"Shoutout to Dadio" & Mosiah 4:15

Goodness, the last couple of weeks have just been crazy and I haven't been able to sit down and write a good weekly email! So that's on me! But we're back this week with a pretty exciting one, I think! First, some highlights:

• The fall is BEAUTIFUL here! The leaves are all so pretty; each drive as I look around, it just shows evidence of a Creator! 
• This was the last week of my second transfer! So, I'm officially out of training... but I still feel like I know nothing haha! 
• We got pizza for our last district council meeting because our district won a challenge of talking to the most people from different countries in one day! So that was awesome! 
• We had a fun dinner with some of our friends! They hadn't ever seen anyone BBQ, so they were very fascinated! It was super fun! 
• I figured out I have the lucky opportunity to keep serving with Elder Hofhiens! And we also figured out that on Tuesday, we get another Chinese-speaking Elder! So it will be fun to get to know him! 
• My good friend Kevin had his Birthday this week! So shout out to him! 
• And my greatest example had his birthday this week! And that takes me into the main part of the email! 

This week I was reading in Mosiah! And in Mosiah, there's this super cool guy named Benjamin. He's the King, but he still constantly serves everyone around him even though he's technically higher than all of them! He still puts himself on the bottom! So King Benjamin, he's gotten old, he's about to die, but he wants to say some words before he heads out of here. So in Mosiah, Chapter 4 verse 15, he gives some advice to the parents! He says, "But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another." Today just happens to be my amazing father's birthday! So what better scripture and topic to talk about today than the things that my dad taught me?! I think none! So that's what I'm talking about and this is a shout out to you, Dadio;) If you don't know my dad, you can just picture the world's coolest person and then you've got my Dad! So as I came across this verse, I knew this would have to be the scripture for the week! 

When I was growing up my dad taught me lots and lots of things! For example, he taught me to not spill BBQ sauce on white carpet, to play hard in soccer games, that if you can touch a ball then you can catch it. But most importantly, he taught exactly what King Benjamin says: to love and serve others. Constantly when we were anywhere, my dad gave me the example of everyone's a child of God. There is simply no one that is higher than anyone else in Heavenly Father's eyes. So why would we act any differently?! No matter who it was, if someone was in need, he was serving them! On countless nights, my dad would tell me we were off to go visit someone he felt like he needed to visit. Even when people weren't home, he'd pull out some rakes from the car and rake their leaves. Lastly, we'd leave before the person ever knew! It always boggled my mind that my dad wouldn't just put a note on the door! Why not just say something nice and sign your name? But he would always say that wasn't the purpose for doing it. They were going to come home to a green grass lawn with no more leaves on it. They would hopefully smile and that would be our reward! This is just one example but I could give tons and tons more of things exactly like this! 

My dad was always good about making sure I knew that people were good. Sure, there are some times where people definitely didn't choose the best decision. But overall people are good, they are all a part of this big family. There are lots of people we pass, some of these people will wrong us, make us feel bad, or just give a weird vibe. But at the core of all people, I was taught, there is good. Going along with this, I was reassured that we should treat everybody like they are good! We shouldn't treat people in different ways! It doesn't matter who they are, what decisions they've made, or what they look like! It's simple... God loves everyone and we should do the same! My dad just loves people unconditionally and I am so grateful for this example growing up! 

Lastly, my dad loves others genuinely. There is not one fake thing about my dad's concern for others. He has always been genuine in the relationships he's made, he genuinely loves people. And if they're not easy to love, then he will serve them and treat them with as much kindness as he can, because he knows he can help them have some brightness in their probably gloomy world! I'm so grateful my dad taught me to love. We were raised to have big hearts. Big hearts feel extra, and sometimes that's hard, but I would trade it for the world! 

Dadio, I'm grateful for you, and I love you tons:) Everyone reading, be more like Joel haha! I hope you all have an amazing week!

再见，

司长老