The Upside of Down!

Hello Family & Friends! Oh how I love and miss you all. Don't ever
forget it. I hope you all have had an amazing week. I had a pretty
good week this week. We are back to a normal companionship with just
two elders! I'm happy about it. I really love and appreciate Elder
Casper! He's the BEEEEST. We have had a lot of fun serving together
and some great memories have been made. I won't ever forget about this
part of my mission and I'll look back on it with fondness! This
week.... EVERY SINGLE set appointment we had cancelled on us. Every
single one. When does that happen? By the end of the week, we were
pretty exhausted because we did a lot of finding. (Lots of contacting,
Tracting or in other words knocking on doors). I used to not like
Tracting at all, but since I've been in this area I've learned to
appreciate it a lot more. I get excited when someone accepts a copy of
the Book of Mormon and reads it. This coming week is Marlon's baptism
interview. We're excited! Also, something INCREDIBLE happened this
week! Cooper (our 16 year old investigator) finished the Book of
Mormon this week! He read the WHOLE THING in a month and a half. He
also wrote a little "essay" on every single chapter about what it was
about and what he learned. What great faith and diligence! He really
enjoyed it. Hopefully he continues to progress and studies the Book of
Mormon even more. I know there is so much to learn in that book. This
week I laughed until I cried with Elder Casper because we put our legs
in the arms of our sweatshirts and our heads in the hood. It was
HILARIOUS trying to get into the sweatshirt. I could not stop
laughing. I'll include a semi embarrassing picture of this at the end
of the email. Yesterday, there was a Catholic family who got a hold of
us and wanted us to go give them a blessing. We gave one to Julie. She
has Chrome's disease and is going through a tough time. As I gave the
blessing tears streamed down her face! I know that according to our
faith blessings will work. The Lord allows miracles to happen, we just
have to have the faith for them to happen! I was so grateful for that
visit. They prayed for us afterward and it was so great. I love when
people of different religions can pray and worship together. They just
set aside their differences and find common ground with Jesus Christ.
I love Christ! He lives! He is the good shepherd and the stone of
Israel. He is my savior and redeemer. After the blessing Julie
accepted a Book of Mormon with a smile on her face. We told her it's
all about Christ and that as we rely on Him, He will be with us and
strengthen us in times such as the one she is in. Also, yesterday
Elder Casper and I watched the eclipse! The moon turned RED! It was so
awesome. I've actually never gotten the chance to clearly see a Blood
Moon and we got to last night. There were a few people who had walked
out to our apartment parking lot to see it as well. It was a cool
thing to see and experience! Look up the song, "The Upside of Down" by
Chris August. I love it! Welp, it's another Monday in the mission. I'm
still a missionary. I'm still same old Josh. I'm still alive and
breathing. I'm still excited for the day I get to see you all again.
I'm still loving serving out here in Texas. And I'm still happy. That
is, thanks to Christ. I love you all and hope your week is miraculous!
You are in my prayers!

Your Son, Brother, Soon-To-Be Uncle, Cousin, Nephew, Grandson, and Friend,

Josh Needles

P.S. Doctrine & Covenants 24:8
Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them,
for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days.

Sacrifices bring forth the blessings of Heaven

Hello Friends and Family! I love and miss you all so incredibly much!
You are ALWAYS in my prayers and I just hope that the Lord is blessing
you all with happiness and success. This week I officially hit my year
mark! My mom made a video for me, and I got to watch it at the
Wiseman's home on Thursday. Never before has a video made me so happy!
I LOVED IT SO MUCH! Thank you for everyone who was involved in that.
It definitely put a little sunshine in my soul! I'm so grateful for
all my friends and family. How could I be more blessed? This week we
have been in a tri-companionship. Elder Steele joined us for the week.
He's been out for two months and is still in the "training stage" of a
mission. It was definitely a different experience to be in a
tri-companionship! I definitely learned a lot this week from the Lord
and had some experiences that I probably will never forget. We met
with Marlon Henderson this week and he is very set on his baptism date
for October 10th. Oh how excited are we for him! The whole Ward is
excited! Also, I am probably in one of THE BEST wards in Texas. The
people here are amazing and incredibly missionary minded. On my year
mark, President Taylor showed up to our apartment unexpectedly! I
showed him the package my family had sent for my year mark and he
said, "families are just the best, aren't they?" I completely agree! I
LOVE MY FAMILY! Somehow, I've gotten used to being on a bike everyday.
It was definitely hard in the beginning, but now I'm used to it and
surprisingly don't get as tired as I ride. That doesn't mean I don't
clonk out at night when it's time for bed (cause I most definitely do)
but I am doing well! The Maseh Family from Pakistan wanted me to say
hi from them in an email! So they say hello! Haha. This week a member
in our Ward (Sister Rand) sewed our pants up and fixed any holes our
tears in them! It was so nice and we are so grateful for that,
except... The day I got them back I got onto my bike just a little bit
too fast and.... Yep.... I ripped a hole in them. Again. Lol. My
goodness it's like I'm destined to ALWAYS have some sort of hole or
tear in my pants!! Oh well! Something I really learned this week:
Sacrifice Brings forth the blessings of heaven. Remember that!
Sometimes you really just have to sacrifice, but as you do it with a
cheerful heart, blessings will follow! I know it's true! I love you
all and hope you have the best week!

Your missionary son, brother, cousin, grandson, nephew, and friend,
Josh Needles

P.S. One year down! One more to go! Below are some pics of us celebrating!

Post Email!

Hello all! Just wanted to send one more email today! :) so here is my

"post script" email.

One thing I forgot to tell y'all about this week... It rained like

CRAZY! We got caught in it (because you know we are on bikes) and we

were DRENCHED! From head to toe. We began to sing Singin' in the Rain

and just had a blast in it! It was the best :)

The zoo today was great! Lots of good memories were made! On the way

back, this guy in downtown Dallas ran up to us and started screaming

at us! He was threatening us and wanted to fight us! We didn't know

what to do haha. It was really scary! Eventually he just went away but

as he did he was screaming profanities at us! It was really scary! But

we are praying for him and hoping he finds peace and happiness in this

life.

I love you all more than you know! Hope you enjoyed my "post script"

email today!

Elder Needles

HUMP DAY

Hello! Friends and family guess what?! MY "HUMP DAY" IS THIS WEEK!Woo! PaRtAy! One year down! Can you believe it? I've been on a missionfor a whole stinkin' year! I almost can't believe it myself. I lookback on this last year of my life with gratitude in my heart. Holymoly have I been changed... For the better! I love how the Lord hasworked with me throughout this experience. I love how he has shapedme, helped me grow, and taught me through this past year. I'm excitedfor another year of my mission! Amazing experiences and incrediblememories are to come! :) this last week was good. We had a lot happen.Cooper didn't come to church again, so unfortunately he can't bebaptized on the 3rd of October. BUT he has read all the way to Alma inthe Book of Mormon, so that's a huge accomplishment in itself! :)Bishop talked to Marlon about his baptism date on the 10th of October,and Marlon is really excited! IT'S A SOLID DATE! We are so excited forMarlon. He's going to be so happy and he'll make a great member of thechurch. Josh Parker (a member in our Ward) took us to In and Out thisweek and it was so great! He's such a funny guy and we get along sogreat. One of my FAVORITE members I've met on my mission so far. Thisweek my family met one of my old companions, Elder O'Neal! I'm sojealous haha! They went to his mission homecoming. It was cool to seea picture of them with him at home! Today for preparation day we aregoing to the Zoo! I'm so flipping excited! It's going to be a fun day.Elder Casper is still as great and awesome and funny! I'm so glad I'vegotten to serve with him! Such a good missionary! Also, Elder Langfordand Elder Hafen and are as awesome as ever! We're going to go to lunchon Thursday for my hump day. Also good news! The Richardsons (theawesome members in our Ward that we love) are going to have a baby!We're so excited for them! They are so awesome and every time I'm withthem I'm always thinking about how much Sam and Garrett would getalong with them (at least I think) and just how awesome they are.Speaking of Sam and Garrett I LOVE THEM! And Keaton. And my dad and mymom and Megan and Scott! I just love my family! The gospel blessesfamilies. Never forget it! I love you all and hope you have an amazingweek!

Elder Joshua Needles

Teaching Around the World

Hello Family and Friends!
I miss you all so much. I probably say that in every single email I
send, but it's only because it's true! I love and miss you all more
than you probably know! And I'm praying for each of you! I hope all is
well and that your joy is full wherever you are and whatever you're
doing.
This week was the first week of my 9th transfer! It was a pretty good
week. Unfortunately, both Elder Casper and I have been sick this week.
We both got a cold! Elder Casper definitely had a worse cold than I
did, and he is still pretty sick today. I'm feeling a lot better,
though. Even though we were sick, we didn't let it stop us from being
diligent and seeking out those who we can invite to come unto Christ
and share the Book of Mormon with. We found success! We got three new
investigators this week and taught a lot of other lessons. My heart is
always brim with joy when I rely on God and watch miracles follow. I
love when people accept the Book of Mormon and see its worth. It truly
does testify of Christ and fills my heart with joy. It can cause
anyone to rejoice! Anyway, this week I've realized that serving in
Texas, you get A LOT of different people to teach! It's like we're
teaching people around the world! We're teaching a lady named Tigi and
she is from Africa! Cleo is also from Africa and we're teaching him!
Every time we go to his house he has sweet African music playing and
his house has lots of cool African stuff in it. We are also teaching
Nora and Karin Gullin. They are from France! They moved to America
about 2 years ago. Then there is the Maseh Family. I love them to
death. They are from Pakistan. They don't speak much English, but they
have incredibly strong faith in Christ. Every time we go over, Riaz
(the father of the family) says "I love my missionary come to my
home." They speak a language called Urdu. It's always a great
experience to go over there. They love to sing for us in their
language. One time they were singing a song about Christ, and Margret
(the mother of the family) just felt the spirit so much she started
crying. It was amazing. They shared how they struggled to get to
America, but by the hand of the Lord they were able to get here. In
Pakistan, if you are Christian your last name becomes Maseh which
means Messiah. They were persecuted a lot for being Christian in
Pakistan and they are just so grateful to have come to America. We
also run into so many people who only speak Spanish. I've learned how
to contact well in Spanish and have somewhat of a conversation now
lol. I LOVE speaking Spanish. It's so fun. I really enjoy it when they
can't speak English and I have to communicate only using Spanish. It's
so fun! The Dallas 4 Ward is so amazing. They made us a package full
of candy, snacks, pictures of the Ward, pens, toothbrushes, mints,
everything! It was so awesome, and we are so grateful to be in such an
awesome Ward. Good memories are being made, living with Elder Hafen
and Elder Langford. Every night is always different, but so much fun.
We have so many mattresses in our apartment, so we put them all over
the front room and made up a game where we had to get from one side to
the other without getting tackled to the ground. And yep. You guessed
it. Elder Hafen's shoulder went right into the wall, putting a big
dent and hole in it. So last week it was a shattered window, and this
week it was a hole in the wall. LOL. Maybe we should calm it down. But
even though we are crazy sometimes, we still are able to be spiritual
and witness miracles every day! I love you all so much. Please have an
amazing week! I love you all!
Elder Joshua Needles

Beginning of a new transfer

Hello friends and family! I bet you're wondering if I got transferred
or not? I.... Am.... Staying! So is Elder Casper! We get to stay in
the Dallas 4th Ward together for 6 more weeks! I'm happy and excited
especially because we have upcoming baptism dates this next transfer.
This week was a good one! We set another baptism date! Marlon is being
baptized on the 10th of October! He has such a strong testimony and we
just know that he'll be baptized and make an awesome member! Funny
story... Elder Hafen and Elder Langford have come up with this sort of
"indoor soccer" game within our apartment. They were playing and
kicking the ball all over the apartment when... Elder Hafen kicked it
RIGHT INTO OUR FRONT WINDOW. And yep. You guessed it. The window
shattered! It was so funny. We have been reading the Book of Mormon as
a mission in 40 days! It's been so incredible. I LOVE the Book of
Mormon. Can I just say that I know it's true? Cause I do! It brings so
much joy, peace, and happiness into my life. One night this week we
helped the APs move all of this furniture into the pit (the pit is
where the mission keeps everything. For example: bikes, extra couches,
chairs, etc.) Unforunately we had started our mission wide fast BEFORE
we moved everything. I was sweating from head to toe and my body was
screaming for water, but I couldn't drink any because I was fasting!
It was awful, Lol. But hopefully the Lord blesses us for the sacrifice
we made! Recently I have a new found love for socks. I have gotten
lots of cool socks :) I have Texas Socks, Bike Socks, Plaid Socks,
Hamburger Socks (which I'm wearing today), Some green and yellow socks
with a SWEET LOOKING design on them, and then some green and grey
socks with stripes and stuff. Biking here still is really hard, but
sometimes we get to drive the AP's car so that's awesome. I really
like the APs. We have a lot of fun with them. All of us are staying
together another transfer which I'm excited about. Tonight, all of the
new incoming missionaries are spending the night at our apartment!
It's gonna be CRAZY! Then tomorrow night, all of the outgoing
missionaries (the ones going home) are staying the night at our
apartment. THAT MEANS ELDER O'NEAL WILL BE THERE! So excited to see
him again! Also, this transfer I will hit my year mark. I can't
believe it. Seriously. It's shocking that it's so close. I'm happy!
I'm so excited to see where everyone gets transferred to. This
transfer was apparently a crazy one. There are LOTS of people who got
doubled out. We also are getting quite a few new missionaries. Two of
them are from Idaho! #PotatoState #Idahome I miss Idaho so much, but I
love Texas too! I'm so grateful for all the Lord has blessed me with.
He really is merciful. He loves. He cares. He lives! Have an amazing
week full of miracles!
Elder Needles
Texas Dallas Mission