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

Josh's mission Dec 30, 2013

Christmas was fantastic!!  I love technology!!  Without it there would be no face time with a wonderful Elder!!  Such a blessing to live in this day and age!!  

Yokwe Family!!

I love you all so much!! It was truly a blessing to see all of you. :) everyone looks so good. I feel like an hour is not sufficient at all, but it was great. Christmas sounds really good, I'm jealous that you had aebleskivers, there is a sister in my district that knows what they are and it's a family tradition for them to have Christmas day, just like us.

We had a really great Christmas. we spent the whole day with members! we have such a great ward family here. I really do feel at home here. it's great. it's amazing, like you said how fast people go from the wonderful spirit of Christ to the other end, not even thinking about what Christmas is really about. I love Christmas though, and I'm trying really hard to keep that spirit of Christ with me, even though Christmas is over.

So transfers are this week. We got a call this morning and Elder Dragon will be getting transferred to a new area, training a visa waiter. I'm not sure yet if I'm staying or not, I'll find out sometime later today. but what ever happens I know that it's the Lord's will. I'm not sure what will happen but I know that I can do what ever the Lord wants me to do. He will provide us a way to accomplish anything. In 1 Nephi 3, Nephi talks about going and doing what the Lord asks because he knows that the Lord will provide a way for him to accomplish it. I know that that is true. and I'm so glad that I've been blessed with a family that knows that as well. mom, you will do great! no matter what the Lord has in store for you.

I love this gospel so much and I love that I can help people feel of our savior's love all the time. :) and I know that by following the example of Christ we can help everyone around us feel the joy that we have as well.

We are still trying to get Carol to pray with us and come to church. and we recently have gottent 3 new potential investigators that seem really solid, Ivan, James, and Andrew. Hopefully we can start meeting with them soon. James' mom just died and he has a really great spirit. The work moves forward, I love that our Heavenly Father trusts us enough to give us his authority and power and to help other people come unto Christ. I love you all and thank you so much for your prayers. really, you don't know how much it means to me. I've realized so much more than I ever knew, that prayer is real and Heavenly Father answers our prayers, as long as we are faithful, in his own way.

Thank you again for everything, I hope and pray that all is well.

Ej Yokwe Yok

Elder Broadbent

Josh's mission Dec 23

Yokwe Family!

It's way crazy that Christmas is already here!

Yeah, there are a ton of Marshallese people here, I can't believe that I haven't told you that yet :) they are so great!! I really wish that I could actually learn it though. I'm just trying to pick things up.

Tell Janis thank you for the poem, that is really great! I definitely know that is true! the Atonement is really amazing, it's what makes everything possible. with our it, there would be no way possible back to our heavenly father and since that is our ultimate goal, there would be no really purpose to life. I've just started reading "Jesus the Christ" and it's been really great! I'm only like 20 pages in, but it's already opened my eyes to so much. I also listened to a talk given by an Elder Scousen I think is how you spell it, back in the '80s about the reason for the atonement and it's meaning. it is such a great talk. He mentions in it that Christ is the only one that could go through the atonement, not even our Heavenly Father could do it for us. Our Brother, Jesus Christ, gave everything to us. think about that... that is amazing! And we have the great privledge, honor, and responsiblity to know that this is His true gospel on the Earth today! how could we not share this wonderful message with everyone around us? It's hard to open your mouth though sometimes, it is definitely scary and not easy, but the Lord always blesses those who open their mouths to share His gospel. At this Christmas season, it's so important to focus on Christ, but what are some ways that you can focus and recenter you life on Christ even after the holidays?? Christ should be the Center of everything, He needs to be the center of our lives. One thing that I've been doing to center my life more on Christ is to share the talents and gifts that I've been given. 

So this week we were able to meet with quite a few more less actives and members than we have. I love Christmas by the way! it's such a great time of year. :) We were also able to meet with Carol a couple times. I don't remember if I told you about he, but she has a lot of problems, but knows a lot about the church. She smokes and won't come to church or pray with us, but She is really great! We've been trying so hard to get her to pray with us, we've really tried everything, any suggestions?? and she was going to come to church yesterday, but church got canceled because of the bad weather. it really wasn't that bad, kind of like a good Utah storm, but everybody was freaking out about how terrible it was. we did have a freezing rain storm though, that was way crazy. do you remember the one that we had last year? it was kind of like that. Ice every where, the roads were pretty bad and you could hardly even walk any where. the cars even got grounded by our mission pres. it was actually really cool, we were  like skating everywhere.

I love you family, I hope that all is well. Know that I really do love you and I am so grateful for you love and prayers.

Everything happens for a reason

Ej Yokwe Yok

Elder Broadbent

Josh's Mission Dec 16, 2013

Yokwe Family!

This week has been really good! We had a  great Zone conference, in Nauvoo! it was so awesome. we drove down way early and stayed pretty much all day. it was great to be there. president said that it is so special to be on sacred ground, not only is Nauvoo sacred ground, but iowa as well, this is were it all started for the pioneers.

on thurday we had exchanges with the Elders in our district and that was really great! I was with Elder Ioteba. we spent a lot of the day at a members house doing service for him, we set up this awesome christmas village, it was huge, I didn't take any pictures of it, maybe I'll do that, but it was so awesome. Then we went and tryed a bunch of people. I do have to tell you that the Lord knows better than we do everything that needs to happen. so we tried this less active family but they weren't home, so we tried a few other people. on our way home we tried the family again, because we were passing them and I figured why not try them, but they still didn't answer... so I was a little bummed, but as we were walking out the door the lady that we were trying to see was walking in, it was pretty awesome. I know that the Lord provided the way for us to see her and her family, it's the first time that we've seen them, they moved in about a month ago. It's small miracles like that that are so important to hang on to and to thank our Heavenly father for. how many tender mercies do we have that we don't notice or if we do we don't thank our heavenly father for. 

One of the best ways to show our appreciation to our heavenly father is to share what we have and what he has given us. it is so important to share our testimony and to share with others that blessings that we have. At this christmas season everyone notices the blessings from our heavenly father and I know that it's important to share them. Will you think what tender mercies the Lord has given you, thank him for them, and then express that gratitude by sharing those experiences with others?

I also have to share with you a scripture that I recently rediscovered, in alma 26:15 I think, I really hope that's right, i don't have my scriptures with me, alma is talking about how it is Christ that brings souls to eternal happiness and we are just instruments in His hands. I definitely know that is true. This his work, this is His glory, we need to be ready tools, so that he can use us where he needs us.

We've struggling to find more people to teach but I know that the Lord will bless us as we exercise our faith and work diligently. We have been able to meet with more less actives and members this week, even though we had a couple days that were not really proselyting.

that is surprising to hear about brother christensen and harrison. it always seemed like they would live forever. but I know that they are helping on the other side.  wow, dad I'm surprised that you haven't put everything up yet, :) just kidding. that's awesome that you are "upgrading" the lights.

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

Ej Yokwe Yok ( I Love you) - I'm learning more how to actually right marshallese, I'm getting better...

Elder Broadbent

PS thank you everyone. It's nice to hear that my letters are good. :)