Oh, I love you all so much I hope you know that. I'm so excited to
email today! You all mean so much to me! Thank you for that! This week
was so great! I loved every second of it. My companions for most of
the week were the assistants (Elder Lindsay & Elder Hanson). We served
in the Dallas 1st YSA which was a blast. It made me miss serving in a
YSA! It was fun to be companions with the assistants as well, because
I got to experience a lot of what it is like to be one. We did a lot
of office work, discussed transfers (which are happening next week),
and taught a lot of people! On Tuesday this week, we were contacting
people at Richland College. I walked up to a girl named Tiffany.
Conversation led to a gospel discussion and soon I was teaching her
the Restoration. I then invited her to be baptized and she said yes!
So her baptism date is on March 5th! Elder Lindsay & Elder Hanson were
so happy. It was a lot of fun to contact at a college!
Wednesday, we had a meeting with President Taylor. We all sat down and
the first thing he said was, "Elder Needles, I'm calling you to be a
Zone Leader right now." I was shocked! But that's what's new! I'm a
zone leader in the Tyler Zone now. The meeting was mainly about what
would happen at Follow-up Training, which I was asked to train at.
After the meeting we went to Richland College again and I met someone
named Cynthia! Same thing happened! She accepted the invitation to be
baptized on March 12th! Such a blessing to be placed in people's paths
who are prepared to hear and accept the gospel! That night we met a
Muslim Family. They were the kindest people I had talked to in a long
time. We had a long discussion about each other's beliefs and I was
pleasantly surprised to see people from the Islam faith who are so
kind and are just trying to serve God. They gave us a copy of the
Q'uran and we gave them a copy of The Book of Mormon in Arabic. That
same night we ran into someone who claims to be Christian. But he told
us our Book of Mormon is stupid, that we only believe it because we've
been brainwashed, that Joseph Smith is a fake, and that because of
Jesus we don't have to live the Ten Commandments... (?) He even told
us that Muhammad is a fake too. He was very close minded and it hurt
to see someone who is so not willing to hear a message and take it to
God. It really surprised me. The difference between running into
Muslims and someone who claims Christianity was drastic. I expect
someone who claims Christianity to be a lot more loving and
understanding. I just pray for him and hope he finds happiness!
On Thursday, we had Follow-up Training! It was so much fun! My
favorite part is when we split up the Trainers and the Trainees and
have an anonymous companionship inventory. They said compliments and
improvements about their companions so that they could become more
unified. We also had pizza for lunch so I was super happy! Friday was
a lot of fun. Elder Hanson and one of the YSA members went to a lesson
and dropped Elder Lindsay and me off in Rowlett. We didn't have a car
and we were just going to do work on foot! We met so many people who
used to be members! One of them actually lived in Boise in the past
and attended Meridian High School! It was fun to connect about that.
One lady slammed the door on our face without us saying anything. As
we were talking to some kind people, the police showed up! Yep! She
called the police on us! He told us we had to leave, and luckily,
Elder Hanson had just gotten back to pick us up so we did. The next
morning I finally got news on what was going to happen for the rest of
the transfer! Elder Nuccitelli from Lehi, Utah is my new companion for
now. I am a zone leader with Elder Jones and Elder Matheson, and I'm
back in Palestine & Athens for now! Right when I found out I hurried
to Elder Nuccitelli's area because HE WAS IN DESOTO! I served there
for 6 months so I was excited to go back to the area for a bit. We
were able to eat with the Martineaus! I love them so much and it was
so great to see them! We then hurried as fast as we could to BULLARD
(WHICH WAS MY FIRST AREA) for the adult session of Stake Conference!
President & Sister Taylor spoke at it and they were great. We spent
the night in Tyler so we could be there for Stake Conference in the
morning. Stake Conference was so great. I got to see so many old
faces! (Like the Oteros, Robisons, and Links) Right after the meeting,
we had Mike Jett have his baptism interview! He'll be baptized this
Saturday and we are so excited! We then got to go to the Link Family's
Home for lunch! Oh I was so DANG HAPPY! We jammed on guitars and
ukuleles and ate really good food. It was awesome to be able to catch
up with them. They are an amazing family! We got back to Palestine and
I had to do Stake President Report and Numbers for the zone. We
cleaned up our apartment and got settled in and now here we are!
We are going to MLC tomorrow. Elder Zwick is coming to our mission
during our Zone Conferences so that should be interesting! I actually
get to sing in a special musical number! It's six Elders that Sister
Taylor has asked to sing in it. Elder McAllister is one of them! So
tomorrow should be loads of fun.
It's been a crazy fun week. I received so many blessings from God. I'm
just so happy to be a missionary. I love it so much! I still miss you
all terribly, though. So don't forget it! Love you all! Hope you have
an amazing week!
Sincerely,
Elder Joshua Needles
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