A Few Thoughts............

Monday Morning 4:30a.m. we will get to hear Josh's voice. So excited!!! I hope we get some sleep around here. From the looks of pictures and his emails he seems to be doing well. I hope to post pictures on here soon. I just wanted to post a message that I received from a sister in our ward. It was so needed when it came.

 

Jenny, I am thinking about you and how you are feeling this week.....I remember clearly how I felt when my son Cory left for his mission. Bitter Sweet! Please let Josh (Elder Needles) know that he is already influencing investigators! We brought a friend to church on Sunday who was visiting from Roatan, Honduras. He has had very little interaction with church members or the church. It was his first "Mormon" meeting and it just happened to be Josh's farewell. Our friend was very touched by Josh's testimony and was especially impressed that such a young kid could address a congregation and do such a good job at speaking and delivering such a good message. It opened the door for us to give our friend a copy of the Book of Mormon and D&C. So thank you for raising such a fine son and tell him "thanks"  for making that sacrament meeting special for us. He is planting seeds already!

Sister Sanford

 



Letter #2 9-25-14

Hello everyone! Today is my P-day and I'm so excited because I get to talk to all of you! I miss everyone and hope that you all are doing well! Being a zone leader is pretty fun! I have lots of friends here at the MTC and I already have memories that will never be forgotten! I've loved being the investigator in role play. My district tells me I'm really good at it. It's the closest to acting I can get here so I enjoy that. I've learned a lot from everyone. We got to hear from M. Russell Ballard on Tuesday! He gave some great insight on how to be successful on your mission and what to do when you're homesick. The Elders like to sing Taylor Swift while we all shower in the morning. It's pretty funny. I have grown so close to the people in my district, so I don't want to leave them on Monday. Which by the way is my departure date. I will get to call my parents at 4:30 AM on Monday, so stay awake Mom and Dad! I want to talk to you! I left the cheese dip out that my parents sent and it got old and gross. Two nights ago, Elder Hasson dared me to put a sucker in it and eat the cheese off of the sucker. It might've been the most disgusting taste ever. I almost puked, but it was really funny. My companion was on the ground laughing. I really think everyone looks up to me here. Sister Taylor (a Sister in my district) and I have a ton in common and she is very kind to me. I appreciate her. I love the other three Elders in my room. We have so much fun, and we laugh a lot. Yesterday, as zone leaders, we welcomed the new missionaries in our zone. They seemed to have liked us after we offered them the banana bread and cookies that Kara sent. Almost every single one said "Tell your friend Kara she's amazing at making banana bread and cookies." I like it here and am excited to go to Texas. I think about everyone every day though, and you are all my motivation out here. I got sick the other day, but I'm starting to feel better. We actually have committed an investigator in the MTC to hopefully being baptized. That's really exciting. We don't know if he's actually a member or not, because some aren't. They have recent baptisms because of investigators in the MTC. Elder Marshall doesn't know a lot of things so we started a lesson plan for him for things he doesn't know about. It's hilarious what he doesn't know.

LESSON ONE: Hashtags

LESSON TWO: Wifi

LESSON THREE: Hipsters

LESSON FOUR: Wraps

LESSON FIVE: What are the odds?

LESSON SIX: Frozen

TO BE CONTINUED

I'm excited to hear back from everyone. I love the emails and support. It helps me get through. I miss you all! Send this out to everyone I didn't get! I'm not sure if I have everyone's email and such.

First Letter!!! Yippee!

Hey family! I don't have much time so this letter might not be very long, because it isn't my P-day, but we get to write a little bit today. Just so you know, my P-day in the MTC is NOT Monday. It's Thursday so we don't get one for almost another week. I miss everyone so much. I got a few letters and the chips and "Salsa con queso." My companion is Elder Douglas (The guy we found on instagram and I sent a message to and he didn't reply) (Also if you want to find him again his first name is Matt). He's really nice and we seem to get along pretty well. I sent some pictures through my camera. Let me know if it worked! The first thing I saw when I walked into my room was a pile of Dr. Pepper. The four new missionaries were put with two older ones and one of the older ones had the Dr. Pepper. We hadn't met them until around ten the first night, but he offered me one so that was cool. I don't know if this is the email you want me to be sending to, so I'll also send it to your "92" email and your gmail. Let me know which email you'd like me to send to. There are A LOT of rules here and it's difficult to keep up sometimes. I'm tired all of the time, but I am trying to stay positive. My companion and I were assigned the Zone Leaders on the second day. We're training right now, and we will lead our district along with two others. I like my district a lot. We all get along well and seem to enjoy each other. I'm excited for more letters and for Wednesday when all of the new missionaries arrive. All the older missionaries seem to be a lot more mature already, even after a week. I miss everyone a lot. All of you and Bryan, Kara, and Brianna. I saw Laurie Wolfley, Dylan Jaques, Taylor Paskett, Shelbi Cambron, Mallory Kooyman (Alisa's sister), and Nick Goff. It's nice to see people from high school, I just wish I could see my good friends. I got a top bunk in my room and our room is a complete mess because of the older missionaries. We got a room report that said "unacceptable." It definitely wasn't any of the new missionaries fault though so I don't feel that guilty about it. I eat a lot here but I'm also running again with my companion so that's good. I wish I could run with Bryan still though, because we kept about the same pace when we ran together. I am pretty sure I can call you when I get to the airport so I'll do that. I don't have the letters with me right now so I'm not sure what other questions you asked but I'll answer them on Thursday when I get to write again. I miss you all so much and love you. Thanks for the letters and emails and packages. It helps me push through. Love you, talk to you on Thursday.

Josh's address

I know it's been a few weeks since I have posted and so much has happened. I just wanted to let you know that Josh has made it to the MTC! It was a bitter sweet day for all of us. I will try and post the events from his Temple day and Farewell soon. Until then Here is Josh's contact information if you would like to send him a letter.

Elder Joshua Needles

Provo Missionary Training Center

2005 North 900 East

Provo, UT 84604

(Until Monday Sept. 29th)

Email: joshua.needles@myldsmail.net

(He will receive these emails on his P-day. Mondays)

You can also use dearelder.com

(Letters delivered daily while in the MTC)