Honor the Name You Bear!

Howdy Momma & Poppa and friends,

Things are good. We've still been doing quite a lot of knocking while attempting to not go insane. We found a potential investigator!  We saw him working on his car when we pulled into our apartment complex, and I walked up to him and asked him if he needed help. He looked really confused. He said he had just replaced a tube to his radiator and couldn't figure out if he had fixed the leak he was having. I went and sat down in his seat and turned over the engine and told him he'd never see the leak if the engine wasn't running. It was still leaking, so we gave him some water to add to his radiator until he could get to an auto store. We were able to have a really good lesson with him and then he gave us his number to come over and teach him some more. I can not wait! :D

I'm glad things are going well for you. :)  The building seems to be going well, I am glad Austin is reading his scriptures and preparing lessons for Priesthood.  Mom I am sure you are loving teaching  in church again. That's great that you are the church Bus. We have an 80 year old sister here Sister Menges who is pretty much the bus. She's wonderful!  I love her.

Elder Simpson and I are getting along great. We are still finding things to laugh about and have fun. Some days are rough, but we give it our best positive attitude.  HE WOULD LOVE MAIL.

President Uchtdorf talked about a military base in his talk, "You matter to Him" in this past General Conference.  The military in base Big Spring base is closed down now. It's been closed for several years now. But I think it is important to remember that every one is important.  The members here didn't know that he would one day be an apostle, he didn't know it.  But God knew who he was and he knows who each of us are today. :D

This story is incredible. I was in tears when I read it. 

“A number of years ago I was seriously ill. In fact, I think everyone gave up on me but my wife. … I became so weak as to be scarcely able to move. It was a slow and exhausting effort for me even to turn over in bed.

“One day, under these conditions, I lost consciousness of my surroundings and thought I had passed to the Other Side. I found myself standing with my back to a large and beautiful lake, facing a great forest of trees. There was no one in sight, and there was no boat upon the lake or any other visible means to indicate how I might have arrived there. I realized, or seemed to realize, that I had finished my work in mortality and had gone home. …

“I began to explore, and soon I found a trail through the woods which seemed to have been used very little, and which was almost obscured by grass. I followed this trail, and after I had walked for some time and had traveled a considerable distance through the forest, I saw a man coming towards me. I became aware that he was a very large man, and I hurried my steps to reach him, because I recognized him as my grandfather [George A. Smith]. In mortality he weighed over three hundred pounds, so you may know he was a large man. I remember how happy I was to see him coming. I had been given his name and had always been proud of it.

“When Grandfather came within a few feet of me, he stopped. His stopping was an invitation for me to stop. Then—and this I would like the boys and girls and young people never to forget—he looked at me very earnestly and said:

“‘I would like to know what you have done with my name.’

“Everything I had ever done passed before me as though it were a flying picture on a screen—everything I had done. Quickly this vivid retrospect came down to the very time I was standing there. My whole life had passed before me. I smiled and looked at my grandfather and said:

“‘I have never done anything with your name of which you need be ashamed.’

“He stepped forward and took me in his arms, and as he did so, I became conscious again of my earthly surroundings. My pillow was as wet as though water had been poured on it—wet with tears of gratitude that I could answer unashamed.

“I have thought of this many times, and I want to tell you that I have been trying, more than ever since that time, to take care of that name. So I want to say to the boys and girls, to the young men and women, to the youth of the Church and of all the world: Honor your fathers and your mothers. Honor the names that you bear.”

I really have been trying to apply that to me personally and as a missionary. I want to honor my grandfathers name, and I want to honor My Saviors name. I bear it on my chest for the world to see. I want all I meet to know that Christ is central to our message. I want to honor His name.

We should all remember weather we have His name on our chest or in our hearts it is important for the world to see what we do each day with his name. 

I love you!
Love,
Elder Marshall :D