Josh's Mission Sept 21 2015

Hello Family! (everyone is included in family, we're all brothers and sisters here )

Well, I'll just start out by saying, thank you so much for everything that you have done! It's been such an amazing experience to get to know so many of my wonderful brothers and sisters out here in Iowa :) it's amazing how the Lord puts us in the right places at the right times.  

so I really don't have any great and last words, mainly because I am not that great and I don't have many words. But I will just leave you all with a relatively brief bit and testimony.

I have loved serving the Lord these last two years, I feel that I have been blessed beyond what I could have hoped for and especially what I deserve. I feel like King Benjamin describes in 

Mosiah 2:24-25 "he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

 25 And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you."

this is true! The Lord has given us everything and we are and will always be indebted to Him. He loves us to much!! He wants us to be happy and joyful. He has given us a plan to follow Him which provides the way to happiness and eternal life, that way and plan is through Jesus Christ our Savior. I know that when we come unto Him and take the Spirit into our hearts that all things will work out for our good.

I also feel as Ammon said in Alma 26:16

"we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel."

because of His great mercy we are all empowered to do and be the very best that we can. I know that Christ is our Savior and that He lives!! " and while he lives I'll sing!! He lives to wipe away my tears, he lives to calm my troubled heart, he lives all blessings to impart.

I know that this is true!! and I thank Him for allowing me to come to this understanding and for the blessing is has been to serve Him. 

thank you all for your love!! thank you for everything that you do!! I hope and pray that all is well with you!!

ij iokwe eok!!

Merci beaucoup

Elder Broadbent

ps I would love to keep in touch, if you want, look me up on Facebook or you can email me at joshuabroadbent727@gmail.com

pss I will be giving my homecoming talk in Ogden Ut at the Rock Cliff Stake center (any questions on directions just ask) at 9am on the27th of September... that's this next sunday. I'd love to see anyone and all there!! oh and there will be a lunch after church is over, if nothing else...come for the food (don't tell anyone, but that's what I'm doing...)  I love you!!

Josh's Mission Sept 8 2015

Hello family!!

your welcome for the pictures!! you got the ones from a lady named crystal didn't you?? When she asked to take some pictures and send them to you, I realized that it was your b day and that would be perfect so I'm glad that it worked out :)

You're are welcome for the video, I'm glad that it helps others. I wonder sometimes if the videos we share with people (not just through email) are actually effective, I know they work for me, so I hope they work for others! :)

that's a really good question, how do I focus. really the main thing that helps me is to be thinking about the sacrament and the Atonement as soon as I wake up in the morning on Sunday. I try to think about things that I need to improve upon and repent of, and then during the sacrament to ask my self, how does this apply to the Atonement? Elder Callister in his book "the Infinite Atonement" talks about trying to find applications with each of the ordinances we perform. 

I'm glad that it all worked out to get those things from the Beyer's! they are wonderful!  one of the packages is for Elder Todd, but you don't need to worry about getting it to anyone. When I get home I'm going to give it to his mom, who lives down in American Fork. so for now, don't worry about it, thank you though!!

it's been a very busy and hectic week! We were out of our area for like 4 days, with various exchanges and we also had interviews with President Jensen this week. But it has been a good week! We've been doing a lot of finding and trying to sift the wheat from the tares. We're striving to talk with as many people as we can and to see the work that the Lord has for us here. 

 It is such an amazing opportunity to serve the Lord with all our heart, mind, and strength. Our Heavenly father has provided the way to return to Him, through our Savior Jesus Christ, through living His gospel. This last week we were able to go to the temple and receiver permission to do initiatories (which I haven't done in a long time). it was really amazing to feel of the wonderful spirit of helping my brothers make covenants with Father in Heaven. We then went and did an session (which we saw the Old video, the one that I saw the first time I went through the temple) and it was really an amazing experience to see a lot of connections that I hadn't previously made, which came from doing both parts of the endowment. It was amazing!

 

and lastly I want to leave a thought from President Nelson. He gave a talk at the new mission president seminar at the MTC and I really love what he talked about

 

“We, as agents of the Lord, are privileged to preach His gospel,” Elder Nelson said. “The Apostle Paul taught an amazing concept. He declared that each agent, each disciple, yes, each missionary, can become a living ‘epistle of Christ, ... written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God ... [embedded] in the fleshy tables of the heart’ (2 Corinthians 3:3). With that unique designation, we can help to achieve Their three great overarching objectives for us.”

First, he said, missionaries are helping to gather scattered Israel; second, missionaries are helping the families of gathered Israel to be sealed in a holy temple; and third, missionaries are helping prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.

“Their objectives become our objectives,” Elder Nelson said. “Keep them foremost in our minds. Their objectives undergird everything that we do. The Lord expects us to maintain His quickened pace. … We need to proceed in faith and do our best, knowing that He will help us.”

 

I love how he talks about the Hastening of the work of Salvation and the Lord's quickened pace in this work! it's true, the work is going forward faster than ever, sometimes we focus too much on the short view of things and the everyday matters, which is very important though. but sometimes we need to take a step back, look at the whole picture, examine our past works, see what we are doing now, and look ahead to what we need to do. Elder Renlend in general conference said

 "God cares a lot more about who we are and who we are becoming than about who we once were.4 He cares that we keep on trying."

I know this is true! I love being a part of this great work!! I love you and thank you for your love!! I hope and pray that all is well and that you know that everything happens for a reason!! thank you for everything!!

ij iokwe eok!!

Merci beaucoup

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission Aug 17, 2015

Hello family! 

It has been a wonderful week! It was pretty sad seeing Elder Wardle go but it was alright. He said bye to a lot of people and on Thursday we went to Transfer meeting where I got my New companion, Elder Jacob Todd! He's really great! He grew up in Indiana but his family now lives in Spanish Fork, UT. He's been out for 14 months and is just a really great missionary! I'll be honest, I was a little worried about getting a new companion right at the end, probably more than I have been since I got finished being trained, but it all worked out great, Elder Todd is awesome! We like a lot of similar things and we've been working hard already.

Things have been going well, we've been trying to find new people to teach and just talk with everyone. We haven't been able to help anyone really progress very much, but we know that the Lord will bless us as we are faithful. It's been really great to go out and talk with a lot of people. It's really amazing to see just how many of our brothers and sisters who don't have the gospel! There are tons of people who need the gospel yet who know not where to find it.

We've also been trying to think of ways that we can help the ward become more active in the Lord's work. Our Bishop has talked a lot about the need to be better fellow shippers and to help those who don't have the gospel come and see what they need and to also help those who have lost their way to find it again. He talked about the need to understand better what fellowshipping in the church really means, which he explained it is that we take an interest in the lives of God's children who are around us. 

We also talked in church a lot about service and need to give our all to the Lord's work. The covenants that we've all made help us to understand what the Lord requires of us and what we need to do better to apply the Atonement to our selves and to others. the Service that we give to others is done in many forms, but like it says in Mosiah, when you are the service of your fellow being you are only in the service of your God. and service makes you feel great! it heals the soul and helps you to feel a love from God that you wouldn't other wise. That reminds me of the Mormon message "Lift". 

Well, as always, thank you so much for all that you do! I love you all and I really appreciate your love! this gospel is wonderful and true! I know that God's love is real and helping others to feel that is the best opportunity that we have ever!

I love you all!

ij iokwe eok!!

Merci beaucoup

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission Aug 24 2015

Dear family! it's been a really great week!! 

early in the week we had a leadership meeting up in Iowa City, where we were trained on a few things that we are trying to improve upon in the mission. it was a wonderful meeting! We talked a lot about respect, especially for Heavenly Father, for the Priesthood, and for others around us, specifically other members.We also talked about the importance of the Spirit in the work of Salvation that we are a part of and listening effectively to what the Lord has to say to us

I've been thinking a lot about the temple lately and yesterday there was a talk given about the importance of families and temple Marriages. it was really awesome especially because we had a lot of people at church. so this is an awesome blessing, this transfer I get to go to the temple 4 times, which is how many I would have gone my whole mission if I hadn't been in Burlington.  f it's such a great blessing to be able to go to the temple :) I love it so much! In Bishop Causse's talk in conference, he said

 "There are so many wonders in this world. However,sometimes when we have them constantly before our eyes, we take them for granted. We look, but we don’t really see; we hear, but we don’t really listen"

That's really true, I didn't appreciate the fact that there are temples everywhere in Utah, and even one my mission having the Nauvoo Temple right here, it's just amazing! I can't imagine what it's like in places where there aren't any.  sometimes though (especially some of the members here since we are so close to such a sacred place) we just don't realize the things that are before us, we don't always see the hand of the Lord in what we are doing. Like this week, we have been struggling really hard to find some new people, we even fasted for it on Sunday. It was pretty amazing though, when we sat down for the meeting to start, Eric Watson was there, and the Watson's brought a friend of their son's, Sterling who we will be teaching and we're going to talk with his family. And also an investigator named Byron came with his fiance, who is a recent convert, Nina. We were able to set a date for baptism with Byron for the week after he is getting married in November. It was just amazing to see the hand of the Lord in the work that we are doing and it's really amazing that once we humbled ourselves and asked for more guidance and were willing to do the work the Lord's way that we were blessing to help those who were put in our path.

It's very interesting too that the success that we see, which is really all around us, is very dependent of our own personal faith. When we have the faith that Christ is our Savior and the the Atonement is real, we can better understand that the Lord is preparing our brothers and sister, who can change everyday, to receive the blessings that He has for them. Something that I was thinking about that's related to that is an example of the stars that we see at night. Stars are always shining but we can't always see their light.

it's so interesting to think about the stars, and the fact that the light that we are seeing from them isn't even real (it is, but not... I'll explain :)...) The light that we see is simply a reflection or an image of what the actual star looks like, we can't see what they really look like because they are too far away, their light is so great though that we are able to see it illuminate the sky. it's very much like how the world perceives truth and what actual truth is. Real truth illuminates everything around it, makes everything brighter, and we are able to understand more. But there are some truths that require faith in what is not seen, most gospel truths are like this. We know that God is there and we can even sometimes see the result of His light and glory and maybe even feel the effect of them as well, but I haven't seen His actual being, there aren't many who have, but we know that he is there. this can also relate to ourselves, we can't always see what the Lord has in store for us or for those around us, but we can still trust that we can obtain a greater light.

 We are so blessed to be a part of this great work! Where we can see change everyday! I am very grateful for everything that you do!! I love you!! I hope and pray that all is well. 

ij iokwe eok!!

Merci beaucoup

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission Aug 10 2015

Hello family!!!

It has been a really wonderful week! We've been doing a lot catching up with trying to see investigators and find new people. We've seen a lot of great miracles! It's also been wonderful to see a lot of the zone pick up and work hard! There were 2 miracle baptisms this week end. One in Macomb and one in Ft Madison. Also, we found out today that I'll be getting a new companion and elder Wardle is going home... (which we already knew I guess :) But I will be finishing strong here in Burlington

Well, I don't have too much time now, our computers are about to die... but just to update you real quick on everything that is going on,

we teaching Collin, a recent convert, outside the other day, and this lady named Mia stopped and talked with us, her grandma is a member in Florida. So we stopped by the other night met Gerritt, her cousin. We had a super great lesson with him!! He is literally a walking miracle! He had a bullet go through is head and he survived. he only has a pretty small scar after 3 or 4 surgeries to fix every thing. It was so awesome!! at the end of the lesson he said such a great prayer! He said that he was glad we met him because he could talk about things that he normally doesn't with other people and he feels like there was definitely a reason we stopped by. 

Then we also found this awesome girl, name Mahala, she's 17 and from around the area. She's very interested in Religion and wants to learn more. it was just pretty amazing, because the house that she lives in I thought that no one lived there and that it was just abandoned, but when we went to knock on it, she came out and we had a great lesson with her.

Also, I've been reading in the book "The Power of everyday Missionaries" and I've been learning so much! He talks a lot about doing the work the Lord's way and not relying on our own natural man abilities to accomplish a work that is spiritual. 

I've also been thinking a lot about the miracles that are all around us, but that we either don't always see or we don't expect can actually happen. In that book, he talks about how miracles that have happened in  the past can and still do happen today. It's so true!! We are a part of the restored Church Of Jesus Christ and miracles do happen! 

Yesterday in church we had a speaker that talked about how to help those miracles happen, through the tools that we have been given. The most important being using the Spirit through prayer, scripture study, and church attendance. 

anyways, I just have to say, I love this work!! it's so awesome to see the hand of the Lord in the work that we do! I know that He love us and that Jesus Christ really is our Savior! that's the best motivation ever, knowing that He lives! and Because He lives, we have a hope for a brighter future as we continue faithful. I love you all!! thank you so much for everything that you are doing!! I know that Heavenly Father is with us! 

i hope and pray that all is well! I love you!!

ij iokwe eok!!

Merci beaucoup

Elder Broadbent

ps, I went to Denmark! :)

Josh's Mission Aug 3 2015

Hello Family!!

it's been a really wonderful week!! We had a great time with the pageant this week, it's over now but we had a really good time! This week both Elder Wardle and I have been reflecting a lot on our missions and the work that we still need to do. We've also been trying to find more people to teach.

it's been really amazing to be here during the Pageant!! there definitely was a reason for it! I've learned so much about the history of this place and the Spirit is just unlike any other place! Miracle happened ever night! We saw the British pageant 2 times this week, and it is just so powerful!! the whole time they are talked about the converting power of the Book of Mormon and the power of the restored gospel.  There was a really great story of a family in Scotland who joined simply from hearing the words that were written about Jesus Christ. I can't explain how wonderful it was to feel of the Spirit here!!! There is just so much power in the temple and everything that the Saints worked for is coming to pass right now! There was a quote from Brigham Young about how there will be thousands of temple all over the earth one day. The whole pageants theme was enduring to the end! It's so wonderful to have so much understanding from the gospel and to have a legacy of our ancestors to look to for an example.

In church yesterday, we talked a lot about Enduring to the end as well. We talked about Elder Pearson talk in Conference "Stay by the Tree". He emphasizes really well the need to always improve and do better and to endure to the end! There is so much that we need to do, that we can do better, all to help the work of the Lord go forward. We also talked about motivation. the question was asked, what is your motivation? I thought a lot about that. it was also mentioned that the two basic roots of all motivation come down to: experiencing comfort (peace) and pleasure (Joy). the best source of all motivation comes from the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He is the tree! He is the way! He provides the whole purpose of life. though Him, Heavenly father has given us the means possible for Salvation and Eternal Life. because we know that Heavenly father loves us, we know that He gives us the gospel to be happy. We keep his commandments because we love him!  also during testimony meeting, a young boy said "the key to happiness and the gospel is love. if we know that heavenly Father lives we know that he loves us and we do love others!


it was really great! well I hope and pray that all is well and that you know that I am grateful for everything that you're doing!! i love you!! thank you for everything!
ij iokwe eok!!
Merci beaucoup
Elder Broadben

Josh's Mission July 27 2015

Hello Family!

it has been a wonderful week! These weeks of the Pageant have been so wonderful! but they've all kind of smushed together... everything seems to be the same and yet there are wonderful times every week were we see so many miracles :) 

a huge miracle that happened this week was a 10 year old child named Quwinell was baptized in Hamilton this week. He has been taught by missionaries for a long time! and just recently his mom (who is a member but less active) , who lives in Colorado gave permission for him to be baptized. it's taken a lot from the elders there to help him and his family see the importance of his baptism, but it finally all cam together. He was living with his grandparents here, who are members, and he is now going back to live with his mom. It was really awesome! 

We've been working with Eric Watson for awhile now, and he was on date for Aug 8th, but he has to quit smoking first, so we are trying to help him do that. and we've been trying to find more people that are willing and committed to progressing and repenting, it's been kind slow going but recently the Lord has blessed us with a few people who are really wonderful!

So at the Pageant this week on Saturday, while trying to talk with people who were there, we talked to this guy who is the supervisor over the stage missionaries. He helps out with all the stage crew people and does a lot of the maintenance and things like that, especially during the performances and things. anyways, he talked a lot about the great opportunities there are to serve in the Pageant, and he was pretty convincing, I would love to come back and perform in the Pageant, help out with it, and definitely come play in the bagpipe band :) so while we were talking to him, he mentioned that we could go in the back of the stage and watch how everything operates. it was so awesome!! there are pullies everywhere, counter weights for all the moving parts and just so much going on. it looked like a lot of fun work. :) yeah, elder Wardle and I were pretty excited about it all :)

oh yeah, and we were on exchanges down in Keokuk this week and I met this member Gary Mason, who called you :) that was pretty awesome! He was teasing me while on the phone, he's a really cool guy though :) we were helping this lady move into an apartment and Brother Mason had some furniture for her. so we grabbed our truck and loaded it all up.

right, sister Abby Froerer emailed me a picture of that. :) that's pretty awesome! I remember telling her to look for you :) it's awesome to have a mom who everyone in the Ogden area can go visit

that's really awesome about all the good news!! there is an elder here from Court e lain. that's good that Kris got a job!! and I have been wanting to go see that wall as well. I remember going to see it 

thank you so much for everything!! i love you and I hope and pray that all is well!! 

ij iokwe eok!!

Merci beaucoup

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission July 20 2015

Hello family!! 

the computer I am using is being very slow, so this will probably be a short one.

It has been a wonderful week!! We've been seeing many miracles all around us, the pageant is wonderful!! the weather has been crazy (blazing hot one second and tornadoes the next) but it has been great!! 

This week we had a meeting with all the missionaries in the Nauvoo and Iowa City Stakes, about 90 missionaries, which elder Wardle and I had the opportunity to give a training at. we talked a lot about the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy and going to church to receive revelation. it was great! after this meeting was over, the main cast from the Nauvoo Pageant came into the chapel and did a small presentation on what the early apostles did to prepare for their missions and how their missions went. It was so powerful!! The spirit was so strong the whole time, it really amazed me how these men and women did all the could, gave everything they had to the work of the Lord, even though they had so many hard things to go through. 

We also went down to the pageant this week with Collin Smith, the young child who was baptized a couple of weeks ago. it was great! he loved it and had a lot of fun. 

well, I love you all thank you so much for everything!! I am so grateful, every day I marvel and thank heavenly father for our wonderful family and for the gospel of Jesus Christ that we have in our lives! It's a blessing and great responsibility we have to help all those around us to feel of God's love as we have. 

I hope and pray that all is well!! I love you! 
ij iokwe eok!! 
Merci beaucoup 
Elder Broadbent 

Josh didn't name the pictures in his email - the Sunset is of the Statue of Joseph and Hyrum looking across the Mississippi. 
The picture with the car gauges is indicating how hot it was that day! 
The last picture is the Nauvoo Temple

Josh's Mission July 13 2015

Hello Family!!

It has been a crazy week! and so good!! :) it's probably been one of the most hectic weeks I've had on my mission (and I've a few intense ones). Pageant started this week which is the reason why it's been so crazy. we also had a meeting in Iowa City for all the mission leaders were we were trained on how to be a better leader. We had a district meeting Thursday and Friday, and 2 nights this week we went to the pageant :) it's so crazy  but awesome! it's really amazing how much you can get done in a day and still feel as if you weren't able to finish everything... 

did we do anything fun?? We drove up to Iowa city, road trips are always fun (although they definitely aren't as fun as the ones we had...) We also went down to Nauvoo like 3 times, maybe 4 I forget.. So that was really awesome! the spirit there is unlike anywhere else :) We also went to Macomb IL on Saturday to speak at a youth conference, which was way cool!  I actually really enjoyed talking to all the youth.. being a motivational youth speaker looks pretty appealing right now (although I'm really awful at speaking in front of people, so I would probably just make a fool of my self :).... but on Saturday as we well, we were supposed to go to the temple and do a session, but we got out of Macomb late, so we weren't going to make it. Instead we decided to stop in Carthage, which is on the way to Nauvoo from Macomb, and do a tour of the jail. It was really wonderful!! the spirit there is so powerful!! it really reminds me of the talk that elder Holland ("Safety for the Soul") gave where he talks about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith being a prophet. It's a really wonderful talk! I espcially love what he says  

"In this their greatest—and last  hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?

Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. 9  Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as impostors and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon."

Then as we were driving to Nauvoo, there a a huge thunder/rain storm! it was so crazy! there was flooding every where. the roads were turned in to rivers! We could hardly see 5 ft in front of us... as we were going along, there was a particularly flooded part of the road that a couple of cars had tried to go through but had gotten swamped... we pulled over and pushed them out of this lake size puddle :) it was pretty amazing. Then we when we got to Nauvoo, it had stopped raining and since we were staying for the Pageant that night, we started to clean up the grounds. it was really amazing, as the night went on and it was almost time for the Pageant to start the clouds were starting to look really bad and everyone was wondering if it was going to rain again, if it did they would have to stop the show. But it didn't... in the prayer that was said at the beginning of the show, the man asked that the storm be kept at bay. and is was! it was really awesome, you could see the clouds go around Nauvoo and then gather on the other side. :) 

in response to mom's email:

:) yeah, there has been a lot of people lately who have wanted to take our pictures, but its been really good, it's nice that so many people want to let everyone at home know that we are doing well here :) it was so crazy to see the Medskers!! I saw Brother Medsker and at first I couldn't figure out who he was, I thought he might have been somebody from a previous area, but the as i went up to him it remembered! it was awesome! then there was a member who was at the pageant from Florida who just wanted to take our pictures and send them home. and like I said we were in Macomb at that youth conference, and a member took our picture there too :)

That Pioneer Devotional sounds like it was awesome!! it really is amazing when we look at what we are really doing, how much better we could be. It kind of reminds me of Pres Uchtdorf's talk, "Your Potential, Your Privileges"  We can always be evaluating our actions and doing better. it's often very difficult for me to know always what is the most important thing that Heavenly Father would have us do, but I know that when we act in faith He will guide us always to do the correct thing. 

Well, thank you so much for everything that you are doing!! I really appreciate and thank you for your love, prayers, and support!! I hope and pray that all is well!! I love you!!

ij iokwe eok!!

Merci beaucoup

Elder Broadbent

ps here's a couple pictures of the storm and the pageant

 The following pictures are ones that people who have seen Josh and have sent us pictures.

Josh's Mission June 29 2015

hello family!!

alright so first off this is gonna be kind of short because the computer is being really slow and we don't have much time. 

but it's been a really awesome week!! in the zone we had 3 baptisms, 2 were in our ward (the sisters here) and another in the ward in Nauvoo. it was really great!! and Collin, who I've told you a lot about, will be baptized this week on Wednesday. I don't remember if I told you, but his mom just had a total turn around. the spirit has really worked on her and she is allowing Collin to be baptized. I was so awesome to see her change. :) 

besides that it has been a wonderful week. We have been so blessed! And it's hard to narrow it all down :) it's been such a wonderful time. Oh elder Wardle and I will be staying together for one more transfer, he goes home next transfer and then I'll get a new comp for my last transfer. 

and Pageant is starting in about a week, which is gonna be so great!!

thank you so much for the Birthday wishes! :) when I woke up, my first thought was the family song, which I haven't heard in awhile. :) it was great

those pictures are awesome!! it looks like a lot of fun! I'm excited to hear more about it! wow, I can't even imagine what that would be like to have 23 young men pass the sacrament. :) that's amazing!! 

well I hope and pray that all is well and that you all have a wonderful time down at Philmont! I love you!! thank you so much for everything!

ij iokwe eok!!

Merci beaucoup

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission June 22 2015

Hello Family!!

wow! it has been such a wonderful week!! there is a lot to tell, not much time to do it, and it's hard to think what is the best things that happened. 

On Saturday the Marston Family was baptized! Missy, Chirstine, Wyatt, and Little Gary all made their covenants. thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts towards them, it was such a miracle to be a part of this. it was a wonderful service! the came about an hour early and we got everything squared away, they were so excited. Gary Jr (their father) was so nervous because he was going to baptize them. finally people started to show up and they got changed. we took some pictures (the computers we are on don't allow downloads though, so I'll have to send them next week), and started the service. 

Sister Marston Sr (Gary Jr's mom) gave a talk on baptism which really set the tone for everything. it was simple and powerful! she recounted the experience that she had when she was baptized. then we went right in to the font. 

for about an 2 hour before we had been filling it up; we wanted it really full so that it wouldn't get cold and Missy is a little bigger. So we had the Hot water turned on full the whole time. Gary Jr. started to go down with little Gary, and he said, "wow it's really hot! it's way too hot!! it's burning my feet!!!" (never had that problem before) apparently the hot water worked too well, we figured that it would cool down as it went, but I guess not. so we had to put cold water into it, but it was still really hot. But anyways, little Gary went first, then Wyatt, Christine next, and Missy last. By the time Missy went, Gary Jr was really choked up! the spirit was so strong!! 

after everyone got changed, we were walking back from the bathroom with Gary Jr. and he said, "Elders, this is the coolest thing that I have ever done. thank you so much! thank you for being here for us. I'm so happy that we got to do this." he has previously talked about how he can't wait till the can all got to the temple and be sealed and he this was the first step!! 

So after everyone got back, we had a talk on the Holy Ghost by Gary Sr. which was really good!! He also talked about when he was baptized at 11 (same age as Wyatt) about half way through his talk we heard a huge storm come in. the lights started to flicker, the wind was howling terribly and it was raining so hard!! The Bishop came in, totally soaked through and told us that we needed to stay here, because there was a tornado Watch, which means that a tornado had been sighted some where near by, and then the storm sirens went off. sister Marston Sr. said well the advesary must not be very happy because we all got  what we wanted! lucky nothing really happened. the storm was pretty bad, it knocked down quite a few trees, and flooding the river a little. oh and the marston's back window on their car got broke. other than that though everything went fine.

so this is the really awesome part. on sunday, we walk in to the church. the Marston's had been there for 45 min already. then a less active/part member family walks in with their recently born baby. and then in walked Colin Smith (the child who has been struggling to get permission from his mom to be baptized) and right behind him, was  his mom. We had gone by early to see if they were coming and he told us that he didn't need a ride and that his mom was coming! it was such a miracle!!! :) We were able to participate in a baby blessing, and four confirmations all in the same day :) it was so wonderful! :) alright, I think that is all... that was a lot :) 

i am so thankful for the gospel! it truly has been like is described in D&C 18 "10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

 11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.

 12 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.

 13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

 14 Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

 15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

 16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

 17 Behold, you have my gospel before you, and my rock, and my salvation.

 18 Ask the Father in my name in faith, believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost, which manifesteth all things which are expedient unto the children of men.

 19 And if you have not faith, hope, and charity, you can do nothing."

I know that is true!! when we allow ourselves to come to Christ and repent, our joy will be so great!! but when we help others to repent and experience the same joy, our Joy will be even greater than we can imagine! I have reflected on the great blessings that I have been given through out my life and I know with out a doubt that Heavenly father is a God of Love and understanding. Sure there have been hard times, but every thing that happens that seems unfair or hard, is always made right by repentance and the application of the Atonement! I love it!!

and to respond to your email mom:

that sounds really great that those kids will be baptized!! you should invite them to sit with you!! :) that would be really great! 

and it sounds like girls camp was great! I remember that one time that I went up and played my trumpet for everyone, that was great :) and Heber valley is a wonderful camp! 

wow! dad's kitchen sounds like it'll be awesome!! that'll be great to see. 

I really love it when everything lines up and seems to relate to each other in lessons and such. It was the same way here. everything that was talked about was centered around following Christ's example and making covenants. it was great! Missy Marston even commented on that, so she noticed it as well. :)

have a great time at Philmont!! that sounds like that will be really awesome!! did I tell you, there was a guy that I taught up in Iowa City that is a huge professional Scouter. He is going to be working at Philmont. If you see him or can talk to him he is a really great guy! His name is wally Wolanin Jr and if you really want to talk to him (which you don't have to) . He's a great guy and knows a lot of LDS people, but hasn't been baptized yet.

Well I think that is it. I'll thank you in advance for the B day gift!! thank you!! oh and I'm sorry dad that I never sent off a father's day card, I was going to and then ran out of time. but know that you are wonderful! thank you so much for your wonderful example and all the lessons that I learned from you! I was reminded the other day of something that you would say all the time "no pain, no brain" and I also heard a quote that rings true for me "Dads are a daughters first love, and a sons first hero" especially the last part is true! I look up to you a lot and I love you! thank you for everything!

I love you all! thank you for everything that you do!! I hope and pray all is well!

ij iokwe eok!!

Merci beaucoup

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission June 15, 2015

Hello family!!

wow, it's been a really great week! It seemed to go by so fast! 

early in the week we had exchanges with a couple different elders, which went really well! We found 9 new investigators in a couple of days, and just had a really good time. I was in Warsaw this week, which was really interesting. if you don't know what happened there, in relation to the early Saints, it's really interesting to look up. The people there know all about the church and don't really want to know more. we did talk to this guy who has read part of the Book of Mormon and is interested in hearing more about the Plan of Salvation.

then we had Zone Conference this week! it went so good! it was a very powerful and spiritual meeting. Elder Wardle and I sang "brightly Beams our Father's Mercy" with out a piano. it was really powerful!! We also got trained on what we are going to do at the nauvoo Pageant, which we are so excited for. I hadn't heard that the whole cast was going to be from Scotland, but Elder Wardle said that the cast for the British Pageant will be. that's really cool!

on saturday, elder wardle got a horrible headache, so we had to stay in. but then on Sunday, it was a really great Sabbath! The Marston family had their interviews and they all past, we made the program for their baptism on Saturday. It is so awesome to be a part of all this! We also had a crazy experience last night, we had a less active lady call us and tell us that a child that she babysits passed away while in his sleep. so we went over to her house and just had a really good discussion about the Plan of Salvation. it reminded me of when Ammon talks to king Lamoni about the whole plan. Afterwards, elder Wardle and I just couldn't get over how awesome it was! the Spirit was really strong and definitely directed us.

this gospel is amazing and I know that it's true!! I know that the Plan of Salvation is real  and that when we live the gospel we will be alright. I know that Christ is our Savior. 

thank you all for everything that you do! thank you for your love and prayers and support!! I hope and pray that all is well.

ij iokwe eok!!

Merci beaucoup

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission June 8 2015

Hello Family!

it has been a wonderful week!! Mom, your story about Keith Graham is so amazing!! that's great that his children are having such a strong desire to do what is right and follow Christ. that reminds me of the Marston family, they are a part member/returning member family. I think that I've told you a little about them. but Bro Marston has been less active for about 10 years, a couple of months ago the we found him and his family and they've been coming to church ever since. He has a wife (Missy) and 3 kids (Kristen, Wyatt, and Gary) they are the best! this week Bro Marston had an interview with the bishop to get the Melchizedek Priesthood, but he won't be able to get it before their baptism on the 20th. It is just such a big blessing to be a part of their life, every day Elder Wardle and I marvel that we are here, so close to Nauvoo, able to do the Lord's work and to help the people here. Especially families like the Marston's, that's what the gospel is all about. And it all started with an invitation. :) 

We haven't heard everything yet about the new changes,(he is referring to the Sunday training we had in our ward) but we have heard about it. President Jensen had talked with us about it, and I think that training is coming soon for the stake. I love as well that when we are doing what is right there really is only small corrections that we need to make. It's like the talk that President Uchtdorf gave about living the gospel by degrees. It's interesting that when we don't make the small course corrections that the Lord needs us to every day by having greater faith, repenting and forgiving, and remembering and renewing our covenants; that we will eventually fall off course. I'm grateful that the General Authorities have received from Heavenly Father things that will help us to become more like our Savior.  

So this week we were able to go to the temple again! It was so wonderful!! I went through for a man from Germany that was born in about 1850. it was really great!! :) i wish that i could have just stayed in the celestial room for hours, I love the feeling there! I'm so glad that we are so close to it. I was just thinking that is so interesting how those feelings are so often forgotten and easy to lose. But I am so grateful that the Lord has seen fit to allow me to come this place at this time. I know that everything happens for a reason! 

And this next week we have a zone conference in Nauvoo, which will be really awesome! Elder Wardle and I are going to sing in it, so that's gonna be really great :) 

I love you all and I hope and pray that all is well! thank you so much for everything! I can't not express how much I appreciate your love and support and prayers!!

ij iokwe eok!!

Je teaime beaucoup

Elder Broadbent