Josh had transfers again this week, he is still in Bellafontaine but changed companions. His new companion is Elder Young from New Mexico & he is training again. He says that he feels so inadequate to train, but that he will do his best. He is such a humble Elder. he lost two of his favorite missionaries at transfers. He only told me about one of them though, Elder Diaz who is from Kearns. He was Josh's zone leader since he has been out & now is coming home. Josh says it is getting a lot colder there. The pictures he sent are of two of his other favorites, Elder Pridgen & Elder Nielson. The thought for the day he left was "We are so tremendously blessed for what we have and what we know!" What a great missionary!

Elder Soffe & Elder Nielson (Riverton High School)

Elder Pridgen

Elder Rejas, Elder Soffe, Elder Nielson, Elder Pridgen & Sister Thompson

The Elders before Transfers

So Josh misses his "brothers" heasked me if in the next package I would send him a Tongan Book of Mormon. He says it will help him dive deeper into the Book of Mormon. He says it's chilly right now on Ohio, so he is sporting his old man vest & not to brag but that he makes it look good. He wants to know if he looks more like Mr. Landeen or Mr. Rogers. Leave a comment & I'll let him know which one. His thought for the week is Where True Joy and Happiness comes, it has all the answers to life's questions!

Stop, Hammer Time

Mr. Landeen or Mr. Rogers?

He actually eats this stuff. He says notice it's lite, he's watching his figure.

"Furbiak" from his big sister Lars.

So this week in Josh's e-mail, he said that his new apartment in Belafontaine is really pretty nice & big. It has a basement & an upstairs & they are the only two missionaries out there. They are in a branch now. He says that he & his companion are still getting along well, so that is good. He went on exchanges a few days ago with an Elder named Elder Wright that went to Davis & he was actually roomates with one of Josh's buddies Hau Pikula back at USU, so that was kind of cool for him. Other than that, he says that he is doing well & asks us to pray for him! I will hopefully give another update next week!

So I have been awful at keeping up on this blog & I apologize. Two weeks ago Josh sent an e-mail saying this: "Well so there are many surprises in store it has been an eventful week!! I will start off by telling you I am no longer in Marble Cliff I am in Bellefontaine now!! Last Friday afternoon I received a phone call from President Jensen asking me if I would do a big favor for him!! There was an emergency and he asked me if I would come to Bellefontaine and finish training a relatively new elder because his companion had to go home! So I am here finishing training Elder Montgomery from Colorado ! He is cool and has a lot of Gospel knowledge already but it is crazy our combined ti me out in the field is like 7 months! So we are both continually learning and growing!" I thnk he must be a pretty incredible missionary to already be a senior companion & a trainer. His mission president must have a lot of faith in him. He seems to get a long with his comp too if you can't tell by the pictures. I will put his new address on the side bar for anyone who wants to write him.

Josh & his new comp Elder Montgomery

It looks like they will have fun together

Josh sent these pictures of him in the Civil War Cemetary because it seems like whenever we go on family vacations we would always have to stop at some war cemetary ar a mortuary or something because my dad knew somone & he is obsessed with war history. I thnk Josh also felt kind of bad that he missed out on our family pictures that we took up it a cemetary in Park City, so he decided to take his own.

You can't really see him, but he is standing next to the big rock.

The Civil War Cemetary

This is Josh's District just after transfers.

Well, we heard from Josh on Mother's day and he sounds great! He is happy and healthy and enjoying his mission. He says he misses the MTC though, he gained 7 pounds there and has lost about 15 since then. He says it's hard to live off of food that he knows how to make. We also get weekly e-mails from him and he says he really misses his friends! He wants all of the brown boys to come to the Soffe's and have a karaoke night! I don't know if he wants me to sya this, but he also always said that he was not going to get married and that he would live with my parents forever, but he says now that he will be like Justin and be married within a couple months of when he gets home and he can't wait to sit around with Doug and their spouses and be lazy toegether! He obviously doesn't know what married life entails! Josh gad his first baptism about a week ago and says that it has been incredible to watch how it has impacted this boys life. Here are some pictures that he sent today, Enjoy!

Josh made it to Ohio! He says that it is a totally different world there. He is in the heart of the"Ghetto" he says. His companion is from Orem, his name is Elder Boyle. He said that they get ditched at a lot of their appointments, but that they have had a few really good lessons where you could not deny the spirit was there. He sounds really good in his letters, like good a missionary!! He really likes getting letters, so keep writing!

Josh is doing really well, he says he is having more fun than he thought. He leaves for Ohio on Wednesday and will get to call home for a minute, so he is excited about that. He loves to get letters and packages so if you have a minute send him something. (I will post his new addresses on here, don't send anything to the MTC, it will not get to him in time.)

Josh's Mission Picture

Josh before he left on his mission.

March 29, 2008

The first letter from Josh came! He has five other elders in his District that will be going to Ohio with him. His companion's name is Elder Brown and he is from California. There is one other Elder from Woodland, Utah in his district but the other four are all out of staters. He says that he is doing well and asks for everyone's prayers!

March 26, 2008

Josh went into the MTC today! We were sad to see him go but he did really well and is going to be a fantastic missionary!