Morgans letter & photos 16/2014 Kona, Big Island, Hawaii April 28, 2014

Durocher Family!

So I did more service this week than I ever have before on my mission!! Let me tell you about a few of the service projects we have done!

So we helped an old Korean Lady, who is a Widow and must be in her 60's. We got a wheelbarrow and shovels, and we mixed cement, to pour a concrete slab for her garden. That went pretty smooth, i have done lots of cement work on my mission. After that we helped her to build and put up a metal fence on a part of her property. Then she gave us cookies, and apple juice. That was so much fun to help her. 

Next Day we did service on Sister Aikele's Macadamia Nut Farm. She is an 85 year old widow, and is still healthy as an ox. She always works in the orchard along side us. Its amazing to see how much energy and health she has. Must be from Working every single day on her farm, and not getting lazy at home. We raked up a bunch of the rotting mac nuts, and rocks, and dumped them on the side of the property. She has like 120 trees, so we are slowly working on clearing the ground under them. She gaves us cookies, crackers, and juice afterwards.

This morning we went to the temple to do service. Now that is a special experience! We got there at 8 in the morning, and left right after noon. So the temple has been closed for 3 weeks for maintenance, cleaning, and to have a mural painted in the endowment room. Two weeks ago the benches in the Endowment Room were all disassembled and taken to someones shop to be re-finished. So we brought all the wood pieces back in, and assembled the 10 wooden benches back together. It was pretty fun, i was running the Drill the whole time, screwing all the pieces together as the others held them together. I never really thought of the maintenance and cleaning side, and what happens behind the scenes at the temple. I guess i thought that the temple magically stays clean, and never gets worn out. So that was special to be in the temple so long, and feel the special spirit that is there. Even when your sweating and working hard on buidling benches. 

Reminds me of Mosiah 2:17

 17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

I am so grateful to be able to be a missionary, and to spend 2 years of my life in the service of my fellow beings. I love helping people. This week has been a change up as I have been able to help people on the temporal or physical side. Compared to normal missionary work serving people on the spiritual side, by sharing the gospel. I love you all, thanks for everything!

Love Elder Morgan Durocher

Photo: Mount Mauna Kea; taken from the tallest mountain in the world….if you measure from the ocean floor!  Also, Sunrise from Mauna Kea

Ethan's letter & photos 16/2014 Viedma, Argentina April 28, 2014

Dear Family, 

We had a lot of things to do this week as we got a call Tuesday from our zone leaders that my companion would be traveling to Bahía Blanca in the night and we need to go by his ticket, so due to how far away the place to by the tickets are we lost all our day working... then the next day he was in Bahía Blanca and I was working in another area for the day on Wednesday. with all of that we still had the chance to work a little bit. 

  We ended up working in Barrio Cheto, which means the rich neighborhood... haha and we were contacting and i saw a green house and wanted to contact it! I love contacting the houses that are different colors that aren't normal! we got to the house and it had a sign that said it was vacant... so we kept contacting and went down another road and we contacted another house and a guy came our who had a beard and looked like 25 but was really only 16!!!! came out and we started talking to him and we had had a long day of rejection..... and we weren't very enthusiastic about this time in the day and we did our normal opening and introduction and he paused and came out to the gate... and said, " I have a question, I heard that Satan was a fallen angel, is that true??" and so i said, we would love to share our message and answer your question and i asked if we could share it. He opened the gate and we went into his house to talk. He is a GOLDEN investigator that with the lord and his infinite mercy blessed us with in our time of need. We shared about the Plan of Salvation, and he said that he was really interested in hearing more about this. I was so glad to have this MIRACLE in this last week. it helped me so much to see that the Lord is watching out for me! 

I love you all so much!!!

Con Amor Elder Ethan C. Durocher

 Elder Jordan Conners from Pleasant Grove, Utah! 

 Having fun with wall art!

 Looks delish!

Morgans letter & photos 15 / 2014 Kona, Hawaii April 21, 2014

Dear Family,

So our mission started a new thing we do every month, its called a car fast. Because our mission has had lots of car accidents, they want us to be more careful and appreciative. They told us that we have the most cars out of any mission in the whole world. So Friday was our Car Fast, so we had to go without the car for a whole day, we had to walk everywhere. So we had an appointment to help the Sisters do Service on a Farm for a 85 year old widow. So We began the 13 mile long walk to the farm. We were in our Service Cloths, and decided we would try to Hitch Hike. So we held out our thumb and after a while, a car pulled over. It was two guys from Switzerland who were on vacation. They drove us a ways up the Rode, then we began our walk again. We walked for like an hour and a half. Then a member actually picked us up and drove us the rest of the way. It was a fun adventure!

Saturday was the Ward Easter Egg hunt for the primary. We invited some investigators to come to it, and a less active family. So we went and did the activities with the kids. It was super fun! We went to a Birthday Party for a 5 year old kid named Cruz. He had a life size angry birds game, its was fun, then we played around with the kids.

Sunday was amazing. They had a special Easter program. The bishopric shared their testimonies, and we had the choir sing too. The Sunday School President found out there was no teacher for the 15 year olds, so asked if we would teach it. So we played a fun game with them that has to do with the gospel. We had an Easter Dinner Party with the Nakamoto family. Then their was a fireside. A Lady from Utah made the Mural (painting) for the walls in the Kona Hawaii Temple. So she told us the process of making these beautiful pieces of art. It takes 8 months to make, and is on a huge piece of canvas, and takes a whole team of artists.

So last Thursday we had the most amazing lesson ever! So we are teaching a Non-Member Family. Jason and Annie, and 2 sons Brandon and Camaron. Our new Bishop is actually the Football Coach for the High School, and Brandon and Camaron play for him. So we set up a dinner for the Family to come to Coach/Bishop Walters home for dinner and a lesson. The Mom had to work late, the dad was really sick. So it was just the 2 boys, they are 15 and 17 years old. We ate Shepherds Pie, and then had the lesson. I started talking about Baptism, showing them pictures. Then shared about Priesthood Authority, I showed a picture of Christ Ordaining his apostles, and showed my priesthood line of Authority. Bishop Walters shared his testimony on Priesthood Power, and gave an experience of Healing a New Born baby, who was handicap from a seizure right after it was born. We talked more about Baptism, and how the Lord prepared the way for them to be here, and for us to meet them. And how were not trying to force them, but share with them something that has been such a blessing to us. Everyone was really open, it was like a heart to heart. They said they would want to be baptized, so we set a goal to work towards that with them. It was so amazing, the Spirit was seriously so strong in that whole lesson. I know they felt the spirit that day, because i felt it too. It was one of the most amazing lessons i have been in on my mission. I wish i could describe it better, and i wish you could have been there! 

I love you all, i know this church is true! I'm so glad to be a missionary! And Mom stop reminding me how much time i have left haha ;)  Haha jk, i love you Mom, thanks for always supporting me every step of the way. You have always been there for me. I cant wait to talk to you on Mothers Day! :)

Love Elder Morgan Durocher

Easter Egg Hunt. Me Elder Moala and Mailani

 

Angry Birds Birthday Party!