Dear Family & Friends,
HEEEELLLLOOOOO! Happy Preparation Day! I'm so glad I get to email you
all today! I hope y'all had the best week and I hope you have an even
better one this week. This Sunday is Father's Day! I have the best
father in the world. I've never met a more charitable, patient,
understanding, and kind man in my life! Thank you, Dad, for all you
have done for me and my siblings. A huge part of who I am today is
because of you! I love you!
This last week was AMAZING! We had so many good things happen! Tuesday
Morning was District Meeting. It was good to finally have a District
Meeting this transfer. I really love our District! It's a really good
group. We went to Eagle's Crossing after the meeting. It's a super
good country cafe in the middle of nowhere between Quitman & Gilmer.
One of those "hidden treasure" cafes that nobody seems to know about!
That night we had another lesson with Jan. Jan is doing so well!
Tuesday was great with her. We walked in and the first thing she said
was, "I've made my decision. They can dunk me on the 25th." We were so
happy! She is pretty determined to get baptized on the 25th and we
couldn't be more blessed to be the missionaries to help her do it.
After we had the lesson and dinner with her and the Ibarra Family, we
went outside and played some volleyball because Natalia (one of the
Ibarra's daughters) really wanted us all to play one game. It was a
blast! Jan watched on the side and cheered us on. AND Team
Missionaries won! Lol. Later that night was Stake President Report
with the Stake President. That was also a very good meeting. I always
am in awe with how great the Gilmer Stake is! They're amazing!
The next day was really fun, because we got to take Wendy, Little
John, and Monda to a restaurant called La Finca. They hardly ever get
to eat out so they were immensely excited for it. It's a pretty fancy
Mexican Restaurant and Little John ended up ordering Chicken Fingers!
Lol! He was just on cloud nine eating at a restaurant. He cracks us
up! After that, we went and did some service for the Stephens. I mowed
their lawn! Unfortunately, it was the one day I forgot to take my
allergy medicine so I was dying afterward. It was still a lot of fun
though. It was nice to be out in the sun! Later that day, we had an
appointment with Zack! We love teaching Zack and he is doing so well!
We went and got snow cones with him and had a lesson in McDonald's.
Wendy Skyped in so she could be present at the lesson as well. Zack
kept asking, "So we're still on for my baptism on the 25th, right?" It
makes us happy when people are excited about their baptism! Fills my
heart with joy! Later we were able to teach Justice the last
missionary discussion before his baptism. It was a great lesson!
Justice is such a good kid and I really love his family. They are
always so kind and put together. It's always fun to go visit them.
On Thursday, we traveled to Plano for Mission Leadership Council. The
District Leaders were invited to this one, so we drove with them.
Elder Whiteley and Elder Johansen are awesome and we had a lot of fun
carpooling. The meeting was awesome! I got to see Elder Casper! It had
been so long! It was so much fun talking with Elder Casper for the
day. Elder Alkonis and I were asked to do a special musical number at
the meeting. Well, when we went up to do it, I pressed the starting
note and Elder Alkonis started on a higher pitch. Right when he
started I told him to stop but he didn't and all I was thinking was,
"Shoot, how am I going to sing the harmony on top if it's too high?"
It was super awkward because I totally couldn't do it and just ended
up singing in unison lol. You win some you lose some, right? On the
way back, we stopped and ate at Torchy's Tacos! I love that place!
Friday, we went to see Lily and finish the discussions with her. They
were having a yard sale, so Elder Alkonis and I decided to buy this
little blue vase for two dollars from them. They thought it was so
funny that we bought this vase, so we decided that on Saturday at
Lily's Baptism, we would somehow incorporate the little blue vase.
That night we had another lesson with Zack. Karen came to this one and
it again was a great lesson. We were able to go over the baptismal
interview questions and he is ready! We're so excited for him!
Saturday was the day of Justice and Lily's baptisms! 10:00 AM was
Justice's, so we got to the church that morning to fill up the font
and set up the room. Justice and his family showed up to the church
and we got him ready, took some pictures, and we were off! It was such
a good baptism! He had a lot of good people there to support him. He
was very happy afterward. It was so good to see his whole family there
smiling while he was baptized. I'm so grateful we have been able to
teach Justice. Throughout the day, we were able to have some
appointments. One of those was Meagan's! Meagan is one of my favorite
people to teach. She is like a sponge, she just soaks it all up! She
also brightens everyone's day! This Saturday, we'll be able to go to
the Temple with her, so I'm super excited! We had a fun night at
dinner with Brother Beavers. Brother Beavers is this nice old man who
is the epitome of an old man in East Texas. He talks super slow and
takes his time with everything! He had us laughing all night! He's
such a good guy. He accidentally read us a text out loud from his wife
that was too much information, lol! It was hilarious! He was like
"What is this?" And read it out loud then said, "Woops, that's from my
wife." We were all dying laughing. We had Lily's baptism that night at
7:00 PM! It was such a good baptism! We put a fake flower in the
little blue vase and took pictures with it lol. Mary, Lily's Grandma,
spoke at her baptism. Mary is the epitome of an East Texan Grandma!
She's hilarious! Somehow, she thought that Elder Alkonis was from
Hawaii. She can never remember how to say his name either. So she
began her talk by saying, "Thanks to Elder Needles and Elder from
Hawaii." It was so funny! Especially because Elder Alkonis is from
California. Lol. Elder Shurtliff (one of the past missionaries who
went home) surprised everyone by showing up to the baptism with his
mom! It was cool to see him. I didn't know him super well, but it was
still great to see a former TDM missionary come back to visit.
Sunday was so great. Jan and Zack both came to church! Lily and
Justice were both confirmed and it was such a good experience.
Something really cool happened too. Zack got up right after Sacrament
Meeting and went up to Justice and gave him a hug! We were shocked
that he did that, because we didn't know they knew each other. Turns
out they're cousins! Holy moly! It's so cool what can happen as people
convert to the Restored Gospel! We had another lesson with Jan that
night and she is ready for her baptism interview! SO EXCITED FOR HER!
Well, this week was so great. This morning I woke up with a Charlie
Horse in my leg which was super painful and my companion was wondering
why I was "whimpering" this morning as he put it lol. Regardless of
that though, it truly was one of the best weeks of my mission. I'm so
glad to be serving here in Gilmer. I'm so glad I have served a
mission. My time is running shorter and shorter. I really only have
about 3 months left now. I can't believe it! Soon, I will get to see
you all again. That will be the best day. I love you all, have an
incredible week.
Elder Joshua Needles
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