Canada Vancouver Mission: 09/22/2014 - 3rd LETTER FROM DUNCAN

Another week has gone by and Saturday marked a special day.....He's been out a WHOLE MONTH!!!!! Tony and I celebrated by packing up his room. So happy that is done and he can deal with the three boxes (and his arrow from his Arrow of Light that doesn't fit in any of boxes) when he gets home. I love having an email waiting for me after work on Monday. Here's the latest:

Dear Stock Fam,

Wow, it's always great to hear from you all. I'm so blessed to have such a supportive family and such a wonderful example of how to live the gospel. It comes in handy out here. Anyways, I am super excited that you all are doing so well, and of course: ACP Soccer getting a win?! Just another one of the Lord's miracles that I've seen/heard this week. Man, I am so happy for all of you. Yes, mom: I barely noticed it was my month mark until the day it happened, and I looked up at Elder Orr and said, "Elder...I've been out for a month!" And he just laughed and said, "How does it feel?" Well...it feels like I've been out here forever and yet it feels like I got here yesterday... I swear, these name tags mess with the time-space continuum or something, because days and weeks are flying by now. I hear it just gets faster and faster the more you get lost in the work. Dang! I only have two years to do this! I need to make it count.
So, Elder Orr and I have made it our personal crusade to be exactly obedient to the mission rules and to the guidance and counsel we receive from the Lord through our own personal revelation as well as through the revelation the Lord gives to President Burt. We know that as we follow with exactness and utilize our faith and our diligence, that the blessings of heaven will open unto us. As Ezra Taft Benson said, "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes a quest, it is in that moment that God endows us with power." Wow. I think that this is something that EVERYONE, not just missionaries, can apply to their lives. All we need to do is love God and because we love Him, keep His commandments. He doesn't give us a commandment, no matter how small or big it is, without giving us a way to follow this commandment, and blessing us for our obedience to Him.

I think the most important thing to do is to obey not out of fear or out of our own desire for blessings, but to do it out of pure love for our Savior and for our Heavenly Father. That's key. So, we have seen blessings already come from this. As we go out and tract/find those who are ready to receive the restored gospel, we don't do it hesitantly or with even a bit of shame or doubt. We literally ran from door to door yesterday, almost out of breath from doing so, and talked to everyone we saw. We testified to them of the truthfulness and the crucial importance that the restoration of the Gospel has in their lives, and after we have done that, it is their choice to accept or reject it. But if we are not willing to give it our all and testify boldly, and teach them with full power, then we cannot stand spotless before God. It is our responsibility as members of His Church to testify and share this gospel with everyone we see.

Now, whether that means we literally walk up to them and teach them these plain and precious truths, or testify of the glorious gospel with our actions, it doesn't matter: we just need to do it. We don't need to be star keepers or awesome midfielders to play on the Lord's team (SOCCER-GOSPEL ANALOGIES!!!), but rather, we just need to get a jersey on and RUN! Get out there and do something. Ether 12:12 says that unless we have faith, the Lord can do no miracles among the children of men. So as we seek to find those who are ready to receive this gospel, and the Lord gives us names of those who are ready, then we need to act on these prompting and put our faith and trust in the Lord. Otherwise, nothing can happen. That's what we've been teaching to the members of the Duncan ward. (They're awesome.) I know this to be true. I know that unless we act and put our faith in the Lord, we will not see the glory that is waiting for us. The Lord is literally sitting there, waiting to bless us, and unless we act, He can't.
We had our first dinner appointment yesterday. The Bachelders fed us...holy heck it was good! They prepared a ton of smoked salmon, slow roasted vegetables, and some awesome French bread. It was probably the best meal I've had in a long while. We were so sluggish afterward, though, but we ran from door to door to preach this gospel! It was great. We have a dinner appointment with the Ruttans tonight right after P-Day ends. Excited for even more food! but yeah, we're doing great out here. We had a guy we tracted into that was literally so excited about the news we shared on living prophets being called of God today, that he literally grabbed the Book of Mormon out of Elder Orr's hands and asked him how much he wanted for it. When we told him it was free, he was astounded. the guy was so prepared to receive this gospel. We meet with him next week. I'll tell you how it goes! We set another baptismal date with an investigator we picked up who came to church on his own (MIRACLE). It is awesome. The Lord really is mindful of us. He is on our right and on our left and is guiding us each and every day. I know this to be true. I'm so happy to hear from you guys, and I hope Gilbert has recovered from the Kaiju attack it suffered! I know the government's hiding something. ;) Oh: one request. SEND ME PICTURES! I want to see how you're doing, etc. It's awesome when I get pictures from people haha. I'm so glad to be out here. My faith has grown so much in just two weeks of field experience. I can't wait to see what the Lord can help me become in two years! Oh, also: do I have a missionary plaque?! If so: send me a picture lol.
I hope you're all doing great, and I hope you have a wonderful week. 3 Nephi 11 is probably the most powerful scripture ever recorded. the very fact that Jesus Christ let each and every one of them feel the prints in his hands and his feet, and allowed them to form their own testimony of Him, is evidence alone that He is mindful of each and every one of us. I know He is. He knows us by name, and wants each of us to grow. Ah, man! The mission rocks! I'm lovin' it! I will send you pictures of my activities. They have been awesome haha. I love you all so much!!!

Elder Stock

Also: new favorite song is The Harvester by Brandon Heath. It gets you pumped up to tract. It's epic. I highly encourage you all to YouTube and listen to it in F.H.E. or something haha. Oh, and there are big spiders here on the Island. I call them Shilob. It makes door approaches interesting. We were knocking on a door and then one of them landed on my bag and Elder Orr screamed and slapped it off and we threw a mormon.org card at the door and booked it out of there lol. Good times!

Duncan's Claim to Fame: Canada's Largest Hockey Stick!!!