Email #60 - When He Throws You a Bone...

October 30, 2017
Montgomery, Alabama

Family! This week has been amazing! We have been extremely blessed.

Last week, Elder Oldham and I were tracting late at night and we knocked into a single lady named Creshanda. So we set up a return appointment and went back on Tuesday morning this week. She opened up and let us right in. We brought with us a member from the ward who is on the high council. We shared the Restoration with her and she was extremely attentive. Throughout the lesson this brother who was with us continued to testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the First Vision. As we were finishing up the lesson, we invited her to be baptized and she accepted! It was such a cool experience! Being here and being able to testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is amazing. The gospel is true! 

So a few other funny experiences-

At night after we get back at 9, we have been playing basketball in the parking lot at our Apartment Complex. But we don't have a real hoop. We just have one of those Little Tikes Basketball hoops. So we were able to do some after hours contacting in the parking lot! It was one of the greatest things ever!!! hahahaha!!! 

So just about everyone in Montgomery loves to play basketball! So we were trying to go through some area book contacts and we invited a few that said they like to play basketball to our weekly basketball at the church. So we invited 2 people and about 15 showed up... It was a little hectic... We are trying to figure out how to change the time we play and stuff now... haha! My companion is like 6' 6" so I would oop him and he would dunk on people and it was just fun! #whiteshirtnametagballin All the people that play with us call me Steve Nash and my companion Gordon Hayward. It's hysterical! We have a few people that have really become interested in the gospel through basketball so it's been a good way of finding. 

Well! That's about it for the week! I hope you all have a great week! I love you all! You're in my prayers!

Strength and Honor

"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"

-Elder Noah Featherstone

Email #59 - God's Perfect Gratitude

October 23, 2017

Montgomery, Alabama

Dearest Family,

I hope your week has been just grand! I heard about Brian and Kelsey headin' out to Australia soon. You're in my prayers! We'll miss you! Well I guess I'll still be just as far away from you hahaha!! But you'll definitely be in my prayers!

This week was really quick. It felt like I was just talking to you. We had some bad news this week. We had a few new investigators that we had started to teach and were keeping commitments and doing really well but we got calls and text from them all and they aren't wanting to continue hearing our message. It's hard at first but I then realize, it's just not their time yet. The Lord is preparing those that are ready to hear the message and they weren't there yet. But they will be soon.

I was reading in my scriptures this week and was thinking about gratitude. I was talking with President Sainsbury about gratitude in my interview with him this week and he made a great observation that hasn't crossed my mind before. God has perfect gratitude for us. He is perfectly grateful for all we do and all that we try to do. He is grateful that I am on a mission and doing my best to be exactly obedient and follow the Savior. At times we don't realize that gratitude is a Christlike attribute. He is grateful for everyone. I want to tell you all that that is completely true. He loves us perfectly and He is perfectly grateful for all that we do to serve those around us and become more like Him. I'm thankful for you all and the support and prayers in behalf of the missionaries on the Lord's errand.

I hope you all have a great week! You are all in my prayers! Thank you for all you do and the unseen acts of service and love you do for those around you.

-I apologize I don't have any pictures this week. I left my camera on accident again... There will be a surplus next week.

Strength and Honor

Elder Noah Featherstone

Email #58 - Scaring the Neighborhood

October 16, 2017

Montgomery, Alabama

Heyyyyoooooo!! This week was so fun! I feel like I say this every week but I don't have a ton of time. But I do have a few funny missionary stories for you.

First off, the other night Elder Oldham and I had a few appointments fall through, and then our back up plans fell through so we went to plan C which is usually knocking el mundo. Anyways! We started knocking and it was about 7:15 PM and we knocked on the first door and nobody answered. We got to the second door and nothing. At this point, Elder Oldham and I are just starting to get frustrated. We knocked on the 3rd door, and this lady yells, "Who is it?" "It's the missionaries!" "Who?" "The Missionaries!" "Who?" a little slower this time. "The Missionaries." Then a younger child who was probably 10 years old said with the deepest voice he could muster, "Who is it?" "It's the Missionaries!" "Who?!" "The Missionaries!" We then heard footsteps running away while the child was yelling, "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" It was hysterical! They soon after opened up and we were able to talk to them for a minute. It turned into a great lesson. As we were leaving, the mom said to us, "You guys should wear some lights or something when you are out at night!" haha! The best part is that we are going back tomorrow to go see them! ha!

*Fast forward to the next door that we knocked on* After about 30 seconds after we knocked and were about to move on, a man walked out his side door and said, "Not you guys again..." I said, "Hey! We're not that bad! ha!" He then said, "I'm catholic, so y'all are heathens!" "What?! We're heathens?" "yeah!" We ended up talking to him for a minute and were able to get him laughing which was good, but it was pretty hysterical! I've never been called a heathen yet out here.

This Sunday we had Stake Conference here in the Alabama Montgomery Stake and it was great! Bishop Dean M. Davies was here and he had some amazing thoughts. Most of the meeting was centered on the family. It really is essential to have a strong central unit in the family. The home needs to be a place of refuge and a place of peace. That is something that was always taught in our family from Mom and Dad and I'm extremely grateful that they taught the importance of good family relationships. I'm extremely thankful for you all, for your love and support you show me. I pray you all have a great week!

Strength and Honor

"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"

Elder Noah Featherstone

 My Man Elder Faustin came back to visit the mission this week!

Email #57 - Hurricane Nate

October 9, 2017

Montgomery, Alabama

Family! I'll be honest... I don't have my notes, and I honestly can't remember a thing we did this week. It's honestly just passing too fast. We did some service up in Birmingham for a Glady's Knight Fireside, and that was a blast! All the elders from Montgomery went up there and we spent about 5 hours helping set up for the concert/fireside. It was awesome! Other than that we did a ton of service and we had an exchange. We were able to meet up with a referral that we got from the Sisters in Troy, AL and we had a great lesson with him. His name is George and he had a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon that we were able to answer. It was a great lesson. Other than those few things, I'm kind of struggling to remember a whole lot of went on! You just get moving so fast that everything just kind of blurs into one.

On other news, we were locked in our apartment for about 24 hours this weekend because of Hurricane Nate. It was maybe the most boring and worst day of my life... I was about to go insane. I now know why Mom, and Dad always said, "Go do something outside." Because they knew that I'd go insane. haha!! Well I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for all you do! I look up to you all more than you know! Love y'all!

Strength and Honor

Elder Noah Featherstone

Email #56 - The Joy of Conference

October 2, 2017

Montgomery, Alabama

Wow! What a week! I hope it has been just as amazing on your end.  I don't know where to start.  This one might be a little longer... I have to make up for all those lousy weeks where I didn't have much to say.  I guess starting with earlier in the week.

Elder Oldham and had a few extra minutes between lessons so we went tracting. We were knocking doors in a Spanish Trailer park and we had a lot of people who would stop moving as soon as we knocked and then you'd see the blinds open a little bit with white eyes staring at you through them. But no answers. We got to about the 10th or 15th house and a woman named Raquel opened up and welcomed us in to meet her family! We shared a quick Restoration message with her and she said she wanted us to come back. We went back a few days and she opened right up and we were able to answer some of her questions.  After listening to conference this weekend It was amazing to hear others testify of the divinity of the Book of Mormon as well as Joseph Smith. I loved it.

During the Saturday afternoon session we were able to watch the session at a members house with an investigator. The session was exactly what she needed to hear.  God always knows what we need to hear and how he can help us.  It was one of those experiences seeing God's hand in our lives as well as others.

As we were sitting in the Priesthood Session with everyone in the chapel, we were in the middle of Elder Richard J. Maynes talk, and BOOM! The power goes out. He was just getting to the good part of his story too.... Ugh.... So everyone shot out of the parking lot going home to finish the session but we didn't really have anywhere to go. So we went and visited a less active and then went home.  But then I had a brilliant idea! Let's get up early. Go to the Family History Center at the church and put the session over the projector. So my companion and I, as well as 4 other elder in the area, all got up early Sunday morning to go watch the rest of the Priesthood Session. It was great. After we finished watching it, we went to another members house where we were watching the Sunday morning session in Spanish with all the Hispanics in the ward. We got there, we got everything running and... Bam... Internet goes out... So... we just made Carne Asada instead and had a big lunch. ha! The Hispanic culture is like my favorite. Then the last session was BIIIGGGGG!!!! We called up Morgan Lee (Who I have talked about in the past. He is Inactive and like a Rock....) I called him on Thursday afternoon and asked him if we could watch the Sunday Afternoon Session with him because we didn't have a place to watch it. He said no to us because his son was being rude and is grounded. We were pretty bummed... But then we were waiting for Zone Conference to start on Friday and I get a call! Guess who it is... Morgan Lee! He apologized and said, "It sounds like a wholesome activity for our family so we'll see you guys at 3 on Sunday." So we went over there for the last session. It was super amazing! It's been amazing to see how he has changed since I've been here. He is now talking about going to church. I really hope that happens! That would be so great!

So I guess to sum up our weekend, we missed a lot of General Conference so for P-day we are going to be watching a lot of what we missed to catch up.

Before the power went out at the Priesthood Session, I was sitting there thinking about the family. I closed my eyes and went home thinking about all of my brothers and my Dad sitting around me at the Stake Center listening to conference. It felt like I was there with all of you. Thank you for the love and prayers.

I wanted to share a few of the things that I enjoyed from Conference. There were a few quotes from the Bible that I've been thinking about. "Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief." How can we truly submit our will to the Father? How can we truly rely on the Savior? One of my favorite talks was Elder Maynes. He talked in the Priesthood Session about "Integrity of Heart." One thing that really hit me was that we must earn His trust by putting our trust in Him. Trust is essential for a Christ centered home and life. We must never compromise our integrity. At times, trust and integrity are overlooked, but we must always be honest, and trustworthy in all we do. I remember a few different topics that were talked about, and were some of my favorites. Family, Spiritual Wellness, and the Book of Mormon. Elder Russell M. Nelson talked about the Book of Mormon and that was a great one as well. He proposed 3 questions about the Book of Mormon.

1)What would life be like without the Book of Mormon?

2)What would you know without it?

3)What would you not have without it?

Those are some very inspired questions. It really makes you think about how much of an impact that specific book has had on your life. It really is the word of God. When we read it everyday, we come closer to our Father in Heaven and we have an increased knowledge of the love our Savior has for each of us.

This week was a great one! I hope you all learned a lot at General Conference and are able to build on what you learned and were inspired by. Thank you for your steadfast examples of our Savior. Love you all! Have a stellar week!

Strength and Honor

"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"         

Elder Noah Featherstone

The "It Don't Matter" Family Restaurant in Highland Home, AL

Watching the Priesthood Session @ 7am

 Elder Oldham and I after Conference

The crew out running errands today