FAITH-BOOK AUGUST 1, 2016

Hello Family & Friends!

It's P-Day again! I'm happy I get to email y'all and see what's

happening in all y'all's lives. I love and miss you more than you

know! Seriously! This week was pretty amazing. We had a lot of fun

adventures and a lot of new and exciting things have been happening in

our mission!

The beginning of the week was full of teaching and finding. We were

able to teach quite a bit win the first two days of the week which was

awesome because it was sure to be a really busy week. Wednesday was

pretty cool because we went and ate at the Dodd's for dinner. It was a

lot of fun, because they have a ping pong table, so of course, we all

had to play against Elder Lu. He said he wasn't very good but he was

haha! I'm not good at ping pong at all. They also have chickens and

Elder Lu wanted a picture with one really bad so they brought it in

for him to hold and take a picture with. I was surprised at how weird

chicken feet are, haha. Then it started to storm like crazy! Texas

storms sometimes can get pretty wild! It was raining so hard it was

difficult to drive in! We traveled to the Ibarra Family's home in the

storm in order to teach Jan another one of her new member lessons.

The lesson with Jan went really well although there were loud cracks

of thunder throughout. She is doing really well. She is just so into

all of it! The gospel has really enhanced her life and helped her feel

closer to Christ and I love watching it happen! After we left Jan's we

traveled to Mt Pleasant for a couple of reasons. We found out that we

would be having Mission Leadership Council on Wednesday so we had to

do some exchanges with the Paris Elders since the other zone leader is

in Paris. So Elder Lu and Elder Saxey came to Gilmer for Wednesday,

and Elder Christensen and I went to Dallas for Mission Leadership

Council.

This MLC was super exciting because it was all about... FACEBOOK!

Sister Taylor calls it "Faith-book." We learned all about it and how

we as missionaries would be using it in our efforts. I seriously got

so excited about it! After the meeting, we took the long journey back

to Gilmer Zone haha. We stopped in McKinney at a Chinese Buffet and it

was a lot of fun. There was a girl named Danny who was from mainland

China. Elder Lu had taught me how to write my name in Chinese so I

wrote it out and showed her! She thought it was so funny that my name

is Needles. She also was really excited and drew her name for me! We

were able to get her contact information and send it to the Chinese

Elders in Plano which was super exciting! I hope that it might work

out that they can teach her.

We got back to Paris and I stayed the night there since we would be

introducing Facebook to our zone the next day. Our Zone Meeting went

really well and we were able to get everyone excited for using

Facebook. There are so many ways to reach people and to share the

gospel through social media. It's so exciting! We were able to

download the app after our meeting.

Later that day, I found out that Elder Brower (a missionary who served

here in my mission) got in a car accident and passed away. I was

floored to hear about it. I served by Elder Brower in my first area

and we were able to go on an exchange together. I didn't know him very

well, but he would always run up to me at meetings and catch up. It

was always good to see him! He changed a lot of lives and I truly

believe he is continuing to do so. My thoughts and prayers are going

out to the Brower Family.

Saturday was awesome because we were able to teach Belinda! I've been

super excited about Belinda and have just felt like she would be so

open to receiving the gospel. Well we were able to set a baptism date

with her that night! I was so excited! She'll be baptized on August 27

if all goes well. I really hope I'm here for it. Transfers are next

week and I'm going into my LAST transfer! I've been here for six

months though so it's very possible I could leave. Any guesses? Pray

for me and wish me luck! Haha!

This week really turned out to be such a great week. I'm happy to be

serving in Gilmer. No place I'd rather be serving at this time! I love

and miss all of you and can't wait to see you again. Watch me on

Facebook! You might see some posts from me periodically throughout the

weeks.

Have an amazing week everyone!

Elder Joshua Needles

THE PAINTING OF A GREAT WEEK JULY 25, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

Hellooo! How are each of y'all? What's new in your life?? It's P-Day!
Yes! It means I get to email all of you. The excitement of emailing
all of the people I love every week still hasn't worn off even after
22 months. I'm so grateful for each of you in my life.

This week was pretty great. We had a lot of good stuff happen and we
were able to do lots of fun things! Monday last week, we went to the
Nature Preserve in Mineola. It was pretty fun but mostly just hot and
humid. None of us thought to bring water either so we were all dying,
haha. Rookie mistake. That night though, we were asked to give the
devotional at FHE for the YSA. It was a blast going to Family Home
Evening with all of the Young Single Adults. I was so glad to see Aber
show up without us even inviting her. She really is doing great. We
played a game with candy and I was able to talk to another recent
convert named Daryl. He's really thinking about serving a mission so
he was asking me a ton of questions about it. I told him that he
should do it. It was the best decision I ever made to serve a mission.

The next day, we had District Meeting in Gilmer! It was a good
District Meeting and we went to Hadden's afterward. Hadden's is a
really good sandwich shop on the square in Gilmer. Perks of being in
Gilmer, is that you almost always run into a member of the church when
you go places! (There are so many). So none of us had to pay for our
lunch which was the biggest blessing to me. I'm pretty tight on money
this month Haha. After all of that fun stuff, we went out to find! We
knocked on a part member family's door. Someone we had never met
answered. Her name is Kelsey. We shared with her the Restoration and
committed her to baptism! She said yes! Hopefully she progresses as we
now start teaching her.

Okay Tuesday night was a blast. Elder Lu and I split up with members
in order to go to all of our appointments. I went with Brother Miner
and Elder Lu went with Brother Potter. Brother Miner and I went to see
the Isonhood Family. Justice is one of the 9 year olds who got
baptized in June, so we went to teach another one of the new member
discussions. It was a really good lesson as we talked about the Plan
of Salvation. Justice retained most all of it and he even brought his
friend, Zayne, to sit in on the lesson. After the lesson all the kids
wanted to do a face-swap with me on snap chat so they pulled out their
phones and did it. They were dying of laughter which was pretty great.
When we left, Brother Miner showed me his IPad Pro. Holy moly it's a
nice iPad. He also showed me Pokemon GO which apparently is huge right
now, lol. He let me catch a Pokemon.

Wednesday night was pretty great too. We went to the first half of
Institute at the church with the YSA. Brother Sullivan is the teacher
and he really wanted us to come. I love being in classes with Brother
Sullivan. He had such a talent for teaching! I always feel instructed
and edified after a lesson with him. We went to visit Pam after
Institute and found that her mom just moved in with her. Her mom is
not a member so we were able to share a scripture with her from the
Book of Mormon and invite her to the Ward Party and to church on
Sunday. She said she would! And she did!

Thursday night Jan and Cherri got their Temple Recommends! We were so
happy for them. We helped Cherri find some names to take to the Temple
as well and she found two names. She said she had been seeing those
names everywhere recently! She thought it was cool those are the two
names she found. Friday was a blast. We went to Cherri's to help paint
a room in her house! It was so much fun but also exhausting! Who
would've thought painting would be so tiring, haha! It was a lot of
fun, though, and her son Dylan was super excited to have his room a
new color. Later that night was the Ward Party! It was awesome to see
Cherri and her kids arrive early to help set up. Pam and her mom
(Balinda) also came early and Pam brought Lilly (a recent convert) and
her kids as well. Wendy, Little John, and Jan came too! The party was
so much fun. They did a three legged race in which Dylan (Cherri's
son) fell to the floor and got dragged by his partner! It was
hilarious! At the end there was a tug of war. I wasn't originally in
but one side was about to lose. So I went up to help and it was either
adrenaline or something but I pulled and just like that our side won.
EVERYONE fell though and I landed on about 12 children. Luckily,
nobody was hurt but it was pretty hilarious.

The next day was pretty special, because we were able to go to the
Temple with Jan for her first time to do Baptisms for the Dead. Elder
Lu and I went with Brother Pilcher and Wendy early in the morning so
we could do an endowment session. There was someone going through for
the first time and it brought back so many memories from when I went
through for the first time. I almost starting crying as I thought
about walking into the Celestial Room for the first time seeing my
family and all the ones I love. There's something so special about the
Temple. Jan was able to be baptized for her mom and her dad was
baptized as well. It was great for her and Wendy had a really good
experience as well. We ate at Jalapeño Tree on the way back which is
my favorite Tex Mex Restaurant here in Texas.

I'm so grateful I'm still serving in Gilmer. I love it here so much. I
love the people more than I can say and I'm so thankful God put me
here for a time. I love all of you so much and miss you more than you
know. Only about 8 weeks and I'll see you all again. Can't wait!

Elder Joshua Needles

22 MONTHS JULY 18, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

I hope you all had an amazing week this week! I miss all of you more

than you probably know. Seriously. I can't wait till I get to see each

of you again!

This week I officially hit my 22 month mark. It's been a good 22

months out here in Texas. I can't believe I only have 2 months left.

I'm so excited! I'm doing my best to stay focused on the work

regardless. It was a pretty good week. Lots of good stuff happened!

Monday night, we were able to go teach Lilly and Don Adcock. Lilly

recently moved into our ward and she's a recent convert. I actually

baptized her in May when she get baptized in Gilmer 3rd Ward! Her

husband Don is still not a member. We're glad to have them in our

ward. Lilly is pretty crazy and likes to have a lot of fun. When we

went, we brought a member with us and they all hit it off pretty well.

We were able to teach Don as well and he told us that he would read

from the Book of Mormon! The rest of that night was preparation for

Interviews with the mission president the next day. Interviews are

always exciting to have! The meeting can be sort of stressful, though.

As Zone Leaders, we were in charge of the whole meeting (which lasted

6 hours). It was fun to put it all together though and the meeting

turned out pretty well. We had a really good time as a zone together

so I'd say it was pretty successful. My interview with President

Taylor was awesome. We have the best mission president in the world

I'm convinced. It was my last interview with him before my exit

interview which was weird. We talked about when I go home a little bit

and it's really starting to hit me that it's coming up pretty fast.

The next day was pretty great. It's really hot here in Texas right

now! SO HOT! Well, a member needed us to mow their lawn for them and

the only time we were available to do it was right at noon when it was

the hottest, haha. It was good though. I like being out in the sun and

I still haven't gotten a sun burn this summer which for me is a huge

success. Later that night we met with Zack at the Family History

Center so he could look up some names to take to the Temple. When he

got there he said, "Hey I have work off on Saturday. Do you think we

could go to the Temple?" We were excited when he said that and somehow

it all fell into place! He found some names to take which was awesome

then the next morning we took him to Bishop Sullivan's home so he

could have his Temple Recommend Interview.

Later that night we were able to go visit Cherri and her family which

was a blast as always. Cherri is really amazing. She has so much real

intent and wants to keep learning. She has really been starting to

come back a lot more and it's so much fun to have them at church. She

told me she wants to be able to go to the a Temple before I leave!

That'd be so awesome! We also were able to teach Jan! JAN IS THE BEST.

Jan is just the best because she always keeps commitments. She also

has just embraced the restored gospel in her life. She is going to the

Temple this coming Saturday and she's very excited. We can't wait!

Friday was a slower day. We didn't have much to do so we were doing a

lot of finding. We unfortunately kept going to addresses listed that

don't exist or are apparently impossible to find. It gets a little

frustrating sometimes when you have a hard time finding people but

it's all apart of the work. We know that as we stay diligent that we

will be blessed! We actually were blessed with a lot this week anyway

which was awesome. We set two new baptism dates! One with Jacob and

one with Michael! We're so excited for them!

On Saturday, we went to the Temple with Brother Spencer and Zack! It

was a really good experience for him and for me. It was the first time

I was actually doing the baptizing for the dead. The spirit you feel

in the Temple is undeniable. I love the Temple so much. I feel so much

peace when I go there and I always am so pleased after I leave. We

went and ate at Chik Fil A which was SO AWESOME. I just love eating at

places I love haha. I'm also super grateful for Brother Spencer. He

has driven more miles for us than any other member I've met on my

mission! Sunday was great because Cherri and her family came to church

again. It made us so happy! We also had a good rest of the night and

now we are here today! Happy P-Day everyone!

I love you all so much. Please don't ever forget it! I think about all

of you a lot and how grateful I am for each of you. You're in me

prayers!

Elder Joshua Needles