Week 83 

   This last week has been an awesome one, as being my last full week in the office!  I have been on the road almost every day this week, but it has been great.  On Monday I got a text from President Wakolo if I could drive him around for the next two days, because he isn't feeling well but he needed to press on with his interview.  I was super excited for that, but that night my throat started to hurt super bad and I had like a fever.  I really didn't want to pass up this opportunity, so I prayed really hard that night that my pain would go away in my throat, and sure enough when I woke up in the morning I felt way better!  

  That morning my companions dropped me off at the mission home, and then me and President headed up to Jonesboro.  I attended two district meetings that day, and I was able to read a lot while he was doing interviews.  The next day me and President went to Searcy y then Batesville.  So in total I went to three district meetings this week.  It was an awesome experience to be with President and being able to talk with him, and get to know him even better.  I never thought that I would be "companions" with my mission President!  President Wakolo is such an amazing man, and no doubt called of God.  He is such a loving guy, and always brings an amazing spirit with him.  In mission leadership council this week he bore his testimony, and referring to the Fiji cyclone he said "whether my family is alive or dead, my faith is unshaken.  My eternal father lives".  It was really powerful, especially because he still hasn't heard from a few members from his family.
  That was great way to start the week!  After MLC on Thursday we drove the Spanish Zone Leaders (Elders Heaton y Doty) up to Russellville for their exchanges there.  As well the following day we picked them up as well as doing some other furniture needs.  

  On Sunday church went well and one of our investigators Nicole randomly showed up to church!  We weren't expecting that at all, but she really seemed to enjoy it, and we have an appointment set up with her this week. As well on Sunday night we were able to see Steven again. We had talked to him earlier on in the week and he said that he had read.  But I called him out because he kept dodging all of the questions we were asking about the reading.  So he asked if we would leave him with something to read and he would read it.  On Sunday when we saw him he opened the door and the first thing he said is that he actually read, and you could tell his countenance had changed!  He had read all of Moroni, as well as parts in Ether y Alma.  He said he enjoyed it and he had some good questions. He still has a long way to come, but we know that if he keeps reading the BOM we know what will happen!  Yader also called me yesterday and he is now the second counselor of the Spanish Branch, so that's awesome!  

  This week I also finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish for the first time!   I was really excited about that, and I really learned a lot!  The spirit is always there when reading the BOM, no matter what language it's in!  

   The news for the week is that I will be transferred to Searcy this Thursday or Friday, and I will be serving as an English Zone Leader with Elder Pearson!  I'm really excited for this new opportunity that I will have, and all the things that I will be able to learn.  I've heard a lot of great things about my new area and my companion, it should be awesome!!  

Have a great week, thank you so much for the updates!  Love you!

Con amor,

Elder Geddes

Week 82

Riviera family after being sealed!! 

  This week was an awesome and adventurous week!  Earlier on in the week we were busy in the office, and we had a really good office staff meeting with President Wakolo.  On Wednesday we had Zone Conference with all the missionaries on this side of the mission.
That is always a great meeting,, and I learned a lot of great things for myself.  We focused a lot on helping our investigators realize the functions of the spirit, and why it's so important.  That is always keys, as the spirit is truly what is going to change someones life.  After that I drove back with all the Jonesboro Elders to go on exchanges up there again. It was great to be with my Son y Grandson again.  We were able to see  the Lopez family several times, and teach them some good lessons. As well it happened to be Claudio's birthday so we got to celebrate it with him.  It's pretty crazy Claudio, Monica, y Elder Heaton all share the same birthday.  While there we were able to see Tina y Takiya y they are doing well.  We found a lot of cool people, and it was nice to have a couple full days of teaching.  On Friday Elder Lundell y Phillips came and picked me up, and we did some furniture deliveries on our way back to NLR.    

  The best part of the week was of course on Saturday going to the Memphis temple for the sealing of Yader y Joanne.  On Saturday morning my companions dropped me off at Yader' house, and (Elder) Justin Meyers was
there as well!  So I rode down with him on the way to Memphis, and that was pretty sweet catching up with him.  At the temple there were a lot of people, and a bunch of members from the Spanish branch came that I hadn't seen in a year!  Yader had made some sweet temple shirts for his family that said families are forever!  This was my first sealing that I had ever been to, and it was an amazing experience.  Seeing Joanne and Yader being sealed was so cool, and it was  amazing when their two beautiful little girls came in and were sealed to them as well.  The Spirit was very strong in the sealing room, and the happiness was beaming off of them after they had been sealed.  It has been great seeing them progress towards becoming an eternal family.  I was talking with Meyers how about a year ago on my final day with them I shared a spiritual thought and told them how I wanted to see them in the temple!                                        

Elder Geddes & Former Elder Meyers (Justin)

    After the sealing they took a bunch of sweet pictures and then I went with Yader's family and the Fosters lunch.  It was great being with all them again, it was nice to be with some members of the Spanish branch again.  I drove home with Yader and his family, and the whole trip was basically a whole day excursion.  It was an awesome day,, and I was also able to see see several members from other areas at the temple as well.  That trip definitely made my whole week!  

Other that that all is going well here in the office. and we should have another busy week as we always do.  I love y'all so much, and than you for everything.  Que tenga una buena semana!

Con Amor,

Elder Geddes

                                                                                                      

Week 81

Our ride the last few month. RIP-Helga!

                                              

                                                            Our sweet new ride!

Trash from the Trenton Apartment

Elder Heaton and I

  Another great and busy week here as an office Elder.  Earlier on in the week we went on a trip to take some furniture to a few missionaries.  The next morning we got ready for our big trip to Trenton Tennessee which is about 3 hours y 45 minutes away from the mission office. Luckily the morning before we left, the new transfer van came in!!  It is way nice, and a lot roomier.  So that was pretty sweet, and I got to put the first 500 miles on it.  Our trip entailed closing an apartment in Trenton (which was absolutely filthy,) and as well doing other deliveries around Memphis.  That was an awesome trip especially because Elders Heaton y Doty were able to come with the three of us, because they needed a ride to Jackson to do exchanges with the Spanish Elders.

   One of our Senior missionaries Sister Nicosia was having some really big medical problems this week, so they had to unexpectedly end their mission this week.  They were so awesome and a huge help to the office, it was sad to see them go.  So we might be a lot busier here in the next couple of weeks.  

   Even amongst the really long trip to Memphis for a couple days, and all the other stuff we had going on we were able to see Hunter this week.  We had an awesome lesson with them about the commandments y a member was able to come with us. He said he was for sure coming on Sunday, but then Sunday morning we texted him y he was sick. He told us that he "popped the question, and she said yes",  so now him and his girlfriend are engaged!  That was a huge tender mercy, and that will help him to be able to progress a lot quicker towards baptism and receiving those blessings.   

   The rest of Sunday was an awesome day as well!  We had Ward conference which went super well, and one of the members Bro Toeppe who just moved in told a sweet story.  He had never been to conference so one year him y his recently converted wife went y were outside the conference center asking for tickets. There was a guy who was making fun of them, and yelling all sorts of things at them.  He said he felt really annoyed at this guy, and wanted to say some stuff back.  He then felt that he needed to pray that the man yelling would some day be able to hear the gospel ,and his heart would be softened.  Long story short, while Bro Toeppe was Bshop in Ohio a guy walks into the church after his child had just died, y they wanted him to direct the funeral.  Bro Toeppe said he would, but asked him if he was the guy that was yelling at him years ago in SLC.  The guy said yes, and Bro Toeppe told him what he had done that day.  He said he never thought the Lord would send him to his own Ward to be taught.  He was part of the teaching process, and soon after the man was baptized!  Pretty amazing story, Truly shows that the spirit can work miracles in anyone.  

   Later on Sunday afternoon we had several teaching appointments, and we taught this lady named Latoya.  She had  read all the way to Chapter 7 after we had given her a BOM the last time we met here.  We had a great lesson, and during the middle of it she had a seizure which was pretty crazy!  She has epilepsy or something, b Right after  she got back up, and read the verse that we had asked her to read!   So great week overall, and the work is going well!  

Hope y'all had a great week, thank you for all the love y prayers!  

Con Amor,

Elder Geddes

Week 80

   Pretty awesome week this week!  Especially being able to go on a three day exchange in the promised land of Jonesboro with my son y grandson!  

   Earlier on in the week we had our normal office duties, and we had a great staff meeting with President Wakolo. We did get news that one of the senior couples will have to return early in a couple weeks, so we could get even busier.  We were also able to finally open an apartment after a several week process, so that was nice!  

On Thursday I drove back with the District Leader y a few other elders to Jonesboro, because there was a leadership training here in NLR.  It was great returning there again, and I was able to haves some great experiences with Elder Ceron y Santiago.  We were able to surprise Claudio y his family with me coming, and they were so excited to see me.  One of the nights we had an awesome lesson with  them. Basically all of the family was listening.  Dulce had some great questions during the whole lesson., All that were present were definitely uplifted and excited to progress forward.  Gaby expressed her desires to be baptized as well.  We were able to set goals with them to read, and they talked about how changes are actually a good thing in our lives and we shouldn't be afraid of them.  We were able to teach them each day that I was there.  It was great to be with them again, and it felt as if I was with my family again!  

  On Saturday night Elder Lundell y Phillips came and picked me up y we drove back to NLR.  On Sunday Elder Ceron called my and told me that all of Claudios family had gone to church The kids even went to Primary for the first time which was awesome!  Claudio as well received the Melquisdec priesthood. His progression has been amazing!,  There was a significant difference in their house and how much more united their family has become as they have all listened.  The work is going great, and I'm sure this week will bring more miracles.  Have a great week, love y'all!

Con Amor,

Elder Geddes

Week 79

Elder Geddes and Elder Geddes
They discovered they are 4th cousins!

  This week was a great and busy transfer week!  The new transfer went really smoothly, it helps that it was "T1" which means most transfers took place within the same zone.  It was pretty cool though because on transfer day we were just driving and it felt just like a normal day, because everyone basically got their own rides. 

 Then after many weeks of waiting the delivery went well and I am now a proud "Grandfather"!!  Elder Ceron is training so his "son" came in this last Tuesday.  His name is Elder Santiago y he is from Puerto Rico.  He seems like a great kid, and Elder Ceron is excited to be training.  We didn't know if  Elder Santiago had a license and if he wouldn't have had one I would have had to go to Jonesboro every other week this transfer. He did end up having one, but President still wants me to go to Jonesboro for a few days to be with them.  That'll be a great experience!  With the new training cycle there is more focus on training, so the trainees stayed in the mission home for a couple days with their trainers.  We were able to go to be with them for a little bit of the time for a couple meals, and as well President invited us to come to the last testimony meeting which was a great experience!

  The week involved tons of driving covering places such as Batesville, Brinkley, West Memphis, Southaven, and basically all over the city of Memphis.  We took all the trainees to their new areas on the Memphis side y had to take care of a lot of trio beds.  President did put another trio right next to us in NLR ,so when we go on trips Elder Phillips always comes with us to be an extra driver.  He was with us basically the entire week, He is super cool, and is from Centerville, Utah.   

 Even with us being super busy and being all over the place we were  able to see Hunter two times this week both with members, which was a miracle for the office!  It was nice to bring more support for fellowshipping with us, and he really clicked with one of the members we brought.  He was able to share his conversion story, and it was really powerful.  Hunter was able to set some goals of having more consistent contact, and daily reading patterns, and as well as his member girlfriend Kaitlyn made a goal to pray every night!  That was great, and we are looking forward to seeing them a few times this week.  

  Sunday was a day filled with a ton of great things happening.  Church was really good!  After church  Elder Ceron called me and told me that Claudio had given a talk in church, and that the whole family had gone.  He said the talk was awesome, and he talked to Hna Gaby after saying how she felt about it..  She really liked it, and will probably be getting baptized soon.  It's been awesome to hear about the progression of Claudio, and how solid he is doing, He is getting the Melquisedec Priesthood in a few weeks.  I don't know if I had mentioned this before but Claudio said a few days before he decided to be baptized he had a dream where Christ was hugging him and welcoming him into the fold.  It's amazing how much happiness the gospel can bring into anybodies life, and the true difference that it makes.  Also on Sunday I talked to Yader and they had gotten their endowments in Dallas, and are getting sealed in the Memphis temple.  President has given me permission to go, so I'm super stoked about that.  

  And to top off a great Sunday we went with the ward mission leader to see a Hispanic referral from him.  The guy is named Luis and the WML had actually showed us to him before. because he works at an Hispanic restaurant that he goes to a lot.  He was a really nice guy, and said we could come over.  We go over to his house kind of late at night y knock on the door.  People look out the peep hole but no one answers.  So we leave, and as we are driving down the street Luis calls our WML and said that his wife didn't know who it was so she didn't answer.  He said that we could come back, so we flip around and go to the house!  We meet the family and Luis y Lety were super cool.  I was able to get to know them better, and explain about El Libro de Mormon y the a little bit about the restoration. Even though I was teaching alone, this spirit was definitely my companion that lesson.  It seemed as if everything smoother and I was able to speak really well.   Come to find out they know the Benitez family in Little Rock because she works with her, and had just gone to play Volleyball at our church this last Thursday.  It's amazing how the Lord will prepare people!  They are going to start reading in the Book of Mormon,, and we have another appointment set up with them.  

Thanks for everything, love you lots!  Have a great week!

Con Amor,
Elder Geddes

Sister Boudrero, Nate, and I