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| *Don't be confused by the picture UTAH MAN AM I* (Mary sent me this as a joke) |
It is kinda weird to start writing this letter after reading a few of my friends emails about how they are in the middle of Mexico, Chile, Spain, Italy, and all other parts of the world having crazy experiences, and I am still just sitting here in Provo, UT, only 30 minutes away from home. But hey, I know that I will miss having all the amazing things we get here at the MTC when I start grinding in the Bodi, and I am just trying to enjoy my last few weeks of English for the next two years. You gotta love it BABY!
Wow, where to start? I guess I can say that I have gained another four pounds here in the MTC. Just pile it on I guess before I go to a two-year spin cycle class!! I am considering the Tour De France upon arriving home from Cambodia. JK. My humor has definitely fallen off the deep end after being in the MTC for an extended amount of time, but yes I did gain a few pounds which is good!
Obviously, the main thing that I want to talk about in this week's email was conference. There was something striking that I didn't notice until after the talks, in a devotional review. Who remembers President Eyring's talk on Sunday Morning? He arranged his talk in a very amazing way. He first talked about how we must "DOUBT NOT, AND FEAR NOT" and this was one important theme that I found over the duration of conference. We need to put our trust in God and trust his plan for us. We must fear God more than we fear man. We need to have hope for the future because God has a divine design for us and only when we accept God's will by aligning our lives with what he wants for us will we find happiness. Some pretty powerful and divine stuff. Anyway, President Eyring goes on to talk about how we are doing awesome in the church. He shared many cool stories about the angels in yellow shirts, and the amazing help that the members of the gospel of Jesus Christ are providing around the world. The members of the Church of Jesus Christ are truly the hands of the Lord. However, what he says next is the most important part. He says that although what we are doing, and have done is awesome and helpful, it is not enough. He gave a very prophetic warning: "We know that in the last days the world will be in commotion. They (Future Generations) will face increasing opposition from the enemies of our soul." I thought it was quite shocking and eye-opening how true this is. Our world is falling into chaos. With the many natural disasters and the destruction being caused to the world. Almost to verify his warning that he made the shooting in Las Vegas happened the next day. Heartbreaking. My thoughts and prays go out to all of those people because of the tragedy that took place. One Elder in my District is from Las Vegas and knew a kid who passed away. I fear that things will only get worse, as President Eyring predicted. The Lord expects more from us and from the generations after us because the world will only continue to become more chaotic. What an amazing opportunity we have as members of the true church of Jesus Christ to be the light of the world as President Uchtdorf said. We must DOUBT NOT FEAR NOT, finding optimism, hope, and strength only through heeding to the words of the prophets, reading and living the truth's of the Book of Mormon and follow Jesus Christ. His talk was proof that the leaders of the Church are prophets of God. I know this is long and no one is probably reading anymore, but I want to close this thought with a scripture that is really powerful from the Book of Mormon. The last words of Ether's writing in the Book found in Chapter 15, verse 34 says, " Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the
What a powerful statement. We sometimes feel like we suffer on this Earth, and there is suffering all around, but at the end of the day all suffering here is temporary. It mattereth not in terms of an eternal perspective. Our one goal should be salvation in the kingdom of God. Powerful.
My favorite talk was by Elder Callister. How powerfully he testified both logically and spiritually of the truth of the Book of Mormon. It was cool to watch every session of General Conference without distractions or sleeping (which had never done before) because I really noticed how connected this church is. Everything that was said was somehow related and all played a role in allowing us to understand that we must have faith, and follow the example of Jesus Christ in order to find happiness in this life.
Funny stuff that happened this week: The word កក (gawk I guess it is how it sounds phonetically) which is the start of my last name (Goch) means frozen, so my new nickname is Elder Ice hahaha OOPS! Also, the term to die is ស្លាប់ (Slab) so s/o to SLAB GANG (some friends from back home)! The only other funny thing was watching some Elders that were just passed out during general conference. You should have seen how hard some of them were straight snoozing!
Love you all! Read the Book of Mormon! Have a great week! And may the running Utes be victorious over Stanford!!
Elder Gochnour
P.S. We get our flight plans on Friday!! Kingdom of Wonder (Cambodia) here we come!!
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