Stay Strong

     This week was one of the hardest and most rewarding weeks of my entire mission. When President called and let me know about Jason, I was defintely discouraged. To be honest there was a moment that I felt it was unfair. When we got back to the house the other 2 companions got out of the car and Elder Hardy asked me to wait for a minute. He really just helped me out by letting me know how grateful he was for me and how much happiness he has had being my companion so that was a huge blessing to hear that. I was sitting in the car thinking about what I was going to do for the whole next week, either falter or finish, and the words of one of my favorite hymns came into my mind. "And although all hell shall endeavor to shake, I'll never no never, no never forsake." I looked at Elder Hardy and told him that this week we were going to work harder than we had ever done before, and that's just what we did.

     The Lord did not waste our efforts. We now have a family of 7 that we tracted into that is progressing in a big way and is coming to church this week. P still doesn't have permission from husband but she told us that no matter what he says, she will never leave this church. We found a super old grandma that we teach everyday now that is being baptized on the 22nd and one of our gators Y has comitted for baptism and we're setting a date for him tomorrow afternoon. Probably one of the weeks when I have seen the Lord's hand in my life more than any other.

       Elder Carlson from the quorum of the 70 came for our Mission Conference and he is a 4 star general so you can imagine the spiritual smackdown he gave to us all. It was awesome. He asked us all to prepare talks before we came on being a consecrated missionary before we came and he would call on two people at random to speak to everyone. When he called my name I was honestly pretty excited because my talk had two main points. The first one was from Kung Fu Panda on how Po was consecrated because he realized his own potential and the second point was stolen from Uncle Kent, "The main thing, is to keep the main thing, the main thing" I talked about how we just need to keep Christ's work as the main thing and don't waste our time doing anything else so it was pretty fun. I thought I'd be nervous but I think after giving all the talks I have I've sort of use to it so it was nice not to be scared out of your mind for once. But yeah things are going well and don't worry about me. All Elder Hardy and I do is work work work. Yes I am exhausted and yes I absolutely love it. If there is one thing I have learned on my mission, it is that it is always easier to do the hard thing while on the Lord's errand, than to do the easy thing while your not. Toodles.

 

                     Muaj Zoo Vwj

P.S. Shoutout to my big bro J Dub for his birthday. Sorry I don't have any special presents for you but I will ask one of the Hmong Shamans if they can send you one of their Spirit Swords... Yes they really do have those.

P.P.S. My prayers go out to the Goff family. Stay strong.

The Thought Entered My Mind

  Nyob zoo.

  To bad to hear about Jason. I will be praying for him with everything I've got. He is such a gentle giant. I remember him, jared, and me would always have such an awesome time up in Sunvalley. We would stay up some nights for hours talking sports, life, and whatever else. I was always impressed with how much we all changed each time we would see each other again. Literally he is a foot taller every time. But even more than that he became someone I knew would always have my back and I will always count on him for an awesome laugh.

    This week we had many amazing experiences that proved to me the work is still true. One morning I was really struggling to think of what to share with one of our investigators who we have been teaching for some time and seemed to hit sort of a roadblock. I got down to pray and before I started I just asked that Heavanly Father would tell me what to pray for. The thought entered into my mind to pray and ask God if the Book of Mormon is true, which was kind of confusing because I feel that I have gained a witness quite a few times that it is true. But if there's one thing I learned on my mission, it is that the you don't ignore a prompting from the Lord. I asked God if the Book was true and I didn't have some immediate revelation that the book was true but just a feeling to be patient. So we went to church that day and in the last talk, a return missionary began to speak on the importance of the Book of Mormon. He then read Moroni 10:3-5 and I felt the Spirit so strong. I immediately felt that the thing to teach our investigator was obedience. Simply teach her that through obedience to the promptings of the Spirit and the commandments, the Lord will bless us. I had gained a personal testimony that day that through simple obedience, the Lord will give us what we need. As we taught her, we told her that obedience is not a game show, you cannot pick and choose and hope to win a prize. The guidelines the Lord has set for us is black and white, if we do what's right, we receive blessings, if we do what's wrong, we will eventually fall on our face.

     It was such a Spirit filled lesson and you could see the understanding begin to grow and also the guilt of her disobedience begin to weigh heavy until at the end she said, "Elders, to be honest, I don't even know how I'll sleep at night now." I almost laughed when she said that but we then explained that through the Atonement and continued righteous living, she would be forgiven of each of her mistakes. A feeling of peace entered the room and she said I know the both of you are right. We told her that the Spirit of God was confirming to her that what we taught was true. It was a great reminder to me of how important it is to listen to the Spirit and be obedient to our answers we receive.

      I know that through obedience to the commandments of God, each of us, no matter what we've done or who we've been in the past, will one day go back to live with our Father in Heavan. Good luck everyone. God Bless

Deano

 Mom- Please forward this to the Coffey family when you get the chance, thanks.

 

    Dear Coffey Fam,

       I have been so blessed in my life to have gotten to know your family. You have all been such great examples to me. I will never forget the kindness that your father showed to me growing up. I know that there is a special place in heaven for Dean. I mean who else would have wanted to coach a 11 year old soccer team named the Blue Darts, but he did. I will always remember a basketball practice that we had for our junior jazz team and Dean was giving me tips on how to shoot. After I missed like 15 shots in a row all he said was, "At least your good at defense right." I laughed so hard. That is the kind of man he was, always looking for the positive in everybody. Each time I would see him, he would yell, MARSH! How are you doin big guy? And then I would try and shake his hand really hard to crush it but his hands are the size of Hagrids so I don't think he even felt it. He really was a light in my life. Know that I am praying for your family and I love you all so much. I know that you will keep going strong because that's just what Coffeys do.

                                                                    Love,

                                                                        Elder Henrie

P.S. Matt, I can't even imagine how hard this must be for you right now, when my brother died, the thing that brought me the most comfort was Alma 40:12. Love you man

 

    So don't really have much to say this week. Things with Elder Hardy and I are going really well though. We have gotten off to a great start and the area is doing great. I really love this kid and he is defintely the companion I need right now. I have been studying a lot about Joseph Smith lately and his life and I have grown to love the opportunity to testify of his prophetic calling to everyone that I meet. Had a sweet experience a few days ago with a guy named J. We were teaching him the Restoration and he was questioning if Joseph Smith saw God and if the Book of Mormon is true.

(after him debating for a little bit I said)

Do you believe that God spoke to Prophets in the Bible? Like Abreham, Moses, and Noah

Yes

Do you believe that we are all his children and that he loves us?

Yes

Well J if you believe both of those things, there are only a few choices,

1. God lost His power to speak to us.

J says, God has all power and he doesn't change.

I said, "then 2. God doesn't love us anymore and he doesn't want to talk to us."

J says, I already told you I know he loves me.

I then told him, Then it sounds like you've chosen 3. God does love us and gives us His word through a modern prophet today, whose authority was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, in other words, God Speaks.

J paused for a long time after that and didn't say anything. Then Elder Hardy bore a sweet testimony and basically blew his mind. It was awesome. We are seeing him tonight at 6 and I am way pumped.

   Love you all and pray for Matt and his family, they are some of the greatest people I know.

 

  -Elder Henrie

Chandler Webb has the Heart of a Champion

          Mom my mission president wants you to forward this to the Webb family when you get their email. Also I need you to pray for my companion today. Last night his cousin who was one of his best friends was murdered. They grew up together. Please pray for him to know that his cousin is happy and is in paradise.

          Dear Webb Family and Friends,

     This morning I got the news from my mission president that Chandler has passed away. He asked me to send an e-mail to all of you today. I feel so lucky to have been able to know one of the funniest, happiest, and best men that has ever lived on this earth. I'm sure that heaven is laughing a little harder now that Chandler is there. I will never forget all of the memories that I have with him. All of the doughnuts that we did in the burgundy sentra, all the cliff jumping in Lake Powell, all the times me and him would try and get super tan but then just end up getting horribly sunburned, his unparalelled love for the Jazz, and especially all the times that him and I would go get Panda Express together. I could always count on Chandler to make me laugh and smile.

     It's true that Chandler was funnier than anyone, but something that I loved even more about Chandler was his loyalty as a friend and how good of a person he really was. He was always out to make others days happier and to make others feel as though he cared. He was such a good example of how to help other people by bringing them happiness.

     This morning when I got the call from President Clements about Chandler. I was obviously devistated. The one thing that has brought me peace right now is the knowledge that I have that I will never ever truly have to say goodbye to Chandler. Only see you later. This morning I was reading in the scriptures trying to find something that would help me out and I found this scripture. In Alma 22:18 it says The sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory.

     As I read this scripture I realized something. Chandler Webb has the heart of a champion. And he fought hard these past couple weeks for all of us so that we could have a few more precious weeks with him. And then I realized that when Chandler passed away this morning, he didn't lose... He won. Because of the Savior and Chandler's decision to be faithful to this gospel, he will live forever and ever. I know without a doubt that Chandler is prepared to meet God. A week before Chandler went into a coma this is the email that he sent me. "Hi Marshall Tis chandler, I tried to text you the day before you left but apparently your phone was all broke but anywho I just thought if let you know I started my papers on Sunday, but enough with the boring stuff let's talk Jazz, trey Burke broke his finger and is out for 4-6 weeks, so I'm all depressed, how's the MTC, any hot girls? Lol how's Chinese class, that's cray you can speak that language soon, well I'm proud of you and all that stuff loves you"

     After that I wrote him an email telling him that I'm way excited for him and that I know he'll be an awesome missionary. I told him I can't wait to see him in two years and he wrote me this back. 

     Ya I'm way excited to see where I go (it better not be Russia or I'm not going) but ya it sucks I never got to say an official good bye to you:( but I guess we will just have to have the best hello ever in 2 years. In case you were wondering I now rep 9 plates benching and what's kinda weird is that during this letter I am writing some guys just knocked on my door and told me where the singles ward is, and that's weird because I was wondering where it was and know I know. Well I'm going to take a nap now, I'm out like a fat kid playing dodgeball

    Chandler knew that he was suppose to serve a mission. He was prepared by God to do it and I'm sure that he will be a great missionary where he is serving. Evidenced by this stirring email we can see that not only did he love the Jazz and his friends, but more importantly he loved God and was willing to give two years of his life to His service (except just not in Russia but that's ok because I'm sure he's warm enough in heaven). God has promised great blessings to those who are righteous like Chandler. In Alma 40:12 it talks about where we go after we die and where those who are good live. It says "And then shall it come to pass. that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow."

     I know that right now Chandler is smiling, that he is happy, and that he is at peace. The people in heaven truly are priveledged to have a man as great as him with them. I love Chandler so much. Chandler told me that we would have the best hello ever in two years and it looks like I'll just have to wait a bit longer then that but I'm sure it will be glorious. I can't imagine a better place to meet a friend again than in paradise.

     To my friends. Remember all the good times we had... That should be easy because there never was any bad ones. Remember Chandler and strive to do your best to honor him. Remember that he will always be with us and will walk beside us on our missions and throughout the rest of our lives. I love you guys so much.

     Webb Family. Thank you so much for your son. He was a light to the world. His smile, his hair, and his spirit shined bright in a world that is pretty dark. No matter how sad my day was I could always count on your son to make it better. I know that this is a hard time. I remember when I lost my brother and I felt absolutely horrible every second of the day. But the one thing that gave me hope was the thought of how happy we will be when we meet again. I wrote this letter this morning when I found out about your son and it is helping me get through today. "My tears are heavy because Chandler and I have a mortal separation. But I know that through the Atonement of Christ, my tears can be just tears of anticipation. For we'll be together again walking through the golden streets of heaven, we'll laugh and reminisce while sipping celestial slurpees from the neighborhood 7-11" I know you will see your son again. Thank you for all you have done for me and for your love. I love you all so much and will pray for you every day.