Email #81 - Prophets are Called of God

March 26, 2018
Huntsville, Alabama

Hello!!! How is everyone?? I've heard a lot of fun stuff that has been happening this week. Sounds like it was a riot! Makes me happy to hear about all the good stuff going on! Well... This week was just like every other week. A completely stellar time!

We had one of the greatest experiences ever this week. We were visiting a less active family and they have a grandson named Aren that we've been trying to teach and this week we finally had the opportunity to sit down with him and the rest of the family. He is 8 years old but he will turn 9 in about 2 months. So as we were teaching the Restoration, we talked a little about Prophets. His Grandma spoke up and said, "Do you remember the story of Noah and the Arc?" "No... What's that?" She tried to refresh his memory a little bit and then Aren spoke up and said, "Oh yeah! I remember him! He was the one that saved all the animals! and the reason that we don't have unicorns any more is because he forget to let them in the boat!" We couldn't help but laugh! He is such a bright kid. We are super excited for him. He came to church for the first time yesterday with his Grandma and Grandpa. So that was great to see them at church. We were sitting in the row in front of them in Sacrament Meeting and I heard him say to his Grandma, "Can I go sit with the missionaries?" So he ended up sitting with us. ha! He's the man!

This week we had an amazing lesson with Meleah. We taught the lesson at the Hess Family's home. We taught about the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. It was a great lesson and the Hess' shared some wonderful insights with her. As well, in a neighboring ward here in Huntsville, there was a convert baptismal service and we invited Meleah to come. She loved it! It was a great service and she just ate it up. So we are excited for her. She has a baptismal date for this Saturday but it'll get pushed back because we still have a few more lessons to teach her. 

One other cool experience we had last night. We were having dinner with the Wright Family and Brother Dietrich. They are all elderly and live together so they invited us over to dinner. As we were wrapping up, we started to share our spiritual thought that we had prepared with them. They have been going through a lot of stressful times and things of that nature. Health problems, family problems, and all of the above. Usually we share some sort of scripture with an invitation for them to do a little missionary work of there own, but as I started to speak up and pull out my scriptures I felt like we should do otherwise. I opened up my scriptures to the last verse in the Book of Enos. I shared with them the last line of this scripture. It says, " Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen." I then bore my testimony of the reality of that scripture. They are such great examples to the ward, to their families, and to all that they come in contact with. We thanked them for the support they are to us, and for being steadfast in our Savior. As we started to end Elder Briggs spoke up, and said, "Also, we are preparing to perform this musical number at Zone Conference next week and we'd like to play it for you if that would be okay." They jumped at the idea. So as I played the piano for Elder Briggs, you could feel the spirit in abundance in the room. As we finished we looked back at them and they were all in tears. It was exactly what they needed. It was an amazing experience. Brother Dietrich jumped up and gave us both big hugs and said, "Thank you for being diligent servants of the Lord." The Members here are amazing. Alabama definitely has my heart.

I look forward to General Conference this weekend and to know that as we all sustain our new prophet President Nelson, I will be raising my hand along side with each of my family members. I know that we have a prophet who leads and guides this church. I know that he is the mouthpiece for God on the earth right now. As we listen to our Priesthood Leaders we will be following the Savior's counsel. "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." 

I love you all and you will be in my prayers this week. And as we always say here in the ABM. There's no time to sleep... when you're gathering sheep. Love you all! 

Strength and Honor & ROLL TIDE

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

-Elder Noah Featherstone

Teaching the Plan of Salvation to the McMahon Family!

Food Glorious FOODDDDD!!!

Elder Briggs cleaning this morning. haha! I needed pictures to send home.

Email #80 - Spiritual Promptings from the Lord

March 19, 2018

Huntsville, Alabama

Heyooo! How is everything? I heard all about Goblin Valley! Sounds like it was a riot! I loved all of the pictures and videos! Y'all are the best! 

This week was another good one. Elder Briggs and I have been really busy. We had a few amazing experiences knocking doors this week in the same place... So I guess it's a holy land here in Huntsville! ha! But anyways... a little background on the story. Last transfer Elder Damaso and I had knocked a few doors in this apartment complex but nothing really came of it. When Elder Briggs got here we decided we'd give it another shot. So we continued knocking where we left off. After we had said a prayer in the car, we got out and started walking to a specific building to start. As we got about 10 steps away from the car I stopped, realizing that I had already knocked that building so we moved onto the next building. As we walked in, we decided let's start at the top. So we go upstairs and start knocking this door with a balcony that looks over to the bottom of the stairs. After we knocked the first time, someone walks in the bottom door and is checking her mail at the mailboxes on one side of the entrance. We were really quiet... At the moment, I was thinking, "Should I knock this door and make it super super awkward and just go for it? or just be silent until she leaves?" So I decided what the heck! I knocked and she just immediately looked up at us... So we just kind of looked and said, "Hey how's it going?" And she said, "good? Why you knocking on my door?" So we went into the whole schpeal and she started to tear up. She said, "I have been going through so much in my life and it's more than a miracle that I have y'all right here right now. I only check the mail once every 2 weeks and I never come in the front door, I always go in the back. This is the only time you would catch me. I can't help but think that God is watching over me." It was an amazing experience. Most people don't see that, but it was amazing to see how she could feel of God's love for her in that moment. 

We had another experience knocking in that same apartment complex on Saturday evening. We had been knocking doors for about 2 hours at this point and we decided that it was about time to leave. So we finished up and had not seen much happen. Most people were shut off and just ignored us. As we started driving away, we drove past a specific building that for some reason stuck out to me and I felt like we needed to knock that building, but I didn't say anything to Elder Briggs. He all of the sudden said, "One more." I said, "What?" "We've gotta knock one more building." So I was kind of weirded out a little and said, "Okay?" So he said, "Let's go back to where we were knocking and knock the next building so we don't lose track of where we have knocked. So we go back and nothing. Everyone said no. So we start driving off again and I said to Elder Briggs, "We need to knock this building." It was the same building that I had felt like we should knock before but I ignored the prompting. I had felt the same thing again and I thought I can't let this one slip away. Someone needs us. So we knock and nothing. We get to the last door, and this man opens up. His name is Barry Jones. We got talking to him about college and things because he had an Alabama A&M T-Shirt on. As we got chatting he said, "I made a new years resolution that I wanted to come closer to my Savior this year. How can I do that?" My mind was blown... We kept talking to him about the gospel and he asked a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon. We ended up inviting him to Church and we are going back tomorrow to see him. It was an amazing experience to see how the Lord directs His work. I felt bad that I had ignored the first prompting so I knew that I needed to go knock those doors when I received the same prompting a second time. I am beyond grateful that the Lord gave me a second chance on that one. 

I know that this it the Lord's work. I know that He leads and guide this church and that we have a living prophet today. It's all true. This is the Lord's kingdom. I love you all. I pray that the Lord will watch over each of you as you go about serving others and are steadfast disciples of our Savior. I love you all! Have a great week.

Email #79 - Alabama, the Greatest Place on Earth

March 12, 2018

Huntsville, Alabama

Hello Family! It sounds like it's been quite the week! I love hearing about all
the great experiences y'all are having. This week was a great one in the
mission as well! First off, Alabama is the greatest place on earth
(other than the temple). So I guess the Alabama Birmingham Temple is the
greatest place on earth! ha! Everything has been great here.

This week was definitely a busy one. We had Transfers on Wednesday
and I sent Elder Damaso off to Tennessee to be reunited with his family,
and I got a new companion. My new/old companion is Elder Briggs. He is
the man! So when I came back out to the mission after having surgery I was
in a Trio because my trainer, Elder Messick, had started training another
missionary at the same time. So Elder Briggs and I were getting trained
together back in Albertville. So we are back together again! How crazy is
that?! It's been a completely riot together. We've just been laughing our
heads off the majority of the time. ha! So it's been an exciting week.
On Friday we had to be in Birmingham for a meeting, and on Saturday
we went with a few ward members to a Stake Service Project at Camp
Hulaco. It's a girls camp that is run by the stake and we were out there
fixing up the camp and pulling weeds and all that good stuff! It was a
great time. It's definitely been a great week.

We were able to visit with Meleah on Saturday with a family in the ward.
It was an amazing lesson. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We went
through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost,
and Enduring to the End, and as we did this family shared their baptismal
experiences, and some experiences with the Holy Ghost in their lives.
It was a great lesson. It was amazing to see how when the members
testified of the experiences they have had and the reality of Baptism and
the Holy Ghost, Meleah was able to know that the things that we were
teaching are true. She said, "This all makes so much sense! It makes me
want to repent and do better and to endure to the end. I want to have the
Holy Ghost with me." It was amazing to hear her say that and to testify of
the simpleness of the way that Christ has established for us. Like Nephi,
"my soul delighteth in plainness."

I know that's true. I know that by following the Lord's example we can live
with our families for eternity and we can return to God's presence. It's
been a great week as a servant of our Savior Jesus Christ. I hope y'all
have a great week! You're in my prayers.

--

Strength and Honor

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

-Elder Noah Featherstone

Email #78 - Keep on Keepin' on

March 5, 2018

Huntsville, Alabama

Family! How is everything? I hope everything has just been fantastic.  
I've heard lots of good things about all that is happening back home.
Makes me super happy to hear about how the Lord is looking after all
of you.

This week was one of those weeks where we've been tested on if we
can keep going and endure. We had a day this week where we had
about 5 appointments set up for the evening and every single one of
them fell through. Our back up plans didn't work either so we just
started knocking the city. So it's definitely been a testimony builder
of continuing on doing the will of the Lord.

We had exchanges with the Elders in the Huntsville Spanish Branch
and that was a riot! I was withan elder that I was with in the MTC. He
is a stud!  We went to the Mall to contact for the last hour of the day
and it was empty... Like bare... So we started talking to the employees
and we had some great chats with them and got a few potentials from
contacting that night. It was a pretty regular week here in the ABM.

Since the beginning of the year, President Sainsbury has challenged
us to memorize the Living Christ and it's been quite an amazing
experience for me. If you have time this week I would recommend
reading over it. It's definitely a powerful testimony from the Apostles
about the Living Christ.

I hope you all have a great week! You're all in my prayers!

I did extremely bad about taking pictures this week so... I'm sorry.
I'll do better this week.  Love you!!!

Strength and Honor

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

Elder Noah Featherstone