Josh's Mission Nov 24 2014

merci family!!

so first, not a lot of time so this will be short

 It has been a wonderful week! there are so many blessings that the lord gives us and I am so grateful for this wonderful time of the year! can't believe that it's thankgiving already, I had a couple thoughts in mind but I don't have time. I know that it is very important that we thank Heavenly father for all that we have and then show that we are grateful by showing him that we love him, by serving others and helping them as much as we can. I love in 3 Nephi 12 where is talks about the beatitudes, also in Jacob 2: 17-19 

 17 Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.

 18 But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.

 19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe thenaked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

I know that it's very important for us to try and think of ourselves and others as Christ would think of us.

It was a really wonderful week end!! We saw B be baptized and there was another baptism in our zone as well, it was really sweet!! Here's a picture :) it's so awesome!! 

Josh's Mission Nov 17 2014

Salut famille!!

Well, it's been a really great week! We've super blessed with people to teach and we are trying to help them come to church now. we had a wonderful time with elder Cardon of the 70 on Thursday and had a sweet sunday.

It's been way cold this last week! Every morning keeps getting colder and colder. the really bad part is the wind. it's snowed a couple of times this week, so that was great! the snow is so different from UT and I'm trying to get used to driving in it again.  can't believe that it is almost Thanksgiving already, seriously this year went by so fast! And it'll make it even fast with Brevin's baptism this week. Which we are way excited for.

WE had a wonderful day yesterday with Brevin and his family. we got to have a sweet lesson with them about the commandments and I was thinking how important it is that we know what the commandments are and how to live them. It's such a big blessing to have a prophet who talks with Heavenly father and then tells us what we need to do. I've been thinking a lot lately how important it is that we have a prophet, especially because we have an investigator that really wants to know about our prophet and why we know he is called of God. I've also been thinking a lot about hos important it is that we keep the commandments and andure to the end, so that we can have happiness and promised blessings. and how when we keep the commandments we are protected from the power of Satan. It's always astounding to me how much Satan tries to pull us down.

We had a great lesson with a family, the Jensens, last night about trials and enduring. In Ether 6:1-12 it talks about how the Jaredites were driven by the wind to the promised land. but they had the light that was provided for them from Christ so they didn't have to be in darkness. it was just really powerful to me how the Lord always takes care of us especially in our trials, he always knows what we are going through and he always has a way for us to come through them and be stronger.

Our mission tour with Elder Cardon was great! basically all the mission tour is, is a meeting, like a conference, that we are trained at and we get to hear what he wants us to do better at. it was super awesome! We got to huge him :) and we got a lot of direction on what the prophet wants us to be doing. Something that really stuck out to me is something that sister Jensen said that goes right along with Thanksgiving. she said that it is very important that we are grateful in all our circumstances (pres Uchtdorf's talk) and especially that we need to show gratitude to those who are around us. she also said something very powerful to me "if you right 2 sentences a day about the things that you are grateful for, your testimony of the Atonement will grow, your realationship with our Saviour will Increase and you will be able to withstand trials with greater strength." I know that is true!

that is crazy that Anthony, Ali , and Amy are home already, I can't believe it's gone by so fast. tell them hi for me! and Anthony that he should email me :)

I love you all so much and I just want to thank you for everything that you do!! I love you so much!! I am very grateful for your love, prayers and support! Please know that you are in my prayers and again, I love you!!

ij iokwe eok!!

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission Nov 10 2014

Salut!! 

It sounds like it's be a great week!! 

It's so true that the mission helps you so much, I know that I have changed and grown a lot so far, and I hope that i continue to grow. that's really good that all the ladies you hired are doing well. :) 

that really sounds like a wonderful standards night. I'm glad that everything went so well with it. I definitely understand what you mean, sometimes I just want people to do everything we tell them, especially because we know that this will help them. but I've realized that it's how you tell that really matters. I'm trying to work on being more charitable and virtuous so that my thought, attitude, and actions will be more christ like. yesterday I got a very gentle but firm reminder that I need to do better. In church, we had fast and testimony meeting because we had stake conference last week, someone bore their testimony and said something that really struck me. Our bodies have an amazing ability to tell us when something is bad. If you burn yourself, you know because it hurts. our body is telling us that we shoudl stop doing that bad thing. It's very similar to our spiritual bodies. that if we harm ourselves spiritually then we will hurt. so we have to get rid of or stop what ever we are doing that doesn't make us feel good because obviously it's not good for us. it was just very apparent to me yesterday how I need to do better and not worrying so much and get rid of some spiritually hurtful things. 

 and it was a really great week! we were really blessed with a new investigator, S, he is from Samoa and super great!! he is preparing for baptism onD ec 27th. we also had a really great meeting with our whole zone. it's so wonderful to see how much everyone is doing and the great success of all our missionaries. the lord has really blessed us a lot this week.

We've been trying to work a lot on Unity in our Zone and working for the common goal of bring our brothers and sisters to Christ through the essential ordinances and covenants of Baptism for the remission of sins and have the guiding gift of the holy Ghost. we talk a lot about relying upon others especially our savior. in Ex 18 it talks about moses receiving help from Jetho his father in law, and we related that to relying upon other. We also talked a lot about the doctrine of Christ in 2 Ne 31, especially vs 21. We talked about how important it is to have a purpose and to know that when we accept baptism for the remission of sins that our purpose becomes what Christ's purpose is and what Heavenly Father's purpose is: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. 

We also had a really great time yesterday with B and the C's. I don't know if I've really told you about them really. but B is getting baptized on the 22nd of Nov. he is sister C's son, but they've been separated for 12 years but recently found each other. it's really a miracle that they found each other, she has been praying for him and his siblings for a long time. it's been such a huge blessing to get to know him and to be a part of his life and help him. 

oh and this week we have a mission tour with elder Cardon of the seventy. it's going to be really great! :)

I love you and I am very grateful for your love, support and prayers! Please know that you are in my prayers. I love you!

ij iokwe eok!!

Elder Broadbent

ps it's been forever since I sent pictures: 1st is elder s and I 2nd is back in knoxville during general conference

 this picture was sent to me by a sweet sister in Iowa City - she said Josh was helping to load some wood and was a very good young man. - always great to hear that!!

Josh's Mission Nov 2 2014

It has been a really good week!!

I don't have a lot of time so this going to be short.

this week has been a little bit slow because we had a meeting on tuesday, interviews with pres jensen on wednedsay, and then thurday and friday we had to be in at 6 because of halloween.

the lord really blessed us though. we found a few investigators. Brevin we taught last night. he is the son of a member. it's really an amazing story. they we're separated when he was 6 because she got a divorce but they recently found each other again, he's 18, super excited to be a part of the gospel and is going to be baptized in a few weeks. it was really amazing. then we taught sonia on tuesday. she is from Congo, going to school here, and is very receptive (more on her next week). 

It's really amazing how the Lord blesses you so much when you put forth the effort and the faith. I've really been trying this week to just give everything to the Lord and trust Him that He will take care of what needs to be done, as long as we work hard. I know that the Atonement is very real and allows us to be free and enables us to do better.

Thank you so much for everything that you do!! I love you all so much and I am very grateful for your prayers, love and support!!

ij iokwe eok!!

Elder Broadbent