Email from Sis B regarding Elder Muir

Saturday afternoon after we opened Zach's letter that we got in the mail we were surprised to get the nicest email from a sister in the Camp Hill ward.  We loved hearing from her and most of all we love her for being so kind and taking such good care of our missionary.  What a sweet lady!

Hello Sis. Muir,

     My name is Sis. B and I am writing just to let you know what a wonderful son and missionary you have sent out to serve here in Pennsylvania.

     As you know, he came into his first assignment here in Pennsylvania and we had the pleasure of coming to know and love him over the 18 weeks he was here.  During that time, we watched him blossom from a rather timid, unsure newbie into a confident, capable young man ready and prepared to share his love of the gospel and for our Savior.  He was a shining example to those in the ward and to investigators seeking the truth.

     One of the things I most loved about Zach was his honesty and straightforwardness.  Some elders would tend to be timid when at the dinner table, afraid to express a hunger or preference, or even to engage in conversation.  Once Zach overcame his initial shyness, he was right there in the front and center unafraid to speak his mind, express an opinion and to ask for what he wanted.  I loved that about him, told him that often and laughed many times with him about it.  He has such a sweet, gentle spirit and that is beautifully demonstrated when he speaks about the gospel and his love for our Heavenly Father. 

      I just want you to know what a wonderful example of Christ-like love his is being for others here in the mission field.  Surely, you have raised a kind, thoughtful, gentle young man who was ready and prepared to assume the mantle of missionary and to honor that calling.

     My husband and I had him here for dinner appointments often during his first twelve weeks.  We greatly enjoyed having him in our home and felt like he was a long, lost son who would come over for dinner on occasion.  He was always welcome, and his company welcomed here.

     He will be greatly missed here in Camp Hill.  I just wanted to say thank you for sending such a wonderful man out to serve no only my family, but the many here in the area who are still wandering without the truth.  I know that as he progresses through his mission and grows in understanding and love, he will be an amazing missionary.  Even more, I know he will be a most wonderful young man to come home to you and those he misses and loves.

Best wishes, Sis. B

Week 21...Where in Pennsylvania is Elder Muir???

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

This is the letter we received in the mail Saturday to let us know where he had landed

Hello Family,

            Well…my new area is Lititz, PA.  It’s in the heart of Amish country, our area borders Lancaster.  In fact, we go to church in Lancaster which is about 8 miles south of Lititz (about 15 min.)  Lititz was voted the “Coolest Small Town in America”, according to the welcome sign when you enter the city.  http://www.lititzpa.com/index.php The best news is I have a CAR!!!  I haven’t been out much yet, but we visited the Lititz Springs Park.  I sent the package with my shoes and things today and I got your BYU stuff yesterday. 

            Good news about laundry…it’s free.  We have a washer/dryer in our apartment.  We share the area with the sisters.  We are the Lititz/Manheim North area and the sisters are the South area.  So I officially tried a whoopie  pie.  I got one at a Menonite food stand and let me just say they are “amazing” and they only cost $1.  I know this isn’t tons of info for you, but I’ve been here less than a day.  I’ll have a better idea of what’s going on and more info on Monday.   

Love you,

Elder Muir

Elder Muir's new home away from home

Lititz Spring Park

 

 Wilbur Chocolate Factory

 

 

Monday, October 28, 2013 (email)

1.   Introduce us to Elder D… He is awesome!  I haven't been with him a long time yet but I think he will be good and we will be good together.  He is from Blackfoot ID and he has been out about 9 months (since January).  He has been in Lititz since the end of July.  He is the first child in his family to serve a mission.  He has an older sister and a few younger brothers and sisters.  He worked on a lot of potato farms before he came out on his mission. 

2.   What makes Lititz, PA the "coolest small town in America"?  I am not really sure why it is (I plan to find out), I just know that there is a sign that says that when you come into town.  What cool things have you seen, tasted and done?  I have had some good whoopie pies from an Amish stand.  I have seen a few horse and buggies and there are lots of Amish farms out here.  Also, lots of corn fields and cows.  I am in the heart of Amish territory, so I will have to get tons of pictures and send them to you.  The Target parking lot has a spot for horse buggies to park, so I will get a picture.  It is definitely is cool out here.  It is mixed with small town farm country, yet there is still a big city feel to it.  Lancaster is the big city, Lititz is on the outskirts of Lancaster.   

3.   Do you miss Camp Hill (CH)?  Yes, I do miss it, but I am excited to get to know the ward here and make the same memories that I had in the Camp Hill ward.   I know at some point in time I will go back and visit all of them and who knows I could end up back in that ward for some odd reason or another. 

4.   How is the missionary work going in Lititz?  Tell us about your investigators.  The work is going good, lots of less actives that we are trying to see.  But we do have a few investigators.  That leads me to a really cool experience that we had yesterday with a family (3 new investigators).  So this is how the story goes…Elder D and his old companion were street contacting a couple of weeks ago and met and talked with this guy.  They started talking with him and he seemed interested in what they had to say.  The man said they knew a family from the ward that recently moved to Virginia.  His wife also knew a lady from the gym that is in our ward and she gave her a BOM for Christmas last year.  Elder D and comp ran into them again a week or so ago and finally set up an appointment to meet with them for yesterday.  The wife said this is where she thinks God is taking them so she is going with it and willing to listen.  We finally met with them yesterday after church and they are pretty much golden.  We started talking with them and she said she wanted to be together with her family after this life.  Elder D and I were both like “wow, this really is a miracle”.  So they are very open and are really solid and hopefully they can get baptized.  We committed the mom, dad and a 9 yr old son with a baptism date of Dec. 21.  I feel like that is going to happen and they might be the reason I came here to this area.  Also, the Elders just had a baptism here on Saturday.  Technically the young man didn't need to be baptized because he has Down Syndrome.  He is 15 and his family is all active and knew that the baptism did not need to happen.  But he wants to pass the sacrament so he needs this to do that.  His 8 year old sister got baptized on Saturday so they did it together.  It was a really cool experience. 

5.   What about the members?  What families have you met that stand out so far?  Well I have not met tons of them yet.  I met some at church yesterday and have heard a lot about them.  Unfortunately, last week we did not have tons of dinner appointments.  I met one family last week helping them put up a big mirror.  They moved in at the beginning of the summer and they are from Las Vegas. They are the D family.  They are a good solid young family.  We are having one of our Thanksgiving meals with them.  I have met a few others here and there but I don't really know much about them yet.  There are some other good solid families but I haven't really met them yet. 

6.   How big is the ward (bigger or smaller than C H)?  Boris tells us that you drive to Lancaster for church, is that true?  Do you and the sisters share 1 ward?  Yes, we drive to Lancaster for church.  It is only like 15 min. from where we live.  We and the sisters are both in that ward.  It is the Lititz ward.  It is a pretty new building too, it was built of couple of years ago.  It is the stake center for the Lancaster stake so it is huge.  It is the new style and design (it looks like a Utah church),  I will send pics.  Also, it is a pretty big ward, about the same size as Camp Hill, but there are a lot of less actives. 

7.   How big is your area?  It is pretty big, but a lot of it is boonies.  I really have only 2 big towns, Lititz and Manheim.  The area is split into a north and a south, we have the north and the sisters have the south.  I will send you a map of the area.   

8.   How was packing for the transfer?  Were you able to fit everything in the luggage?  Did you have to leave anything behind?  It was not fun!  The biggest pain was trying to get all of my sheets and bedding stuff to fit.  It was hard to get the blue blanket nice and condensed.  But luckily everything doesn't have to be nice and neat until I come home (meaning I didn’t have to fit it all into the suitcases for the airplane).  So no, I didn't really leave anything behind. 

·      How's your apartment?  Bigger or smaller than CH?  It is about the same size, I will have pictures for you when I send the SD card home soon. 

·      How was the transfer?  Where did you meet for the transfer and how did you get to Lititz?  We met at the Harrisburg stake center and had a transfer meeting there.  Then Elder D was there and we drove our car back Lititz.   

·      Are the fall leaves in full color?  Sort of, it’s finally getting cold enough to make them change. 

·      Are you adjusting to the transfer, move & new surroundings?  Are you happy & healthy?  How's your cold?  Everything is wonderful and I’m adjusting fine.  I’m really enjoying it and I feel good things are going to be happening here.  Also, I feel that I am going to be here for the long hall because President usually leaves you in drive areas for about 6 months so I don't think I will be moving anytime soon.  I will eventually get used to it.  My cold is fine, it just lasted a day or two. 

·      How's the weather?  Is it cold yet? Do you have anything specific you need in the winter box?  Well we had a cold snap all last week.  It was only in the mid 40's to 50's all week and windy.  Luckily, I had a car.  I think later this week it will be in the 60’s to low 70’s, but definitely things are getting colder. 

·      Have you had any contact with the members in CH?  Do they know where you were transferred to?  No to both questions. 

·      Where are the other missionaries from?  How many missionaries are in your district?  Well, the sisters in our ward are from Boise (nearby) and the other is from Kaysville.  The others in our district are the ZL’s , they are from Tooele and Payson.  There are sisters for that ward too and they are from St. George and Payson.  So it’s just like in Camp Hill, there are 8 in our district  

·      How many miles do you get on the car?  1000 a month

·      Do you still do your shopping/email in Lititz on pday?  Yes

·      Are you doing anything exciting for Pday today? Not today, usually we will go to the church and play volleyball with the district.  However, since it is the end of the month no one has miles to make it down there.  So we are not doing it today. 

·      Any plans for Halloween?  Any cool things happening for Halloween in Lititz?  Wednesday is the ward Trunk or Treat so we and the sisters are going to go.  We are dressing up as normal people and wearing normal clothes.  For the actual night of Halloween we have to be in by 6 pm and we get to do a deep clean of the apartment and then we have the night to relax.  Our apartment is desperate for a clean in general. 

·      Have you seen any horse & buggies on the streets yet?  Yes, a few.  Like I said before,  Target has a spot for them to park.  I will get a pic and send it.   

Well I love you and miss you and if you get this here in the next few minutes I might have some time to talk for a minute. 

 

Love Elder Muir 

Week 20...Transfer #4

1. So give me the details of the transfer, what did you find out on Saturday?  Well...I'm getting transferred.  Obviously I won't know where I’m going to until tomorrow.  Another Elder in our district is getting transferred as well.  We have both been in our areas the longest so we are both beginning new chapters of our mission.  It’s definitely a bitter sweet moment, but I am excited to move onto new things. 
2. How has your week been? What are the highs/lows? We had 5 lessons this week.  At two of them members were present.  Also, the BOM class has been cool lately.  In 1 Nephi it talks about the coming forth of the restoration and it talks about how there needs to be a free country before the gospel can be restored, I never really realized that before.  It is cool to see all of the things that the BOM foretells.  Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you on Pday last week the E’s family's mom (lady from Herriman) gave each companionship $20 when we were at their house.  We ended up going to Olive Garden and using the $20 there.  We went with the sisters and it was fun.  I forgot, another low was when we went to visit a nonmember lady.  She has a less active daughter in another ward in our district.  The nonmember mom, who I had met on exchanges previously, had a heart attack the other day and she is not doing so well.  She was hooked up to a ventilator and everything and I think the family was getting ready to pull it and let her go.  We were able to give her a blessing, but I haven’t heard anything since then.  It was very sad to see someone like that.  I can't imagine what it must have been like to see Derek like that when he was a baby and when he was little.  Also, I think I am starting to get a little cold.  It has been going around out here and through the ward, but I feel pretty good right now. I just have a little cough.  I took some Dayquil this morning.
3. What are your 5 positive things?  I have memorized the Standard of Truth and also D&C 4.  We got another bike J.  I sang in the choir again yesterday, we sang Search, Ponder and Pray.  I gave the opening prayer in sacrament meeting.  Also I just finished Alma 26. 
4. What kind of service were you walking to in the big rainstorm (patio area)?  We were going to work outside but then it was raining.  So we just helped paint some stuff. 
5. How did the big rainstorm compare to the rain we had in Draper when we had to dig the trenches out front and by your bedroom (close to your bday)?  Let’s just say it was like that rainstorm for pretty much 3 days straight.  I’ve NEVER seen so much rain in my life. 
6. How was the E family, did you enjoy their family?  Yes, they are awesome.  Unfortunately, I didn't really know them that well before Sunday.  But I really enjoyed the time I was able to spend with them. 
7. Any new families you've met? How are the F family, T family & haircut lady?  No, not really any new families that I’ve met.  T family is doing awesome.  I had dinner with them one final time last night.  Unfortunately, I was not able to get a picture with them.  Things were kind of crazy because we had somewhere we had to get to and we were kind of running behind.  F family is also awesome.  I was not able  to really talk with them because I was with the bishop all afternoon.  We are eating with the haircut lady tonight so I will try and get a picture with them.  I am going to send my SD card once I get settled in after transfers.   
8. How is the M family doing?  They are doing well.  Not much has changed with them.  We taught them on Saturday and talked about what they like about general conference and talked about following the prophet.  I did get a picture with them. 
9. Any good news about Franky & Sally?  No, not really, still same old stuff.  We have an appointment with them for Wednesday and hopefully they don't flake out.  Sally told me that they will miss me.  Hopefully the seed has been planted and I can see it being good for them one day. 
10. How is the guy in the hospital doing?  The same, just sitting in the hospital waiting for the antibiotics to work. 
11. How is your investigator that you committed to baptism doing?  He is doing good, we were able to teach him 2 times this week.  We went over the intro to the BOM with him because he was very confused about all of it.  Hopefully he will be at church next week.  On Friday we went back and read a chapter in the BOM with him.  He is progressing, it is just slow. 
12. What about S investigator (Little Ricky neighbor) ? Are you making any progress with her?  We met with her and had dinner with them Tuesday night (had really good beef stew).  We finished teaching the restoration with her after dinner.  She also is going to be slow but I think she is making progress.  I saw her last night, we didn't have a lesson or anything, I just said goodbye and she was sad that I was leaving.  I gave her my name and she said she would add me on FB. 
13. Does the ward have anything fun planned for Halloween?  Not sure since I am going to a new area.  All I know is we are not allowed to be out after 6 pm unless we are with members. 
14. Did you get my Halloween package Tuesday and my letter on Saturday (BYU update & Meg's letter)?  I got the Halloween stuff but not the BYU update. 
15. Are people you approach generally nice? Have you had anyone be really rude to you...throw things, spit on you, or call you bad names?  Usually everyone is pretty nice.  I haven’t had anything thrown or spit on me yet.  As we walk people yell rude things at us out their car window, but I don't really care.  It just makes me laugh. 
16. Are you happy and healthy?  Yes, but who knows I may get a car now and become a fatted calf (that’s for you Mel J). 
17. Can we do anything for you or send anything?  In the box of winter stuff you should send me some Junior Mints.  I have been really craving those.  I bought some last week, but those were gone in a few days. 
18. Can we pray for anyone/anything specific?  That all will go well with transfers. 
19. Did you find another bike?   Yes, we finally got bikes.  Right as I am leaving, of course. 

PS…I am sending a package to you with the couple pairs of shoes and a few other things that are not worth carrying around with me.  Also, I am trying to make as much room possible to pack for the transfer.  I am planning on sending it today.  It is large flat rate box so I will just put it on my credit card.  Also, I am out of stamps so I am going to buy some more and that will probably be attached to the home card too. 

Also one of the sisters in the ward said Elder Oaks was at her parents’ stake conference in Florida.  She said that they focused on getting members to continue to do missionary work.  So my guess is that is what your upcoming stake conference will be on, but keep me posted if that’s not it.

The ward did super Saturday on Saturday.  I'm sure you are jealous and wish you could do it again. 

Well I think that is it for this week, I will keep you posted on transfers and write you later this week with details.  I miss you and love you. 

Elder Muir

Week 19...Record Setting Rainfall & The Biggest Loser

     Sometimes I think we forget to recognize even the simplest forms of tender mercies from our Heavenly Father.  Last night, as we were cleaning up dinner dishes, we were the recipients of a simple yet sweet tender mercy from the Lord and a very sweet sister.  Dave received the following text/picture on his phone and it made my heart swell with happiness and put a smile on my face and a tear in my eye :)  He looks happy, healthy and safe and that's all I ask for.

       Text...“We just had the pleasure of having dinner with your missionary tonight!  So enjoyable!  I am visiting my daughter here in Camp Hill (I live in Herriman, UT).  He ate well, but all 4 missionaries wanted to weigh themselves and he won for the most pounds lost and we wanted to send a picture of him!"

 

Elder Muir’s email below…

 Hello Family,

 

First off, even though it is Columbus Day, I am writing this at the library.  So FYI this library is open on Columbus Day.

1. How was your zone tour? Tell me all about it, were you able to talk with Elder Arnold? Zone tour was awesome. Elder Arnold had some amazing things to say. He talked a lot about how member missionary work is so important and how we (missionaries) shouldn't be doing all the work.  We (missionaries) should just be the ones teaching. His wife talked about repentance and how we need to always be repenting as we teach the lessons to our investigators. Yes, I got to talk to him at the end of the conference for a few minutes. First, he gave me a big hug and was glad that I came up to talk to him. He told me that it is ok to have struggles on your mission and that is how we grow. I gathered you told him about the beginning of my mission. He told me about how he struggled on his mission and all missionaries struggle at one point or another.  He also talked about how to work with companions.  
2. Tell me all about the rainstorm? (I always check the weather before I send his emails to give him updates on what to expect and found they had been dumped on.  I thought the total was a mistake and started checking news reports…nope, not a mistake) Did you go out in it or stay inside? If inside, what did you do?  Holy Crap!!! That is a lot of rain in 2 days, obviously I was here in the rain but didn’t know how much rain actually fell. (On Thursday/Friday 10/10 & 10/11 Harrisburg/Camp Hill had a record breaking rainfall.  The previous record set in 1894 was shattered.  It’s reported that on Thursday they received over 4 inches of rain on Thursday and over 4 more inches on Friday.  Yahoo weather has recorded 6.58” for Camp Hill on Thursday & 3.77” on Friday.  Either way that is a WHOLE lot of rain).  Haha…ya right, I wished I could have stayed inside.  So the answer is no, we did not stay inside.  I had no idea that there was that big of a rainstorm coming and when it started to rain on Thursday luckily we were inside for part of the day for some service and our BOM class.  On Friday we had weekly planning then we did some more service that was in a patio area.  So walking to the service project I had my rain jacket on but it was soaked because there was so much water coming down.  I literally wanted to cry because it was so cold and miserable.  I didn't have my umbrella; however, I don't know how much that would have helped because there was so much water.  After we went to a few peoples’ houses and also went up to visit the guy in the hospital from Gettysburg.  Let’s just say that was awful too.  However, it is 2 days that I will always remember from my mission.  My scriptures and PMG got soaked but they are still usable.  I used to put grocery bags in my backpack to wrap around my scripture case but it never really rained that hard all summer and if it did it was not for very long.  So I stopped carrying the bags around.  The scriptures and PMG are still a bit damp but they will eventually dry. 
3. How much weight have you lost? What did you weigh when you left?  I bet I’ve lost 5 to 8 lbs.  Last night when I weighed myself I just eaten and I was full from eating ham & funeral potatoes. 
4. Whose home did you have dinner at and who is the nice person that sent the text/pic? How did weighing yourself come up?  So the picutre was taken at the E family’s home.  They fed both us and the sister missionaries.  They are in our area but I had never really met them so yesterday was the first time I met them.  He is an orthopedic resident and she used to be a respiratory therapist before they had kids.  The lady that sent you the picture was Sister E's mom.  She lives in Herriman.  After we ate she wanted take a picture and send it to you guys and so I said ok and I gave her dad's cell #.  I figured you would be thrilled and yes I have lost weight.  I am skinnier, but I think that is what happens when you average walking 10 miles a day for 4 ½ months.  They all are from Utah, but he came here for his residency. 
5. What are the highs/lows for the week?  Well the high was obviously Elder Arnold and the zone tour.  It was amazing to hear from a general authority.  Another high was sacrament meeting yesterday.  Sister F gave a good talk on agency.  She a great quote that she gave in the talk.  I really really liked it. You probably remember the talk it came from.  It came from President Benson’s In His Footsteps talk.  "There has never been more expected of the faithful in such a short period of time than there is of us. Never before on the face of this earth have the forces of evil and the forces of good been so well organized. Now is the great day of the devil’s power. But now is also the great day of the Lord’s power, with the greatest number of priesthood holders on the earth." That really hit me after I found it on lds.org of how true that is and it was given 25 years ago.  Look how much that rings true in today’s world. I’m so grateful to be one of those priesthood holders and be one of the faithful. I know that we were saved for this time because Heavenly Father knew that we could make it through the difficult challenges that are placed before us and endure to the end.   The knowledge we have of the gospel of Jesus Christ helps us to be able to endure the challenges that we are faced with.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is constant and never changes and it’s the only constant thing in an ever changing world that we can cling to.  The low was probably the rain, as you would have guessed.  Also, we did not have very many dinners this week. 
6. What are 5 positive things for the week?  We were able to commit an investigator with a baptismal date for Dec 7.  He was the referral we received for another set of missionaries.  Elder Arnold and the zone tour was definitely a positive and me losing weight…being the Biggest LOSER haha! 
7. How are you feeling about transfers?  I really am hoping something happens because I'm at about at my whit’s end with Elder F.  He is starting to drive me crazy but I am making the best of the situation.  So we will see what happens, you will know by the next email.  Which leads me to NO ONE send me anything after Thursday so if I do get transferred it does not have to be forwarded to the new apartment. 
8. Are the new shoes working out OK? Yes, they just need to be broken in. Unfortunately, they gave me blisters again but I think once they are broken in a bit they will be better. Also, hopefully I get transferred into a drive area next week and I can finally give my feet a rest.
9. What kind of business does Franky want to start with his friend?  I am not exactly sure.  It is something that Bro. M and his neighbor are doing and so he has those 2 involved.  It is something about electricity, but I’m not really sure. I don't understand what they’re doing.        
10. How's the guy that's in the hospital (parents are from Gettysburg)?  We saw him Friday night.  That was one of the places we had to walk to in the pouring rain…no bueno.  We were able to see him and he is in a rough situation. Unfortunately, he is  dying.  He is on some antibiotics to help an infection in his kidney and heart.  But they won't know how well it's working for a few more weeks.  If the anitbiotic doesn’t work he has a chance of the infection breaking off and going up into his brain and dying so that is why he is on the antibiotics. He may be able to get a new heart valve but he has already had 2 open heart surgeries so the docs say he has like a 9% chance of living from that. 
11. How is Sis. S (Bro. M's friend) doing? Have you been back to see her?  Yes, we have seen her but we haven't really taught her again.  We tried to do a walk/lesson Saturday but that did not really go so well.  She was just wandering in and out of random stores and things and so the walks are not really effective. We can’t really teach her in that type of environment.  We have dinner with her and hopefully a lesson tomorrow. 
12. What ever happened with the referral you got, were you able to meet with him?  We saw him Tuesday.  He is a nice old man.  He is into needle point crafts.  He is the one we committed to a baptismal date in December, but he has a lot of work to do.  He is not really sure about a lot of things, but if we can get some work done with him he will be good. 
13. How's the food situation going? Are you still being fed by members...any good stories about meals/families or your own cooking/food adventures? The members feeding us has been going good.  Last week was kind of lousy, but whatever.  Let’s just say I eat a lot of ready made freezer kind of stuff.  I would try and make decent food/meals but I don't really have a lot of time to cook stuff so I am doing the best that I can with food things.  Overall, it is going well.

     BTW, I'm listening to Mormon channel music and they played Beautiful Heartbreak by Hillary Weeks and it just made me think of your lesson that you gave in RS on that. Just thought I would throw that out there.  Well I will write a snail mail today since I am not going to the church after this so I will give you more info in there.  

Love you FOREVER!!!

Elder Muir