Senior

Hey Momma, family and friends,

Sounds like everyone enjoyed Christmas. I'm grateful for the time I was able to talk with y'all on skype. I miss laughing with y'all. Happy New Year to Everyone!  

I am still in Big Spring... BS... haha

I am "follow up" training, and have gotten my senior call!  I'm so nervous... I'm serving with Elder Simpson.  He's from Idaho via Las Vegas! :) This is his second transfer,  he is still on the training program so that is why it is called "follow up". I talked to President Augustin last night, he said he felt very impressed to place us together. He also told me how much of a responsibility I have. I don't feel 100% ready for it, but because I know if the Lord has placed us together I will do what needs to be done. 

Things were pretty hectic this past week. I was in Midland for part of it. I went on exchanges with an Elder Porter. GREAT MISSIONARY. We had a lot of fun together, and worked very hard. It helped get me into a really good mood to meet my new comp. 

I did get the walkers package :) I loved it! The letters were SO FUNNY! at least craigs and ryans :)

Congrats to Elder...I mean Gideon Harris.  Hope things are good for him!

It is such a blessing to be out here working as a tool in the Lords hands. I love the people out here, and the opportunity I have to serve them. I am so grateful for this gospel. It brings so much joy into my life and others.

You're continually in my prayers. Even those of you that read the blog.
I love you,
Elder Marshall

Superb Week

Hey Momma!

Merry Christmas!! I can't wait to see, skype you on Christmas.  I love being on my mission!

The Penguin Suit, in the pictures was a gift from an investigator to Sister Tall, and I found out they had it  and wore it for the majority of a p-day. :)

This Past week was superb!! Last Thursday was Sister Keyes last p-day, and we partied all day long. It was very busy and a lot of fun :)

Friday E. Salmond and I had a presentation at a senior center. We sang songs and read several stories about the true meaning of Christmas. It was only to a few adorable little old ladies, but it was great to enjoy their company :)

Monday I went on exchanges with a new elder. Elder Strawn. He's a Spanish speaking missionary, and we had a great day. Together we taught over 7 lessons. We were a little bad at knocking doors, but we decided we were going to teach a lesson at every door step possible. Anytime someone would give us a chance we taught :) It was really great.

Our mission Baptismal goal is 444 and we're at 424! We are so close. The mission is on fire right now, and we are breaking records left and right.

I'm so grateful to be out here serving the Lord. I know that if it is His work and with Him all is possible!

Oh I'm going to try and send out a package today. I'm putting a couple memory cards in there if you could please get all the photo's off, back it up and then empty them so I will be able to re format them :)
I love you :) Thank you for everything.
Love,
Elder Marshall

Miracle

I'm glad there's some pictures on my blog and facebook. Thanks to Cassie and Aunt Betsy for helping momma.  I try to take a lot of photo's.

I got my Christmas package at Zone Conference. I haven't opened the box so no need to worry :) I don't want to ruin the anticipation. haha There was a sister in my district Sister Keyes, She got her box and opened it right away! haha She's going home next week! She asked her parents to not send anything.

We will be on Skype! :D The bishop in the ward here is going to let us use his computer! Him and his wife are really wonderful people. I love them.

Zone Conference was great. I recorded most of the skits, but the card got full during my skit. I will have to get it from another elder or sister. So I've got another full memory card to send home to you :D 

I got my Christmas package at Zone Conference. I haven't opened the box so no need to worry :) I don't want to ruin the anticipation. haha There was a sister in my district Sister Keyes, She got her box and opened it right away! haha She's going home next week! She asked her parents to not send anything.
We will be on Skype! :D 

The bishop in the ward here is going to let us use his computer! Him and his wife are really wonderful people. I love them.

Zone Conference was great. I recorded most of the skits, but the card got full during my skit. I will have to get it from another elder or sister.

J and E are doing wonderful. We love to spend time with them, and help encourage them to constantly read and pray :)

This last week my comp and I had a miracle. We went WAY across town to knock, and we felt like we weren't supposed to be there, not a bad feeling. So we started driving and we went to the street where we had knocked the previous day (way way way away from where we were), and we got out of the car and started walking. We decided we needed to knock the other side of the street. So we started knocking. We ran into a couple people who had mormon relatives but are DIE HARD baptist. They had no interest in us or the gospel... So we kept knocking feeling a little down. I was praying in my heart that we would find someone to talk to us as we were walking up to a door. We knocked and this lady answered. She was kind, and politely set up a time for friday, and said she was busy. She shut her screen door, and we started walking away. We got to the end of the drive way and I just stopped walking. 2 seconds after I stopped walking she opened up the screen door, and hollered for us to come back. She explained how she couldn't believe that we came by on that day and asked us around back to the screened in porch. When we got there we sat down and started talking, and she had explained to us how she had some depression, and she had been feeling very down and had a lot of questions about religion and God on her mind for the past couple days! We taught her a solid lesson, and set a Baptism date with her! I can't believe we were literally right across the street from her just the day before! Way SOLID.

The Lord will provide when we humble ourselves and open our hearts to His will.

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is the reason we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. I know that through the atonement we can become free from the fetters of sin that bind us, and hold us from our true potential. We are truely blessed because of our Savior and Redeemer. I can't even imagine the pain our Father in Heaven felt when He watched His son take upon the sins of the world. If we truly know that through our Redeemer we will reach our full potential, but it is only through our efforts to repent and humble ourselves, to accept His sacrifice for us, we can do that. 

I love you so much, and I am so grateful for all that you do.
Love,
Elder Marshall

Basketball and Scriptures

Howdy :)

So this week was good. :) We had the baptism of J and E! They're so great! I absolutely love them! heir baptism went really well E. Salmond fell when Juan was coming back up! It was really funny... we all couldn't help but laugh. :D

We had an interesting bible study with them last night. We played basketball and as we all took turns shooting, if you missed you had to tell something about what you know or have learned from the lessons or the scriptures. Afterward we read with them the story of Joseph in Egypt and Potipher's wife and how he interpreted dreams and more. We went over how it's important to stand against what they know is wrong. It is continuously more and more difficult to choose the right. 

Oh L decided I look like I'm from the 50's or 60's, and then everyone else decided I was too haha

Tuesday we did exchanges with the elders down in Midland. I was with Elder Cahoon. He was great. We did a whole lot of knocking, but it's difficult to teach in Midland. The people there are not very accepting or interested in our message. 

As for Christmas We are able to Skype home if there is a member in the ward that has that capability to do. I will have more info next week as to possibly when. I will also be able to call home while we are setting it up. :)

I'm glad you love the scarf! :) (Devon made a scarf for me for Christmas.  It was in a package he sent home for Christmas not wrapped)     I was a little nervous it would be to short.

I figured dad would love the sign and help him realize life is easy when your not in a blender :)(Dad's present was a sign that said You thought your day was stressful and had a fish in a blender) hahaha
Well I don't have much more as of right now :)

I love you, and I am so glad things are going well.. except for austin being sick. I hope he feels better soon. :)

The church is true.  Keep studying the scriptures!
Love,
Elder Marshall

Saturday at 5

Hey Momma,
Boy oh boy,it is time to set up for Christmas-- you always have so many nativities up! :) at least it's better than Santas and snowmen.

E is getting baptized this week with her Husband J. :) I'm going to be baptizing E. You can add her to facebook and chat with her if you want :) haha You would love her.  We're/ The Lord is having a baptismthis Saturday at 5! :D NEATO! I'm really excited for it!

Hermana Gomez is a member :) She has a family you could probably find her daughter Itzel on FB and talk to her.
The ward is treating us great. :) they are all very good people.

My comp and I are.. Doing WONDERFUL.... I'm just getting tired of being with the same person constantly. I love him, but I feel like I've been trapped in a room with him for 3 years.. I have a hard time with that.

Next Transfer call is the 26th of Dec. and then We will leave or stay the next day or so.

You can send me anything you want to. I'd kinda like another memory card for my camera, and a couple of flash drives so I can put the Photo's on those and send them home :) SO YOU have pictures! :D

I'd rather have cash than gift cards, but if anybody wants to give gift cards they're more than welcome!! ;) Walmart ones are good, cause that's mostly where we shop. I'd like a copy of Marking the Scriptures by Daniel Ludlow :) It would be nice to have:)

I love you. I know that this is Christ's church and it is restored in it's fullness. I know that this Gospel will bring anybody closer to Christ, The Book of Mormon is the word of God.
Love,
Elder Marshall

I Can Make Tamales

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

 I'm really loving reading the Gospels. I've decided I'm going to read the whole Standard works before I get home. I'm working on the BOM and New testament right now, with the BOM I highlight References to Christ, and underline words or phrases that stick out. I'm going to read the Pearl of Great Price after that and then Old Testament then D&C then bible dictionary ;) lol I hope I'll be able to get through the whole thing.

Don't send any new shirts, I still wear the 16-32. I just wanted you to know I am the same size ;) lol
I've been eating healthier :) 

Oh I made Home Made tamales this week with Hermana Gomez :) She said I'm a pro :) I will make them when I get home.  She invited us to her house for Christmas.

As for missionary work it seems to be repetitive ... Sad to say.. I have been trying to stay happy as I work though. Members should work with the missionaries more.  I Love all those I teach and come in contact with, but it feels like everything is the exact same ALL the time.

I hear you're feeling healthier :) That's great to hear! 

I'm glad to hear that Austin is officially an Elder. When is his paper work going in? Oh have you ever heard of "Scriptorian scripture marking system?" by Richard Neff Kettley.  I think that would be great for Austin to have before He goes on his mission. It will help him reference scriptures faster.  Also It's good to hear that He is going to be working with Joe. He will learn a lot about electrical stuff from him.

Your Stake Conference Started with the Sacrament? Hmm... I've never heard of that before, but that sounds like it would really bring the spirit to the meeting. 

Hope everyone is well.  I would love to get some more letter HINT HINT!!

I love the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Love to everyone,

Elder Marshall

Staying in BIG SPRING

Howdy there   :)

It's been 6 weeks and I'm still here in Big Spring for another transfer!

I would like some more beef jerky :) I really can't think of anything I need, and I know that drives you nuts because you want to get me things for Christmas. BUT I'm content with what I have.

Things are going well here. I'm hoping that the work starts to pick up and we get more people to teach. We have a large list of people we can see, but they all seem to be very difficult to reach.

We got dropped by 2 investigators with a baptismal date Sunday by a text. We were over at there house as fast as legally possible to resolve concerns. We still are teaching them :) We just know they would pray to know this is the true church. They still want to get baptized, and that is their goal.  We have to wait for things to clear up... and they're ready to just jump into whatever water they can to be baptized. I hope they receive their answer soon.

We are been being well taken care of by Hermana Gomez. She treats us like her own children :) We have been talking to her alot, and She is planning on coming to churchthis Sunday. I"m so excited! We've also been trying to get closer to her husband to get him to come also :) I love their family, they are so great to us.

Oh Lately for my studies I've been reading out of the 4 gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and writing down all the questions Jesus asks. I've been trying to apply them to my lessons. I've decided the best person I can learn from is Christ, and through the Holy Spirit. I am so grateful to have the Book of Mormon, and the Bible to compare with each other. They shed so much light on everything I need to learn.

Yesterday Night Juan y Elisabeth had their baptismal interviews and they PASSED!! We're so excited for them! They are progressing so well, and we talked to them about the temple last night, and they have set a personal goal to be sealed in the temple in a year from their baptism.

Well, I don't have much more time. I love you , and I'm so grateful for all your support and prayers.

Love,
Elder Marshall
DTMF=BFFMFE! Fsegda!

"Fairy Rings"

Hey :)

That is so great to hear that you were able to go to Brittany's baptism! I'm so happy that it was able to happen!
Amanda and I have been keeping in touch and she told me she was a wreck trying to prepare her talk.
Umm... I'm not sure if I've gained weight. I don't have a scale... haha I may have a little
I can't really think of anything I want for Christmas. I've been putting a lot of thought into it too. I want to work as hard as I can out here and I don't think there's anything that would help me move faster. I do need to get new shoes, but I'll go buy them.

This week has been going by pretty smooth. I feel like I can't remember anything I've done. It seems we go out and do the same thing and have the same progress every week. 

There was a lady we knocked into the other day that we talked to for quite sometime. She told me before we left that I have "Fairy rings" around my eyes and that means I've been touched by God. She also told me I have some of the prettiest eyes she's ever seen. She's an older lady... SO she's seen lots of eyes in her life.

My testimony has grown so much recently. I've been devoting myself to studying almost constantly, when I am not working. The more I learn the more I want to  know. I want to come to learn this gospel even more than I do now. 

Well... I don't have much more to say or talk about.. I'm sorry.

I love you mom, and I hope all is going well. Thanks to everyone for the letters :)
I miss you all.
Love,
Elder Marshall

I've been waiting FOREVER for y'all to come knock on my door!

Hey :)
That's great to hear that Dale got DUNKED! :)

You'll have to send pictures of Austin and the little guy :)

So last Friday was SICK!

Elder Salmand and I were walking down the road and all of a sudden from way down the block we hear this guy hollerin and yellin and then we see him running from way down the block towards us!  I was a little skeptical at first to go to him at first... hahaha  So we walked up to him being diligent missionaries. When we got to him or.. He got to us He said "I've been waiting FOREVER  for y'all to come knock on my door!" and then we talked a little and he said he had a question for us.  He said "Did Joseph Smith really read through a rock?!"  HAHAHA  We then proceeded to tell him the truth and correct his views. He has heard a lot of anti on the church and he really wants to know the truth. Well He's going to get the truth and be baptized! well I hope he does :)   

Our Investigators are doing well. We taught J and E and S- E mom all the commandments the other day and re committed them to everything. They are about as solid as it gets and they are living their lives to the gospel standards. They know what we have taught is true! I hope I'm around to see them get baptized! 

E and A  are progressing well. We have been reading the Book of Mormon with them a lot lately, and we hope to get a solid lesson in with them soon. They just need to gain a testimony of this gospel.

We are also being well taken care of by Sister Gomez. She feeds us anytime we need food, and does anything we need. She use to be a chef and had her own restaurant!  Definitely good food!

For Halloween we had to go in early. At 6. We are really far from all the other elders and sisters so we just stayed in Big Spring and relaxed. Missionaries can't dress up... We did have a trunk or treat the Saturday before and that went well. About 30 members showed up. there was some food there :)

Lately I've been working on my testimony. I feel like I need to grow in ever single aspect of the gospel.  I've been spending a lot of time on my knees trying to know what Gods will is for me. I know that I need to work hard at strengthening myself so I may be an example for all those around me. I am His mouth piece and His tool. I will do all that He directs me to do. I need to remember that in all I do. I'm not here on this earth to go through the motions and do my will. I'm here for the Fathers will. Just like Christ asked for the bitter cup to be removed. Not My will, But thine be done.

I've gotta go. The time is almost out. I love you momma. Let me know how the baptism goes. I will be praying for her.

Oh I've got you scarf done. I should be mailing it soon. Hopefully this week... I'll let you know next p-day if I do! :D I hope you love it!
Love,
Elder Marshall

Our Investigators

HELLO EVERYONE-

Here is some about our investigators..

WELL...

J and E are a couple that we're teaching, and the are the most sincere investigators. It's humbling to just hear them pray. They know this gospel is true. We've also been teaching Elizabeth's mom and grandma and we asked the mom what she though about getting baptized (We can't baptize her cause she lives out of the area) and she expressed to us that she see's this peace inside of us and so much joy, and that she wants that in her life. WOW. I was about to cry like a little baby the spirit was so strong. They're all going to be baptized eventually. I know it. They have the most sincere questions, and I have such a great love for them.

WE are also teaching E and T. They are so great. They always have us over for dinner. We went over there the other day and did yard work for them. It was supposed to be a surprise but their daughter showed up and caught us. At least it gave us the chance to get to know her better and possibly teach her more about the church. She's "Not looking for a religion though", but the religion is looking for her. :D

Oh yesterday at district meeting we were able to have our interviews with president. The really neat part is when we showed up to the chapel there was this guy that was there working. He is Auntie Michelle Monga's brother! We talked for a bit. Very neat guy. His name is Ken Thevenin.

Elder Salmond and I have been working very hard together we are trying to find those that are ready to be baptized. He has been teaching me to be more bold in my teaching and how to become a better missionary. I learn each and every single day we're together. HE is a great missionary. 

I'm grateful for all that you do for me. I love you so much.
Love,
Elder Marshall

PS Thanks for the Notes in the package :) I enjoyed them especially to hear from Uncle Bobby

PPS  I love Lars' "Be good... Sort of." He totally knows me :) P.S. The comp I'm with now reminds me of Lars 98% of the day haha:)

PPPS Thanks for the spanish CD's I'm already putting them to use.

We Have a Baptism Date Set

Momma,

I forgot to tell you last email that my pday is today. It's only Wednesday for this week. It will be Thursday this next week. We have Zone conference tomorrow and I totally spaced letting you know. I'm sorry

This week hasn't been to much of a exciting one. But we're working hard. We've been working our butts off.

Saturday we had a baptism for a lady that we finished teaching from the last missionaries. It was great. I got to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. It was pretty neat. Then Sunday we confirmed her, and I was asked by the bishop to talk on exact obedience after that. It went really well. Many of the members came and told me I did a wonderful job. I may send the talk home so y'all can read it. Last Thursday I gave a lady a blessing, I was just the mouth piece. When I closed she stood up and turned around, and she had tears rolling down her face. I know that the spirit will guide us as long as we rely on it to. It knew what she needed to hear in that blessing, because I sure didn't.

We also have been meeting with our investigators quite frequently. We hope they all continue to progress. On couple we're working with was pretty apprehensive to their baptismal date. We worked with them and realized that they really wanted to be married on a certain date, they had plans set and everything, but they felt pressured to move that date up to Saturday. We pushed their date back so they could get married on the planned day. They're super pumped about the baptism now :)

That's about all I've got for y'all. I love you. I hope everything is going well.

Also I hope all is well at the office.

I love you,
Elder Marshall

Type Writer

Howdy :D :D 

My new address is

1429 E. 6th St.  Apt 34
Big Spring, TX 79720

I would love to have all of the missionary and letters mailed to me. Everyone else who wants to write would be great!  :)

We have to drive down to midland each week for district meeting. It's a nice drive, and it gives us some time to either think or talk :)

We live in an upstairs apartment. It's not to shabby, but I know I would never live there after the mish. I probably wouldn't live in most of the places missionaries live. haha

That's great to hear that lars and liz will have family time. If they slack... I'll fly home over night beat them up, give tham a good talking to and then fly back before my comp gets up in the morning. :) haha

Things are going GREAT out here in Big Spring. It's definitely different from Seminole (I LOVE Seminole.), but I'm learning to love it here. I really am enjoying the work here. My companion is giving me room to grow, and is teaching me so many things. He lets me answer questions and talk at the door, and even when I freeze he just lets me keep on making a fool of myself just standing right there next to me smilin :) It's great... hahahaha

We have a ton of investigators and we're pullin apart the hay to find the needles.

The other night we just stopped in on a family we're teaching. We normally are there answering questions and talking and that night we were able to sit down and teach them about the Book of Mormon and the importance it is, and how it's the Keystone of our religion. After the lesson. I felt this strong impression to invite them to prepare to be baptized. Everyone seemed kinda thrown through a loop. My companion didn't see it coming and the couple didn't see it coming and the member we were with didn't see it coming, and best of all I didn't see it coming, but the impression was so strong it just came out. The couple went on to say that they've been baptized and started asking questions of why they need to again. Normally my previous companions would have just taken over and answered all the questions. I looked over at Elder Salmond, and he just smiled and let me take it! The spirit had to be guiding me, because I know if I was to answer the questions by me.. It wouldn't have gone as well as it did :) 

We have a baptism this Saturday, and I have the opportunity to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. I will have to type it up on my brand spankin new TYPE WRITER!!! I found in our apartment :D

This last Monday we were able to go on exchanges with our zone leaders. I had a great experience down in ODESSA! I was in first ward area so I didn't get to visit or see the members I would have liked to , but we got a ton of work done. We did a church tour (my first as a missionary). It was so great the investigators had a great experience. We got into the chapel and Elder Brewster said. "How do you feel in here?" And WHOOSH the spirit hit me like a ton of bricks!

I'm really loving my area and the work that we're able to do. But I'm dog tired every night. Which is a good thing :)
Well I'll have to put more of what happened during the week in my planner so I have more to tell.
I love you. You're in my prayers, and always in my heart.

Love,
Elder Marshall

Transferred Again

Momma and friends,

Conference was AMAZING. I really enjoyed it. There were many things that were uplifting. I really love listening to Pres. Monson.  He made me laugh so hard! :)

Monday was pretty frustrating day. We were supposed to get our call for transfers between 10 and noon. Our zone leaders forgot to call us and we finally called them. Elder Krizin and I got double transferred out of Seminole. When we went to visit the branch members to tell them they were really upset. One of the families actually cried (the parents did.) They said we have a spirit about us that made us great missionaries. I really miss Seminole, the people there are so wonderful and loving. I really felt home when I was there. 

We are in a ward here.  We are about 4 hours or so from the mission home.  We are the only two missionaries in Big Spring. It is a really small town, just like I wanted.

I LOVE the photo's.   It's nice to see everyone and show people who friends and family are.Any of my friends can send photo's too or give them to Momma, she sends me packages every month or so.

Next package I would LOVE beef jerky from Costco. I'm sure theirs other things, but I can't think of anything right now..

That's good. I have a ton of letters to reply to, but I just don't seem to have the time

I got transferred to Big Spring (NO "S" at the end) TX. It's great here. I'm with Elder Salmond (The D is silent). He's The district leader here. We are whitewashing the area together, and this is his first time being a district leader. I'm really excited to be working here. I really miss working and can not wait. I don't have any time left on this computer..... They allow an hour and the computer turns off. No matter what. So I've gotta go. I love you and I'm glad everyone is doing okay. 

I miss Tyler and Matt letter's.  Print them and mail them, I don't have enough time of the computer for everyone.  How are Dylan, Ali, Julia and Jonathon doing?  Print their letters too!:)

Love,
Elder Marshall

(I'll post his new address as soon as I get it.  He forgot to send it with this email.  You can send letters to the mission office - the address is on the sidebar.  However, please do not send packages to the mission office, they do not forward them.  Thanks for all you love and support.)

Drum Roll

Momma! --And everyone else:)

This week has been a trying week again. But I've decided to focus on the good. If it's negative I turn away from it and don't think about it. No matter how bad it bothers me. So in other words I have been spending a lot of time on my knees.

 This last Friday was really neat. There was a wedding! It was the Bean family. They are working on going to the temple and being sealed to each other for time and eternity! I am so excited for them. To make things even better their daughters are going to be baptized in a couple weeks! Their family is just progressing like crazy! 

Sunday..... (DRUM ROLL)..... Was AWESOME!!!!! :) I even had a solo and it went really well. I have it recorded on my camera. We sang it again for a sister in our branch at her house and then decided to record it. So I'll send it home, or have a member upload it and put it on FB and send it to you :) I was so nervous singing in church though. My Comp almost died from how nervous he was though haha It was really really great. The Spirit was really strong. I could tell because the sisters in the branch were crying.. and even the  investigator  knew the spirit was there. ;) 

Later this week (Yesterday) We went to Andrews for another Dr's apt. I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Blake.   He's been out one more transfer than I have which is pretty cool to be around someone that has "the greeny fire" also. We didn't get a chance to do much, but it was nice to be out in the sun.

My p-days are on Thursday still. My comp and I have been at the library a lot teaching lessons to the women that work here and go on the church website. We can't work so I go nuts sitting in the apartment not doing anything. So we go to the library.

That's so great to hear about Austins blessing :) Its like personal scripture. It's better than just putting your name into the BOM while you read it.

 Transfers is this upcoming week!

I love you :)
Elder Marshall

Sharing With Neighbors

Hello everyone, 

Thanks for all of the letters.

This week has been slow teaching wise ...but good things happened.

Friday Elder Krizin had surgery on his foot. Which has put us out of being able to work for the week.

Tuesday. We drove up to Lubbock for district meeting (I'm driving cause E. krizin can't put his foot down for to long.) When we got home we saw our neighbor working on his truck and we decided to walk over there and talk to him. So we were talking to him and sharing the gospel with him and another neighbor got home and came over to us while we were talking (He knows the first neighbor from work) So we started talking to both of them and the second guy M... started opening himself up and asking questions and really wanting to know what we share. We started discussing with him just how the gospel would bring joy into his life and he started to open up even more. Then E. Krizin went over and got the first guys information and I was giving M...ours and I just felt an impression to bear my testimony to him about how this gospel has blessed my life and he started to tear up a little. The spirit was SO strong that night. The best thing is we committed him to go to the bible study our branch holds on Wednesday.

Wednesday M... showed up to the bible study. He was FULL of questions and comments and curiosity. At the end he told us a little more of his religious background, and he said he was Catholic, but he always felt like things in what they taught that were not all true or fully there. Then he went to a christian church and he said it shed more light, but it didn't seem like it was quite enough. He said he felt comfortable at our church and really enjoyed being there. 

I can really see him being baptized. 

Oh cool fact of the week. My comp just reminded me that we're singing a cappella "Be Still My Soul" in church for the rest hymn. I'm pretty excited. We harmonize really well.

That's about all I've got for the week.

I love you,

Elder Marshall

Fire

This week has been hectic and very slow.

     Friday Elder Krizin and I drove home from Lubbock after pretty much a week up there waiting for our bikes to be out of the shop. We got home and we both were tired. I had holes in the bottoms of my shoes, and I could tell you personally I would have been okay with just calling it a night and go to sleep. I put back on my shoes and backpack and told Elder Krizin that we were going to go out and work. We prayed for the spirit to guide us and we left. We pretty much rode our bikes across main (the highway) and a few blocks in we both just pulled over and decided to start right there. We knocked about 6 trailers. We talked to the resident of every single home and was able to set up appointments with about 4 of them. It was incredible to see the miracles we saw. One of the doors we knocked on a 17 yr old boy opened up the door. We started to talk to him a little and then his uncle came to the door... We conversed, and he really showed no interest in what we had to share. Elder Krizin was trying to teach about prophets, and then it went quiet. So usually that means it's my turn to teach.. Well I looked at him and I had full intentions of teaching him about Joseph Smith, and I asked him about the nascar race... I didn't even know it was Nascar season! I didn't even know there was a race or anything! That man open up to us like we took a shot gun to a can. He was all for talking after that. We weren't able to teach him or his family, but we made a good impression. The Lord really does guide us in all we do as long as we put our faith in him and seek his guidance.

     Sunday was great. We went to church and then we went over to Sister Mays home. She's an older woman that can't always make it to church So we take the sacrament to her. We had a great time talking and then we sang a hymn with her, prayed and left. We had a member with us, and he said he was willing to go out knocking doors with us. So we went and parked by the post office and started walking around. We knocked on a trailer and a lady answered. She was kinda embarrassed to talk to us cause she was in he Pj's, but she came outside and talked to us. She has been going through some hard times lately and we taught her the first lesson. She really enjoyed what we had to teach :) She wants us to come back and keep meeting with her. This lady has lived in Seminole her whole life, and has never seen or talked to missionaries before. It's unbelievable sometimes the people the Lord places in our paths. We also met this man that can not read because of his cataracts and we are going to give him a Book of Mormon on audio, we'll drop it by later today.

     Tuesday was a normal Tuesday. We woke up early, and drove up to Lubbock for our district meeting. Had district meeting, and then drove over to the mission office to give our letters to president and pick up some supplies. We went over to Wal-mart to shop and then we headed out on our way back home. So on the drive we were just past Wolfforth, and there was a Dodge 3500 with a trailer of 8 bails of hay on it that pulled in front of us to pass a car in the slow lane. It started pushing and like a diesel normally does it smokes. Well... There was more and more smoke that kept getting thicker and thicker. We finally hit our brakes and he did too and pulled into the slow lane. We sped up next to him and saw that his load was on fire . He hadn't realized it was until I rolled down my window and yelled "FIRE!" with my arms flailing around! He pulled over really fast and by the time he had pulled over the fire had drug through the center of the bottom 6 bails... A Highway Patrol officer saw the trailer go up and called fire immediately. Elder Krizin and I ran over to the truck and helped grab the older guys things. His 21 yr old grandson was with him. We got everything out of the truck and ran the 100 yards to our car. The fire had spread to the side of the road and because of the drought it spread fast.. it was down the side of the road about 300 yards by the time the fire engine got there. It took like 6 engines to put out the fire  (their fire engines are the size of a flat bed international tow truck with a big water tank on the back.) After the fire was out, the trailer was empty, and the firefighters were cleaning things up, we were able to help the two in the truck get their things back in and get them to the nearest gas station to take off the front two tires on their double axle trailer so they could drive the rest of the way home. (The front two tires blew from the fire melting them.) They drove all of the way up to Oklahoma to get hay for their 27 horses. They drive up every week to have the feed for all of the horses. The saddest part is they were an hour away from home.... They live in Denver City. We were able to get their information so we could possibly go teach them. It was definitely a scary experience. I mean think if we weren't there.. He would have never noticed his load was on fire and one could have fallen off and caused a HUGE mess on the highway or even killed someone if a bail hit another car.

     Wednesday We were able to meet with a recent convert. This lady has such a solid testimony, and she surrounds herself in the gospel. She is one of the primary teachers in the branch here. She was actually listening to the children hymns when we showed up. It was so neat! :D Later that night we decided to go to a bible study (our ward mission leader put one on every Wednesday) The topic was apostasy. WOW. This lesson he taught gave me so much insight on the apostasy and how it plays such a major role in our teaching and not just "God always calls prophets. He is the same yesterday today and forever. After a while people reject those prophets and go into spiritual darkness which is called apostasy, and then God calls another prophet to lead the people." Now I have bible verses of why we had to go through apostasy and really know how to teach a lesson to someone who doesn't know what an apostasy is and what the reason for on is.

   I'm so grateful to be out here on my mission and the opportunities I have every day to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. This work is incredible and can bring so much joy into the lives of so many people.

Thoughts....

The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from
progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done. (Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1978, 4:536).

"I wanted to thunder and roar out the Gospel to the nations. It burned in my bones like fire pent-up, so I [commenced] to preach.... Nothing would satisfy me but to cry abroad in the world, what the Lord was doing in the latter days" (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, London: Latter-Day Saint Book Depot, 1855-1886, 1:313).

The Gospel must be preached to the world, that the wicked may be left without excuse. (Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1941, p. 319).

In the early days of the Church, John Taylor was called to go to France, to open the work there. There had not been missionaries in the great nation of France, and this was what he said in 1849: “I am engaged in my Master’s business. I am a minister of Jehovah to proclaim His will to the nations. I go to unlock the door of life to a mighty nation, to publish to millions the principles of life, light, and truth, intelligence and salvation, to burst their fetters, liberate the oppressed, reclaim the wandering, correct their views, improve their morals, save them from degradation, ruin and misery, and lead them to light, life, truth and celestial glory” (Life of John Taylor, p. 208).

I love this work. I'm so grateful for all of the support I receive.

Love,
Elder Devon Taylor Marshall

I Wish I Spoke Spanish

Hey,

I'm glad you all really enjoyed going up to the cabin! I am really jealous.

So this past week has been pretty interesting, and fairly fun.

So thursday after emails I went into our room and was cleaning and I went to shake my pillow out, and I swung it up and a cigarette came flying out.. or so we thought. Apparently there was one sitting above the closet door! E krizin and I were both freaking out lol it was crazy. I guess we didn't clean everywhere. 

Saturday we were out tracting and it was dead out! Nobody was outside! So we pulled up to the end of this street and a minute later this Mexican guy come out his front door and starts waving for us to come in! So.. we did :) it was SO COOL! we tried talking to him, but we don't speak spanish, and he didn't speak english. I saw his guitar and pointed at it and asked if he played. This guy picked it up and started playing these super mexican mariachi songs and we just sat there and goofed around and listened. We ended up recording the songs and then he went into his room and got an accordian! He started playing more mariachi songs! It was crazy! We ended up taking pictures and video of it. It was super fun.

Oh dad. Can you send some spanish sentences for me. Like hi we're missionaries and don't speak spanish... something like that. And, can we send the missionaries to teach you in Spanish?  It would really help out cause we don't speak spanish, but don't know how to ask if they want spanish missionaries to teach them or what they're address is and things like that.

We were teaching this lady, and it was so cool. After the lesson we had with her we asked if she would pray, and she refused, but her little daughter really wanted to. So she came and stood next to me and just repeated what I said :) It was adorable. Right before I went to stand up the little girl turned and gave me a hug :) It was so neat.

E. krizin and I have been trying to find more investigartors, but it has been really difficult to do so.

We went up to Seagraves the other day to teach a family who's daughters are getting ready to be baptized. It was really great to get to know them. We also went and did some knocking up there. We found a potential. He's 17 and and hopefully we can teach his whole family. From what we know he's a great kid and lives his life pretty much like a dry mormon :) I hope the family really comes to accept the gospel in their lives.

The past couple days I've been up in Lubbock on exchanges with E hernandez. It's been really great.

Well that's pretty much all I have. I hope to have more success stories next week.

I love you all and am really grateful for all of the support. I promise I will write all of you back that have written me. I haven't had much time lately to write, and I'm trying to only write on pday.

P.s. I would LOVE!!!!! pictures from anyone. I miss seeing all of you!

Love,

Elder Marshall

New Town - New Adventure - Same Questions

Hey there,

I do like my new comp.  He's a great guy. Him and I are both clean freaks, except I'm OCD, and he's not.  

More questions from mom.

How far do you have to go to shop on P-day?
We don't shop on P-day here in Seminole. The Walmart here has pretty much nothing, just a regular Walmart, not super.  Last week we didn't do much for p-day. 
 
Where do you shop?
We normally go to the Walmart up in Lubbock on Tuesday after District meeting.

Is there a 7-11 in town?
No there's no 7-11 here in town. at least that I know of.
What is your apartment like?
My apartment is nice. I really like it and I may be uploading my photo's onto a flash drive and sending them home so y'all can see everything I've took.
What is the physical address? (I like to google search it, it makes me feel good to see where you live.)
Umm My address is 1240 Main street, Seminole Texas, 79360. We're in apt 2a. Don't mail things here Nothing comes to our actual place we go to the post office to get mail.
What is your ward like?
We have a very small branch. It covers 4 towns, Denver City, Seminole, Lamesa, and Seagraves. There's about 60 Members, and a good sunday is about 40 members plus at church.
Do you have any investigators?We don't have any investigators as of right now. We've been trying the last missionaries "dropped investigators" and each one that we've talked to says that they've talked to the missionaries once at the door step, and that's it. The worst was we tried a "progressing investigator" that they dropped right before we got into town, and he had moved over a year ago.
So no new investigators that we've taught more than once, but we are starting to have a lot of success. We have been doing a lot of knocking and we're trying to figure out days that we can go to the other cities and work.

Where is your comp from?
He's from Orem Utah. He's been home schooled most of his life.

What are your district meetings like?
District meetings are.. Very Very far away. We drive 70 plus miles up to Lubbock.And then 70 back to Seminole. I love our district though. We all really get into the meeting and have input for everything we talk about. It's nice to be involved and discuss the subject.
We also shop right after district meeting. The other store in Seminole are really expensive.
Are you liking the members, are they feeding you?  
The members here just found out that our meal schedule is back into effect. The last elders didn't take care of the area very well so we've been doing a lot of catch up. We have to talk to our mission president though because we don't know how well the 3 meals a week can go since the area is so big and there are so few members.  No member can do more that once in the month.
I just bought a GPS (a really nice Garmin Nuvi 1300 for $60) So I will be able to find and get to know the town better.. The only bad thing is I bought it at a pawn shop, and it doesn't have a window thing....the suction cup thing.. I have the part it goes into. So I'm going to try and see if I can find one at a radio shack or something next time we're up in Lubbock.

We've been having a pretty tough week out here. E. Krizin was sick and So we've been having a hard time getting out of the house.

Sunday was great. We got a lot done and have the chance to with out branch mission leader, and have him help us work out their area book. We also met this lady Clara May. She is a great woman. She was a blast to just sit and talk to.

We are hoping to have more success this up coming week.

I love you all and I miss you very much. Thanks for all of the letters.  Please keep them coming.... I also would like more of the stain remover-Soilove and Magic erasers. 

Love,
Elder Marshall

Where is Seminole, Texas?

So this week was transfers..

I was moved down to Seminole. It's a beautiful little po-dunk town. I love it here! So Monday I E. Pentecost and I went out to work. We went to a less active members house Mojo. This man is so funny about everything he talks about and does. He had us do some service for him before we left. He pulled out a Kirby Vacuum Cleaner. It's from the 1970's and he asked us to clean it for him. So we went back in and went for lunch, and we got a call from our zone leaders. 

They had transfer info. So I went first since I had the phone and all I was told was to report to the church the next day at noon and I would be headed up to Lubbock. and then E. Pentecost was told to report to Ammarillo. 

So we went back out to work with a member from the ward. He is a really awesome guy. So We went and saw Kenny and Jennifer. They are investigators that we have. We told them that we were getting double transferred out. They were really disappointed. There's sister in the Odessa 2nd ward now. I really hope things transition over smoothly from us to them.
Later that day after packing we went to see the Kaio Family. I LOVE this family. They are a lot of fun. We were there for about an hour. We were able to help clean their house. Sister Kaio was having contractions and getting ready to go to the hospital. Brother Kaio gave me a hug before we left and told me that I was a great missionary and that I have a lot of potential. I will miss them.

Oh  BTW mom he should be sending me some songs on my hotmail. it's his rap cd. I would appreciate if you could keep an eye out for them. They might possibly end up in junk mail cause he's not a contact.


That night when I went to go to bed I found a little bug crawling around in my sheets and I just about flipped!!!! I thought it was a bed bug. So because of procedure I called housing and they said to pack everything anyway and move and they would have insecticide for me to wash all of my clothing with as I unpacked.. I took a up close picture of the bug for the guy over housing and he said it wasn't a bed bug, but to be safe I had to was all of my clothes and sheets and spray my suitcases anyway.

So Tuesday we transferred. Wow! It was ridiculous. LOL. We went to get on the transfer bus and apparently president decided to move just about everyone and white wash most areas.... So The bus was PACKED there was a ton of missionaries on there and so much luggage you can't imagine! We got to the transfer site and I found out who my new companion, it was E. Pentecost last comp, now I'm companions with Elder Krizin. He's a pretty cool guy, and we seem to get along just fine. 

When we got together we found out we were white washing Seminole and other outlying towns. We for the life of us could not figure out how to get out of Lubbock and down to Seminole. Finally we got a map and headed out. We were able to help 2 different people change their tires. We got pretty dirty in our suits. So we got to seminole, and we realized we don't know where we live.... So I gave Elder Carbine a call, he's the elder over housing, and his wife is the secretary for the mission. We finally found the apartment after wandering around for about 30 minutes.  So we got there and it was 10:30 and opened the door and the apartment was DIRTY. So we unpacked what we had to to go to sleep and went to bed.

Yesterday, Wednesday we cleaned ALL day long... I had to wash all of my laundry because of the bed bug possibility and we couldn't leave so we just cleaned. We cleaned for at least 11 hours. The place was so dirty we even had to clean walls.. The worst part about that day is the AC stopped working and it was 90 degree's all day long.. It was SO HOT!

So we went out to eat dinner since we don't have food, and we have to get food all the way up in Lubbock... It's terrible.. I can't remember where we went, but it was a mexican restraunt. It was so good! We were able to talk to the owner and a few of the patrons eating there. They gave us a bunch of the food that they were just going to trash :) But E. Krizin is a vegiterian and he can't eat any of it.

So this morning an AC guy came and fixed the AC. We were just low on refrigerant. Our apartment is comfortable now :)
That's pretty much where we are now. We're trying to get the work going here, so we're going to be doing a lot of knocking and contacting.

I'm so grateful to be out here doing the Lords work. I love it.
I miss you all.
Love
Elder Marshall

PS.
Please write to me!!!!!!!
My new address is....................
Elder Devon Taylor Marshall
P.O. Box 543
Seminole, Tx 79360

Please let everyone know to send my letters here now.

First Zone Conference

HEY!

So this past week was full of exciting things. I met Cassie's Aunt Roselyn. She lives like half a mile from our place. It was so cool. We're trying to get her to come back to church. She is a lot like Cassie. We laughed a whole bunch when we realized we knew the same people. My comp just sat there quiet... I feel kinda bad about it..... but I was really excited :D

So last Thursday we met with a newly wed couple. They're members of church of christ, but don't think we've figured it out haha, The Husband wanted Objective evidence that the Boof of Mormon is true reather than subjective. I know the spirit was with me, because I would have never thought to have him look at the 3 witnesses and the 8 witnesses in the beguinning. SO COOL! They're having a hard time reading and praying to ask if what we teach is true just cause I think they're affraid they'll have to change their life style.

Friday we knocked into a mans house and he said the only way he would listen to us if we would take a glass of wiskey. I was going to take it and dump it, but we just left. I thought it would have been cool to teach him.

Sunday we did a lot of knocking. Which I really enjoy doing when the sun is setting. because a lot of people are either out or it's cool enough and people will come out and listen to our message. One of the homes we knocked into a man came out and I could tell he didn't really want to talk to us and I asked him about hunting. I saw a deer rack in his garage before we knocked. So he stood out and talked to us. :) We didn't get to share much of a message with him, but I feel like his attitude about "The Mormons" has changed. 

We also picked us up a black man named Jamal.  He's really tight and love to hear our message. We also knocked into a lady. She's really cool, she knows a first wards recent convert. She is really interestewd in learning everything, but is afraid her husband doesn't want to convert. He's the kinda guy that still lives by momms rules.

Monday I had my first interview with President Augustin. I love him!  He's such a great man and is really easy to talk to.  Towards the end of my interview that he said, "Sister Augustin and I feel this sort of kinship with you." That was so neat to hear. Tuesday we had our zone conference. It was way good!  We learned about christ like attributes and how to become stronger in those. At the end of the day when we went to leave Sister Augustin almost gave me a hug haha! That was pretty funny, cause when she started to she realized like half way that she's not allowed to. She just ended up putting ane arm around me.

Oh how do you use that 5 times in a sentence correctly? I know that, that that that that boy used in his sentence was used correctly.

I am loving my area and having a lot of fun working. To answer boo's question we didn't have a dinner calender tuesday president put it back into effect. So I haven't found one yet who has huge meals and lots of fun conversations, but there is a couple families that are really great here.

I love you all and I am so glad to hear from everyone all the letters I get sent and emails and cards. I really appreciate all the support!

Love,

Elder Marshall

Hello everyone!

So my past week went fairly well. We went to the temple Saturday. We did 3 sessions and then a bunch of other things after the sessions. I was so exhausted. 

Then Tuesday was really exciting. I really wanted to knock a neighborhood and we kept putting it off and finally at like 7:30 I told e. Pentecost that we were going to knock it right then. So we went and started at the beginning of the block. We were going to start half way through.. which didn't make sense to me so we knocked on 3 doors and on the 3rd door a man opened up the door and was like oh we're having a bible study right now and opened the door up really wide and we saw a bunch of people inside. He invited us in and E. Pentecost just stood there. I walked right past him and went in. Because what's the worst that could happen? A bash? So we sat down and they told us what they were studying and explained that they are an addiction recovery group. SO COOL!!! So they went around and would ask a question and then everyone would put in their input, and when it came around to me I would tell them my thoughts and feelings and bear my testimony and teach them a little and we kept going around. So finally it was 9 pm and we told them that we needed to go and they bombarded us with some AWESOME questions! So we answered them left them a couple copies of the Book Of Mormon, Some pass along cards and left. Afterward I was so excited. They told us to come back next Tuesday and share with them more, But E. Pentecost when we got home was like "We're not going back there again. They don't really want to hear the gospel." I was so mad I want to go back there and teach them and sit through another meeting. 

Yesterday E. Martinez, a Spanish missionary, and I were able to go on exchanges! He's so much fun. We laughed pretty much the whole time we were together. I learned so much from him in just one day! He taught me how to do door approaches that are not "Roboticised". 

He also taught me how to crochet last night also. I'm going to try and crochet a scripture cover. :) 

We had the coolest thing happen to me also. We were out knocking on doors, and we saw someone outside. So we walked over there, because it's easier to get someone when they can't slam a door on your face. When we walked up to him we could see him fighting and with his wife, they were yelling and swearing at each other. So we talked to him and his wife walked over to the other side of the trailer and sat down and he was like "If you want to talk to someone talk to that B." We just stood there and got to know him and talked. He started walking around picking up trash and we were getting ready to leave, and both of us turned around and kept teaching him, and helping pick up all of the trash. So he was over by his wife and we started teaching them about eternal families and how the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives can help them be happier with each other. He pretty much sat down right next to her and they both listened to everything we taught. They are committed to read and pray about the BOM. They are both excited to meet with the Elders again. I know that God will always provide. We just have to promise we will act upon what he provides us with.

Things are going well with me. I'm learning, slowly but surely. I want everyone to have this gospel in their lives.
I love all of you back home. You are all in my prayers. Each and every single one of you, individually are prayed for. My knees can prove it.

Keep me up to date on everything.
Love,
Elder Marshall

Hey

Sounds like things are going well :)

There's a guy that lives down here. Brother Perry. He says he knows uncle Keith. They were friends when they were in their teens or so? He was super excited to talk to me about it :) lol So that is something you could share with Uncle Keith.

Something cool that I found out from our new GOLDEN Investigator is Odessa is named after a city in the Ukraine! So apparently Tyler and I are both in Ukraine. Just his is super cold, and Mine is SUPER HOT and awfully dry. All the lakes down here are drying up.

So friday it rained.. Rain drops here are the flippin size of water bottles! It DUMPS out of the sky here! It was the first rain they recieved in almost a year. Odessa is in such a drought that you and only water once a week.

So there's this guy who we got a text from church head quarters for. So we got to his house and nobody was there. So we called him that night and talked to him. He said he had a million questions about our religion. So we set up to see him Saturday. We spent 2 hours at his house discussing everything on his mind. So we asked him to come to church with us. When Sunday rolls around we got to church and he wasn't there. So I called him and he said his son was in the hospital, the ER, and was really sick. He felt really really bad, but he couldn't have come to church with how sick his son is. So we set up a time to meet with him on Monday. So we went about our day had dinner at a families home in our ward. After dinner we were planning on just going tracting and we got a call from him.  He was breaking down and having a terrible night.  So he was planning on calling his minister and was ready to dial the number and he couldn't do it.  All he kept thinking about was talking to us.  So we went over to his house and talked to him calmed him down and he started to express to us how he wanted to know what he had to do to be a member of the church and that he knows what we're teaching him is good. We taught him the word of wisdom and he comitted to stop smoking right then and there. He's set for baptism on the 14th. He is meeting with us everyday and doing everything he needs to do to come closer to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so excited for him and can not wait for his baptism. To see the Joy it will bring into his life. I can not wait.

I know that Heavenly father loves me and does watch over each and everyone of us.

I hope that everyone is doing well and I appreciate everything that I've recieved for my birthday.

Especially the harmonica, thanks Grandma Marshall.  I just need to figure out how to play it now :D

I love you all and am so grateful for all of your support.

Oh austin I loved your be the boss. I will do it :D oh I hear you've got lots of girls chasing after you ;) That's what I like to hear.

Love,

Elder Marshall

 

p.s. Thank you for the talks, you can send more!   I really appreciate them.  Also be proud of me I didn't open my birthday package until this morning :D

Highlights From My Week

I'm so glad to hear from everyone I love you all SO MUCH! I really really enjoy all of you letters.

So my past week has been really interesting haha I will just hit some of the highlights for the week. :D
So last Friday Elder Pentecost and I were out knocking doors and we saw 2 women out smoking on their porch. We were just going to go up a different street and just not worry about talking to them.  I just walked over there. :) So we went up and started talking to them and they let us teach them right there on the spot. These two were so accepting to what we were teaching them. It was an awesome lesson.

Saturday I got attacked by a HUGE dog. Once again we were out tracting and to make a long story short we walked around a car and Elder Pentecost stopped right in front of me and said "Is he nice?" and next thing I know this beast comes bookin after us. It went right past Elder Pentecost and went right for me. It had it's mouth around my leg at the same time I kicked it. It was SO SCARY! I could have got rabies or something! then that night we had the best steaks EVER. and it was super easy to make.

Sunday Elder Pentecost and I got to church and the zone leaders came and grabbed me and brought me to a class room. The was this 15 yr old kid that had flown in from Florida at 11:45pm. We came to find out that he was here to move in with his brother. His birthday was June 3rd and his mom passed 2 days later. He had been meeting with the missionaries in Florida and his mom said she really liked how he had been living his life since he started meeting with the missionaries. So this kid flew in town at 11:45 pm and found church so important that he was there at 9 in the morning the next day. He has so much faith. I can not wait to keep teaching him.

For the latter part of the week not to much else happened. I'm so happy to be out here and am having so much fun. Elder Pentecost and I decided to start working harder everyday to the point to where we get home and collapse. I Don't want to waste a single second out here.

I love you all so much and I am so glad to hear from everyone.
Love
Elder Marshall

Some Q&A's

Dear Family and Friends, 

Mom asked me a bunch of questions which made letter writing so much easier this week: 

(Oh my birthday is August 4th- that is why she asked questions about it)

Are you enjoying your ward? Yes, the ward is great. it's very small but it's good

Do you only have one? Yes elder Pentecost and I have only one ward. We are in Odessa second ward.

Do you like your trainer?  He's a good guy.... I told my trainer when I met him that I know what it's like to work hard and that I expect to do so :)

Do you live in a house or an apartment? We live in a house, with a member.

If you are in a home do you live with members? We do live with a member. His name is brother Kelly - he's a really great guy. He's super funny.

Do you have any investigators? Yeah we have investigators. One wants to get baptized in December and isn't sure if Joseph Smith was a prophet, but believes in the BOM....

How many missionaries are assigned to each ward? There's usually one set per ward... the wards are HUGE!!!  
Do you eat at members homes much?  No my trainer doesn't really do dinner... so... 

Do you want me to send your package the mission office or the house? send it to the house. or it will take over 6 weeks to get it to me.. unless it's near transfers then just hold mail till I get my new address.

Is there anything special you would want for your birthday? Nothing that I can think of off the top of my head. I wish I wrote down a list, cause there's some things that I thought about.. oh a harmonica. I want to learn to play one while I'm out here. 

Is there a Costco near? no there's no Costco out here in Texas:( 

Did you get a bike?  Yes I got a bike for free, but I slipped a Benjamin and a thank you note in his stuff though cause I wasn't going to take it for free.  It's a specialized hardrock edition.

I'm still trying to figure out cooking!! HAHA I do a fairly decent job at it :0 My comp enjoys it.

My area ..... it's pretty much like old Henderson, and then there's a small part of it that's really nice. We spend most of our time in the poor part because the part of town that is well off just shuts the door on our face... hahaha My comp is a great guy, He teaches me lot and tries to correct me when I do wrong.. I don't think he knows that I'm perfect.

I love you :D
elder marshall

First Week in Texas!

Dear Famdamily,
     Well the past few days have been quite the adventure trying to get out to Lubbock and then down here to Odessa. Soo I got to call everyone in the airport Monday. It was great to be able to call and talk a little bit with everyone.

    I got to Lubbock, FINALLY. The airplane had us board, then we had to get off... Apparently one of the tires kept losing air. I'm glad they changed it instead of finding out there was no air in the tire when we landed.

    On the airplane there was a guy from Colombia that I sat next to. He was SO funny. He hardly could speak English to me, but he tried his hardest to communicate with me. He ended up speaking Spanish in the end and teaching me how to speak. I gave him a pass along card while we were talking, and as soon as we landed he turned his phone on and went online to mormon.org :D

    Once we got to Lubbock we met with President and Sister Augustin. (We already had met them in the MTC.) We had so much training right when we got there. I felt like I was right back to the MTC, but in a VERY nice home. :)

    So I got my assignment of who my trainer is, and where I'm going. I'm in Odessa 2nd ward and my trainer is Elder Pentecost. I enjoy it down here in Texas. It smells funny... especially the water.. Everything smells like oil.. eww.. I like the ward though.. well the couple I've met. Our ward mission leader is... umm... really really quiet. We had dinner with him and his wife last night. It was really .... awkward. So to start off they were really quiet, and had nothing to talk about. Then we sat down for dinner, prayed and they were like okay you can go eat now. and so Elder Pentecost and I got up, and got our food and sat down and then they waited for us to take the first bite of food and then they got up and got there food.......... I can not even express to you how awkward I felt. I think it was just cause I wasn't prepped on what we were going to do and how quiet they are.. It was so different, because Dinner at home is always loud and laughter and fun, and there... silence.. haha.

    I was studying a little on the reason why they brought up a birthright right there in the beginning. I think it's because Jesus Christ was given the birthright, and we are to strive to get the birthright just like Nephi did. Also goodly means well off and of good name. Something else that I just can not figure out is.... Why would they have the verse "and my father dwelt in a tent"? We've been told there is deep meaning behind every verse in the BOM. So why is it so important to have that there?

    Things are good here, and I'm getting to know my companion. :) He's VERY relaxed on everything he does. So I'm learning to get him up to speed with me! :D hhaha

4215 E. Everglade Odessa TX 79762

I love you so much!
elder marshall

He's Doing Great!

I got your package this morning of my pants and socks and shoe goo. thank you :) The post has been slacking here cause of the 4th weekend. So I don't know if any of my letters are home or what.

I've been slammed busy studying and trying to become better at teaching. Elder Tuckett (my comp) his mom sent us a package hahaha she sent 6 donuts and a couple books with bible stories with the pictures to help for visual. Elder Tuckett ended up eating all of the donuts the first night hahaha. Elder tuckett and I really get along and have a good time with each other. We probably get along the best in our whole district. P.s. I LOVE MY DISTRICT!! We have so much fun together.  Elder tuckett and I have been studying alot and we try and make our whole day a companionship inventory. He and I talk about when we do something we don't like and we try and lift each other up all the time :) it's kinda funny cause all of the other elders in our district are always trying to get away from their comps and go on exchanges and we are the only 2 that never want to trade. I had a little bit of a hard time with him at first, but that's cause he doesn't open up and share his whole life story like I do... but I've learned to overcome it and just ignore it.

 

I've got the lesson of the restoration down pretty dang good and Elder tuckett has been awesome at filling in on all the gaps (he's a gospel genious) :) so I'll teach the lesson as simple and as quickly as possible and he answers all the questions and expounds on what I missed :) we've really been learning how to work with each other :)

 

Things are great here. I'm not feeling home sick anymore (well on occasion, but I just get so caught up in studying and working to even think of being home) and I'm really loving my comp. He's helped me out in so many ways. I understand so much more when I'm teaching. I hope it all sticks :)

How are things at home? I would be writing and trying to get letters out, but they've stepped up the schedule so we're 10 times as busy studying trying to stay ahead of our district in the gospel. So tell everyone put it on facebook or whatever saying I'm tryingm to get letters out, but it's way to busy.

 

OH MOM!!! You let Marissa in my room!!!! WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!  whatever I'm jsut going to tell her it was messy cause I had to pack :D

 

How is the new building going? Has any work been done on it yet? can you send pics so I can see the progress.

 

How's Austin and Rebecca doing at the front desk?

Tell Linda and Becca I love them and miss them :) I hope they're doing well!

 

Ugh... I hate trying to beat the timer!! this is ridiculous... lol

 

Oh dearelder the responses so I can read them before I leave.. I leave monday morning.. I don't have the info on me right now, but I'll write a letter home on everything about it.

 

I love you all and I hope everything is going well :) keep me up to date on things and I will do my best to do the same :) I love you!

 

Oh austin get to reading on the scriptures. Read them like they were written for you!

 

I'm just about out of time. I'll hopefull be able to write you on Saturday (my next P. day cause I'm leaving.)

 

Love,

Elder Marshall

First Email Home!

Soooo.. There's been a lot that's been going on lately. I feel pretty stressed, but I'm getting through it. :)

This week has been so busy and there is so much to learn about the gospel. More than I ever thought I would know (I hate this computer and keyboard. I keep hitting the start or windows button when I'm typing so it messes everything up.) I miss the family so much and I wish I had time to write everyone. This morning when I got up there were 13 letters in for me in the box.... WOW! I am SO thankful for all of the letters, and I promise I will write back as soon as possible. It is just so busy here all the time.

 I've started working out with the elders in my room. (Elder Nelson is on UVU basketball team and he makes us all do "HUNDIES" (a hundred push ups sit ups pull ups and he has band excercise too -with him.)

I love the spirit here, and I feel so uplifted when it's with me. My companion Elder Tuckett is a good guy, he has a really dry humor that I don't understand at all... and sometimes brings me down, but I've been learning to just push it off to the side. On the up side he has helped me learn so much about the gospel. He has read the scriptures many times and has done so much research about them. We taught a TRC lesson (a real investigator) yesterday, and It was the best lesson yet. We didn't even plan it, and we taught so well :)

I really miss the family and all of my friends, but I just have to keep thinking "it's only 2 years."

Elders Bednar gave us a special fireside the other night  (I can't remember what day it was... they are all running into each other.) It was really good. He taught us how to be a PMG missionary, I don't have my notes so I don't really remember what all I learned.

I wish I could think of more to write, but I'm seriously brain dead.. When I'm not in class, personal study or teaching a lesson I just think of nothing, I am litterally exhausted from thinking.. I feel overwhelmed about everything, and I'm not sleeping or not sleeping well most every night, but i'm trying so hard to rely on the lord to get me through it.

I love you all and once again I'm so thankful for all the letters I've recieved. I miss you.

Love,

Elder Marshall

The Temple

Devon took out his endowment May 21, 2011

Devon Opening His Mission Call!