Dear Family & Friends,
Today is June 27th! I'm super anxious today because we are waiting on
transfer calls! I'm pretty confident I am staying in Gilmer, but you
never really know! Elder Alkonis goes home on Wednesday! I can't
believe it's already here. It feels like we became companions just
yesterday! Time really does start to fly. I'll miss Elder Alkonis, we
had a blast serving together. This is also an interesting time,
because I've officially served half of my mission in East Texas. I've
been out here for 8 transfers which is one year! It's really rare that
a missionary in this mission can say they've served out here for that
long! I'm super blessed and incredibly grateful! I love East Texas so
much!
This week was incredible! I loved it! It consisted of us doing SO MANY
AMAZING THINGS. The beginning of the week was spent helping Jan and
Zack prepare for their baptisms which would be that weekend. They are
so awesome and we love teaching them. We taught Zack about missionary
work this week and he told us that he is thinking about being a
missionary one day. That would be so amazing! I'm so grateful to have
been able to teach Jan and Zack. They are both so great and I'm happy
I was able to meet them.
Tuesday night was hilarious, because our District had all taken a
bunch of funny pictures as companionships and made slide shows out of
them, so Elder Alkonis and I followed suit. We tore apart our
apartment taking funny pictures that made no sense. I was literally
sore afterward. It was so funny and so much fun. Our District all made
successful and hilarious slide shows. We have such a good District!
That weekend was INSANE! We probably had the best weekend you could
ever ask for. Friday began with an appointment Elder Alkonis had in
Tyler, Texas. We went to the appointment in the morning and went to
lunch at the one and only Stanley's BBQ! One of my converts came to
eat lunch with us (Faye)! It was so good to see her and her daughter!
It also was so good to eat the amazing BBQ sandwiches that Stanley's
provides. After that, we went back to Gilmer and prepared for a trip
to Waxahachie! Elder Alkonis got permission from President Taylor to
attend the baptism of one of the people he taught while he was there.
So Brother Spencer came and volunteered to drive us down to
Waxahachie! IT WAS A BLAST. Brother Spencer had to stop at Costco
along the way in Duncanville! It brought back so many memories as I
served there for 6 months! We also ate at Panda Express which also
made my life. After baptism we headed back to Gilmer and we stopped at
the biggest gas station I've ever been to! It's called Buc-ee's! It
was insanely huge! It had around 50 pumps and the inside was
ginormous! Elder Alkonis and I bought some hats as souvenirs!
The next day was so awesome, because Jan and Zack both got baptized.
Jan has come so far. She told us when she first met us that she's
already been baptized and that she didn't want to again. But now, she
told us she wanted to because she believes Joseph Smith to be a
Prophet and the Book of Mormon to be true. It makes me so happy! I was
honored to be able to baptize her. Zack is also amazing. After he was
baptized he was talking to me about how he might serve a Mission and
it just filled me with so much joy! On Sunday, they were both
confirmed in Sacrament Meeting! It was the best way to end this
transfer. I'm so glad I've been able to serve here in Gilmer for so
long. This place is just amazing and I love all of the amazing people.
I will send another email later if I'm able to in order to inform
y'all about transfers!
I love you all so much! Thank you for your emails, thoughts, and
prayers. I will be forever grateful for all of you. I hope you have an
amazing week!
Elder Joshua Needles
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