Dear Family and Friends,
Hellooooo! Happy Monday! It's good to be here emailing y'all. Emailing
has never got old for me, I've loved it every week of my mission. I
hope y'all had a great week! This last week for me was pretty great! I
had a lot of good memories made.
Monday night last week we went on a little exchange with Elder
Christensen & Elder Saxey. I went with Elder Christensen and it was a
lot of fun. We found this guy who used to attend our church! We were
able to teach him together and it was so much fun! I wasn't having the
best night up to that point, but teaching made me feel so much better!
It always does! I love teaching the gospel to people! The next morning
was district meeting. It was a really quick district meeting! We then
went to get some lunch then Elder Nigh & I were on our way back to our
area!
Brother Thomas went out with us for most of the day, and that night we
went to see one of our investigators (Carl). Now Carl is a really
interesting guy, because he knows the Bible inside out and he's really
skeptical of the Book of Mormon. He knows so many scriptures and so
many historical facts that teaching him is definitely a challenge! It
helps us grow and learn and study harder so we can answer his
questions correctly and with the spirit. He has a problem
understanding the great apostasy and he doesn't quite believe in
organized religion. As we have taught him, though, my testimony in
Christ and in the Book of Mormon has been strengthened greatly. My
testimony in this church has been too. I'm grateful for Carl for
helping me grow and strengthen my testimony even more. There was a
point in teaching him where I was able to tell him that I know the
Book of Mormon is true. I love it. It has brought me so much closer to
Christ.
We also were able to see our investigator, Gloria, the next day. It
was a really good visit. We haven't been able to really teach her in
the past, but this time we decided to change something. We did our
best to show we care about her! "Nobody cares how much you know until
they know how much you care." That quote is so true! We talked with
her and got to know her a little better. She showed us her guitar and
I played a little bit for her and she was just so happy! Afterward,
she was so excited to have us teach her. She was asking about the Book
of Mormon and actually taking it in this time. It was awesome!
Thursday was pretty cool. We planned a lot for Ruth's baptism which
would be the upcoming Saturday from then. We also had to drive all the
way out to Finley for dinner with the Browns. (Finley is about an hour
away) Our area is huge! Anyway, because we had to do that, we didn't
have a ton of time to work that day, and we only had about an hour and
a half left of the night by the time we got back to Hugo. But God is
good and provides amazing things! We were going to visit this referral
that we got from these members the other day, but when we pulled up
there was a huge thing happening with the cops right in front of the
house we were going to. Somebody was getting arrested, so we just
drove a couple blocks down. We then saw Ta's house (another
investigator). We both felt impressed to go see her, but she wasn't
home. I just felt like God made that happen for a reason, so we
decided to knock on the five doors around Ta's house. And it was so
great! Out of the five doors we knocked on, four answered the door. We
were able to teach people in ALL four of the houses we knocked on.
Every person who answered the door let us teach them! We ended up with
5 new investigators just from that! The Lord truly knew where we
needed to be and it's amazing how he led us there!
Saturday was amazing! Ruth was baptized! It was a really great
baptismal service. Her grandson was planning on baptizing her, but the
both agreed that they would like someone in the font with them to help
lift her up after she went under the water. So Elder Nigh was able to
get in the water with them! Well, Ruth is really scared of having the
water go over her face, so when her grandson said prayer she stopped
and said "I can't do it!" She was so nervous! There was a lot of
people quietly saying "You can do it, Ruth!" Well, her grandson
couldn't get her to go under the water, so he had Elder Nigh take
over. It took them a long time to figure it out, but eventually she
was buried in the water and came out excited that she did it! Elder
Nigh unexpectedly performed his first baptism ever! It was awesome,
haha!
Sunday was my very last fast Sunday as a missionary. I went up and
bore my testimony and it was the weirdest thing knowing that the next
time I'll have a chance to bear my testimony in church will be at
home. It's definitely a bittersweet feeling! Ruth was also confirmed
in Sacrament Meeting. That night we taught Kevin and he is still
progressing really well! We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he
understood it well and is willing to live it when he gets baptized! I
love all of the people we teach here! We have such a big teaching
pool! And on top of that we got 14 new investigators this week! Crazy
stuff! The Lord has truly been blessing us.
I'm grateful to God for sending me to Hugo Oklahoma for my last
transfer. This branch is seriously on fire! They have high hopes and I
believe that the church can grow here with this small group of people.
This Sunday we'll make history, meeting as a branch in Hugo for the
first time! We're all so excited! I only have a little over 2 weeks
left of my mission! I can't wait to see you all again! I love y'all!
Elder Joshua Needles
Hellooooo! Happy Monday! It's good to be here emailing y'all. Emailing
has never got old for me, I've loved it every week of my mission. I
hope y'all had a great week! This last week for me was pretty great! I
had a lot of good memories made.
Monday night last week we went on a little exchange with Elder
Christensen & Elder Saxey. I went with Elder Christensen and it was a
lot of fun. We found this guy who used to attend our church! We were
able to teach him together and it was so much fun! I wasn't having the
best night up to that point, but teaching made me feel so much better!
It always does! I love teaching the gospel to people! The next morning
was district meeting. It was a really quick district meeting! We then
went to get some lunch then Elder Nigh & I were on our way back to our
area!
Brother Thomas went out with us for most of the day, and that night we
went to see one of our investigators (Carl). Now Carl is a really
interesting guy, because he knows the Bible inside out and he's really
skeptical of the Book of Mormon. He knows so many scriptures and so
many historical facts that teaching him is definitely a challenge! It
helps us grow and learn and study harder so we can answer his
questions correctly and with the spirit. He has a problem
understanding the great apostasy and he doesn't quite believe in
organized religion. As we have taught him, though, my testimony in
Christ and in the Book of Mormon has been strengthened greatly. My
testimony in this church has been too. I'm grateful for Carl for
helping me grow and strengthen my testimony even more. There was a
point in teaching him where I was able to tell him that I know the
Book of Mormon is true. I love it. It has brought me so much closer to
Christ.
We also were able to see our investigator, Gloria, the next day. It
was a really good visit. We haven't been able to really teach her in
the past, but this time we decided to change something. We did our
best to show we care about her! "Nobody cares how much you know until
they know how much you care." That quote is so true! We talked with
her and got to know her a little better. She showed us her guitar and
I played a little bit for her and she was just so happy! Afterward,
she was so excited to have us teach her. She was asking about the Book
of Mormon and actually taking it in this time. It was awesome!
Thursday was pretty cool. We planned a lot for Ruth's baptism which
would be the upcoming Saturday from then. We also had to drive all the
way out to Finley for dinner with the Browns. (Finley is about an hour
away) Our area is huge! Anyway, because we had to do that, we didn't
have a ton of time to work that day, and we only had about an hour and
a half left of the night by the time we got back to Hugo. But God is
good and provides amazing things! We were going to visit this referral
that we got from these members the other day, but when we pulled up
there was a huge thing happening with the cops right in front of the
house we were going to. Somebody was getting arrested, so we just
drove a couple blocks down. We then saw Ta's house (another
investigator). We both felt impressed to go see her, but she wasn't
home. I just felt like God made that happen for a reason, so we
decided to knock on the five doors around Ta's house. And it was so
great! Out of the five doors we knocked on, four answered the door. We
were able to teach people in ALL four of the houses we knocked on.
Every person who answered the door let us teach them! We ended up with
5 new investigators just from that! The Lord truly knew where we
needed to be and it's amazing how he led us there!
Saturday was amazing! Ruth was baptized! It was a really great
baptismal service. Her grandson was planning on baptizing her, but the
both agreed that they would like someone in the font with them to help
lift her up after she went under the water. So Elder Nigh was able to
get in the water with them! Well, Ruth is really scared of having the
water go over her face, so when her grandson said prayer she stopped
and said "I can't do it!" She was so nervous! There was a lot of
people quietly saying "You can do it, Ruth!" Well, her grandson
couldn't get her to go under the water, so he had Elder Nigh take
over. It took them a long time to figure it out, but eventually she
was buried in the water and came out excited that she did it! Elder
Nigh unexpectedly performed his first baptism ever! It was awesome,
haha!
Sunday was my very last fast Sunday as a missionary. I went up and
bore my testimony and it was the weirdest thing knowing that the next
time I'll have a chance to bear my testimony in church will be at
home. It's definitely a bittersweet feeling! Ruth was also confirmed
in Sacrament Meeting. That night we taught Kevin and he is still
progressing really well! We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he
understood it well and is willing to live it when he gets baptized! I
love all of the people we teach here! We have such a big teaching
pool! And on top of that we got 14 new investigators this week! Crazy
stuff! The Lord has truly been blessing us.
I'm grateful to God for sending me to Hugo Oklahoma for my last
transfer. This branch is seriously on fire! They have high hopes and I
believe that the church can grow here with this small group of people.
This Sunday we'll make history, meeting as a branch in Hugo for the
first time! We're all so excited! I only have a little over 2 weeks
left of my mission! I can't wait to see you all again! I love y'all!
Elder Joshua Needles
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