Author: Bob

I am leading the area completely now, so I get to host the ZL’s and DL’s when we do exchanges!

Mon 17th
Aldi is now open and Elder Stubbs literally celebrated in the car when we saw the Now Open sign. Fire Pday we went to Slidell and played Gatorball which is a mixture between football and soccer or for those of you that don’t live in America, American Football and Fútbol.

Tue 18th
We got to do a lot of service including picking up and burning fallen branches for one of our members.

Wed 19th
We went to District Council where I started my exchange with Elder Swenson, one of my ZL’s. We got to teach an awesome lesson to Pastor Green.

Thu 20th
Elder Swenson and I ended our exchange, he taught me a lot about how to improve my personal study.

Fri 21st
Us and the Cunninghams are working really hard and we found some people that hadn’t been contacted by missionaries since 2023!

Sat 22nd
We found a “hype park!” So the story behind using hype. Elder Stubbs likes to quote an Elder he knew that always said “Hype miracle guys!” So whenever something happens that we recognize as a miracle, we always say “hype miracle guys” and as such the word hype is making it into my daily vocabulary.

Sun 23rd
We are making a comeback! Elder Ward is destined to turn this branch into a ward! We had record amounts of people last week and this week. 46 people showed up last week and 41 people showed up this week! The average from last year was around 25 people!

I know that as we strive to be obedient to God’s laws he will bless us in a myriad of ways.

May the wind be in your sails
The current in your favor
The Light of Christ in your heart
And the power of God in your efforts

Love y’all
Elder Ward

One of my new favorite scriptures is Alma 18:27 don’t worry it’s a short one. It answers a lot of questions. 

Most people agree that Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina are the “South”. What other states do you consider as part of the South?

Mon 10th

Daylight Savings kicked my trash; I was so tired! We went to Hammond for Pday and played Risk and KanJam. I also started my exchange with Elder Searle.

Tue 11th

Even though it was super foggy in the morning my exchange with Elder Searle went great! First we had a great workout. We then went to the Bishop’s Storehouse and played Tetris with boxes of food and toiletries. We went knocking and had a cat follow us the entire time. Then we had two really deep discussions about parts of the gospel with people.

Wed 12th 

We finished the exchange then me and Elder Stubbs had beignets after we had maintenance done on our car.

Thu 13th 

Thursday was uneventful except that we went back down to Mandeville to help transport a car to Zone Conference.

Fri 14th

We had a huge ZoCo with four other Zones, about half our mission! We had Elder Hamilton come and talk with us. It was really fun and spiritual. On the way back Elder Stubbs was really tired. We also helped someone move in.

Sat 15th

We were under tornado watch in the morning but it cleared up so we got to go to the oyster festival where I had some charbroiled oyster. It was good 8/10. Me and Elder Stubbs also got called Bible salesmen which is a new one for me.

Sun 16th

The Cunninghams are leaving soon so they gave a farewell talk in church which many of our teaching friends came to, so that was cool. On the other hand we did Interactions which is the worst! It is where we message people who liked or commented on the church’s Facebook page.

Whew 3 months! Is has gone by so fast I can’t believe it! Soon I’ll likely have a new companion and lead the area!

You guys are awesome! 

May the power of God be in your efforts.

-Elder Ward 

Lets get right into it

Mon 3rd

We had Zone Council and talked about how to put people on date. Then we had Zone P-day at a member’s house and played capture the flag and volleyball which was a blast!

Tue 4th

Mardi Gras! …we were under a tornado watch so we didn’t do anything. We did celebrate my birthday! I am two decades old now! Ancient right?! Thanks to everyone who contacted me and wished me a happy birthday.

Wed 5th

Elder Stubbs was sick so we didn’t do anything exciting.

Thu 6th

I got sick from Elder Stubbs but it wasn’t as bad and I recovered quickly.

Fri 7th

We had District Council and our PPI’s! PPI’s are awesome! We also got our car back and we’re able to visit people we couldn’t bike to.

Sat 8th

We went out and tried to dedicate the day to staying out of our apartment. So we were knocking and visiting people and inviting people to come to church.

Sun 9th

Elder Stubbs gave a talk about charity in church and we had a linger longer afterward with Popsicles!

Y’all are awesome thanks for your emails.

May the light of Christ be in your heart,

Elder Ward

For the past three Fridays I have had some sort of sickness. Friday morning I start being sick, one or two days later and I wake up fine! It is strange.

Mon 24th

Pday was late. The Elders that were giving Mandeville a ride had their car battery die so they were very late to Pday. We had fun though. Elder Roberts and I played volleyball where the ball could bounce once and we couldn’t use our hands and arms to touch the ball.

Tue 25th

We had some awesome lessons and got a teaching friend to start reading the Book of Mormon. William gave us some ice cream after we taught him a lesson!

Wed 26th

I gave my first discussion in District Council on the power and authority of our calling. It went very well! We also had a great comp study session at the park about how to help people keep commitments. We also went to Sheldon’s where Elder Stubbs got to try on a gas mask!

Thu 27th

Ty mom fr – sped rit’g bks.

So… Mandeville has not had a car for a month so we were voluntold to let them use our car. (Since we are the reason their car is in the shop.)

Fri 28th

I had a horrible sore throat and cough so I was instructed to rest and recover.

Sat March 1st

I finished recovering. Sister Cunningham is awesome and came in clutch with some Dōterra stuff. Also shout out to the “Winds of Change”. Thanks for the videos, have fun!

Sun 2nd

We didn’t have very many people show up to church but Elder Stubbs took some funny photos with my phone when I wasn’t looking.

That about wraps up everything this week. Mardi Gras is on March 4th so we might have some stories to tell next week, but who knows?

I love hearing from all y’all. Thank you for your emails! One conference talk I listened to this week was “Following Up” by M. Russell Ballard in the April 2014 conference. I really enjoyed it and would invite all of you to listen to it as well.

May the Currents be in Your Favor

Elder Ward

We visited a lot of people this week, and traveled quite a bit.

Mon 17th
We drove down to Mandeville the night before so we could do P-day with them and give them a ride to the beach… since they still don’t have a car… Elder Stubbs has apologized multiple times. We also went to our Branch’s FHE activity at the Tassins.

Tue 18th
We traveled around town and took some photos while we went park hunting for a good place to do outdoor studies. As the weather is warming up to a nice 76°F.

Wed 19th
We helped the sisters teach some people and had some cool miracles happen. We also got our keys back from them and were able to get our Valentines Day mail!

Thu 20th
We went knocking on a bunch of houses and found out that a lot of people just don’t live where they are supposed to.

Fri 21st
We had some awesome plan of salvation lessons ate some crawfish and had dinner with the Logans.

Sat 22nd
Saturday was my busiest day yet on my mission! E visited a ton of people and even had someone flag us down while we were driving to pray with them.

Sun 23rd
Elder Stubbs was able to get a good photo of Elder Roberts. I was weirdly sick but we still had two of our teaching friends come to church. We have also been working on our Jesus walls.

Thank you to everyone that sent me emails! I love hearing from you!

May the wind be in your sails.

• Elder Ward

P.S. check out the “not chess” quote 😉

While driving we saw some people riding horses down the road! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a picture of them due to the turns in the road.

Mon 10th

For P-day we went to the beach again but this time we played Spike Ball and Monopoly and started my exchange with Elder Roberts.

Tue 11th

I had my emotional resilience class, which is so awesome! I also had a cool miracle! Me and Elder Roberts had forgotten to pray before we went out knocking and were having bad luck. When we remembered to pray, the next house we knocked on someone answered and was interested in the Gospel!

Wed 12th 

We were super busy on Wednesday and got our apartment ready for apartment inspections.

Thu 13th

We had District Council and then had our PPI’s (Personal President Interview) with President Smuin! Super awesome!

Fri 14th 

Love was in the air… and I was allergic to it. I got sick on valentines day because of something I ate so I rested most of Friday.

Sat 15th

I got my first door really slammed in my face. We knocked on someone’s door, they opened it, yelled “I’m tired” and slammed the door. We also had our transfer boards drop (can you believe I’ve been out for an entire transfer already?) I am staying in Amite with Elder Stubbs. We also had some severe weather alerts saying a tornado may happen!

Sun 16th 

I experimented with tying a new knot for my tie. When we went to church we realized that some trees next to the church had been knocked down by the storm!

I love hearing from you guys, and reading your emails. I’ll end this one off with a scripture that I know has helped me.

Heleman 3:29-30

29 Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked— 

30 And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.

May the light of Christ be in your heart

Elder Ward 

It has been very foggy here in Louisiana in the past 2 weeks I’ve had some cool moments in it as well.

Mon Jan 27th

We toured a Catholic church and saw some cool statues and then played chairs soccer with the District.

Tue Jan 28th

Tuesday was very interesting. I met King Solomon reincarnated and had a weird conversation with him about how the second coming will happen in Amite. Then in the evening I butt-dialed my entire zone!

Wed Jan 29th 

We had our lessons cancel on us so we did some calls instead.

Thu Jan 30th 

We had Zone Conference and one of the things I learned was that service cannot be selfish.

Fri Jan 31st

We had a busy day and some fire lessons.

Sat Feb 1st

Saturday was also really busy and I found out that it is not normal for greenies to not go on exchanges for 4 weeks.

Sun Feb 2nd 

We watched the young adult devotional and you should all watch it too.

Mon Feb 3rd

We put the car in the shop and got permission from president for the sisters to drive us to Pday. We went to the beach and played ultimate frisbee and I cut my foot.

Tue Feb 4th

I got smashed on Tuesday! I woke up at 5 AM with blood all over my pillow due to a bloody nose, and because of the cut in my foot I couldn’t walk well and on top of it all I got a pounding headache all day.

Wed Feb 5th

I got to do an exchange with my DL Elder Searle.

Thu Feb 6th

We biked all day and met a lot of Catholics but ended the day at a members house where we had a cool conversation about callings.

Fri Feb 7th

We did some service and chopped up some logs so we could move them.

Sat Feb 8th

I woke up really sore from chopping wood. We helped the Primary make valentines, went to a family history class, and helped Sheldon start to assemble a Remington 870.

Sun Feb 9th

We had a normal Sunday and ate dinner at a members house where we watched the Super Bowl until halftime.

May the Current be in your favor

Elder Ward

Sorry everyone! This week was really busy and I am very tired so I will talk about it in my next email. I also have Facebook now (under the name Taylor Ward because Facebook really doesn’t like me). I probably won’t be super active on it though.

And just know if you feel like you are fighting demons every day. That just means Satan is scared of who you will become. He is trying to distract, deflect, and stop you from finding God. Heavenly Father can help you; ask for his help and he will help turn the tide. With God on your side, how can you fail?

May the wind be in your sails, the current in your favor, and the light of Christ in your heart.

Elder Ward

I got to teach Pastor Green, a really cool dude.

Mon 20th
P-day was fun, I got to find out that most missionaries favorite games are a mixture of shouting, pain, and terror. For context, we played: Secret Hitler (shouting), Sting Pong – volleyball edition (pain), and irl Among Us (terror).

Tue 21st
Snow day! Three inches of snow! Missionaries are not allowed to drive in the snow. So we sat at home all day and called people.

Wed 22nd
Two more inches of snow. It also got really cold. Thanks mom for sending me warm clothes! I also made homemade bread again. Yum!

Thu 23rd
Snow is gone. We meet Pastor Green and talked about the Godhead. We had an interesting conversation about being one with God.

Fri 24th
We went out and were able to talk to a lot of people and talk about the snow. I found out that this was the first time it has snowed in Louisiana in seven to eight years!

Sat 25th
I am getting better at talking to people. I even successfully invited someone to church!

Sun 26th
Whew! Sundays are busy. Usually we wake up at 6:30 and have two hours to get ready for the day. But, on Sunday we have to be at the church by 7:30! After church we take the sacrament to people and then visit members and contact people.

Louisiana is so flat – all I see are trees and turns in the road, even on the freeways!

Mon 13th

Monday was our P-day and we played volleyball and threw a Frisbee around. But my favorite part of Monday was story time with Sheldon. He is a natural storyteller, super creative, and memorizes stories to recite with his own twist every week.

Tue 14th

We talked to the local firefighters in Amite and taught them about family history and showed them the family tree app. They also had a 28 year-old gator in their backyard as big as me.

Wed 15th

Wednesday was exciting. Elder Stubbs crashed into some other missionaries. I will not elaborate further.

Thu 16th

We made some good bread.

We also had a sad encounter with some people that said that they didn’t need Jesus, and that God had already blessed them so they didn’t need anymore Jesus.

Fri 17th

We talked to my trainer’s trainer, Elder Balls, and he had some really good wisdom to impart on how to become an effective missionary. Such as “the best way for you to help others grow is to be yourself in tune with the Spirit.”

Sat 18th

I got a little sick but Sister Cunningham gave me some medicine that got me back on my feet within a few hours.

Sun 19th

I am starting to get into origami and am working on creating tessellations.

I also gave a talk in sacrament meeting about how the power of Christ can help you overcome all challenges. 

A spiritual thought I had this week:

God keeps his side of the covenants we make and is bound by them. Why can’t we be more consistent about keeping our promises with everyone, especially God?

May the wind be in your sails

Elder Ward