6 Months!

Hey Y'all. 

Crazy to think, this coming thursday is my 6 month mark. where has the time gone.. I am not sure. But good news! i am staying in Americus for another 6 weeks at least with Elder Cawley! We work good together and are good friends. 

This past week went by quick again and i am left to ponder where we went and what we did. Wednesday was quite the experience. We were able to take Elder Farnsworth up to the Mission Home in Macon so he could fly to Argentina! He was so excited to finally get out of the states. It was wonderful to be in the Mission Home and talk with President and Sister Cottle and the Assistants. Sister Cottle cooked lunch for us which was delicious. It was quite the hectic story of getting things for them and Sister Cottle told us today even more miracles of that day. Its too much to explain. But one of the office elders, Elder Speirlein is a retired Air Force guy i think. He knows how to get things done. Its amazing. and he drives a BMW. no big deal.. 

It was a different experience though this week being in a trio. It was fun though. We had to work between both areas so it was difficult, but a good experience. Sunday was definitely a humbling time. Sacrament and other meetings were held with the Cordele Group. We had about 15 people at church, not counting us three missionaries. one of the members, Jermaine, he is a 12 year old kid, and the only one active in his family of like 7 less actives. He is wonderful. His testimony was amazing.  He talked about how God has really helped him out and all. In his testimony he shared feelings of how at school if someone says something mean he would usually want to just punch them right then and there, (he was making arm movements the whole time, imagine.) and then he talked about how he just lets God take care of things. I really cant describe Jermaine. He is amazing though.  One thing he said during his testimony was amazing. i know other people have probably said it, but it touched me more today. So Jermaine said the following, "The easiest thing to do is to criticize somebody, but the hardest thing to do is say a nice compliment." It was powerful. 

Last week i ate something i hadnt even thought of before. we were at a less actives house and her cousin was there and he talks with us a lot. He came from Liberty City from Miami, so he knows the hard life haha. but he cooked us up a Conch Fritter.. ya know the sea shell thingy? yeah, the muscle inside of it. oh it was good.. haha. Johnny C. was asking lots of questions because Elder Zukela is from South Africa and so its just fascinating to everyone. Its awesome haha. I love him!

This week i finished the Book of Mormon for the third time on my mission.. Wow, every time something new comes out, and is always so powerful. i love it. This time i read the whole thing, focusing on Obedience. Something on every page practically.. so crazy.

well, till next week! i love you all.

Elder Bodily

Saying goodbye to one elder headed to Argentina!

A pretty car will always catch his eye.  Since he's on a mission, I'm grateful it's not a girl . . .

It looks like it was a nice Toyota to begin with . . .

Elder Bodily knows what his parents like!

I don't think these are the original . . .

Will this kid EVER grow up?

Apparently not!

It's October (Exclamation Point) and it's Humbling

I cannot believe that it is October now.. But that does mean one good thing! COTTON FIELDS! Yaya! It was a crazy feeling of just imagining life back in the day.. very humbling.. that is for sure.  I suppose this week was full of humbling experiences.

The first began on Monday when we visited a Civil War/POW Museum. Wow. I cant begin to express the emotions i felt there. It was like i was back in Arlington National Cemetery again. So powerful. and luckily we went on monday, cuz tuesday the govt shut down.. i feel bad for the guy working there. he doesnt have a job now. thats okay. we gave him a mormon.org card to cheer him up! haha. 

Another one of the moments of my mission that i will never forget happened on wednesday.. we were called by Sister Butler, who's husband is the one with parkinsons. she asked if we could come over and give her daughter and grandson a blessing.  Jace is about 7 and has ciliac and i think down syndrome.. and some other things that disable him a little. but oh my goodness he is the happiest kid i have ever met.  I really dont know how to explain the experience we had. Having the opportunity to give this boy a blessing that is closer to God than I ever will be on this earth is so humbling.. He is having his Kidney removed next week. The family has always asked for blessing before. It really is amazing. 

and then to finish off this week was General Conference.. 2 words.. Exclamation Point! But seriously.. Conference was everything and more than what i needed to hear. Of course, Elder Holland always has his moment and President Monson is touching with his facial expressions. But one of the talks that touched my heart was Gerald Causse from Presiding Bishopric..  I mean, anyone that quotes Les Miserables in a conference talk.. Bravo. It applies so perfectly to my mission and the south. Everyone is somewhat friendly.. Noone should be a stranger to us. We are all brothers. That is our goal as missionaries. To help others feel the love from God. It is always there. to help them feel welcome.  

No one is a stranger to God. 

Hope everyone have a good week.

Love,

Elder Bodily

pictures: Our District, the one on the far left, is going to argentina this week! and then things from the Museum and then me as a cotton picker! yay!   i love the south!

Another day, another discussion . . .

Im not quite sure where this week went. Its all a blur. 

 

On Thursday I experienced one of the weirdest moments of the mission so far. We were out trying to contact less actives, and we chose one, Sanders Thornburg.  My companion joked and said we are going to see the Wild Thornberries.. as we rolled up to the house, he wasnt joking. but we both were shocked. He and his family live in a like a dome thing that looks like an mud igloo. trees had over grown around and everything.. it was sketch. He kinda looked like the guy right out of the game Jumanji. It was crazy.  He is a good guy though, but his views have been changed towards the Book of Mormon and all. It was sad. An endowed member and everything fell away into the tricks of Satan. He was set in his ways so we couldnt really invite him to read it, so all we could do is bear testimony to him and leave.. 

 

The weather this week has been amazing. It cooled down and then i was raining. but it was a heavy rain, it was like a snow-flurry rain fall. it was crazy.. 

 

really not much happened this week. but thats okay.. 

 

We visited a member in the ward on Saturday night. His name is Brother Butler. talking with him, i was humbled a lot. He is an older gentleman with a bad case of Parkinsons. He cant control his arm or his leg really. as we visited with him, his wife was off to the Relief Society Broadcast. we had a wonderful talk with him. He told us a lot about his life and everything, all of his problems with the parkinsons, and yet, in a quiet, calm voice, he said  "yet through all of this, i feel so blessed to have this gospel". it was so powerful.  

 

so this coming week, i am going to challenge all of you to really look at your life, and see how blessed you really are through all the trials. 

 

The Church is true and that is all that matters. Even when the missionary meal is ramen noodles and deverls.  :)

I love you all. 

Elder Bodily

 

 

Primary Program in Georgia - 6 kids!

I really don't know where to begin for this past week. i suppose with response to my mothers email!

That is exciting how it was trevors last primary program. i remember my favorite primary program, the one i talked about in my farewell talk, when me and cade and dallan and skyler and the other kids all sang, "I hope they call me on a mission". great times.. Trevor is turning out to be a good kid after all :)   haha that sucks to hear about the weather getting cold in the mornings. nothing like that here. they say it can get pretty cold with the humidity. we'll see though haha. i was talking about snow with a member and she was awestruck haha. it was funny. 

we also had our primary program in sacrament meeting. it was beautiful. i really don't know how else to explain it. there were 6 kids in it and the theme was "I Am a Child Of God."  by the end, i really was feeling it,  I am a child of God.  while they were singing, i could close my eyes and just feel the spirit there and angels singing along. maybe it was just my own voice i heard singing, but its one in the same. :)  we had 2 investigators at church, and i don't think there is a more perfect sacrament meeting that gators could come to. 

we are still working with our main gator, Otisteen. His smoking addiction is still a problem but we are working with him. He kinda rebuked us becasuse after we gave him the blessing, we didnt really give him anything to stop the craving. so this past week we were doing a lot of that. He is loving it. we will get him baptized after Conference! 

We have one lady that we take the sacrament to each week. her name is Sister Cranford. she is medically stuck to her house. she cant really use her left arm. but when we visit with her and all, she reminds me so much of my grandma doris. something about her is just so touching.  the spirit is so strong in her home. 

anyways, times up! until next week. 

i love you all so much.

Elder Bodily

Beautiful sunset in Georgia

Pineapples in Georgia?  What a surprise!  

A Week in Georgia

This week has been an amazing one. It all started with the Assistants giving us a referral they had talked to! They committed this lady to baptism and she lives in our area! we are excited to hopefully teach her.  Receiving that referral really made us think. If they can get us a date, why dont we get ourselves a date?! so that is what we did. we actually set 3 dates this week! one of them is hopefully going to get dunked next week. His name is Otisteen. He is an older gentleman, whose wife has been a member for a long time. we had a very spiritual meeting with him and with another member of the ward who went through hard times and changed his life and quit smoking 3 packs a day. so Brother Guynn shared his life story with him and had us all with a tear in our eye. We gave Otisteen a blessing that he may overcome the smoking habit. and then we committed him to a date. it was wonderful and humbling. 

another beautiful experience this week.  another lady we have a date with, Georgia, we set the date with her on tuesday. we went back on Saturday to teach her more. we didnt fully plan what we were going to teach, but we pulled up and Elder Cawley had a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, so we went with that.  We knock on the door and she lets us in and her daughter is listening in.  Her daughter is pregnant and was having contractions during the lesson and on the phone with the doctor at first.. it was very humbling. to be able to talk about The Plan with someone who is going to be having a daughter. she might have had it already or today,, i dunno. but anyways. To be able to feel the spirit when talking about her daughter is with Heavenly Father right now.. It was a different feeling i felt. i dont know how to explain it. It was different. 

i spent a lot of time cleaning the apartment this week. I dont know how missionaries have lived there for so long.. it was disgusting! mold growing all over the place.. After i did some cleaning, there is still a lot to do, the apartment felt different. it just felt cleaner. it was a good feeling. it is true what they say, that when things are clean and organized, you can feel the spirit stronger. what a shocker. haha. 

my closing thought for this week.. Alma 43:44. How in the world would Moroni know how dragons fight? It just makes me more sure that dragons did exist. I know the Book of Mormon to be true. so i have faith that there are/were dragons.   That is how faith works, right? :)

I love you all!   The ladybug is the only lady allowed in the house, and the sunsets are one of my favorite parts of the country. 

Elder Bodily

New Address

hey yall, 

First off, tell Trevor is haircut looks amazing and that his letter is on the way! where is geno's haircutting place at? and second off i didnt tell you where i was going, but thats becasue i didnt know! that is how this mission works! Its all a surprise!  But hey, the Lord has blessed me with a companion who i already knew from the old FJM mission! Elder Cawley! Since we already knew eachother and are buddies, the transition has been smooth. we have a lot in common! He is a great worker and has been out a little over a year. i am going to learn a lot from him!  

I have been transferred to a small ish town called Americus! The church is small here, but the members are so strong. On average, we have about 40 or so members come to church. The Branch President is Pres. Cooper. He is a great man, strong in the gospel.  I really am excited to work with him and help progress the work here. 

Really not too much happened this first week. we got a referrel for a man who lived quite a ways away. So we decided to go contact him. His name was Clayton. he lives on a country road out in the middle of nowhere. it really was a cool feeling to be finally driving though country roads. the cotton was starting to pop so it was beautiful. we talk with the 19 yr old Clayton and his dad and mom for a bit but not too much about the gospel. we could tell they werent too interested but we became their friends and talked about practically everything haha. It was really cool. On our way back to Americus, we went through Plains, Georgia. The home of Jimmy Carter.. we couldnt resist so we took a stop and looked around haha. That town and a lot of history. we shopped in the little stores right there, and drove around taking pictures. We didnt catch Jimmy Carter this time, and we missed him teaching sunday school on sunday at the church, but thats okay. we had a better service on sunday.

my first week here i got to speak. it was a different feeling. i wasnt nervous at all. maybe because the pulpit was on the ground and not raised above everyone. i think thats why i always feel nervous when i speak, cuz it seems like im above people, when i know i know less about the gospel than a lot of people, but it was a wonderful feeling i felt when speaking. 

in priesthood, one of the members said something that made me get a weird feeling.. He said something along the lines of,  If your bishop or stake president calls you in the middle of the night, and tells you to get your temple clothes and head to the temple as quick as you can, what are you going to do?  It really made me think.  Yeah, things still need to happen before the Second Coming, but that feeling i felt on sunday was a different one. It made me really miss the temple right now. its hard because there isnt one in the mission :( 

oh well..  i have attached a bunch of photos from this past week!  i didnt get any pictures about it, but we live on the campus of a college! Georgia Southwestern University.  Its pretty chill.

my new address is as follows for anyone!

Elder Bodily

948 Anthony Drive, Apt. C-2

Americus GA 31709

I love you all!

Elder Bodily

4 Months in Hinesville

Hey All!

Mom, tell Trevor i am working on his letter! this are busy so i dont have much time to sit down and write him a letter quite yet.  

And thank you Ivy, Greg and Teancum  for the package! it really brightened my day. Teancum could be a baby model. those cubby cheeks are so cute! haha. and the tie was wonderful! i ate the Peach-os right away so thats why in the picture there is no peach-os.. hahah 

This week was a slow one in the work, but we were out trying to talk to as many people as we could. No one was wanting Christ this week. but hey that happens.  

Saturday was one of the greatest and then a sad day for me.  

We had the baptisms of the 2 child of records. Jacob and Trinity. It was so amazing to see how happy they were. I really believe that they understood the eternal concept, even at such a young age.. it really is amazing. The service was good. it made me happy inside. i felt like a little kid. i felt bad for the youngsters though. the water heater didnt work too well.. so it was probably a tad bit cold.. but thats okay! 

And then when we got back to the house about 1330 (military time), we got the call from President Cottle.  I am being transferred to a new area!  i really have mixed emotions right now about it, but i understand that it is God's will.  I cant complain though. I was blessed beyond understanding here at Hinesville/FT Stewart. It really gave me a glimpse into the Army life.. I am still unsure about the future though. oh well! i still have 20 months to figure that out!

so yeah, Saturday and Sunday and part of today we are just running around saying bye to people and planning a prank on the Greenie my comp is getting here.  I was so blessed to start here. It is the largest and most expensive house in the mission.. except the mission home.. haha. but we wont tell sister cottle that.. 

Last week we got rained out before we started our journey to Savannah. so we went and played golf again. and we are probably doing that agian today! haha! I love it. it feels so good!  

(Nobody does golf styling quite like Kevin!)

Last night we went over to our 3rd home here. We did a slice of a Habenero and then a full Jalepeno. yeah.. i dont do spicy foods very well.. but hey, i held it down but i was on fire hahahaha. but it was so worth it.. the life of a missionary in Georgia.  

  

This morning the Bardwell's cooked breakfast. It was wonderful. kind of like crepes but not really.. oh it was good.. 

(The out-going and the in-coming missionary senior couples.  Bless their hearts for looking after these boys!)

i am attaching a bunch of Photos.. hopefully they all fit.. 

today we are playing volleyball with all the samoans, going golfing, and then i need to pack.. probably should do that... whoops.. 

i love you all! 

Elder Bodily