Mother's Day

Dear Family & Friends,

It's another day here in good old Gilmer Texas. I'm happy to be able

to write y'all about my week! It's always so much fun! I had a pretty

darn good week! Can't complain too much especially because I was able

to Skype my family on Mother's Day! I love my family so much. I was

able to meet Keaton (my nephew) over Skype which made me so happy.

It's crazy that it's over. That was the very last time I Skype home

before I'm ACTUALLY home! My mission is flying by and it's only gotten

faster and faster! It was my companion's last time to Skype home as

well before he goes home so we were able to relate about how weird it

is and how close to the end we are.

Tuesday we had a meeting with the Stake President. For this meeting,

we have to make a report with our whole zone and present it at the

meeting. It takes hours and hours on the phone and at a computer

trying to get it done in time! By the end of it, I was so ready to be

done. We were very relieved to have the meeting and finish the report.

Our Stake President was pleased with the report and was very happy

with Elder Holst and me. We increased our average number of lessons

taught a week a lot! We went from 22 to 33! It was awesome and we are

so blessed to be in an area where it's possible to teach so much!

The next day, we were able to go to Dallas for Mission Leadership

Council! I love Dallas and am always happy when we get to go. Brother

Spencer (our Assistant Ward Mission Leader) drove us again so we were

super grateful for that. The meeting was great! Elder Holst and I had

a little scare though. We have a recent convert who has really been

struggling. During the meeting she sent us some texts that scared us a

lot. We had to leave and call so many people. It was very scary. By

the end of it, Elder Holst, Elder Bunker, and I got on our knees and

prayed for her. We all just started crying as we prayed hoping that

God would intervene and help her. We just love her and her family so

much and were very concerned for her emotional state. Everything

turned out okay which was a HUGE relief to us. After the meeting, we

stopped to get some food at In-N-Out Burger. It was nice to eat

somewhere we don't typically get to in Gilmer.

The next day we taught a lot of lessons! We were running all day long

trying to teach all of the people we hadn't seen in a while. We were

able to set 3 baptism dates in the Sisters' area and 1 baptism date in

ours! We were happy to have such a successful day. The next day we

went on exchanges with the Mt Pleasant Elders which meant I served

with Elder Thomas for the day! It was a really good day! Elder Holst

and I realized that night that we were supposed to be giving a

training the next day for all of the Ward Mission Leaders and Ward

Missionaries in the Stake the next day and we hadn't even thought

about it! Being on a Mission, you tend to learn how to last minute

pull something together and still make it look good. We traveled to Mt

Pleasant the next day for the Ward Missionary MTC and gave our

training! It turned out pretty well so we were happy. Afterward,

Brother Pilcher, Wendy, Brother Jones, and Brother Spencer took us to

a "Tex-Mex" Restaurant. It was a lot of fun! Elder Holst and I were

hyped up for some reason so we were laughing and talking the whole

time. Our Ward Mission Leader and Ward Missionaries are just amazing.

We truly love them so much and it was a ton of fun to be with them!

Not a ton happened this week, but I'm very grateful still to be

serving here and serving a Mission.  The teacher for our Gospel

Principles class on Sunday didn't show up so I ended up teaching the

lesson. It was awesome. I loved teaching. That was last minute as well

Haha. Today we got a text from the Recent Convert who has been

struggling and she said that the lesson helped her so much and that

she just wants to read from the Book of Mormon every day and fill

herself with light and truth. It made me so happy! I love my mission

so much. I love all of the blessings God has sent my way and all of

the amazing people I've met. I can't wait to see you all again in 19

short weeks. Transfers are next week so pray that I stay! Haha! I hope

you all have an amazing week. Shout out to Kara Larsen who has a

birthday this week. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Also, I got my little sister's

graduation invitation in the mail this week. MEGAN YOU ARE TOO YOUNG

TO GRADUATE. ;)

I love you all. Joshua 1:9

Elder Joshua Needles