Author: Bob

This week has probably been one of the hardest I’ve had in the mission. But it feels so good to have done it. I’ll dispense with the usual day by day format for no reason whatsoever so if y’all hate it, email me with your complaints.

So it turns out that sickness that I mentioned in the previous email might have been Covid. I continued to be sick all throughout this week until around Friday. I contacted our mission nurse on Tuesday and told her what was happening and she said it was either a small cold or Covid. I did not lose my sense of taste or smell so we don’t really know, but I am recovered now.

We had the funniest thing happen this week. We decided to stop by and see if a teaching friend we hadn’t seen in a while was home and after we knocked on his door twice we were going to leave. As we were headed back to the car he walked out from behind his house a greeted us! As we were talking and catching up with him, another dude approached us and our teaching friend introduced him as his son that was living with him. We asked if he was interested in coming to church and he said he was. Then his wife walked out and we asked her the same thing and she said she had been waiting for somewhere to go to church this entire time! After that, another person walked out and our teaching friend introduced him as another one of his sons and we asked him if he wanted to come to church as well. He did and so did his wife! So from just stopping by one of our teaching friends to catch up we we’re able to invite 4 of his family members to come to church! Fast forwarding to Sunday. We had 11 of our teaching friends come to church which was astounding because in the previous weeks. We had maybe 1 or 2 show up!

The Lord multiplies our efforts! Even though I was sick for most of the week, we were able to get so much missionary work done.

For a spiritual thought I was inspired to explain my favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon. Ether 12:30 (no not 12:27 you doctrinal mastery nerds) 

For the brother of Jared said unto the mountain Zerin, Remove—and it was removed. And if he had not had faith it would not have moved; wherefore thou workest after men have faith.

I love the scripture because it is one of the few instances in the scriptures where a mountain is actually moved. But the real reason this is my favorite scripture is for the second part, because when we do not have faith, we don’t recognize or strive for many miracles. But after we have faith, we are able to access the infinite power and countless miracles God has in store for us.

Farewell until next week and May the Power of God be in your efforts.

– Elder Ward

I’ve been pretty sick this past week, but we set inspired goals and hit them all which was super cool. We have a few people we are going to put on a date and people have been coming to church! Faith and the Atonement have been some things that have been recurring quite frequently these past two weeks. Catch you next week!

May the Light of Christ be in your hearts!

– Elder Ward

A really short one this week, Because I’ve been having too much fun. I will recap it in the next email…

Well… I guess I can give a quick run down of the new area, it’s very exciting. I got bashed twice in the first three days, won both of them, and got a dinner appointment with a Jehovah’s Witness to talk more. Elder Wight is really awesome. He’s only been serving for 4 months. He’s pretty new but really good at teaching. He’s had some awesome previous companions that taught him a lot.

– Elder Ward

Well this week was faith week for our Zone which means we set high goals and high expectations then act and see miracles.

On Tuesday me and Elder Keller cleaned the car and visited a ton of people and played basketball with the Cullota’s outside. It was hot!

On Wednesday we had District Council and PPI’s which were really good. We had dinner with some members but it was cut short by a medical emergency. We met a really cool dude called Yair from Mexico.

On Thursday we weekly planned at the mall where someone gave us an invite to their gospel festival. We then found five people in an apartment complex in a little over an hour and then had scripture study and dinner with the Dustins.

On Friday we had some good lessons and knocked more apartments and found five more people!

On Saturday we had some really cool contacts and did a ton of calling inviting people to church and had like 20 people promise to show up!

On Sunday nobody showed up to church but we had a great huddle! We went back and taught some lessons at the apartments and then ate some really good pasta at the Reynolds then went to the youth fireside at the church and got there just in time for the refreshments.

We also got transfer news and I am leaving McComb and headed to New Iberia, Louisiana. My new companion is Elder Wight. Resulting in having exactly half of my companions come after me in alphabetical order. I keep getting W companions, that’s a win in my book!

Have a great week and may your fortunes be bright.

– Elder Ward

This transfer has gone by so fast! We learn about transfers this week! It has been awesome! We’ve been working hard and have found around 70 people so far this transfer!

On Tuesday me and Elder Staker did some grinding, found a cute puppy, and went knocking past dark.

On Wednesday we had DC and Elder Bowden’s birthday and did a lot of calls.

On Thursday we had weekly planning and then it rained a ton so we went knocking then had a wonderful scripture study with the members.

On Friday we visited a ton of people and the Ohrans from my Ward stopped by. We had a great time with them. We also visited Brother Hiersche and had dinner with him.

On Saturday Brother Threlfall drove us to the temple for our branch temple trip. It was awesome and I bumped into the Ohrans again! We also had our Pioneer Day celebration which was really fun where I got to have homemade ice cream!

On Sunday one of our friends came to church! It was  really hot but we knocked Blessed and Miracle Lane and went past the Lynyrd Skynyrd monument.

On Monday we played volleyball and poker at the church in Baker and had an awesome FHE with the some members.

May Luck be With You

-Elder Ward

Well it has been a minute so I’ll try to give a brief recap of the three weeks that happened without an email.

So back around July 1st is when you stopped hearing from me. So let’s start there!

If you remember back that long I had started an exchange with Pride, it was pretty fun with Elder Bowden, the new missionary in our district being trained by Elder Dearden. They’re currently in a trio, so elder Keller went up to McComb. We did a lot of knocking and had some cool miracles happen, it was really hot for much of the day so many people gave us water.

For the 4th of July, we went over to the Reynolds and fished after we had dinner with them. The members here are awesome and are really involved in the work. A little after the 4th of July we also hit our first feels like 100° while raining.

We had Zone Council where we got our Zone scripture which is really awesome from Exodus about concentrating everything to the Lord. We also had Zone P-Day, which was really awesome. We had a huge water balloon fight and then played volleyball at the church. It was super fun! On the way back I also hit that giant traffic jam and couldn’t send email due to how late we got back home.

We were also gonna go on exchanges with Pride again, but there were some injuries that happened. So we switched them up a little bit and had Elder Bowden come up to McComb with us while the other two Elders just stayed in Pride.

During the exchange, we went and played basketball with some of our members then it rained and I slipped on the wet court and injured my arm a little bit. It actually wasn’t too bad. The photo that we took makes it look a lot worse than actually is.

Finally this week. We helped make some stairs for a member where we dug some post holes and got to use a sledgehammer to break through concrete, the “feels like temperature” was twelve degrees higher than the actual temperature where it felt like a 106° in the humidity.

I had an awesome exchange with the ZLs and then went down to Baton Rouge for our Zone Conference, which was really fun and got to see the temple for the first time on my mission. Our Mission President gave a talk about moral agency.

For P-Day we went over to Liberty and went fishing at a member’s pond and played pickleball. Since we saw the sisters’ car at Walmart, we decided to put some pamphlets on it as a joke. After all that we went to the Perkins who are some pretty awesome members! I got to eat some pretty interesting food. I had some pickled quail eggs, some Dubai chocolate, and yellow watermelon. I love the food down here in Louisiana. You always will get something unexpected.

Sorry for missing so much hopefully you’re all caught up now!

May the Currents be in Your Favor.

-Elder Ward

Sorry guys! I got caught in a huge traffic jam today and don’t have time to share this week with you. next week I’ll try to send something out!

May your focus always be pointed towards Christ.

Well, exciting things have happened!

Tue 24th

We had some interesting referral stuff happen and were told our transfer logistics. Also, shouting out Elder Gee again for encouraging me to make some videos about tying tie knots! If anyone knows the name of the knot I tied please let me know! I’ll probably call it the Ward knot for now.

Wed 25th

We had DC and the missionaries that were leaving their areas gave departing testimonies we then headed to Amite to pack up stuff to take to McComb and then packed up stuff in McComb then we stayed the night in Mandeville with 10 other elders! I saw Elder Kendell again and met my new companion Elder Weston.

Thu 26th 

Elder Weber left for Wiggins and me and and Elder Weston dropped off Elder Jenkins in Amite then headed to McComb to do some work. And take a picture next to the train.

Fri 27th

We found some assembled puzzles that were long-forgotten in the back of a dresser but really cool! We also found two puppies while out finding people called Shine and Gracie.

Sat 28th

We met a really cool Native American dude who had a 55 Chevy who helped us find the people we were looking for. We also saw a double rainbow while knocking doors.

Sun 29th

We had a fun 5th Sunday at church where we gave a small presentation about how members can work with missionaries and now we have some awesome opportunities to serve with the members! The members are awesome!

Mon 30th

I packed for my exchange with Pride then we went to Baker/Zachary and played volleyball where I realized that about half of my District has been out for about as long or less than I have been!

I end with a scripture that y’all will have to find yourself Jacob 6:12.

May the wind be in your sails.

– Elder Ward 

This week has been pretty tiring. Missionary work is not easy but it is rewarding.

Tue 17th
I was extremely sore in my lower back from our hike on Monday but we did call some people and visit some members.

Wed 18th
We had DC and started our exchange with Pride. Elder Jenkins and Weber went to Pride while Elder Dearden and Nelson came to McComb.

Thu 19th
We did a ton of referrals in the morning then went down to Kentwood and knocked a bunch as well and set up a few return appointments too! We then drove to Pride through a huge thunder storm where we could barely see further than 10 feet ahead of us!

Fri 20th
We drove from Pride to McComb to move some of our stuff to Amite and met with some members down there.

Sat 21st
Summer is here! Beating hot weather, unbearable humidity, I already can’t wait for it to be over! At least we have working AC. We focused on Amite’s referrals then after dinner with some members we got buzzed! We also found out transfer news!

Sun 22nd
We went to Branch Council in the morning and took the sacrament to people after church. I also took a quick Sunday nap before we had dinner with the Crutchfields.

Mon 23rd
We didn’t do much but we went back to McComb and Elder Weber did get a Gundam which is cool.

May the wind… -oops

Here is the transfer information. I am staying in McComb, Elder Jenkins is going back to Amite in a trio, Elder Weber is headed to Wiggins Mississippi, and my new companion is Elder Weston who was serving in Chalmette.

May your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

• Elder Ward

Well. 6 months! It has flown by – it seems like the days take forever but the weeks and months are over like that!

Tue 10th

It was really stormy, we were still able to go to the park and visit with members.

Wed 11th 

DC was really good – we really felt the Spirit. We then went back to McComb.

Thu 12th 

I had some trouble waking up which was weird. I gave an awesome spiritual thought at dinner.

Fri 13th

I woke up early and well-rested which was also weird. We did some good service and then some referral work.

Sat 14th

We had some funny interactions with some of our referrals. We had one say that Jesus took his own life for us. An interesting way of putting it for sure. And another who said that we were a toothless snake and of the devil. Meeting new people is fun!

Sun 15th 

Happy Father’s Day dad! You’re the best! All three of us missionaries gave talks in Sacrament Meeting. I talked about service and how service brings us and those we are serving joy. And because Jesus knows us perfectly and went through all we did whenever we do service He feels it twice.

Mon 16th 

6 month mark! We went on a fun river hike with waterfalls! We got hit with a big storm while we were hiking which was concerning. We then headed down to Amite and found that our AC had been fixed!

May The Wind be in your Sails
And The Currents in your favor 
May Luck be with you
And Your fortunes be bright 
May the paths you follow lead to prosperity
And may we meet again as friends 
May The light of Christ be in your heart 
And the power of God in your efforts 

Love y’all

-Elder Ward