Elder Brock DeLuca: Elder French, The Temple, The Sacrament....and Riding My Bike Down the Stairs

Alright, I wanna start off by telling you all that I love you! I want you all to know that I think of you throughout my week and I try to think of ways that I can share things to help you have a spiritual uplifting experience when you read the bloggy. I have a lot I wanna share, but I am terrible at writing. I will do my best to express my thoughts.

Okay, so first off, Elder French is being transferred tomorrow. I'm gonna be straight up here. I've only told a couple people this, but I wanna share this with all of you. When I first got to this area, Elder French and I did not get along very well. It was super difficult for us and it was mostly because he was used to doing what he did with his first companion, whether it be good or bad. I came from being with Elder Thomas and he is one of the most obedient missionaries, if not the most obedient missionary, in this mission. That was why I was with him. He taught me so much! He taught me how to surrender myself to the Lord. At first, this was hard for me, because I have a tendency to be slightly tenacious. I do not like to give up on anything. A lot of it was little things, like having my sideburns more than halfway past my ear. It's something so small, however it is a rule we have. I held on to them cause that was my pride and joy! If I can't have hair on top of my head, I wanted to at least have a little on the sides! Now, I make sure they are halfway or less! When I see people with long sideburns, I think to myself "man go cut those things!" Will I always have them that short? I dunno. But as long as I am a missionary, the answer is YES!

Anyways, Elder French and I learned a lot from each other. As we both came closer to our Savior, we grew closer and became unified. I got his okay before mentioning all of this, but it is so neat for me to see how the Lord works everything out in the end. I will miss Elder French, but he is supposed to be somewhere else for now.

I had the best time in the holy temple this past Thursday. I brought my Patriarchal blessing with me and I read it in the celestial room again. Awwwww, I love it! I love my life so much. I am more happy now than I have ever been before, and it is seriously because I am closer to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ than I ever have been before.

We had a great Sacrament meeting again this past Sunday. We all need to think more about what it means to take Jesus Christ's name upon us, always remember Him, and keeping His commandments. Those are the three things we promise at our baptism, and whenever we partake of the Sacrament, and in return we are promised to always have His spirit to be with us. Those are very big promises and we need to take it seriously.

So, I occasionally ride my bike down the stairs at our apartment complex because there is like 20 steps and sometimes I just would rather ride them than walk them. One day after I went down I heard "Wow that was sick man! Watch out we have Evil Knievel over here!" and it was a guy named Mike that we never met. This guy has been so good to us ever since we have met him. He is a tractor trailer driver, so he is always on the road, but he has cooked us burgers one night when we didn't have a dinner appointment, and then gave us some ribs another day. Don't worry, I am mindful of the portion sizes I eat. He is not an investigator, but we are hoping to start teaching him soon. I'll let you know whats up!

Well we taught our investigator Chris the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson this past week, and it went really well, but he didn't make it to church. Please keep him in your prayers.

I just want you all to know that I am loving my mission more and more each day. It makes me sad that a quarter of it has already come to pass.....Now I just have a sister mission left. :/ I am working hard and being obedient. I wanna shout out to Michael Costello! When I went on splits with Elder Costello in Ogden, he taught me so much. He taught me how to be an obedient missionary, but at the same time still have my own personality. Michael, you are a boss! Thank you for everything bro. It is tough to be yourself, while losing yourself, and you were a good example of how to do it.

There is no way I could do this work if the church was not true. Missionary work is hard work, but I want you all to know that I know with all that I am that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on this whole earth. D&C 1:30. Yes, that is a bold statement, but it is true. Don't get me wrong, other churches have truth to them, but in order for a fullness of truth we needed a restoration to happen and I know within my heart that this did happen through the Prophet Joseph Smith. If this was not so, I couldn't be here. But it is true and I am here sharing this with as many as will listen. I love my sacred calling and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be where I am. I love you all so much and I look forward to writing you next week. Ill have a new comp when I talk to you next!!!!

I love you!

Elder DeLuca