Josh with his Companion and the Assistants Elder Rawlings & Elder Heal

January 2009

I know it has been almost two months since I have posted anything on here, but Josh doesn't say much when he writes, just asks questions about his friends and our family. I have been bugging him lately about exciting stories that he has or anything really that I can put on here. Here is what I have gotten from him in the last month & a half. He said that in December everything was in sheets of ice and that his companion fell like three times on his face and pulled Josh down with him one of the times. He is from New Mexico so he is not used to the cold temperatures or icy sidewalks.

Josh was able to give an investigator a blessing of comfort and direction while he is going through a hard divorce and said how grateful he is for the priesthood and the opporunity he has to give blessings.

He has been treaching a few people and some of them have been progressing well.

On New Years Josh and his Comp got a call from his President wishing them a Happy New Year. He thought that that was cool that he would think of them and give them a call.

He loves going to Zone Conferences and feeling the spirit and seeing all of his friends that he has made that are in different areas. He looks forward to them.

He was able to go on exchanges with the assistants last week and was so excited that the Utes won the Sugar Bowl and went undefeated this year. He told my parents that they better have recorded it & saved it on the DVR so that he can watch it when he gets home.

It finally snowed in Ohio! Josh was pretty happy about that. There has been a lot of ice, but no snow until last week.

He & his companion got a media referral and went to the house & met brother Sedlak. He is a less active from Michigan and his wife is very interested in the gospel . They went to church on Sunday and she has been reading the Book of Mormon. Josh & his companion were able to eat dinner with them and had another appointment to go back and meet with her again. He seems really excited about this couple.

He loves his President and his wife. He says that they are great people and he loves being with them.

That's about it for now, he did call home for Christmas and it was great to be able to talk to him. He said that he had forty minutes and when my dad turned off the phone it had been forty minutes and five seconds. He follows the rules exactly and is such a good missionary. He sounds great and is very happy. I think his has been the greatest experience of his life. We are so proud of him and miss him very much but know that he is where he should be!

Josh in December 2008 with some Zone Leaders & the Elders in his district.

December 2008

December 2008

December 2008

December 2008

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