Josh's Mission Jan 27, 2014

iokwe baamle!!

Well, it's been kind of a slow week. but the Lord has really blessed us. We have seen some awesome miracles and I've really realized that I need to rely on the savior a lot more, because it is only through him that we can accomplish this great work that we have.

So yesterday in priesthood we talked about the importance of home teaching. and one thing that really stuck out to me is that we are in the work of salvation. we are working to bring our brothers and sisters back to heavenly father. His purpose, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (moses 1:39) should be our purpose as well. I have been thinking, I need to realize more really what that means. We are trying to help people realize their divine potential. I know that I need to take more seriously the calling that Heavenly father has given me. as a member of this church we are all called to take his name upon us and to always remember, literally we should ask in every situation, what would Christ have me do? what would he do if he were here? This is eternal life on the line. I need to do better at remembering that.

heavenly father has really blessed us with some miracles. Jenny and her daughter came to church yesterday! it was really great. and they are both reading from the book of mormon. it's so great to see the blessings of the gospel! also, a less active, Franly, that we've been working with has been alcohol free for almost a month now and smoke free for 3 weeks I think. it's really great to see people make the changes that they need to to bring them happiness. He and his girlfriend are now working to get married. they are thinking sometime in April.

we are also working with a family to get ready to go to the temple. they have been less active for a while, but they are coming to church every week and he, Sweton, is preparing to receive the melchizedek priesthood.

it is truly amazing how much the Lord has blessed us with his gospel and everything really. we are unprofitable servants and I am so grateful for everything that he has given me. to be alive in this great day is such a blessing! I am so grateful for such a wonderful family! and I love you so much!

So I was reading in D&C today in and around sections 8-10. and I was amazed at how willing the Lord is to give us everything as long as we are faithful, worthy, and willing to ask. I also realized again how much the Lord truly loves us. He is willing to forgive us as long as we repent and do better. I also realized that we need to be doing everything that we can to do as heavenly father asks so that we don't miss the opportunities that He gives us. But even if we do miss them, he always provides a way for his work to be accomplished. I know that heavenly father always provides a way and that it is up to us to decide if we are going to help with that. I'm so grateful for all that he has blessed me with and I hope that I can do all that he wants me to.

I love you so much and I am so grateful for your love and prayers.

Ej Iokwe eok

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission Jan 21, 2014

Iokwe family!!

that is so great mom, I know that you will be a great blessing to the kids in the primary. that's really awesome that the ward is having such great success!! Something that I've really learned so far is that we are all in this work together. Heavenly father needs it to be that way, now more than ever before. i don't know if you remember the missionary broadcast that they had a little bit before I came out, but it is so great! it's called hastening the work and there is a whole website that the church has for it on lds.org, will you go on and look at it?

it's really amazing how Heavenly father knows exactly what we need. I truly know that He is our loving heavenly father and that Christ is our savior. I was reading chapter 2 in the joseph fielding smith book, at the beginning where he bears his testimony about how he Knows that the Savior lives, and it impressed me so much how strong of a testimony he has. especially how he said that we don't have to see the savior to know that he is there and that he lives. which reminds me a great quote, I'm not really sure who it's from but i really like it " there are time when the Spirit is undeniable, a voice of thunder piercing the sou. yet more often, the Spirit is a sinlent whisper, a new thought, an impression, a subtle feeling of something to do or say ( helaman 5:30). If we ntice only the strong soul shaking, we miss many of the sweet impressions of the Spirit." I just really Like that I know that it true.

tell brother mueller thank you. he is such a great man,and I love him, tell him thanks for everything!! that's great about austin, where is he going??

so this week has been really good. We got 3 new investigators: daniel, jenny, and jamal. and we are meeting with pierre again, i don't know if I told you about him, he is this great big black guy, he's a baptist preacher part time and loves meeting with us. he shares a bunch of stuff that we talk about with people that he talks to and lets them know that it came from us! he is going to be a great member missionary when he gets baptized, which hopefully we can help him towards soon. at first he just kind of agreed with everything that we talked about and didn't really question baptism, but now he is thinking more seriously about it and questioning, which is good. 

we've also been seeing great success with the ward and the efforts that they are making to help the missionary work here move forward. the elders quorum is making great efforts to have us in their homes and have each elder go out with us. 

So this week we had interviews with president Jensen. He is so great! it was really great to talk with him and to see what i need to be improving more. He is truly an inspired man, he always seems to know what to say to help me feel better and to help me improve. and sister jensen said to tell you, thank you for raising such a great family.

thank you so much family!! I really love you all so much and i am so blessed to have such an amazing family that has helped me to be where i am today. i know that Heavenly father puts us right where we need to be. I am really so grateful that I have such good examples that I have in my life. I know that heavenly father knows us each personally and that our savior, Jesus Christ knows and loves us indivdually. He know what we go through and how to help us and as we put our faith and trust in him that all things will work for the benefit of our soul.

I love you all!! and again thank you for your love, prayers and support!

Ej Iokwe Kom

elder Broadbent

P.S. so on saturday (the day after interviews) we got a call from president. He said that Elder tappen's visa came in! we were both supper surprised. He leaves Feb 10, a couple days before the end of the transfer. I'm excited for him, but sad at the same time, but I am so grateful for the time that we have together. He's a great missionary and I hope that one day you get to meet him.

P.P.S I said my first prayer in Marshallese couple nights ago. I figure, I might as well learn how since I'm still here. Oh, and I'm learning more the correct way to spell things and the proper use of grammer.

Josh's Mission Jan 13, 2014

Yokwe Family!!

The Lord has truly blessed us with miracles. yesterday in church the general theme that I got out of it, is that I am a child of God and he loves me. It is so important to understand that. when we fully realize that we are literally sons and daughters of God that we have the potential to be like him, we do those things that He would have us. It really amazing to me how much the Heavenly father loves me! He sent his son to die for me, that is truly amazing.

Yes, I am feeling much better. the sores on my hands and feel went away about tuesday and wednesday. and the oils did help a little bit. it was just the craziest thing. but everything is good now.

Yeah I'm really excited to stay in Dubuque. Honestly I hope that I get to stay here for awhile. I really love it here. I get to learn marshallese and be with people that are just so great!! it's awesome. so elder tappen is from delta junction alaska.

So some miracles that happened this week, we were blessed with 2 new investigators!! Pierre, who we have taught before, but he went out of town. He is really great! he is a baptist minister and loves meeting with us. He shares everything that we talk about with his friends and tells them were he got it too. we also are starting to teach Mary, she is very devout catholic, but likes meeting with us and has a great testimony of the Plan of Salvation.

Our ward is also making some great changes. we are going to be going out with the elders quorum a lot more and they are making plans to have us in the members home a lot more.

this past week we had zone training and it was so great. we talk a lot about how we can improve and be the best missionary that we can be and that heavenly father wants us to be. We also have interviews with president this next week and i am way excited for them.

thank you so much family for your love and support. it's always so great to hear from you. I love you all so much. I'm also so grateful for you prayers. it's been a great week, and i know that Heavenly father is the one who made it all possible. I know that heavenly father works through us and that as long as we are doing our part and working as hard as we can that he will bless us.

Ej Yokye Yok 

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission Jan 6, 2014

Yokwe family!!!

First can I just tell you how much i love you all. i am just so overcome with love and gratitude to our heavenly father that he has blessed me with such a wonderful family. I have so many thoughts right now and I don't know how to write them all. I love the plan sf salvation! i love teaching it to people, it's definitely my favorite to teach. I know that only through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the atonement can we return to live with our Loving Heavenly father again and that we can be with our families forever. What a joy and a blessing that is, to know that this is Christ's true church! and how important it is to share that with others. what would you say the reason is that you are a member of this church? I would love to hear anyone's response. I I know that our Heavenly father loves us and has a plan for us and that brings so much comfort and joy to me.

Mom, i really love those 2 songs, i actually sing i stand all amazed and I know that my redeemer lives all of the time. they are really great. i've come to appreciate music so much more. It's such a strength to me and has helped me so much. the power of music can be so powerful.

well, it's been a pretty great week! we went and saw a ton of people before thursday, because elder dragon left, but fortunately, i didn't have to say goodbye, because i am staying in dubuque! i'm really excited. I love it here and My new companion, elder tappen is so awesome! He's been out 7 months, and is actually a visa waiter. he is going to Brazil, but hasn't gotten his visa yet. He's from alaska, and doesn't not like this cold weather. today is the pretty much the coldest that it will be this week, the high is a bombing -18 and the low is -29. so we get to stay inside all day. we only get to go shopping and email. He's a really great elder, i can tell already. He really wants to get out and work hard and make miracles happen. We've already gotten a new investigator, her name is jennifer and she lives in east dubuque. she dosen't really have any church background but she does believe in god although she's never prayed. Hopefully we can help her to come closer to Christ.

We are still meeting with Carol, but she still doesn't want to come to church, pray with us, and she hasn't stopped smoking, yet. She wants to stop smoking, which is great! we are not giving up on her. But if she doesn't progress we are going to have to drop her, i don't want to, but I know that she will be baptized when the lord has prepared her. We are also still meeting with Carlina, she is marshallese and her fiance is a less active that we are working pretty close with. She is really busy and can't come to church, but now it's at one, so hopefully they will start coming. Kanomi, another marshallese investigator, is doing pretty good. We met with his mom and dad this last week, they are members. They are a big marshallese family that all live in the same apartment. he comes to church pretty much every week, prays, and reads most of the time, but he needs to get married, but his girlfriends family doesn't want them to.

So, I got hand, foot, and mouth disease. I'm not really sure how I got it, but it sucks. I had a fever for a couple days and red dots all over my hands and feet that hurt. hopefully it'll go away pretty soon though.

I'm pretty excited for this transfer. I really think that it's going to be great! I love you all!! thank you so much for you love and prayers.

Yokwe Yok

Elder Broadbent

PS here is a picture of elder tappen and i and the other elders in my district elder ioteba and elder peter, new this transfer