April 25, 2011

Family,                                                                                               

   First i would like to answer your questions Mom.  I’m really not focusing too hard on my Spanish because it’s only for one transfer, but i am learning some.  I actually don’t serve in a branch or a ward it’s a group, there are about 15 regular attendees. There used to be more but the work has suffered in the past, and in June they are going to integrate the Spanish group into the Auburn family ward.  We don’t serve on the campus though, we serve around it but there are missionaries who serve in the student ward. In fact i don’t think I told you but there are 3 companionships in Auburn, Elder Wood and I live with another companionship who cover the family ward and town called Opelika, one of them is Elder Midgley, my MTC companion.  How excited i am to tell you all of the wonderful things that have been happening in Spanish Auburn! 

   First of all, Elder Wood is so stinking awesome, I feel so blessed to serve with him.  He loves people, the people we teach are his motivation, he only thinks about them.  He teaching with "power and authority", he teaches "by the spirit", not "by some other way".  He also cares so much for me and my comfort and he takes so much effort in teaching a dumb-ol gringo like me Spanish. He is just humble and we really really work well together, we seriously work ourselves into the ground I’ve never been this tired, it’s absolutely awesome.  We see so many miracles, we have got probably 8 investigators who we are really confident in right now. Each one of them has a true desire to learn, they have all been prepared to hear the message of the restoration. Yesterday we knocked on an old investigators door that we have been trying to contact since i got here, Carlos, but we hadn’t talked with him yet.  We were just in the area so we knocked on the door, not really expecting or thinking much would come from it.  But he was finally there, I’m telling you I’ve knocked on his door like 15 times and nothing, so we went in and again my companion followed the spirit so well and started teaching in a way he had never done before, because he has never felt comfortable doing it.  He followed the spirit and the lesson went great, (at least that’s what he said, i would really know I didn’t understand any of it) and Carlos accepted baptism and he wants to be baptized on May 20, and he will because he is so humble. We had experiences like that all week. Sat: we were tracting in a trailer park and we decide to knock on a door of a trailer we have passed by dozens of times, and the kid inside invited us right in, we had a good lesson and he wanted to come to church. Then we went out on a team up with an awesome guy from our group we visited 4 investigators and committed 3 of them to come to church and all of them had rides and they were coming for sure. Fri: we were just standing outside in an apartment complex talking about where we should go and a lady came out of her house and started asking us all sorts of questions and we answered them and she really liked us and what we were talking about, we shared a scripture from the book of Mormon and she said she was going to come to church. Thur: We found an old investigator and had a great lesson with him and we will teach him again. Wed: We found a new investigator (Lorenzo) that we were most definitely lead to, and we used some techniques and we  learned in district meeting and had studied that morning and the spirit was so strong in our quick lesson, and now we have taught Lorenzo 2 times and he is a humble seeker and listener. Tue: we had two great lessons with investigators we hadn’t seen in a long time, they were important lessons for their progression. So going into Sunday we were on a spiritual high, we had 5 investigators we were expecting to be at church for sure. Everything was too solid for plans for fall through... but only one showed up. That is what our week has been like: huge high's, miracles new investigators and great lessons accompanied with much fatigue and then a huge let down on Sunday. But we again like last week resolved to not let our spirits down, we were going to exercise our faith and do the same good work the next week, we truly felt that we were being lifted up by the Love of our Lord, Elder Wood and i have felt his support.

   Now i was so excited to tell you this and so excited to tell you where all of these people go, and miracles lead too, but about an hour ago i got a call from Pres. Satterfield and he said that he needs to move me again! There is a missionary who has to be sent home for medical reasons and his companion is coming down here and i am taking an English elder from a 3-some and going to the whitewater ward in peach tree city.  I am so willing to do whatever the mission president asks me, and I’ll do it knowing it is according to the Lords will, and that i have much to learn from it, I’m truly excited for a new challenge. But I am so bumbed, almost heartbroken to be leaving this area and Elder Wood, we were talking last night while lying in bed about how grateful we are for serving together and the things we have learned from each other. We were talking about how the mission is full of "ups", followed by "downs", leading to tough times, which (if we have faith, humility and stay diligent) will eventually become an "Up", and that cycle continuously repeats itself.  It’s a refining process, it’s truly living life but on steroids because that cycle literally happens on a daily, weekly and transfer time scale, as you can see by our last week. I even joked last night to elder wood that it almost too easy serving with him, i guess i jinxed myself.  Ha Ha all you can do about this is just "smile and wave", no need to get down, i have a testimony of attitude, in fact in 1 Nephi read the last verse in Ch3 and the 1st verse in Ch4 and compare the attitude of Nephi, verse the attitude of Laman and Lemuel. Optimism leads to faith and faith leads to obedience. Pessimism leads to fear,  and fear leads to disobedience.

     It is my testimony to all of you!!! That the Lord challenges us each day and we can wake up and decide how we are going to face those challenges. If we do it with faith, we will become what our Father in Heaven knows we can become, even like He is! I love you all and definitely pray for me, pray that i may travel safe, haha. Love Y'all!!

Elder Hendrix

April 18, 2011

Quierido Familia,                                                                                            

    Well things are going great. "Les Quiero todos" means -i love you all and i really do.  Tell Elder Weeks that just before i left Carlos wasn’t really progressing, he felt like the answer to his prayer was that he didn’t want to join any "organized religion", but he still loves the missionaries and he’s awesome, tell elder weeks that I’ll try to relay the message.  One of the investigators i taught in Burnt Hickory got baptized yesterday, so that was cool!  Mom it’s so fun to hear your spiritual experiences, i really appreciate them.  That is so cool to hear about chance going to Maryland, if you get a chance give him my best wishes.  Well this last week we worked so hard and we were seeing blessings left and right.....then the weekend came and we just got kicked in the gut repeatedly!  But that happens to us in life, and I’m so grateful to have a companion who has such a huge capacity for Faith, we were talking last night about our week and he was so optimistic.  We decided that we were going to do the same thing this next week: work really hard and if we don’t meet our goals then we will just have to do it again and be thankful for our experience.  It sure makes life easier when you have a really hard working, faithful, and obedient companion, I am so grateful to be serving with Elder Wood.  And as for the Spanish, i mostly sit in silence during the lessons and smile.  But we are teaching a couple, and the Guy speaks a little English, and the girl speaks no Spanish so we mostly teach in English.  Elder Wood has taught me how to pray and bear my testimony in Spanish.  I actually said a prayer in Spanish during a lesson and at Church on Sunday, so I’m learning a little bit.  The work is going great, we have so much potential in our investigators, and we are very excited for the future here in Auburn!  I love you all, work hard at serving others and study the scriptures every day!

Elder Hendrix

PS: Julie way to go on cleaning Darren’s room, you are the best sister.

PSS: but you’re still crazy!

April 11, 2011

Family,

   Well hello, so let me tell you about the week i had, it was "loco".  So transfers are on Wednesday, on Saturday night we get a call if someone is leaving the area, then on Monday night we get a call from the assistants telling us who is leaving, they don't tell us where we are going.  On Wed we go to transfers (transfers is so much fun, all of the missionaries are sitting in the chapel and nobody knows where we they are going so were all excited and ooh and ah when president makes assignments...anyway) and get our assignments and companions.  So Monday night we got a call that i was getting transferred, and they said i would be biking.  So i went to transfers: Elder Hansen is my new companion and and I am going to Lanett Alabama. The two missionaries I was sitting next to got so excited! They had served in Lanett and loved it, they said my companion is awesome, which was most definitely true. So i was pretty excited. After the meeting was over i went to get our supplies because the Lanett area had been closed for 5 months so the apartment was empty, and they gave me keys to a car, i said "I'm on a bike", and he said "no your not". Turns out that Elder Hansen was suppose to be training but on Tuesday Pres Satterfield got a phone call from Salt Lake saying this missionary wasn't coming.  Which is a huge problem because now They had to find a companion for Elder Hansen (ask grandpa workman what problems that might cause).  So that's how i got put with Elder Hansen and avoided riding a bike. But wait the story get better.  So Elder Hansen and I went shopping on Thursday morning, just before we were getting ready to check out Pres Satterfield called and told me that The missionary from the MTC was coming now and that they really wanted Elder Hansen to train him. So he told me that their was a threesome down in Auburn Alabama, 2 English and 1 Spanish, sooo now I'm serving as a Spanish missionary with Elder Wood, crazy huh. President asked if i Knew any Spanish and i said "not lick".  But Elder Wood is absolutely the Man! He's great about helping me try to learn the language, and hes just a humble, hard working, obedient missionary.  He's from Kaysville Utah and said that he knows Ryan Workman.  He reminds me of Joe, that's how  awesome he is.  We had an investigator come to church yesterday, Jeronimo, and we taught him a lesson on Sunday night, he is so awesome too! I asked him what he thought of Church (in English) and he said "Muy Bien, Muy Bien", and i know what that means. Then in our lesson (which i didn't understand anything, haha) he read the whole chapter of 3 Nephi 11, and underlined about 10 words and asked questions about what they meant. He is such a humble guy.  We have another investigator, Alfredo who has a baptismal date and he wants to change his life.  We have quite a few solid investigators, and we are really excited about this transfer. I'm excited for this transfer, and for the opportunity to serve the Hispanic people, and I'm in Auburn, so that's cool (haven't seen Cam yet).  This last week was really weird, but Elder Wood and I are excited for this upcoming week we are going to kill it baby!! 

   Wow!! Trujillo Peru, that is great, tell Paul to E-mail or write me, that's exciting!!! The weather here is starting to get real warm and humid.  Augusta is on the other side of the state. But my Brothers need to be Aware that after my mission we are coming back to Georgia to do some golfing, all the courses here look so pretty and fun to play.  Anywho, you all are great, pray for me to be able to speak Spanish, pray for a miracle and expect it, pray for Elder Wood to have patience too, ha ha, and hopefully ill be able to speak some Spanish when i call you on mothers day.  Les Quiero a todos (Elder Wood had to tell me how to spell that)

Elder Hendrix

Julie,

   You just keep right on pickin on Brice ok, but not to much hes kind of a softy. I cant believe you made 40 dollars counting worms, tell dad i said that isn't fair. Good job on reading your scriptures, I'm proud of you. Promise yourself today that you are going to read them everyday for the end of your life, and do it. It will make you happy.  I love you Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more!!!

Elder Hendrix

April 4, 2011

Family,

   Yes conference was amazing! We are lead by a Prophet of God!!  Mother it was interesting yesterday in the morning session I think, one of the talks made me think of you.  You recently wrote to me and said that you wanted to be a better member missionary, to go out and not be afraid to say what you believe (or something along those lines).  I don't remember the talk but it was one of the twelve, he was talking about being sharing the gospel and the thought came to me that you needed to hear that message.  Mom you have a solid testimony, and you love people. Don't be afraid or timid about your beliefs, our church is Gods kingdom, his teachings, his organization and everyone wants to be a part of it, they just don't know it yet.  Which leads me The message I got out of conference:  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' ultimate goal is to "help others help themselves", which WILL eventually lead US to have the desire to "help others help themselves".  It is the perfect organization, Our prophet, our leader, the man we look to for an example has been serving other since he was a bishop at 22, and he has been serving us full time for the past 50 years!!  He does not get paid, he does not live in luxury, he serves us every day of the year.  The church is for the members! It seeks our happiness, that is why it is Christ's "only true and living" church! I love you all I have to go, I will know tonight if I am getting transferred. I love you all To death.

 

Elder Hendrix

 

PS: Scott and Heather e-mail me so I have your e-mail address.

March 28, 2011

Family,

   Well to the most sweetest and awesomest Family in the world, I hope all is well.  Holy moly things are going well back home, Mom thanks for sharing you spiritual experiences that is awesome, i love those things. I feel like powerful spiritual experiences are catalysts for our testimony, we gain a testimony "line upon line..here a little and there a little", but those experiences boost us and our desires in an instant to a whole new level.  Also i am overcome by the stories of Paul and Chance Dahl putting in their papers.  When i first heard that Paul received the Melchizedek priesthood i was overcome and almost cried, and then when i heard that his papers were going in, i wept.  There is just something that is so special about coming back to the church, their LORD and their home.  I have also been so grateful this week for the LORD blessing Elder Stephens and I, First i know that the LORD chooses the companionship in a mission and he does it out of Love.  So all who have ever served a mission know, that far and away, the best missionary work is done when members invite family and friends to be taught by the missionaries.  My whole mission has been teaching people we found on our own (the baptisms I have been a part of were already taught before i met them), and have not led to people fully receiving the restored gospel. When i got to this area we didn't have anyone to teach, and members didn't have referrals, it was a slow area. So we did the only thing we could... work really hard going out and finding people, its not the funnest thing to do but we worked hard. We found people to teach, but most of them were un-interested and didn't progress.  Well this last week we have received 5 member referrals and all of them are so so solid.  One girl who lives in Texas and just joined the church, sicked us on her mom and she was very accepting of the message.  Then two families in the ward have asked us to teach their 11 year old daughters, and one of them is really close with elder Stephens, she loves him.  Then a guy in our ward invited us to have lunch with his sister-in law and we taught her and He said that she (Kayla) felt the spirit, and a long with teaching Kayla her husband has been inactive for a long time and he is really interested in getting back into church, its been cool to see the Brother in our ward feel so much joy seeing the change in his brother and sister-in-law.  Then on top of all of that: yesterday at church a lady in our ward came up to us and said "i have someone (her granddaughter) for you to teach...she told me she wants to be baptized", i thought about it for...oh about .000001 seconds and said "ok, we can do that".  So we went over last night and taught her the first lesson and she is going to be baptized on April 16th, (And the story behind that is awesome too but i don't have time right now).  So the moral of the story is:  As we show the LORD that we are willing to do hard things and be obedient he will bless us, he will show us that our efforts are never in vain.  I must say that we are nervous because transfers are next Wednesday (6th) and we are both hoping that we don't get transferred. Keep your fingers crossed. All is well i have been emailing too long so i better go, i miss you all, prepare for conference, i love you!

 

Elder Hendrix

 

 

Julie,

   Sorry i don't have much time but ill answer your questions.  I LOVE THE PEOPLE I AM TEACHING, because GOD loves them and he lets me feel that love.  I love my companion, i am thankful that i get to serve with him and get to learn to love him too.  I haven't eaten anything gross yet, ill let you know when i do.  I am crazy because mom had YOU, ask her what happened when she told me she was going to have you. I love you Very much too.

 

Elder Hendrix

 

PS: thanks for calling everyone, that was a lot of fun. Everyone here says "Jimmer!" too.

March 21, 2011

Family,

   I love you all, I am so blessed to have such a great family!  Mom i should have told you this a long time ago but there is a missionary serving in the Mesa Branch who is from the Ward I am Serving in, crazy huh, his name is Elder Weeks, and he went into the MTC the same day i did so keep your eyes peeled, he comes from an awesome family.  Also if you would send me any conference CDs you have, except for both from 2010 and April 2004 (i already have those), i would be very appreciative.  So this area when I got here was really slow, but we worked really hard, did a lot of contacting and tracting.  We found people to teach but not real solid people. But this week we have received 4 different referrals from members of people to teach since last Saturday, and we have been having really good lessons with Carlos (he has been taught for 6 months) if feel like he is pretty close to baptism.  The first time we met with our ward mission leader he said that "sometimes tracting is the work you have to put in, before the Lord puts a solid referral in your lap", that comment stuck with me and it is most definitely coming true. I am hoping that they all pan out, pray for them to be open.  Other than that we are doing good, i love being a missionary. God truly is working with/on his missionaries every day, I feel his influence, direction and correction on a daily basis.  My testimony is strengthened often, as questions come he shows me the answers as long as I have an open heart. 

  I want to know how everyone is doing on their own missionary work? Have the missionaries over for dinner (but don't keep them for more than one hour, we have troubles with that here).  Look for opportunities to make friends. Make a profile on Mormon.org, and check out that website.  Pray for missionary opportunities and act on them when they come. Listen to the prophets, start now to think about what message the Lord wants you to hear this conference. WOW I'm preachy! Sorry, i love you all, A Lot!

 

Elder Hendrix

Julie,

   Man it sounds like you have been busy lately, and it sounds like you are going to be busy working to earn money for Disneyland.  That is so cool that Brad and Bri invited you to go with them, they are very nice, tell them thanks a lot.  I know why you and Ashlyn couldn't catch that leprechaun...you need a pot-a-gold, they always go for that. Leprechauns are really greedy, which makes them kinda dumb, try that next year.  How is Darren doing, you need to let me know.  I need you to check up on him for me and make sure he is being a good boy... no girlfriends OK!  Love you Julie, thanks for the St. Patrick's day picture, it was kinda a crazy picture tho!! Love ya

 

Elder Hendrix

March 14, 2011

Family,

    Hello all, i love you.  Well things are going great, we have a bunch of new investigators like 8 i think and plenty of potential investigators too.  All of them were found through our own efforts in the past two weeks so they are all very new.  Its exciting but it means we really have to focus on helping them keep commitments so that they can gain a testimony of the restoration.  We have one investigator Carlos, hes awesome! He has been investigating for like 6 months but hes been out of town a lot since i got here, but yesterday before church we went over to his house and cooked him up some cowboy breakfast, him and his wife were impressed. A while back he was really close to baptism and I think he is close still but i feel like we can make some progress with him now that he is back, but hes such a cool guy.  The Lord has really been blessing us, there have been so many instances were we are guided by the spirit to find someone who is interested.  Our ward mission leader told us yesterday that missionaries have never been able to find people like we have, so I really feel that the Lord is mindful of us here in this area.  So we are getting pretty excited around here for the temple open house and re-dedication.  First of all we, as the missionaries, are so so lucky to be able to experience a temple being opened to the public while on our missions.  It is going to open so many doors for us to teach.  We are placing a focus on encouraging members to invite their friends and family that arent members to go with them to the open house.  And i truly believe that when the temple opens up the spirit that a House of the Lord will bring to the Atlanta area will really give a boost to the missionary work here. I am excited for the temple to open up, the open house goes from April 9 - 23rd, it will be dedicated on April 26 it think, and we do get to go down for one day during the open house and help with parking or something too.  I just want you all to know that i love being a missionary here in Georgia. I love the opportunity that we have, as missionaries, to be constantly mindful of the spirit and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is hard, it is overwhelming at times, but it is truly blessing me every day. I am thankful to God for my family, i miss you all and love you tons.

Elder Hendrix

PS: Its alright to tell me about sports. 

(I told him about BYU basketball and Jimmers 52 pt game, then questioned myself Mom)