Happy Fourth of July!

Hello family and friends! I miss y'all so incredibly much. I'm still hanging in there, just being a missionary.

This week was good. We ate brunch at the Smith's yesterday. We haven't done that in a while. They used to feed us brunch almost every sunday back in February and March. It was fun to go after church yesterday! They feed us waffles and eggs and fruit and sausage every time. It's "tradition" to have the new missionary that comes in to eat a waffle with peanut butter on it. I did it back in February and Elder O'Neal did it yesterday! It's actually not that bad with peanut butter on it so that's cool haha. Ruby wants to post-pone her baptism, so we will no longer be having the baptism on July 4th. Hopefully we can set a date the next time we meet with her and get her baptized within the month. She's definitely ready, she's just nervous and feels a little pressured. One thing that's important is that it is between her and God and no one else. I think it took a lot of courage to tell us that she didn't feel in her heart she is ready. Yesterday at church in the YSA a girl talked about her conversion story and it helped Ruby a lot! It was so great that that happened and perfect for Ruby. We are preparing right now as a mission to have online proselyting! It's really exciting that we will be using social media soon to share the gospel. Hopefully good things come from it. We are teaching a new member who's name is Alex. He's awesome! We have a lot of fun with him when we teach! He's planning on serving a mission in the future and is loving being LDS. He's originally from Salt Lake City and got baptized at the end of May, then he moved to Texas only a few days later. He's been a great addition to the Duncanville YSA Branch and we've loved teaching him.

I hope y'all have a good week! I'm so excited for all the fireworks on the 4th! Happy Holidays everyone!

Elder Josh Needles

Howdy!

Howdy from Texas

 PRICELESS!

I miss y'all so much. Today is P-Day! I'm so glad it is, because I love emailing everyone and hearing about what's happening in everyone's life! This week was good. We have been teaching a recent convert named Alex and he's doing great! We played basketball with him and two other Elders on Saturday. I've definitely become a lot better at basketball being on a mission, haha. I'm still not even close to being "good" at it, but we play it a lot so I'm getting better. LOL. Ruby is having her baptism interview this week! She is the most solid investigator ever! I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to teach her with Elder O'Neal. She's the beeeeest! On Sunday, Sister Hughes came back to Texas. (She was a missionary who went home recently). She went to visit Lori and wanted me to come as well. It was so good to see her again! She was in the district where we were all so incredibly close and everyone was friends! (Elder Smith, Sister Hughes, Elder Adams, Sister Awerkamp, Elder Evans). I realized how grateful I am to the Lord for putting those people in my life. He really has blessed me with some amazing people and friends. This transfer has already gone by SO INCREDIBLY FAST. It really does go by fast, especially when you have such a great companion. This week we had to update the area book in our iPads which took FOREVER. We had a meeting from 9 to 5 where we JUST updated it in our iPads. Then the next day me and my companion worked on it from 10 to 12 then again from 2 to 4. It was long and tedious but I'm so glad we finally have it done! I hope y'all have had an amazing week full of the pure love of Christ!

Love and miss you all,

Elder Needles

9 Months and IPADS!

 Oh Happy Day! He got an IPAD!

Hello family and friends! I love and miss you all so much. I really hope y'all know that. 
This week was definitely one for the books. WE GOT iPADS! I never thought I'd see the day when we get them. But it's finally here. It's weird to say "I own an iPad." But I do! It's been so nice to have! It's going to be the BEST thing in the world. It's so much easier to teach, we have so much LESS to carry around, daily contact with investigators has become easier than ever, and in a couple of weeks we'll have Facebook! I'm so excited for all that is happening. We are becoming disciples of Jesus Christ in the digital age. Happy day! On Monday, we went to the Chase's so we could have one last hoorah before Elder Macaspac got transferred and before Sister Chase went to Utah for the summer. It was one of the best nights of my mission. The Olsen family came over as well. We gave advice to the people leaving and shared scriptures and thoughts and good memories. Sister Chase had joked the whole transfer that Elder O'Neal and I would have a dance off... So we did! hahaha. I definitely lost because for one I can't dance and for two Elder O'Neal has millions of hidden talents that people don't know about (like dancing). It was a lot of fun, eventually everyone in the room was dancing and having a good time. It was a good ending to that transfer. I hope that Elder Macaspac is doing well in his new area and that Sister Chase and her two kids are having the time of their lives in Utah. We've been teaching Dolores the new member lessons and that is going well. Also, Ruby is doing INCREDIBLE as always. She has to be the MOST golden investigator I've ever had on my mission. She continues to progress and I am so excited for her baptism on the 4th of July. We joke all the time with her saying that there will be fireworks the day she gets baptized... cause there will be! LOL. Elder O'Neal is still the best. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to become best friends with him. He's cooler than the flip-side of my pillow. IN TWO DAYS I HIT MY 9 MONTH MARK. I'm so glad I've made it this far. It's weird to say I haven't seen my family in 9 months. It's definitely gone by fast already. Elders joke with me and tell me that I need to take "pregnancy pictures" because I'm hitting my 9 month mark. hahaha. I hope everything is going well with all y'all. I love and miss you and remember to always come unto Christ. His arms are open wide.

-Elder Josh Needles

Miss you all!

I'm staying in the HOOD!!

I've got some GOOD news! I get to stay ANOTHER transfer in DeSoto! It'll be six months in this area and I am overjoyed! I have an amazing companion, great friends in the ward, and a happy heart. I was so nervous I was leaving. I thought it might happen, but my companion (Elder O'Neal) just kept saying I wouldn't get transferred. He was right! I'm just so grateful that God is allowing me to stay longer in this area and stay with Elder O'Neal. PAAAARTAAAAAAY!

Anyway, this week was good other than the nerves that come along with transfer week as always. We had another GREAT lesson with Ruby. She is progressing so well. She is reading the Book of Mormon so quickly (even though she thinks she's taking her time with it). Maria, Dolores, and Judy came to church on Sunday and it's always such a great day when we see their faces at church. They have such a special spirit about them. They are great! We had (as a district) 21 new people come to church on Sunday! 21 NEW PEOPLE! It was definitely a miracle. Last week, we went to a member's house in the Mountain Creek Ward to do service. The lady wanted to "zone" our feet. It was so cool! She could tell things about us just by feeling the pressure and energy in our feet. She hit me spot on. She said I have allergies, that I get nervous when I feel not in control of something (like transfers), and that I need to better trust the process. (Not sure exactly what that means LOL) When she did my companion after me, she told us that we try to take each others burdens onto ourselves and help each other a lot. I thought it was super cool to get my feet zoned! 

This week we get iPads as a mission. We don't get to do Facebook right away, but eventually we will be a "Facebook Mission." I'm really excited! It will be really nice to have iPads and a lot easier to plan and teach. It's going to be AWESOME! 

This last Saturday was my INCREDIBLE sister's birthday (Megan). I hope she knows I love her and hope she had the BEST birthday. Tomorrow is my mom's birthday as well! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MOM THAT EVER LIVED. I love you so much mom. Have an incredible birthday.

I love all of you so much. My heart is so full of love and I'm glad to have such amazing people in my life. (In Texas, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Zealand, New Mexico, and so many other places!) I LOVE YOU SO MUCH HAVE A GREAT WEEK.

Josh Needles

I'm 19

I'm 19 years old

Holy Moly guess who's not 18 anymore?? That's right ----> me!!! I had such a great week. I miss home, but I felt lots of love out here in Texas from being with so many great people for the week of my birthday.

Good news! We set another baptismal date in the YSA branch for Ruby. She's going to be baptized on July 4th. Hopefully I get to stay here another transfer so I can be here for it. I'm crossing my fingers that I get to stay with Elder O'Neal one more transfer. Transfers are NEXT WEEK already. I can't believe how fast this one went by.

On Saturday, I had such a great birthday. I was woken up early in the morning by Elder O'Neal, Elder Macaspac, and Elder Truman with SILLY STRING ALL OVER MY TIRED FACE. They recorded it and I looked like a wreck, hahaa. Regardless I was pleased to have such an exciting start to my birthday. Then my awesome companion Elder O'Neal (who truly is my BEST FRIEND out here in Texas) bought me IHOP for breakfast. He had them put "19" in whipped cream on my pancakes. It was great. We then went to the Rojas for lunch. They fed us mexican food and made me a cake that said "Happy Birthday Elder Needles." It was so kind of them. They sang me happy birthday and we had such a good time. We then went to Maria, Dolores, Judy, and Tony's place. They ALSO made me a cake which I was thrilled about. I seriously love them so much! We had a good time there then went to Texas Roadhouse with the amazing Lori. She had presents for me, and an ice cream cake, and even brought a picture of my family so they could "be there for my birthday." It was the best and I can't thank Lori enough.

The next day Elder O'Neal gave a talk in both the YSA branch and the DeSoto Ward. I talked in the YSA branch as well. His talks were AMAZING. It was also my older sister's birthday. I love Sam so much and hope she had an INCREDIBLE birthday. I got some more presents from members and got to go to the Chase's that night. They made a cake as well. I had a candle to blow out and their daughters kept taking out the candle, licking the bottom, and putting back in my piece of cake. It was really quite humorous.

All in all it was such a great birthday because of amazing people like Elder O'Neal, Lori, The Duartes, The Chases, and so many more. I'm so blessed to be here and am hoping and praying I stay for one more transfer...   FINGERS CROSSED.

Love you all!

Elder Needles

He obviously didn't get enough cake!