To send a letter to Elder Marshall

Elder Marshall's address 
 802 West Daggett #16
Pecos Texas 79772

Catching up

November 5-December 6
We bought a washer and dryer for the area in Clovis. All the missionaries in the area pooled $60 together and we were able to buy them. It's nice. We don't have to worry about paying out the waa- zoo to wash our clothes, and future missionaries don't either. 

Things Austin will need on his mission...I would say he ought to bring are the shirt stays I sent home to him. They help a ton to keep his shirts tucked. He ought to bring out shoes he feels comfortable in. not just the work out shoes. Clothes that he likes to wear, not just plain clothes. I was going insane not having regular clothes. Bring a lot of ties, whether they are the best ties on the planet or not. He will want to trade ties in the MTC and on the field with people. If you can get him socks that will for sure last. They have CTR socks in one of the malls up there and there are several missionaries that bought them and they last through their whole mission. Make sure he brings him backpack to the MTC, cause I hated carrying around all of my junk between classes and meals. He should have some flash drives that he could send home probably just two 8 gigs or something. Make sure his camera has the cord. That will be important. Don't worry about tie clips ask Derrick Fish what a tie buddy is. those will be great. They keep your tie down and nobody ever knows. When he goes into the MTC they will give him a PmyG the first day. They are free that first day. Just have him get that one and not worry about bringing an older one unless he has notes in it he likes or needs. They also have like 3 quarter size. if he can get one of those they are nice to be able to carry around when he first get out. I can't think of anything else. 

Oh can you look up on line or something and figure out how to make a tie. I've been wanting to learn, but I don't have the time to search around online to find a pattern. If you do end up finding one I will need to learn how to hand stitch or have that miniature sewing machine sent out.

I am excited for Jessica! Tell her I love her! :)

Happy Thanksgiving! I know holidays are hard with everyone gone. I am sorry you are sad. I won't be gone for much longer though. 7 months left. I am glad dad helped for Christmas you decorate and get everything ready. You married a great man.

Thanksgiving was great for me. We had two homes that we went to for dinners. One was an investigator and the other was a member who moved from Michigan. I ended up eating 5 plates of food and then a bunch of deserts.. I was about to explode! The dinners were super great. The food was delicious.

That's neat that you were able to see the Thornton's  at Dylan's homecoming.  He must have been a great missionary to be able to talk for 20 minutes.  I have a hard time talking for 2 minutes. 

I heard it was really warm up there. I am headed more south so hopefully it will be warm down there. I'm pretty north right no, and it is DANG cold. But then again... 40 degrees is freezing to me. My new area is Pecos. It is a branch down in the very southern part of the mission. The area covered is  HUGE. I don't really know much more about the area than that. I am in another mob to kill a missionary who is going home early for Christmas.

I am a little disappointed that I am moving and getting a new companion. I finally started to get to become better friends with Elder Shurtleff and now we have to move.  I love working with him.

I am glad to hear that dad is cleaning out the garage. I bet you will both be able to park in the garage again! :) haha

 

Austin called me this morning! That was pretty exciting! My comp answered the phone and was super confused why a Utah number was calling. We all ended up talking to him for a pretty good amount of time and gave him some good advice.

 

Our Christmas conference is tomorrow Wednesday. We were super busy yesterday doing service for a member so we weren't able to get over and email. 

 

The area and the branch are great! We are always busy working. There are very few times we aren't busy. We are working with a couple people right now. There are quite a bit of solid potential people to be teaching we just need to buckle down and work with them. We are teaching a lot of younger guys pretty much from 15 to 20's. It is neat. We should be seeing a lot of success form them. 

 

The Branch is a decent size, about 40 or so on a really good day. Some of them are super Texan. "Marshall, That's a good name. A good ol' Merican name." Brother Sparkman.

 

The apartment we are living in is disgusting. The carpet is ripping up, there's mold, and hard water build up on everything that could ever get wet. The windows aren't sealed very well because they sweat so the paint around them is peeling up. There is a lot wrong with it, but I am working on cleaning it a little every night. Hopefully soon it will be clean. Some things never change.  I work better in a clean area.

 

Yes, there's a walmart in our area. It is a very small walmart... Like double the size of dads office. 

 

Oh thanks for the pictures. :) Elder Streeter opened up the mail box and got really excited for mail that wasn't his :) haha

 

That is pretty neat that Austin has 3 wards! It is hard to cover more than one ward. I have never had to do it, but that's because our ward boundaries size is just bigger than our stake.

 

We have exciting news!!! We are having for sure one baptism this weekend!!!! There is a recent convert here who brought her grand kids to church with her. We started teaching them Wednesday and the three of them want to get baptized! Two we found out may have to wait, but they want it so bad! It is neat to teach them and watch them want a knowledge of Christ and His teachings! They share their testimony with us all the time. The grandson Fr___ who will for sure be baptized this weekend always says he feels a warm feeling that he can't describe as we teach him! SO COOL!!!!

 

There are so many things we are being blessed with :) I am so grateful for all of the preparation God has done in this area!

 

Things are going very well and we are having lots of success

I hope you are doing well.  I love your guts.
Love,
Elder Marshall, number one ;)
I hope everything is going well with you.


 

 

There is no substitute to member missionary work

Hello out there...Anyone listening?
I was glad to hear Grandma's funeral went off without a hitch....She would be glad too! I bet it was fun to see everyone.  Sorry I couldn't make it.  I am sure Grandma understood. 

That's great to hear about mom and Austin going to the Salt Lake.  Hope they got lots of winter things for him.  He is going to be COLD... But he will be a great missionary!

I am glad to hear Jon's talk went well. We all have tender mercies in our lives we just have to take a minute to see them.  I bet if we take the time to thank our Heavenly Father for them we will see more.

I heard Tyson and Brittany had their little girl. Brittany sent me a picture of Adyson via email. She is adorable. They will make a great family!

You have to have meat at Austin's farewell... Everyone would think he was crazy. Austin doesn't have to eat the meat. :) He is going to have to love meat where he is going.  I think it is funny that he only eats enough to stay alive.  I  LOVE MEAT!

I tried the letter thing for a long time, but I am terrible at it.  I think if I went on a mission 20 years ago you probably wouldn't even get letters. I seem to have this issue where I go to write, and then I don't, or I will never send the letter that I wrote, and eventually lose it. Email is just so much easier, and it is a set time where I am focused on nothing else except for writing. I push a button and it is gone!

This week has gone by pretty fast. We have 2 investigators right now. (We were told by the mission president that we had to give our investigators over to the south elders...) One live almost a 200 mile round trip away and the other barely has enough time to sleep in his schedule. We are doing our best to work with both of them as much as possible, but it is difficult. If it wasn't for cell phones we would have lost them. I like the south elders a lot, they are the new missionaries in our area, they are super. I really enjoy spending time with them.

We are working our hardest to find people along with working with our members to have them find people for us to work with. There is no substitute to member missionary work. With out the support of the members here the work is extremely difficult. This ward kind of gets shocked every time transfers happens and then we have to start almost from square one again. Things are starting to look up though. Please look around and find people for the missionaries to teach.  They are every where.  Not only should the missionaries help those in need but we all should. 

I am glad to hear all is well at home.
I love you,
Elder Marshall

PSSSS's
Tell Evan I love him! I miss him so much.
Have a great Halloween and Nevada day.
OH! My comps and the surrounding missionaries made a movie for elder Pennington's death :) IT IS SUPERB!! I will hopefully send a copy of it home soon.
I love your stinkin' guts!

Staying in Clovis

October 15

Hello everyone,

 

That is great to hear about Austin going to the temple! I am happy things went well for him there. 

I will make sure to pray for grandma. It is so crazy to think that the veil is so thin right before we pass, I bet she is seeing many people and hopes she will be able to tell them we love and miss them. I know that we are really right here living with our kindred dead. It is something we really don't think about or realize until we are right there by someone who is ready to pass.

I can't think to much about what I remember about Grandma...I was always to enthralled with grandpa, and didn't pay much attention to her, except when I was watching her before I left. I know she had to be a wonderful woman because grandpa wouldn't want any less than the best. She was not always the easiest to be around, but I know she had a great heart and a strong testimony.  She always had the best intentions. She loved hanging out with her friends and laughing. I remember one time at the cabin we were watching conference and she fell asleep.  We thought it would be funny to change the change make her watch UFC fighting with us, and she was completely against it at first, and then a couple minutes later she was TOTALLY into it! BITE HIM! BITE HIM! KICK HIM! hahaha We all laughed and she cheered the whole way through. 

I am staying with Elder Pennington :) I am excited. We are getting a 3rd companion though.  We will work hard to make it work. The area is also splitting again. I am not happy about it because Elder Pennington and I have worked so hard to get referrals and gain trust with the members, and now everyone we are teaching may go to the new elders coming in the area.. We'll see how everything goes. We will be moving again. I will make sure to get you the address of our new place. We are thinking we are going to be moved in with a member. I am glad that Elder Pennington and I are staying together. He is definitely one of my favorite companion.

I haven't gotten the absentee ballot thing yet, but I should be getting it soon. I want to vote!

Things are going great in the area right now! We are receiving so many referrals. The members love to have us over. We are getting people to church, and have several people ready to get baptized. I am excited to have those we are teaching gain the blessings that we have as members. We have a couple people that we were working with ask us to come back and teach them. We can not wait to continue with them.

I love you,
Elder Marshall

Right after getting this letter Elder Marshall's grandma Marshall passed away in her sleep.  We were able to call and speak with him about her.  He remember more things about her and expressed his gratitude for having such wonderful grandparents.  He also bore his testimony of the plan of salvation. He knows he will see both of his grandparents again one day.  She will be missed.

Conference was superb

October 8

Hello to my family and friends---

This past week was a little difficult, but very inspiring. My companion was really really sick. We still went out every single day and worked as hard as we could. He didn't let it slow him down. We were able to receive referrals from members and see a lot of success with all of those we are working with. There is a guy we are working with who has done chewing tobacco since he was 11. We gave him a triple combo and he said he was reading through the D&C and he opened up to section 89, and realized right then that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he needed to live the Word of Wisdom! HOW COOL IS THAT! I am super excited for him.

I want to go to a business college and own a business because I feel like I will do well in that area. I just don't know what business I would open. But where do I go to college. I may be far away from going home, but I am tired of small planning and unsure living. I want to have a game plan of what I am going to do with the rest of my life, and I don't know where to start or what to do. I like planning ahead.  I will stop thinking about it until it is time to come home but will you look into some colleges?  I am fine with going to school a semester down at CSN. It would help me get back onto my feet and get me back into the swing of things.

My allergies are fair. I am tired of worrying about them, and I do not want to really bother anyone about them.

Saturday we find out about transfers... I really hope that Elder Pennington and I stay together. We are finally getting the wards trust, and have had several members tell us that they will be extremely upset if they whitewash us out. I know that we aren't the most perfect set of missionaries, but we work extremely hard. Elder Pennington goes home half way through next transfer. He wants to be home for Thanksgiving. He will miss 3 if he goes home after the transfer.

In the picture our neighbor posted on facebook we were in our apartment complex deep frying. We use to have parties on a regular basis to get to know the people we live with and plant seeds. We didn't think much would happen through them, but a lot of people are open to talking to the missionaries now. :)

That is crazy that Jon comes home so soon. It does seem like only the other day we were selling his truck. 

This week was a bit difficult. Elder Pennington was extremely sick, but he didn't let it stop him from working. We still went out to every teaching appointment, and went out as much as we possibly could to visit part member families or our investigators. We are doing our best to push them towards baptism. We feel like they are all ready to get baptized. Hopefully soon we will see them get baptized.

Conference was superb. I really enjoyed it. This is the first time I have had a comp where we talk about it as it goes or between speakers.

Saturday we had a couple miracles. We got 2 referrals from the talk about "ask the missionaries". It was SO great. They are very genuine people and are extremely excited about learning about the church. We see them having great success.

Mom, it makes me really happy to see Robles and Simpson get excited about getting mail. Thanks for emailing and sending notes in the mail! Thanks to Jessica too!

My suits are both looking great. I am not to worried about them. The black on we bought before I came out is in pristine condition. I get it cleaned regularly and I really only wear it to meetings. Then I take it off. I have a small nick on the cuff of one of my legs, but I am going to get that fixed soon. I really can't think of much I want or need. I will keep in mind that Christmas is coming up and come up with something you could send :)  I don't know what I want. I am pretty content with what I have. I really don't need anything more. But gift cards are fun!

Love,
Elder Marshall

Miracles happen when you work

October 1
Hey there!

It is cooling off here. We are under 100 most days, and I am loving it. We are excited for the temp change.

Things are going great with Elder Pennington and I. Our investigators that we can keep in constant contact with are doing great!  We had a church tour with one this past week he loved the church. He is very excited to get baptized soon. We are working on getting him to church with his work schedule, but hopefully soon he will come. We are thinking about how we can get him to get enough sleep to be rested for church and safe enough to drive. He is a delivery guy. Probably the funniest one EVER! We laugh with him almost the whole time we are together.

We had a miracle last night. We were able to teach someone we thought would take months to get to meet. We have an eternigator here in the ward. She has been wanting to be a member of the church for years! She has to get married before she can get baptized. She and her Common law husband have been together for 10 years and have 2 kids. Really can't talk them into moving into separate homes... definitely not good for the kids... So we went over to have a lesson with her, and she wasn't home just yet, but her Husband was outside on the phone! We were in luck! So she showed up like  a minute later and invited us in. Usually the husband will get off the phone and go straight to the back of the house and not talk to us at all. So he came in a couple minutes later and sat down on the couch! That was our first time going together and he came in and talked to us! We hit it off really well telling jokes and having a good conversation. We talked to them about getting married and the blessings that come from being married. We told them that they would be more blessed by keeping the commandments. We talked to them about signing the papers so she could get baptized. Then we talked to him about taking the lessons, and he said he would be interested in meeting with us some more! We are excited for this family! They are the hardest to work with and we are making great leaps. We are very excited for them.

Well, That's about all that is going on.

Thank you for the updates on everything going on.

I bet Brittany is ready to give birth. hahaha Most of the women in our ward are prego, well use to be a lot of them gave birth recently. Babies everywhere

I can't believe how much the grocery bill has changed since Tyler and I left, over a hundred dollars! I know we ate a lot. I have had to change a lot on what I buy to make it through the month. It is not easy having the and other necessities we need on our budget. We have to really pay attn to what we buy. It will go down again soon when Austin leaves.

I love you. Tell Austin to really prepare himself to go to the temple. I know I was not totally ready to go. I know that if he starts to study the temple prep book and really get ready to go he will love his first time through.

Love,
Elder Marshall

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