Raising your Ebeneezer

Alright! Another week has gone by and I'm getting closer and closer to leaving. I cannot explain how excited I am. I still can't speak the language like a Mongolian but man I can't wait to get off the plane and try and talk to someone in Mongolian. If you think about it...We're supposed to leave on the 28th, and that's like 11 days away. Man, how sweet is that! Ok, so really quick i'll address your questions: About the mission presidents address. I don't have it necessarily saved on my computer but it will be on my gmail account. Amy should be able to go on and get it for me. She could just search 'mission' in the search box and it'd pull it up i'm sure. -I already have a copy of the Church News, we get one every week actually. So i'm set on that! Oh, and all the stuff in the room...haha honestly I don't really know what to do with it. I would say take the clothes home and whatever else you can. Textbooks probably can stay because I have no need for them until I start school again. Just use good judgment I guess. If i end up needing something some place, we'll take care of that when I get back. Something that would be really helpful is if you made an inventory of the things I had there. Just so i know what I have when I get back. It doesn't have to be very detailed, or detailed at all. Just so it's easiler for me to know when I get back. It sounds like your New York trip was pretty sweet! I think you and Amy did more than I did with the choir in 3 days! New York is an awesome place though. I loved walking on the streets with all the people, it's a great experience. Oh, and thanks for telling all about the food you ate there, that didn't help one bit. The MTC is remarkable for its spiritual learning atmosphere but it definitely lacks in the type of food it serves. None of it will kill you, but it will kill your tastebuds. They serve some sort of burger EVERY DAY. kinda frustrating. haha. I'm excited to get out to Mongolia and try some Lamb-some head, some hoof, some eyeball; the works. :) Oh and I'm glad you had a good birthday! I made sure my class knew when it was haha. Feel honored because it's very easy to forget dates in the MTC, like Father's Day, the 4th of July, Haylee's Birthday...you know, things like that. Very easy...but I supposed that's a good thing right? Oh, and please tell the Clawsons "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" That package was very warmly welcomed. I love that stuff, heavenly hash is what they called it, i believe. Anyways, she left a card saying that it probably wouldn't make it out to Mongolia and I'd have to agree with her but if she's willing I'd say it's worth a try! :) Ok, so since I'm leaving so soon, I think it would be good to give me some numbers to reach you all at when I get to the airport. In the airport I can call people and I'd like to be able to call the family. That means I need your number and Dads number (the one he'll answer). I still know yours but it's better if you just send it. So yea.

Alright, so now my side of the week: Starting on last Saturday, we have been speaking nothing but Mongolian except for in certain situations when we need to talk to someone that doesn't speak Mongolian (Front Desk, Branch Presidency, Interviews). It has been so fun. It is very difficult though. You're constantly trying to pull together the grammar and words you've learned to make a coherent sentence so the others can understand you. It really is amazing to consider how much we are able to say. We can teach the 4 lessons, and hold a decent conversation and we've been here almost 3 months. It's so awesome. I can only imagine where I'll be after two years.

Oh, I got that picture of you and Sister Finuf! How'd you arrange that little thing? haha, that's pretty cool though.

This past Tuesday, we had a really great Devotional/Testimony meeting. The speaker was Elder Porter, an Emeritus Quorum of the Seventy. For the last 3 weeks we've had Emeritus Quorum of the Seventy speak to us. At first glance, you might think that we get the short end of the stick (as I did) with that because they are...well, old. However, it has become my understanding that these men know SO much. They have been serving the Lord all their lives and have doctrinal knowledge and testimony to prove it. Each of these last three devotionals has been excellent. To start the devotional off, the choir sang "Blessings" which is more popularly known as "Come, Thou Fount". It is a beautiful song. As we sang it, and gave feeling and emotion to those lyrics it was powerful. The choir director, while we were practicing, told us not to sing it for how much we liked the song, but for what it was saying. And it really says a lot. I encourage you to look over the words and ponder them. Especially the part about raising your Ebenezer. That was something he talked to us about in the choir-raising your Ebenezer. Something, some monument to yourself that demarks your change of course to be completely focused on the Lord, to be "fixed upon the mount" as the song says. That's what I am trying to do. In this mission there is no room for my concerns or needs. Every concern of mine that I address means there's one less concern from an investigator that I can deal with. The more time I spend on things for myself, the less time I have for the Mongolian people. That's a lot of what Elder Porter said on Tuesday. He said how the mission is not for you to a language, not for you to go to a new place, not for anything dealing with yourself. It is for the Spirit of the Lord to touch the hearts of the Mongolian people, using you as the instrument. It always brings me back to Isaiah 10 and Alma 26. We are just the instruments the Lord uses, by ourselves we have no sufficient strength. But, if we have the Lord's strength, we can do any and all things pertaining to the Lord's work. Well that's about all the time I've got. I love you all. I'm very happy for Jacque that is so great for her. Keep up the missionary work on the home front and we'll take it to the rest of the world ok? Bye!

~Elder James Cappuccio P.S. I'd really like Brother Youngs address....pleeeeeeeeease.