Final Week in the Mission . . . .

Hey yall, 

I can't believe that these 2 years are coming to an end and what a way to end it with General Conference and then Fast and Testimony and my birthday next Sunday! :)  it feels like just yesterday I was going to the mtc! 

This past week was exciting! Really the highlight was conference though.. Words can't begin to express how I felt!  I felt like I was taking notes the whole time! Except for the very last talk.. it finally hit me and I dozed off haha, my old age is showing. 

I really don't know how to begin my recap of conference.. The 70's were on it this year. I loved practically every one of them! One of my favorites would probably be the Elder Renlund's talk and how he quoted Shakespeare. "Twas I, but tis not I."  The Atonement can change people! I loved how that was the overall message of conference. The Atonement and Easter, and families!  I loved Elder Ballard's talk from Priesthood Session.. I cant wait to be a RM, and not "Retired Mormon" haha.   

Other than conference being a spiritual high, we also had a very spiritual lesson with the Wilson's. Laura has come such a long way.. when we got there, she talked for like 10 minutes straight just on her experience of starting to read the Book of Mormon and the spirit she felt. She told us as she was reading, it was like a conversation she was having with someone! And Elder Sutton pulled out the scripture where Moroni says that he is talking to us from the dust!  She explained how she has had a change of heart and knows she needs to do this with an open heart and have true faith. She understands faith without works is dead!  She talked of her experience when she was 17 when she was saved in the Baptist church.  She explained how at the time she felt it was right and a good thing, but now that she has felt the Spirit from the Book of Mormon and us, that she has been rethinking everything that happened before. It was so powerful!  

Afterwards, on the road to the church, we had about 20 minutes and I was silent.. it hit me that I love them so much, but I probably wont see them progress too far while I'm here. But I know the Atonement is working in their lives! 

At the church we played basketball with the elders quorum.. Those 30+ yr olds know how to play! But Elder Holt, Bingham and I  taught them the ways of youth. It felt so good! haha. 

Well.. I'm sure this email isn't really an ideal one for someone going home in a week.. but oh well. I've never been one to be normal.  THE MASTERS ARE THIS WEEK!! AND TIGER IS PLAYING!?!? WHAT KIND OF MADNESS IS THIS?!? MY LIFELONG DREAM IS JUST UP THE ROAD. like, honestly.. and we have a meeting up in Augusta on Thursday!!!  Oh this is going to be torture..  

Well everyone, I have loved being in Georgia and South Carolina for these past two years.. Words will never be able to express my love and appreciation for the Southern Hospitality and culture.  My home email is  bodilykevin2@gmail.com. Email me or find me on facebook, Kevin Bodily :)

I love yall!

Elder Bodily

The last of the Florida Jacksonville Mission missionaries in the Georgia Macon Mission.

Augusta Zone Conference 2015

President and Sister Cottle,  Elder Bodily
Georgia Macon Mission 2013-15

A late post from March ~

hey yall 

It was a week full of ups and downs. we have some really great investigators here right now.  On Tuesday we had an 80 yr old member come out with us for our High Priest exchange, we went and visited Jr. It was an incredible lesson on the importance of church and the spirit. The member bore a powerful testimony and was involved the whole time! It was perfect cuz our investigator really admires Navy men and the member we had with us was an old Navy man!  

On Wednesday we went and visited our family, the Wilson's. They told us that Josh (the husband and member) had to be to work quick so we only had like 20 minutes to visit, but that's all that was needed. When we got there I could feel something different. As we got to talking, Laura (the wife and nonmember) told us that she had quit her job and that it relieved a lot of unneeded stress in her life. She talked of how now she could focus on the family at home and her 'motherly' responsibilities and her husband can continue with his duties. The spirit blew me away. She was talking about the Family Proclamation and I don't think she realized it, or maybe she did and that's why all this was happening! Later on we asked about Alma 32, which we had left with her to read. She explained it so beautifully, she understood it! It was so powerful. They told us that they were gunna go clothes shopping for church! Oh I was excited!   

On Friday we saw Jr again and we had an amazing lesson with him about the Word of Wisdom and church and baptism! We put him on date, and then talking about church we were planning on setting up a ride for him. Well after we said our closing prayer and were getting ready to leave, his mom who doesn't neccessarily like us, came around the corner and said, "Jr. you cant miss community service again or you'll go to jail." .... uhhh well shoot. this is awkward.. haha. we slowly had to leave..  

On Saturday we helped out the member who we live by do yard work all day. All 6 elders and him were moving tree limbs and Roy, the member, was going crazy with the chainsaw cutting a bunch of stuff down haha. It was so much fun!! 

Sunday after church was the baptism of the Bishop's 8 yr old son, Max. It was a wonderful service! And the Wilson's didn't show up.. it broke my heart. Josh had to go babysit some soldiers that he is over on Fort Gordon. It was sad. 

I cant believe that I only have 1 more p-day after today. It is so surreal... I love you all!

Elder Bodily

Gator Tails and Great Lessons

hey yall it was a good week here! 

this week we met a lot of new people and were able to turn some old potentials into investigators! One of them is Danny. He has a large family, and has known the missionaries for a while. We have had some good visits already with him. One night we knocked on his neighbors door and he was very nice and said we could come back. so when we went back, Michael was very welcoming! He is probably early 40's with a wife and 2 young kids. He said he had known Mormon missionaries before and had read the Book of Mormon cover to cover a couple times before.. wow. haha. so it was easy to talk to him.  

On Thursday we had Zone Conference up at the stake center with President Cottle. It was really good! It was very bitter sweet though. President had all the departing missionaries bear their testimonies.. wow.. it hit me once again. Along with that, The church is doing a new initiative, like the Christmas stuff, but for Easter! it was awesome! we got a sneak preview of it. 

Friday night we had a great lesson with our part member family, the Wilson's. We talked about the priesthood and her feelings of past experiences with the missionaries and she asked for a blessing for some health things going on. It was very spiritual. Her husband gave the closing prayer.. his first prayer in a very long time he said.. it was incredible.  

Saturday The Musgrove's, who live behind us, took us to a restaurant for dinner.. wow. ya know how I talked about wild game cookout? yeah, well this restaurant was a civilized version of that, kind of. but just seafood.. I forgot my camera on the trip, and I'm heartbroken. but they ordered this platter that had a ton of stuff.. catfish, perch, scallops, crabcakes, boiled and fried shrimp, GATOR TAIL, and some other stuff, oh man, it was so good! and they had unlimited grits and hushpuppies.. I was in heaven. but like I said, I have no pictures of that.. but I do from last weeks wild game dinner.  

On Sunday we had a good day. it rained all day and we were trying to achieve one of our goals of member present lessons.. we were struggling, and I honestly wasn't too bummed about not hitting it, but Elder Sutton was trying. we tried calling one family, but no answer.. I just decided to drive around. a name popped into my head, Jenni. She is a friend of some members who we had helped move almost our first week here. well she said she was gunna make us some ties from this horrid design of some curtains.  as we pulled up to her house, the member was there! we knew it by the Idaho license plated van.. it was a miracle. We had a really good conversation with them and made our goal!  

so yall know how we live out in the country? well, guess who came knocking on our door at 10:30 in the morning on a Friday! the Jehovah's Witnesses. I was shocked. haha. They were very nice and respectful, and so was I. I got invited to their "Sacrament Meeting" but I wont be able to take it.. dang. that's okay though. 

I found a new love.. Fluffernutters!  Peanut Butter and Marshmellow fluff sandwhiches..  and also I bought me 

some heaven in a carton. that ice cream is incredible!! 

Well, I hope yall have a good week!

Saving a Turtle and a First Baptist Church Dinner

hey yall! 

It was a good week here in the country. we did a lot of tracting in some beautiful weather. it started to warm up, it feels so good! our car hit 91 degrees! 

On Wednesday I went on exchanges with one of the other elders in the district, elder shutt from Burbank ca. it was fun! on the way back to our area from Waynesboro, I grew a heart. I felt like the Grinch. A couple weeks ago we were driving and it was late and I saw two beedy eyes of a possum on the road and I maybe not have swerved to make sure I made contact with it, and I did. I may or may not be a psychopath,, not sure yet.. but on Wednesday we were going down this road and I saw a turtle! and I DIDNT swerve to hit it. at 23 months, the mission has changed my heart.. wow. Imagine that.  

We had a good day though. I took him to try and see some of the people that Elder Sutton doesn't neccessarily like, for example, the staunch Jehovah's Witness Robert and our prophet, priest and royal king Daniel.  Why do I find such pleasure in talking with these people? im not sure. Later that night we went and visited our part member family, the Wilson's. We shared with them The Family Proclamation. It was a very spiritual couple of moments. over the course of a month, I have grown to love them so much and want them to be happy and have the gospel fill their lives. I have seen them grow so much already!  

On Thursday we had a great experience!  There was a Wild Game Dinner at the First Baptist Church of Louisville. That was so much fun! All 6 elders rode with an eternigator of ours. and when we got there, the first person to come say hi to us was the Pastor of the church, and the second was a member of our church who lives in Harlem, he was one who helped cook all the food. One of his friends, Steve, who is a dry Mormon put on the whole dinner thing. they have been doing it for 20 years almost. We had wild hog, Brunswick stew, quail, channel catfish, pulled pork, bbq chicken, and some other stuff. I forgot my camera and so I will send the pictures next week! It was so good though.  afterwards they had a service. It was really nice. They had a local Christian band play the praise music. it was real good stuff. afterwards they had guest speaker from Lafayette Ga speak. he was a world champion tag-team wrestler. He had an amazing story of his conversion and how Christ helped him through it all. But there was something missing. Its hard to explain.. I could feel the sincerity of his conversion to Christ, but yet there was something lacking. I knew it was the Priesthood authority.. they preached good stuff, but like I said, its hard to explain, something was missing..  

On Saturday Elder Sutton and I went by the Wilson's cuz they were having a birthday party for their little girl who is turning 5. They had cooked up some ribs and pulled pork. the regular stuff, ya know? haha. but we got to talking with Laura, the wife and nonmember. She opened up a lot and said that they had been talking and she is really starting to want to get back into the lessons and stuff. oh I wanted to hug her but I didn't! I really am happy for her and them.  

On Sunday we ate dinner at a family's house and we got talking about a lady they could invite to church. this family is fostering two little black girls whose mom is a teen mom and she's trying to get her life in order and the lady we were talking about is the case working/operator of the organization they are working with. but after dinner they asked if we wanted to go on a walk around the block. we didn't have any set appointments, so we said sure! well, we got down around the corner and guess who pulled up, April, the lady we were talking about!! wow. it was awesome. so we met her right then and are gunna start going over to her house and talk with her family. Such a great experience. 

Well today we are going up to Augusta to play basketball with a bunch of elders from the zone.. one of them is 6'9" and another is 6'6".. bring it on!  

I cant believe I only have 4 more p-days.. wow..

I love you all!

elder bodily

A De-sanctified Catholic Church and a Baptism!

hey yall! 

this week was great. last monday we had a great p-day. we went up to Augusta and walked around downtown and the river walk, and then got a tour of a de-sanctified Catholic church. That was incredible. 

the rest of the week was pretty regular, nothing too huge.  we spent quite a bit of time tracting and trying to find new investigators to teach. 

we had a neat experience on friday. i was on lds.org maps and i saw a name of a lady in a neighborhood we had previously tracted. At that particular house before was a middle 20's poly guy who was high. haha. this time, it was a lady who was so happy to see us. she is a member and has been out in hawaii for a couple months. she is connected with some other polynesians we know in the area and the other elders have been working with. well i asked her if she knew a polynesian family down in Hinesville. Oh she was smiling! She definitely knew them! We talked for like 10 minutes about them and how i served down there almost 2 years ago, and she stopped, looked at me and said "I knew you looked familiar!" wow.. she had been down there when i was down there! she asked about the luau they had, and i said i got transferred right before it. It was so wonderful to find a connection like that.  

Saturday was a beautiful day. We had transfer calls, and I will be staying in the Waynesboro ward for my last 6 weeks. I am excited! lets just say, The masters is the last weekend of my mission :)  

We had the baptism of a young large black family in Waynesboro that another set of missionaries have been working with. we have 3 sets in this ward. Its going to be great for the ward cuz they live in the town of Waynesboro. So incredible. On Sunday, the other set of missionaries had a baptism of a 12 year old they have been working with!  That was great too. The work is really moving forward in this ward. Everyone is excited! in a week we had 6 baptisms in the ward!  

well everyone.   i love yall!    have a good week! 
elder bodily

Walk around Augusta downtown ~

A Baptism, a Nuclear Plant, and Pigs.

Hey yall! 

It was a good week. A couple highlights from this week were a trip we took to Macon on Wednesday! President is starting a new thing with the greenies and trainers where they go to the mission home and get trainings. It was a good time. It helped my companion out a lot to see all the missionaries he came out with! I was the oldest missionary there.. more and more often there are times where I realize how much time I have left and it scares me! no bueno..  

On Friday we had a neat experience. we were out and about, it was a slow day, and I remembered in conversation with someone last week about a member who lived in a certain house. Well we drove past that house and saw some people going up the ramp into the house, so we pulled over and got the roster out and looked them up. Bingo! It was a lady in her late 70's and her daughter that lived with her. I knew that she was on dialysis throughout the week so before we went in, I told Elder Sutton to make sure he had his oil on him. As we went in we talked for a bit, it was wonderful. I just love visiting old people.. come to find out she had a heart attack 2 weeks ago, and still is on dialysis, so she asked for a blessing! It was just a wonderful feeling to know that I listened to the spirit. 

Saturday we spent most of the day at the horse ranch helping out!  2 of the other elders came with us. One of them had actually met the lady who runs the place before! Small world, she apparently had a Mormon boyfriend up in new Hampshire where she came from.. crazy! But we built us a horse corral! I was impressed! usually you put 4, 20ish year olds on a job and it won't get done, but it was awesome! She was very impressed also.  It just felt so good to be out there and working hard... getting muddy and horse poo all over, and pig blood! (sorry for the graphic words haha) One of the pigs was pregnant and about to pop! So we had to wrangle her up! That was fun! haha. 

Golly I'd be fine with working out there everyday.... but I know that people like Michael Long need the gospel. He is our investigator that got baptized yesterday! It was an incredible service. He didn't want it to be a big huge thing. He is a very quiet, to himself kind of guy, but we had a full crowd! The family he married into is very family oriented, and it was such a spiritual moment when his wife and her son sang "I love to see the temple".  So incredible.   After church, a member was driving us back home but decided to take a detour and drive past his work and the new house his family is probably gunna buy.  He works at Plant Vogtle. a nuclear plant here. That was incredible! Those stacks are huge!! They really made me feel small.   

Michael Long and his Forever Family

Plant Vogtle

(*Mom here - I had to search for what Kevin was referring to and found it quite interesting!  Learn more about Plant Vogtle:  http://www.southerncompany.com/about-us/our-business/southern-nuclear/vogtle.cshtml )

Last night a rain storm came through and on our trailer I could hear every drop! Usually rain helps me sleep, but I just couldn't sleep last night, I haven't been able to for a bit.. just comes with the work I guess. 

Well everyone, I love yall!
Elder Bodily

Greeted With a Gun . . . . And a 91 Year Old Golfer!

First off, I found another source of happiness this week. It came in the form of a 50 gallon drum. The member who lives behind us got it for us. Ah. i love it.  

The joys of simple mission-redneck life.

That's his home for a few more weeks.
He was right when he described it as being in the middle of nowhere!

This week, while Elder Sutton and i were out and about, we were tracting this one neighborhood. The second door we knocked, this old lady answered and came out and talked with us on her porch. She could talk for days if we let her! funny things.. We introduced ourselves as missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and she said something but just kept talking. well we went inside and let her talk more and more.. come to find out she is 91. she still lives on her own, drives a 7 series bmw.. and she loved/loves to golf.. she was the Georgia state senior champion many years in a row, and she has done a lot with golf haha.. so we left her with a plan of salvation pamphlet, the next day we went back and we talked and grabbed the pamphlet and said, i read your book, i know where im going when i die now! and that was about it.. i was like, uh.. okay? haha. but we just let her talk more and more. i said something about her reading the book of Mormon and went off on polygamy and "them Mormons" and stuff.. well, i just let it go.. my heart was broken. this nice old sincere lady hates the church and us.. well, i felt inspired for her to say the closing prayer, so we stood up and got by her chair and this frail woman stands up and we hold hands and she prays.. what i heard was one of the most genuine and heartfelt prayers ever.. she was so grateful that we came into her life and that she is able to talk with us, how she is so alone and grateful for us.. and then after i asked her to give the Book of Mormon one more chance, she said something about them Mormons again, and then i said, Ms Dodson,, you know we are Mormons, right? oh she about fainted! haha not quite, but her reaction was priceless.. she still loves us anyways! haha. 

Another exciting moment in our lives! We went to contact a less-active part-member family, the wife had been taught before by sisters, we knock, its about 8 oclock at night, so its dark.. well the door opens and a shirtless man is there, mid 30's and ripped. you could tell he was military. and his arm behind his back.. yeah i already knew.. haha. i apologized for scaring them and it was just us, the Mormons.. he shook our hands after putting a little something into his waistband and said he was gunna go put a shirt on.  we had a very good talk with him, getting to know him and his families situation. well, as we are about to leave, he asked, "are yall allowed to hunt?" ah. i love this man already. 

Yet another great experience from this week, an older gentleman, Brother Garvin, called us up and wanted to take us to lunch with 2 of the other elders. we so rode with him up to Augusta to a place called Ryans. a more southern version of Golden Corral. So good!! afterwards, he took us on a tour through Augusta! it was incredible. he showed us the "Pillar of Prophesy". that was real interesting! go look it up, i aint got time to talk about that today!   

Things are just going good here for us in the country. we are finding new people everyday to talk with and help! i hadn't even mentioned that we spread horse manure in a garden for 3 hours one day! i love getting off the white shirt and tie and getting dirty. :) 

i love you all!! i cant believe i only have 9 weeks left.. so crazy..

elder bodily

This boy can find a fishing hole anywhere!

Augusta National Golf Course and Blessings

Hey yall, I aint even gunna front, this past week was the hardest week of my mission so far. new area, a greenie who is older than me by a couple of years, a wreck of a trailer and hardly any work, and separation issues! its weird being in a trailer with just one other missionary and not seeing other missionaries on a daily basis.. its been almost a year since I've lived in just a 2pad. We decided to fast on Friday to help us out, and now looking back, with Sunday and what happened on Saturday, I can see the blessings from fasting.  The previous missionaries left us with a handful of people to see regularly. its a good start I guess. we have a lot of work before us though haha.  

Friday I had probably a life maker. you know that moment you have dreamed of but never really thought it'd happen. Last year my hopes were dashed, but this year they are kindled again! My area is just south of Augusta, we don't cover the city, we mainly cover a lot of the country and then some nice neighborhoods.. hard to describe. but anywho. Friday Elder Sutton and I had to get a tire fixed, we found a nail in one of them. so we headed off to Augusta. Well, on my GPS I noticed a golf course symbol.. uh, you already know! we drove past the members only gate into the Augusta National Golf Course.. oh man. my adrenaline was rushing!! My dreams were a turn away! haha.  

Saturday was an amazing experience. The church building here was built last year, and they had the open house and dedication on Saturday! Oh my goodness, that was an incredible feeling. The way it is built, is so that they can add on to it later when the membership grows and grows! We took people who came in on tours around and just talked about the building. one cool experience I had, I was out on the highway corner with one of the youth waving to cars passing by, and we saw the car pull over and park and this man get out, well me and the 14 yr old walk over to him and start talking, he was going to look at this abandonded house across the road cuz he is a realtor something or other.. ya know, fix it up and sell it.. well he was new to the area from Chicago, and he is working on the power plant that is up the road a bit. we invited him to the open house and then he asked if we had coffee and donuts in there.. haha I laughed and said nope, he didn't know much about the church at all.  well he had to go and wasn't able to come. and unfortunately I didn't catch his number before he left.. shoot.. oh well. So as I left my 14 yr old companion on the corner with some other youth waving, I started walking back to the church, I had left my companion with our ward mission leader and the other missionaries., and as I was walking back to the church, a maybe 50 yard walk, I turned my head and saw President and Sister Cottle driving by! haha, oh it was funny. the one time im walking away from my post!  We had a good laugh about it. But oh, you should have seen my greenies face when I walked in the door behind President Cottle. haha!  

After that, we helped a family move. That was a neat experience. The family who we were kind of helping move had ties back home! to Logan, Smithfield, and Lewiston! it was awesome! it was a weird situation. we moved a family out of a house to their new one a couple streets over, so that the members could move into this one. we were able to make a good friendship with the lady who isn't a member. she had lived in Nicaragua for a while and fed the missionaries there! so cool! where we moved her into was a neighborhood which elder Sutton calls the heart of our area.. its a nice big neighborhood with a lot of potential. it doesn't help me though that it is on a golf course! haha. so nice.   

Sunday church was great. We have a young part-member family that we are working with the husband, such a good guy, he has come regularly since October when they got married! after church we had a really good lesson with them! It was Elder Sutton's first real lesson and we committed Michael to baptism! he has been ready for a while!  I am really excited about this area, even though it was difficult at first, well that's an understatement.. it was more than difficult at first, but I have already grown to love the people here.. for some reason it just is natural for me to be able to connect with people and want to help them.. I suppose I shouldn't say 'for some reason', it it just another testimony to me about patriarchal blessings... I have read mine everyday this week and I know of its power, also prayer and fasting.. it truly does work.  

If you feel like you are slowing down and are all alone, read Mormon ch. 8.. its never that bad for us. so smile :) I love you all!

-Elder Bodily

Transfers and Goodbyes

hey yall,  sorry this email is getting to ya on Wednesday. a bit later than usual.  SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED THIS PAST WEEK. I got transferred again, which was a shock to all of us..  

I got the package from ivy, I loved it! Teancum is grown up so much! I cant wait to see that kid. 

Saturday we went over to a members house and may or may not have joined him in the woods hunting down squirrels. now that dear season is over, he wanted to show em who is boss! so we did! it was great! haha.  we then went back and skinned them! since I got transferred, I wont be able to taste of them.. 

Saturday night we ate at a members house, and while we were talking before dinner we heard and felt this loud BOOM! it literally shook the house. so crazy.. but they didn't even worry. as we were sitting down at the table for dinner, I looked out the front window and saw like 4 sheriffs go by, yet the fam still didn't worry about it. haha, life in the country I guess.  

Sunday was just.. well, incredible.. one of the girls of my family down here spoke, that was awesome to hear on my last sunday. also David White from the Pearson Ward spoke.. I've missed that man. he gave the same talk as when we spoke together last year for Easter. it was so powerful..  one of the hymns we sang was 'Put your Shoulder to the Wheel'.. David doesn't like that song.. that song to him is like, Love at Home for Dad.. just doesn't happen. so as we were all standing and singing, we made eye contact and laughed.  

The rest of the day was filled with goodbye's and heartache. started with Brother Hampton, the man who reminds me so much of grandpa Harold.. As we walked in, he already knew the news, and I could see on his face he was pretty sad.. In their backyard I noticed their well pump was spraying water.. that's not good! 3rd time in 2 years they said. dang.  next we swung down to see Sister Willie Mae Simmons, the 86 year old that was baptized. She had moved down to her sons house.  We didn't warn her we were coming and she had no idea about transfers, but she was understanding. I love that woman so very much.  

Next we went off to the Burton's. They were having a karaoke and kindof goodbye party I guess. but it was planned before we all knew.. we went over and their power was out! oh bless it..  so we went out and took pictures! it was awesome! so much fun.. Thank you Sister Burton!  we went back to the house, and power was still out, so we all loaded up and went over to the Warren's and did the karaoke! so much fun..  

Monday wasn't any easier though we were relaxed when we got pedicures. don't judge. it felt AMAZING! Haha, probably one of my new favorite things. I aint even gunna front about that. haha.  We went to the Warren's again to say our final goodbyes.. Ugh. That is my family! We got there in time to finish splitting some wood they were doing. Inside we talked a bit and just kinda dragged out saying goodbye. no one wanted to.. all my emotions were kept inside.. I just wasn't able to cry on the outside.. I don't think that is a good thing. not at all.  

well transfers happened! I am now in a area called Waynesboro. there are 6 elders in this ward and 2 sisters, but we all have our separate areas.. My greenie is Elder Sutton from SLC. We whitewashed this place.. talk about adding stress to the situation.. and talk about adding more, when we got back, the members whose trailer we live in, yes we live in a single-wide trailer out in the country! apparently the last missionaries left it a mess and so the member cleaned up as much as he could. but the paperwork wasn't really upkept either.. so joy..  I am excited though.. through all the stress, from my study this morning and talking with president yesterday, I know this is where I need to be.. out in the country with my greenie for the last 3 months of my mission.. the Lord sure knows how to humble me to help me stay focused.. 

I love you all. here is my new address!

Elder Bodily

1038 Bennock Mill Road

Augusta GA 30906

Random is right!

I cant believe that it is already another p-day and i have to email yall! oh i mean, i have the priviledge.. haha. just kidding :)  this week was full! spiritual experiences, and lots of fun times too! this is just gunna be a random assortment of things that happened!

Friday our order was ready of some shirts that we made. i got the logo from some other missionary but we finally put it on a shirt! its pretty awesome!! The Dirty South! 

 Thursday night elder beckman and i were out in a neighborhood tracting. it was cold and late, and we were both dressed in our black rain coats. we knocked this neighborhood for like 2 hours.. we meet a lot of people, but the final house the guy opens up and talks with us, then says, yall want some hot chocolate? well sure! anything to get us in the house! haha. it was great. we didnt teach a whole lot, but it was good to connect and feel their spirit. sitting in their home, i couldnt help but feel the spirit. a simple home but the spirit was strong already. the hot chocolate wasnt really that hot, it was luke warm at best. haha.  of course, now its Monday and i've had a cold ever since then! haha. oh well. 

Saturday was just great. We had a meeting in Macon with Elder Neil L. Andersen. It was incredible. words really cant describe the emotions felt there and everything that he taught. It was just so powerful. afterwards practically the whole mission, so 230 or so missionaries went to the macon mall. wow.. haha. so many white shirts and ties and dresses. it was great though. to be able to see my old missionary friends. Towards the end we all gathered together and sang a couple songs! it was pretty awesome.  

Afterwards we came back down the interstate and stopped in Adel and swung by a members house. he was chopping wood. well, using a 22 ton log splitter.. haha. so awesome!  after that we took a Krispe Kreme donut to a part-member family, he is like 75. oh he loved that! haha. he is a hoot. a stubborn old man that reminds me of grandpa harold! 

Sunday night, elder beckman and i had one of the most spiritual lessons i've been in, in a long time. it was with two people we had previously met, just hadnt caught them lately..  once again, words cant describe my emotions there. we were able to bear testimony of everything in the gospel.  they had prayed that very day that someone would be sent to them that would guide them and answer their questions! It was incredible.. it truly was a miracle.  

well everyone.. we have transfer calls this weekend.. i cant believe i have only 3 months left.. time is flying. 

 i love you all! 
Elder Bodily

He did say this was random . . .

New Years and Teaching President and Sister Cottle

Hey yall! 

i hope yall had a good week! Mainly for me, the turning point was New Years. It got me thinking, a lot. DANG! i leave my home here in 3 months and go back to my old home! So much has changed this past year, and i know that this year will just bring more and more changes! Crazy to think about.. I hope everyone came up with some resolutions that they will try to keep and accomplish this year. it comes around every year, yet we always seem to be taken by surprise! 

this week, i sent up to Tifton on exchanges. it was a good time to see a different scenery, but one day was enough for me. I was happy to get back to my 4 pad in nashville. 

New Years Eve was amazing. We went over to a members house for dinner and then he gave us some of his old air force camo stuff! totally scored!! it was awesome! all of us were freaking out haha. He also sells duck calls! totally gunna score here!! 

On New Years Day, we had the opportunity to go and teach President and Sister Cottle. it was fun! we taught them one of the principles that is on a teaching record, then they chose a random one and we had to teach it to them. Short and sweet, it was good!  Afterwards, we over to the Warren's, a family in Adel, and ate lunch with them and chilled and talked.. oh my goodness. i havent had mexican cheesecake before.. so good! They have an 8 yr old daughter that hadnt been baptized yet, but my comp told me last night that they had scheduled it! i must have missed that conversation.. haha. oh well! I am so excited for them!

Sunday here was amazing, as always. I walk into the chapel and i saw the White family from Pearson.. ah i was so happy!! Church was packed, it was a good feeling. The spirit was so strong there. It aint no joke that Sunday's a day to recharge our spiritual battery. I always feel so energized afterwards.  It is incredible to hear about Vlad bearing his testimony. I cant wait to see him when i get home. Well, the library is filling up with a bunch of people! gotta go! i love you all! elder bodily.

on the pic, for those who notice, yes i know i was cross-branching. oh well. :)