Combrink Missions: Nathan - Jennings - Kohler, Hobbs

area: Jennings Branch, Orange Texas Stake (Welsh, Louisiana)

zone: Orange

companion: Elder Kohler, Elder Hobbs

dates: 6/23/2015 to 10/27/2015 (Transfer Periods #6-8)

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Transfer Period #6

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email: 6/23/2015

I'm in Louisiana! Jennings to be more specific. I've left the city and come to the country. It's super green here. And Main Street in Crowley reminds me of Placerville Main street. (We live in Crowley for now because the apartment in Jennings was not a good environment so now we're waiting for the Church to find a new apartment in Jennings for us. For the time being we have to drive 20 miles to get to our area… )

My new companion is Elder Kohler. He's been out 3 transfers (18 weeks). We were white-washed into this area, meaning we are both new, but Elder Kohler's last area was Crowley which is in the same branch, so he already knows the branch members and a lot of the area. I'm also a district leader now, meaning I get to serve not only the people of my area, but also the 4 missionaries in the Jennings Branch.

Last week was a lot of fun. It rained, nonstop, for 6 days. It never flooded where I was though. We taught an awesome young couple named Corey and Amanda. We also helped Sister Obu (her husband is a member who joined the church when he was a teenager living in Nigeria) understand what she needed to do to prepare for baptism and she accepted July 26 as the date she'll get baptized, so I'll get to go back to Baytown for that.

We said goodbye to all the ward members. I'm going to miss Brother Files (he's the ward mission leader or the guy to looks after the missionaries serving there and helps them coordinate efforts with the ward.

I'm going to miss that area. I'll miss Elder Leftwich too. He's got such a strong desire to be a good guy. He strives to do his best.

I'm looking forward to getting a bunch of exciting stories from Louisiana! I love being a missionary!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me to be. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 6/29/2015

This week was great. I'm so grateful to be out of the city. Don't get me wrong, the city is great too, there's always people to talk to and we don't have to drive 30 minutes to get from one small town to the next, but I've missed the country. The big trees surrounding fields that almost go on forever with the occasional house or small town to let you know you're not entirely alone. I love how the towns here are old too, just like Placerville. Except there's no mountains, anywhere.

Since Elder Kohler and I got white washed into the Jennings area we spent most of this week just trying to meet their investigators but we haven't had too much luck with that. So we also found some new people to teach and got to know the towns. We're also running short on miles so we've spent all our time in Jennings and Welsh. We're hoping to move to Welsh next week so that'll be nice because right now we have to drive 20 miles just to get to our area.

The Crowley elders had a baptism on Saturday for Gaige. He's 19 and absolutely loves the missionaries! Elder Kohler found and taught him when he was in Crowley, so it was an awesome experience for him. I gave the talk (short speech) about baptism during the service, I'll send a copy of it. It was a great baptism though. He said he knew the Church was true ever since the first lesson when they asked him "Do you believe God is the same yesterday, today, and forever?" He replied in the affirmative so they taught him how just like in times of old God has called a prophet to show His love for His children. After that he knew the Church was true.

I love Louisiana! It's super green! There's definitely Southern Hospitality here. Quick story, we were biking through Welsh and we saw some people outside a house so we rode over to introduce ourselves and invite them to come unto Christ. As we pulled up we said who we were and the guy laughed at us and said "You're in heavy Catholic territory around here. You better just get on going and find somewhere where you'll have some better luck." And I don't think he meant another street or town but another state... Then we started to reply to that when his wife started blasting the music and shook her head at us, but we kept right on going. We cleared up some of this man's misunderstandings about us and as we did so his wife turned down the music, then turned it off, then walked over and joined us. They thanked us for coming by but said they're comfortable in their church. The wife shook our hand and said "it was wonderful to meet you, and I'm sorry for being so disrespectful earlier." I love it here!

I love all of you! But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

Talk on Baptism:

To start off I would like to share a couple of stories, one from the Book of Mormon and one from the Holy Bible.

Alma the Elder Mosiah 18:8-11 & 16 (204 souls)

verse 10 says we make covenants, or promises, at baptism. They are to take Jesus Christ's name upon us, keep His commandments, and always remember Him. He promises us that the Holy Ghost will always be with us in return.

But what if we make a mistake after baptism? Each week we partake of the sacrament, and we make these same promises so that we can continue to repent and be made clean weekly.

Jesus Christ's Baptism Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus walked 60 miles to be baptized by John the Baptist who held the authority from God to baptize. Although today Gaige didn't need to walk 60 miles to get baptized, he has come a long ways spiritually to get here. He is here because the missionaries and the Holy Ghost have helped him develop a stronger faith in Jesus Christ so he could repent of their past transgressions. Gaige is here now because he wants to complete that repentance process and become totally clean through baptism.

A quick story about authority Joseph Smith-History 1:68-73

When Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon a man named Oliver Cowdrey was the scribe, or wrote down the words that Joseph Smith spoke. When they got to 2 Nephi chapter 31, which talks about why Jesus Christ was baptized, Oliver Cowdrey asked, "How are we supposed to be baptized?" Joseph Smith replied, "I don't know." So they decided to go ask God directly. They went to the woods, like Joseph Smith had on a previous occasion, and began to pray and ask their question. As they did so, John the Baptist appeared to them and answered their question. He told them they needed proper priesthood authority, then gave them that authority and commanded them to go baptize each other.

Gaige is here now because he believes this to be true, and that this authority has been passed down from generation to generation to Brother Trichell who is performing the baptism today. Gaige, pay close attention to the feelings you have before and after your baptism. As you do so you will feel a difference in your heart, I promise you will feel clean. And each week you can feel this same feeling as you participate in the sacrament worthily.

Gaige, remember this day forever because in a few minutes you will walk through the gate of baptism that allows you on the straight and narrow path that leads to Eternal Life. This isn't the only gate on that path though, there are many gates you will need to walk through. You'll walk through the second gate when you are confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and receive the Holy Ghost. The rest of the gates will be opened and you'll walk through them later on as you attend the temple of God and receive all the gifts and blessings that your Heavenly Father has in store for you.

Remember to endure to the end. The end of my talk. The end of today. The end of this life, and then on into eternity. And in Revelations 21:6 we learn that one of Jesus Christ's names is "the End." So "endure to Jesus Christ."

In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

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email: 7/5/2015

I got too used to the city... The work is easy there. All you have to do is walk outside and bam! there's 4 million people to talk to. There's always something to do. I hate living in the city, I felt too claustrophobic. But being a missionary there was far easier than being a missionary here.

But that's all besides the point, because this is where I've been called. This means that there are people here who have been prepared by other missionaries, by other church members, and by angels, to receive me and the restored Gospel. And as I work with faith, I know the Lord will lead me to them.

One of the greatest missionaries of all time was Ammon from the Book of Mormon. I will summarize his story for those of you who don't know it:

Ammon and his four brothers were sons of a King named Mosiah. Mosiah was king for all the Nephites (the "good guys" in the Book of Mormon). Mosiah was getting pretty old so he brought his four sons together and asked "who wants to be king after I die?" (not exactly quoted).

These four brothers all say that they don't want to be kings, they want to go on another mission. Mosiah is puzzled because they've already gone on missions to every Nephite city, so he asks them where they plan on going on this mission. They say "well, we're going to go teach the Lamanites" (the "bad guys" in the Book of Mormon at that time).

This is like someone today basically saying "Dad, we don't want your inheritance. We want to be missionaries! And we're going to go to Afghanistan on our mission. Because they really need Jesus."

Of course King Mosiah begins to be astonished and then prays and asks if he should let his sons go to a land to teach a people who hate him for being the King of the Nephites, hate the Nephite nation, hate their religion, hate everything about them, and usually kill Nephites on site, or to make them stay in Zarahemla (Capital for the Nephites).

The Lord tells him "Let them go, I’ve got their backs. Nobody will be able to hurt them with me on their right hand and with angels round about" (again, not exactly quoted). Mosiah 28:1-10

So Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni go to the Lamanites and are able to baptize thousands there - after cutting off a few arms and threatening a couple kings. When Ammon recounts the story later he says that the Lamanites were extremely prepared. Alma chapters 17-27

That's the outlook I'm working on acquiring.

I love all you guys. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 7/13/2015

This week was awesome. We were able to teach a lot more people and find some to add to our teaching pool. The people here are great, except for a few of the drunk ones, but I'm sure they're great when they're sober, if that ever happens... Anyway, I'm really enjoying the country now. I really love the other Elders I get to serve here. They definitely helped make the District Meeting this week spiritual and edifying. I love the people in the ward and the people I get to teach. Soon we will be able to go to Baton Rouge for the temple there with a recent convert. I'm so excited to get to see that part of Louisiana!

Quick story: Yesterday was about 110 degrees with the heat index in a little town called Iota. But we are trying to save miles and bike as much as we can so we got on our bikes and headed to find someone on the ward list but they lived along a highway with no shoulder and we didn't really want to bike on that. So I looked at the GPS and we found a little side road that led to some railroad tracks, and the tracks would take us right to this family's house. But as we were biking down the side road we realized that we must've gone too far. So I look at the GPS and it says we already passed them but it's way too hard too miss railroad tracks, and then the thought came to me, "the GPS lied to me..." I'm a genius, I know. (that last sentence was a quote from my little sister, Jessica) Anyway, there was a bend in the road a little ways up that took us the way we wanted to go. But then we see these "ROAD CLOSED" and "BRIDGE OUT" signs. But we are missionaries with faith so we keep biking and hope angels have enough time to rebuild the bridge before we get there. We keep biking and biking and biking and finally we get out from between crawfish fields and under some trees. Then a little while after that we see a mound of dirt and weeds in the middle of the road with more "ROAD CLOSED" and "BRIDGE OUT" and "STOP" signs. But we just keep on going towards it. When we got there Elder Kohler climbed up on the mound and said "Yes!" meaning the bridge is still there. So we get our bikes over this mound and cross this creek on 4x6's with some gravel on top of them (the angels came through) and hopped over another mound on the other side. Then laid on the gravel road for a while because we ran out of water a ways back and weren't feeling too well from the heat. After a couple minutes of rest we continued on our way and found the house we were looking for.

I know it was the Sabbath, but we honestly weren't planning on having that adventure. Hopefully we won't be held accountable.

I love all you. But I love the Lord more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 7/20/2015

This week has been really good and at times sad. We contacted 97 strangers this week, and only 1 of them became a new investigator. I know that planting seeds is just as important as harvesting the crop, but sometimes it's hard to move from field to field just planting seeds and never being able to stay long enough to see the harvest take place. I guess that's how early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints felt being mobbed and persecuted and forced to move from Harmony, Pennsylvanian to Kirtland, Ohio to Nauvoo, Illinois to Independence, Missouri, and then all the way to Salt Lake. Always planting and watching the growth of Zion, but never really able to harvest it until they finally settled in the Salt Lake Valley. Also one of our most promising investigators told us that he decided he just wants to learn about religions and not act on any of it for the time being.

But, we also had among the best District Meetings I've ever attended. It was on humility. Most of the doctrine and ideas came from President Ezra Taft Benson's talk "Beware of Pride." I've decided from that District Meeting that these are the best Elders in the mission. I love them.

We also got to attend the last day of the Orange Stake Youth Conference on Saturday. It was held at the chapel in Lake Charles (beautiful city!). They fed us breakfast, then President Harris (2nd Councilor in the Stake Presidency) gave a talk about missionary work and it was among the best I've ever heard! Then the Priests and Laurels teamed up with missionaries and we went tracting around Lake Charles. Imagine, 30 missionaries teamed up with 50 youth all going around different parts of a small city. We got some sweet miracle stories from it, and some laughs. It was an incredible experience for the youth. While the Priests and Laurels (16-18 year olds) were out and about, the Teachers and Mia Maids (14-15 year olds) were being instructed by President Drake. Best youth conference ever!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 7/27/2015

This week has been super spiritual! We went to Interview Training on Tuesday. Interview Training is a meeting where we get to have one on one interviews with President Drake while Sister Drake teaches the rest of the group and then the Assistants to the President teach for the rest of the time. I love the leaders in this mission so much! They're super inspired and are incredible at having charity ('the pure love of Christ' Moroni 7:45) for their fellow man.

Then on Wednesday and Thursday we moved from Crowley to Welsh. Welsh is a much smaller town and we live right in the middle of town. The address is:

113 S Adams Street #8

Welsh, LA 70591

But don't send anything yet because I have a weird feeling that I'm going to get transferred again…

But yeah, we moved and the new apartment is probably the nicest in the mission! It has ceilings like 15 feet high and 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms... I'm grateful that we get to live there but I almost feel bad at the same time because some of our investigators are homeless...

On Friday we had a super spiritual District Meeting about what it means to be a successful missionary (I asked each missionary who one of their scriptural heroes was and why each was a hero. We got Ammon for his service, Abinadi for being bold even if it's awkward/dangerous, Enoch for humility and faith, Daniel for standing up for what he believes in, Alma the younger for his desire to help people repent... on and on. Then I pointed out that none of them are heroes because they baptized a gagillion people, although many of them had the opportunity to do that because they had these other qualities) and how we can better help the members here in this branch.

Then on Sunday I found out that Sister Obu did get baptized! That made me so happy! Here's the story: we set a baptism date with her the last day I was in Baytown for July 26, but the sisters who took our place have had very little contact with her, then yesterday in Sunday School, Brother Files asked Sister Obu, "You're getting baptized today, right?" and she said "umm... Sure, I guess." So after church she got baptized! It kinda stinks that I wasn't able to be there since it was short notice but I'm so happy for her!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 8/2/2015

Elder Kohler is being transferred so I won't be able to email tomorrow. We both are going to train brand new missionaries. I get to stay in Jennings at least 2 more transfers now. You can go ahead and start sending stuff to the Welsh address.

Thanks for everything!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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Transfer Period #7
Elder Hobbs Mission blog: https://elderbrianahobbs.wordpress.com/

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email: 8/4/2015

Jambalaya is officially my new favorite food! SO GOOD!

Anyway, this week was great. We were able to get a lot done even though Elder Kohler was being transferred and both of us becoming trainers. (Elder Kohler went to Broadway 1 South, it's covers part of my Broadway 1 West area. I'm so happy for him! Going from growing up in the country and spending the first 6 months of his mission in country and now going to downtown Houston! He's so lucky!)

On Monday we got the Area Book Planner App and we're still trying to figure out how to use it. It does make keeping track of people a lot easier but we have to enter in all the information ourselves and that's going to take a few months.

Wednesday I got the chance to interview Tyson (one of Crowley's investigators) for his baptism. He's only 16 but he really believes it and the other youth supported him a lot. On Saturday he was baptized and he looked so happy! He's usually a very calm kid, and he was on Saturday, but he just seemed to smile a little more and more sincerely than he did before.

Yesterday we went to Transfer Meeting, and we got permission to go by the Crofts (family in Kingwood 2 Ward) to get haircuts! I was so excited to see them again! Then we went over to the church in Kingwood and all of my old companions, except Elder Six who is home, were in the meeting for trainers! I've had such good companions during my mission and that's such proof of that. My new companion (who is also my "son" because I'm training him) is Elder Hobbs. Yes, I've had a companion named Elder Hobbs before, this is a different one. He's super awesome even though he's from Utah... I also met a new missionary at transfers from Nephi, Utah who knows Todd and Kristy! (uncle and aunt)

I love being a missionary! It really is the best thing in the world! I love the excitement that Elder Hobbs has to be a missionary.

Story Time:

A long, long time ago, before we lived here on Earth, we lived with our Heavenly Father as spirits. He loved us so He created a plan to allow us to become like Him (Roman 8:16-18). Part of this plan was to come to Earth to gain a physical body to house our spirits like Heavenly Father has (D&C 130:22). All of Heavenly Father's spirit children had the choice to accept or reject this plan. For those who rejected it, they lost their chance for progression and will remain as spirit bodies for eternity. But for those who accepted it, they got to come to Earth, essentially, all of us.

In this life we gain a physical body, we learn faith, and we do our best to seek out God's commandments and live by them. When we die, our physical bodies and our spirits separate; our body returns to dust, while our spirits go to the Spirit World.

Those who gained faith and lived accordingly go to a state called paradise (Alma 40:12 & Luke 23:43). Those who did not have faith and did not act accordingly go to a place called prison (Alma 40:13). Many of those is Spirit Prison never got the chance to learn about Jesus Christ here on Earth, so they will be taught and have the opportunity to accept it there (1 Peter 3:18-20). But all these spirits are left with a problem, they do not have a physical body like they once had and like our Father has.

But because Jesus Christ performed the Atonement, through His Resurrection, so too will all people who once had a body be resurrected. And because Jesus Christ suffered for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane, we are able to be forgiven and overcome our past sins. After every spirit child of God has had a chance to live on Earth there will be a final judgement.

At this time we will be resurrected with a perfect physical body and be placed in a Degree of Glory; the Celestial Kingdom, the Terrestrial Kingdom, and the Telestial Kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:40) The Celestial Kingdom is for those who were baptized and lived according to the promises made in that sacred ordinance. The Terrestrial Kingdom is for those who were not valiant in their testimonies of Jesus Christ but still lived good lives (D&C 76:78-79). The Telestial Kingdom is for the wicked people. There is also a place known as Outer Darkness for Satan and his followers.

Let us all choose to gain a testimony of Jesus Christ, learn what it means to be valiant in that testimony and live accordingly! The promise of doing so is more joy than we can find anywhere else.

I love all of you! But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 8/10/2015

So Wednesday makes 9 months... That's weird to think about... really weird. Time is going way too quick! The thought of 2 years almost terrified me the month before I left, but now 2 years doesn't quite seem long enough, not when 9 months feels like a day. Oh well, time is one of those things that I can't control.

This week has been full of "once in a mission" opportunities. We went to the Baton Rouge Temple on Saturday with a recent convert, Sister Miller. It was a total of 3 hours of driving both ways and her non-member husband drove and most of that time we got to talk about how the church is organized. They both love the Church, he's just too busy with his job to learn and begin practicing right now. But anyway, Sister Miller brought 14 family names that we helped her find, and there was a youth group there who did the ordinances for them while we watched. It was so spiritual! That was the first time I've ever been east of the Mississippi River, it's big by the way. Anyway, when we came out of the temple, Brother Miller had been waiting in the visitor's room and while sitting there he got to meet the Temple President (the man in charge of that specific temple) and as we walked around the outside, Brother Miller said, "He was a very kind and gentle, yet confident. You could just tell he was high up, as well as those other men who were with him (temple sealers - the men who officiate the weddings in the temple). He was just glowing!" On the way home they took us out to eat and bought us steaks, really good steaks! One of the best experiences of my mission!

On Sunday the Houston Temple President came to the Jennings Branch and taught us about the Plan of Salvation and quite a bit about Adam and Eve. Then he opened it up to questions and answers.

We also taught the young men yesterday and we shared a video titled "Act for Themselves" from the Book of Mormon video resources collection. Best video ever about agency! I love teaching the young men! I hope I get the calling of Assistant Priest Adviser (kind of like an assistant youth minister for the 16 to 18 year old boys) when I get home, and stay there for the rest of my life!

I love my “son,” even though he's from Utah. I'll forgive him eventually for being a Utant (pronounced the same as “mutant” but without the “m”). He really prepared himself before he came out as far as the spiritual stuff goes. He just graduated high school in May so he's only 18 years old.

New Favorite Quote: "Now we are here. Our memories are veiled. We are showing God and ourselves what we can do. Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side, than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us." - President Ezra Taft Benson, 13th prophet of God in this last dispensation (a period of time when the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the Earth, including the entirety of both the Priesthood Authority and the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation).

I love all of you! But I love the Lord more And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

Oh, and some of the weird foods I've had are: gumbo, jambalaya, frog legs, raw sugar cane from the side of the road, wild duck, boudin (Cajun sausage), ox tail, and I've been offered squirrel.

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email: 8/17/2015

I love Elder Hobbs, and the other elders in my district, Elder Heaps and Elder Rosenlund. We have had quite a few miracles this week! I like to ask Elder Hobbs right before we go to sleep what miracles he saw that day, and he always reminds me of one of the miraculous experiences we had. He asked me once and I said, "of course I did, I saw a Book of Mormon." He questioned my reasoning and I informed him that the Book of Mormon is a miracle because there is no way to explain it's existence besides there being a God who helped Joseph Smith. Therefore each time you see a Book of Mormon you see a miracle. He liked that.

But one of the miraculous experiences happened on Friday. We had scheduled to meet an investigator who lives in Elton (20 miles away) at the Jennings McDonald's. We got there at the right time, but on our way from the car to the building we heard, "Elders! Missionaries!" and we turned to see a family we didn't recognize as members of the Jennings Branch. We went over and through our conversation we learned that at least one of them was a member. They have some rare hereditary illnesses which need very high tech hospitals, but bad air quality causes their symptoms to get way worse. So they've been travelling the country looking for a good enough hospital in a location that has high quality air. They couldn't find one because all the good hospitals are in the middle of cities. But they ended up being from my home stake and we had a lot of similar friends. They asked me about places around Houston and I told them about Kingwood and they got really excited. (Our investigator we were supposed to meet there ended up forgetting about our appointment, so it was ok that we talked to that family for as long as we did, and we rescheduled with our investigator.) Right before the family left they told us, "We had been praying for comfort and peace and direction and help in general and as soon as we said 'Amen' and opened our eyes, there you were! You were our answer to prayer! You were a miracle today!"

I love being a missionary so much! The work is really picking up around here. We have quite a few investigators now: family of 3 - Ava, Cade, and Adrian; Milton is the one who was supposed to meet us at McDonald's; Brandon; Susan; Burnie; and others. We are also going through and trying to see every member on the branch list. That has offered some fun experiences.

Again, I love being a missionary!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

from N’s letter to his younger cousins, answering their questions:

*Yes, we do ride bikes and occasionally get chased by dogs.

*Yes, "y'all" is in the common vocabulary down here.

*No, Texans aren't incredibly good Bar-B-Q-ers. Actually hardly anyone down here has a Bar-B-Q at all. They all have smokers. GIANT smokers. They smoke everything! Hamburger patties, steaks, ribs, chicken, krawfish (similar to krawdads), shishcabobs, sausage, cookies, pizza... you name it they smoke it (not like cigarette smoke, but cook smoke)

*Yes, in the South most people have a car that's worth 5 times as much as their house/apartment/shed in the middle of the forest.

*Yes, there are weird animals. There's these weird chicken things. There's alligators. Snapping turtles (that get about 3 feet high and live up to 300 years!).

*Yes, missions are the best!

*Yes, being a missionary is the best.

*Yes, missions are hard. Here in Texas/Louisiana it's not the physical aspect that causes the exhaustion as much as it is in a 3rd world country or somewhere you'd bike or walk all the time. But the spiritual, mental, emotional is exhausting. It is hard work. But I've definitely gained a testimony that it you sow bountifully, you'll reap bountifully. So if you put "all your heart, might, mind, and strength" into a mission then you will receive more perfect charity, work ethic, intelligence, and a greater portion of the Holy Ghost.

*I love being a missionary!

and a snippet from N’s letter to Jacob:

So, we just got to the church after holding baby alligators for awhile. They also had some 4 foot alligators in a pond. Super sweet! And they also had a 50 year old alligator snapping turtle there. The alligators were SO cute! They looked like little versions of the raptors on Jurassic Park. They hold super still, even when you’re holding them, unless you move their tail into a curve, then they start moving. They can move SO fast! They whip their head around and use that momentum (cuz they have really large heads) to move the rest of their body around while their feet are running. They look really funny when they do it while you’re holding them around their belly.

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email: 8/24/2015

I really loved this week!

My eyes were really opened and many of my prayers answered on Saturday. Elder Corbirdge from the first quorum of seventy came and spoke to all the missionaries in T.H.E. Mission. When he was a mission president he gave a talk titled "The Fourth Missionary" and it's so good. He talked mostly about teaching simply and for understanding. I really needed to learn about that! We also had a leadership meeting afterwards and he talked about how his hope/vision/goal for all missionaries is that when he asks, "Why should someone be baptized into our church?" he’ll get the response, "For the remission of sins." Every time.

We were supposed to go to the Houston Temple on Wednesday, but we couldn't find a ride. This branch is really small and all the men were busy and we're not allowed to ride in cars without a male over 16. I was a bit disappointed when we couldn't find a ride, but I have faith that we were where the Lord wanted us to be.

This last District Meeting was among my favorites from my whole mission. We concentrated on diligence. I think I'm the one who needed to work on this the most out of my entire district but I know that Elder Heaps, Elder Rosenlund, and Elder Hobbs can all improve on it as well. I found a quote by Elder Ballard from this most recent ensign saying how we are at war with the adversary and his followers. We came to the conclusion that as missionaries we are behind enemy lines in this war. And we also came to the conclusion (after reading some verses from the war chapters in Alma) that if we are not diligent or anxiously engaged, then we will die and our mission will not be completed. The Spirit was really strong and I think that we all felt motivated, I know I did.

I've definitely seen improvement in Elder Hobbs and I since that district meeting and the mission conference. We had an awesome day yesterday.

We also discovered a letter about missionary work called "The Ricciardi Letter" and that really got me pumped up.

I love being a missionary!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 8/31/2015

I love being a missionary so much!

I have a few events that have happened recently and then I'll share some scriptures I found this morning.

First Event: We are teaching a less active deaf Thai man named Nae, so I'm learning sign language! I'm picking it up pretty fast. This is sweet! I thought I'd been called on an English mission but so far I've learned Texan, Cajun, and now sign language.

Second Event: We are teaching someone who lives in our apartment building who moved to the United States from Russia this summer. He speaks pretty good English, enough to carry a conversation. He's been so prepared though! And he's only 22 so we can relate to him a little bit.

Third Event: We had Stake Conference (Sunday services are combined with 7-12 local LDS congregations) and a general authority from the 6th quorum of seventy (people who help the 12 Apostles fulfill their calling) from Arizona came and spoke. President and Sister Drake also spoke. Half of the conference was about Missionary work and the other half was about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. It was great! I'm so excited to be a missionary in this area at this time!

Fourth Event: A very drunk Mexican, very nice, just drunk, made fun of me for balding... I was tempted to curse him and watch bears (or panthers since they actually exist down here) tear him apart.

2 Kings 2:23-24

Scripture: I read some awesome scriptures in the Book of Mormon Helaman this morning! Helaman 4 talks about some wars and the Nephites lose a lot of cities but gain some back, then in verse 19 it says that it is "impossible" for them to gain the rest of the cities because of how large the Lamanite army is. Then in chapter 5:51-52 it talks about the Nephites getting all of their cities back. How did the impossible become possible? The missionary work of Nephi and Lehi converted many Lamanites and the Lamanites gave, for free, the cities back to the Nephites. I love being a missionary!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 9/8/2015

We had an awesome week this week! I'm just going to go through the days because a whole bunch of stuff happened.

Monday Aug 31: We washed our clothes and shopped like we do every Monday, then we drove over to Lake Charles to meet some other missionaries there. Elder Hobbs went with another new missionary (each have only been out 4 weeks) and I got to be with Elder Noall (my second companion back in February and March). We played sports at the church for a little while at the Lake Charles chapel, then Elder Noall and I left with the Zone Leaders to drive to Kingwood for a meeting Tuesday. We left Elder Hobbs and Elder Blackburn (Elder Noall's "son") to cover both their area and our area. On the way to Kingwood, the Zone Leader's truck suddenly got really noisy, like 3 motorcycles got trapped underneath the hood. So we "stole" another companionship's car and left them with the truck and continued on our way. We arrived in Kingwood at about 9:15.

Tuesday: We drove down to the Eagle Springs chapel for Missionary Leadership Council. Usually it's only for the Zone Leaders but occasionally they have the District Leaders attend for training purposes. It was a great meeting! I learned so much, way too much to tell you everything because it was a 7 hour meeting. I'll tell you my favorite part though. I learned that commandments aren't really commands. Here's how I see commandments now - God knows EVERYTHING, including what our potential really is. He has a vision of what we can become. And He tries to share His vision with us by letting us know what those people (who are really just us) in His vision do. They love Him (Matthew 22:37). They love one another (Matthew 22:39). They pray (2 Nephi 32:9). They study God's words (John 5:39). They participate in building the Kingdom of God (1 Nephi 13:37). They get baptized and help others do the same (John 3:5). On and on. Commandments are God trying to help us see how He sees. After MLC, Elder Noall and I came back to Lake Charles for the night. Elder Hobbs and Elder Blackburn stayed in our apartment in Welsh.

Wednesday: We woke up at 5 and got ready so we could leave by 6 because we had a Zone Conference in Beaumont. That was a wonderful meeting as well. I learned a lot about prayer. The AP's did a skit where one of them was kneeling by a bed and the other was in the other room with a microphone and they had a conversation, the one kneeling by the bed acting as a missionary and the other being the voice of Heavenly Father. It really makes you think about what you say in your prayers. I'll try to get the script for you guys. Elder Hobbs and I reunited at Zone Conference, it was so great being able to spend a full day with Elder Noall! We got back to our area after Zone Conference just in time for dinner with a young family named the Caples. Then we came home.

Thursday: We had an awesome lesson at the Simien's home, and they invited a few friends, about prophets and compared them to a river rafting guide.

Friday: District Meeting was all about what was said at MLC. That night we went on exchanges with the Crowley Elders and I got to spend a day with Elder Heaps. He's an incredible missionary and we got to talk a lot about our concerns and our purpose that night.

Saturday: Elder Heaps and I found a new family to teach in a little town named Hayes. They are such a humble family and I'm so excited to be able to work with them!

Sunday: It was fast and testimony Sunday (all the members fast from food and drinks for 24 hours on the first Sunday every month and the main meeting during church services everyone has the opportunity to bear their testimony. There was a quiet period so I got up and recited our purpose as missionaries, "I have been called of Jesus Christ through inspiration to serve in the Texas Houston East Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I will boldly invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I will stand for truth and return with honor. Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His word among His people that they might have everlasting life." It was really powerful.

That was our week. I love being a missionary, it's the best!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 9/14/2015

This week has been great! We have been teaching a part member family, Michael is the father and the only member, but his wife Rosie loves the church! They used to attend frequently but got offended so they stopped coming about 5 years ago. They realize they need to come back though and that this church is where they need to be. They have 5 kids all over 8!

These past couple weeks I've been trying to change my greatest hope and desire to "baptize people so they may be forgiven of their sins" which came from Elder Corbridge when he came to our mission. Heavenly Father truly grants according to the desires of our hearts.

We got to go on an exchange with Elder Smith (one of our Zone Leaders) and I'm really grateful for his example. I learned a lot from him these past 2 transfers. But he's being transferred and will be going home in six weeks so this is the last time I'll see him. Elder Heaps (a member of our district) is also getting transferred. He's such a good missionary and I will miss him! I think he's going to be a District Leader somewhere else though and I'll probably get to serve around him again.

I get to stay with a companion for more than 6 weeks finally! My son (Elder Hobbs) and I aren't being transferred! I wasn't sure if my one-and-done streak would continue or not... Elder Hobbs is a great missionary! He's progressed a lot and he's super willing to change and improve when people invite him to do so.

Story Time: It rains a lot here. Like every day. Trust me, I've been praying that all this water will go to California! Being on a bike I don't want it anymore. Don't get me wrong, biking in the rain is about the most fun you ever get to have as a missionary, but it's not very effective because there's nobody outside to talk to and nobody lets you in their house because it looks like you just jumped in the local bayou. Last Sunday we got POURED on! the wettest I've ever been while wearing slacks and a tie. I'm sure Heavenly Father is up there with a giant watering can laughing as He empties it every day in whatever town we're in. We laugh back though so it's ok. I love being a missionary!

I love all of you! But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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Transfer Period #8

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email: 9/21/2015

Once upon a time, there were 2 Mormon missionaries. They served in Jennings. They loved being missionaries. They loved serving with Jesus Christ. They lived Happily Ever After.

I love happy stories!

Story Time:

We were biking through Jennings and saw a lady pulling weeds in her front yard. So we stopped and offered service but she wouldn't let us. So we started talking about the Church when she stopped us and said, "I'm Catholic," like 90% of people around here do. But then unlike anyone else I've met on my mission she said, "Our Father speaks very highly of you guys. He says more Christians should be like you. Not a lot of us are willing to do what you do." My jaw dropped. Elder Hobbs' did too. After regaining control of my lower face I asked, "Where do you go to church so we can thank your Father?" She told us, as well as the name of her Father. I'm so excited to get to meet him and thank him for being a good man. I love the people down here! The lady also invited us back to share a message.

Being a missionary is the best.

By the way, both Elder Hobbs and I broke our iPads... kinda... We tried updating them to iOS 9 but the church software didn't like to new Apple software so they crashed hardcore. The AP's had to take them so they could wipe them at the mission office. We'll get them back in two weeks. Oh well.

Please forgive me for my short letter.

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 9/28/2015

This week has definitely been an improvement! We talked to a lot of people this week, exactly 100. It's the first time I've done that since Broadway. I'm so grateful for Elder Hobbs and his work ethic and excitement to be a missionary! Many times when we see someone outside he says, "Let's go talk to that guy!" but then when we ride up, Elder Hobbs looks at me to start the conversation. He makes me laugh sometimes. Recently he's been very bold at the end of contacts when people reject us: challenging them to stop smoking; asking them why they're scared to pray; inviting them to church to see for themselves; etc. He's so great!

We met one man yesterday who wasn't interested even after our persistence, but when we asked him if there was any way we could serve him he said, "Yeah, give me something to help me quit smoking these cigarettes!" We leaped at that opportunity! We gave him a Word of Wisdom pamphlet and went through the bullet points under giving up harmful substances. That was such a cool miracle!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 10/4/2015

So there's a study activity at the end of Chapter 5 in Preach My Gospel (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' missionary manual, but it's a fantastic study guide for anyone) and it says to go through 5 specific chapters in the Book of Mormon highlighting and underlining anything that references Jesus Christ. I started on Wednesday and I'm still working on it... Each page is covered in different colors of colored pencils marking Jesus Christ's names, attributes, actions, and words. I'll send a picture next week. It's really improved my knowledge on who Jesus Christ is and His relationship with me.

I absolutely loved General Conference (when the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints speak to the worldwide Church) and I think my favorite talk was the one about Ponderizing. 80% pondering and 20% memorization. I'm excited to apply it in my life.

Quick Story: We were phone contacting (going through the list of contacts in the phone and calling everyone we didn't know) and we got a hold of one person who seemed really interested in talking with us and then we got her address and she ended up living in Tennessee... God definitely has a sense of humor.

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 10/12/2015

First off, thanks to everyone for the "happy birthdays.” It was a good one. I made Johnny Cake (one box cornbread and one box yellow cake mix) and we had a quick birthday party after District Meeting on Friday. I took pictures but I forgot my adapter today to I won't be able to send them until next week.

We had a great week. We talked to 143 strangers this week! Our goal was 140 but we had some time left last night and found a few more people to share a message with. We met an awesome family last night and were able to testify to them that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. We gave them a couple Book of Mormons and they had a bunch of kids and I had a Book of Mormon stories in my backpack (we were going to give to an investigator who has a really low reading level but she cancelled our appointment and I forgot to take it out of my backpack) and we gave it to them and by the time we left the kids were flipping through it looking at the pictures. I love getting the chance to teach families with young kids, they're always so eager to believe.

We also had Interview Training (personal interviews with the Mission President) on Friday and I felt so edified!

Transfers are in 2 weeks so towards the end of this week start sending stuff to the mission office rather than our apartment in Welsh. I feel like I'll be transferred…

Elder Hobbs is doing terrific but he's not looking forward to transfers.

I love you guys. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

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email: 10/19/2015

We finally got the Wrights, a part LDS family, to come to church. I was so excited when they pulled up! They are a great family.

I love this area so much!

I want to share my ponderizing scripture for this week: 2 Nephi 2:8 "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the Earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, Who layeth down His life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that He may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise." Think about that.

I love making these things known to the inhabitants of Jennings, Welsh, Lake Arthur, Iota, Iowa, Kinder, Elton, Bell City, Hayes, Lacassine, Roanoke, Fenton, and many micro towns. I love this Gospel. I know it's true.

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

These are from an email he sent answering some of my questions:

The man who wanted to quit smoking ended up not wanting to meet with us anymore. Whenever we tried to go back and see him his friend who owned the house would chase us off.

We actually didn't get to pull that lady's weeds, she wouldn't let us. And when we went back for the return appointment nobody answered the door. We met her Priest on Friday. He's a super nice man. We got to testify about the First Vision and we gave him a mormon.org card, he said he'd look it up. And since he has 1000 families in his congregation he knows about plenty of service opportunities so we made sure he had our phone number so we can go help.

The deaf man in our branch, Nae, is awesome. He loves the Gospel and is always eager to introduce us to his deaf friends.

Appointments with our Russian neighbor never seem to work out.

The Miller family, the couple who drove us to Baton Rouge, are great. She was baptized in March and within a few weeks she's going to be called to a counselor in the Relief Society. She has autism and just says what she thinks very monotone and calmly and it seems to get people to act. It's awesome!

The 143 people were all strangers who we never met before. Most of them said, "We're Catholic." and no matter how persuasive we tried to be to get them to just listen to our message they wouldn't listen. But yes, they were all new people.

My birthday package came the morning of my birthday. Thank you again!

No, we didn't have a baby alligator in our apartment. I'm not exactly sure what or when you're talking about. If I would have seen one in the wild I probably would have mailed it home though.

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email: 10/26/2015

I'm being transferred. I don't know where yet. I'll send the weekly email tomorrow. Elder Hobbs is going to baby train! I'm a grandpa!

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pictures: 6/23/2015 to 10/27/2015 (Transfer Periods #6-8)