Craziest week of crazy weeks!

Dear Family & Friends,

OH MY GOODNESS THIS WEEK WAS CRAZIER THAN LAST WEEK! So, a lot

happened. I received so many blessings from God this week, though, so

I'm still happy as can be!

On Monday Night, I received a call from the assistants that they

wanted me to attend Mission Leadership Council on Wednesday! Elder

Kenworthy and I had already planned on going to Dallas the day before

for an appointment Elder Kenworthy had, so we decided to stay in

Dallas on Tuesday and stay the night so I could go to Mission

Leadership Council.

So we drove up on Tuesday! We got to Elder Kenworthy's appointment and

surprisingly Sister Tatro and her daughter from the DeSoto Ward were

there!! I was so happy to see them! I served in their Ward for 6

months and actually taught their daughter the discussions before she

was baptized! It was such a great reunion. Then that night, at the

assistants apartment, there were a lot of people staying there so I

got to see a lot of people I love! Like Elder Truman, Elder Ahmad, and

so many more! It was so much fun! We had a blast, and I hadn't seen

that many missionaries together in a long time. Where we serve, you

are just too far away from any other missionaries to see them! So it's

pretty much just you and your companion! Mission Leadership Council

was SO MUCH FUN! Over half of my MTC District was there. Sister

Taylor, Sister Jones, Sister Skousen, Elder Hasson,  and myself! I

love them all so much! It was so great to see them and get to talk to

them! I also saw people like Elder McAllister and Sister Weichers.

What a fun day! We got back into Athens that night and went to sleep,

knowing we had to be up really early to travel to Tyler for a Zone

Meeting. Zone Meeting was great. We put together really good trainings

from Mission Leadership Council and trained on that. In the beginning,

I was just sitting there when Elder Jones, Elder Hafen (a different

one than the one I always used to talk about), and Elder White asked

me to last minute sing a song with them! It was so much fun singing

again! I sang the Tenor part and I was really nervous it was going to

sound so bad because I hadn't practiced once with them, but I did it

and it turned out well! After the meeting, most of us went to

Stanley's BBQ in Tyler! I LOVE THAT PLACE SO MUCH. It's seriously

amazing. It was fun being with the zone. I enjoy everyone in my zone!

Friday, we drove back to Palestine and we finally got to teach Dave

the first New Member Lesson! It was great to see him. He is just on

cloud nine after being baptized! It fills me with joy seeing people so

happy from embracing the gospel. The next day, we went to Sister

Palmer's and Ruby had made us food! She is so kind! That day, though,

unfortunately my companion made the decision that he wanted to go

home! :( I was so sad! He needed to make the decision though. And I

think it was probably best for him to go home right now :/ SO, we

drove BACK to Dallas! I can't believe two of my companions have gone

home this transfer! I'm really not sure what's going to happen to me!

But, it's a blessing I got to go to Dallas, because I was able to

attend the Dallas 4th Ward for church!! That was the Ward I served in

last! It was so good to see everyone again! Such a huge blessing! That

day, Elder Hanson and I took Elder Kenworthy to the airport. His mom

met us there and he was off! Then, President Taylor told me he wants

me to serve with Assistants until he can figure out what to do next!

So right now I'm awkwardly in the Dallas 1st YSA AND Palestine AND

Athens! Haha! It's been fun serving with Elder Hanson & Elder Lindsay,

though. We all came on our missions together at the same time! It's

been fun! So right now, I'm waiting to hear the news! Last night, we

got to eat at the Farmer's home in Dallas 4th Ward! That was so

awesome! I love that family! They got on Facebook to show me a video

and saw Kristin Callis on my mom's Facebook page! Turns out, they know

who she is! They were like "WE KNOW HER!" They knew her from living in

Utah when they were both young couples. I had to tell them she passed

away, and they were sad to hear that. It's a small world, though! We

just found out we're having ANOTHER Mission Leadership Council today!

Yes! On P-DAY! So we essentially don't have P Day today :/ But it's

okay! We're out here to serve the Lord! On that note, I found out that

my mission has been extended a week. I no longer go home September

14th, but September 21st! This happened because of a change in the

MTC!

You'd think through all of this I would get really down, but I'm not

down! I'm actually really happy! It's so great. It's all because of

the Lord. I love God! I love Christ! It's been the craziest week of

the crazy weeks, but God continues to bless me! :) I'm still a

missionary and I still love and miss each of you. I hope you all have

an amazing week! You're in my prayers!

Sincerely,

Elder Joshua Needles