Josh's Mission June 23, 2014

Iokwe Baamle!!

We had a really great week!! Full of goodbyes and hellos. We sent elder underwood off to brazil on Tuesday. and the we picked up another companionon Thursday. Elder Blackburn and I will be staying together and we have a new companion, Elder Allred. He is really great!! He's been out 10 and half months, he's from American Fork UT and is really great!! We're really excited for this upcoming transfer!!

We had a couple of great lessons with Stacey this past week. Stacey is going through a lot of hard things. her boyfriend doesn't want her and her children meeting with us or coming to church, but they still want to meet with us! but they haven't been able to come to church yet, we're working with them. Unfortunately we weren't able to see Isaac our other investigator this week. He has been working a lot. 

We had a really great Sunday yesterday! one of the youth brought a non member friend to church, she is going to go to youth conference with her, and we got to teach the youth for sunday school! it was really great! we talked about the restoration of the priesthood. the spirit was really strong, and we are hoping that the nonmember will have questions and want to meet with us.

I really haven't written that much... (shocker I know :) ) but not too much else happened...

Oh, I did give a talk yesterday, and that was great! I thought that it wasn't too bad, I just have to say that I sure am grateful for the sprit because I am not a good talker, but maybe I didn't do as good as I thought I did because no one said anything about it afterwards, not even the members that we had dinner with. but that's alright :) I just talked about missionary work. I shared the talk that Elder Nielson gave last talk conference called "Hastening the Lord's game Plan" you can read it here. It's really great! I really like how he talks about listening to the Lord and to our Prophet. He said "What would you do if the prophet of the Lord really called you? Well, he has! President Thomas S. Monson, as he did once again this morning, hascalled each one of us to a very important work.   He said, “Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor inthe Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him” (“Faith in the Work of Salvation” [worldwide leadership training broadcast, June 2013]; lds.org/broadcasts).
Have we been listening?
All over the world, stakes, districts, and missions are experiencing a new level of energy, as the Savior’s declaration to Joseph Smith‍ in 1832 is beingfulfilled: “Behold, I will hasten my work in its time” (D&C 88:73).
Brothers and sisters, that time is now!‍ I feel it, and I’m sure you do also. "
I also talked a little about the talk that elder scot gave in the previous conference. You should read it here! it's really great!! I love how he talks about being an example and just loving people into action. I know that that is so true!! I was reading in Ether 12 this morning about faith, hope and charity, and how important it is to have charity. If we have faith hope and charity we can do all things.
I love you all!! thank you so much for all that you do! thank you for your prayers, love and support!

Kajoor ilo Christ

ij iokwe eok!!

Elder Broadbent

PS I just had a thought, my companion elder Blackburn doesn't really get email to much. If anyone wants to write him, you should :) you can tell him that I told you to :) his email is kaleb.blackburn@myldsmail.net. if not, that's okay too. it was just a thought that I had.

Love you all!!

Josh's Mission June 16 2014

iokwe Baamle!!

It's been a really great week! We got 2 new investigators, we saw a lot of people really early on in the week, we had a great district meeting (by the way we have such a great district here!! I am so happy for the wonderful elders here and I am so grateful for their hard work! and i look forward to this upcoming transfer!!), we had a really great stake conference in Des Moines, and elder underwood is leaving for Brazil tomorrow. I don't know if I am being transferred yet though, but most likely not.

So we were able to meet with Issac this week and He accepted the invitation to be baptized! He is really a miracle and I am so glad that we are blessed to teach him! He asked us what we expect from him and then said that he wants to learn more about how being baptized will help him. He also is very open and asks great questions! we are going to help his brother work on his house, and hopefully he will have a greater desire to come back to the gospel. 

We also talked with Stacey again this week and her boyfriend is not wanting her to go to our church, so we are praying that his heart will be softened. But she did stand up for us which was great! She said that she still wants to learn and be baptized. 

So we had such a great stake conference this week end! Elder Reall of the seventy came and spoke. He has such a great spirit with him! The saturdaynight session was so powerful! One thing that really stood out to me and that I learned yet again, is that Heavenly Father knows me and each and every one of us perfectly and He has a plan for all of us to return to him. I love what Elder Reall said "none of us has done anything that is so bad that we won't be able to enter the celestial Kingdom as long as we continue learning and repenting!!" 

Also I learned again how important it is to know and learn more about who I am and who Heavenly father wants me to be. I know that it is so important not to compare yourself with others. and that all each of us can do is to do our best and the Lord will help us with the rest! I know that Christ is our Savior and that He doesn't make up the difference, He is ALL the difference!

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

ij iokwe eok!!

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission June 9 2014

Iokwe Baamle!!

So, it's been a really great week! We have seen a lot of awesome miracles both in our area and in our district. The Lord truly hastening his work and we are all a part of it. This is a really great quote from Elder Holland that I really love and that our zone leaders gave us at our meeting this week.

“Brethren the spirit of this work is urgency. We must imbue our missionaries and members with the spirit of now. N-O-W. We are not just waiting for natural, slow growth. We must move more rapidly. We must take things up a notch. If we have to call down miracles or angels, then call them down. I feel an incredible burden of urgency. I feel such a sense of urgency in my chest, I can hardly breathe. This is not convenient, easy work. We have got to take things to the edge.We have to live in such a way that we cannot do it alone anymore – where we will resort to the Lord – where we will cry, ‘Without thy help, I will fail. Help me fly.’ Go to the edge where miracles happen. Move into the realm of the miraculous. Welcome to the apostolic work.”

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

It is so true that we have to act now, we can not procrastinate, or we will be like the unprepared 5 virgins in the parable of the ten virgins.

We got a new investigator this week! It was really awesome actually. we had gotten a media referral and then went and tried to contact it. but the person that we were looking for wasn't there. but Mike our new investigator was. He is a member of am evangelical church in town, but he's interested in learning and he said that he would be baptized if he got an answer from God. It was a really great miracle.

We also went and helped a member dig a ditch around her yard because it rained like crazy and she was afraid of flooding. The pictures that I'll send do not do it justice. After that we went helped Stacey clean up some stuff, getting ready for the storm, and we set a date for her baptism, but she still needs to come to church. We are also not teaching her mom.

Yesterday, we went over to these to potential investigators' house and started talking with them. Adam, who is actually a member, but has been disfellowshipped, and Isaac are really great guys. Their story is really cool too. their Sister is a member in Idaho, and her sister's husband has a son who is serving a mission here in Iowa, in our Zone actually, So this elder asked if we would go visit Adam and Isaac. So we are going to be a teaching Isaac, and helping Adam to fix his house. But it's a really great miracle, because I know that their sister has been praying for them to come back to the gospel, and now the Lord is preparing them. I know that even if we don't see the plan that God has for His children that he does have a plan.

I've been thinking a lot about Lehi and Nephi's Dream of the tree of life. I've been trying to draw up and picture of it as well as adding a few things, such as the narrow gate that Christ talks about in 3 Nephi 27:27-33. as well as things like how Christ is the foundation and the root of our testimony. 

I've also realized again, just how much Heavenly father and Jesus Christ loves us. I know that as we give our all, He will blesses us with all, because of the greatest of all. I know that our redeemer lives and loves and knows everything that we go through and that only as we rely upon his saving grace, and truly give our whole live to Him, can we be truly happy. Our lives are crazy and hectic, and there is so much that goes on in the world that we (myself included) think for some reason, that Christ doesn't want or that we think we can't give to him. But he want's it all! He wants all the bad and the good. If we will truly give our whole life over to him, not just our "church" life, he will make a new us in His image. I know that that is true and that anyone can come unto Christ and feel the peace that He offers. I know that through the Book of Mormon, we can feel and Understand more of our Heavenly father's plan for us. I know that going to church, we can feel the spirit and have the support of other. And that as we pray we are truly Talking with our Loving Heavenly Father.

I am so grateful for your love, support and prayers! I love you so much and again, thank you for everything!!

ij iokwe eok!!

Elder Broadbent

ps the first picture is the a couple hours before the storm and I actually don't have any pictures of the huge storm that we had, but the second one is a small storm we had yesterday and the third is a picture of my comps and I in the storm, unfortunately elder Blackburn got cut off a little...

Josh's Mission June 2 2014

Iokwe Baamle!

It's been a really great week. Full of miracles and blessings. I've also gained a great appreciation for the knowledge that we have of Heavenly Father's great plan of Happiness. I truly know that He loves us and that everything happens for a reason. Often times I don't understand at that moment what those reasons are, but I know that having faith and trusting in the Lord that all will work out just the way it needs to is important.

We all have agency, and thus often we will stray off of the path that we need to be on. But Heavenly Father wants us to return to him. He provides that way to return. it's really amazing how many chances he gives. Something that's been on my mind for awhile is that there really is only one path back to Heavenly father, and we know what it is. there are many paths that lead people to the gate of baptism, but we all must eventually enter into that narrow gate onto the straight path. After we enter in by the way, we must strive continually to remain on that path. Sometimes we will stray off of it. But if we desire to return to Heavenly Father and live with Him and our families forever, we must be on that path. We have an amazing responsibility to help people see that path that they need to be on.

Here are a couple of pictures, of me and my great companions: Elder U in the middle and Elder B on the Left.

​ And yep that's me, with glasses on. :)

 it's really not a big deal I've decided that I got glasses, no one has noticed, which is fine by me. But I have realized something since I've gotten glasses, I CAN SEE!! :) It's so great! I never knew before that I couldn't see, but not that I can, I realize how much I was missing and every time I take off my glasses, Everything is so fuzzy. It's really so much like the gospel and feeling the spirit. A lot of times we don't know what we need until we have it and then we don't realize what we have until we've lost it. The gospel provides that clarity for our brothers and sisters that don't always realize that they can't see. And when we stray off the path, we realize what we are missing and what we can't see.

This week we got a text from M telling us that she didn't want to get baptized anymore. that she doesn't agree with everything that we teach. We aren't really sure what happened because we haven't been able to meet with her yet. The week before we had met and she told us that she could tell a difference between when she was going to church and reading the book of Mormon and when she wasn't. And it made me realize the great responsibility that we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saint's, to help people  see the path and help them to accept it. God's purpose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, and ours is the same. We do that by inviting people and helping them to learn about the restored gospel.

We had a really great lesson with Sister  S, a recent convert. Satan is working so hard on her and her family, but she is really trying to stay strong and there is a great member couple that is helping her. she has seen the light that the gospel brings into her life and she is fighting to keep it.

I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that through him all things are possible. I know that He know what we go through and that this is His restored gospel. And that we have a responsibility to help others come to Christ. It's so important to have that true deep conversion, because we can not help others beyond our own conversion. And I know that it is so important to invite and help ALL others to come unto Christ through His restored gospel.

I love you all! Thank you so much for you love, support, and prayers! I can't tell you enough for grateful I am for your great examples!