Family,
I'm not sure what time I will be calling but I will discuss that with my companion. I am looking for the nativity. I actually have Elder Landsaw looking for me in Atlanta. But it's like last year, the right one hasn't come about yet, I prayed that i would find one though.
So my new companion is Elder James Stringfellow. He is from Farmington, and he knows Tyler and Jared. He is a sharp kid; He will end up being a great missionary. We have had a good week. It’s been great to just have one companion again, but having two really throws you off. We share an apartment with another companionship and because I’m used to more than just one other guy, I keep expecting them to come with us. Anyway, since there are two sets of missionaries in our Branch now we split our area and they took some of the people we were working with. But we are teaching a lady named Bonnie, she has a baptismal date for Dec 30th. She has to quit smoking, but she really wants to get God into her life. She has had a pretty tough life, but she is really determined to make her life better so we are excited to be working with her. We worked real hard this week and have seen some great miracles, and successes. I'm grateful for that, because E. Stringfellow is so new, I really want him to see some good things and have opportunities to grow. I'm excited to be training, I feel like at this time in my mission training will be perfect for me so that I can get back to the basics. I think I will learn a lot from this. My most important desire is that I am able to help set a good tone for E. Stringfellow's mission. Dad, did you ever train a new missionary? And what are your suggestions on how to do a good job?
Anyway we are doing awesome, Christmas season is great. The 12 days of Christmas is going well, our gifts aren't really that cool but it’s the thought that counts right. Plus we don’t really have time to make everything perfect. I love you all a ton, Merry Christmas and I can’t wait to talk to you!!
Elder Hendrix
Julie,
Wow you’re like the next Shakespeare! I thought your rhyme was very clever. It was very true too, and I think it is so cool that you already know so much about the Gospel. I liked it very much. I had a dream about you last night. I came home from my mission and you were the first person I hugged, oh ya a "Julie Hug"! We were crying and stuff. I think that's how I want it to be when I really come home; you first! I really miss you too, and I can’t wait to talk to you. Keep being good! Love ya
Elder Hendrix
Monday, December 19, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
December 12, 2011
Family,
The baptisms went great, with one of the girls i baptized we had to do it 3 times. I felt so bad, because it was all my fault. She seemed really nervous after the 2nd one and I was worried that I ruined her experience. Other than that all went well. Yesterday they all showed up late for church, so we did the confirmations between the first and 2nd talks in sacrament meeting. They are such great kids. We do have transfers this week and I will be staying in Thomaston and be getting a brand new missionary, a greenie. I’m pretty excited to train, I hope he comes pre-trained. That’s sweet you looked up Thomaston on Google earth, if you find the big white church which is just south west of the main town square, look a little more southwest and you will see a little community of condominiums that is where we live. Thanks so much for the 12 days of Christmas, I’m stoked to do that, and I am looking for a nativity, but it isn’t looking promising, don’t worry I’ll get you one though. I just want to say something to you all about an experience I had this week. There is a guy in our branch who is handicapped in some way and is really an odd guy, but he has a great heart. I don’t think throughout his whole life anyone has made him feel like he matters. He has only been a member for like 4 years, but has been less active for most of that time. We worked with him for a while and all we did was love him and be his friend, and he came for 4 weeks in a row. Then out of nowhere he stopped coming, we asked him why and he said "maybe I don't belong", the thought came to my mind, "how can someone feel like they don’t belong in Gods church". It broke my heart, and ticked me off. He has felt out of place his whole life (even in his family), and we aren’t even making him feel comfortable in the Church of Jesus Christ. He told us that on Tuesday and we could tell that he wasn’t coming back to church this week, but on Saturday we ran into him and took him out to lunch with us, bought him a burger and spent probably 40 min with him. So he came to church on Sunday. But at church on Sunday, I watched with my own eyes him be treated like he didn't matter to anyone. I honestly don't even want to invite the guy back to church now. Anyway I don't mean to be negative, but I just hope that we never treat people like that in our family, even if they are weird, or dirty, or awkward. I hope that we treat people with love always, and even seek out opportunities to serve people who are spiritually and emotionally starving, which really just means that they are starved for love, this is where true happiness comes from. Mom I loved the last paragraph of your e-mail about serving God, its Mosiah 2:17 then follow that up with Mosiah 2:41. We find joy in this life by serving others. Anyway I love you all, please love those people who the world finds it hard to Love. I love you all (your all not hard to love).
Elder Hendrix
The baptisms went great, with one of the girls i baptized we had to do it 3 times. I felt so bad, because it was all my fault. She seemed really nervous after the 2nd one and I was worried that I ruined her experience. Other than that all went well. Yesterday they all showed up late for church, so we did the confirmations between the first and 2nd talks in sacrament meeting. They are such great kids. We do have transfers this week and I will be staying in Thomaston and be getting a brand new missionary, a greenie. I’m pretty excited to train, I hope he comes pre-trained. That’s sweet you looked up Thomaston on Google earth, if you find the big white church which is just south west of the main town square, look a little more southwest and you will see a little community of condominiums that is where we live. Thanks so much for the 12 days of Christmas, I’m stoked to do that, and I am looking for a nativity, but it isn’t looking promising, don’t worry I’ll get you one though. I just want to say something to you all about an experience I had this week. There is a guy in our branch who is handicapped in some way and is really an odd guy, but he has a great heart. I don’t think throughout his whole life anyone has made him feel like he matters. He has only been a member for like 4 years, but has been less active for most of that time. We worked with him for a while and all we did was love him and be his friend, and he came for 4 weeks in a row. Then out of nowhere he stopped coming, we asked him why and he said "maybe I don't belong", the thought came to my mind, "how can someone feel like they don’t belong in Gods church". It broke my heart, and ticked me off. He has felt out of place his whole life (even in his family), and we aren’t even making him feel comfortable in the Church of Jesus Christ. He told us that on Tuesday and we could tell that he wasn’t coming back to church this week, but on Saturday we ran into him and took him out to lunch with us, bought him a burger and spent probably 40 min with him. So he came to church on Sunday. But at church on Sunday, I watched with my own eyes him be treated like he didn't matter to anyone. I honestly don't even want to invite the guy back to church now. Anyway I don't mean to be negative, but I just hope that we never treat people like that in our family, even if they are weird, or dirty, or awkward. I hope that we treat people with love always, and even seek out opportunities to serve people who are spiritually and emotionally starving, which really just means that they are starved for love, this is where true happiness comes from. Mom I loved the last paragraph of your e-mail about serving God, its Mosiah 2:17 then follow that up with Mosiah 2:41. We find joy in this life by serving others. Anyway I love you all, please love those people who the world finds it hard to Love. I love you all (your all not hard to love).
Elder Hendrix
Monday, December 5, 2011
December 5, 2011
Family,
Ok mom thanks for the reminder, remind me each week i really want to get a nativity for you ok! Wow y'alls weather sounds harsh, it almost doesn’t make me miss home. Our weather is great, it has hovered around 60 the for the past week, it got cold for like 3 days. I’ll pray for Darren, don’t stress too much though, he'll get it done. That quote is awesome, thanks. We saw the Christmas devotional, it was awesome it made me think about how important it is to proclaim his name especially at this time of the year.
Mom I want to try and do the 12 days of Christmas for some people, so I was wondering if you could give me some ideas or even an example cuz your pretty creative, and also I want to give them some good gifts so if you could send me some money so I could buy some stuff like 50-100 bucks, I think I need to start by next Monday, thanks. Also could you send me the Oct 2011 conference CDs. Also a reminder, nobody send me candy, I’m serious! Also I don’t want any presents, Letters are great and some pictures too.
We are excited for this weekend! There are 4 kids getting baptized on Saturday, they are such awesome kids, they are hard to teach, but it’s been fun. So the story has been going on for the past 3 months. Our very first day we specifically prayed that we would be able to find a new investigator and a Less-active member that we could find and bring to church. We looked over the ward roster and felt impressed about a few, one being the Bailey family. Well we were both new so we didn’t know what to do so we looked at a map and saw some names and just hopped on our bikes and went along. The second person we ever talked to in Thomaston, was walking down the sidewalk we contacted him and asked if we could give him a card, he said "No", most people don’t say no. Then after a few awkward moments of silence he said "I’m already a member of your church". His name was Kelcey Bailey, he’s 30, he said we could come by and visit him a few days later. We had two great lessons with him that week, but our next lesson, we showed up and he wasn’t there, but his mom Darlene Bailey, was there so she invited us in. We started talking about coming to church, reading scriptures and how by doing that she would be able to deal with all of the challenges and burdens that she had to bear. And at one point I looked up and she was just crying quietly, when we both noticed we sat there in complete silence for a solid 2-3 min, while she cried, we testified of the power of church attendance, prayer and scripture study. She and Kelcey came to church that next week and she has been there every week since. One day she asked us to teach her 4 grandkids (two of them are Kelceys daughters), so that’s how we found them. But the real tender mercy from the Lord to me was yesterday during testimony meeting, as soon as it was opened up for testimonies, Sis Bailey got right up and bore her testimony. She talked about how before she started coming back to church she had 3 people in her immediate family in Jail, including her husband. But she testified that since she has been back at church, she can deal with the challenges and struggles that she has and she feels peace in her life. It really hit home to me for 2 reasons. First I know that living the gospel has truly made my life better, but I admit that I have often wondered and doubted that maybe it is a figment of my imagination, maybe it only works for me and not others, but her testimony was a testimony builder for me, that the simple principles we teach: Prayer, scripture study, and church attendance are so true. Second, lately I have been wondering if we are really doing a good job of building up the church, our only real progressing investigators are ages 8-12, but that was a selfish and prideful, subjective, really really poor attitude and I saw that our work is blessing many. I felt humbled last night as I pondered on her testimony, and the blessing that I have had to be a part of her experience of "coming unto Christ". I love you all, Mom please send me the stuff for 12 days of Christmas, especially your ideas I have none. Bye Elder Hendrix
Julie,
You are so awesome, I can’t wait to talk to you this Christmas!!! Bye buddy.
Ok mom thanks for the reminder, remind me each week i really want to get a nativity for you ok! Wow y'alls weather sounds harsh, it almost doesn’t make me miss home. Our weather is great, it has hovered around 60 the for the past week, it got cold for like 3 days. I’ll pray for Darren, don’t stress too much though, he'll get it done. That quote is awesome, thanks. We saw the Christmas devotional, it was awesome it made me think about how important it is to proclaim his name especially at this time of the year.
Mom I want to try and do the 12 days of Christmas for some people, so I was wondering if you could give me some ideas or even an example cuz your pretty creative, and also I want to give them some good gifts so if you could send me some money so I could buy some stuff like 50-100 bucks, I think I need to start by next Monday, thanks. Also could you send me the Oct 2011 conference CDs. Also a reminder, nobody send me candy, I’m serious! Also I don’t want any presents, Letters are great and some pictures too.
We are excited for this weekend! There are 4 kids getting baptized on Saturday, they are such awesome kids, they are hard to teach, but it’s been fun. So the story has been going on for the past 3 months. Our very first day we specifically prayed that we would be able to find a new investigator and a Less-active member that we could find and bring to church. We looked over the ward roster and felt impressed about a few, one being the Bailey family. Well we were both new so we didn’t know what to do so we looked at a map and saw some names and just hopped on our bikes and went along. The second person we ever talked to in Thomaston, was walking down the sidewalk we contacted him and asked if we could give him a card, he said "No", most people don’t say no. Then after a few awkward moments of silence he said "I’m already a member of your church". His name was Kelcey Bailey, he’s 30, he said we could come by and visit him a few days later. We had two great lessons with him that week, but our next lesson, we showed up and he wasn’t there, but his mom Darlene Bailey, was there so she invited us in. We started talking about coming to church, reading scriptures and how by doing that she would be able to deal with all of the challenges and burdens that she had to bear. And at one point I looked up and she was just crying quietly, when we both noticed we sat there in complete silence for a solid 2-3 min, while she cried, we testified of the power of church attendance, prayer and scripture study. She and Kelcey came to church that next week and she has been there every week since. One day she asked us to teach her 4 grandkids (two of them are Kelceys daughters), so that’s how we found them. But the real tender mercy from the Lord to me was yesterday during testimony meeting, as soon as it was opened up for testimonies, Sis Bailey got right up and bore her testimony. She talked about how before she started coming back to church she had 3 people in her immediate family in Jail, including her husband. But she testified that since she has been back at church, she can deal with the challenges and struggles that she has and she feels peace in her life. It really hit home to me for 2 reasons. First I know that living the gospel has truly made my life better, but I admit that I have often wondered and doubted that maybe it is a figment of my imagination, maybe it only works for me and not others, but her testimony was a testimony builder for me, that the simple principles we teach: Prayer, scripture study, and church attendance are so true. Second, lately I have been wondering if we are really doing a good job of building up the church, our only real progressing investigators are ages 8-12, but that was a selfish and prideful, subjective, really really poor attitude and I saw that our work is blessing many. I felt humbled last night as I pondered on her testimony, and the blessing that I have had to be a part of her experience of "coming unto Christ". I love you all, Mom please send me the stuff for 12 days of Christmas, especially your ideas I have none. Bye Elder Hendrix
Julie,
You are so awesome, I can’t wait to talk to you this Christmas!!! Bye buddy.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
November 28, 2011
Family,
Mom your awesome! I think it’s ok that you let Darren go snowboarding, it’s for me too. We had a good week, we worked real hard and things are going pretty good. I can’t believe the transfer is more than half over, and we are almost in December. Almost 2012 i can hardly believe it. We had a good thanksgiving, lot of turkey, i love turkey. We are teaching this lady, April, she is such a tender spirit. She suffers from depression pretty bad, and doesn't have many good people around her. She used to be taught by some sisters in another branch and she was changing her life, but then she moved and lost contact with the church. She is awesome to teach because she has a great desire to change her life, but the tough thing is that she doesn’t know how to or think that she really can. I love teaching people the gospel, it is truly a charity building experience. You have to want the best for them, and then you just are able to teach them what they need to hear. Nothing is better than being able to teach someone exactly what the Lord wants them to hear. I hope that i will try to find ways to do that for the rest of my life, it’s great to see people bring themselves in line with the gospel. Well i love you all, it’s great to hear from you, share your love with everyone. I love y'all!!!
Elder Hendrix
Mom your awesome! I think it’s ok that you let Darren go snowboarding, it’s for me too. We had a good week, we worked real hard and things are going pretty good. I can’t believe the transfer is more than half over, and we are almost in December. Almost 2012 i can hardly believe it. We had a good thanksgiving, lot of turkey, i love turkey. We are teaching this lady, April, she is such a tender spirit. She suffers from depression pretty bad, and doesn't have many good people around her. She used to be taught by some sisters in another branch and she was changing her life, but then she moved and lost contact with the church. She is awesome to teach because she has a great desire to change her life, but the tough thing is that she doesn’t know how to or think that she really can. I love teaching people the gospel, it is truly a charity building experience. You have to want the best for them, and then you just are able to teach them what they need to hear. Nothing is better than being able to teach someone exactly what the Lord wants them to hear. I hope that i will try to find ways to do that for the rest of my life, it’s great to see people bring themselves in line with the gospel. Well i love you all, it’s great to hear from you, share your love with everyone. I love y'all!!!
Elder Hendrix
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
November 22, 2011
Family,
How is the world’s greatest family? Mom let me answer your questions :) I don’t need any new garments. Now i need everyone to listen to this one...NO CANDY!! I don’t need any sweets, I’m filling out as they say, I look extra plump so i don’t need any sugar to speed up that process. I want you to send me nothing for Christmas, I’ve never had a Christmas without any gifts and i know that i have taught people who have, so give some gifts to someone else that actually needs it. But if anyone wants to send me something, a letter/pictures would be awesome, ill open them all on Christmas morning. Look now it’s easier on everybody, they don’t have to feel obligated to get me anything. It will be a great Christmas, plus that just means i get double presents next year. Though i do not want any presents i could use another journal, i now crazy I actually write in a journal....sometimes.
So this last weekend Sister Gladys Knight was in Atlanta with her Grammy winning SUV (Saints Unified Voices) choir and they put on a series of firesides, 2 a night for 3 nights. It is completely geared toward missionary work. And our mission has got over 1,000 referrals since they started on Friday. We went last night it was really fun, unlike any other LDS choir concert, it was upbeat "Gospel music", and people were shouting amen and clapping. Then Gladys and her Husband bore there testimonies and essentially told there fellow African Americans that they could not afford to not look into this church, they were very strait forward and blunt. But the spirit was really strong, the music was great and she is just a great lady. She pretty much feels like the Lord has given her the gifts that he has so that she can preach the Gospel. Ya know that is truly how we all should feel, it has been interesting to me to find out how vital sharing the gospel is to our salvation, that is pretty much what the D&C tells us over and over and over. But she was a great lady, the fireside definitely made me want to be a better person, and come to know my savior more.
We had a good week. We are teaching 5 young kids and they are so much harder to teach than adults, its testing our abilities, but they are great kids and it is great to see their family do so good, all (but Dad) came to church yesterday. We also got a referral from a guy who had checked out mormon.org and requested a missionary visit. He is a super good guy. He’s 24 and married, played college baseball, and his wife actually did her grad school at Utah State. We met with him at our church and he just wants to love and serve God. I think he is looking for religion that is deeper and more spiritual, and more in line with the New Testament, so we are excited to teach him and his wife we will be seeing them tomorrow. But the work is good and we are trucking along with our little diversified companionship, the other day we were eating at Chili’s and everyone there was staring at us, but why wouldn’t they: A chubby white guy, a short Asian, and a tall Black guy all about 20 yrs. old dressed up in suits on a Saturday afternoon. I love you all, keep up the awesomeness!!
Elder Hendrix
How is the world’s greatest family? Mom let me answer your questions :) I don’t need any new garments. Now i need everyone to listen to this one...NO CANDY!! I don’t need any sweets, I’m filling out as they say, I look extra plump so i don’t need any sugar to speed up that process. I want you to send me nothing for Christmas, I’ve never had a Christmas without any gifts and i know that i have taught people who have, so give some gifts to someone else that actually needs it. But if anyone wants to send me something, a letter/pictures would be awesome, ill open them all on Christmas morning. Look now it’s easier on everybody, they don’t have to feel obligated to get me anything. It will be a great Christmas, plus that just means i get double presents next year. Though i do not want any presents i could use another journal, i now crazy I actually write in a journal....sometimes.
So this last weekend Sister Gladys Knight was in Atlanta with her Grammy winning SUV (Saints Unified Voices) choir and they put on a series of firesides, 2 a night for 3 nights. It is completely geared toward missionary work. And our mission has got over 1,000 referrals since they started on Friday. We went last night it was really fun, unlike any other LDS choir concert, it was upbeat "Gospel music", and people were shouting amen and clapping. Then Gladys and her Husband bore there testimonies and essentially told there fellow African Americans that they could not afford to not look into this church, they were very strait forward and blunt. But the spirit was really strong, the music was great and she is just a great lady. She pretty much feels like the Lord has given her the gifts that he has so that she can preach the Gospel. Ya know that is truly how we all should feel, it has been interesting to me to find out how vital sharing the gospel is to our salvation, that is pretty much what the D&C tells us over and over and over. But she was a great lady, the fireside definitely made me want to be a better person, and come to know my savior more.
We had a good week. We are teaching 5 young kids and they are so much harder to teach than adults, its testing our abilities, but they are great kids and it is great to see their family do so good, all (but Dad) came to church yesterday. We also got a referral from a guy who had checked out mormon.org and requested a missionary visit. He is a super good guy. He’s 24 and married, played college baseball, and his wife actually did her grad school at Utah State. We met with him at our church and he just wants to love and serve God. I think he is looking for religion that is deeper and more spiritual, and more in line with the New Testament, so we are excited to teach him and his wife we will be seeing them tomorrow. But the work is good and we are trucking along with our little diversified companionship, the other day we were eating at Chili’s and everyone there was staring at us, but why wouldn’t they: A chubby white guy, a short Asian, and a tall Black guy all about 20 yrs. old dressed up in suits on a Saturday afternoon. I love you all, keep up the awesomeness!!
Elder Hendrix
Monday, November 14, 2011
November 14, 2011
Family,
365 days I’ll be seeing y'all (I come home Nov 14, 2012). I actually have been thinking a lot about the last year of my mission and how I want it to be so much better than my first. I have really reflected a lot on my mission the past few days. Missions aren’t easy, especially for a over worrying, over analyzing, far from perfect wanna-be perfectionist, non-goal oriented, weak-finisher, complicated minded individual such as myself. Ha ha I have sure had some great experiences and even some great let downs. I definitely feel like I could have done a lot better, but I feel like I’m giving all of my heart, might mind and strength (I probably just don’t have much to give, jk). I have felt a strong desire to make this next year truly excellent, and I have felt the Lords help and guidance in my thoughts that last couple of days. I have learned so much that has been truly a great blessing, I have learned a lot about the gospel and about myself and my character. I have had some great experiences, truly ones I will never forget. I have met some great people, and have made some great friends I’ve seen a lot of success and plenty of seemingly fruitless work. It’s going to be a great 2nd year. I am very glad that I came to the Georgia Atlanta Mission.
We had a great week, we just have so much work to do in Thomaston right now, and it’s great. This is just a fun place to be a missionary. 7 investigators came to church yesterday, and 4 less active members came that we have been working with real hard recently. The other day we knocked on a ladies door that was asking all of the right questions. She was truly confused at why there are so many religions when there should only be one, etc. She was very honest and very sincere about her questions, we don’t know when we are going to see her again but we are excited to teach her! We are working hard and real busy, ya know the trio is workin out pretty well too, so all is well. One of our investigators has a date for Dec 10, we are excited for him he’s a cool guy, his wife is a member.
Well love you all so very much; pray for the people we are teaching this week, you’re the best family ever!!!
365 days I’ll be seeing y'all (I come home Nov 14, 2012). I actually have been thinking a lot about the last year of my mission and how I want it to be so much better than my first. I have really reflected a lot on my mission the past few days. Missions aren’t easy, especially for a over worrying, over analyzing, far from perfect wanna-be perfectionist, non-goal oriented, weak-finisher, complicated minded individual such as myself. Ha ha I have sure had some great experiences and even some great let downs. I definitely feel like I could have done a lot better, but I feel like I’m giving all of my heart, might mind and strength (I probably just don’t have much to give, jk). I have felt a strong desire to make this next year truly excellent, and I have felt the Lords help and guidance in my thoughts that last couple of days. I have learned so much that has been truly a great blessing, I have learned a lot about the gospel and about myself and my character. I have had some great experiences, truly ones I will never forget. I have met some great people, and have made some great friends I’ve seen a lot of success and plenty of seemingly fruitless work. It’s going to be a great 2nd year. I am very glad that I came to the Georgia Atlanta Mission.
We had a great week, we just have so much work to do in Thomaston right now, and it’s great. This is just a fun place to be a missionary. 7 investigators came to church yesterday, and 4 less active members came that we have been working with real hard recently. The other day we knocked on a ladies door that was asking all of the right questions. She was truly confused at why there are so many religions when there should only be one, etc. She was very honest and very sincere about her questions, we don’t know when we are going to see her again but we are excited to teach her! We are working hard and real busy, ya know the trio is workin out pretty well too, so all is well. One of our investigators has a date for Dec 10, we are excited for him he’s a cool guy, his wife is a member.
Well love you all so very much; pray for the people we are teaching this week, you’re the best family ever!!!
Monday, November 7, 2011
November 7, 2011
Family,
We had a great week. We didn’t get to teach a ton with transfers and some other stuff, but we are seeing such great progress with the people in this area. Ya know I don’t know if it is just a mission but, if you are obedient, diligent and have faith, you see so many stinkin little miracles it’s crazy. We are seeing so many people doing such great things, it’s fun to see, it makes me want to see more, I think I’m feeling a little greedy. We are teaching a family, i told you about last week, the K family. The kids came to church this week, they loved it! Mom is going to come but she has a crazy work schedule and she is just going to have to dig down deep, toughen up and come to church. We have been working with another family the entire last transfer, the B family. The grandma and Son have been at church 4 weeks in a row, and we are teaching 4 of her grandkids (that are her sons kids) and they all want to get baptized and come to church. Before we even taught them the kids were doing "bible study" with the gospel principles manual, they are fun to teach. Then we had another brother in the branch, Bro S. He has been less-active for a while and he came to church this week. Then a man we have really come to love, Bro S has come 4 weeks in a row and missionaries have been trying to get him to come for a long time. He’s a great guy, he has some type of mental health issues, he is super OCD, and just lacks a lot of self-confidence, but Elder Morris and I have spent a lot of time with him, and we have grown to love him. He’s really funny, one time we decided to help him clean his house (it’s a wreck). He loves to read, and has like a thousand books, but one of his books looked like it had been through a hurricane, fire, tornado, and his dog but he would not let us throw it away, so we kept that one. But when he isn’t looking we will throw away stuff like newspapers from 10 years ago and Watchtower magazines (it’s a Jehovah witness magazine), if he is looking we can’t throw anything away. He absolutely LOVES Glen Beck, so we brought a cd about his conversion and listened to it with him. So ya things are going well, I’m excited i didn’t even want to have P-day I’m ready to go out and work, but i do like P-day. Oh ya, so I’m still with Elder Morris....and Elder Tran, it’s his last transfer. We are in a trio, trio's kinda stink, they are hard so there is lots to learn. It’s funny, I’m white, Morris is black, and Tran is Chinese (he’s not from china, he’s from New York). It’s funny though, we just need a Hispanic and we got it all covered. We also took on a new area because there used to be two companionship's in the Thomaston branch, but next transfer they will bring in another set. Mom no i didn’t get your talk yet, and yes i would love some more pictures. How are Grandpa and Grandma doing? Will you give them a birthday present from me,….., thanks. Tell Darren to tear it up for me (skiing), Dad should get him a pass to Targhee. You did tell me that Cody and Avery had their baby. Tell the Spence family I said hello, also can you tell me what the Russon family’s address is? What is with this Brice character getting married and I haven’t heard a word from him yet, tell him that he’s not married yet and still needs to take time for me and write me a letter. Mom you are awesome to help Joe like that! That kind of service is sharing the Gospel and if we want to be saved in the Celestial Kingdom, we must share the Gospel. You’re awesome Mom!!! I love all of you, "keep on keepin on"!
Elder Hendrix
Ps: oh ya, wow it’s been a whole year, crazy!
We had a great week. We didn’t get to teach a ton with transfers and some other stuff, but we are seeing such great progress with the people in this area. Ya know I don’t know if it is just a mission but, if you are obedient, diligent and have faith, you see so many stinkin little miracles it’s crazy. We are seeing so many people doing such great things, it’s fun to see, it makes me want to see more, I think I’m feeling a little greedy. We are teaching a family, i told you about last week, the K family. The kids came to church this week, they loved it! Mom is going to come but she has a crazy work schedule and she is just going to have to dig down deep, toughen up and come to church. We have been working with another family the entire last transfer, the B family. The grandma and Son have been at church 4 weeks in a row, and we are teaching 4 of her grandkids (that are her sons kids) and they all want to get baptized and come to church. Before we even taught them the kids were doing "bible study" with the gospel principles manual, they are fun to teach. Then we had another brother in the branch, Bro S. He has been less-active for a while and he came to church this week. Then a man we have really come to love, Bro S has come 4 weeks in a row and missionaries have been trying to get him to come for a long time. He’s a great guy, he has some type of mental health issues, he is super OCD, and just lacks a lot of self-confidence, but Elder Morris and I have spent a lot of time with him, and we have grown to love him. He’s really funny, one time we decided to help him clean his house (it’s a wreck). He loves to read, and has like a thousand books, but one of his books looked like it had been through a hurricane, fire, tornado, and his dog but he would not let us throw it away, so we kept that one. But when he isn’t looking we will throw away stuff like newspapers from 10 years ago and Watchtower magazines (it’s a Jehovah witness magazine), if he is looking we can’t throw anything away. He absolutely LOVES Glen Beck, so we brought a cd about his conversion and listened to it with him. So ya things are going well, I’m excited i didn’t even want to have P-day I’m ready to go out and work, but i do like P-day. Oh ya, so I’m still with Elder Morris....and Elder Tran, it’s his last transfer. We are in a trio, trio's kinda stink, they are hard so there is lots to learn. It’s funny, I’m white, Morris is black, and Tran is Chinese (he’s not from china, he’s from New York). It’s funny though, we just need a Hispanic and we got it all covered. We also took on a new area because there used to be two companionship's in the Thomaston branch, but next transfer they will bring in another set. Mom no i didn’t get your talk yet, and yes i would love some more pictures. How are Grandpa and Grandma doing? Will you give them a birthday present from me,….., thanks. Tell Darren to tear it up for me (skiing), Dad should get him a pass to Targhee. You did tell me that Cody and Avery had their baby. Tell the Spence family I said hello, also can you tell me what the Russon family’s address is? What is with this Brice character getting married and I haven’t heard a word from him yet, tell him that he’s not married yet and still needs to take time for me and write me a letter. Mom you are awesome to help Joe like that! That kind of service is sharing the Gospel and if we want to be saved in the Celestial Kingdom, we must share the Gospel. You’re awesome Mom!!! I love all of you, "keep on keepin on"!
Elder Hendrix
Ps: oh ya, wow it’s been a whole year, crazy!
Monday, October 31, 2011
October 31, 2011
Family,
Hello to you all, it’s getting kinda cold now, i like it. Happy Halloween. We had a great week, good things are happening. We haven’t given anyone a date yet but we had some come to church and we are teaching a lot of people right now, we will see how committed they are, but we are excited. We are teaching one family, a single mother with 4 kids, and she is just a great lady. She is really struggling because she has to do everything by herself, it’s really sad to see, but single mothers are the norm around here. She really wants to get closer with her Savior and know the truth, but there is just a lot of stuff going on in her life right now, pray for her, her name is Cheryl. Her kids came to church on Sunday, and they loved it. We have been having lots of success working with Less-active members. We went to visit a member who had been offended a couple weeks ago and said that he wasn’t going to ever come to church again. We went with our Branch mission leader, when we first pulled up you could tell that the brother did not want to talk to us but our Branch mission leader is really awesome, good with people so he let us in. He was still upset throughout most of the lesson, but i think he felt our love and true concern for his welfare, and we did care about him that’s why we visited him we were worried about him. At the end of his visit and after another great visit he has decided that he will come back to church and that he needs to go talk with the Branch president. I thought about the timing and attitude of our visit. You see he had only stopped coming for 3 weeks, but i think that if we would have waited for months, which is usually what happens, then his bitterness would have grown until his heart would have been too hard to reach. His heart was still tender and he was still close enough to the spirit to allow it to work in him, with more time he would have gone farther and farther away from that true spirit. As i thought about that i decided that i will always strive to bring quickly back those who have fallen away, that they may know that we love them. In the parable of the Lost sheep I’m sure the Savior meant, that the Shepard would drop all and go find immediately. You cannot do missionary work without love, and when i think of love i think of whole hearted service, which i do not give, but i sure hope to learn how to. Everything is going good, I will most likely have a new companion next week this Wednesday is transfers so hopefully I’m still here. I love you all so much, every time I read a letter from family I just get this grin on my face and tell my companion "don’t you just love your family" thanks for all of your letters, and don’t ever apologize for not writing more, I am more than pleased with how much y'all write me, I need to apologize, i never write anyone. Y'all are the best!
Elder Hendrix
Hello to you all, it’s getting kinda cold now, i like it. Happy Halloween. We had a great week, good things are happening. We haven’t given anyone a date yet but we had some come to church and we are teaching a lot of people right now, we will see how committed they are, but we are excited. We are teaching one family, a single mother with 4 kids, and she is just a great lady. She is really struggling because she has to do everything by herself, it’s really sad to see, but single mothers are the norm around here. She really wants to get closer with her Savior and know the truth, but there is just a lot of stuff going on in her life right now, pray for her, her name is Cheryl. Her kids came to church on Sunday, and they loved it. We have been having lots of success working with Less-active members. We went to visit a member who had been offended a couple weeks ago and said that he wasn’t going to ever come to church again. We went with our Branch mission leader, when we first pulled up you could tell that the brother did not want to talk to us but our Branch mission leader is really awesome, good with people so he let us in. He was still upset throughout most of the lesson, but i think he felt our love and true concern for his welfare, and we did care about him that’s why we visited him we were worried about him. At the end of his visit and after another great visit he has decided that he will come back to church and that he needs to go talk with the Branch president. I thought about the timing and attitude of our visit. You see he had only stopped coming for 3 weeks, but i think that if we would have waited for months, which is usually what happens, then his bitterness would have grown until his heart would have been too hard to reach. His heart was still tender and he was still close enough to the spirit to allow it to work in him, with more time he would have gone farther and farther away from that true spirit. As i thought about that i decided that i will always strive to bring quickly back those who have fallen away, that they may know that we love them. In the parable of the Lost sheep I’m sure the Savior meant, that the Shepard would drop all and go find immediately. You cannot do missionary work without love, and when i think of love i think of whole hearted service, which i do not give, but i sure hope to learn how to. Everything is going good, I will most likely have a new companion next week this Wednesday is transfers so hopefully I’m still here. I love you all so much, every time I read a letter from family I just get this grin on my face and tell my companion "don’t you just love your family" thanks for all of your letters, and don’t ever apologize for not writing more, I am more than pleased with how much y'all write me, I need to apologize, i never write anyone. Y'all are the best!
Elder Hendrix
Monday, October 24, 2011
October 24, 2011
Family,
Ya know E-mail time for missionaries on Monday morning is very interesting; some missionaries live and die for it. Some have to have 2-3 hours. Some e-mail tons of their friends and some only one person and it’s just a funny time of the week. Me i don’t get all that excited about it, but every time I read and e-mail from home it just puts a smile on my face. Ya know we had an awesome week, A couple people told me that they had been thinking about me a lot this week and praying for me. I needed that and I felt extra strength this week, i really did. Thank you for your prayers and letters and packages!!!!!!! Well the work here is really just going so well, even though we don’t have anyone on date to be baptized and we don’t really have any investigators that are progressing. But lives are changing, we are being directed by the spirit and good work is being done for sure. I’m really excited about the work. I have learned a good lesson these last couple weeks. When we serve God with all of our heart, and commit ourselves to be improved repenting constantly God blesses us. It sounds simple but it’s so profound, because it’s hard to do that sometimes, we have to struggle and suffer to receive the blessings of Christ’s atonement. That is a really cool story, about Brother Robinson, way to go missionaries. Thanks for the package we enjoyed it, thanks for the GPS!! We got the Pizza too, we were way surprised, when someone knocks on a missionaries door and 9:45 at night, it could be anyone, but we didn’t think it would be a pizza girl, tell dad i gave her a "nice tip". Sounds like everyone is doing good, I’m glad y'all had a good time playing crud, did the win stay in the family? Well sorry I’m so short but everything is going well, nothing too exciting is going on, except I am learning so much about the gospel and about myself. I hope you are all doing good missionary work, Kari what you can do if you’re not doing anything right now. Grandma sent me a good quote about missionary work, I’ll send that. Tell that punk Brice to e-mail me so that I know what’s going on with him, i miss him. The gospel is so great! I love you all, wish us luck.
Elder Hendrix
Julie,
You make me laugh! How did you get so funny! I can’t believe dad and Darren didn’t even invite you to go hunting! I want to let you know that i love you even though you are crazy, well not really.....actually for sure...big time crazy!
Darren,
You’re the man! I can still wup you though, but we’ll have to see when i get back i guess. I aint scared. Love you too!
Ya know E-mail time for missionaries on Monday morning is very interesting; some missionaries live and die for it. Some have to have 2-3 hours. Some e-mail tons of their friends and some only one person and it’s just a funny time of the week. Me i don’t get all that excited about it, but every time I read and e-mail from home it just puts a smile on my face. Ya know we had an awesome week, A couple people told me that they had been thinking about me a lot this week and praying for me. I needed that and I felt extra strength this week, i really did. Thank you for your prayers and letters and packages!!!!!!! Well the work here is really just going so well, even though we don’t have anyone on date to be baptized and we don’t really have any investigators that are progressing. But lives are changing, we are being directed by the spirit and good work is being done for sure. I’m really excited about the work. I have learned a good lesson these last couple weeks. When we serve God with all of our heart, and commit ourselves to be improved repenting constantly God blesses us. It sounds simple but it’s so profound, because it’s hard to do that sometimes, we have to struggle and suffer to receive the blessings of Christ’s atonement. That is a really cool story, about Brother Robinson, way to go missionaries. Thanks for the package we enjoyed it, thanks for the GPS!! We got the Pizza too, we were way surprised, when someone knocks on a missionaries door and 9:45 at night, it could be anyone, but we didn’t think it would be a pizza girl, tell dad i gave her a "nice tip". Sounds like everyone is doing good, I’m glad y'all had a good time playing crud, did the win stay in the family? Well sorry I’m so short but everything is going well, nothing too exciting is going on, except I am learning so much about the gospel and about myself. I hope you are all doing good missionary work, Kari what you can do if you’re not doing anything right now. Grandma sent me a good quote about missionary work, I’ll send that. Tell that punk Brice to e-mail me so that I know what’s going on with him, i miss him. The gospel is so great! I love you all, wish us luck.
Elder Hendrix
Julie,
You make me laugh! How did you get so funny! I can’t believe dad and Darren didn’t even invite you to go hunting! I want to let you know that i love you even though you are crazy, well not really.....actually for sure...big time crazy!
Darren,
You’re the man! I can still wup you though, but we’ll have to see when i get back i guess. I aint scared. Love you too!
Monday, October 17, 2011
October 17, 2011
Family,
Everything is just great. I have been very humbled this last week, and i hate that! Ya know when the Lord just shows you how weak you really are, but i guess it’s good. We had a slow week and we just haven’t seen many fruits from our labors yet since we have been here. There are so many people who need what we have but they just won’t take it, or we just don’t know how to give it to them, i don’t know. But this next week is lining up to be a good week, today on our way into the library we found a guy that we had taught only once, and it was a great lesson, he really is looking for something and is in serious need, but after we taught him we lost him and couldn’t find him until like 30 min ago, so we are about to have a seriously good week!!
Mom just a little bit of my thoughts on the Book of Mormon. I have been specifically interested the last couple of days in Mormon ch 8: 33-34 (I’m not actually positive on the verses), it is where Mormon says that he as "seen our day....and he knows our doing...Christ has shown you unto me", that is a powerful thing. He put into the Book of Mormon everything that is in there, he knew that it was going to be brought forth in our day and that it would need to apply to our needs, and he knew exactly what we were going to go through. What got me started thinking about this was E. Andersons talk in the Oct ensign, he talks about how the Book of Mormon was written for our day and he quotes that scripture. In preparing for your talk you should look at Ch 5 of preach my gospel. I know that I absolutely loved reading the book of Mormon during president Satterfield’s challenge, I came to understand more than I ever had before how it is so much for our day, and how full it is of doctrine that can apply to many different challenges. I know that it had a huge effect upon the character of our missionaries, our faith throughout the mission increased dramatically. But you should E-mail Sis Satterfield if the bishop wants you to talk about the reading challenge, ask her what affect it had on our mission?
Well i love you all so much, and I do miss y'all, I am so grateful for my family and friends. Please pray extra hard for me this week that I can be stronger in the Lords service, and pray that we can find and teach with power, those who God is preparing. Thank you
E. Hendrix
Julie,
You are so awesome, I’m sorry i haven’t sent your Tape recorder yet, I hope I’m not in too much trouble, i will send it soon. How is school going? I can’t believe you are almost 9. Are you in 3rd grade? What is your favorite thing about volleyball (except that Mr. Rapp is your coach)? How are the 49ers doing, how is Patrick Willis doing? What are you asking Santa for Christmas? You should go hunting with Dad this year, he would love to take you. I love you!
E. Hendrix
Ps. your.......to be continued
Everything is just great. I have been very humbled this last week, and i hate that! Ya know when the Lord just shows you how weak you really are, but i guess it’s good. We had a slow week and we just haven’t seen many fruits from our labors yet since we have been here. There are so many people who need what we have but they just won’t take it, or we just don’t know how to give it to them, i don’t know. But this next week is lining up to be a good week, today on our way into the library we found a guy that we had taught only once, and it was a great lesson, he really is looking for something and is in serious need, but after we taught him we lost him and couldn’t find him until like 30 min ago, so we are about to have a seriously good week!!
Mom just a little bit of my thoughts on the Book of Mormon. I have been specifically interested the last couple of days in Mormon ch 8: 33-34 (I’m not actually positive on the verses), it is where Mormon says that he as "seen our day....and he knows our doing...Christ has shown you unto me", that is a powerful thing. He put into the Book of Mormon everything that is in there, he knew that it was going to be brought forth in our day and that it would need to apply to our needs, and he knew exactly what we were going to go through. What got me started thinking about this was E. Andersons talk in the Oct ensign, he talks about how the Book of Mormon was written for our day and he quotes that scripture. In preparing for your talk you should look at Ch 5 of preach my gospel. I know that I absolutely loved reading the book of Mormon during president Satterfield’s challenge, I came to understand more than I ever had before how it is so much for our day, and how full it is of doctrine that can apply to many different challenges. I know that it had a huge effect upon the character of our missionaries, our faith throughout the mission increased dramatically. But you should E-mail Sis Satterfield if the bishop wants you to talk about the reading challenge, ask her what affect it had on our mission?
Well i love you all so much, and I do miss y'all, I am so grateful for my family and friends. Please pray extra hard for me this week that I can be stronger in the Lords service, and pray that we can find and teach with power, those who God is preparing. Thank you
E. Hendrix
Julie,
You are so awesome, I’m sorry i haven’t sent your Tape recorder yet, I hope I’m not in too much trouble, i will send it soon. How is school going? I can’t believe you are almost 9. Are you in 3rd grade? What is your favorite thing about volleyball (except that Mr. Rapp is your coach)? How are the 49ers doing, how is Patrick Willis doing? What are you asking Santa for Christmas? You should go hunting with Dad this year, he would love to take you. I love you!
E. Hendrix
Ps. your.......to be continued
Monday, October 10, 2011
October 10, 2011
Family,
Well sounds like everything is going good with you guys. Dad you lucky bugger! We had a really good week, we still haven’t found anyone who is really progressing, but we sure do see miracles every day, truly they happen every day. Our weather is great, it is beautiful, i cant wait till all of the trees change colors, I’ll take some good pics and send them, but the weather is really nice. I don’t miss living in the city, but i do miss that area a bit, i talked to E. Landsaw the other day and lots of good things are going on over there right now, some of the people we were working with are doing really well, so that is exciting, but Thomaston is really great too, i enjoy the southern country folks. You get to meet some real good people. We are teaching a lot, just we are trying to find people to teach who are willing to keep commitments and come to church, but this week we have some appointments and families that we are excited about.
So we just heard about this guy who said we are a cult yesterday. I don’t think it has a negative effect on the work, especially because it came from what sounds like a looney, it gets people curious, and since mormon.org is everywhere people are visiting that site more and more regularly. Here in the Atlanta area the church is doing a "media blitz" so there are big billboards and TV commercials, I’ve already seen 2 on TV and we don’t watch TV. I think it probably hurts Mitt now, but in the long run i think it helps missionary work. I don’t know, most people who will believe what that guy says are people who already have ideas about us that are similar to his, but people who have no negative ideas are just going to be curious about us. Even with the Election being a year away we get quite a few comments about it, when people see us they will just start talking about how they like Mitt or they are voting for him so then they go off about politics and of course we have no idea what is going on, but ya know it’s really great that the church understood how powerful the media was long before any of us did, because now they are prepared to share our message the way that most people obtain information, it was revelation to our prophets I’m sure. You guys need to get familiar with mormon.org if you aren’t already. You should get on it and check it out for FHE or something.
Last night we had a great experience. So Sunday evening can be a tough evening, you’re at the end of the week and we had no appointments, so that excitement and fire is just dimmer than other times. I was tempted to slacken my might if you will, but i realized that my attitude was not in harmony with Christ’s, so i made the decision to give it all i had for the rest of that evening. During the course of the next couple hours we found a new family to teach, had great lesson with a less-active lady who really needed the encouragement and had one of the most spiritual lessons i have ever had with one of our investigators. He does not believe in God, which is very very rare in Thomaston! I had the experience where you gain (strengthen) your testimony in the bearing of it. And as it teaching is D&C: if you teach with the spirit both the teacher and student will be edified and you will rejoice together. I had the opportunity to bear a pure testimony of our Heavenly Father, that He lives and the He has a plan for us. And we really saw a change in this young man, I felt so good, and i was thankful for the experience because it taught me a powerful lesson. That my purpose as a missionary is to dedicate my time to the service of God, and if we truly dedicate ourselves, we will be blessed beyond our understanding. I didn’t ever think about or know that my testimony was going to be strengthened if I would give my best effort, I just knew that is what God wanted me to do, and then he blessed me with what I needed. Sounds like you all are doing well it is great to hear. I love you all, stay good.
E. Hendrix
Well sounds like everything is going good with you guys. Dad you lucky bugger! We had a really good week, we still haven’t found anyone who is really progressing, but we sure do see miracles every day, truly they happen every day. Our weather is great, it is beautiful, i cant wait till all of the trees change colors, I’ll take some good pics and send them, but the weather is really nice. I don’t miss living in the city, but i do miss that area a bit, i talked to E. Landsaw the other day and lots of good things are going on over there right now, some of the people we were working with are doing really well, so that is exciting, but Thomaston is really great too, i enjoy the southern country folks. You get to meet some real good people. We are teaching a lot, just we are trying to find people to teach who are willing to keep commitments and come to church, but this week we have some appointments and families that we are excited about.
So we just heard about this guy who said we are a cult yesterday. I don’t think it has a negative effect on the work, especially because it came from what sounds like a looney, it gets people curious, and since mormon.org is everywhere people are visiting that site more and more regularly. Here in the Atlanta area the church is doing a "media blitz" so there are big billboards and TV commercials, I’ve already seen 2 on TV and we don’t watch TV. I think it probably hurts Mitt now, but in the long run i think it helps missionary work. I don’t know, most people who will believe what that guy says are people who already have ideas about us that are similar to his, but people who have no negative ideas are just going to be curious about us. Even with the Election being a year away we get quite a few comments about it, when people see us they will just start talking about how they like Mitt or they are voting for him so then they go off about politics and of course we have no idea what is going on, but ya know it’s really great that the church understood how powerful the media was long before any of us did, because now they are prepared to share our message the way that most people obtain information, it was revelation to our prophets I’m sure. You guys need to get familiar with mormon.org if you aren’t already. You should get on it and check it out for FHE or something.
Last night we had a great experience. So Sunday evening can be a tough evening, you’re at the end of the week and we had no appointments, so that excitement and fire is just dimmer than other times. I was tempted to slacken my might if you will, but i realized that my attitude was not in harmony with Christ’s, so i made the decision to give it all i had for the rest of that evening. During the course of the next couple hours we found a new family to teach, had great lesson with a less-active lady who really needed the encouragement and had one of the most spiritual lessons i have ever had with one of our investigators. He does not believe in God, which is very very rare in Thomaston! I had the experience where you gain (strengthen) your testimony in the bearing of it. And as it teaching is D&C: if you teach with the spirit both the teacher and student will be edified and you will rejoice together. I had the opportunity to bear a pure testimony of our Heavenly Father, that He lives and the He has a plan for us. And we really saw a change in this young man, I felt so good, and i was thankful for the experience because it taught me a powerful lesson. That my purpose as a missionary is to dedicate my time to the service of God, and if we truly dedicate ourselves, we will be blessed beyond our understanding. I didn’t ever think about or know that my testimony was going to be strengthened if I would give my best effort, I just knew that is what God wanted me to do, and then he blessed me with what I needed. Sounds like you all are doing well it is great to hear. I love you all, stay good.
E. Hendrix
Monday, September 26, 2011
September 26, 2011
Family,
Great week! I only was able to e-mail some of the pictures i wanted to, sorry I’ll do it next week and i will send a package soon too with the tape recorder and maybe more pictures, also Mom i love your longer e-mails, don’t feel like you are taking up too much time by writing longer e-mails i love reading your e-mails. I am glad that you talked with Sis Shoemaker, i really want to know how they are doing, i talked to someone yesterday who is in their ward and it sounds like they are doing well, i hope to hear from them soon, let them know i would love to hear from them. O boy that is crazy to think of Dave as a papa, give him my best, in fact get his e-mail for me or give him mine i ought to write him. Well I am now serving in Thomaston, GA and it is "Cuuuuuuntry", every single person i have met has a strong southern accent, it’s a great area though, the Branch just got a new building (Yesterday was the first sacrament meeting in the building) so lots of people who haven’t been coming for a while are coming back, and because the whole town goes to church somewhere; when a new church gets built everyone knows about it. So we are excited, very excited. My companion is Elder Morris, he is from Mesquite, NV. He’s great, he is a really good baseball player, a pitcher, and he throws mid 90, so we are going to go play some catch today. He’s a really good missionary too, has been out for 18 months. We have had a pretty good week so far we don’t have any investigators who are progressing right now, but we have had some good experiences. The first person we talked to on Wed. met with us on Sat night and we had a great lesson, he has desires to know if what we are talking about is true and is really interested in reading the Book of Mormon. He is also real excited about hearing Gen Conference, and so am I. I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE! I have also learned a lesson just in the past couple days, it’s amazing how fast the Lord can teach you through the spirit. I came to understand deeper the reality of God, if we put his promises to the test He always delivers. My problem is that i try to figure out God before i trust him, and that is just not how it is, i guess it doesn't build faith. I read Luke 6:35-37 today and that is a really good scripture, Mom read it and tell me what you think about it. Well i sure do love the heck out of Y'all, thanks for your prayers!
Elder Hendrix
Great week! I only was able to e-mail some of the pictures i wanted to, sorry I’ll do it next week and i will send a package soon too with the tape recorder and maybe more pictures, also Mom i love your longer e-mails, don’t feel like you are taking up too much time by writing longer e-mails i love reading your e-mails. I am glad that you talked with Sis Shoemaker, i really want to know how they are doing, i talked to someone yesterday who is in their ward and it sounds like they are doing well, i hope to hear from them soon, let them know i would love to hear from them. O boy that is crazy to think of Dave as a papa, give him my best, in fact get his e-mail for me or give him mine i ought to write him. Well I am now serving in Thomaston, GA and it is "Cuuuuuuntry", every single person i have met has a strong southern accent, it’s a great area though, the Branch just got a new building (Yesterday was the first sacrament meeting in the building) so lots of people who haven’t been coming for a while are coming back, and because the whole town goes to church somewhere; when a new church gets built everyone knows about it. So we are excited, very excited. My companion is Elder Morris, he is from Mesquite, NV. He’s great, he is a really good baseball player, a pitcher, and he throws mid 90, so we are going to go play some catch today. He’s a really good missionary too, has been out for 18 months. We have had a pretty good week so far we don’t have any investigators who are progressing right now, but we have had some good experiences. The first person we talked to on Wed. met with us on Sat night and we had a great lesson, he has desires to know if what we are talking about is true and is really interested in reading the Book of Mormon. He is also real excited about hearing Gen Conference, and so am I. I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE! I have also learned a lesson just in the past couple days, it’s amazing how fast the Lord can teach you through the spirit. I came to understand deeper the reality of God, if we put his promises to the test He always delivers. My problem is that i try to figure out God before i trust him, and that is just not how it is, i guess it doesn't build faith. I read Luke 6:35-37 today and that is a really good scripture, Mom read it and tell me what you think about it. Well i sure do love the heck out of Y'all, thanks for your prayers!
Elder Hendrix
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Sept. 22nd (Photos)
Family,
(Above) Elder Hendrix at Turner Field at 755 Hank Aaron Dr. Home of the Atlanta Braves. I (Scott) love the address because Hank Aaron hit 755 home runs to become the Home Run Leader.
(Below) Elder Hendrix next to Hank Aarons number 44 at Turner Field.
(Above) Elder Hendrix is the white one. He has been described as an obedient missionary.. and if that hairdo doesn't prove it... I don't know what will.
(Below) Elder Hendrix with his Elder Homies looking tough with the ATL lights in the Background.
Monday, September 12, 2011
September 12, 2011
Family,
Well things are going well for us in Atlanta. We had a great week we found a lot of new people to teach, and some people we are working with finally found jobs. They were all tested a lot while waiting for jobs, i mean they were tested to their limits but they exercised faith and the Lord blessed them with what they needed, and each one of them had their testimonies and faith strengthened. I feel like i have learned a lot about that very principle out here. You know like they say, if you’re comfortable then you’re probably vulnerable. It’s a blessing to have trials, i was listening to a talk from a past conference and it talked about how we can know that we are on the right path if we are constantly being tested, of course our real indicator depends on how faithful we remain during those trials. Faith only grows when we exercise it and we exercise faith when we are pushed to our limits. You know it’s not about being who WE think we should be, but it’s about trying to be who the Lord wants us to be. That’s why "pray and read your scriptures" is so essential (the most essential) without those how could we come to know God and His will. It’s great to hear that the family is doing so well i love to hear from you. Thanks for the sports updates :). I can’t tell you how much i love you all, i often think about how much i look forward to our future as a family spending time together. Mom and Dad you’re the best. You know i don’t have any cool stories or anything but I want you to know that my mission is strengthening my testimony greatly, and It is helping me to build my character, It is the perfect place to learn selfless service and that is something i really want to be a part of my character. Thanks for your support, i would not be out her on a mission without your righteous examples and pure love for me. I am (and every person i am blessed to effect on my mission), blessed because of my Christ like family....Remember the night in St. George! One Love!!
Elder Hendrix
ps: "one love" is a strong "I Love You", in the hood.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
September 6, 2011
Family,
(I’ll send some pictures). The spirit was out of this world! Right after the ordinance him and i were changing he was talking about how he needed to start saving up his 10 grand for his mission, and how he really wanted to come out to Idaho and Utah to go snowboarding, Idaho would blow his mind, he would feel like an alien. The bishop was welcoming him to the ward at the end of baptism and talked about how "the missionaries will walk with you through eternity" and that really hit me of the magnitude of the experience we have had together, and how this relationship will only become more and more special as time goes on. But the work is not over we are doing all that we can to make sure that he remains active because he is still very vulnerable where he lives and just how new he is to the gospel, so we are going to bother the ward endlessly till he is really active in the ward, in fact he’s at a ward picnic right now. He has been coming out with us on teaching appointments and he loves it, but i think we love it more. The work is going well, lots of room to improve but that is always the case. I have been learning so much lately by the spirit, nothing is more fulfilling than learning spiritual truths, and living the things that your learn or already know. Obedience is great. I love you all!
Elder Hendrix
Monday, August 29, 2011
August 29, 2011
Family,
Well I’m just really in a good mood. Our last week was great and I’ll tell you about it in a second. But to mom’s questions: Ask that Elder where he is from and what ward he’s in, tell him I’m in Atlanta, in the Atlanta ward. It has been getting cooler in the mornings and evenings, it’s not as humid lately, but it was 100 on Saturday. We haven’t felt the Hurricane at all. Zone stuff doesn’t really interfere with our teaching or work at all. I did send pictures; i put them in the mail on Friday i think. I love your question about teaching mom. We don’t have a ton of investigators that we are actively teaching, some days we may only teach 1-2 lessons, but really that’s our fault, we just need to take more opportunities, and be more effective in our use of time. But teaching is by far my favorite aspect of missionary work. There really is nothing like sitting down with someone and focusing on what God wants them to know, and being able to deliver that message to them in a way that they understand it, or in a way that it affects their feelings. If it’s a good spiritual lesson it is a very intense experience, but it feels so good to teach by the spirit. You should invite the missionaries to come over and teach you the first Lesson, make sure Julie and Darren are there, I’m sure the missionaries will do it. And it’s always interesting and challenging (in a good way) to learn how to teach with your companion, because we all teach differently. Sometimes it takes a while but sometimes it works right from the beginning, with Wunderli we had the same teaching style and it worked out well, Sly and I though, were all over the place at first but we really were able to figure things out, so teaching is really awesome, i love it. We have some great people that we are teaching and that is why I was so excited about this past week. First of all, the young Kid that we are teaching that grew up on the streets is getting baptized today, and he asked me to baptize him so I am really excited and feel it a special privilege for sure. I love that kid so much, i have learned more about the Love of God by seeing his journey than i have with any other experience in my life. It is comforting to see how much God is a part of our lives and how much he wants us to have what we truly desire. His story is amazing but it’s because he was willing to "go and do". We also got a referral from Mormon.org (that website has boosted missionary work in an absolutely ridiculous way since they changed it up last January, go visit it, it allows each one of us to do missionary work.). But it’s a young couple, who used to go to church in Samoa, and they are living here trying to find some work and they have been eating up everything that we have taught them. They are going to be baptized on Sept 11, and they are super excited for it, and they are such funny people. I feel like we have laughed more that we have taught with them. We also had Elder Clarke of the 70 come to our Zone Conference this last week, he really gave us some good instruction, it excited me. I felt like his instruction was tailored specifically for me, he is a really intense guy! I love the mission, it’s such a great experience, I’m so glad to hear of all the missionaries in our ward right now. By the way how is Y'alls missionary work going, i mean everyone in my family. I sure hope that your mindful everyday of missionary opportunities, easy for me to say but it is really important. With all of the commotion in the world right now, people need to see how calm we as faithful followers of Jesus Christ are in the future. I love you all so much, Send pictures sorry I’m so slow, hey mom send me a new card for my camera will ya, I’ll send more pics from tonight. I love ya all.
Elder Hendrix
Julie,
Hey there fella, sorry I haven’t written to you forever, i was glad to hear from you. Are you starting 3rd Grade? You’re getting old, i remember my third grade teacher, Mr. Hansen he was cool, ask Brice about him cuz he was in my class in 3rd grade. Don’t worry hurricane Irene is far away. I haven’t recorded anything yet, sorry i will now though i loved listening to what you had to say on it, I’ll send it back, do i need to send the whole thing back or just the Tape? Tell Joneichae and Jaden hello for me, and tell Joneichae that she is Crazy, like you! I love cookie monsters club, i think you should send me something yall make, ok. I love the Articles of faith; do you know why Joseph Smith wrote those down? that’s you homework for this week, ask Dad why and tell me in your next e-mail. Don’t have any boyfriends they are just trouble. Tell Darren that you love him every day, and also tell him to write me an e-mail too. I love you i can’t believe you’re so old, almost 9....wow....and you’re still a big crazy face!!
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