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.