This is the End...It has been one hell of a ride!

Wow to think this is it! This is it, no more last one. Well it's been real it been fun it's been real fun! Now it may seem that I am exited to go home, and I am, I am very exited to see my mom and my dad and each and every one of my very awesome sisters and brother. I am exited to see mountains and the ocean I am exited to see my very best friends and to go biking again! But on the other end I am going to miss the mission. I am going to miss the amazing people I have met down here the ones I can call family. I am going to miss the spirit the mission has brought into my life. I am going to miss having free southern food at different people 's house's every other night. I am going to miss the perfect hour set a side for studying the words of God. I have grown up hearing that the mission will be your best two years ever and I tried to make it so. The mission has not been the best two years. It been hard, there has been some long nights there has been long months with some hard companions, days that I thought there would be no end. (There is always a end) but for real its been hard y'all. But the mission has been the best two years for me! I have come to love the person I am the things I have gone through have made me better, every hard companion, every long day, every frustrating investigator, have made me better. I am not always a fan of going through hard times but I am a fan of who I am on the other side!

 I love y'all so much thank you for your support over these last two years, thank you for taking some time out of your week to read what I have to say. I am sorry not all my letters were even remotely good, but thanks for your love and prayers! 

Love Elder Gordon 

P.S. I will be speaking at the James St. building at 9:00 am July 29, 2018. There will be an open house at my mom's house from 2-4pm, stop by and say hi. 2818 Flint St.

Hold Your Breath

So the number 1 thing this week was my last interview with President Varner and the best part about interviews is when your companion is in interview and you get to talk to Sister Varner! We talked about a lot. One of the things that really stuck with me was walking the edge of  success it is not easy and it is hard but in the end it always works out always, maybe not always the way you want it but it will turn out for the better! 

Then he gave me 5 things to do when I am home to help keep my spirituality, (I assume he gives it to all missionaries) but here they are. 

1. Prayer every day needs to be a pattern habit like brushing teeth morning and night.

2. Scripture study along with prayer

3.  Strive go the extra mile to take the sacrament to show your worth of what it means to you to the Savior

4. Never let your temple recommend expire always strive to be worthy of using it

5. Temple work and family history there are so many promised protection and blessings with doing temple work.

Love you all so much see y'all soon 

Love elder Gordon 

Blessings

Blessing from Heaven! Ok so last Sunday we had dinner with some members and they had mentioned that they're going to Costco Tuesday and they offered to buy us stuff if we sent them a list of things we need food wise. And WOW that was needed because since we moved up here there has been no food in the house because it was more than halfway through the month, therefore we were broke and the sisters that were in the apartment before us left two and a half weeks before we got there so they left no food there for us. So we now have food to eat. But this week was a good week we had district meeting Wednesday, and I was asked to give the instruction and I gave it on Christ-like attributes I had them all choose a Christ-like attribute to study for 5 minutes and then tell me why they chose it and what it means to them. I chose hope and I talked about how it is the fuel for a lot of things we do, it's what keeps us going. Faith is what gets us on the path towards heaven and hope is there to keep us facing and pressing forward towards heaven. I thought it was a really good district meeting and I got to commit them all to choose an attribute in studying for the duration of this transfer! All in all this has been a good week, among many good weeks I've had out here!

Love Elder Gordon

Don't Hate...

Y'all are going to hate me but I don't really have much to write about this week, we did however have dinner with some really cool members the Reynolds and it was awesome, they own a tomato Farm and we got the 50 Cent tour and it was way cool and them we went out looking of former investigators and a miracle happened we found a cool basketball court that actually had rims. It is funny because we drove all around the other day looking for basketball courts and we found a couple but all the ones we found did not have any rims so we are just glad to have found them!  I do know however that God is good and he has blessing for us if we are willing to accept them. Much love.

Love Elder Gordon

Time Flies

Wow just wow I did not see me being here at the end of my mission so quickly, this is it the last transfer! Yep One more then I will be back on the streets of good old Bellingham! Well so this was for sure a  interesting transfer. So the last 2 weeks I was comps with elder Schow, now I did not start last transfer with him there were some problems with my last comp and we had to do a  switcheroo. So I was with Schow and we got a long well so  President just  decided to keep us together for the last one (he also goes home with me) but we got moved from  Natchez / Vidalia over to McComb MS and wow I am pumped to be here. First off the APT is super nice one and Idk I am just pumped to be here! 

So the first part if the week we moved out of the big haunted house and moved into the new apt! We spent what seemed like the whole day cleaning and unpacking all of our things it was a rewarding day becasue the end result is a very clean apt. Then the week just went by, to be honest it was a fast one, we had district meeting Friday and that was fun we have a pretty killer district for sure, small but good! Saturday we went out to look for the people that are on our records that say they are investigating, we stoped by like 7 houses but not one house had people in them 😐... So we keep trying. Sunday was went to church big shocker. I did not go into the building with high hopes of it being a big congregation because it's just a branch, but wow I was wrong (love it when I am wrong). There were quit a bit if people in that little old church. And church was great! We went to the youth Sunday school class and that was a party there were a good amount of youth there but two brothers stood out over the others because they was so dang funny it was just fun all around!!! But ya all in all it was a spectacular week and I am looking forward to at least 5 more just like it!

 

Love,

Elder Gordon

• ---

Last Transfer!

The first bit of the week was fun but each day was quit the same. Get up workout clean up, studies, lunch then go out and see people. We had some fun in the rain Tuesday afternoon when we were seeing people. We saw one guy and it was cool to hear his testimony on Jesus Christ. Now he's not of out faith yet. But he had a vision of our Savior one day when he was really sick and the vision went a little like this.

"I saw a train just the caboose all by itself and people were reaching their hand out pulling people onto the train and no one was reaching their hand out to me... once everyone was no longer on the  loading platform but me, the caboose left me on its way to the next stop. And I was left on my own. Then at once there was a man standing right beside me and I knew it was our Savior because of His glory and He told me, your time is not yet to come." He goes on to tell us that he woke up and he was all better and was able to leave the  Hospital and ever since then he's been a good health! It was really cool to hear this man's story and then be able to teach him about the prophet boy Joseph Smith. 


Later in the week we had a lesson with one of our other investigators and (he's the one that knows a lot about the bible) anyway we talked with him for a quit a bit longer and we keep getting caught on the book of Mormon! We keep telling him to "ask God the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true;..." and until the day he does that we can't really help him because it is all down to the book of Mormon.


I had the wonderful opportunity to speak again in church and I spoke on how to return to our Father in Heaven. I gave a scripture Alma 7:11-15, which really just talks about the atonement of Jesus Christ, but also talks about how to repent and helps us understand that more! It was a good talk (but of course I would say that I also gave some stories about trials and how the Lord works with prayer! All in all it was a good week, more like just another week!

Another Week Bites the Dust!

Well this week was fun. We had P-day on Tuesday. We went slack lining which I really enjoy doing, helps clear the mind. Wednesday we had lunch with one of our investigators at some BBQ place and it was really good we got to talk with him outside of a gospel discussion. Which is important because if you don't know who your teaching,  you can't really teach them you just end up teaching a lesson and not people. We then had dinner at the Blalocks and that is always a party, they have 5 kids. There were only 3 there and it was still crazy we made biscuits and eggs it was a really simple and good meal! Thursday we did some pointless service... then we had dinner at the Dollors and wow that was so good. Friday I had the wonderful  opportunity to work on my home improvement (really just fixing) skills. So a week or two ago elder Schow and I were messing around in the staircase and we ended up putting not one but two sizeable holes in this old house. So it was the first of the month we had some money to get the things we needed and we fixed the hole in the walls and wow it was quit a bit harder than I would have liked, fist off this house is odd and not a lot of things lined up so it was hard the get the  sheet rock secured,  second it was so hot in the stairway I was just dripping sweat just standing there. But we got it all patched up and Tuesday I will be painting it and making it look nice!! Saturday we did some service with habitat for Humanity. We were just moving brush around for two hours. Then we went to a town kinda far but still in our area and we went to see LA but no one was home... 😐😦 Sunday we had church (no surprised there) is was really good we went with the primary for sharing and singing time and that was awesome! Then we had dinner at the Remington's and it was bomb because they  own a cupcake shop and there were cupcakes there! Well love you all have a good week. Enjoy the summer

Love Elder Gordon 

Weeks and weeks and weeks...

Well this past week was fun we had Zone Conference on Tuesday and that was Ok it was really long and it kinda took up the whole day and I mean the whole day! We then went on Ex's with the ZL and I always enjoy that because I get to go through my old area and do work there and I get to see people (members) that are just so awesome! We had Breakfast with the Burch's and wow that was a blast I miss them so much they are the family that I spent Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and My Birthday with,  so ya I am kinda tight with them but it was just so fun to see them!!! The rest of the week was fun for sure but just the same! We did however go on a hike with the ward and that was fun we went to Clark's Creak and we got to see a ton of really dope waterfalls! The only bad thing was there were these horrible terrible horse fly's, they would bit and just take bits of flesh and they were quit annoying! But o-well life moves on! Anyway love you all have a good week! Keep on keeping on!

Love,

Elder Gordon 

22 Months!

Well last week was fun for sure! But really not much going on! My comp had a meeting in Baton Rouge Saturday morning so we went down Friday night and had dinner with one of my most favorite people in the world so that was a huge blessing for sure! But the one thing I want to talk about today is about a lesson we had yesterday for 3 hours! So after church we had one of our investigators come to meet with us, I love this guy he is super awesome and very smart for sure, but too smart... Ya he went to seminary and his knowledge of the bible is way good. Which is kinda the problem because when you have that kind of knowledge it's hard to accept anything other then the bible even if  there are things in the bible that they have a hard time with or they don't quite get the right view or meaning of things! I don't know where I am going with this but just don't take what we know for granted because for a lot of people it is really hard for them to understand! Anyway I love y'all so much have a good week!

Love Elder Gordon

Mother's Day

Well first off I want to thank all the mothers out there, mine especially for sitting down with me when I was younger and helping me to learn to read, that was for sure a hard thing to do but my mom killed it and thanks to her I can read haha for real Thanks Mom!  Hats off to all the other moms out there trying their hardest to make the world a better place by raising your kids the way they should be raised!
My week was a party, we went out worked hard, but it is hard to write about it because most of the time I put so much work in and I don't see the fruits of my labor, but that's the good old south! One of the nights we went exploring and we found these canals and they were so tight because they would run under roads and houses and it was so cool so see then we found a way old a abandoned house and that was kinda scary but still way cool (I got a picture or two).

We had dinner at the Eplings Sunday night and they are just the best, I told them I never had a Greenee meal (where all the food is green, its for new missionary's!) so they made me a green meal and it was awesome. It was funny because they were planning my funeral also so ya it was kinda funny, and it was awesome because I got  talking to Brother Epling and he loves hiking and it was so fun to just talk about hiking with some one that knew what I was talking about. The small things! 

Two more things, first Sunday we went over to see a guy we had on our old investigators list and we met this guy and wow he's so cool, turns out that he has been meeting with the missionary's for the past 8 months and he wants to start meeting again so ya that's awesome! Second, I had a good friend shed some light on some problems I have been having and it came in a scripture. Doctrine and Covenants Section 64: 9-14   9 Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. 10 I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.11 And ye ought to say in your hearts—let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds.12 And him that repenteth not of his sins, and confesseth them not, ye shall bring before the church, and do with him as the scripture saith unto you, either by commandment or by revelation.13 And this ye shall do that God may be glorified—not because ye forgive not, having not compassion, but that ye may be justified in the eyes of the law, that ye may not offend him who is your lawgiver—14 Verily I say, for this cause ye shall do these things.  

I just love Ten it hit me so hard! Anyway that's all I got for you folks today love you all so much have a good week. keep on keeping on! 

Love Elder Gordon

 

11 more weeks

well ya whats' new in my life? To start off with, I moved yet again.  I did mention it last week, but here I am in Natchez Mississippi... ya I am not in Louisiana right now, I am still serving in Louisiana my area is Vidalia but I live right across the Mississippi river in Natchez, so ya its pretty dope! but I live in a house and I mean a house not some apt. Because some time ago the elders got kicked out of the one they live in and we were not welcomes back... they didn't do anything wrong, they just worked out in the morning and they had some super lame downstairs neighbors that threw a fit and got them kicked out so they moved into a way dope house, but not the house I currently live in, that house the elders had to move out because the crazy neighbor would not stop calling the cops on them... ya the police would show up at their door like every three days or so and they cops were very tired of the crazy lady just as much as we were! Then one day I was up there in exchanges and the crazy lady called the cops on me... you can read about it in my blog (Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Almost Arrested! fun,fun,fun). and ya that day we moved them into the house I live in now it's a nice house, kinda, it is old and big and haunted for sure! Last night as I was downstairs siting on my phone I had a cockroach walk across my foot, I was like "I'm done, I'm done" so ya it's cool and all but it is  not all it is cut out to be.  I am hoping to move out soon and find a new place because the place we are at right now was just supposed to be a temporary place. I also have a new comp, Elder Lathem, a fun kid for sure he's been out longer then I have so hes' fixing to go home in 5 weeks... ya and then I go home right after him. It's kinda weird. But we are making it work way well, we have been going to seminary in the morning which means I get up at 5:30 but it been super fun they only have 3 kid there and two of them don't talk much and the third is fun but a little different. I thinks it is fun to add some new faces in the class! It is gets us up out of bed in the morning and once we get home we go for a run and then do a small abb work out! But life for me is the same, just a few small adjustments here and there! I am way excited for this upcoming week we have some fun things planned and it's also Mother's day soon so ya kinda a big deal! But anyway love you all have a good week I hope the weather wherever you are is good, it's getting hotter here, day by day so ya. but it's life. love you all so much! 

Love elder Gordon 

Lot's Wife

Well I am sorry for the sad letter last week, but this past week was not much better!! I do have a way cool experience tho! So being in a small branch if someone does not show up to give their talk, there are only a number of people that can replace the speaker and I was one of them, and I knew this so I told the branch presidency that if they needed a speaker they can ask me. So about half way through the first speaker I get a look from the conductor and that look went a little like this "hey... can you speak..." me "Hmm ya" so I had less then 20 mins to plan to give a 20 min talk and that is hard to do well as least hard to do and not sound a like a idiot for 20 mins! But I got up there and I pull a Rob Loveland, " I have been preparing this talk my entire life!"  Then I whipped out a semi decent 20 min talk! But I talked about one of my new favorite Scriptures Luke 17:32. And it says, " Remember Lot’s Wife" and that's it yep 3 words (you can now see why I love it!) but iIreally love it way more then that just because it 3 words long and that is what I talked about. For us to understand why Jesus Christ was telling his disciples we have to recall the story of Lot and his poor wife. Lot and his wife was commanded by God to leave Sodom before He destroys the city. When they were leaving she looked back towards the city from behind her husband, against God's clear command. She was struck dead at once and turned into a pillar of salt. And our Lord Jesus Christ holds her up as a warning to his church. He says, "Remember Lot's wife." and stands as a testimony to not look back with resentment or longing, and that's what she did, she thought that there could not be anything better then what she had there!... Anyway I based my talk off a talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland " Remember Lot's Wife" its one of my favorite talks and I would highly recommended it! 

Well this week is transfers and I am once again getting moved, and I am moving to Vidaila so ya that's cool! But I wanted to thank everyone that has sent me a letter if it be by email or a hand written letter it really means a ton to me! and I THANK YOU!!!! anyway love you guys so much have a good week! 

 

Love,

Elder Gordon

#4-20

Well not much happened this week, it was a good week but not much really special happened! 

In this life we have particular and specific challenges that we need to learn how to overcome, and we need to do it for our self, with the help of others. we need to be patient, line upon line! 

I wish I had more to write but sorry I dont! Some weeks are just long and there really is not much to share! Anyway love you all so much please have a good week! and I will try to also! 

Love Elder Gordon 

Just Another Day

So out of every day this week there are two that really stand out above all the other amazing days. They are Saturday and Sunday! So Saturday there was a craw-fish boil cook off down at the Catholic school, so it was a small fee to get in for all you can eat craw-fish and wow that was so good, I for sure ate to much but o-well, I will live! It was just awesome there were about 20 different vendors cooking and most of them cooked some mean craw-fish! (i will put a picture in it not mine but ya) so when eating craw-fish you take the whole thing in you hands then you rip the tail off and then the head and legs. then you brake open the belly of the craw-fish and pull out the meet and eat it. Its a little bit of work but well worth it! We then went home for a min to change because in the process of eating craw-fish you kinda get messy so we changed back into a white shirt and tie (don't worry I wore the same shirt from last year's craw-fish boil) and then President Horner  picked us up to go see some people and wow that was a blast for sure! We got to see some less actives and then find some new investigators and it was just the best. Then got dinner and went home and straight to bed! Sunday we had church in the morning and we had some less actives come that we have been working with and that is always so good to see! We went out with a member in the high council to go give the sacrament to a older person and while we were out with Brother Burch we went to go see a girl I Baptized 18 months ago and wow that was cool, she has been in a hard place for the last little bit, and we were able to give her a blessing and share the good spirit with her! We then when home and had lunch, a Sunday classic grilled cheese sandwich!!! Then we went out and we saw a less active and we had a good talk with him, and wow this guy was way cool he served in the Navy and he was put in WA for the better part of his service, and I told him I was from Bellingham WA and he was like "no way I love Bellingham" so that was cool, small world! Then the next guy we saw was an investigator, and he was 100% blind! but wow what a cool guy we were talking with him for a while, and we got to hear his story about how we became blind and it was like in his 20s when it happened and he just had the best attitude about it and was being quit funny with us. We were talking about how he loved to cook and bake and my companion asked "so how do you measure then ingredients?" and without missing a beat he goes " with a measuring cup how else!!!" I was just about on the ground dying (you really have to know my comp to really understand why it was so funny) but it was just too funny! We then went to go see a older member in the ward that has been unable to come because of health and that was awesome to see her and bring her company and on our way out she gave us some Gumbo so ya bomb! Anyway my week was for sure bomb. I love this work, I can often say I have the best job, or at lest the most satisfying job, because it is truly  the best to see not just the growth in others but in me!  Anyway I love you all so much have a good week!

Love Elder Gordon

Week so and so...

Not much happened this week, we had EX's with the Zone Leaders. and that was fun I got to go back to my last area and see people. The elder I was with gave a spiritual thought that I really liked. so I am going to give it to y'all!

Going The Extra Mile!  OK so in the end of Alma (alma 60), Caption Moroni wrote a epistle (letter) and in short it says. HAY I need help out here will you please send me more troops! He's mad because he beat the Lamanites and took over a city but because if his lack of troops, they took it back. OK so I am not going to talk about Caption Moroni because we already know how baller he is, but I am going to talk about the person in this story that is not mentioned. The messenger that took the letter to the Pahoran (the chief judge)> so the messenger took the letter all the way to Zarahemla. And once he got there, he saw that the land was overthrown and that Pahoran was not there and that he went into hiding. So the messenger could have easily just turned around and gone back to Caption Moroni and told him that we are Doomed! But no he does not he goes the extra mile and he looks for Phoran and he finds him, gives him the letter and then they come up with a plan to take back Zarahemla and then get the troops to Caption Moroni. They did and it worked and they ended up over taking the Lamaites. all because this messenger was willing to go the extra mile. 

So I ask all y'all to go the extra mile, whether it be with work, your family, church activity! I know it is hard to go the extra mile, I love to do the bare minimum. but we are not going to be happy just doing the bare minimum! 

Love you all!
 have a good week love elder Gordon

PS My little brother drove 4/12 hours to spend 30 minutes with me while he had a 12 hour layover in Texas, coming home from his Spring Break trip! It was a great surprise to see him.

Easter Baby!

Conference. Elder Larry Y. Wilson talked about this and I loved it and wanted to share it in my words so... Don't just follow in the footsteps of others hold to the iron rod with full strength. It's easy to just follow in the steps of others on a sunny day but when the storms from the tempest overcome you and cloud your view and you can no longer see where you're going and before you know it you don't know where you're at. The iron rod is no longer in sight. People can also lead you astray as well if you follow others and they have different priorities than the church or the gospel they will leave the iron rod and you will follow them away into the darkness. Hold fast to the iron rod for yourself, help others to hold fast as you do, do the best you can to press forward!

OK SO January 1,  my mission started a 90 day book of Mormon challenge, and it ended this past Saturday!! And wow that was cool. First off I did not think I could do it, because the first time I read the Book of Mormon it took about 16 months> that's 486 days!!! And I was going to do it in 90 days that's 396 day less then the first time. But I was pumped up so I committed to do it and I did! I read the Book of Mormon in 90 days. And we were not just to read the book we were to mark every time we read Jesus Christ, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and Enduring to the end. It was not easy but it was for sure satisfying!  I can still say without a doubt that it's the word of God through and through! 

OK so last District meeting we did a role play on Bible referral and how to do them better. So that evening we went out and we were looking for a bible referral and WOW it was so dope, this guy asked us, if he could have a Book of Mormon also, we had a good talk with him and his son it was fun for sure and I am pumped to go back! 

 Well that was my week and I am sticking to it! 

Love you guys,

 

Love Elder Gordon

Marksville For Life!

So last week I told you y'all I was going back to Marksville and so here I am in a town that is only here because of a huge casino... ya the town starts a mile before the casino and it ends shortly after the casino, but wow I love the people here. It is way laid back, a ton of people don't have jobs they just live off the government and do much of nothing, others are retried from oil rig work and the others work at the Walmart or casino. So after I spent two day cleaning the apt I was ready to live there and get to work. So we went out on foot to go see members and kinda tract along the way. We went from dot to dot on our map trying to figure out where people were,  and that's always fun. We had a snack at the church and then worked our way back and we got home and I looked at my watch to see how far we went and it was like 9.88 and my comp looks up from the couch and said  "Wow that's probably the furthest I had ever walked in my life in one day"... poor kid. But it was a blast for sure! We had church and it was nice because there were high counselors and they were from my last area so it was nice to see them. but church was nice and the spirit is so strong in the little building. I've got no fun story's this week sorry but I love you all have a good week!

 Ok so I forgot one thing I did last week. 

So last p-day was the best. We got up and played golf with brother Vercher. It was a party and he's the best. After that we went to go email a tad. We then played some killer ping pong it was the best! But the best part was... MT biking. Yep I went biking. And it was the best. Now the mountains here are not to big but oh well. We did about 10 miles around this dope lake, we went with brother Magnum and brother Stock. We had a party and it was muddy (which is my fav). After that we went to the greens for dinner round one and today said bye to all the good people. We then went to say bye to sister Sanders and wow that was sad but it had to happen. But I can honestly say that that p-day was the best p-day yet!

Love Elder Gordon

 

 

And 20 months...just like that!

Well let me start off with. I have loved my time here in the Alexandria and Pineville area. So this last Sunday the wards became one, and this past Sunday was the first time we met as one ward and wow it was the best. There were so many people and it was just exciting to see the church full. But I had an awesome opportunity to talk for 5 mins in sacrament meeting and I had the chance to share my thanks. and by good byes to everyone!

But exiting News I am getting transfered to Marksville. So ya I am going back to the area I was trained in. I am way exited to go back. First off I am not too far from the people in Alexandria. And I have good friends in Marksville. Last week I had emailed the mission president and had asked him to put me there so I am glad to go back.  

Other than that the past week was fun just another week of hard work. But I love the work I do. Love you all have a good week. 

Love elder Gordon

March 12, 2018

Okay so I forgot to put a story in last week and it's a crazy story so I'm going to put it in this week's letter. Elder Leach and I were less active hunting and we came  across a record and the name was Andrew so we went to knock on the door of Andrews' house and this scrawny white guy in boxers answered the door. We asked "Hey are you Andrews?"  "No"  " Well is there an Andrew there?" "no"... "ok" was there.  We then started talking to the guy and this guy was all over the place and off the wall! He ended up telling us that he is the "literal son of Jesus Christ" and that he was atheist because religion killed his father (which was Jesus Christ) and this guy was all over the place he would start telling us something and half way through he would switch gears and start on something else and then stop talking and ask "so what do you think?" And we had no clue what the guy was talking about. It went on a while and eventually elder Leach pulled out his phone acting like some one was calling him and we left...😐

Baptism 

Alli Sanders is one of our investigators that we've been teaching over last couple weeks her family, that she married into, the Sanders is one of the families in the ward that is just the best. On Saturday Alli made the awesome decision to get baptized we had an awesome baptism ceremony. Her father in law baptized her her mother in-law had a talk on baptism and her sister in-law talked on the holy ghost and wow the spirit was way strong and it was so cool so see it all happen. It was just the best! 

Sunday.  

okay so last Sunday in both Alexandria and Pineville wards, one of the members of the stake presidency got up and told us about a special meeting next Sunday at 10 AM for both wards together... so all week long we've been going about trying to figure out what the special meeting was.  Just about every member we came across asked us, "Hey what's going on next Sunday"  we're like "don't know".  So we got the church this morning and they combined the Alexandria ward and the Pineville word into one ward.  They Dave Sanders the bishop. It was an awesome opportunity to see all the new changes in the Ward. I am very exited to see the new ward grow and thrive. 

Well that was the better part of my week, we put the truck into the shop last Monday and we got a call this morning that it will be in there until Thursday... so pray for me! Anyway love you all so much have a good week. 

Love elder Gordon 

March 5, 2018

Ok so I am going to try out this way now to see if I like it better. I am not going to go over every day I am just going to hit the high lights or spiritual moment. Ok so ya let's do it.

Ok so Tuesday we Zone Conference. And at Zone Conference elder Winn and I got to give an instruction. And it was on increasing faith and that was way cool to have the opportunity to talk about faith. There is this talk that has a way cool story about how this young mother  learn the true order of prayer I will insert that talk right here( Celeste Davis is a young mother of three whose baby woke up often, every night. She began to pray that she and her baby could get the sleep they needed. But her prayers seemed to go unanswered. This caused her to want to better understand prayer and why she wasn’t being blessed with relief. She learned from the Bible Dictionary that “we pray in Christ’s name when our mind is the mind of Christ, and our wishes the wishes of Christ. … We then ask for things it is possible for God to grant. Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at all; they in no way represent His mind but spring out of the selfishness of man’s heart.”

So Celeste decided to make a list of the things for which she had been praying. By making this list, she realized that her prayers primarily consisted of asking Heavenly Father for what she wanted, which was for Him to change her circumstances. She then decided to make another list, writing down those things that she was certain Heavenly Father wanted for her. Of course the two lists were not entirely incompatible—He loves us and wants us to be happy. But this little exercise teaches an important truth. While she wanted to change her circumstances, He wanted to change her. So, she decided to adjust her approach to prayer in order to better align her will with Heavenly Father’s. She wrote:

“I came up with a little formula to help me in my prayers. It is simply this—whenever you ask for something you want and you’re not totally sure if it’s something God wants for you, tack on the phrase ‘but if not’ and then add something you’re sure God would want for you.

“For example: ‘[Heavenly Father], please help me get some sleep tonight, but if not, help me to have enough energy to be pleasant and hardworking anyway.’ ‘[Heavenly Father], please bless that my child will get over this sickness and feel better, but if not, help us to trust in Thee and be patient with each other.’ ‘[Heavenly Father], please bless that I will be included in my group of friends, but if not, even if I feel excluded, help me to be kind and generous.’” 

She continued:

“I’ve tried this out for about a year now, and I can say my rate of prayer success has skyrocketed. …

“I feel like I’m finally fulfilling the real purpose of prayer, which is not to negotiate my desires, but to align myself with God. …

“An unexpected benefit has been that I don’t fear hard situations or not getting what I want nearly as much as I used to because I’ve seen and felt God answer my prayers—both my desires and my ‘but if nots.") we then heard from a lot of the other leaders and people that help keep this mission running. We had a fun full day. 

well it looks like thats really all that i got... we had fun week ahead of us... we just took the car in to the shop and it may be in there for a week so we will be roiling around on our bikes so ya. anyway love you all. 

love elder Gordon

19 Months and Counting

Monday- Since we have Presidents and it's their day all of the libraries are closed so, today is just pro's Monday.  So we had district meeting then lunch we went on exchanges with the Oakdale elders. Elder Platt and I went less active's that was very interesting as always we then had dinner at our bishops house. Got home went to bed pretty standard day.


Tuesday-  So this morning got up did some yoga then went to the library to email that was fun.  we grab some food and then went to the church to play Nerf war with the district that was all fun and games until some people got whiny.  Then Elder Winn and I went and played ping pong until dinner time we had dinner with a member at a Mexican restaurant came home finish our planning studying and just kind of wasted time and went to bed.


Wednesday- got up, went to go help a member move a very heavy bath tub. Then study's and we drove up to Natchez, and on the way out of town it may have been the hardest I had ever seen it rain. (Probably not) but got there had district meeting then went on ex's with the Vidalia Elders. So Elder Cate and I walked all around trying to got get people to care. Then we had cal-zones, made by sister Blalock they were bomb then we went to go workout it was a dozy for sure then home to bed. 


Thursday- Loaded up our things into the truck. And one of our tires was at 8psi... So ya we went to go get air and then drove all the way to Pineville to get new tires😊. Got home then studies, planning and then a little church history. We went to five guys for dinner with some members. It was the best! Went to go see some members then went to go see one of our investigators and that was cool. Got home now it time to relax and go to bed. 


Friday- so the other day the (stake presidency) closed the Oakdale branch. So the elders that were there had to move so we got a member to help us with his truck and trailer. That was a blast on the way we got  bacon wrapped boudin and on the way home we for  deep fried boudin. We got home cleaned up then planned, studies, and then did weekly planning it was long but o well we then went to go see one of the members here and that was a blast. Got back in town then went teaching for a bit.


Saturday- what an odd day. Got up this morning went to run stairs it was killer. Got home and then went to move out a  senior couple because it's there time to go home. We then had lunch at Sam's club it was ok. We then laid around because of rain and we were going to help some family move in. Once they Got into town we helped them unload their truck, that was fun. We then had pizza at the Birchs and it was a blast got home relaxed for a bit now it bed. 


Sunday- We had church all morning and late into the afternoon, it was for sure good one of the speakers in the Alex's ward talked about backpacking, you bet I was listening! He was talking about how they had these heavy packs and he was hiking behind his brother and he would pick up rocks and put them into his brothers pack with out him knowing. By the end of the hike his brother put his pack down and found out that there was handful of rocks in his pack. His brother was quite mad about the fact he was caring more weight then he needed to be caring, especially dead weight like rocks. And then he went on telling us that we all have heavy packs on, in life whatever it may be. But he was telling us that we don't need to be putting rocks into others people's pack to weight them down. And the rocks in life are like, judgement, looking down upon others, not understanding their needs, not being patient with others and so on and so forth. So don't be weighing down other people's pack  especially when they are already heavy with life's burdens. Maybe you can help them by talking some of there burdens. Anyway we had a good night. There was a baptism of a 8 year old girl in our ward and I was super awesome. But thanks for all that take the time to read my letters. Love you all have a good week  


your sincerely,
 Elder Gordon
 




 
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5 More Months To Go!

Monday- so today was quite lame we hung out at the church playing with whatever, I got very bored after that we went shopping at Sam's Club, Target and Walmart. We got the things we needed. Came home had dinner then listened to church history and then got ready for bed and now I'm going to bed.

Tuesday- we had district meeting which took a long time because we had a senior couple come and talk to us about service work in our areas it was fun but long we then we to lunch with them all it was a blast. Came home planned and studied more, then went to dinner at our bishops house and we had a Mardi Gras dinner and a King cake. It was dope. Got home and went to bed early!

Wednesday- I got up at 5:30 to workout and get ready we left the house at 6:30 for Baton Rouge. We got there and then had a really long MLC (missionary leadership Council) meeting. We talked about a ton of things and the needs of the mission. One of those things is about our mission and how it is expanding in July 1st to take over the Jackson Mississippi mission. We had lunch then and more meetings we finally got out of there around 5... drove home and then went to go play basketball at a church for Wednesday night ball of course. 

Thursday- had a slow morning our lunch app cancelled us so we just planned then studied.We went to go see our referral that was 30 minutes away and then we drove to our appointment. We had dinner with Joe and Tori Stock. It was fun we talked about a big problem here and that is, the focus that members have and there focus is not always church or the gospel. So make sure you focus it always towards the gospel. After that we came home and now it bedtime. 

Friday- So the whole day I was under the impression that today was Saturday. But no just good old Friday. I got up kinda stick this morning so we took it slow. We did all the things we need to like planning studying and area book updating. We had pizza for lunch. We then went to go see some member and then had dinner at the Sanders. And we talked about how you and everyone is saved by grace. But works determine the glory on which you are saved. Meaning the level of heaven you will be going to. 

Saturday- (wow) OK so this morning we got up and went and ran stairs, got home and went straight away to the food bank with the stake presidency to do service that was fun, we were there for about an hour and  president Deford....asked us  if we could do splits with him and Elder Thomas from the area of 70. Wow so I got to go with President Deford and Elder Thomas to go see a Less Actives and wow that was a blast we talked on the way there and on the way back. We then came home had lunch then went on  exchanges with the Natchez elders and I was on a bike for the day but it was raining quit hard, so we walked around seeing members and it was dope. But the coolest thing yet was, I was about to go to bed then I get a call from  President Varner and we talked about the split with Elder Thomas and then he asked us about this 14 year old girl that we meet at the  Pentecostal church. She had came to stake conference and she meet the sister missionaries and wow.... it was a good day for sure! 

Sunday- the morning we had interviews with President Varner, it was awesome, we then had stake conference. And that was cool there is a story that Elder Thomas told us 

Elder Thomas was a bishop, and he was interviewing member in a Spanish branch, now Elder Thomas did not speak Spanish he had a major in French, but he had tried his hardest and we was reading the interview card and the member on the other side of the table was crying about how her family is falling apart how they have not read the scripture they don't want to come to church and Elder Thomas again was trying his hardest. He did not know much of what he told her but he felt it was helping. 20 years later this member came up to him and had brought up this interview that they had 20 years ago  (she now speaks English) and she had asked him (Elder Thomas) if he had remember what he told her. Elder Thomas did not remember it was a long time ago and he did not know what he was telling her in his broken Spanish, she was not worried and she told him what he had said to her. And what Elder Thomas told her was to "go and read the book of Mormon evey day" she answer "they (her family) won't come" Elder Thomas "well then sit at the kitchen table and read out loud to your self! And she told him about the experience. She had started to read by her self and after a while she had a kid sit with her and soon after the hole family was at the kitchen table reading the book of Mormon. And how all the problems they were having were no longer there and that is what he told her and it was through the power of the book of Mormon.  

The rest of the day was good for sure. But I want to leave you with my testimony of the book of Mormon. I know it to be the most correct book on earth. I know it will bring any one person closer to God then any other book. And I know if read and study daily the problems you have will go away throw the power of the book of Mormon. I know own it to be true and I know it's a testimony of Jesus Christ. 

Love you all have a good week. 

Love Elder Gordon

 

 

February 13th letter

• Tuesday- Alright so we had P-day and we played ping pong and I was indeed sucking! I did not win many games. We then went to the church to play  basketball and kick it with some other missionaries. We then had dinner at the Greens and every transfer the greens invite a ton of people to say goodbye to the missionaries that are leaving so there were a ton of people there. We then went home. And one of my old companions elder Anderson was going home early because of some health issues. And so he stayed then night. 

  
  

  Wednesday- got up we ran errands all morning long got home went out to lunch met some other missionaries there, it was fun to see them and then we went home did studies. Went out to see some people and one of the guys we saw, one of our investigators, we taught him the plan of salvation. And then we gave him a priesthood blessing because he was quite sick. Got home got changed went played and basketball. Now we will go to bed!

  
  

  Thursday- work out, it just about killed me! Then we studied and planned out our day. We then had lunch we listen to church history for a little bit.

   Then got on our bikes and biked to Pineville to go see one of our investigators and we got there and no one was home 😐 so we biked home because no point in going tracting at 2:30 in the afternoon when no one is home we stopped and talked to a member for a min then we got home and went to our other teaching/dinner appointment. There we helped him move a ridiculously big piece of furniture into the house. Had dinner then had a long frustrating lesson with this guy. He is an amazing guy and knows a freak ton about the Bible we tried talk to him for a long time but in all actuality didn't get very far. Next time. Then home to bed! 

  
  

  Friday- what a day we got up I cooked some jambalaya then we went to a meeting that lasted 5 hours. And in that meeting we learned how to use facebook and the new planner aps it was fun😑. Then we got home and I had a  roaring headache so I took a quick nap before dinner. Then we went to the Sanders and sister Sanders got us some yummy fried fish. Then home to bed I go.

  
  

  Saturday- this morning we got picked up by probably one of the funniest members I know Bobby Green. We went and redid the bathroom for member in the Alec ward and that took all day. But I was the one that got to go under the house (trailer) to fix all of the plumbing and wow that was fun-ish i got all kinda dirty. But it was indeed service. We then had dinner at an Indian guys house (not a member and not and investigator just some guy) and he cooked Indian food for us and it was the bomb. We then had a lesson with Brad and Alli it was fun as always then home I did some yoga (because I can) and then to sleep😥

  
  

  Sunday- ok so church for us started at 7:30 we had meeting then Alexandria ward was first, it was good for sure then we had meeting for Pineville ward and there reg church it was also good bit just long, we left church 30 mins early. And we went straight to a Mardi Gras parade. And there we had some bomb food, we saw a huge high school party where most the kids were drunk we had beads thrown at us. It was way fun to see that! We then came home did some study's and then had dinner at the Sanders. It was a good long day!

   

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  

   

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February 6th

Monday- got up worked out, went and played 18 holes of golf then we got lunch at Chick-fil-A. We went to email for quite a while at the library after lunch, once we left the library we went to the Fernandez, and played some killer ping pong. We left there went home got cleaned up and then went to the Msngums for dinner, and wow that was so fun. Then went to a members house and we talked with this super cool guy about life. We finally got home I studied read some things and now I'm going to bed!!

Tuesday- we had a super slow morning, but had good studies, super dope lunch! Then we went to the new library up in Pineville so we can do the safeguard for technology thing! And once we're through we went tracking went to a complex and we went  to go see 3 people. But we did indeed get three strikes. We ended up tracking the rest of the complex and not a single soul was home. And then we went to a neighborhood near our dinner appointment, and there we met the weirdest person I've had ever met! So this guy answers the door and all he was wearing was a button up shirt and that's it. So me being myself start the conversation off with just a casual/usual, door approach. And once I was done talking the guy said "what" so I  repeat myself, same thing "what"... so I again repeating myself and the same thing happened "what"... and this time I was like alright let's do something new.  I knew there was a package slip from FedEx on the front door so I'm mention that and still nothing. So thankfully my companion elder Winn was like alright we got to go, so we left this man that had no pants. We had dinner with the Smiths and that was always a blast I got talk trucks with Chuck. And then we went to the Birchs boys baseball game, and that was fun we ended the day at the Greens helping them move some things around.  I am now glad to be home!

Wednesday- so we're out tracking me and elder Wise because we are on exchanges and we are walking back to the car and we hear this "is it the Jehovah Witnesses, no mom its the Mormons get inside" I just think that is funny!!! That was the highlight of the day we got a cool new investigator just before that. We then went to the church to play some basketball and it was a party. We went to Dairy Queen to get some food and some guy wanted money so he can buy drugs. That was the day!

Thursday- this morning was a little different we had Pop (brother Green) come and inspect our apt and that's always fun. And right after he left we get a call from brother Green (Bobby is the son) and he needed help moving some wood so we drove over there and once we got there brother Green (Pop) shows up... It was pretty funny. But  we helped brother Green with his wood. Then went to Best Buy to get somethings for all the elders then we went to Pops for lunch and he cooked jambalaya for us it was bomb. Later that day we went out tracting and found 4 new investigators it was pretty bomb! Came home and worked out now bed!

Friday-  In the morning we got up and then went to district meeting,  district meeting was fun but a little long if you ask me. We then went to lunch at Walk-Ons with the Vidalia elders that was a party!  We then when tracking for second got shut down every door we had dinner at Nancy Williams it was interesting as always. There are two boys that are difficult to say the least! We went back home for a second and we went tracking again.  Elder Cate and I (we are on exchanges) started talking to this one girl she invited us in and told us we had 5 minutes. 20 minutes later me and elder Cate leave her apartment very confused! She was slightly drunk and couldn't quite piece together what were telling her it was indeed very fun we then went to go burn elder Cate's Tie because because he's been out 6 months (and that's what you do) got some ice cream went home played cards and now I'm going to bed!

Saturday- so got up this morning and went to Zion Hill Baptist Church, for prayer and breakfast. It was fun for sure my companion said that the food was extremely decent at best, and the Minister there was from Seattle Washington shout out! It was for sure different and interesting then what I'm used to. There was a spirit there, it was a raw spirit though not quite complete. After that we went to my church to do some work. It was real interesting when we walk into our building the spirit came on me so purely it confirmed that I am in the right church! Rest of the day was just another day it rained a lot we had, dinner  at the Sanders house and that was always super fun. Brother Sanders gave us some cool ties and it was awesome now it's bedtime excited for fast Sunday tomorrow.

Sunday- got up went to church it was bomb as always! Got home studyed for a quick min, then we had a lesson with Ali Sanders, we taught the plan of happiness to her and it was awesome! After that we went to the Burchs to brake our fast and to kick it for a sec. Ok so the other day we were at Wal-Mart with 2 other missionaries and some guys come up to us and start talking to us about church and it ened on them inviting us to come to there church, (today). So after dinner round 1 we went to the Pentecostal of Alexandria (church) and wow what an experience that was. It was fun and very different. But we meet some good people and got to talk to this young girl (14 teen) about what we do and it was dope. We were on our way out and this guy stopped us and talked to us and he told us that we "can't recruit here..." and we was giving us a hard time and I just flipped it a round and was like hay man we were invited here and we are here to learn about other faiths and ya ya ya it was fun. Then we went to the sander's to eat dinner round 2 it was just a good day!

Monday- Alright, Since it's transfer week today was a pro's  Monday which means you go proslighting (instead of it being P-day) and pro's Monday are always hard because no one is home. But was had a good day planed out  for the most part we have lunch with the Verchers and dinner with a sister in Pineville ward. But we had nothing in between so it was yet another long pro's Monday. Also on pro's Monday we get transfer calls and if you get one of them you are most likely to move to another area, or get a new companion. Which elder Winn and I did not want. But thank the Lord we are both staying and I'm very excited to do another transfer here! The rest of the day was whatever, we went tracking in a gated complex and some person yelled at us and said the F word many times and it was very interesting she was very angry for no particular reason. But whatever. I am very exited for tomorrow!

Hay thanks for reading my emails, I did this one a little different, let me know how you y'all liked it. I want to say I love all y'all so much and everyone that sent me  birthday wishes/ cards thanks so much. Please have a good week and do some good in the world!

Love Elder Gordon

Having Fun

So since I talked to you guys Wednesday not much has changed. After we left the library Wednesday we went to play a little bit of ping pong it was a blast for sure! After that member in our ward named brother Vercher took us go play golf, brave men!! And wow that was a blast I can understand why so many people pour so much money and time into the sport! The funniest part about the whole thing was my first swing of the day, we're sitting in the first box and I go to swing and I smash that golf ball so hard it just curved right like nobody's business it hit a tree then hit the ground and rolled all the way to hit brother Verchers, Corvette it was for sure funny! I know it was because he was cracking up about it! We played 9 holes and it took like two hours and I only lost 3 balls but I found to other balls so ya! Then we had about as normal a week that anyone could expect! We went to a baseball game for a member in our ward, and that was fun we were only able to see the last 20 mins of it! We had church Sunday and it started at 9 and we were able to go home around 2:30 it was for sure long day at church, but it was way fun we had a good speaker in Alexandria ward, but we had dinner at the Colmons that night and that was a blast we played some pool and had good fun and, then we came home and made calls! This morning I got up and worked out and then  brother Vercher came and picked us up and we went to go play 18 holes of golf, it was the best for sure! 

Sorry my email is only about p day, I had a short week! but I do indeed work hard I just really don't like typing, but I will try to do better! Love you all so much have a good week and do some good in the world!

Love Elder Gordon

Birthday Week, and Hitting the 18 month Mark!

Alright so I am sorry for not writing a letter last week, and I don't really want to tell you about every day, because you probably don't want to hear how every day went, anyway I will tell you the best parts, and may be some of the bad! 

OK so the fun thing that had happened last  week was we had MLC (missionary leadership counsel), and that was fun for the most part we got to talk about things that are going on in the mission right now and how to be better and how to help the mission climb to the higher plane! After that we went on Ex's with the AP's and wow that was  a blast, we went out and saw a ton of people and taught a ton of lessons, got home later and crashed. The next morning we went out and worked again even harder, once 6 came around we (me and my comp elder Winn) went to the the temple for with a gal, that Elder Winn help reactivate and she was going thru, it was way cool for me just to tag a long! In the morning we drove down to  New Orleans for a Baptism for one of  Elder Winn's Investigators, and that was way cool to see that!

Last week was fun but mostly a normal week, I had my birthday Sunday with some members, and they taught me how to Cook gumbo and it was the best then she baked me my favorite dessert!  but on my birthday Elder Winn was sick so we did nothing and went no where... but it was ok there will be better ones in the future!

This week we had the awesome opportunity to hear from Elder Costa of the Seventy. He came to our mission and held a few zone conferences. It was such an amazing experience hearing from a General Authority. This is the 4th General Authority I have had the opportunity of hearing from on my mission, and every single time a special feeling has been brought in. One of the main things he shared with us was he talked about how whatever you focus on, that is what you are going to have success in. As I have pondered this, I have found how it is so true. If we focus on the gospel, you become successful in living the gospel. I believe that being successful in living the gospel is becoming more like the Savior, which should be our goal. Elder Costa shared many other wonderful things with us, it was a great conference!

Elder Winn and I had 4 investigators at church this week!  It was awesome and I really think it shocked the Ward because we have struggled getting people to church the whole time I have been here. Our investigator, Devon, came and he brought his friend James with him. James also said he would be interested in learning more. We also had a Part-member family that we are starting to work with come. Then the most exciting one was Steven! So on Saturday afternoon, Elder Winn and I were out tracting. We had set a goal to find 4 new people to teach and this was a lofty goal because we hadn't been able to find anyone all week. Well it seemed like everyone that opened up was interested! All of them became new investigators and we found a few potential investigators too. One of these new investigators we found was Steven. Steven opened up and we talked to him for about 10 minutes and he had plenty of questions for us. He then asked where the church was at and told us he was going to come. I have had many people tell me this, but for some reason I could tell that Steven was serious. Well the next morning in walked Steven to church and he loved it. Steven is from Nigeria, and is so prepared for the gospel!

    Anyway love you y'all so much have a good week!