Elder Conrad 9/16/08

well after reading all of the emails from family, friends and loved ones I'm
starting to see and realize the lords hands being in everything. from the
growth i hear in clarissas e mail, and all that she is exspirenceing and the
testimony she is growing, and elder skousen growing in the mtc. i also had
the opportunity to hear from Dieter F. Uchtdorf. i had the chance to see him
in person, my district was one of the lucky ones that got to sit in the
building where he gave the devotional. When he entered the room everyone
jumped to stand! an apostle of the lord was standing in front of us and i
can bear whiteness to the Spirit which filled the whole GYM. He taught me so
many lessons and answered all of my prayers. Ive got five pages of notes
from him and his wife. what a way to be sent off into the feild, we were all
excited and ready to enter the field.
And now here i am, sitting in a room with my new companion e mailing you
all. i have three full days under my belt and already look back at those few
short days and see blessings from the lord, and lessons that i have learned.
i said that my preparations day would be on Monday, well i lied, this Monday
was special, we had a mission tour. president Seal and his wife came to our
Zone to teach us, we also had a member of the seventy there too. Elder
Packer and his wife! Hes president Packers son! my companion was told the
day before that he would be interviewed by Elder Packer. well when Elder
Harrison was done Elder Packer asked who's his companion was, and low and
behold i was called in, man was that a testimony building exspirence! Elder
Packer gave me words of advise and answered my prayers by telling me that i
can do this (missionary work) and that i have one of the best trainers. i
have been blessed, my companion is one of the best, i learn from him every
day and am glad that i have been paired up with him. Elder Packer also
instructed us for several hours. i have several pages of notes and things
that i have learned because of what he said to us. he gave us a quote by one
one of the General Authorities, i cant remember who but it pertains to
knowledge and what we are to do with it, "To benefit from new knowledge one
must hear, remember, practice, and apply it until it becomes a habit or
characteristic witch is natural or atoumatic, it changes the way you think,
feel and act."
a very powerful quote, and since it came from a member of the Twelve
apostles it holds even greater meaning, it came from the Spirit! This quote
is going to be what drives me, because if i am learning i must apply what i
am learning, and once i do that and show the lord that i am will to act on
my knowledge, the lord will bless me with more knowledge. Its a principle of
learning based on our action and the lords promise to us.
i have learned so much and have so many more stories that i would
like to share with you all but that would take for ever. But there is a good
thing, i write several pages in my journal every night and try to keep that
record up to date. my companion told our district leaders the other day that
i am the most dedicated journal writer hes ever seen. Just something funny i
thought i would share.
I have seen the lord bless me time after time. We are teaching a
family whos mom is a member, but her four children aren't, three boys and
one girl, jazzy is her name, she is 13 and has so many questions for us that
its hard for her brothers to get a word through. we all had a wonderful
exspirence the other day, i think it was on sunday. we watched a movie
called, "Small and simple things" its has clips from Elder Eyring and from
several people who are converts and them telling thier conversion story.
while coming to the end of the film i had a very Spiritual exspirence, i was
filled with the spirit more then ever. It bore testimony of missionary work
and how i am doing whats right. it was very powerful! those children felt
that spirit to! its one of those lessons were when your walking away you are
just stunded and are tring to collect your thoughts and feelings. It was so
powerful!
well ive got to go, my next preperation day will be next monday so
exspect to hear from me then. ill be writing every one and be sending out
the letters tommorrow, so hang in there, ive not forgotten about any one. i
love you all so much and am thankful for the blessings you have all been in
my life!

love
Elder David Kelly Conrad