Monday, September 29, 2014

No pics, but a lot of spirit!

hey yall. this week was a great one, despite getting sick from my companion for the first 3 days...   

It has been raining almost every day this week.  One of those days we went off to visit a less-active. We got there just in time before he left for the VA in Charleston. He was walking out the door when we got there, and so he invited us in and we gave him a blessing. It was a neat experience and just reminded me that the Lord will put us and guide us to those who need us. 

After that we decided to go around and contact some old potentials. The weather was perfect, it was a misty rain, we were wearing our sweaters, and it felt good. We knocked this small neighborhood and almost everyone we talked to was super nice! The last house we knocked was a middle aged black lady who started to cry and all when she saw us. She said she had been needing religion back in her life. We talked for a little bit and found out that they know the Clancy's (a family here) and the sons are friends. We went back the next day and taught her The Restoration. She was loving it and understood it too. She told us she would get her and the two daughters to the Women's Conf. but was unable to go, and they didn't show up for church either.. it was disappointing, but thats okay!  

Church on Parris Island was amazing as always. Ah Fook gave a talk and i did the sunday school lesson. I pulled it from gospel principles and taught about Prophets. During the lesson, i felt like it wasn't going anywhere, i wasn't feeling it.. i was jumbled and all over the place, being a nervous wreck. but then we got the conference Ensign and read part of Pres. Monson's address from priesthood session in april. The Spirit was there. It was so powerful. After the lesson, one of the recruits, who's first week it was coming, came up to me and said he really enjoyed it. It made me smile knowing that even though i may not feel it completely, others will feel it. 

There has been one recruit coming for awhile, who is quiet most of the time, but answers questions and all. After class i talked to him and he said that he graduates in 5 weeks and that he has been reading and praying every night.. it was incredible. He said he has interest in learning more and joining, so we talked bout baptism quickly and i told him to pray about it this week and let us know next week. since we will still have church, even though it's General Conference.  I am excited :)   extra church = extra blessings.
well, i love you all. that's it for this week. i love this gospel!

elder bodily

Good Week!

This week was full of good experiences.  Last monday we contacted an apartment complex (classic..) and we found this really awesome lady Brigette. She is 23 and in the marines. but she loves to ask questions. when we shared the first vision with her, she understood it wonderfully and said that it went against what she was taught, but that it made sense to her! We are excited to continue to work with her!  

Also this week, we got a call from a bishop from a ward up near Columbia, saying that his uncle lives on one of the islands here and needed a blessing. so we met him a day later at his uncles place. it was very neat experience. Bobby (the uncle) isnt a member and neither is his wife, so we chatted with them for a bit and gave him a blessing. then after, he said i hope yall are hungery! this was at about 430.. we had a dinner at 6.. well. yeah.. 3 plates later, i wasnt even full.. it was strange! goodness i love southern food. he is having surgery on his liver this week. i think they said liver cancer or something.. i aint sure.  we are excited to work with them though. then dinner at a members house at 6 was great! i had 2 plates there, and still wasnt full.. hmm..  im fluxuating between 2 bills and 190.. running in the morning helps out haha.  

On sunday we had the baptism of Caitlin. She is 8 yrs old and her and her mom moved here about February and started coming back to church. it was a wonderful experience. Elder Ah Fook baptized her and i confirmed her.  It was very touching. 



As you can tell, we also had some fun this week! Work Hard, Play Hard. We had the stake Low Country Boil on Saturday down in Richmond Hill. That was a party. A lot of people showed up so there was a lot of food! haha. We rode back to Ridgeland with a member there, he is so chill. He took us and showed us his plane.. No big deal.. it was a small plane.. haha. we taxi'd it around and got some gas cuz his dad had flown it to Charleston earlier.  yeah. that aint cheap at all. haha.  

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I overcame one of my fears this week at a members house! a snake! who would've guessed i could do that.. oh well. thats what a mission is all about! ( apparently momma posted a good post on facebook about it).   



This week was also Elder George's birthday party! He is a military relations missionary here. He is awesome.  He has a prosthetic leg, so this pin serves him well. as he read the pin, he said, "Sure have!" then he chuckled and proceeded to put it on! haha. I love that guy!

Pin says:  "I've survived damn near everything!"

Well, it has been a good one.  emails are fun and all, but letters are enjoyed to!  (yes, i'm proselyting for letters.!)

Elder Kevin Bodily
2205 Southside Blvd Apt 11B
Port Royal, SC  29935

i love you all.
Elder Bodily

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Reunions and Football

This week as a good one.  first off I went on exchanges with our district leader Elder Haynie who is a spanish elder.. that was fun! haha. we visited a few people, and i was reaffirmed that i am glad i am an english elder. hahah. i knew very little spanish, and the people we visited knew it.. hahaha. that was funny. it was a good time though. Then we played some volleyball at the church. that was legit haha. still didnt know what the hispanics were saying.. 



Friday we had the opportunity to go with a family and watch their sons football game at the high school. that was amazing. It brought back a lot of memories, i just gotta say though.. the fan base here had nothing on the LHS student section. Back home it was a lot better! haha. it was alright though. we were sitting in the booster family section with back rests haha. it was good time though because we got to meet a lot of people this family knows in the area too. :)   

"The Boys of Fall"



This weekend we had stake conference. that was amazing. It was good to gather as a large body of saints and feel the spirit. it was down in Savannah, and i was excited to see some of my Hinesville buddies again.  oh man, i was so happy, it brought back a lot of good memories.. im still a legend there for my "First day in the mission field experience".... getting searched for drugs on the way from Jacksonville.  hahaha. classic..  



The messages were really good. ( i guess there is more than just reunions at conferences, huh..?..)  a lot of them were about their experiences with sharing the gospel, and for some of them, it wasnt a one time thing, it was a multi-year experience.  one of the speakers spoke on times that when we feel the spirit, and how we need to act on that. on everything in our life, we need to act. we need to act on the promptings we feel, or we may lose them.  That was perfect for what i am going through right now, it just strengthened my testimony once more that prayers are answered.   

I was also listening to an old talk by President J. Reuben Clark Jr. and he said a couple things that stuck out to me.  1) Experience is the mother of Wisdom.  2) There is NO royal road to salvation and exaltation.  

well, i hope yall have a good week!! i cant believe that i hit 17 months this week.. wow.  have a good one. 

Elder Bodily


These two pictures had no explanation.

Just Kevin being random . . . SQUIRREL!!!


Storms rolling in and answered prayers!

So yeah. hey yall again.  i just cant believe that its been another week, and with this past week, another Fast Sunday. only 7 more of those to go.. Weird.  This past week we had a couple good experiences. we went and visited a member on tuesday night.   It was getting towards the kids bedtime and so she told McKenna (the little girl who is about 3 or so) to go get a book. she went and grabbed "My First Book of Mormon Story Book". and they had a reading party. It was so wonderful. That book is so simple, yet the spirit was so strong.  

Our main day was saturday. we had to fill the morning hours till 3, that was it. after that was planned with Scherra and the wards Low Country Boil.  We got the list of potentials and went off. We found a huge apartment complex that neither of us knew about! It was huge. so we looked for names and went off.  not too much success, except for meeting Aquib. he was sitting on the stairs facing away from us, and we had to come up and around the stairs, he thought we were agents at first. but we got talking. he isnt interested in learning about the Restored Gospel, he is and has been Muslim his whole life. it was a very neat experience talking with him. It was new to me. 

Our visit with Scherra was wonderful. She had a friend over and she practically taught her friend about the book of mormon. we hardly said anything.  She just needs to get baptized! Time..  

That night was a party at the Low-Country Boil. We had a good crowd. We were able to socialize with a lot of the members and the youth. Thats my favorite part.  I heard it from a member in my last area, he said something along the lines of, even if we dont get a lot of baptisms and teach as much as we would hope, if we are able to show the youth that missions can be fun and life changing, then it is all worth it. And it has been! 

Yesterday with Fast Sunday, I had my purpose and was set on it.  It was a wonderful day.  I felt the spirit through all 5 hours of church. and through the rest of the day. I prayed about my purpose and set on fasting all night also.  well, the spanish Elders came home for the first time since wednesday, and they had donuts.. man.. i was trying to be strong and continue my fast, but those donuts.. AHH!  honestly, i felt disappointed in myself and felt that maybe my prayers wouldnt be answered cuz i ate early. But this morning while emailing, well, my prayers and fasting was answered.. Im not going to go into details, but I KNOW that God is aware of our prayers and desires and will answer them! 

The gospel is true and the book is blue.  

love yall.  elder bodily




i just love the storms that come through. its been raining the past few days.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Marine Recruit Graduation and a Proposal

This past week was an amazing one, and yet a hard one. On friday and saturday we had a combined 11 hours of helping a family move. Friday elder ah fook and i went over thinking it was just going to be us there, but luckily they had a couple marines there helping too.  (It was a 4-day weekend for the Marines here).  So that helped out a lot! We got most of the big stuff packed up and then went over to the new house.. dang. i love the smell of a brand new house.. it was awesome.  well.. you have 5 big guys moving big furniture into a house, something is gunna get scratched or dented.. luckily nothing was too bad. 

Then saturday morning came around.. i slept like a baby that night. i was so exhausted. we are slowly moving around in the morning when a member texts us about 8 to see if we were helping the family move again that day. well. we were open during the morning and early afternoon, but we didnt plan to help them again. and right as i said that to the member, the family called us and asked for help again haha. So we went off with the member and helped them move again.  I can see the father of the family softening his heart towards us and the church. It is a good feeling.  

Friday was also the Marine Graduation of PFC Blake and PVT Jones.  It was another great time. We had the baptismal and priesthood certificates to get to Jones after.  As we walked around, there was a big crowd gathered.  Brother Blake proposed to his girlfriend in front of everyone! It was a great time.   






Looking around, we couldnt find Jones.. we were getting nervous.  We walked all over the place looking for him but couldnt find him.. It was frustrating. then i rememberd that he wrote his number in a notebook i had at the apartment, so we rushed back to get that number and call him. we changed to go help that family move too, but we were able to get a hold of him! We were able to meet his mom, that was awesome. they are a great family. 


On p-day we went over to the beach. played a little soccer and football.  man..  i resisted being tripped by the waves haha.  It felt so great though. 





Yesterday at church, was our wards big "Invite Sunday" where, on fast sunday this month we fasted for an opportunity to bring people to church with us. We had a good crowd. We had some great speakers in sacrament meeting. one of the recent converts spoke. No written talk, she just spoke. it was amazing. Her story was a powerful one.  After church, after the amazing potluck the ward had,  Kaitlin came up to us all and asked for my help. She is almost 8 years old, and wanted help figuring out who would baptize her. we told her it could be anyone over 16 yr old. her mom was shocked, she forgot that priests could too! haha.  Her mom recently started coming back to church about 6 months ago. There isnt a father figure so Kaitlin was wanting someone in the ward. they came back about 10 minutes later and asked Elder Ah Fook to baptize her in a couple weeks, and for me to confirm her. It was a very humbling moment. We have grown close to that family. 

I cant believe that August is over.. wow. time is flying.  Wake me up when september ends. cuz then i will have 6 months left!! (not that anyone is counting..)
i love yall.
Elder Bodily


Monday, September 1, 2014

It was a hot one!

This week went by quick, surprisingly.. the temperature was crazy..  the actual temp hovered around 100 degrees all week, and with 80-100 percent humidity, the heat index was around 110.. I probably lost some weight. I've gotten mixed. Some say they see I've lost, some say that I've gained..I'm not sure who to believe.. oh well.  

On Thursday we had a great opportunity, Elder Kopischke of the 70 came and had zone conferences with us. That was incredible. He really didnt have anything planned. He spoke on a few things, but then opened it up for questions, and then he'd expound on a few ideas for a long time. All in all the meeting was 6 hours and every minute of it was incredible. He had us think of a question that we wanted answered in our time there, and sure enough, mine were! The spirit is a powerful thing!! And so we applied this with one of our investigators, Scherra. She is just incredible. We visited her on Tuesday and talked with her for awhile and answered questions. She pulled out her study journal, and it put mine to shame. It was amazing. And on Saturday, I took my Book Of Mormon Institute manual and she fell in love with that.  We just haven't been able to figure out her concern and why she won't commit to baptism yet. Her time will come though.  

Sunday at Parris Island was very emotional.  PVT Jones and PFC Blake were in their Charlies because they are graduating from boot camp this week, they are considered Marines now though.  Brother Jones passed the sacrament for the first time and also gave a talk! It was incredible. The spirit was so strong in the room. He spoke of his path in life and how this has blessed him so much. He is going to go far.  It was heart-wrenching to think that they won't be with us next week though.. :(  Brother Blake is a return missionary, and so he was used to talking, but he said this was a totally different experience, being a missionary in the marines.  Elder George, the senior couple missionary,  put his hand on my shoulder and said, alright Elder Bodily, now its your turn to come back here as a marine and convert someone! haha.  I thought, it might just happen.  Ya never know. 

It was neat at zone conference, I saw the Butlers again! They finish their mission next month. They were some of the first I met in Hinesville! I will miss them so much! But we'll see each other again, in Utah! :)  

Elder and Sister Butler


Alma 32:27, 28.  You feel something?  Act.  The Lord will bless you.

Elder Bodily