the Doctrine of Christ is so Amazing!

Family,

Hey sorry I’m so late!! Cant tell you how busy this weekend has been. First of all HAPPY B-DAY Julie. Cant wait to have your party on Thursday!! When yall come pick me up bring your jackets if it is cold outside.

Well a little update on Laura... She decided that she wants to be baptized tomorrow, so we are going to have a baptismal service for her. She is amazing! She has had a tough time, Satan is working hard against her, but through faith she has seen miracles. It is the best thing in the world to see someone start to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The Gospel of Jesus Christ (The Doctrine of Christ) is so amazing! This last week has been so busy, but so rewarding. I have never had companions I loved more and enjoyed working with more than Elder Morrill and Elder Forbush, they are committed, humble and loving men. Cant wait to see you in a few!

(for the last time) Elder Hendrix

MY LAST EMAIL!!

Family,

Hello! I guess this will probably be my last e-mail, that is weird to imagine!

That will be fun to have so many freshly returned missionaries so close together! I am excited to see many great friends but One thing I would like for sure is to have some "Just family time" that night at the house.

Well this last week had been good, we have really made some strides in setting ourselves up for success. We did teach Laura and she is doing well. She will be baptized on the 17th, so I will miss the ordinance. I actually haven't been to the lessons that we have had with her because its just hard having 3 missionaries, another guy she doesn't know and her best friend sitting down to teach her, so I have gone out and visited other people while Elder Morrill and Elder Forbush have taught her.

I want to share with you a principle that I have learned a lot about recently. I have been pondering and applying Obedience in my life more diligently. Honestly I feel ashamed to say this, but I have learned a lot about obedience in my mission and I feel like I get it now, which i know is pretty bad timing. It all started a few months ago when Grandma Workman wrote me a letter reminding me of something that Grandpa told me before I left. He essentially said "you know your on the right track when you are looking for more rules/commandments to obey", instead of looking for ones that you don't have to obey. That is so True! Someone who lives that way would be someone who lives the doctrine of Christ and thus will be filled with the peace, joy and love that comes through the Holy Ghost. Matt 5:48 is a great scripture; in my own scriptures I added some words so that it read like this; "be ye therefore perfect(ly obedient), even as I, or your Father who is in Heaven is perfect(ly obedient)". God says that his "Honor" is his where he gets his power from, because he cannot lie or disobey, he wont do it. To access the atonement we must repent, that is the only way to be cleansed of sin. What we are repenting of is disobedience from Gods commandments. When we exercise faith, we are becoming more obedient. When we make covenants with God, it is a solemn commitment to be obedient to him. Thus the 2nd article of faith "we believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to laws and ordinances of The Gospel". As we obey we are promised the companionship of the Holy Ghost, which cleanses us and brings us peace and joy beyond anything we could create on our own. So in essence obedience is the Key to happiness and power! Pretty pathetic that it took me so long to figure that out, but I'm sure glad I did. And I have seen, what I just described actually happen! We should all, each day, look for opportunities to follow Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Father more closely. Feeling the spirit in scripture study, prayer and church activity/service is the key to keeping ourselves "on the right path". The Gospel is true and I cant wait to see you all in just 10 days, wow I cant believe this journey is so close to being over. This has been the best two years for my life. I would not be true if I did not thank you, my family, for setting such a great example when I was lost! The Lord opened my eyes, through your examples (ALL OF YOU!), so that I could see his plan for my life. I am eternally indebted to you for this experience and the blessings that will flow from it forever. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I Love you all!! See you soon.




Elder Jeffery Dan Hendrix

THE ONLY WAY!

Family,

Well this was a great week! We aren't getting the storm, but we are getting a bunch of cold weather because of it. But I know that yall are getting even more because i saw some pictures of the snow. The BYU game was fun to watch and the missionaries behaved pretty well. It was cool because we went with the attitude that We are representing the Lord at this event in front of thousands of people.

We had a fantastic week! We had a visit from a guy from SLC. He taught us so much and I just wish I had more time to apply it. He taught us alot about the Doctrine of Christ and It kinda opened my eyes to a new perspective. That Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism (or covenant making), receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring faithfully to the end, is THE ONLY WAY. It is amazing how plain and pure and precious the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. We will talk about it when we get home. God is real and he had called us to serve his children.

We had a girl come to church this week who wants to be baptized, he name is Laura, we are teaching her for the first time tomorrow. I love you all!!! Keep being such great saints!

Elder Hendrix

New Companion Elder Morrill:)

Family,

Hey sorry no e-mail yesterday! We are having a visit from one of the guys from the missionary department Tracy Watson (He spent time with Garrett in Ghana so he probably knows who he is). He is the director of proselyting for the church and he is amazing!! Anyway we met with him all day yesterday so we didn’t e-mail. Thanks for the birthday gift mom!!! You are the Best!!!

We are going to the BYU game, so look for us on TV. Tell the Coopers to find us, it shouldn’t be hard there are going to be 80 missionaries at the game. Hey ask him if he is going to be tailgating before the game. If he is e-mail me back as soon as you can and give me Pres Coopers number. I know that sounds crazy but ill run it by the president before I call, but Bro Watson gave us some awesome Finding Ideas yesterday and we are trying to use them.

We got a new companion on Sunday. Since Elder Forbush and I leave so soon we decided we needed to bring in someone new so he could have more experience before we both leave. His name is Elder Morrill, he is from Texas, so I get to make fun of Texas (the state) and Texas A&M, he went to school there. We have become great friends out here because he is just a stellar guy, and a great missionary. He has the exact same story that I do, he is older too, and fell away pretty hard after high school. So we have helped one another a lot because we can understand one another so well. Anyway he is awesome and I’m sure we will stay in contact after the mission, but he has like 9 months left in his mission.

Lastly Elder Fishers wedding was moved up to this Saturday. So I wont be going to the wedding. But we should go to Grandmas still. I loved Julie's Picture with D-bo's deer, that was awesome. A guy in our bishopric told me that Darren met his daughter. He mom is actually a Hendrix (or her mom was a Hendrix) and there ancestors come from Lund NV, Crazy huh!

The Gospel is so True!! The Spirit is so awesome and true. It is completely consistent and the men that lead this church are so inspired!

Elder Hendrix

GA Tech here we come!!!

Family,

Haha, that story was AWESOME Julie. Tell Darren that I’m proud of him, and also that when I get home I will teach him how to shoot, and tell him not to ask Brad! That was the best e-mail I have ever received on my mission :). Julie, you and I will have to go Hunting when I get home.

Mom you are the best. The wedding is in the SLC Temple. I would love to have a slumber party at Grandma and Grandpa's house and stay till Sunday and Go to Mandi's farewell! That sounds like fun. Talk to Pres Fuller and set up a time to be released on the 15th. It would be nice to be released before we go down to Utah. How was your Elk Hunt? Did you buy me anything?

Well this week went by very fast. It was a very busy week, this week was suppose to be a week that was less busy, but I’m sure the Lord didn’t want us being Idol, so He gave us plenty to do. It was a hard week, because we spent a lot of time dealing with issues with missionaries making mistakes and one having health problems and had to go home, which is never fun to see. Ill tell you what though, I have started reading the Book of Mormon front to finish before I go home, its 15 pages a day, and the Book of Mormon is so awesome. I am looking for all of the promises it gives and it is just full of wonderful promises. It is a true book, and A man will get nearer to God by prayerfully reading, pondering and living it that by ANY other book. I’m gonna keep it short i have to call GA Tech and get tickets for the missionaries to go to the Game : ). Look for a big group of missionaries on ESPN! Love ya!

Busiest Week of My Mission

Family,

Yes conference was great! I felt like the theme of this conference was serving our fellow brothers and sisters, wherever they may be. Truly that is the message of the Savior, he said "by this shall men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another". I feel that in serving others we come to learn who we really are, and thus we can understand who "God, and Jesus Christ, whom [God] has sent" (John 17:3). I felt so inspired by Elder Ballard’s invitation to The Church, to ask God to show them an opportunity to serve someone each day, and then to return and report weather or not they had "done any good in the world today [or] helped anyone in need". One can not help but get emotional to think of what this world would be like if every person were to act on that invitation. I invite anyone who reads this e-mail to act on that. As Elder Ballard taught, it will change your heart, you will feel the effects of the Atonement.

This last week had been very challenging. It has been the busiest week of my mission. We had transfers on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then Thursday and Friday we had meetings all around the mission and it was just jam packed with so many little details. I felt like we had a P-day, then all of the sudden it was Saturday. I was so thankful for conference!! It has been a good week though. I learned a lot this week. A lot about myself and about serving the Lord in his priesthood organizations. One great thing that this week brought about was the opportunity to see every missionary in the mission. Elder Forbush and I were eating a late dinner on Thursday night, and we were discussing the last few days and were both overcome with emotion and Love for the missionaries. I cannot tell you how great our missionaries are!! I can truly say that our leaders are "mighty men in the faith of the Lord". They have pure intentions, none of them have overriding selfish desires. They truly serve the missionaries that they are called to serve. And it doesn't just stop there! I feel love from the missionaries in every meeting we go to, or every time we get the opportunity to see them. They always lift my spirits. They care about people!! Not about things that are just superficial, or that make them look better than others. We have a real brotherhood in this mission, there are no "clicks, or groups"; and there is rarely disobedience. I love the missionaries in the Georgia Atlanta Mission, they make me want to be better!! I wish you could be here to see there examples. Keep up the Good work! Heed the words of living prophets! I love you all so much!

Elder Hendrix

Share and Study the Book of Mormon

Family,

Hey y'all. Mom no Pres. Harding is not the one that Dad was thinking of. His family did come. That is pretty different, last night we were over there pretty late and they had to worry about putting their son Stockton (9) to bed, and their daughter Kandis (24) was watching some show on TV, I have never seen that TV on in my entire mission. Sis Harding is awesome, she seems very sharp and on top of things. They are such amazing people. They got here on Saturday. We aren’t sure about the game yet, but iI think we might be able to go.

This last week was awesome! We had a meeting with the Zone Leaders this week. So President decided we should all go to the Temple together. So we all went to the Temple (16 Elders), and heard from the Temple President who spoke to us for about 30 min. It was just so awesome to be with all of the Elders that I have come to Love over these last two years, all of us dressed in white and seeking revelation from our Heavenly Father. I learned a lot. Then after the temple we met at a church building right by the Temple and President presented his vision for the mission. All I have to say is that I am so bummed that I have to leave and wont get to serve under his leadership. He is a fantastic leader and a visionary man for sure. He was a big-wig for Franklin-Covey and a bunch of other companies that go around to the biggest companies in the world and train leaders how to be leaders, so he knows his stuff. Not to mention he has the faith of the brother of Jared. It has been such a testimony builder to me to see what the Lord has been doing with this mission. Pres. Harding has met with a ton of the brethren in SLC before he came out, like Pres. Eyring, Elder Holland, Elder Nelson and more. And the vision that they have for the Atlanta Area is big time, like this is a place the the Lord is telling them needs to get stronger and be very strong for the Church in the South East. So with that as I look at the Leadership of these awesome mission presidents that we have had, it is clear that the Lord has prepared this area and mission for some amazing things to happen, for the work to move forward like Pres. Hinckley envisioned it could. Each of the things that they taught built upon each other and each of the things they did were directed by the had of God, for sure. It is just too cool, it is SUCH a blessing to have been able to be a part of that. I hope Darren gets called here.

It is Transfers this week. We are gonna be very busy, but transfers is always an exciting time. This also means that this next transfer will be my last transfer. I have had some weird feelings. It will be sad to leave, it is wierd to think that I wont be part of the mission anymore. But this next few weeks are going to be so awesome. Pres. Harding is putting the pressure on that we who are going home in Nov, do miracles and progress the work farther than it has been before. So it is just gonna be amazing. Mom also don’t make any plans for that first weekend. John Fisher is getting married on the 17th and he wants me to come to the wedding. The wedding will be in SLC though, so after that is over we can do whatever and see whomever down in Utah. Are my brothers and sisters coming up to the airport on the 15th? I’m not sure what time the wedding is but you can just ask Fisher and then you can plan whatever you want, i will be game. I Love you to death. Keep up the awesome work!! Share and Study the Book of Mormon. That book is amazing!!

Elder Hendrix