La semaine dernière

How are you going everyone?

This week was so tiring, holy smokes, I almost didn’t make it. We did so much service this week - I love it.

I put Elder Bell right to work, and now within his first week, we have taught multiple lessons, found a new investigator, visited countless members houses, and done service three days in a row!

I am also excited to announce that our friend, Stephanie, will be baptized this Saturday!!! We are going to finish the lessons tonight and then she will be interviewed Wednesdayand baptism on Saturday. I am so happy to see her make this covenant with her Father in Heaven. It has been quite an honor to see her progression over these few months, and to see her now enter into a covenant with God. I am very happy for her and I know Heavenly Father is as well. She quit coffee and tea without any issue, she accepted the law of tithing without flinching, she even had to end a relationship because of her new found faith in Christ. The Lord knows his people, and prepares a way for each of them.

We had a great fireside this past Friday night. The Elder’s Quorum President asked us to prepare the discussion - which would be approximately 45 minutes. So we took a few hours Friday afternoon trying to figure out a really fun idea to teach about Christ’s atonement. We finally came up with something, went to the fireside, and waited for people to show up. Only about 13 people showed up, so the Elder’s Quorum President said we would just watch the Bible videos and we would direct the discussion after the videos. So, all that planning was put to waste, but it was ok because we had some really good discussions. It was super interactive and everyone participated - even I spoke a lot! It was a fun fireside with the ward members.

Thursday we went and mowed Brother Scheen’s lawn for him. He is an older member, who can’t bend over too much anymore, so he needed help with mowing his lawn. Elder Bell was kind enough to do that, so I just talked with Frere Scheen. He was the first Stake President of Belgium! His first counselor’s son is now the Stake president! The stake was organized by Thomas S. Monson and back in those days, the stake presidents were invited to General Conference and went to Church headquarters regularly. So, Frere Scheen knew President Monson and probably some other apostles - pretty cool! He worked for General Electric and did so many different things for them. He shared a cool story about tithing with me.

General Electric told him that they were going to be opening up a new branch in Belgium and they wanted him or another employee to open up the branch. So, they were both interviewed and told that they would receive a 10% bonus. After their interviews the other man told Frere Scheen, “don’t say yes yet, tomorrow we will ask for 15% bonus.” So, Frere Scheen went home and told his wife and she looked at him and said that 10% is your tithing - take the job! She also asked him what he would do with another 5% extra. He didn’t really know, so he agreed with her. He took the job and within a few months the company was so impressed by their work that they gave him another 10% bonus, and then another, and another! So, he was continually blessed because his wife helped him realize that 10% was his tithing money.  

Saturday we had a good time at John’s house - He is the member with the farm. We worked from about 11 am to 8 pm. What a glorious day, had so much fun doing hard manual labor. I honestly hated doing any sort of work before my mission, but now I really enjoy it. It is so rewarding to just see everything you accomplished after you are done. I was so sore the next morning though - holy smokes. Then, John invited us back over Sunday night to eat with his family and celebrate his daughter and father’s birthday! They are such a nice family. They are one of those very close knit families, so when you are with them, you feel like family as well. I love visiting them.

We went to the English speaking branch on Sunday to give talks and when we got there, there were two other missionaries there, who serve in France, and I guess thought the branch was in their area, but it is 100% not in their area. So, that was awkward!! I was the final speaker for sacrament meeting, but by the time it was my turn the meeting was over. President Jensen (our old stake president) used to say he never had time to finish any of his talks, and that is how I felt! So I didn’t think I was going to speak, but the stake President was there and told me I could take as much time as I wanted. I had to skip around in my talk and I read super fast, but I think it still went well. We only finished about 30 minutes after sacrament meeting is supposed to end. ;)

Other than that, the week was good. Elder Bell and I are getting along well. I seem to be the missionary companion that everyone can take a breath with. Elder Bell told me he has felt a lot of stress taken off his shoulders already since being with me. I am glad I can help others feel a little more comfortable. I am 100% against contention, so I try to create a very happy atmosphere for my companions, where they can be comfortable, but still excel. I suppose it is working!

Much Love,

Elder Molinari

P.s. Stephanie asked me to baptize her! I am honored! Heavenly Father is so good to his Children :)

Pictures:

Me with mustache

Another Sunset

Sunset with the moon

Me ruining my shoulders a little more

(no subject)

Hello My Friends,

I am sitting here relaxing in my chair and writing this email. I also have a stranger sitting next to me, (my new companion) and I am ready to fall asleep.

My time with Elder Peel is up. I am actually really sad about it because we had such a good time together. I have nothing bad to say about him, only praises to rain down on him. He accepted me for who I was and just let me be myself. He saw me through a really hard time in my mission and helped me get to a very happy place. I keep thinking of that verse of scripture in Alma, “Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.” I’d change Moroni to Carl Peel though. I’ll really miss him. We have a little quote board, where we would write really solid quotes, and I wrote on it “Friendships made before this life carry on into mortality and into the eternities.” It felt fitting for the friendship we had developed and especially since we became friends so quickly. I can’t tell everyone about his 250 sheep now!! We saw members all day yesterday because Elder Peel was leaving and one of them, who teaches Christine and Jonathan with us asked us if we got along. After a very positive response, he said he knew we did because we taught so naturally together and with such a powerful spirit. He was really impressed by us. That makes you feel pretty good. I’m really glad Elder Peel and I became such great friends.

My new companion is Elder Bell. He is born in Texas, raised in Oklahoma. 

Elder Peel and I had a really nice week. We went over to John’s house last night (the member we clean the horse stalls for) and had such a good time. It honestly felt like we were hanging out with family. We had a wonderful meal and a great dessert. John’s sister lives in America and she recently came to visit and left John’s family the Bean Boozled jelly beans. So, we decided to play that. I got the spoiled milk jelly bean and almost puked - but I didn’t! John’s daughters shoved the vomit flavored jelly bean in his mouth and it was so funny. We had such a fun time. We played a game afterwards and just chatted - this is one of those families that you never forget.

I went to the shoulder doctor on Thursday and found out that I have a joint issue which could develop into arthritis. That wasn’t the most exciting news to find out, but I will go back so that they can put painkiller medicine in my shoulder. I guess we will see what that does. He also told me I wasn’t allowed to workout my upper body anymore, which basically means I can’t workout or play a lot of sports seriously. Guess I will be getting into biking.   

We also taught Stephanie. We taught her about temples and family history! She really loved the idea of being with her family for eternity and was very engaged in the lesson. She is a very faithful woman.

I don’t have much else to say. I feel alright right now, pretty tired, really excited for my life after the mission, but everyday grateful for the experiences I have had and the people I have met so far. The same member who complimented Elder Peel and I said that the last few months go by quickly, but they are harder because God is preparing me for something much better after. I am a little nervous of how the mission could get harder, but if God sees fit to refine me a little more, then I will willfully submit to what he sees as just.

Love you all,

Elder Molinari

A castle we randomly found while visiting a member family

(no subject)

Hello Everyone,

We had a really fun P-day with all of our district and so I had no time to write and I am tired, but because I love you all...I will write.

We had a really spiritual district meeting outside and I really enjoyed it. It was kind of cold and pouring rain, but we had some shelter and the spirit with us. I was asked to give a formation on what I thought was the most important thing I could talk about. So, I decided to focus on being worthy Priesthood holders and faithful husbands. I started in with the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood and moved on to section 121 of the Doctrine and covenants, with the warning about worthily exercising the Priesthood. I finished with some quotes and counsel. I think it went really well and from what the District said - they enjoyed it as well.

After I gave my formation, Elder Fields did his formation which was all about being bridge builders. He spoke about the positive encouragement he always received from his Grandpa, which gave him the mindset to continue striving to become better and do better. His Grandpa was a bridge builder. Now, we as the rising generation, whether as missionaries, or as future husbands and fathers, are the next bridge builders. We will build the bridges for the future generations. It was a super good formation.

After we finished, we weren’t really sure what to do because it was pouring rain and none of us wanted to walk in the rain, so we asked in our closing prayer that the rain might be held off, so we could walk without getting wet. Within seconds after we finished the prayer, the rain stopped. The storm clouds were still above us, but the rain stopped falling and the clouds even parted a little bit so we could see the sun. It was a beautiful moment.

We didn’t do much else this week. It was vacation in Belgium, so all of our investigators were gone. We were able to teach Jonathan about Tithing! He accepted the invitation to follow the law of tithing, even though it will be difficult for him and his family. We are really proud of his progress and willingness to follow the example of Christ.

We had zone conference this week. I don’t usually write about zone conference, but I will today because I feel bad giving you all nothing enjoyable to read? A few weeks ago I had my interview with President and expressed a few of my concerns about the mission. I gave him my concerns and then I told him I wasn’t just going to complain to him, so I presented my easy solution to the problem. I suggested talking about Christ more because it is important that the missionaries focus on who this work is directed by, who we should all strive to become, and who we represent as missionaries. So, fast forward now to the zone conference and President Sorensen’s opening formation was all about Christ! It was super great to just focus on Christ. I don’t know if President did that because of my suggestion, but I loved it either way.

We also received a really nice formation on the Temple and how to better invite people to the Temple. I really loved that formation as well. It was done by the Visitor center couple and they were super interactive and really captured everyone’s attention. I was participating a lot, and after answering a question almost immediately, Elder Woods said “This guy’s on fire!” and gave me a high-five. Honestly, it was a small thing, but it literally made my day. Then they did a roleplay on how to invite members to talk with their friends about the Gospel and I was chosen to participate in that. If I had been chosen to do that before my mission, NO WAY I would have been able to do it, but I had a fun time pretending to be someone and went right along with it.

I’ll close with my testimony of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for Him. He has changed my life. I can very easily relate my life to the story of the currant bush. There was a large bush that was not yielding any fruit, so the farmer pruned it back drastically to just a stump. Eventually that stump grew to become a great majestic bush with lots of fruit on it. It said “Thank you Mr. Farmer for cutting me down to make me great.” I can look up many times in my life and thank “the Farmer” for cutting me down to make me great. I am so grateful for a savior who has taken upon all of my sins and sufferings, taken upon himself the sins and challenges of everyone! He has made it possible for me, and for you all, to become someone great. I know that he is the Son of God, I believe that he is a resurrected being, who governs his church on the earth today. He leads us through revelation as he did in times of old through a living prophet. I love the Lord, I know He loves all of you. I strive to become as He is and I hope you will all strive to become as He is as well. Jesus is the Christ, pra to feel his love for you and accept his loving corrections and become the beautiful and fruitful tree you were meant to be!

I love you all. God bless you.

Elder Molinari   

Pictures are of our adventures in Dinant, a city destroyed during world war I and also where the first saxophone was made!