Palestine &Athens

Family and Friends! Oh, how I hope you've had a good week and a great
Thanksgiving. I miss you all so much. SO DANG MUCH. I have a lot to
tell you about! So much has happened this week!
First of all, on Monday I got all packed up and said a semi formal
goodbye to Elder Hansen (which was SAD AND SAD AND SAD). He was such a
great companion to have. I didn't sleep too well, because all of the
new missionaries in the mission were spending the night, and I also
was super nervous to find out about transfers the next day! I finally
got some sleep and went to the transfer meeting the next morning.
Brother Armstrong drove us over so I could transport all of my bags
and all that good stuff. I got to see a lot of people I love! Like
Elder Douglas and Sister Chinchillie and Sister Jones. I also had to
say goodbye to people I love. Like my whole District! (Elder Langford,
Elder Hafen, Sister Weichers, Sister Greenall, Elder Ahmad, Elder
Hansen and Elder Thomas). That was SAD. :( I love them all so much! At
the meeting, I found out that I WAS GOING BACK TO THE TYLER STAKE! So
now, here I am back out in East Texas in Palestine and Athens. My new
area borders my first area! So excited to be back out in the Tyler
Stake! I am also the District Leader here, and I am back-up training
my new companion (Elder Parry). He has been on the mission for as long
as Elder Hansen has! (So 2 months). I'm also happy that we have a car
area, lol. Blessings from God!
So the crazy thing about Palestine and Athens... It is the BIGGEST
area in the mission. Huge. Palestine and Athens are far enough away
from each other that we alternate wards. One week we stay in Palestine
and work there, and the next week we stay in Athens and work there.
Right now we are in Athens. When we stay in Athens, we stay at a
member's home. Which means WiFi and food so I'm happy! The sad part
is, is that if I get a letter or package from y'all there's a
possibility I won't see it for another week if it comes while I'm in
Athens. :( But there are pros and cons to everything! This week we've
been staying at the Hyink's home! I love them! They're so kind!
When I got to the area, I was sort of worried we wouldn't have
anything planned for Thanksgiving, but that wasn't the case. We ate at
the Ross Family's Home. IT WAS SO GREAT AND THE FOOD WAS AMAZING JUST
KNOW THAT I LOVE TASTING THE FOOD. Seriously. Good food. And we had a
good meal! We then explored their home! They showed us their pond full
of cat fish. We also found one of their "gopher traps" and there was a
dead gopher in there! We pulled up the chain so of course Elder Parry
and I had to get a picture with a dead gopher on Thanksgiving Day.
Lol. They also had tons of old swords that we got to see. Then,
Brother Ross showed us all of the guns he has. HE HAS A TON! I held
quite a few of them. It was cool. I was grateful to have had a good
Thanksgiving Day.
We went to Athens on Friday (that's the day we switch back and forth
between areas). I have loved the Athens Ward so far! Our Ward Mission
Leader, Brother Caldwell, is AMAZING. He will be so great to serve
with! On Saturday, we took an 18 year old member to do missionary work
with us all day long. His name is Sam. It was SO MUCH FUN! We jammed
to Christmas Music, ate food, and shared the Gospel so much! We set 6
baptism dates that day! SIX BAPTISM DATES. Joann, Cassandra, Anita,
Alexis, Michael, and Luis are getting baptized on January 2nd! The
Lord truly blessed us with success that day. We also had other amazing
lessons with investigators. It was a great first few days in a new
area.
After church on Sunday, we spent the rest of the day with Brother
Caldwell. At the end of the night WE GOT TO DRIVE INTO TYLER! I was so
happy! I've missed Tyler, Texas so much! We drove through Chandler,
Texas as well which is where Tina (one of the people I taught and
baptized in the Whitehouse Ward) lives. I felt very nostalgic! It was
so great to see Tyler again though. Brother Caldwell found it humorous
that I was like a kid at Disneyland as we drove through my first area
in the mission and Tyler. There are just so many good memories there!
I love you all so much and am so grateful for you! Please have an amazing week!
D&C 6:36
Your Missionary Friend,
Elder Joshua Needles

Goodbye Dallas 4!

Good Morning my wonderful family & friends! I hope you've had an
AMAZING week! I miss you all so much. I probably say that in every
email but it's because it's true!
So this morning I got the sad news that I am being transferred! I'm so
sad to leave the Dallas 4th Ward. I've loved serving here so much.
I've met so many amazing people and made so many good memories. I
can't believe I'm already going into my Fourth area on my mission! I'm
excited to see where I end up. I'm just grateful to know that wherever
I end up is where the Lord wants me. I find a lot of comfort in that!
I'll miss Elder Hansen, my "Mission Son!" ;) He'll do great taking
over the area though.
This week was a good week! On Wednesday for District Meeting, I
planned a fun thing for Elder Langford because he is going home in two
days! We made a poster for him with pictures of all of us holding a
sign that says "God Be With You, Elder Langford." We had Root Beer
Floats too! It was a great district meeting and we'll all miss Elder
Langford so much! He's such an amazing example of what a good person
and missionary should be! I'm grateful to have gotten to know him in
the last 4 1/2 months.
On Monday, we went with one of my FAVORITE members ever to Torchy's
Tacos. I LOVE Torchy's. It's so good and a lot of fun. We always have
fun with Brother Parker! I'm so grateful he was here in this area. He
helped me keep my sanity the whole time ;)
We went on exchanges AGAIN this week! This time, I went to a Spanish
Area with Elder Riggs. It was a great exchange! Mostly because I love
speaking Spanish and it was so fun to speak it with other people even
though I can hardly even do it. I still enjoyed it though! We taught a
lot of lessons and had a lot of fun.
On Sunday, the Ward Choir got up to sing during Sacrament Meeting.
They were singing "I know that my Redeemer Lives." When they started,
there was an older man in our ward singing in the top right corner of
the choir who lost his strength and was falling over. It was so scary!
A member of the ward ran up to help him from falling. Luckily he
didn't fall. They got him sat down and when he sat he opened his sheet
music and started singing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" with as much
strength and faith as he could muster up. I was very moved. I felt the
spirit from his testimony of Christ. I was just so grateful to have
seen that happen. It made me think of my life and how sometimes it
gets really difficult and we are about to fall over, but as we put our
faith in Christ we won't fall. He will help us through our trials. It
is such a blessing to know that's true.
I just looked around the Dallas 4th Ward this week with so much joy
and love in my heart. This place is and forever will be very dear to
me.
Well, I'm still a missionary believe it or not. I still don't know
where I'll be for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm still serving with
all my heart. And I still know that my Redeemer Lives.
God be with you, Dallas 4th Ward. New adventures await!
Love all of you family and friends. Have the happiest Thanksgiving.
Make sure to watch the new video the Church is releasing on November
29! Aaaaagh HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
Your Friend,
Elder Joshua Needles

How Many? Fourteen Months!

Dearest Family & friends,

I love and miss you all so much! This week was a really good one. The
Lord has truly blessed us with so much this transfer! Fills me with
joy.
On Tuesday this last week, we had a big meeting called Zone
Conference! It was such a great meeting! Got to see a lot of
missionaries (including Elder McAllister from Meridian Idaho) and we
got to hear a lot of great messages. Especially from President Taylor!
He is so close to the spirit and is so knowledgeable in the gospel! I
have the best Mission President!
That night the sisters were on exchanges, and one of the sisters
needed a blessing so they called me to give her one. Unfortunately, I
had ANOTHER flat tire so we didn't have a bike, but we still wanted to
give the blessing. So we had them go to one of our members homes while
Elder Hansen and I RAN down Preston Road and Belt Line Road. Literally
ran! It was such a fun memory that I'll remember for the rest of my
life. We were running as fast as we could in the cold weather next to
a busy road and all I was saying in my head was "WE HAVE TO GIVE THIS
SISTER A BLESSING!" When we got there, I was privileged with giving
the blessing. The spirit literally took over. It was a very powerful
blessing to this amazing and faithful sister missionary. So happy I
was blessed to experience that!
We had a lot of members go out with us this week which was AWESOME!
Members are key to missionary work. Brother Wood (our new Assistant
Ward Mission Leader) went out with us this week and it was a lot of
fun! He's such a cool guy and we're so glad we get to work with him
more closely now that he is the Assistant Ward Mission Leader.
As a District Leader, one of the things you are tasked with is to go
on exchanges with the Elders in your district. I did that this week
and it was awesome! Thursday night, we traveled to the Garland 3
Elders area (Elder Ahmad and Elder Thomas). Elder Hansen switched with
Elder Ahmad, which meant I got to serve with Elder Ahmad for a day
this week! Elder Ahmad's very inspiring, because he is the FIRST EVER
missionary from Syria. Ever! So awesome! I took him to the Maseh's
home (the family from Pakistan) and they were OVER THE MOON happy to
meet someone from their side of the world. It was a cool experience to
see them all connect and talk about their homes. Needless to say, it
was an unforgettable experience serving with Elder Ahmad!
On Saturday, we got to do some community service with the Dallas 4th
Ward! We got to plant Tulip Bulbs with them along this trail that
often has runners and bikers. The Tulips will bloom in the spring
which means I probably won't get to see them, BUT it doesn't matter
because it was a fun experience to do service with the ward members.
Definitely got some mud on me, but enjoyed every second!
Sunday was very special for me, because we had FIVE investigators come
to church and TWELVE people attend that we are working with! What an
amazing turn out! There were so many people there that I didn't even
have time to talk to them all. Luckily, the Ward is so great at
befriending people that I didn't have to worry.
Well guess what. I have now been on my mission for 14 whole months! I
can't believe it. I'm shocked I've been a missionary for that long.
Elder Hansen and I often watch "The District" for the extra hour of
study time we get because Elder Hansen is a new missionary. I just get
so excited to do missionary work as I watch it! I love being a
missionary! It's the best! Elder Hansen sometimes looks at me like I'm
crazy when I get so excited about things. I just smile because I know
he'll get to the point where he loves it so much that he goes crazy
about it too and gets excited about the little things. Sharing the
gospel is the best experience ever! I love it and I'm grateful that I
get the incredible opportunity to do it.
Please have an amazing week and know that you are always in my
prayers. I truly love you all.

Your Crazy Weird Missionary Friend,
Elder Joshua Needles

A "Flood" of Blessings!

HAPPY P-DAY MY AMAZING FAMILY & FRIENDS!

I hope you all have had an amazing week! I miss you all so much and

really hope you know that... Every single one of you! I'm so blessed

with so many amazing people in my life. I'm very grateful to God for

that!

This week was one for the books. We had so much success and so many

blessings from the Lord. As a district, we set a goal of getting three

new baptism dates per companionship this week. Elder Hansen and I

really wanted to reach this goal this week. Every night I would pray

with a much faith as I could muster that we could find three people

that the Lord has prepared to receive the message of the restoration

of the gospel of Jesus Christ this week. This definitely was a

testimony builder in that if you pray in faith and ask, if it be

according to God's will, He will grant unto you your righteous

desires. The Lord blessed us with THREE people to set baptism dates

with and EIGHT new investigators this week! We are so blessed! It was

amazing to see these prayers answered according to our faith!




D&C 103:36

36 All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your

diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith




I'm so excited for Thanksgiving & Christmas coming up. It seriously is

the most wonderful time of the year (in my opinion). I just love that

this time of the year is all about being grateful and also about Jesus

Christ and family. It brings me so much joy! So dang excited!

On Saturday night something crazy happened. I was exhausted from the

day so I fell asleep so fast and stayed asleep. Around 5 in the

morning I was woken up by Elder Hansen... He said "Elder Needles, I'm

sorry to wake you up, but we've got a bit of a situation to deal with

right now.". I walked out of my room and realized I was standing in

water! Our apartment had flooded!! One of the new Spanish elders

living in our apartment had used the bathroom and didn't remember to

do this "special thing" you have to do with the toilet so it won't

overflow. Well, it did... And it did ALL NIGHT LONG. It was literally

throughout the WHOLE Apartment. And it was about half an inch deep. It

was awful! Luckily, none of my stuff got ruined, but we had a long day

of people coming in to get rid of the water and replace the carpets.

Not the most exciting thing to wake up to, that's for sure.

This week we had follow up training. This is when all of the trainers

and new missionaries meet and assess their first three weeks in the

mission. It was a great meeting! All of the trainers are just AMAZING

Missionaries and it's so fun to be around a bunch of new missionaries.

They have such a fun spirit about them. It was a fun meeting to be at

and was definitely a different experience being the "trainer" at the

meeting and not the "trainee."

District Meeting was great this week! I had Elder Hansen train on

humility and he did such a great job! I trained on faith. I learned a

lot from studying for this training! After the meeting, we all went as

a district to Subway and got sandwiches because it was national

sandwich day and it was buy one get one free at Subway! It was

awesome! We really are bonding as a district and I'm sad this transfer

is already almost over! We only have one more district meeting this

transfer! It definitely has gone by fast!

Elder Langford & Elder Hafen went to east Texas for interviews this

week which meant we got the car for three days!! Oh how happy we

were!! Elder Langford goes home in two weeks and we are sad he's

leaving. We have so many good memories, but we all go home eventually!

I do in about 44 weeks! Time's going to fly by!

I love you all and hope you have an incredible week! Remember me, but

more importantly, remember Christ!




Love you all!




Your Friend,

Elder Joshua Needles

HaPpY HaLlOwEeN!

My friends & family, holy moly how was your Halloween? I love and miss
you all so much! It's been yet another week in the Texas Dallas
Mission and I still haven't died from exhaustion believe it or not. (;
Elder Hansen and I had a good week this week! Lots happened, because
(of course) it was a HOLIDAY I LOVE HOLIDAYS SO MUCH. On Monday, we
played volleyball with the rest of the zone in the Richardson Texas
Stake. It was a lot of fun! Get a group of missionaries together to
play some games/sports & it's almost always a blast. Tuesday was
District Meeting which was so much fun! (A lot of planning for it
though lol). We all wore costumes and voted on who's was the best.
Sister Greenall won. She was dressed up as Sister Taylor (Our Mission
President's wife). She even had the name tag and everything! It was
awesome! Elder Hansen was a close second though, sporting an apron,
hat, whisk, and strainer. It was fun to have everyone dress up. I then
trained on becoming one with the Savior, and also becoming one with
the members. We played a few games in between and gave out prizes as
well. What a fun morning. (: This week, we helped the Wilsons move
out. ): It was a sad day for so many people! But, on the bright side,
we got five new Ward missionaries so that'll be AWESOME! We also had
the Ward "Trunk or Treat" this week! It was a blast. We combined with
the Richardson 2nd Ward. (Which has Sister Weichers & Sister Greenall
in it). IT WAS A CHILI COOK OFF! Oh I was so happy. Chili for days yo.
Chili is probably my favorite dinner (especially for the memories
associated with it). The Rand Family, who moved out a while ago, came
to visit. It was so great to see them. There was music, games, food,
candy, Halloween costumes.... So much fun! We joined the Sisters in
having a "missionary trunk." We handed out candy & pass along cards
for everyone. It was fun to see everyone. We obviously couldn't really
wear a costume, so we just put on our glow in the dark glasses and
called it a costume, lol. Everyone liked it though so I guess it was a
success! Halloween day and night was BOMB this week. We spent it well.
:) We had some chik fil a for lunch thanks to Elder Hansen's mom WHO
IS SO GREAT FOR SENDING ME A GIFT CARD THERE THANK YOU SO MUCH IF YOU
ARE READING THIS. We then did some service for this really old couple
who I just LOVE. They are so funny. We helped them move out of there
apartment. Brother Kraus came with and Sister Morales met us there to
help. Serving is good for the soul. Remember that. :) We then had
pizza for dinner and went to the stake center for the night. You can't
proselyte on Halloween night, so we all (as missionaries in the
Richardson Stake) met at the stake center to have sort of a Halloween
party. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. We played some games that were a blast and
I got a little too into them and screamed a little too much (my voice
hurt by the end of he night). We then played ultimate frisbee which
was so fun! We first did Senior Companions verses Junior Companions.
We (senior companions) won by a landslide so we mixed the teams up
into four. We unfortunately got last place when we mixed the teams up,
but that's okay haha. It was still a lot of fun! Sunday was a great
day as well. We ate pancakes at the Reid Family's home after church.
They are such a kind & Christ-like family. We went to the
Spitzenbergers for dinner and I love that family so much. They fed us
chili and I was beyond happy lol. They are so down to earth and
understanding. They just get you to open up to them and give the best
advice. They are definitely a family I want to stay in touch with
after my mission. That night, we went to the Maseh Family's home to
give them the Sacrament. It was so spiritual! They sing and pray so
much and have the most faith out of anyone I've met on my mission. I
think we said a total of 14 prayers that visit. They just love God and
Jesus Christ so much. I want to have faith like theirs. I am so dang
excited for Christmas. Everybody listen to "Mary Did You Know" by
Pentatonix. Gives me chills every time! I love Christmas and the
Holidays. I just love that it's all about Christ. He lives, everybody.
I hope you all had the best Halloween. Please remember me, but most
importantly remember Christ! Love you all!

D&C 50:44
44 Wherefore, I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd, and the
stone of Israel. He that buildeth upon this rock shall never fall.

Have an amazing week!

A Texas Dallas Missionary,
Elder Joshua Needles