later, we would have missed him. Or If President Warner hadnt stopped at Wendy's Drive-Through on the way to Ka'u, he would have missed us. There was a million things that made the timing perfect, and it was super cool to see how everything worked out so perfectly!

 

So Friday we got our Car back from the Shop FINALLY!! It was in the shop for 10 or 11 days. I guess when there is any damage to the car on the side, the insurance makes them replace the whole side of the car from bumper to bumper. So they replaced a lot of framework, and had trouble welding it because it had the outside layer, then a re-enforced steel framework behind that, and then another one behind that or something. So thats why it took so long, plus we are in Hawaii, everything gets done at a slower pace here, especially on The Big Island. 

Saturday was a day of Miracles! So we did a District Flood in the Kona 1st Sisters area. So for hour and a half we tracted and found so many awesome people. They were all super nice and prepared for the gospel. We got 3 return appointments and 5 other people who said for the Sisters to come back and teach them. Then we busted our butts the whole day, trying to visit everyone we hadnt seen in a while because of losing our car. So we ended up with 8 lessons that day, and 9 new Investigators just on Saturday alone! It was a super amazing day! Its gonna take pages and pages in my journal to write everything that happen that day! Heavenly Father has been blessing us so much!

Well I love you all, please pray for the Salvador Family, we are trying to get them to Church! 

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Love Elder Morgan Durocher

 Haha I made this balloon animal at home for fun! I just had the idea and it worked out super good!

 Some members took us to the End of the World, where we were watching the huge waves crash up

 This was a huge wave that came and splashed Elder Painter, and Nate and Sophie. You can see Nate at the Bottom of the Picture looking up in horror at the huge wave!

 A sweet hand drawn Islander Design thingy!

 

Ethan's Letter 3 / 2014 Santa Rosa, Argentina 1-27-14

Ola family,
Not much happened this week, but we had activities in the church on Friday and English classes for the people who want to learn. After we were all done Mijael, Eloisa, Elder Foliene and I were walking to the bus stop and Mijael asked the question that will just make your heart cry, jump for joy, and all that good stuff. He asked " how do I become a missionary like you guys? what classes do I need to study to become a missionary?" Questions like this from our convert, the one I baptized, a kid who is 11 years old. Wow! What a blessing to my heart and soul! D&C 18:10,15-16 I believe its in these. I love the scriptures and the joy that I receive from them.

  I cant thank you enough for the acts of service that you did for these people. I love Mosiah 2:17 you were doing service for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am so glad for all the many moments that we have everyday to do a little bit of service, we may not realize it when we do them, but I hope that we can look back and see them, and if not the other person will always remember. The Small and simple things, are what matter the most.

  Thank you for all your birthday wishes and love for me. I am so grateful to have everyone of you here with me in heart, and mind. I know that its a part that helps me carry on. Love you ALL!!!

Con Amor Elder Ethan C. Durocher

 Elder Foliene from Sao Paulo, Brazil

 Elder Ethan Charles Durocher.....one day away from turning 19 years old!!!

 Making Empanadas!

 Happy Birthday my very handsome Son # 5  Haaaaa!  I have many handsome boys!

 

Ice Castles, Midway, Utah - January 25, 2014

First needs to be said is Happy Birthday to Elder Ethan!!!  I hope you have time for reading letters this week!  I wrote you a birthday note earlier in the week so it's probably down the list on your inbox.  I hope you have a great day on Tuesday and are able to have a little celebration with your people there.  Seriously....NINETEEN though?!?!?!?  Wow!  I had to laugh because Aimee Augustus in our ward was boohooing over her oldest going to Klondike and how he's getting so old..... Haaa!  I commented back that wait till your BABY starts driving and going on dates and leave on a mission and THEN she'll start feeling old...  it was funny, but it sure is odd to think of as I recall turning 19 as I was at BYU for my second year and by my 20th birthday I was engaged to your dad!  Time flies fast so just enjoy where you are and the time you have to be 19!
I had been studying for my lesson this week and it was like popcorn popping in my head as I thought and pondered about the many questions about the Old Testament and the impact of the King James Version.  I wondered...who was King James?  Well he's the only son of Mary Queen of Scotland.  His mother the Queen had his father killed (James was 2yrs old and now King of Scotland) so she could marry someone else, and then she gave up her throne and fled to Great Britain where she was beheaded for treason by Queen Elizabeth who never had a child, so when Q.E. died, she gave the throne to James who United the Kingdoms of Britain and then unified the various renditions of the Bible into a common text that has now remained the best selling book in the history of printed word!  Amazing ehh?  This was all in 1603 to 1611.  In less than 200 years Joseph Smith would be born and his understanding of the Bible as it would be found in most homes by that time in history due to the printing press, then the beginning of the restoration of the Gospel would follow.  All the pieces that had to align and fall into place for prophecy to come to pass, even as Joseph of Egypt knew those thousands of years before that another Joseph would translate the Book of Mormon.  It's all pretty cool if you ask me!

Friday Michael went to Idaho for mediation for custody changes, but not much got accomplished in the 7 hours of discussion except for having to pay lawyers a lot of money!  Argh!  He drove Gavin back to Utah on Friday and Saturday we met at my house and David, Lindsay, Mike, Gavin and I drove to Midway by Heber, Utah to see the man engineered Ice Castle!  It was pretty cool!  A rather slow process, by 'growing' icicles at night with a drip system and then the icicles are broken off a frame to then be ice welded to a growing sculpture.  It was rather amazing with tunnels, slides and a slot canyon of ice formations. 

Sorry about the sideways photos!  The Blog refuses to leave them upward oriented!  Argh!

 I found a cool scripture from the Old Testament during my studies this week and I thought I'd share it with you missionaries, but all would enjoy.  In the margins of my compact scriptures, it said, "Favorite scripture of Ralph Izatt".  I thought that was pretty sweet too!!  This is Joshua who is instructed and reassured by The Lord after Moses dies.
Joshua 1: 5  .....so I will be with thee:  I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.  (Vs. 6) Be strong and of good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.  (vs. 7)  Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

It seemed fitting in the current pursuits of your time that you are strong and courageous to teach the gospel to these people that they might inherit all the Father hath promised them.  And it's comforting that The Lord will not 'fail thee or forsake thee' in your times of need.
I'd better sign off so you have time for other letters, but know all is well here and you have so much love and support at home.
I love you!!!!  Mom

Morgan's Letter & Photos 2 / 2014 Kona, Big Island, Hawaii 1-13-14

Aloha Family,

So this has been a great week for us. So first off on Wednesday we had dinner with a Less-Active Family that we have been working with. Kona is 40 yrs old, and hasn't been to church for 20 years. His Mom, Maile, is also less active, and has a non member boyfriend, Bill, and they all live at his place. Bill brought Mexican Tamales from Arizona when he was there the week before. So we had those plus Rice and Chile. Then we were able to share a 20 minute lesson with the whole family. We shared the First 2 principles of the Restoration, "God is our Loving Heavenly Father", and "How the Gospel Blesses Families." The lesson went really good, the spirit was strong as we talked about Gods love for our Families. And how the Church is there to help our family relationships be strengthened, and help us become an eternal family. I felt like Maile's testimony was rekindled, and she shared with us that she had a strong desire to come back to Church. But she works on Sundays, and its hard to change her shift. And then she bore a powerful Testimony to her Boyfriend and Son. It was awesome. Kona told us he has no ties, so we came back a few days later, and i brought my whole Tie Rack, and he picked his  3 favorite ties. Kona has a huge heart, he is slightly mentally disabled, but he is the nicest guy you will ever meet. He volunteers everyday in a place that serves lunches to Other Disabled people, or Handicap people. 

Right after dinner with Kona we headed to the Stake Center. President Warner, and Elder Auna (4th quorum of the 70) were giving the Stake a training on "Hastening the Work of Salvation." It was super awesome, i really learned so much, and strengthened my Desire to do my best to work with the Ward, Shoulder to Shoulder. And get the Ward more involved in missionary work. 

Friday was cool, we decided to Tract for 2 hours from 10-12. We prayed to find a miracle, that we could find 1 person that would listen to us, and that we could teach. So were going along, and out of like 20 doors, 1 person answered his name is Thomas, and he invited us back to teach him and his girlfriend. He was super friendly. We had a goal to say hi, and talk to everyone on the streets. So i walk up to this lady, and say hi, then she tells us she is the Property Manager of that Apartment Complex. And that were not allowed to Proselyte their, so we cant knock doors, or bug people on the streets. So we said whoops, and thanked Heavenly Father for letting us find Thomas before we found this lady. This was a nice apartment complex, that's expensive and maintained and so i guess we weren't allowed to proselyte there.

So we decide to head to another Apartment Complex that is Low Income Housing, where their is lots of Marshalese people. First house we try, they invite us in. We met with the Mom, a 16 yr old boy, an 18 yr old daughter, and the 15 yr old daughter,.  The 15 yr old had a 2 month old baby son, and the 18 yr old had a 1 month old daughter. So we talked to them for a little while, then we shared the Restoration. It was a super awesome lesson, and they said they would read the Book of Mormon. So were gonna see them this week. They were another miracle to find them!

So our Car is in the Shop for 8 days, we took it in this morning. There was a huge dent from some previous missionaries like 6 months ago, and they finally got the right part. So we have no car for 8 days, were hoping that we can turn this into a opportunity to get the Ward more involved in Missionary Work. By having members come out with us every day of the week. So it could be a blessing in disguise, we will have to see how it goes.

Love you All, Have a great Week! Love Elder Morgan Durocher

Me and Avery Bailey. He got off his mission 2 months ago, we were super tight, he just moved to Laie for BYU-Hawaii

Ethan's Letter & Photos 2 / 2014 - Santa Rosa, Argentina 1-13-14

Dear Family,

  I cant believe that this week has come and gone. It was slow and faster then ever at the same time. Yes i had transfers and just got my new Companion today. He is from Saul Paulo Brazil. Elder Foliene is his name, and he speaks his languages, Spanish, not much English. Well he says he kinda speaks but he hasn't yet. I am so excited to be with a companion who i have to talk in Spanish with. This is going to help my Spanish grow and i will learn so much more! I am so grateful for this opportunity. I am staying in Santa Rosa for another transfer at least and am excited to work with this Elder.

 My Missionary life was blessed by Elder Landon Pliler from Alpine, Utah! he is a very outgoing, super nice, talks with everyone, energetic Elder. He is our Zone Leader, We did division with him this week and it was me, Elder Wightman, and Elder Pliler. He taught me that just "Fake it until you make it." That we need to just be nice and friendly to everyone, and it doesn't matter if you look like a fool. Make them laugh and you've opened them up to talk with them, and not at them. I have been praying and asking to me a happy person, not just happy for a moment. I have been faking in and just being one of those annoyingly nice people and broke out of my Shell. This has been the greatest blessing and I have just been happier lately. I Love what i am doing and how the Lord is blessing my life.

  Not much happened this week, besides Elder Wightman is going home and that pretty weird... I Love you all So Much!!!!!

Con Amor Elder Ethan C. Durocher

Elder Carillo

Sister....Hermana DeLeon and Hermana Dolores

Oberzt Family

Elder Landon Pliler

New Companion, Elder Foliene

Morgan - 1 / 2014 Kona, Big Island, Hawaii Jan. 6, 2014 - Photos

 Aloha Family!,

       So this week was awesome! So I dropped my old companion off at the Airport, he is getting transferred to Oahu, and I picked up my new companion flying in from Maui. He is another Red Head, he is from Portland Oregon, and his name is Elder Painter. He is super cool, hes been out for 4-1/2 months, I like him a lot already, I think were gonna get along great. He's really good at Music and is singing, so he's gonna teach me a few things, because I suck at both of those. 

       For New Years Eve, we were allowed to stay up until 1 AM to celebrate with all the missionaries. So we met together at 5 pm and played games through out the whole night. We played Musical Chairs, Psychologist, SMURF, Missionary Tag, Board Games, Signs, and a few others. It was super fun to get to know each other better and to laugh the whole night!! So New Years Day was another P-Day for us. I had an idea to have a Mini Marshmallow Fight, with our Zone. So we went to Home Depot and bought 4-20 foot pieces of PVC pipe, and we cut it into 2 foot long pieces to use as a blow gun. Then bought 4 big bags of mini Marshmallows to load into your PVC pipe blow gun. It ended up costing like less than 20 bucks for everything, and turned into a really fun activity. We played with those for a couple hours.

       Today for P-Day we went to the Top of Mauna Kea, which is the tallest mountain in Hawaii, at almost 13000 feet. It had a little bit of snow up there, we got up there around 10 AM. I found an American Flag for 1 dollar, and we all signed our names on it. We then found an isolated hill and climbed it and put our flag up there. Hopefully writing on flags isn't disgracing it, we weren't trying to, our whole purpose was to motivate our District to work hard and do our best. It was a super fun P-Day today. 

         So I had an amazing experience this week. So we only had about 45 minutes before we had to go the Dinner with the Comesarios (They sent you a pic of our dinner). So i looked at our planner and we had down to visit Conrack. So we drove over to his house and parked outside. I felt a little uneasy, like something wasn't right. For some un-logical reason i felt like i should go visit someone else. So i told Elder Painter to back me up, and then jump back in the car. He was confused, but i told him i felt like we should see someone else. So we drive to this other persons house about 10 minutes away. They were not home, so i visited their neighbor down a few houses. And we happen to catch them while they were outside. Edwin and his Girlfriend. Edwin is a less Active Member, and his Girlfriend is not a member of the Church. We have been trying to visit them for a few weeks, but have not been able to catch them at home, they are always gone! So we talked to them and asked to share a short message, and they say Yes! So we go into the garage and we sit down, and we teach a 15 minute restoration lesson to them. They asked lots of questions, and had lots of good comments, they were super into the lesson. The spirit was there really strong, and was helping us to teach well together. That was our first time teaching the Restoration together and it went amazing!! We committed them to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. The Lord really blessed us to catch them at home, im so glad that the Spirit could tell me to visit them right then. Even though it was a little thing, I know it was still a miracle. Like Alma 37:6 says "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me, but behold i say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass, and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." 

         It was really cool experience to know that the Spirit is helping in this work, and with the Spirit we are way more effective missionaries, And We can do little or nothing without the Holy Ghost. Im so grateful for the opportunity i have to be on a mission. I have had so many ups and downs, but it is most definitely worth it, and one of the greatest experiences i have ever had in my life. I dont know where i would be, if i wasn't on a mission right now, maybe somewhat lost. I have learned so much on my mission, I feel like i have learned more about myself, more about the Gospel, more about the Spirit, and more about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, these short 17 months on my mission, than i have learned the first 19 years of my life. I know this Church is true, I know Jesus Christ died for each and everyone of us. I'm so grateful for my wonderful family, I feel like i have the best family and friends on earth. Each and every one of you are special to me, and have helped me in your own way. Thanks Mike for your Special Facebook Post, Mom sent me the Quote in an Email ( No I didn't get on Facebook haha!). Thanks Mom and Dad for always writing me every single week without fail. You 2 are the best parents a person could wish for! The other Elders are always Jealous by how many emails i get from my Family haha! :) I love you all dearly, and you are all in my prayers!

Love Elder Morgan Durocher

New Years Eve Party with our Zone!! :)

Me and the Snow in the Background!! Im on Mauna Kea, at 13000 feet, its the worlds largest mountain when measured from the Bottom of the Ocean haha!! :)

Our District on top of Mauna Kea with the Flag we all signed!

This is Me in my "I Love Kona" Shirt, and with a flag we took to the top of a huge mountain, almost 13,000 feet elevation. Everyone in our Missionary District Signed it.

Me and another Missionary Elder Morco on top of Mauna Kea