Dear Family & Friends,
It's Monday again! Happy Preparation Day! I hope each of you had an
amazing week this week. I also hope each of you know how much I love
you. My life would not be the same without you! This week was a pretty
good one... For the most part! Obviously, life isn't always a cake
walk and it's the same for a Mission. I got pretty sick this week
which was no fun at all, but it didn't stop us from having a
successful week!
Tuesday was so much fun this week, because Elder Holst and I hosted
interviews with our Mission President here in Gilmer. It turned out to
be a really great meeting! President & Sister Taylor inspired us to be
better just like they always do. We also had a lot of missionaries
give trainings. Elder Holst and I closed the meeting with our
training. As a Mission, we have a goal called "The 1-1-1." Every day
we try to get one Gold Member Referral, teach one Gold Lesson with the
Right Member Present, and have one Gold Baptism Invitation to someone.
We try to reach that every day as a companionship and we text
President Taylor every night with how our day went! Elder Holst and I
trained on "Faith & Motivation in getting the 1-1-1" and "How to
involve Christ in your day in order to reach the goal." It turned out
to be amazing! I was so pleased with how our training went, it was
exactly how we envisioned it to be. We know the Lord was helping us
with that training and it seemed to help a lot of people. A cool side
note about that day, we have a Recent Convert who has been struggling
emotionally lately and decided to come to the church to calm herself
down. Well, she didn't know we were all there, but we were able to
talk to her a little bit and ask if she needed a blessing. She said
yes, so we were able to have President Taylor give her a blessing. It
impacted her so much and we're so grateful that the Lord provided an
opportunity for President Taylor to be able to give her a blessing.
That night, we were able to go on exchanges with the assistants to the
President! I went with Elder Westover of course! He was so excited to
be back in Gilmer for the night. I was happy to serve with him again
as well. We went to see Wendy & Little John and they showed him the
cat that they named after us (Weedles, Westover & Needles combined).
Well, Elder Westover was really sick that day and he was happy to see
me so he hugged me for I think it was a whole two minutes. I'm pretty
sure he got me sick... Uuugh. Haha. We dropped Elder Westover and
Elder Huber off at a hotel that night where they would be staying.
Friday, we went on exchanges so Elder Holst could go teach Spanish up
in Mt Pleasant. Well, I woke up that morning feeling AWFUL. Luckily,
we have had Stake President Report to do all week so we were able to
take it easy that day and work on the report. The weather also started
to get really bad. The Gilmer Zone got hit pretty hard with storms and
tornados. Elder Bair and I were teaching Aber when it started to get
really bad. Gilmer itself wasn't too bad, but it scared the people
enough to get inside and take shelter. We went to the church and the
sisters were there too. By this point I was feeling so sick that I
could hardly think. I had a sore throat, I was very congested, and my
body ached all over. I was so happy that night to get home and sleep.
The next morning I was feeling even more sick. I couldn't really rest,
though, because we had two Baptisms that day! We went to the church to
prepare for the baptism. Tanner and Austin were getting baptized that
day. It has been a long time coming with them so we were so happy they
finally were able to get baptized! Elder Holst came back just in time
for the baptism and it was a good service. We weren't able to find
someone to play piano, so I ended up being the Pianist. Luckily, I was
able to do it and it didn't sound bad at all. The boys were excited as
well to get baptized so it was a very good day. After that I could
hardly walk, and I really needed to rest. We went back to the
apartment and I slept for the rest of the night.
This week really was a great one. We had two Baptisms and we were
still able to teach a lot of lessons! I'm grateful that God has helped
me through this sickness. I'm grateful we were still able to feel
successful by the end of the week. I feel exhausted, so we must be
doing something right! At church on Sunday, Elder Holst pointed out to
the Relief Society that he only has three fast Sundays left and that I
only have 4! What?! I only have 4 more opportunities to bear my
testimony in church as a missionary. I love being a missionary. I love
Jesus. I love all that He has done for me. I love each of you as well.
This week is Mother's Day. It's my last time skyping home before I
actually see you all again. I can't believe it. In the spirit of
Mother's Day, I hope you all know that my mom is the best mom in the
world. She has taught me so much I cannot even explain. I'm the man I
am today because of her. She is kind, charitable, loving, hilarious,
selfless, inspiring, and humble. She is incredible. I am so lucky to
have the most amazing mom. I love her so much.
I hope everyone has an amazing week and a happy mother's day. I know
I'll have one ;)
Love you all! D&C 6:36
Elder Joshua Needles
It's Monday again! Happy Preparation Day! I hope each of you had an
amazing week this week. I also hope each of you know how much I love
you. My life would not be the same without you! This week was a pretty
good one... For the most part! Obviously, life isn't always a cake
walk and it's the same for a Mission. I got pretty sick this week
which was no fun at all, but it didn't stop us from having a
successful week!
Tuesday was so much fun this week, because Elder Holst and I hosted
interviews with our Mission President here in Gilmer. It turned out to
be a really great meeting! President & Sister Taylor inspired us to be
better just like they always do. We also had a lot of missionaries
give trainings. Elder Holst and I closed the meeting with our
training. As a Mission, we have a goal called "The 1-1-1." Every day
we try to get one Gold Member Referral, teach one Gold Lesson with the
Right Member Present, and have one Gold Baptism Invitation to someone.
We try to reach that every day as a companionship and we text
President Taylor every night with how our day went! Elder Holst and I
trained on "Faith & Motivation in getting the 1-1-1" and "How to
involve Christ in your day in order to reach the goal." It turned out
to be amazing! I was so pleased with how our training went, it was
exactly how we envisioned it to be. We know the Lord was helping us
with that training and it seemed to help a lot of people. A cool side
note about that day, we have a Recent Convert who has been struggling
emotionally lately and decided to come to the church to calm herself
down. Well, she didn't know we were all there, but we were able to
talk to her a little bit and ask if she needed a blessing. She said
yes, so we were able to have President Taylor give her a blessing. It
impacted her so much and we're so grateful that the Lord provided an
opportunity for President Taylor to be able to give her a blessing.
That night, we were able to go on exchanges with the assistants to the
President! I went with Elder Westover of course! He was so excited to
be back in Gilmer for the night. I was happy to serve with him again
as well. We went to see Wendy & Little John and they showed him the
cat that they named after us (Weedles, Westover & Needles combined).
Well, Elder Westover was really sick that day and he was happy to see
me so he hugged me for I think it was a whole two minutes. I'm pretty
sure he got me sick... Uuugh. Haha. We dropped Elder Westover and
Elder Huber off at a hotel that night where they would be staying.
Friday, we went on exchanges so Elder Holst could go teach Spanish up
in Mt Pleasant. Well, I woke up that morning feeling AWFUL. Luckily,
we have had Stake President Report to do all week so we were able to
take it easy that day and work on the report. The weather also started
to get really bad. The Gilmer Zone got hit pretty hard with storms and
tornados. Elder Bair and I were teaching Aber when it started to get
really bad. Gilmer itself wasn't too bad, but it scared the people
enough to get inside and take shelter. We went to the church and the
sisters were there too. By this point I was feeling so sick that I
could hardly think. I had a sore throat, I was very congested, and my
body ached all over. I was so happy that night to get home and sleep.
The next morning I was feeling even more sick. I couldn't really rest,
though, because we had two Baptisms that day! We went to the church to
prepare for the baptism. Tanner and Austin were getting baptized that
day. It has been a long time coming with them so we were so happy they
finally were able to get baptized! Elder Holst came back just in time
for the baptism and it was a good service. We weren't able to find
someone to play piano, so I ended up being the Pianist. Luckily, I was
able to do it and it didn't sound bad at all. The boys were excited as
well to get baptized so it was a very good day. After that I could
hardly walk, and I really needed to rest. We went back to the
apartment and I slept for the rest of the night.
This week really was a great one. We had two Baptisms and we were
still able to teach a lot of lessons! I'm grateful that God has helped
me through this sickness. I'm grateful we were still able to feel
successful by the end of the week. I feel exhausted, so we must be
doing something right! At church on Sunday, Elder Holst pointed out to
the Relief Society that he only has three fast Sundays left and that I
only have 4! What?! I only have 4 more opportunities to bear my
testimony in church as a missionary. I love being a missionary. I love
Jesus. I love all that He has done for me. I love each of you as well.
This week is Mother's Day. It's my last time skyping home before I
actually see you all again. I can't believe it. In the spirit of
Mother's Day, I hope you all know that my mom is the best mom in the
world. She has taught me so much I cannot even explain. I'm the man I
am today because of her. She is kind, charitable, loving, hilarious,
selfless, inspiring, and humble. She is incredible. I am so lucky to
have the most amazing mom. I love her so much.
I hope everyone has an amazing week and a happy mother's day. I know
I'll have one ;)
Love you all! D&C 6:36
Elder Joshua Needles
No comments:
Post a Comment