Dear mom.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures I'm sending. This week was the first time I have been to the temple out in North Carolina. As for how I"m enjoying knightdale, things are deffinately looking up. We have schedualed several appointments with people that have some pretty good potential. One of the people I met was one of the examples of how hard life can be so I hope that we can help her. This last Saturday I had a special opportunity to spend some extra time with president Cotterell, but, its something that doesn't really happen very often so he told me to keep it on the DL. I'm not sure if he meant just within the mission, or in general so im going to keep my mouth shut about what happened just to be safe. But I can tell you this, it was really neat and I learned alot from it. It was a very unique experience.
I was on an exchange this week with my district leader (Elder Brewer) and we thought we would do something that we thought would be fun. We had heard that missionaries in the past had done this before, but niether of us had actually done it before. So we decided that night that we were going to drink some water that had epsom salt in it. I'm not sure what made us think that was a good idea, but we did it anyways. For your information, epsom salt is a laxative. So we filled up our cups and drank away, and let me tell you, if alcohol tastes anything close to what that did, I will NEVER have any. It may have possibly been the most disgusting things I have ever tasted in my life. If not in the top 10. So after our struggle of forcing down the rancid drink, we waited and talked for about an hour and a half. After that, we gained a personal testimony that drinking epsom salt water will surely clean out your system. I remember that one of us put it, "it brang the power of a raging bull to our intestines". Anyway, I wont go into much detail. What can i say mom? teen-aged boys can be pretty dumb sometimes.
Elder Masulonis
Thursday, May 3, 2012
April 2, 2012
In his letter to us this week Kent refers to conference:
In the talk, Pres. Eyring talked about "mountains" he says even though the climb is hard, the prize won is worth so much more than the price paid. It is well over worth it. I related that scripture to myself. Recently I have strongly desired for the gospel to go through me so that I can have a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ and of his atonement and over all just become more converted. I want to become more converted! I want it so bad. I want my weaknesses to become strengths. I want to have a deep love for all of gods children to be a large part of my very nature and personality. I know this is possible, but only through the atonement of Jesus Christ and through his mercy. Right now I wouldn't say that I am going through the hardest time of my life by any means, so I dont think that im climbing a mountain yet, but i am struggling. It's kinda weird actually. For one reason or another, all of our appointments have been canceled within the last two weeks. I havent counted all of them, but my companion has said that we have had 12 lessons canceled in a row. Believe it or not though, it has brought me closer to Christ. In my situation I have felt like I can either give up and not really try, or I can put my trust in God and put my shoulder to the wheel. I, WILL, NOT, GIVE UP. I KNOW that god knows my situation. I know that he loves me. I know that these things have strengthened me and my faith and testimony. I know that he lives.
I have also learned that one of the greatest expressions of pure love is sharing the gospel with others... especially those we love. heavenly father loves each and everyone of his children as you know, and like you (dad) told me before in a tender situation when i was at home, god has a way of making things, good and bad, work out for the eternal welfare of man. Or in other words, for good. Sometimes it makes me nervous to share the gospel with the ones i love.
In the talk, Pres. Eyring talked about "mountains" he says even though the climb is hard, the prize won is worth so much more than the price paid. It is well over worth it. I related that scripture to myself. Recently I have strongly desired for the gospel to go through me so that I can have a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ and of his atonement and over all just become more converted. I want to become more converted! I want it so bad. I want my weaknesses to become strengths. I want to have a deep love for all of gods children to be a large part of my very nature and personality. I know this is possible, but only through the atonement of Jesus Christ and through his mercy. Right now I wouldn't say that I am going through the hardest time of my life by any means, so I dont think that im climbing a mountain yet, but i am struggling. It's kinda weird actually. For one reason or another, all of our appointments have been canceled within the last two weeks. I havent counted all of them, but my companion has said that we have had 12 lessons canceled in a row. Believe it or not though, it has brought me closer to Christ. In my situation I have felt like I can either give up and not really try, or I can put my trust in God and put my shoulder to the wheel. I, WILL, NOT, GIVE UP. I KNOW that god knows my situation. I know that he loves me. I know that these things have strengthened me and my faith and testimony. I know that he lives.
I have also learned that one of the greatest expressions of pure love is sharing the gospel with others... especially those we love. heavenly father loves each and everyone of his children as you know, and like you (dad) told me before in a tender situation when i was at home, god has a way of making things, good and bad, work out for the eternal welfare of man. Or in other words, for good. Sometimes it makes me nervous to share the gospel with the ones i love.
March 25. 2012
I'm not sure on how well you can see whats going on in the picture but its basically a picture of a big branch. The reason why I took a picture of this is because one day Elder Edwards and I were walking in an area around us, and all of the sudden we heard this loud noise. We looked over to where it was coming from and we saw this big ol branch fall right off the tree. I was so confused. It wasn't windy, lightning didn't strike it, Elder Edwards and I thought that since it rained the previous night the branch must have soaked up so much water that it became too heavy to stay on the tree. Looking back on it, that could have happened with any of the branches on the trees. I hope I dont get squashed. It kinda reminds me about temptation. More often then not, we do not give into temptation when it is boldly getting our attention, but rather the devil works by small and simple means, and others will he pacify and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: all is well in zion; yea zion prospereth, all is well---and thus the devil cheateth their souls , and leadeth them away CAREFULLY down to hell. When the branch broke, it was not because of a lightning strike or because of a strong wind, but because water had seeped into the branch slowly and CAREFULLY, until the branch had no choice but to give way and fall from the tree. Now often times it seems like because of the craftiness of the devil, that we are being beat upon by strong winds, yea by his shafts in the wirlwinds. But we are promised that if we build our foundation upon the rock of our redeemer who is Jesus Christ, we cannot fall. I remember one time when I was really young when i was afraid of the dark, that satan could only bite at our heels. But because he doesn't have a body, thats about all he can do. And especially when we have the lords help and when we repent and rely on him, we are able to crush any temptation or hardship. Again this power is only found when we access the atonement of Christ and convert ourselves and be healed by his great mercy and power. All things are possible between two people as long as one of them is god. "fear not i am with thee oh be not dismayed for I am thy god and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help the and cause thee to STAND, upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand."
Thursday, March 15, 2012
March 12, 2012
Well, there has been a couple of new things that are happening, like transfers and such, so lets start there. mM new companions name is Elder Edwards. He is from Draper Utah. He is the oldest of 4 children. He has 4 younger sisters. He has been out for about 15 months, and feels like he is about to die. (die in missionary terms is going home.) He isnt trunkie yet, but he is deffinately a different compaion thats for sure. If anything, I'm just glad that we dont have any real tension between each other. I will just have to send some video clips or something to show what he is like. He isnt bad or anything, he is just much more different than Elder Johnson. It's difficult for me to describe. I suppose that all my companions will be realatively different, but Elder Edwards is very unique. alright, so, now my area. I am serving in the Knightdale area. Being here is tripping me out. Knightdale is right next to Raleigh, infact, some of our area goes into Raleigh. The reason why Knightdale is tripping me out is because our district meets at the Raleigh stake center, and I have found out that Johnathan lives just a few blocks away from the stake center. I want to ask President Cotterell about what I am allowed to do and what I should do. Johnathan lives just outside of the borders of my area!!! I will let you know on how things go concerning meeting with Johnathan.
As for getting slammed by day light saving, I know how you feel. The church that I am attending is also at 9am. However, our bishop wanted us to be there early for some meetings, so we had to be there around 7am. In order to get to the church at 7 we have to get up and travel which takes about an hour. So that puts us waking up at 6. Take daylight saving in, and we are really waking up at 5. Yikes. But I made it through the day without complaining or sleeping.
When I first came into the area, there was only 1 person who we were teaching, and even then, he isn't that solid. It has been difficult to find new people to teach, but I have truely seen that our witness (or our finding) comes after the trail of our faith. For instance: 2 days ago, we were trying to see a few people that were in the area book who were formers and potential investigators. In the past, this has been the main source of our finding. We would usually use the principal of proximity which our mission president has counciled us to use. The principal of proximity (or POP) means that we will try to meet some people that we feel we should visit, and then we knock on some of the doors around (usually not more than 5-6) But anyway, we were doing what we normally did, and we saw that we accidentally didnt plan as well as we could have. We were left on our bikes with nothing left to do. This has never happened to me before, and my senior companion didnt seem to know what to do either, or really be motivated to do anything. But this was what I think was the trail of my faith. I didnt know what else to do to fufill my purpose as a missionary at the time and we were being rejected left and right. Nothing seemed to be working right. Even though I didnt have any direction really, we started to go more on the tracting side of finding others rather than POP side. In my heart I sincerly pleaded with my father in heaven saying, " I dont know what else to do, I'm trying my best, plaese help me." and within the next few doors, someone accepted us in and listened to our message and we had a great discussion. We have another appointment with him later on. It's so interesting to me how the lords work goes along. It's really a testimony to me that it really is the lords work, he is just letting me be a part of it.
As for getting slammed by day light saving, I know how you feel. The church that I am attending is also at 9am. However, our bishop wanted us to be there early for some meetings, so we had to be there around 7am. In order to get to the church at 7 we have to get up and travel which takes about an hour. So that puts us waking up at 6. Take daylight saving in, and we are really waking up at 5. Yikes. But I made it through the day without complaining or sleeping.
When I first came into the area, there was only 1 person who we were teaching, and even then, he isn't that solid. It has been difficult to find new people to teach, but I have truely seen that our witness (or our finding) comes after the trail of our faith. For instance: 2 days ago, we were trying to see a few people that were in the area book who were formers and potential investigators. In the past, this has been the main source of our finding. We would usually use the principal of proximity which our mission president has counciled us to use. The principal of proximity (or POP) means that we will try to meet some people that we feel we should visit, and then we knock on some of the doors around (usually not more than 5-6) But anyway, we were doing what we normally did, and we saw that we accidentally didnt plan as well as we could have. We were left on our bikes with nothing left to do. This has never happened to me before, and my senior companion didnt seem to know what to do either, or really be motivated to do anything. But this was what I think was the trail of my faith. I didnt know what else to do to fufill my purpose as a missionary at the time and we were being rejected left and right. Nothing seemed to be working right. Even though I didnt have any direction really, we started to go more on the tracting side of finding others rather than POP side. In my heart I sincerly pleaded with my father in heaven saying, " I dont know what else to do, I'm trying my best, plaese help me." and within the next few doors, someone accepted us in and listened to our message and we had a great discussion. We have another appointment with him later on. It's so interesting to me how the lords work goes along. It's really a testimony to me that it really is the lords work, he is just letting me be a part of it.
Love Elder Masulonis
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Feb 29, 2012
This a humorous thing Kent wrote about in one of his letters.
One night I was especially tired and fell right to sleep once I got to bed. Evidently I was snoring because I remember that at one moment I was asleep and then the very next I was awake. I was confused at why I was awake, and just like how dad talks half asleep half worried, I unknowingly asked Elder Johnson what was happening. After asking him several times and after coming to my senses he said, "I'll tell you one last time, but you have to listen!" I woke up to my senses, he told me that he hit me with a pillow so I would stop snoring. He laughed at my reaction. After both of us realized what happened and how things happend, we both laughed uncontrollably. (Missionary giggles?) I'm not sure on how much sense this makes but we were in the sage where everything was way funny because we were so tired.
One night I was especially tired and fell right to sleep once I got to bed. Evidently I was snoring because I remember that at one moment I was asleep and then the very next I was awake. I was confused at why I was awake, and just like how dad talks half asleep half worried, I unknowingly asked Elder Johnson what was happening. After asking him several times and after coming to my senses he said, "I'll tell you one last time, but you have to listen!" I woke up to my senses, he told me that he hit me with a pillow so I would stop snoring. He laughed at my reaction. After both of us realized what happened and how things happend, we both laughed uncontrollably. (Missionary giggles?) I'm not sure on how much sense this makes but we were in the sage where everything was way funny because we were so tired.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Feb 20, 2012
The following are excerpts from a letter we received in the mail from Kent. There are personal things he writes to individuals in our family, and answers to questions that we have asked him, so I don't post his entire letters word for word. We are so proud of him and love to see him happily serving and growing.
Something that I have learned is that because the Lord Loves us so much, the things that are important to us, are important to him. Now this doesn't mean that all our desires will come true, but again, all things are possible with God on our side. Something that has stood out to me recently on this subject is that the Lord will help us but not do everything for us.
Right now we are teaching a few people. But one of them I'm thinking might get baptized. I'm kinda nervous though. He baptism date is in April and transfer meeting is coming up. And I'm not sure if I will be able to baptize him or even see him get baptized. This is particularly distressing to me because I have bee the only missionary who has consistently taught him. I feel connected to him because I found him and have taught him and seen him grow. We will see what happens. His name is Otto.
Kent also wrote other things but adds: "sorry if this letter seems jumbled, I'm as the beach right now. Don't worry I'm not swimming or anything. It's just easy to get distracted by the sound of the waves and the warm weather and all the beauty:)"
Something that I have learned is that because the Lord Loves us so much, the things that are important to us, are important to him. Now this doesn't mean that all our desires will come true, but again, all things are possible with God on our side. Something that has stood out to me recently on this subject is that the Lord will help us but not do everything for us.
Right now we are teaching a few people. But one of them I'm thinking might get baptized. I'm kinda nervous though. He baptism date is in April and transfer meeting is coming up. And I'm not sure if I will be able to baptize him or even see him get baptized. This is particularly distressing to me because I have bee the only missionary who has consistently taught him. I feel connected to him because I found him and have taught him and seen him grow. We will see what happens. His name is Otto.
Kent also wrote other things but adds: "sorry if this letter seems jumbled, I'm as the beach right now. Don't worry I'm not swimming or anything. It's just easy to get distracted by the sound of the waves and the warm weather and all the beauty:)"
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