A New Kind of -itis (Cubby letter 2/24/2020)

Malo lelei

That is the language of Tonga

Twas a pretty good week. For some reason or another, God has been with us this week, and also last week, because we have been finding tons of new people to teach out of no where. 

Actually that is something I wanted to explain. These past 2 weeks, our quantity of work has been a bit less. Things such as laxidasical mornings, not being as committed to finding, have been kind of our theme for the past 2 weeks. To somebody who has recently developed ADHD, such as myself, this is the worst. But what is even more frustrating is that by all outside perspectives, we have been doing more work. There have been more of the people coming to church,  more people are willing to be taught etc. This has caused me to think about why this could be. After continuously pondering it for several hours, I think I got an answer to my question. I think this is to teach me a lesson about not trying to take into my own hands a work that is as holy as this one. 

I didn't have as much time to email this time around, so this will be a satisfactory substitute.

Also thanks for all your prayers because we almost killed a drunk guy in the Zone Leaders car

Elder Cubby 

 

Typical Meal

 

Un an de zile (Ben letter 2/9/2020)

One year of days. 

Life goes by fast.

These past weeks have been great. This week I went to Kyiv, and had a conference. Also this week we have Zone conference with my mission president about the Book of Mormon. It truly is the harvesting tool of the last days in many ways. 

This week we had 2 exchanges as well. Things are going well all around, we got a bunch of less actives to church. Exciting things are happening. Also this next week we are getting a new Romanian speaker, which is a big deal considering there is only 8 of us. Also when in Kyiv, we randomly met this Ukrainian guy and spent the day with him. We went to this old cemetery from the 1830s and went in these underground cave/ graves. It was really weird because it wasn't like meant for that, so it really was an interesting experience. It has happened many times on my mission, where I find myself doing something that I would have never dreamed of doing 2 years ago. With a random Ukrainian in a grave of random people who died 200 years ago. 

But that's life. We don't know where we will be in 2 years from now, if if we know where, we don't know who with, or anything that will really happen in that time. That's why we must live by using our time to the fullest. The scriptures are filled with doctrine against the slothful, natural, lazy man. We must act and represent Jesus Christ at all times and in all places. We must not lower our standard, or wait until tomorrow. Life is very short, and there is no time for fussing and fighting, my friends. 

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Kyiv Temple

A Pen's Location (Cubby letter 2/9/2020)

Mauri mauri.

I'm looking for some coconut dancers.

A popular culture reference. But only to like 50,000 people, so maybe not quite popular culture.

Well anyways, it's been a week, to say the least. But to say the most would take awhile. So I'll say like a medium amount.

On Monday we had a dance off between districts. Since the Eita District refuses to do dance practices during any productive hours of the day, we didn't actually practice that much. So we ended doing a routine that consisted of the beginning of a fake Haka, a sorry attempt to do half of a Kiribati dance (without music), and then doing that same dance with shaky arms to make it look like we were doing the thriller dance (with music--Michael Jackson's Thriller actually). We lost pretty bad. But we easily laughed the most preparing our dance, and also we had the most baptisms last month.

Tuesday was Zone Conference. Basically the main point of it was that us missionaries have to buckle down and do some work, because we set some pretty high goals for ourselves. We got 585 baptisms last year and we set a goal for 1537 this year. I like it because it gives me an excuse to give my district a lecture about not wasting time/being obedient. We also ate Australian meat pies during lunch.

Wednesday was okay. We had to wait around for awhile while someone in our house got transferred so he could have a companion. 

Thursday we had district council. We all discussed the zone conference and we have to think of ways to do 2.6 times the amount of work this year as we did last year. I also did a couple baptismal interviews, they didn't all go too well, but the world keeps spinning. We also had our first meeting with the new ward mission leader, who was baptized 1 year ago. He's super into it, so the work is about go through the roof.

We finally had a regular day on Friday. Nothing too crazy happened, but we did teach a pretty good lesson on the law of the Sabbath day. 

On Saturday we had a meeting for all the district leaders, because almost everyone is pretty new to it. It was pretty beneficial I think. I did a lot of the talking, because all the other DLs in the whole mission are starting their first transfer as DL and I'm starting my 5th. Me and the Zone Leaders weren't able get baptismal clothes for someone being baptized and the Elder whose investigator was getting baptized wouldn't answer his phone, so me and Elder 'Ealelei had to bus up to them to sort things out and ask if she had white clothes. Long story short, we met the person about to get baptized on the side of the road in a miraculous manner, and we got everything figured out. Or so we thought. Fast forward to the baptism, and she doesn't actually have white clothes like she said she did. So me and Elder Holman went and asked one of the senior couples if they had any white dresses. She then replied that there should be some in the office (which the zone leaders had NOT informed me of) and that she could take us down to the office but we would have to bus back. So we eventually got the dress and the baptism started. And then the font was only filled to knee height and they had to ask me at the last second to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. We had a talk about organizing baptisms last week during district council,  but we're gonna have another run at it again this week. A highlight is that some of the people that me and my companion are teaching came to watch, which was a big victory.

Sunday was good. We had a meal with one of the senior couples and they made us salad, pizza and cookies. Just like Borat would say, very nice.

I Mean Well I Guess... (Cubby letter 2/2/2020)

Elder Cubby reporting in from Bairiki ATH internet cafe

Monday was alright this past week. We played basketball and I was hot for a solid 2 minutes. I carried my team of 1 Alaskan and 1 Filipino to victory. After that I was super tired, because physical fitness isn't my #1 priority any more and hasn't been for awhile

Tuesday we had a nuts rainstorm. Kind of a bummer. If you roll up to someone's house in the rain they give you dirty looks. Not an ideal environment for inviting the Spirit. So a great day for studies.

Wednesday we had a district council meeting. We did an area book check. The zone Leaders ordered it, but theirs wasn't the best.

Thursday Nothing extraordinary happened. It was really hot. We gave out a baptismal date, which on second thought it was pretty cool. and I did 7 baptismal interviews

Friday I went on a split with a new person in our district named Elder Thornton. Since Elder Thornton was in a trio, Elder "Ealelei tagged along as well, because he hates one of elder Thorntons companions. I gave Elder Thornton some deep feedback, i hope he doesn't take it too hard.

Saturday was good, our  District had 7 baptisms.

Sunday I got sick. Also one of our Baptisms didn't come to church, and one of our companionships didn't tell the YSA bishop that one of the people was going to get confirmed in his ward. So we had 7 baptisms and 5 confirmations this week. I was low key furious yesterday, but I was patient, luckily for my district.

Mother Rebecca roasted me for having a bad letter last week. Hopefully this one is better.

Ofa Atu

Elder Cubby

2k10 Kobe Jumper (Ben letter 1/26/2020)

R.I.P Kobe, Cubby and I will continue to imitate your fade away jumpshot in the front yard.

This will be my third week in a row, I hope you enjoy it. 

 

This week we did service for a lady in our branch. She is really sweet, and we have to call her every morning to pray together. She is the one that prays, but you know if you pray with a missionary, its much more powerful somehow. Also we went to Orhei this week for their baptism, and it went really well. His friend will also be baptized soon, because people really trust their friends and family, not random teenagers from America. An investigator of ours was out in the country side for a month, but it really strengthened her testimony. However in a very unconventional way. Let's just say there was some southern baptists out there in a village of 1,000 Moldovans that don't speak a lick of English. However it is easy for a Moldovan to notice the difference between English and the baptist "gift of tongues". Yeah let's just say they did some whack stuff, and now she knows for sure that we are the true church. Besides that, this week was pretty normal, not by American standard, but by Moldovan standard. 

 

This week I studied the sermon on the mount a couple times. It really just teaches how we must act always. Sometimes I get caught thinking I am justified to be treat others a certain  way, or have my opinion spoken. However that's not the higher law. We must humble ourselves, and submit. I don't think Jesus was exaggerating on His examples either. Truly people will know that we are his followers, if we have love for one another. Even if we are right, the spirit of contention is still of the devil. It is our job to live the higher law, and love all despite their ethnic, political, etc position. I am not saying that sin is ok EVER and it will never be justifiable. I have just come to learn how to love people, and because of that love I teach repentance. To HELP them come closer to Christ, not because I'm right, or even because it the right church. To see others the way Jesus sees them will truly lead us to love, not contention.

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Mario and Captain America (Cubby letter 1/26/2020)

Mauri

 

Say mauri with an English r sound and I will laugh because you are white.

Not too much to report on this week.

Highlights include some of our investigators feeling the Spirit and coming to believe Ana Boki Moomon to be true. My favorite one was when one woman described it as a sudden understanding of the chapter we gave her.

Nothing too much besides that

Happy Romanian new year

Elder Cubby

Блин (Ben letter 1/20/2020)

Blin. 

Pancakes.

I am writing my second weekly in a row, so I hope you are  grateful. I also really enjoyed Cubbys poem. Good to hear things are going well in Richland, and that somehow Sam gets up on his own terms to go to mission prep. That was like the hardest thing for me on Sunday. I thought 7:30 was the crack of dawn at that point. 

 

Things have been going well here. We have been trying to start getting more service opportunities here because no missionaries really did that before. So at first it was hard, but let me tell you, when the word got out, our schedules filled in. So that is good. There isn't much new for me, besides that I got a new companion, in which i mentioned last week. I found this ladie on the bus who is a 7th day Adventist, and her orthodox friend came over while we discussed. Let's just say she knows how to bring down he'll on pagan idols. But both will come to church next week and hopefully convert, so they can argue our side. Not that we argue, because we don't need to prove a point. 

 

Anyways,

I also ate Asian food this week. People here don't eat ANYTHING spicy, like they think fry sauce is spicy. So I ordered spicy Asian food and I didn't even taste the spice. But our investigator ate a bite and almost died. I have never been so concerned for my taste buds in my entire life. 

As for a spiritual thought, I would like to emphasize the importance of families. Any missionary will tell you that our message is based on the importance of families. I do like the idea that my mother said that "if everyone in the world kept the word of wisdom, and the law of chastity, all social problems would disappear". I agree. People here always want to go to America to be more happy, but in reality it's all about the family. The restored gospel really does contain all responses to the problems of the world. " we need to talk about suicide rates" "we need to talk about crime rates" " we need to talk about war problems" etc. The list goes on of all the worldly ideas that will fix out worldly problems. If only these people would listen and realize that there is only one who can save this world, and that His church has all of the remedies to these problems. If only people would realize the importance of sharing this with their own family! Family is the base of Gods society, and we must take this responsibility seriously. I wish that all members would take this seriously, not just here, but around the whole world. Are you having family home evening? Are you having dinner together? Are you reading and praying as a family? Do you watch and listen to the prophet and discuss as a family? Do we do come follow me after or before 2 hour church? Or is it just an extra hour off? Do we do our ministering and truly love our neighbors? Do we put Jesus first in our lives, and share that with the ones we love? 

How can we solve all the problems of the world? No more than to live the principles of the gospel as a family. I am filled with the love of Christ, and there is nothing more that I want in my life than to share that with others, especially my own family. I challenge all of you to read these questions and to reflect. Do not do it just because you are supposed to, but because you really have charity. 

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Nuchos Qrasias (Cubby letter 1/20/2020)

Another excellent week in the world of Pee-Wee Herman.

Tuesday was supposed to a split, but a meeting interrupted it so we called it off. We met this guy from Abaiang that I know. He was surprised that I can actually speak his language now. We started teaching his cousin though which was pretty good.

Wednesday was rough, despite the great district council we had. I had to do a bunch of interviews with people that are getting trained in my district, and those that are training. The trainer is not a fan of structured interviews, but I had a form to fill out. So I had to work hard to get some content on that thing. But that took up a lot of the day. We moved that night into a new house.

Thursday morning we woke up and realized that we had nothing in our house. We spent all that morning finishing the move. We then made a huge pile of stuff that we needed to burn, because it was just random stuff Elders had previously left behind.

Friday was pretty cool, we collaborated with the Senior couple from Tonga to find some new people to teach. People listen to old people a lot more than they do to teenagers. Surprising huh. After that we had a baptismal interview, both candidates passed. 

Saturday started well, but a storm came that was pretty nuts. Part of a tree fell on our new house, but there was no damage. Our district did, despite this, have two baptisms. But basically only the people being baptized came, and the bishops.

Anyways, I've been learning about perspective a lot this week. Not necessarily from the scriptures, but from my companion. I've kind of accepted that my main goal here is to teach my companion more than the people here. It has changed the things I say and how I treat other people. I guess perspective goes a long way.

I tangiringkami

Elder Cubby