Week 48

Week 48

Happy 20th Birthday!

Elders with Rodriguez

  Well I can't believe that I will be completing 20 years in a couple of days, that is just crazy how fast time has gone by.  It's been a great 20 years though and I'm so grateful for all the many awesome people I have met and the great experiences I have had in my life thus far.  I'm blessed to have grown up in the gospel with many great influences all around me!

  Well this week was a pretty normal missionary week, but a good one nonetheless!  Unfortunately this week Enrique y Angelica sent us a text saying that they were going to be busy all week so we weren't able to go over there this week, but I'm not too worried because that had happened before.  We are praying that we will be able to see them this week y talk to them about a baptism for Danis.  He is such a great little Niño and would make an awesome missionary.  

   We were able to see Manuel a few times this week and as well bring a member with us.  We actually brought Hno Gonzales y his grandson Patricio who the East Elders just baptized.  He asked us if he could go teaching with us and was so excited, he is only 8 years old.  He even talked a little bit in the lesson, he will be a great missionary someday.  We saw Manuel on Sunday night as well and felt bad he didn't make it to church.  Hopefully he will be able to make it next week to church y we have a solid appointment with him this week so that should go well!

  Also we have been teaching this Lady named Leticia, she lives kind of far away from us up in Millington so we can only see her about once a week.   But she is super awesome and understands really well every time that we go up and teach her.  We just need to get the husband more evolved and give him the desires to go to church and listen when we share messages.  Other that we taught a lot of really good lessons this week and we are looking forward to this upcoming week!!  Today I get to go to the temple for this first time on my mission, I'm really excited for that!!  The spirit is always so strong in the temple, I'm grateful for temples of God on the earth today in the crazy world!  I just got through and it was an awesome experience, the spirit was so strong in there.  It sure is a tiny temple!

Spanish Elders saying goodbye to Ludwig and Henderson

Our District

  Well that's about all for me this week,my I thought that I was going to stay here in Memphis, but I just barely got a transfer call.  So looks like I will most likely be going over to Jonesboro Arkansas but we'll see.  It will be sad leaving this area for sure.   I love y'all and hope that you have an amazing week, and thank you so much for the Birthday Wishes.'

Love,

Elder Geddes

      

P-Day At the Zoo

                                                         

Week 46

   Sounds like you had a good week and that Dad's temple experience up at trek went super well!   As for your questions about the iPads they are pretty sweet and are great missionary tools.  We are only in stage 1 of 3 stages.  We basically are just using gospel library right now getting familiar with the videos and stuff.  They are a great tool and have been really useful to use in lessons every once in a while.  We are in a digital era and this a great way to progress the Lords work.  The second stage we will start using the daily planner and area book.  That should be way nice because everything will be synced, and it will be pretty efficient.  The. Third stage is where we use Facebook for online proselyting.  Overall the iPads are a great missionary tool, and if used right can make a missionary a missionary that is more focused on his purpose.  

  As for my week here in the warm and humid south it was a really awesome week overall.  One night we were able to go over to En y An  I've mentioned them a few times, they are a super awesome family that me and Elder Fortie started teaching at the end of that transfer.  They have never been able to come to church,so we really wanted to find out the reason what was holding them back.  In lesson we asked the directly about something we felt might have been holding them back, and that was exactly it!  After that we had a super great lesson and explained more about the concern they had.  The church is for everyone, and we should never be scared to go to church, We are all there to become better people.  At the end of the lesson they decided that they wanted to make us a promise to come to church!  Then later on that week we saw them, and they had just had an argument but he said they were still planning on going to church. We were a little worried that they weren't going to come, but we still thought they would.  Then at church 11 o clock hits and they weren't there.  But then right before the Santa Cena starts the whole family walks in!!  It was so awesome that they were able to make it. All the members in the ward welcomed them really well, and they said they both really enjoyed it and are planning on coming back.  It was also cool because they got to see all the missionary's who had taught them (Fortie y Ludwig).  That was a great lesson to us of the importance of listening to the spirit on what needs to be taught, and being bold.    

   On Friday the whole mission was able to go to Little Rock again because Elder Kopischke was here for the mission tour.  We all met up and at the Memphis temple and headed over there on a bus.  You would have really like him, he is from Germany.  He talked about teaching he things that you know and how we have to teach the truth by the spirit.  We can know all the doctrine but if we don't teach what the spirit is telling us it is of us and not of God.  The spirit truly is the greatest missionary tool that we could possibly have.  It is the comforter and testifier of the truth.

   We were also able to see Alvaro a couple times this week.  The first time we went over to teach him more about he priesthood and how he could get it.  In the lesson he told us that he had already had an interview, and that he was going to get the priesthood next week, so that was sweet!  He asked me to give him the priesthood, That was a cool experience for me, because it was the first time I have been able to give someone the priesthood.  It's so awesome seeing the change in Alvaro, you can see the light that he has.  He's been progressing so quickly, it's amazing what the change the light of Christ brings to people.  I'm so grateful to help with the lords work and sharing the light of Christ with all. 

a cool story about the bus ride.  Some Elders had given the bus driver a Book of Mormon before the meeting and he was reading during the meeting.  On the way back they taught him the restoration and he accepted a baptismal date!  He told us on the mic how grateful he was to hear the truth, and that he could feel a peace over him.  It's so amazing how the Lord prepares people and puts them in our paths.  Other than at it was an overall great week and we are excited to have a car!  We are planning to go to the zoo today so that should be really fun.   

  Thank you tons for the email, and I hope your week is another great one.  

Love,

Elder Geddes

Memphis Zone

Week 47

  

  I agree that it was a really great day being Father's Day yesterday!  How blessed I have been to have such a a great father and the example he has given me.  Even though I wasn't there to celebrate it with him we had a really good Father's Day here in the branch.  I'm grateful for all the great fathers and those who are worthy Priesthood holders.  The Priesthood brings so many blessings to the home of a family.  It's such great duty from God that were are given the opportinidad to fulfill.
   As for my week it was another great week here in the great city of Memphis as it normally is!  At the beginning of the week we were able to have a really good Noche de Hogar with la familia P.  The whole family was there and we were all able to sing hymns and have a really good lesson. It went really well, and the spirit was definitely invited into there home.  They are such a solid family we just need to get the Dad to regain his original desire to learn and change when he first met the missionaries.  We have another Noche de Hogar planned with them this weekly y the mom agreed to give the lesson, that will be really cool!  

 Throughout the week we were able to teach Enri y Anga few times as well.  She we asked them about how they liked church they really loved it.  Ang said "normally I get really tired in church but I felt something different at church and really enjoyed it". And then Enri told us " He thought the first time going to church was great and that it wouldn't be their last time going."  And sure enough on Sunday the whole family was able to come to church again which was awesome!  They were able to stay for all three hours, and the lessons and talks in church were all great.  Juan Rodriguez (the east Elders recent convert) taught the gospel principles lesson for the very first time and did and awesome job.  He was only baptized like a month ago.  After church as a branch we all had food after, and had some great Pasole and other great Hispanic food.  Enri y Ang were able to stay for that as well.  They seem to be comfortable in the branch and have been welcomed really well.  The kids also love gong to to their classes in Primary.  That was a great experience that they were able to come to church again!  

    Another kind of crazy thing that happened this year week was when we went to see our investigator Jose.  We knocked on his door and he opened it up but it didn't really look like him.  The he told us that he had been assaulted and that they had completely broken his jaw.  His mouth was tied shut and his cheeks were super swollen.  Poor guy he looked like he was in a lot of pain.  We were able to give him a blessing that day.  Then later on in the week we went back to see him and he looked a lot better with less swelling.  He still was in a lot of pain, and couldn't talk too well just because his mouth is tied shut.  But he told us he had been reading in The Book of Mormon, because he has a lot of free time.  We taught him the word of wisdom and it went really well. He only has problems with one thing, but with his situation right now he has to obey it!  Haha! This could really be a blessing in disguise and has given him the chance to read more, and see the blessings from living the commandments. Even though we go through hard things in our lives, those things can lead us to some of our happiest times in our lives.  We are going to continue working with him, and hopefully he can continue progressing!  

  On Thursday Yader and his family came over to Memphis again, and we were able to go walk around the temple with them,!  It was a great experience and it is always so great seeing them. They are such an awesome family! . Other than that we taught some other really cool people this week with potential to progress. We had a good lesson win a black lady y an Hispanic and she asked us about all the rumors she had ever heard about the church.  Those are always the best lessons, it actually did go really well.  And last night we taught these big long lesson with some drunk guys.  One understood really well but we couldn't get his address.  One guy kept saying the whole time "The Evangelicos told me the Mormons were the most mistaken, so you are the most mistaken" Hahaha!I it would be so much nicer if people would just go to the real source for information, and then ask God for and answer!  But what do you do!  It was a great week overall!  

    Yup you're right, crazy enough transfers are in a week from Wednesday.  I am most likely staying in this area, but you never know with Transfers!  Anyways thanks so much for the email, it sounds like you had a pretty good week!  Love you tons and have another great week!

Love, Elder Geddes

Week 45

   I hope that you had great birthday on Saturday!  It looks like it because he city threw you a big party! As for this last week it was a pretty busy week, but overall a great week!  We were able to teach that family (Claudia y Fidel) that I mentioned last email several times with the Garcia family.  Earlier on on in the week we were able to teach them the plan of salvation which went really well! And it is always great having the testimonies of the members when they come teaching with us.  Then later on that week we had a lesson with them at the Garcia's home!  We focused on the importance of gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon to know if the church is truly the restored gospel.  They are also for sure coming to church on Sunday as well.  Then Sunday rolled around and they were planning on coming, but then last second the husband didn't want to go anymore.  We ended up seeing them that night and we asked the, what their doubts were.  He told is that he had some doubts on the Book of Mormon.  It was cool that he opened up to us, because a lot of the time people won't say anything.  We had a really good lesson, and they have committed on reading and praying about the Book of Mormon.  They are such a super solid family and I wish I could just show them how many blessings they are going to receive from the restored gospel.  We hope and pray that they will be able to read and come to church next week! I know for sure that the spirit will testify unto them as they do these things.  The spirit is so important in missionary work and the most powerful tool any missionary could use.  We are excited to continue teaching them though and they already feel like family!

  Speaking of tools on Thursday we all received iPads!!  They are super cool and are going to be a great resource in the missionary work!  We are in stage one so we basically just use gospel library for now.  But after a few weeks we will start using the planner and area book on the iPad which is going to be super cool.  Then later on for stage 3 is when we will start using online proselyting like Facebook and stuff!  

    Also this week we had some really cool lessons with some families that we have been teaching.  We have a really cool lady named Laticia who we were able to see last week.  She understands really well, and the first lesson we taught after we explained the apostasy she even asked "so are we on apostasy right now?"  It's so nice when people actually understand the apostasy and why it was so necessary to have a restoration y not a reformation.  So we are looking forward to teaching here and her family.  We hope we can get up there this week because we are on bikes!  Oh and as well one lunch we were at best buy looking for some stuff for our iPads and a guy came up to me and I asked if he could have a Book of Mormon.  So we went out to the car, and we luckily had one in English.  We talked to him for a little and he said he had talked to some missionaries a few months back, but they didn't have a Book of Mormon with them.  He also works with a lot of BYU Graduates and actually says he know Devin Jackson from work!  But he is interested in learning more about the church.  So we switched information and he actually called us later to set up and to see when we could come by!  It was one of those great moments of being in the right place at the right time!    But that's about all from me this week!  

   Have an awesome week and I love you all so much!  Thank you for everything that you do!  Y ahora puedo escribir mejor en español porque hay acentos en este iPad.  ¡Nos vemos y que tenga una buena semana!

Love, Elder Geddes

Week 44

Una Semana Maravillosa en Memphis!

Elder Geddes, Alvaro,& Elder Diaz

  Well this week was an awesome week here in the mission field!!  To start off the week in an unreal way the entire mission went to Little Rock for the I-Pad training.  We had a to leave here really early in the morning and all got to go over on a pretty sweet bus.  Then we arrived in North Little Rock.,It was nice to be back there again for a little bit, and to see some missionaries I hadn't seen since I came over here in Memphis.  Then we had the Meeting and Elder Zwick came to the mission again for the training.  He is a super awesome guy, and always brings the spirit so strongly when he speaks.  The training went well, and something I really like that he said was "Build yourself up from the best that you are now".  It's so true, no matter how much we know or how strong we are, we can always start becoming stronger today and become a better and strong person.  And to answer you question I did see Elder Hunt and Hermana Lewis.  The training was great and then we headed back to Memphis.  We should be getting our I-Pads sometime this week.  It is going to be a really awesome missionary tool, we are looking forward to getting them. 

All the Spanish Missionaries

          Elder Geddes and Elder Hunt

   

Then for the even greater part of the week were were able to teach Alvaro several times this week preparing him for his baptism.  It all went really well, and he accepted to live everything and most importantly take upon him the name of Jesus Christ.  On Saturday we had his baptism and it all went really well. It is always a great feeling seeing an investigator entering into the waters of baptism and opening the doors for eternal blessings.  Also the East Elders had the Baptism of Patricio who is the Grandson of one of our members.  It was a great service for both Alvaro y Patricio.  Elder Heaton and I were both able to baptize on our 10th month mark!  Elder Diaz actually had the opportunity to baptize Patricio.  Then they both were able to receive the holy ghost on Sunday,  I was able to confirm Alvaro!  A cool story about that was Alvaro after his baptism on the way home dented his rim on his car and his dad wasn't going to let him go to church the next day.  But Brianda (his girlfriend) told us she was praying for him and told him this is the first trial and that he needs to make it to church.  So he was able to come and it all worked out really well.  He was really happy, and you can already see a really big change in him.  It was also awesome to see how happy Brianda was after waiting for over three years for this day!

  To top off this great week, on Sunday night the Garcia family from the branch wanted us to come teach a cool family that they had met and who had some interest in learning more about the church.  So we were able to go over there and teach with them and share the restoration.  Teaching with members is always so great, and even greater when it's a referral from them.  The lesson went super well, and they had some really good questions.  The Garcia's bore some great testimonies which is always the best.  The referrals name are Claudia y Fidel.  We might have a FHE with them at the Garcia's home tonight!  Claudia told us at the end that she had been looking for a church and was a little confused.  But that once we came over and we taught she said she could already feel something different.  The spirit is the most powerful tool there is as a missionary!  

Alavaro and Brianda

Alvaro, Brianda and her family

 All is going great here in Memphis, we have been getting a lot of referrals from the branch recently and serving with Elder Diaz is awesome!!  The work is going really well!  .  Have a great time being back with Andrew y Jourdon in Utah.  Have an awesome Birthday on the 6th.  I hope it's a great one!!  Are you turning 30?  Haha! Love you tons Mom!  Que tenga una buena semana!!  Feliz Cumpleanos a ti!  

Con Amor,

Elder Geddes