So what's new since last week...
well the phone call was really good and for those who were not apart of it and everyone is doing fine. umm... Christmas was awesome and thanks for all of the packages and the updates and for all of the support.
As for the area we had a good Christmas with the members and they made us feel right at home. and they gave us all a lot of food, oh my gosh, so much food.
so not much missionary work has been going on out here, mostly because of the holidays and we really don't want to bother people to much about the gospel. so our focus is mostly with the members and trying to get them to invite their non-member friends to do activites with them and once they are comfortable with that then ask them if they would like to hear from us missionaries and teach them more in the members house. so they feel more comfortable and so it doesn't seem like it's to much of an aggressive step.
another thing that I've learned is that the gospel is simple, God wants us to come back to him and all we really need to do is to follow Christ's example, and that is simply choosing to look towards god and get rid of all the things that the natural man wants. so while it sounds a bit hard Christ has made it easier. to way i see it is that we are in a suit of rusty armor, one of those old suit that knights used to wear, well anyways the suit is attached to chains. now that we have that established, now picture yourself in a room/ hallway where one end is dark and black and the other end has a door with light coming in from the other room. so now your in the middle and when your coming to god your fighting your hardest to work your way from the darkness to the light, but the chains are pulling you back. so to get rid of the chains you need to take the armor away, or in my opinion things that are taking you away from God. once those things are away then you are able to easily move and then able to move, but if you don't take the armor off, you are then going to have a hard time moving forward, since the chains are connected to wentch which is slowly taking you back to the darkness. well anyways this is one of those visualizations that i have, and it makes sense, it's really hard to get to god if you are still attached to the world. so yeah that's what i've been thinking about lately
also we had a transfer inside a transfer today, some missionaries are going home to go to school, so being in a threesome one of us was shipped out, so the lucky contestant was Elder Louden. he is now in Enterprise LA (lower Alabama) which is an entire zone away so i don't think I'll see him for a while. so right now it's Elder Jensen and me and then the other people in our district is Elder Solomon and Hibbert and we're going to get along for the next three weeks till transfers.
With Love Elder Gillespie
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
No Snow but a Good Freeze
Hello Everybody
Sorry this is going to be short but My last letter that i wrote timed out on me, stupid computer. well things here got a bit chilly last night and we got our first freeze of the season, so if you think florida is sunny and nice and warm all the time, tough luck it ain't.
well things here are slow and people don't really want to listen to us, which is kind of not new.
well a couple of things i've learned is that missionary work isn't hard, it only becomes hard if you focus on other things in life, and spend more time on that then missionary work. what a weird concept...
anyways, christmas time is here and things are going to be good.
thanks for all those who keep me in their prayers i try to keep you in mine. also prayer is a very powerful tool if you think about it, you are talking to the most powerful thing in the universe and he wants you to talk to him, he wants to hear from you and he want to help you out in as many ways as he can. the tricky thing is finding out what he has in store for you and how to follow what he wants to you to do. so while you can't get everything you want you do get everything you need.
as for family i love you all and can't wait to talk to you on friday
as for friends
Uncle Boyd and Aunt Carol thanks for the package and I can't wait to open it on Christmas morning
Roxanna thanks for the package and i got transfer so your packages to my old companions will take a little while to get there. so thank you for your giving it made my day.
Camille you are an amazing person with amazing advice and i treasure up those words of wisdom you have given to many. thanks again for all you have done.
to all thanks for all that you have done if it wasn't for you i wouldn't be here right now. and i couldn't become the person i need to be. so to ya'll thanks.
Sorry this is going to be short but My last letter that i wrote timed out on me, stupid computer. well things here got a bit chilly last night and we got our first freeze of the season, so if you think florida is sunny and nice and warm all the time, tough luck it ain't.
well things here are slow and people don't really want to listen to us, which is kind of not new.
well a couple of things i've learned is that missionary work isn't hard, it only becomes hard if you focus on other things in life, and spend more time on that then missionary work. what a weird concept...
anyways, christmas time is here and things are going to be good.
thanks for all those who keep me in their prayers i try to keep you in mine. also prayer is a very powerful tool if you think about it, you are talking to the most powerful thing in the universe and he wants you to talk to him, he wants to hear from you and he want to help you out in as many ways as he can. the tricky thing is finding out what he has in store for you and how to follow what he wants to you to do. so while you can't get everything you want you do get everything you need.
as for family i love you all and can't wait to talk to you on friday
as for friends
Uncle Boyd and Aunt Carol thanks for the package and I can't wait to open it on Christmas morning
Roxanna thanks for the package and i got transfer so your packages to my old companions will take a little while to get there. so thank you for your giving it made my day.
Camille you are an amazing person with amazing advice and i treasure up those words of wisdom you have given to many. thanks again for all you have done.
to all thanks for all that you have done if it wasn't for you i wouldn't be here right now. and i couldn't become the person i need to be. so to ya'll thanks.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Redo
I got the packages and i won't open them until christmas unless otherwise told to. as for my companions Elder Jensen most closely reminds me of Richard Wilson, with the same kind of wit and humor. and Elder Louden is most like Adam Swindlehurst, with the same kind of ups and downs with in a day, ex. Elder Louden has been waiting for a runners watch which he order about 8 days ago and everyday since that day once the mailman comes around he's waiting at the door waiting for the package, and if it didn't come then he would just get a little bit mad, then he would remind himself that he needs to calm down, and so he does, but you bring it up again then he gets mad again. so sometimes i have fun just getting him riled up and then watch himself calm back down. well anyways he's a great guy and really is looking forward to working which is good.
as for the investigator front, we really haven't had much success, it seems that all the missionaries can tract the entire town in about 6 months or less, so most of the people have already heard what we've said. other than that we have three other villages in our area, first is wausau (wa-saw) and that's about 11 miles down the road and people down there like to hand out anti stuff to us, so i really don't know what to do about all of it. but who cares the gospel is simple, love god, love your neighbor. when we can do that to all people then the world will be in a much better place.
now for lessons learned i guess...
umm... obedience, if you do what is right and do it at the right time you will feel better than, if you do what you think is right for you and on your time. sure you might think you feel like everything is right but there is a different kind of peace that you get when you it the right way. as the primary song says there is a wrong way and a right way to be happy. so i choose the right way to be happy. that is what i feel like right now is the biggest thing for me, if i'm obedient then i feel right and everything does end up right and we also have the right attitude and right perspective. so yeah that's what i've learned.
Jethroyblincophia..?
i'm so glad to hear that all is going well and that heavenly father is looking out for you. it's those small things in life that make life worth living, and for me personally it helps me focus on what the important things in life are.
Janben
You are right Eva does look like a little scamp. and she is so adorable. i could almost eat her right up. Congrats on the finishing of the Scrubs shifts, i hope you enjoyed it ben, you'll have to tell me more about it later. also i can't wait to hear all of the cute voices.
THAD!!! the Master of Science!!!
Congrats that is an accomplishment you can only do once. i guess you could say the same thing about everyday, you can only do it once. as for the advice you want, you are doing more than most people, just listen to what your coworker has to say you'll find something that connects to the gospel your very smart and you can find one.
ToniBenAnna
I was getting nervous that you guys weren't going to send anything this week, and that would've made me really sad, but i luckily got it before i was kicked off the computer. it sounds like the Holiday Season is in full swing. now just don't get sick that make the holidays worse so don't take unnessisary risks.
Beetle!
sounds like your having so much success right now. i'm impressed. and i can't wait to hear your voice again, it's been like 7 months. Holy Cow! or in the south Dad-Gum! except fast. kind of a silent d at the end of dad. oh i'm excited.
well boy-howdy this Christmas is fixin to be the best Dad-gum event for ya'll, i recon.
see ya soon
Elder Gillespie
as for the investigator front, we really haven't had much success, it seems that all the missionaries can tract the entire town in about 6 months or less, so most of the people have already heard what we've said. other than that we have three other villages in our area, first is wausau (wa-saw) and that's about 11 miles down the road and people down there like to hand out anti stuff to us, so i really don't know what to do about all of it. but who cares the gospel is simple, love god, love your neighbor. when we can do that to all people then the world will be in a much better place.
now for lessons learned i guess...
umm... obedience, if you do what is right and do it at the right time you will feel better than, if you do what you think is right for you and on your time. sure you might think you feel like everything is right but there is a different kind of peace that you get when you it the right way. as the primary song says there is a wrong way and a right way to be happy. so i choose the right way to be happy. that is what i feel like right now is the biggest thing for me, if i'm obedient then i feel right and everything does end up right and we also have the right attitude and right perspective. so yeah that's what i've learned.
Jethroyblincophia..?
i'm so glad to hear that all is going well and that heavenly father is looking out for you. it's those small things in life that make life worth living, and for me personally it helps me focus on what the important things in life are.
Janben
You are right Eva does look like a little scamp. and she is so adorable. i could almost eat her right up. Congrats on the finishing of the Scrubs shifts, i hope you enjoyed it ben, you'll have to tell me more about it later. also i can't wait to hear all of the cute voices.
THAD!!! the Master of Science!!!
Congrats that is an accomplishment you can only do once. i guess you could say the same thing about everyday, you can only do it once. as for the advice you want, you are doing more than most people, just listen to what your coworker has to say you'll find something that connects to the gospel your very smart and you can find one.
ToniBenAnna
I was getting nervous that you guys weren't going to send anything this week, and that would've made me really sad, but i luckily got it before i was kicked off the computer. it sounds like the Holiday Season is in full swing. now just don't get sick that make the holidays worse so don't take unnessisary risks.
Beetle!
sounds like your having so much success right now. i'm impressed. and i can't wait to hear your voice again, it's been like 7 months. Holy Cow! or in the south Dad-Gum! except fast. kind of a silent d at the end of dad. oh i'm excited.
well boy-howdy this Christmas is fixin to be the best Dad-gum event for ya'll, i recon.
see ya soon
Elder Gillespie
Monday, December 7, 2009
A Day That Will Live in Infamy
So What is New in the life of Elder Gillespie?
I'll tell you what is new. first of all i got transfered, to the "roaring" metropolis of Chipley Florida, which is about the size of Spring Creek, or Elko, or Oak City or Heber. and one interesting fact about this place is that in the phone book there are a total of 364 different churches in the area. So things here are going to be interesting.
Another interesting fact about this mission, we have the Guinness Book record for the most churches in one town, not Chipley, but in the area. also we have the largest night club in the United States in Panama City Beach. so i find that to be an interesting correlation.
So my new companions are Elder Jensen, he is from Orem and went to Timpanogos High and is about 6'3 and 220 Lbs, and then Elder Louden, he is from Mesa AZ, 5'10 and 185 Lbs is the District leader and loves to run. so much so that he wakes up at 6 am to get ready to run 4 miles. so this is going to be an interesting companionship, because i like to sleep, but i'm willing to sacrifice.
The funny thing about Chipley is that it's almost like Romeo and Juilet. there is two family's that are Mormon that basicly started this community it's the Sapp's and the Kriser's. Luckily they are both working together to strengthen the ward.
As for the Cereal Box count it's up to 5 boxes now out on the field. and the address for my new appartment is
774 Hoyt St.
Apt 8
Chipley FL
32428
H.O.Y.T. Happy Otter Yoddling Togther. that's for you Section Leader.
Jan, I love/loved your letter it's brought me lots of strenght and Direction on what i'm supposed to do so thanks for sending that today.
Thad, You are the Master, the master of Engineering!!! go out and party like it's 1999 plus 10 years.
Jethroybn. i'm excited to see your house and the fort pic's I enjoy. yes i can see the blogs. so continue to post.
Toniben. i'm so jelous to hear about how anna is now speaking "coherently" and that you can understand. and by the time I get home she'll be speaking full sentences. as for the Christmas talk with my parents, they have my Christmas list.
Beetle I think i'm feeling like a missionary now, it's hard but it's going to be worth it.
As for the rest of you, Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!!
Elder Gillespie
I'll tell you what is new. first of all i got transfered, to the "roaring" metropolis of Chipley Florida, which is about the size of Spring Creek, or Elko, or Oak City or Heber. and one interesting fact about this place is that in the phone book there are a total of 364 different churches in the area. So things here are going to be interesting.
Another interesting fact about this mission, we have the Guinness Book record for the most churches in one town, not Chipley, but in the area. also we have the largest night club in the United States in Panama City Beach. so i find that to be an interesting correlation.
So my new companions are Elder Jensen, he is from Orem and went to Timpanogos High and is about 6'3 and 220 Lbs, and then Elder Louden, he is from Mesa AZ, 5'10 and 185 Lbs is the District leader and loves to run. so much so that he wakes up at 6 am to get ready to run 4 miles. so this is going to be an interesting companionship, because i like to sleep, but i'm willing to sacrifice.
The funny thing about Chipley is that it's almost like Romeo and Juilet. there is two family's that are Mormon that basicly started this community it's the Sapp's and the Kriser's. Luckily they are both working together to strengthen the ward.
As for the Cereal Box count it's up to 5 boxes now out on the field. and the address for my new appartment is
774 Hoyt St.
Apt 8
Chipley FL
32428
H.O.Y.T. Happy Otter Yoddling Togther. that's for you Section Leader.
Jan, I love/loved your letter it's brought me lots of strenght and Direction on what i'm supposed to do so thanks for sending that today.
Thad, You are the Master, the master of Engineering!!! go out and party like it's 1999 plus 10 years.
Jethroybn. i'm excited to see your house and the fort pic's I enjoy. yes i can see the blogs. so continue to post.
Toniben. i'm so jelous to hear about how anna is now speaking "coherently" and that you can understand. and by the time I get home she'll be speaking full sentences. as for the Christmas talk with my parents, they have my Christmas list.
Beetle I think i'm feeling like a missionary now, it's hard but it's going to be worth it.
As for the rest of you, Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!!
Elder Gillespie
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