This is a Great Place to be Serving the Lord

My comp and I are doing great! We are working so hard lately. This is a great area to be serving the Lord!

This past week was a little rough.. We had a bunch of appointments cancel on us Thursday so we went to the park and played baseball to relieve the stress and bring our spirits up. We were hoping we would be able to talk to some people there too but no such luck. We have been having success all over the place. We are starting to teach less-actives and help them come back to church. We are also working with part-member families too. Our investigators are doing great. We are doing our best to keep daily contact with them.

Thanks for asking if I needed new shoes or clothes.  I know you are trying to get Austin ready so you are thinking about what I am wearing.  I don't need shoes and if i do I usually go to goodwill and start looking before my shoes completely fall apart.  I got some for free from a member who helped a neighbor do a garage sale and she gave us all of the husbands business attire. I am set for slacks and shirts. Lately I will pray about how I need some more shirts or slacks cause they're getting pretty thrashed and I move area's or check other apartments and there is whatever I need :)

Austin only needs ONE SUIT for his whole mission?!?!  Won't it be cold most of the year? Make sure the clothes he buys he really likes and feels comfortable in them. I know for me if I don't like what I have to wear I can't focus on what I'm doing because it bothers me what the other person is thinking about what I am wearing. Buy shoes that are comfortable not just the first ones you see. You may be a missionary, but you still care. Austin ought to get a pair of shoes from the missionary mall where everything is guaranteed for two years. That will be really nice for him. Also Decide whether he likes the loafers or to tie his shoes everyday. I have loafers because I like to slip them on.

You should have the missionaries over for dinner and ask them how the work is going, and ask them why they are on missions and ask them questions about people they've baptized and the area's they've had success. Basically get them focused on success. Then tell them stories about your mission. Successes you've had, things like that. Then ask them how you can help tell them you notice they are struggling and you want to help the work move along. Then on the days you have a little free time text them and say "hey I want to go out teaching today. I have some free time" or have Austin do it. Keep them working. Open the house to their investigators. It may help to have the ward mission leader text them every night and ask how their day went. (The ward mission leader (WML) should build a trust relationship first) He can ask them how many lessons they taught who they taught. He should basically be a district leader. Keeping their investigators on a list checking their progress and keeping them accountable for who they are teaching. I think that it helps to be accountable. The follow up with the WML doesn't have to be long, and it could even be a text every night. A lot of the success a missionary has in the ward is based on their WML what he is willing to do and their own desire to teach.

It is a good idea for members to pass out a card. They can also do pamphlets. Have them send out a calendar around elders quorum for the elders to come out teaching with them. Like sign up for a certain day at a certain time then they can have appointments set up for them, and even if they don't they can still go out and try by potentials with them or have a referral in mind to take them to. That have worked well with us.

That would be great to talk to Austin before he goes in to the MTC.  Maybe you could call the mission president and ask. I am thinking about saving the money right when I get home to fly up and see him, and take him out to lunch or dinner if his mission president will allow it.

I am being good.. As much as possible ;) I do live on a farm now. A dairy farm. It is great! It smells terrible everyday, and my allergies are worse. I have been taking so many different allergy medicines I am about to overdose on them.  My allergies are driving me CRAZY!!!! I want to see if the doctor can find something that will work before I do that though. I have thought about kenalog shot, but I don't think I could deal with migraines again. We'll see what happens. I will keep you informed though. I would like Terry to check when he has time.

What a great blessing the gospel is to all those who hold fast!


Love you,
Elder Marshall

We Have Tons of Work to Do!

Hey,
I'm glad you and dad were able to get out of town and have fun. That's neat that you were able to go on that tour. You and dad will be great senior missionaries! 

We are so busy all of the time! I love it!!

Tell Lars happy birthday! I tried to send him an email but it sent it back to me saying it couldn't send anything. I have a card I need to mail out to him, but I need to find it...

Congrats to Scott and Bethany.  I am looking froward to meeting her when I get home.  I hear Amber S is engaged to, I am happy for her. I also hear Kyle is home.  Tell him hi and can't wait to talk to him, I bet he was a great missionary.

My comp and I just moved to a dairy farm that is owned by some members. Our address is the same we just moved locations with the Spanish elders, but we still check the mail up there. I would love some mail...HINT!

The work is going GREAT! We are receiving more referrals and are having a ton of work to do. It is so exciting! We are enjoying ourselves thoroughly :) We are constantly thinking about the same thing. We are so in-tune with each other. It is so great.

We are teaching about 5 people right now. We just got about 20 people from the bishop he asked us to work with in helping them come back to church. We couldn't be anymore busy! But I wouldn't want it any other way. The people we are teaching are doing so great. One of the guys we are teaching just got evicted and has till wed to get out. We taught him how to pray, and ever since his life has been full of miracles. He had no place to store his things and he was able to sell some things that cost a great amount of money and was able to pay for a storage unit. He was able to give up drinking over night. We challenged him to go to an Addiction recovery class and that next day he chucked all of his beer and said he was done drinking! Over one night! He is incredible. 

We are working with another young man who committed to be baptized  here in a couple weeks! He felt the spirit so strong as we taught him. 

Things are going so great, and I know it is because God is blessing our lives. I know we could not be having the success we are having if we did not keep the rules, have fun, and work hard.
Elder Pennington has been out 22 months, but we aren't talking about it ;)

There Are 3 companionships in our district. Elder Robles, Elder Southwick, Elder Pennington and I, and Sister Lao, and Sister Peterson.

Covering the ward is just Elder Pennington and I. It is great though! We are so busy it is ridiculous sometimes!

We got a car last week, and it is such a blessing. We drive almost 50 miles a day trying to get to all of our appointments and stay effective. It was impossible to cover the area we were covering before on bikes.

I love you!
Elder Marshall

Faith Needs Action

Hey,
Things are great! I love my new comp! We are having a ton of fun and working really hard. We are teaching a few people. Z and her two kids. They are great! They always have good questions and love listening to the lessons we have prepared for them. They have a date planned for their baptism right now. We may have to push it back a week because of church, but we are praying that she will be able to make it to church the next few weeks. Her kids are brilliant! Z says their shy ,but they talk just fine and don't mind coming out of their rooms when we come over.

We are also teaching C-------. He is super! He is reading like we ask him to and is learning fast :) He has come to church and loves it. He says it feels like everyone is family.

The ward is doing great and they are excited to have Elder Pennington here. This last Sunday was stake conference, a lot of the ward members sought us out and introduced themselves to him and expressed how happy they were to have us. Hopefully we will start having dinners again soon.

Elder Robles is in the Spanish branch in the area here. He just got his calling as senior companion, trainer and district leader. The mission calls it the trinity call. He is excited, and besides him having a little cold he is doing a great job. I am glad to be able to keep working with him. 

Jason should do a great job as ward mission leader. He was great as the Elder Quorum President so I'm sure things will get done with him. 

I'm excited to hear where Austin is going!!! I know he will be a great missionary

Happy Birthday Lars!!! I know it is next week.

There are some great people who live in my apartment complex.  We love spending time with them!  Most nights we are able to spend out in the courtyard with them after we plan and relax and joke around.

That is sad to hear about your cousin dying. I wish things turned out better for him. It is sad to see how controlling Lucifer is. He is so powerful! We all must be on our guard. His only desire is to destroy us. It is also sad about Dlyan's Grandma Graff.

I love what you had to say about faith being a verb, it requires action. It is neat to think that without faith we have absolutely no reason to act. Why would we go out to start our car if we didn't have faith it would work. Why would do so most things if we didn't have faith. It gives us reason to act. Reason to believe. It is the first principle we teach in the Gospel. There is a reason for that. If we did not have faith we could not repent, we would have no desire to be baptized, or endure to the end. I know that faith is one of the most important principles we should have. It gives us reason to have desire. I know how powerful faith is. There is a quote by Elder Baxter of the 70 who came here a while back he was asked "How do we gain more faith?" He replied, "If we are to gain more faith we are to act as if our faith is already to the magnitude in which we desire it to be." ...or fake it till you make it! :) i know that it is true. I have tried it. I started acting as if I had that faith, and I have started to receive so many blessings.

I love you! I miss you so much! I hope all is magnificent!
Love,
Elder Marshall

New Companion Same Area

Hello everyone!

That is so sad to hear that the Weedman's son in law got hit on his motorcycle! I hope he gets better soon. I will remember him in my prayers.I am excited mom are able to be a sub seminary! She always do a great job :) 

I have a testimony of the importance of coordination meetings.  Coordination meeting is VITAL to missionary work. It keeps the ward on task and keeps the missionaries going and everyone of them accountable. If there is no ward mission leader or he is unwilling or unable to have the meeting the ward missionaries should hold meetings.  We often hold ours on Saturday so they can account for their whole week of work, and the WML or Ward Missionary can report the progress in PEC and Ward Council.  I have had some great ward mission leaders.  Makes me respect dad more for all he did while he was in the calling.  

I bet Austin loved the fireside with Brad Wilcox.  He is such a great speaker. I wish I could go to his fireside.  I enjoyed the one I went to before I left.  You are lucky to have speakers come to Henderson.  We would love to have someone come and speak to the youth.  It is a great motivation for getting people excited about the gospel.

So I have a new companion! Elder Pennington! He is way tight! He's from Washington. I am so excited to be serving with him! I am still in Clovis still the same address. We are covering all of Clovis and a few out lying towns. Also we are on bikes! We need a car so bad. We have a request to get one so hopefully it comes soon because it will be impossible to be productive in this area without one. Neither of us know much about part of our area so it will be exciting to work everything.

I'm glad Austin wrote me a letter and to hear that he had a ton of fun out there on his mini mission! Sounds like he was able to go to a lot of baptisms! That is way neat! The only baptisms we are able to go to is our own unless there is one near by and can get an investigator to go to.  I am looking forward to hearing where he is going on his mission! I will miss seeing him for almost 4 years.  Crazy!  Study and get to know the lessons really well!

I hope you are doing well!  Studying your scriptures and praying a lot, it makes things go better. 

I am thankful to be serving the Lord and thankful for all of the letters I get.  Thanks to everyone who remembers me in their prayers.

Love ya,

Elder Marshall