Elder Plumb,
Wow, the last time the title of Elder Plumb was used in this family was your grandpa serving with grandma in Pittsburgh mission in 2000 to 2001 and me in 1987 to 1989 in Missouri,St. Louis mission.
It was tougher to say goodbye at the airport than I thought. I miss doing stuff with you, but after reading your letter, I could not be more excited - both the goodbye and your letter were emotional for me. I'm glad you are enjoying the MTC. It's hard, but with the right attitude it's an awesome place to learn and grow. It looks like when you get to Jacksonville, you will be helping with hurricane clean up. Mom is glad you are not in Jacksonville right now going through the hurricane, but I kind of wish you were there experiencing the hurricane. I think that would be a cool, but crazy experience. I told mom that I doubt the Jacksonville, Orlando, Ft Lauderdale, Tampa Bay, Miami mission... will lose any missionaries because of the hurricane unless the missionaries do something stupid.
Today at stake conference this 17 year old girl named Haley spoke. She is from the Catholic church up on the hill from our church. Her dad had died recently and she was struggling to find comfort and so a few weeks ago she decided to come down the hill with her younger brother and sister to visit the Mormon church. She showed up at the Foothills Canyon building and timed the Saddle Ranch wards sacrament. She felt a great spirit during the sacrament and then after big Jim Hanchett from basketball went up to her and introduced himself and they ended up staying for all 3 meetings. They've taken the missionary discussions and she has received permission to be baptized I think when she turns 18. She goes to seminary and her talk in church was amazing - and she's not LDS yet. Her mom and siblings were in the audience and after her talk, I have a hard time believing mom and the rest of the family won't get baptized soon as well. Another young man and young woman, Kennedy Babbitt spoke, it was pretty cool to hear the youths testimonies.
How is your daily reading of the Book of Mormon going? In family night tonight we made a commitment to read the BOM personally daily. I have gone years reading it every day and it's interesting how I'll miss days at times and it really bothers me that I haven't craved that book like I used to. I'm looking forward to my recommit and I think I'll set the goal to read the whole BOM by the end of the year. What a powerful book and like President Benson would say - we all need to read it again and again, rediscovering the Book of Mormon each time. I don't know if this is Mormon folklore or not, but I heard that President Monson has read the Book of Mormon so many times that he has it memorized. Fact or Folklore??? You'll hear a lot of Mormon folklore I'm sure as a missionary if you haven't already, I'm pitching your first folklore possibly.
I look forward to your next letter and hope you continue with your great attitude and desire to learn and grow. May the spirit continue to lead and guide you. Remember that obedience is what gives you power as a missionary to receive guidance and direction from the spirit.
Love,
Dad
Hey dad! Thanks for this email it's good to know you got emotional over me haha! Even though I didn't really show it at the airport I was really sad to leave guys. I'm gonna miss doing stuff with you too especially basketball so make sure you can still play when I get back. And thats pretty cool to think that I'm one of the rare Elder Plumbs! I love serving out here and this is only the mtc which Iv'e heard is the most boring part of the mission and I can tell I'm kinda starting to get some cabin fever here. I just want to get out to Florida and help real people instead of being couped up here teaching fake investigators. But I know its good practice here so I'm making the most of it. And ya that hurricane Iv'e heard did some damage so honestly I'm pretty excited to get down there and do a lot of clean up. It will be a good opportunity to teach people while cleaning up I'd imagine so I'm excited for that.
Stake conference sounded pretty good I'm sad I missed it but at least I got to hear from Dallin H. Oaks instead! It was a very good talk on how to become a missionary. He talked a lot about it being important that we don't just need a testimony but we also need to be converted. I really liked it and it helped me to learn to rely on Jesus in everything I do here on a mission because everything is possible through him. I also watched a talk by Elder Bednar called the character of christ. It was an amazing talk that he gave in the mtc about 7 years ago. He talked about a lot of stories of people who showed characters of christ but what I got out of it is that this mission isn't about me and my wants. This mission is about doing the Lord's work and helping others find salvation through this gospel. I am just one of the saviors many tools to help him build his church and get Heavenly Fathers children to return to live with him again. I am here to learn and grow but I am mainly here to do the Lord's work. It was a great talk though and I wish you guys could watch it but I think it's only available at the mtc but Im not quite sure so you could try to look it up.
My daily Book of Mormon reading is going pretty good I'm only on 1 Nephi 8 but that's because I've been busy studying preach my gospel cuz I was a little lazy on that back at home. But it's going great and me and my companion have a lot of great discussions on stuff we learn in it. And I havn't really heard really any Mormon folklore but I wouldn't doubt it if President Monson had the whole Book of Mormon memorized.
I hope everyone is doing well and let them all know that I love them and want to hear from them cuz this is the only day in the week I can talk to them so make sure that they all email me. Love ya!
Love, Elder Plumb
Elder Plumb's Trainer, Elder Kunde from Idaho Falls, Idaho. He is a Bronco fan too!
All the new missionaries straight from the Missionary Training Center
Elder Plumb with President and Sister Lee
Jacksonville, Florida Airport meeting President Lee for the first time.
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