May 30th Two Decades

Dear Family & Friends,

HELLO! How is everyone doing? I miss you all so much and I hope you
are just having a blast with whatever you are doing with life. I'm so
happy I get to email you all today. Today is May 30th 2016 which means
I am no longer a teenager! I'M SO OLD! I have now lived for two whole
decades! I'M IN MY TWENTIES! Today should be a good day. Going to eat
some good food and spend time with some other missionaries. I'm
excited about it! AND tomorrow my older Sister Sam will be 22! "I
dunno about youuu, but I'm feeling 22!" Happy Birthday, Sam! Hope you
have the best birthday this year.

This week was such an eventful one! On Tuesday, Elder Lindsay came and
served with us for the day. It was a really good day! We went to lunch
with our Ward Mission Leader at a super good sandwich shop in Gilmer.
We had coordination meeting afterward and Elder Lindsay said he was
just amazed. I still am too! Gilmer 2 Ward is truly one of the best
wards in the world! The members are amazing and the leadership is
incredible! Everyone just cares about everyone. That's what makes it
so good! After that, we went and taught quite a few people. One of
those was Justice! He is doing really well. His baptism is on the 11th
of June and we're really excited for him. He's only 9 years old, but
he has a heart of gold. We taught the Plan of Salvation to him and it
was a great lesson. We talked about how families can be together
forever and he felt the spirit touch his heart! Tears were running
down his face as we taught him about God's plan for his family. It was
a very spiritual and unforgettable lesson.

The next day, we went to Longview to drop Elder Lindsay off with his
companion. We got to see Elder Huber as well and the Zone Leaders in
Longview. We had to get our tire fixed, because a nail got in it, so
we drove to Sears afterwards to get it fixed. We didn't have a place
to go to study while it was getting fixed, so we went into the mall
and sat down to study. It was weird being in a shopping mall. We just
sat and watched all the people pass by. It was too early so no stores
were open, but we were just two missionaries sitting in massage chairs
at the mall studying and talking. It was awesome! After our car was
fixed, we went and got some lunch at Panera Bread! It was a really
good morning.

That night we ate at the Johnson Family's Home. They are awesome. They
know I really love musicals and one of my favorites is Wicked. Well,
they went to Dallas this last week and saw the musical! They loved it,
so in the spirit of that they made us some of the "Green Elixir" from
the show and some Wicked themed cookies. I was so happy! That night we
had a miracle happen! So Elder Westover and I contacted this person at
McDonald's once and he seemed super solid. Well, President Taylor was
told about us contacting him, so he felt like he should keep following
up about him. We weren't really ever able to get in contact with him
afterward and it wasn't working out. Well, one of our ward
missionaries (Karen) was at McDonald's one day and met him. She asked
him if he would take the missionary discussions and he said yes! So
were able to have a lesson with him that night! His name is Zack and
we were able to set a baptism date with him! He is going to be
baptized on July 2nd and we're so excited! I love how God works things
out sometimes. Zack's also hilarious and says the funniest things. We
talked about how Jesus came to the Americas and he was like "Maybe He
ate at Denny's!" LOL! Whaaaat?

Thursday night we were able to see Lily who is getting baptized on the
11th and then we saw Justice again! They are both getting very
prepared for their Baptisms! It makes me so happy. Fills me with so
much joy! That day we also saw Mary who is Wendy's next door neighbor.
It was hilarious, because she asked Elder Alkonis if he was a
Lamanite! Hahahaha! Friday was an exciting day, because we had Zone
Meeting! Elder Alkonis and I were finally able to hold a zone meeting
and I was so happy we were able to. We planned a lot for it and just
wanted it to be a good meeting for all the Missionaries in the Gilmer
Zone. We did a training on "the path" which essentially is the things
you should be filling your day with. We also had some fun games to
play and lots of candy! It turned out to be a really good meeting. We
were both exhausted afterward but it was definitely worth it! That
night we were finally able to see Ariell, Tanner, and Austin again. It
was awesome to teach them again. Ariell is always so hilarious with
her sassy attitude.

SATURDAY WAS AMAZING! We were able to take Christa, Aber, and Cory to
the Temple! They are all recent converts and they were able to do
Baptisms Proxy! I was only able to go, because Elder Bunker & Elder
Westover were going to meet at the Temple to do them with us, and
Elder Alkonis had to stay back. He went to Mt Pleasant for the day. In
the Temple, we had such a good experience. It was really good for Aber
and I think she really liked it. Afterward, we went to Panda Express
so yes, this week was great!

SUNDAY WAS ALSO AMAZING! So many people came to church! Jan even came,
who is one of our new investigators. We were so happy she was able to
make it. She is preparing for baptism on the 25th of June. Justice
came too and I was so incredibly happy. I love serving here in Gilmer.
It truly is an incredible place to serve. So many miracles happen and
my testimony has been strengthened so much because of it. God is real.
He loves every single one of us. His love is perfect and undeniable. I
love what He has done for me in my life. I love Christ and the
Atonement. I have truly found new life in Jesus Christ.

I hope you all have an amazing week! Thank you for being so easy to
miss! I love each of you dearly.

Elder Joshua Needles