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