Traveled the Mission

Family,                                                                                                         

  Sounds like life back home is pretty fast paced, everyone is busy doing good stuff it seems like. We had a Great week. We traveled the mission this week. Every Zone was having a meeting so we had them set their meetings up so that we could go to all 6 in 3 days. We drove all over Georgia, and got to see every missionary and what is going on around the mission. It was good, and I was tired. We did two trainings as we went around. One was an object lesson on pride, I’ll have to show it to you when I get home, it’s pretty cool. The other one was on being effective with our time. Those two topics really made an impression on me and it helped me because I have struggled with both things. Fisher and I have had a tiny little bit of contention between us, it’s very common to have with anyone you spend a lot of time around, so doing a training on pride within companionships was very beneficial. Essentially we talked about when pride comes between companions then the work stops moving forward, so it was good to talk about that over and over because it helped me to see myself truly, and where I can change. It has been really cool to study effectiveness, because that is such an important principle of everyday life. We should always be asking ourselves if we are using our time on earth wisely. To be successful we need to always be evaluating our efforts and weather they are bringing us closer to God or they are not. So it was fun. So we taught Evan a few more times today and he is super great. He is loving what he is learning. When we finish teaching him we ask if he has any questions and he says "you pretty much answered every one of them". Man I just can tell you how impressed I am with him and how open hearted he is, and how much he wants to learn. He read 330 pages in the Book of Mormon in like 2 weeks; he is such a humble guy. I just love him. I love all of the singles in our ward they are so fun and just awesome to work with.  Actually it’s funny because a bunch of them are going to be at BYU-I next semester and so is Fisher, and then I will go there in Jan, it will be a blast. In fact Melanie found out that she got accepted today, she will find out her track in a week or two. She is doing great, but her family is not real supportive of her right now, so please pray for her. Another Girl from the singles ward that is coming out there that has become like best friends with Melanie and Evan (she’s dating Evan actually), her name is Melissa Coles. She is really cool, she comes to all of our teaching appointments and I swear she is a return missionary. Sometimes I think it would be better if she taught in my place, I don’t know how she knows but she really understands the Gospel at its core, I’m sure you will meet them mom. They all, along with Jakob are like this little crew that we spend a lot of time around, so we have become pretty close. A couple nights ago they came to our house and wrapped our car with a huge role of paper, it was kinda funny! They are constantly pulling pranks on us, even though we do nothing back! Anyway, God is really there! He is the best teacher, sometimes we try to make ourselves or others the teacher, but he is the real teacher! I love you all so much

Elder Hendrix

 

Julie, 

  I love you! How are you doing and do you like softball. What are your plans for the summer, I think you’re old enough to start working for Dad. I think you can go out and deliver for him! I miss you so much and can’t wait to see you in November.    

Busy Week=Typo Error

Family,                                                                                                           

  We had a very busy week. Yes mother last week was transfers. It was first off a very emotional transfer meeting, again. So this was the Satterfields last one, so Elder Fisher and I organized putting together a scrap book for them. We had each missionary write them a letter about how Pres. and Sis Satterfield have taught them and helped them become more converted to the gospel and become better people, because that is really what they care about, is us and our conversion. We had some sister missionaries make the book up and they did a great job. We surprised them with it during the meeting along with a special musical number by Elder Hansen (He's an amazing pianist) and I tell you what I absolutely lost it!! I love those people so much, I wish I could describe to you how much good they have done for me and this mission, and how good of people they are. I wish the missionaries could know how hard they really work, they are constantly doing things, and they do it out of pure Love. I can’t express you to how thankful I am for the service, teaching and love they have given to me. I can’t wait for you to meet them again. Anyway I bet the entire mission thinks im just a big baby, since i always cry in transfer meeting. The next one I won’t cry, but the next one Fisher, Hansen, and Wiberg all go home, that will probably be the worst of all. You know you just build some great relationships and are filled with Love while on your mission, these are special relationships that will hopefully live on. So now for the bad news. When president calls out all of the new companions and new areas in the transfer meeting, he just reads it off a script that we type up and give to him before the meeting. Well i typed it up, and a few days later some of the transfers changed so I had to go back and make all of those changes, But I messed up so we sent the wrong missionary to the wrong area, and it is the type of missionary who you have to specially place because they are a little hard to get along with, So it is not a good situation. We didn’t catch it till after everyone left and went to their areas so we just went with it. I feel like such an Idiot, and President wasn't really happy, but I talked to him and he said, it’s just a mistake and their really isn’t much we can do with it now. I was so so so mad and Elder Fisher thought it was funny, again I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, ha ha. 

  We are teaching this guy named Evan. He is like 25 and wants to be baptized on June 30th! He works at a car shop that is owned by a member, that member and his wife actually serve in our ward. There are a couple of members that work there as well so he got to know one of them, who is in our ward named Jakob. Jakob has pretty much walked the same path I did, and is now preparing to serve a mission, so it’s fun to work with him, but he gave Evan a Book of Mormon, and Invited him to church and Evan has been coming ever since. He is a lot like Melanie, His heart has been softened by the goodness of our members and now the doctrine is changing his heart. We are having a great time teaching him he read 330 pages in the Book of Mormon in a week and a half, so he's hungry. It is just so clear to me that the scripture "ye are the light of the world" is so true and vital. It is people that begin someone’s conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the life of a Christian that changes the world little by little. I think it is this way because people can show "Love" to other people, and Love is the power by which the Atonement was planned and developed, carried out and shared to mankind. The example of the lives of my family is what began the softening of my heart. So thank you so much!! You are all wonderful examples to the each person in darkness around you, members (active or less-active) or non-members. I love you so much!

Elder Hendrix

Choices determine destiny!

Family,
 Thanks for all of the updates on the baseball tournament. Mom i want to write to all of the cousins who are graduating ( Katie, Tyler and Jared) so could you get me their addresses please. I liked Darren's graduation pictures, except for the fact that i wasn't sure if the one picture was Usher or Justin Beiber, and i thought the other one may have been Calvin Klein or something, haha. Did Scott do those? Little Garrett is way cute, thanks for the pictures!! Its been a great week. We finished up our zone-conferences, we had 4 different ones, and this last one was definitely the best. That is a lot of work to put those things on and it sure takes more organization skills than i have. It was a great learning experience, and i learned a lot about who i am... because that is what Elder Fisher and I talked about. Its cool, when you really know who you are, outside influences don't affect you in any negative way. "If all the elements combine to hedge up thy way..." we know that we are a completely loved son of God. When we understand that the plan of salvation requires that we have trials, tests, failures and weaknesses we are built up by those tests, we overcome our weaknesses instead of them overcoming us and the tests causing us to fall. When we understand who we are, we will do the right things for the right reasons, because we love God. But how do we come to understand who we are? I probably don't understand how to answer this question completely, but I know that it does come as we experience the atonement, and as we live the Doctrine of Christ. When we truly feel the Love of God, we cant help but feel special, that we have a purpose on this earth.  Also we will never find out who we are until we lose ourselves in the service of God, when we serve our fellow men, "whosoever will save his life shall lose it, whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall find it".  I really know that that is true doctrine, i have seen it on my mission over and over. When we forget ourselves and give our heart to Gods work, his children, then we gain confidence in who we are and what we should be doing with our time here on earth.
 I had an interesting experience this week, where i learned a great lesson about choices. President Monson has said "choices determine destiny". I was on an exchange in Eastpoint (where i served last summer) in Atlanta, it is mostly ghetto's. We went to a less-actives sisters home, we talked with her for about 15 min outside her house. She has 4 little kids and lives with a pretty low-life husband who doesn't work, so she has to work. They live in a very bad neighborhood, and she knows all of these things are true. She recognizes that she is living in sin and isn't at all happy and knows it's not a good environment for her kids. The really sad part is that.she grew up in the suburbs of LA, in a good home. She was well educated, her father works for NASA and she has 3 siblings. She has been a member her whole life, born under the covenant and knows a lot about the gospel, she was active all her growing up years. But now she is in a very bad situation and completely unhappy, treated like she is an object instead of a daughter of God, and her children are growing up in that environment as well. I thought about how she has come to where she is, from where she has come. I bet you the difference can be found in as little as 5-10 choices she made as a young teanager, maybe less. Those seemingly small choices have now lead to a course of events that have not only put her and her family in satan's territory, but have caused her to forget who she is and who her children are. She can recognize that she is unhappy but she doesn't know how to get out of her situation. It has been one of the saddest experiences of my mission, and some of the saddest words i have ever heard come out of the mouth of a child of God. "I know where im going when i die... to spirit prison...God knows my heart and knows that i'm a good person, i know i won't make it to the celestial kingdom, but maybe i can get the second one". We definately bore our testimonies that she was most definately as capable of recieving joy in this life and eternal life in the celestial kingdom as any person on earth, and tried to re-asure her of the hope of Jesus Christ, because she was so wrong. But I felt so inadequate to help her and that was hard. The good thing is that she still understands the differnce between how the gospel makes her feel, she is begining to recognize the need for her God in life and I believe she will find it in due time. She really was a great girl. But truly decisions can have far reaching effects, and its so hard to see as a teenager. This experience has instilled within me a strong desire to reach out the best i possibly can to all young kids in hopes of saving at least one, because that will be so worth it. They are the most vulnerable and the most important. I thank those great leaders that i had, like Brad Whitehead, who loved me even though i wasn't very loveable, his friendship always had an impact on me, and others as well. It is a bad world out there and satan is so real, and he just wants u to be miserable. But on a happy not the Gospel of Jesus Christ can overcome all things!! It is true, this church is sharing its fullness with power. We have missionaries all over the world changing lives. I love you all, keep being so awesome!

Elder Hendrix

Challenge from the President

Dear Elders and Sisters,

The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is the single most effective tool you have for doing missionary work.   Before being released, I was hoping for us to read the Book of Mormon one more time as a mission, but with all of the study assignments I have given you, I felt it may be too much.  However, in looking back at the mission, I realize that the most productive times we had, both personally and in helping others “Come To Christ,” were when we were reading the Book of Mormon together.  Therefore, with the 7 weeks that Sister Satterfield and I have left before we leave, we would like to invite every missionary to read in the Book of Mormon EACH and EVERY day.  You are probably already reading daily, but in an effort to unify us in the Lord’s work, will you please start today to read some select chapters (about 4 to 5 pages a day) and look for messages that will most help you serve as a missionary?  It was very difficult to choose which chapters to read for ALL are wonderful, but I have selected a few choice sections for us to read together before Sister Satterfield and I have to leave.   Nothing would please us more than to leave you more strengthened than you are even now.  Please let me know in your weekly letters some of the things you feel you are learning or “remembering” as you read the following chapters:

1 Nephi 1-20, 22

2 Nephi 1-4, 9-11, 27-33

Jacob 1-4, 6

Enos

Mosiah 1-6, 12-13, 15-18

Alma 4-8, 9-13, 24-26, 32-34, 36-42, 57

Helaman 5 and 12

3 Nephi 27

Ether 2-5, 12

Moroni 6-10

            I want you to know that Sister Satterfield and I have confidence in you.  You are all learning and growing and repenting and changing for the better.  Studying the Book of Mormon, after first praying and asking Heavenly Father to send the Holy Ghost to help you, is the single most valuable thing you can do now and the rest of your life to strengthen yourself.  As you read, look for and mark passages that will allow you to use the Book of Mormon in helping people find answers to their problems in that wonderful book.  The answers are all there—whether it is family problems, being mocked, the death of a loved one, financial problems, depression, whether or not to be obedient, who to turn to for help, etc.  Then get into the habit of taking them there, as you listen to their concerns.  Don’t be surprised if you use that very day, the things you studied earlier.  It’s REALLY true that when you do God’s work, you get His help.  HE is in charge of this work.

Go forward with FAITH! 

Sister Satterfield and I love you.

President Steven H. Satterfield

to Darren on the first day of District Playoffs

Mom,

  This message is for Darren. As I read about his baseball tournament I felt a deep desire for him to do well and I started thinking about what I could say to him today that might be able to help him through the tournament. I will be praying for him for sure. So pass him on this message, I have 5 things for him to do. Maybe you could write them up and give them to him before he heads over to Melalucca today.

  1. Find a quiet place where you can be alone to say a simple prayer giving thanks, and asking for Gods help in the next game, before each game.

  2. Read a little bit from the Book of Mormon each night for the rest of the season.

  3. "Look to the end of the game". What I mean by this is that winning the game is the real goal, and if you make a mistake it doesn’t matter anymore, or if you make a great play or get an RBI move on.  What matters is the score board ONLY at the END OF THE GAME. Satan uses the past to distract us, he doesn’t want you to play well.

  4. Have fun! I wish so bad I could go back and be in your shoes. This is the last real baseball you may ever play, make it a happy memory.

  5. Know where your real strength comes from....God. He loves you and cares even about baseball!

If you do these things I promise you will be blessed!

I love you man. Let me know how things go. Tell Coach Barr hello for me.

Not much Sleep this week

Family,                                                                                                           

    First of all next week I’ll probably call you around 5 or so your time. I’ll let you know the specifics in a few days. Um, I forgot to ask president about skyping and such. If we can, and i think we can I’ll probably do that. Can the whole family be in on that or just one other computer? Sounds like you are all having a wonderful life in the good ol' west.

  This week was crazy. I don’t think that I got more than about 5 hours of sleep any night this week. We are just crazy busy, running around to different meetings and preparing for meetings. But this week we had a couple exchanges, Both times I was able to go with some young missionaries and do some real missionary work. It was so much fun, honestly I had fun tracting and walking around in the hot humid weather. We did some awesome teaching. One of the guys we talked with, his name was Victor, he told us he wasn't interested but we kept talking to him. And we were just talking with him as any person would talk with someone, which is important as a missionary because it shows that we really care about people, and we cared about this young man. Anyway as we were talking he told us that he just had a new baby boy. So we started asking him questions about being a father and how God has given him this child. He understood that he had a responsibility to God for that child, but we felt impressed to ask him if he knew how he was supposed to do that. He said no, and we testified that we had all the answers that he would need. We set up a return appointment and I haven’t followed up on that yet, but it was just so fun to "invite others to come unto Christ".

    This Sunday Melanie bore her testimony. She mentioned that a big part of her conversion had to do with the way that she was treated by the members of our singles ward. She said that she had never seen people so kind and caring and loving in her whole life. She had been looking for a church that could help her become a "true follower of Jesus Christ" (Moroni 7:48), and it was through the example of our members that she was able to see, find and accept that. President Hinckley (I think it was him) was once asked why we don't display crosses in our church. His response was to the effect that the symbol of our Christianity is found in the lives of our members, and I thought of that as she bore her testimony on Sunday.  She is set to go into the army in October, she has already singed her contract and been sworn in, But last night she said that she wants to try and get out of her contract and go to BYU-I. Which we were excited about and had been secretly wishing for the last couple weeks, but I’m not sure how easily one can get out of one of those contracts, but I think the Lord will provide a way, I hope so. I love you all so much, the Gospel is the only true way, and it just makes you so dang happy!!

Elder Hendrix