From January 13, 2014: Swolinarly

Hello my people!  How's it going in your dispersed states?? 

 

This was a short week, obviously, and it was supposed to be highlighted and headlined by Elder Holland (one of the 12 Apostles in the church).  But, alas, he was unable to attend and was sent on emergency business elsewhere.  The life of an apostle, right?  But, seeing as how they already had 3 full missions assembled from the distant lands, we proceeded with an epic conference on Saturday with Elder Wright of the Seventy there.  His wife introduced him by telling the story of trying to relate to their non-member friends what this assignment meant.  She said "Picture you've driven a long, long way to see the Beatles and you're super excited, and then when you get there you find out that the Dixie Chicks are actually the band playing."  Haha!   It actually was super good though, the Spirit was there and then for the first time in the history of the mission we all got to be together!  And we had a mission testimony meeting, which was basically the neatest thing ever.  

 

 

May I just say that President and Sister Sweeney (the Scottsdale, Arizona Mission President and his wife) are the coolest people in the world?  Just saying though. 

 

So let's see.  Thursday was an epic night.  There is this less-active group we are working with and they decided that it was time to quit smoking.  So we used this super-great "stop smoking" program to help them quit.  And long story short one of the steps is to DESTROY everything related to smoking. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnndddddd we ended up burning it all.  Kind of the coolest thing in the world 'cause they had like a 5 pound bag of straight tobacco.  It was awesome.  Lot's of smoke though....Probably should have foreseen that.

 

 

It's kind of been the most fun week of my mission thus far.  Being in a trio of teaching companions is super fun.  Elder Sw. is great, too...he likes puns...we're friends. And together we are Swolinarly. (As we combine all three of our last names  haha!) 

 

So like the scriptures are awesome.  There's this thing that happens all the time where I'll have a question and decide not to study it because it's inessential and then the answer comes as I study something else.  Try it!

 

 

Dear family . . . I'm just reminded of how much you all mean to me and how much you have taught me:  the value of prayer and the power of family prayer, how the family is a priesthood organization, how the best moments are the unplanned ones, how "family adventures" can be the best things ever, how to travel, how to live, how to love, how to work, how to serve, and that happily ever after is a family affair that goes through the portal of Christ and the temple and no other way.  It's all real.  It's all true. 

 

 

The Book of Mormon is the word of God and the convincing evidence that the gift of the Holy Ghost is back on the earth.  Healings are real. Faith moves molehills, as well as mountains.  God lives, and more than us wanting a relationship with Him, He begs for a relationship with us.   If only we would awake unto God.  If only we would open our eyes to truly see and our hearts to truly understand.  You all have such potential and such divinity.  Think about who you are in God's eyes and then be true to that person.  Submit.  Consecrate.  Make and keep covenants.  It really is all about covenants --  the ones we know of and the ones we don't.  Covenants of the spirit, of the body, and of the soul.  Covenants of Christ. 

 

 

Oh, the grandeur of who we are supposed to be, of who we will be, of who we are.  If you had any idea who you are supposed to be.  There is no good enough, there is always better.  We can always be better.  One of the most precious gifts we have, actually, is infinite potential.  There is ALWAYS better.  More.  Make use of the time you have because once it's gone it's gone.  As Thoreau said, "As if we could kill time without injuring eternity."  We can't.  So we need to wisely use our time.  

 

As for me now. . . I live, I learn, I grow, I teach, I learn Portuguese from time to time.  I appreciate your notes and your love and your examples.  All of it is meaningful. 

 

 

I love you!

Elder Molinaro

The Arizona Scottsdale Mission Conference