Week 52

La Primera Semana en el trio!

Elder Geddes and the district saying goodbye to Elder Hernandez

  Let the trio begin!!! It looks like I'm going to the roots of a year ago when I was in a trio in the CCM.
This week has been a super good week, and we are getting a lot of work done I'm serving with Elder Zickella who is from Florida, and Elder Croft who is from Pocatello !It's been a pretty sweet first week with them, and they are both really focused missionaries.Elder Croft has been out for two transfers, and is still being trained. Elder Zickella and I have the same amount of time out on the mission. They ended up just moving into my apartment,but it was a pretty easy move because the apartments are only half a mile away!
  On Tuesday we had our District meeting with a tiny district (just the 4 of us), and after that the AP's came to pick up Hernandez. Now that he is gone our district is even smaller, and it is just the 3 of us. Haha! I think it's the smallest a district can possibly get!

Elder Geddes and Elder Hernandez

  Before Hernandez left we had some really good experiences on Monday. In the morning we were able to go do some Service for a non member family. We helped them moved y they were super cool. I asked them if we could come back and share our message? They were open for it. So we went back later in the week as a trio, and were able to teach them. She is Hispanic, but speaks really good English. Her husband is American. They had some really good questions, and we were able to clear up some false doctrine that their church had been teaching about our church...Yes there is a church here who dedicates every Wednesday night for preaching anti-Mormon. It was a solid way to begin teaching a lesson y they wanted us to come over another time and have dinner with them, and share more of our message. We are excited for that. They are going to Mexico for a little while and after that we will continue to teach them.
  Also on Monday night me and Hernandez were able to go over to la Familia Lopez (Claudio) togive their daughter a blessing. She has cancer, and has really been having a hard time. It was a great spiritual experience, and a great opportunity to have them see the power of the Priesthood. We went back later on in the week y they said that the daughter was feeling a lot better. They were really grateful for that. We are just working on getting them to church. He is looking for a sign, like God to tell him to go to church, but we need to help him realize that he has seen plenty of signs already. They are such an awesome family though, and they are going to start progressing more soon. The wife even told me that she feels like she will be at our church soon!
  Another great experience was one day we were walking around and we ran into this lady Taknechia..We gave her a card and we set up an appointment for the next day. That next day we went back, and
she let us in. We shared the message of the restoration y she was just soaking it all in. At parts of the lesson she was saying "this is so awesome", and she even told us that we weren't going to believe it but he had been praying to know the real truth. We told her about the Book of Mormon y she asked us if she could buy one. We gave her a copy for her to read. It was a good lesson on the importance of talking to everyone, you just never know who is going to be prepared to teach the Gospel. We hope to see her several times this week!
  For other great news, David was able to come to church today!!!! Such an awesome experience to see all the hard work we have put into teaching him. He said he loved church so much, and that he felt very welcomed. He even asked some really great questions in some of the classes and decided that day to keep the Sabbath day more holy by not watching TV, and stuff like he normally does. So that was awesome to see, and we are hoping that desire will lead him into making some bigger commitment more quickly. During priesthood David introduced himself and, a classic member in the ward with the thickest southern accent yelled "fill up the font! We were all thinking it, but, he just decided to say it" Haha! We are excited and
are glad he was able to take this next step.
 Overall it was just an awesome week. it is different teaching in English most of the time but, it is a great experience for me, and it’s helping me to learn and grow. Sometimes it's hard to pray in English. or I accidentally throw out some Spanish words while teaching but it's great! I know I was sent here for a reason and the Lord has many miracles prepared for us as a trio! I hope that y'all have an amazing week!! Love you tons!

Con Amor,                    
Elder Geddes

Week 51

La ultima Semana con Elder Hernandez

Elder Geddes and Elder Hernandez!

  This week has been another great and busy week. Especially with it being the last week with Elder Hernandez. This week we started stage 2 in our iPads so now we are going to be planning our days on the iPad and the area book on the iPads. We went to a meeting in Jacksonville again where we got training on that. It's going to be a really cool tool to have. It keeps everything organized, and will help us keep more on top of things once
everything is put in!
  As for teaching it was a pretty sweet week as well! On Monday in the morning we decided that we were going to study about the apostasy for one of our investigators Claudio. We gt some really good scriptures together, and our goal was to teach the Apostasy in full detail so he would be able to understand it, because that was a big thing that was holding him back.That night we went to teach them and the lesson went super well! The spirit was helping us a ton remembering certain scriptures we felt we needed to share with him. It really gave him more understanding of the importance of the Restoration. Before this lesson he would not read the Book of Mormon, but at the end of the lesson he said "let's pray about this right now." He said a really great prayer and accepted to read the chapter we left him in the BOM. It was great learning experience for me on really studying for my investigators, and focusing what they need at that moment. He knew that there things were true or not, and now he has a choice to make. Later on in the week we went to see him and he and his family. We were driving in the car and saw he us driving to his house. He turned around and told us to follow him because he wanted to take us out to eat. That was way nice of him y his wife remembered it was my Birthday a few weeks back,and had them sing Happy Birthday to me there
at the restaurant haha! That was an awesome experience, and they are a really great family.They had us over for dinner at the house the next day y we taught another good lesson on the Plan of Salvation. And as well on Sunday night we went over with a member and had a really good lesson. He does have a lot of questions and doubts, but he has definitely opened up to the message a lot more since we met him. We are praying that they will continue listening and accepting the gospel that will change their lives so much. They really need it right now in their family.

  For David he wasn't able to come to church this week. He didn't get out of the hospital until Thursday and then had to go back to the ER the next day, but luckily got out that night He was still recovering and couldn't make it to church. We did have some really good lessons with him y were able to visit him several times in the hospital. He had me pull out my planner and write him down for Church next week for sure, and said "I dare anyone to stop me from coming". He is really committed to come, and said that this time he is making
a promise so that he will be able to make it. We are looking forward to next week y we know that he is going to love the church y the ward is going to welcome him really well. 

  Well this Tuesday I will be going into a trio with the English Elders (Zickella y Croft). I'm really looking forward to it and it should be a great experience. We are going to be working a lot with the ward doing splits and stuff to keep the work more effective. We will either be moving into the apartment I'm in now or I'll move to the English elders apartment, we haven't decided yet. It's only a half mile away so it is not a big deal. I'm sure this week is going to be another super busy week, we have a lot to get done. Sorry I don't have too much time today because we were doing service this morning and we have to be at FHE at 4. But all is going well here in Jonesboro!!! The mosquitoes haven't been as bad this past week which was nice, but earlier on in the week they were flying planes that were dropping Mosquito repellent haha! Dragonflies are coming out now, so I think they are starting to eat them. I hope your week is great, y thanks so much for the email!

Love you lots!! 

Love, Elder Geddes

Former Little Rock Sister Missionary (Jenessa) ran into the Elders eating dinner!

Week 50

Pres. Wakolo and Elder Geddes

  This week was another great, and busy week here in Jonesboro! It's a lot different here in this Zone when we have meetings. When we have a meeting we either have do drive to Searcy about an hour and a half away,or we have to drive to Jacksonville or Little Rock which is more than 2 hours away. We had a zone meeting in Searcy that went really well on Wednesday. Then on Friday we had a day called "DOT" Defenders of Truth Day. We were supposed to have it last week on the 4th but it got rained out. It was Elders only because the Sisters did something similar to it last year. We had a big Luau where President Wakolo cooked a bunch of food in a pit. As well we were able to play a bunch of little games, and do
challenges in the Gym and outside. It was a lot of fun to be able to get together with all the Elders on this side of the mission, and enjoy part of the day together! It was really cool that President Wakolo did all of that for us! He was also wearing a Spanish name tag which I thought was sweet! It was the first time I had ever seen President Wakolo without a suit on.

Luau Feast 

  The missionary works was another solid week as well. We were able to visit one of our main investigators David several times this week with members. We had a couple of really great lessons and especially the lesson on Saturday. We have been really focusing on getting him to church, because we know how much it will help him progress and receive an answer about Baptism. In the lesson he really opened up to us about his fears of going to church, and howhe felt a little inadequate about going. We were able to help him out with those concerns, and he told us how he felt a lot better. He asked us what kind of clothes he should wear, and committed on coming to church that next day! We had a ride all set up for him and it wasgood to go. On Sunday morning he then gave us a call, and told us he had gotten all ready  for church, but then was having lot of pain and had to go to the emergency room. It's amazinghow hard the devil will work from keeping someone from doing good things and progressing! After church we were able to go visit him in the hospital and give him a blessing. Sure enough he was in his Church pants, and his white shirt was sitting next to him on the chair. We know he will be blessed for his intent and, are hoping that his health will allow him to
go to church next week! It was a good lesson for me on the importance of asking inspired
questions. Because of that David really opened up to us, and we were able to help him with his real concerns that he had. 

   As well this week we have been visiting a lesser active lady, and her daughter who had just recently moved into the ward. They are super awesome, but she has a few doubts. We challenged her to start reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. She had been reading it the next time we came back which was super cool. She and her daughter were able to make it to church on Sunday! We are going to keep working with them, and try to get the ward moreinvolved in visiting her, and making her feel welcome into the Ward. Other than that we are teaching some really cool Hispanic families as well, and have been doing a lot of service which makes the week really busy. All is well over here in Jonesboro, and I'm really grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve here. I know President Wakolo was inspired to send me here, and I'm already seeing those reasons after just a few weeks. I'm so grateful to be part of a church that is led by revelation. And even more grateful to be able to share that knowledge with all those around me. I hope that you have another great week, and if you want some mosquitoes I wouldn't mind sending a couple thousand of them over there because we got plenty! Thanks for everything, love you!

 Love, Elder Geddes

Week 49

Gringos, Ingles, Comida Americana, y Mosquitos! 

     

After 11 months of serving in the same areas with Elder Heaton they must say good-bye.

                                      Elder Braden Geddes' MTC Companion

   It's been quite the crazy week with transfers and everything going on. On Tuesday I got to say goodbye to a lot of the members in Memphis which was good.  It's always sad to say goodbye to so many great people, I really grew to love that branch there and all of the amazing people there.  I'm going to miss Memphis for sure,but hopefully I will get to return back there at some point on my mission.  But I know that President Wakolo is inspired and that I'm in my new area for a reason!  On Wednesday we had transfers which also marked the 40th 
anniversary of the Arkansas Little Rock Mission.  It was always the first time we have only had 1 transfer meeting, it was broadcasted from Little Rock to Memphis.  It was actually really cool. 

Ghetto Burger place Sweden Creme has the best shakes

Elder Geddes and Elder Diaz

 

Branch President Perez and his family. They are awesome!

   My new area is....Jonesboro Arkansas!!  It's more north east of Arkansas and is a college town.  Arkansas State University is here which is pretty cool!  I will be serving in an English ward, the first time I haven't been in a Spanish branch on my mission.  There are some really cool Spanish members which is sweet and as well there are a lot of Hispanics to sweet.  The ward is a really strong ward, and I'm excited to get to know all the members better,  it's always different at first going to a new area, but I'm sure it will be awesome and I will meet plenty of great people!  The opportunities here are going to be great, I'm looking forward to translating in the ward, and in a few weeks I'll be the only Spanish missionary in the ward, so it will be a great learning experience! 
   My companion is Elder Hernandez from Vera Cruz Mexico.  He was the 2nd companion that Elder Heaton had in Little Rock, so I've served by him a little bit there and in Memphis.  He is going home in about 2 weeks 
though, so basically he is just showing me the Area and then he's going home.  After that I will most likely just serve in a trio with the the English elders (Croft y Zickella) for the last 3 weeks of the transfer.   That should be really good!  Our District is just us and the English Elders.  And yup once again I'm the designated driver. We 
have full car which is super sweet!  We still have to bike sometimes, but not for a week straight which makes it nice.   I think I'm actually going to get the real southern experience up here in Jonesboro.  It's pretty weird preaching the gospel in English, and I bore my testimony in church in English and was translating most of it 
in my head from Spanish to English haha.  It will also be different eating American food every day, instead of Mexican food.  But I'm pretty excited for my new area, and looking forward to what the lord 
has prepared for us. 

    Our week here in Jonesboro was a pretty busy week.  We were
doing a lot of service. We split a bunch of wood for a member, and then another day we helped another member who is a professor do some demolition in one of the classes.   Service is always good, and great way to get the members trust.  We were also able to teach some really good lessons to some Hispanics on the weekend.  We actually found a really cool couple who had just moved to Jonesboro ,and we we were able to teach them the restauracion.  I had my first English missionary experience as I would call it.  We knocked on a bunch of doors and about 6 different white people opened the door and just said no and shut the door.  Hispanics rarely ever do that so I've never experienced that before! Haha! There is a lot of work to do here I. Jonesboro,  Hopefully we can get some people really progressing pretty soon here! 

Elder Croft and Elder Geddes celebrating their birthdays!

   Thanks you so much for all the Birthday wishes!!  I had a good birthday, and a good 4th of July the day after!  On my Birthday we had weekly planning, and he did some service.  Later on we had dinner with a family and he English Elders.  Crazy enough Elder Croft and I had the same Birthday!  He is the only one in the whole mission that has the same birthday, and we happened to be serving next to each other for it.  4th of July was great as well. It was a normal missionary day and we ate wirht some members.  We also got to see the firework show 

Garcia Family

 Familia Hermosillo with Álvaro  

by our apartment which was pretty cool!  Even if Mosquitoes are eating us alive over here!  Other that just another good missionary week.!   Love y'all so much and hope that you have a wonderful week!!
Love, 
Elder Geddes

Nike Lady and Son

Torres Family

  

Bro. Gonzales and
Grandchildren

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