Called to Serve

Thompson Station, TN -- Week 6

2010-06-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

7 June, 2010

This week has been really fun. We have this sweet couple that I talked about last week Kurt and Shantel. And she is awesome. She refuses to wait to get married or anything and she is dead set on getting baptized! She quit smoking cold turkey with out and help from us...that’s how set she is on getting baptized. So were working with them and this morning we went golfing with Kurt and were going to start working with him to and get him worthy and help him. And it was cool a few days ago we were walking around and I see this guy wearing a white polo and I thought I bet that’s a Mormon selling pest control! And go figure I was right! He came up to us and talked to him for a bit and then said "Oh, I sold to this really sweet lady you should go see her" and he gave us her address and we went by and talked to her. She is awesome, she was raised Jewish but doesn’t go or anything and she is way open and wants to read the Book of Mormon and pray and she was really excited and after I taught here the Restoration (my companion was distracting the very loud kids, thankfully) I asked her if it made sense and she was like “ya its perfect it puts all the puzzle pieces together.” It was way cool. Well that’s about it for this week. Thank you all for your letters and prayers.

Love Elder Marsh

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Thompson Station, TN -- Week 5

2010-06-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

1 June, 2010

This week has been crazy. So to start it off Monday night we get to our apartment at about 9:17 and we’re about to go in and I see a car I recognize. And there’s President Hutchings sitting in his car waiting for us. And it freaked us both out because Elder Smith has family in not the greatest of health. So we talked with him for about 40 min and then he left and elder Smith and I looked at each other like, "What just happened?" Then we had interviews with him on Wednesday, good times. He was joking about going swimming and stuff to me, and Elder Smith made the comment “man if I was to joke around with President he'd rebuke me but he just loves you.” I thought that was funny. So next Saturday we have a meeting with the whole mission and the Knoxville mission with Elder Ballard and 4 other General authorities. And me and 7 other missionary’s were asked to sing at it. So, about 4 weeks ago I got bit by a tick. And Friday I got a call from the mission doctor telling me I had to take some meds so I don’t get lime disease. Another missionary got it and so the church is really being pro-active and making all of us take it. And man these things a like Horse Pills! Their massive, and for those of you who don’t know I CANT SWALLOW PILLS!!!! But some home, miraculously, I have had very little problem with swallowing them. So today at transfer meeting we got some new missionaries and one of them is way cool. He’s waiting for his Visa to Buglers and his parents, aunts and uncles, and grandparents were all in the mafia (not anymore) and he played Free Safety for BYU Football and was going to start this year but he went on a mission instead. Cool stuff. We have a girl getting baptized soon named Shantell Cruz, but first we have to get her and her fiancé married. So we talked to them last week and he was leaving to meet her parents. We were talking and joking around before we started the lesson and she said something to Kurt and I defended him and he’s "ya that’s my best man right there shake and bake" so he asked me to be his best man at the wedding. And were working with Kurt to get him worthy to be the one to baptize her! It will be an awesome 2 weeks. She’s supposed to get baptized on the 12th but the wedding might mess with that a little bit.

Well I have to go back to work. Thank you for your letters and now that its summer time I expect more (no school excuses).

Love Elder Marsh

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Thompson Station, TN -- Week 4

2010-05-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

This week as been a bit more exciting than the others. I got to go to the Franklin area this week and went with Elder Horner and we had a great time. He’s going home next week so he is a little trunky but it was good. Then on Saturday I called our mission president and we got permission to go outside of our zone and we worked with the Red Cross doing flood relief. We were up in Ashland City which is actually in my first area and there were so many homes that were on the river that just got taken out. We were talking to this one family and we asked them if they needed help and they said no because they were going to rebuild their home. But they said "we do need to get rid of this tree though. Were going to cut it down and let it fall on the house for fun. Want to watch?" its was awesome and that day we also took 7 truck and trailer loads to the dump. These houses were just demolished. It was not a frightening but cool sight. I have pictures but I can’t send them on this computer. The library here is pretty restricting. But that’s about it this week. Life isn’t as exciting now. Its nice being a regular missionary (not all those extra assignments) because there’s less stress. But at the same time you do the same things week after week and it’s not very exciting to hear about but there are lots of funny and spiritual things that happen throughout the week that make it all worth it.

Love Elder Marsh

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Thompson Station, TN -- Week 2

2010-05-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

So this week has been intense. Last week it rained and rained and rained. It rained so much that almost all of Nashville and surrounding cities were about 7 to 10 feet under water. So this week we have been doing mostly service. Tuesday we went to an investigators house and he owns a huge ranch and some of his fences got taken out by the water so we got to rebuild a fence and round up some cattle. And then we dug a huge trench around his barn so his goats won’t drown. This is the same guy who gives us about a gallon of Goat milk every 3 days or so. So we drink a lot of milk now. It’s not really any different tasting then cow milk but if you let it sit for too long its gets a nice layer of cream on top and looks really gross! Then Wednesday and Thursday we went to the Thompson Station Baptist church…it is huge! It got flooded so they gave me and my companion a skill saw and sledgehammers and said "take out the drywall and the insulation" it was fun! For any of you who have read the Book of Mormon we joked about taking out "the great and spacious building" And we also got to go and get all muddy underneath peoples houses that got flooded and rip out all the Air vents and insulation so their houses could start drying faster. One woman loved our help so much that she said she wanted to cook us dinner sometime and she wanted write a song about us. She has written music for Josh Groban and other people and also written stuff for movies so that was pretty cool. And this week I finally met some investigators we have been trying to reach for like 10 days. We went over and taught them the Restoration and I asked her to be baptized and she looks at me and says, "I’m ready, just tell me when!" It was really sweet, but we have to get her and her fiancé married first! But its all been done before so well see how it goes. That’s about it for this week. Love ya'll

Elder Marsh

Thompson Station, TN -- Week 1

2010-05-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

This week has been a really strange one. So Tuesday night around 8:00 I got to Thompson Station, TN just below Nashville. We have a part time car and live about a mile out of our area so it takes about 30 min to walk to get to our area. So we waste about 2 hours a day just walking to and from! It’s a little ridiculous but that’s life! So Saturday and Sunday we had a huge thunder, lightning, and tornado storm come through and it rained and rained and rained. It completely flooded downtown Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin and parts of surrounding cities. Downtown Nashville was under about 4 feet of water from what I hear. So ya, not a lot of missionary work has been happening here lately. We were told Saturday morning to stay inside and several times throughout the day and night we got calls telling us to get into the bathroom because there were supposed to be tornados coming right at us. It was awesome, my companions were all freaking out and I was just laughed and enjoyed the rain. So one of my companions Elder Hathaway got his visa and he flies to Bogotá, Columbia. So it’s me and Elder Smith now and he's been here for 2 weeks and me for 1. So it’s almost like whitewashing again. Things are just like what I'm used to again. There’s this sweet kid were teaching his name is Jeff and he’s 16 and after we taught him at a members home he texted us later and said, "I’m more convinced then I thought I’d be" it was way cool then we got to teach him the first part of the plan of salvation . He just gets it and he never has any question because he said it all just makes perfect sense! I love teaching people who God has prepared and are truly the elect! We'll that’s about all this week.

Love Elder Marsh

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Paducah, KY - Week 12

2010-04-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

So this morning we drove from Paducah to Mayfield and the Elders down there live in the barn of a members house and they have this huge pound out back. So, we went fishing; my hands still smell bad after washing them about 5 times. So I caught this huge cat fish. And we gutted him and battered him in corn meal and deep fried him and man it was good! And I hate fish too. So this week has been amazing. were teaching this sweet guy named Hobard White and this guy is like in love with me (not in a gay way) but he keeps like saying “man you teach with so much faith and all this funny stuff.” I'm just like..."um...thanks?" But he has come to church twice and absolutely loves it. And we have been teaching so many people it has been wonderful. So I'm staying with Elder Syme in Paducah for at least another transfer (six more weeks). It’s funny. He and I joke about how we don’t like each other but we both don’t want to leave! But that’s mostly just because were both prideful about how we do missionary work. But I love it here! This week has been the first week I have been a zone leader and actually had a full week of proselyting (teaching people) as well, and it has been crazy to see how many lessons we can teach. Normally, on a good week we teach about 30. This week we taught 46! It was awesome but the best part by far isn’t how much we teach but it’s so awesome to see The Spirit teach then when were there. And you can almost see there hearts change and truly grasp the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His love. So this week has just been wonderful. And it’s been way nice to see the ward change. As we have success, more and more people want to come teach with us and fellowship people. So it’s been nice. It seems like every area I go to when we get there, there was just nothing happening and when I leave that’s when things just start to get better and start having success. So, maybe I can see it through this time! There’s a nice picture of how I thaw ground beef. I didn’t have time to put it in the microwave on defrost. And man some of the sunsets here are absolutely beautiful; too bad I’m color blind! Well that’s about all I have to say this week.
Love Ya'll

Paducah, KY - Week 11

2010-04-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. So this week has been way sweet. We have our Zone Conference on Thursday and our Mission President’s wife gave me some cookies and stuff so that was pretty sweet. There have been some way cool miracles that have been happening, unfortunately I don’t have a lot of time. The libraries in the city I am in are closed so Elder Syme and I had to drive all the way up to Metropolis IL (from Kentucky…in a Tennessee mission) to e-mail today. Time is short and I have to go. Thank you for everything. Sorry,

Love Elder Marsh

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Paducah, KY -- Week 10

2010-04-09T23:56:00.001-07:00

So this week has been crazy busy. This whole week I have had only 1 full day of working. Monday was our preparation day. Tuesday was a full day of work. Wednesday was a District Meeting in Paris. Thursday we had my District Meeting, then President came and spoke to our zone, then we traveled down to Clarksville and spent the night. Then Friday we went to Nashville for a Zone Leader Council and then all the way back to Paducah, KY. Then 2 days of General Conference! So Monday we went back to Paris and Picked up a missionary and dropped of my companion and we went on exchanges. It was really fun. Elder Walker, who came with me, is a greenie (new Elder) and he did debate in high school so he has a really loud and projecting voice and it makes for an interesting day. We taught this kid he’s about 17 and he had a ton of anti questions and it was so funny. It seems like every time someone want to "Bible bash" they use the exact same lame excuses and the same Scriptures every time, like they’re all programmed. And it’s so funny because people are like “well, it’s this way” but then ill show them like 5 different scriptures in their Bible that say otherwise and they still stick to their same argument. But there was this one guy. He’s way cool, and we talked a lot about the church and he is really interested and we brought a member with us and he used to be Baptist. And he and our investigator hit it off. It was awesome. He was asking all kind of questions like, "what made you leave the Baptist church?" and “what is so different about your church that lead you to where you are?" It was great and the whole time you could just see the Holy Ghost working on him. This week in our Zone Leaders Council and in Conference I got a lot of really good insight and I was taught a lot of things by the Holy Ghost. It was just amazing to feel the power of the spirit that the Apostles and the Prophet have with them, and to hear them speak, and to have my testimony reconfirmed that they are true and living servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have always struggled to get people to understand the pattern that’s in the Bible of God calling his prophets then people killing or rejecting them and then Him sending us more. And so on and so forth. And I didn’t know how to teach the different dispensations. But this week when we were teaching an investigator with a member. We opened the scripture to the 21st chapter in Matthew and shared the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, which reads:

33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:

34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.

35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.

37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son.

38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.

39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?

41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his Vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

And after this and understanding Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealith his secret unto his servants the prophet.”… I now understand the process by which God works in calling Prophets on the earth. And it also shows how great his love is, knowing all things and to send even his son Jesus Christ to the earth to atone for the sin's of the world. The cost was great but through Him we can be saved in the Kingdom of God.

Love Elder Marsh

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Paducah, KY -- Week 9

2010-04-09T23:54:00.000-07:00

So this time last week the AP's called us and told us that they were coming on exchanges. I got to go with Elder Carpenter and we had some sweet things happen. We got to do some service then we started walking around and found 4 new people that want to be taught, 2 of them wanted to be baptized. Then latter that night we were going to go visit a former investigator and we found a couple there that had just recently moved in and they were way awesome and had a lot of really good questions. They have been to a lot of churches but have found "philosophies of men" in every church, and they hate it. But we taught them the restoration and they were way excited. Then when we were about to leave a friend pulled up and she was like “o your going to love this girl”. And both Elder Carpenter and I in our heads were like "o no, here comes a Bible bash." But she was just as cool and wanted to learn just as much. It was way sweet, so we have an appointment to go and continue to teach them. The husband also won a competition on facebook he won a free year supply of Wonka candy so he hooked us up. The week moved on. From there we went to a district meeting in Martin TN on Wednesday, and then I have my district meeting on Thursday, so I have had a crazy week with too much traveling. Then as we were on our way to see some people we found one of our investigators who was out of town back in town so we stopped by. And before he left we gave him some good books to read and he’s already read the Book of Mormon 3 times. We talked to him and he was like, well I have to go back to Oklahoma for 2 more weeks but when I get back I'm going to be baptized a Mormon. I was so stoked! It was awesome. He said “everything just makes so much sense that I just have to do it”. It has been a really exciting week. This coming week should be even more crazy with all the traveling we have to do, including driving to Paris TN tonight. This past 3 months I have driven over 4100 miles! The car said we average about 20 miles an hour. That’s way to much driving for my taste, but O well. Things here are amazing. Hopefully well start to see some real success but you never know what’s going to happen in this crazy world. We had a companionship of sisters in our zone that taught 77 Lessons this week...that’s 11 a day! That is ridiculously a lot! Things are going so well that now all we can do is endure and keep praying for miracles!
Love Elder Marsh

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Paducah, KY - Week 8

2010-03-29T08:43:00.002-07:00

I got to spend most of this week in Fulton KY, and Martin TN. I was on exchanges with one of our District Leaders, Elder Twitchell. It was sweet we did a lot of walking and it made me realize how worn out my shoes are getting because we walked down a railroad track and man I could feel every little rock and pebble under my feet. And the day before that Elder Syme and I rode our bikes for the first time in about 5 weeks. When anyone in the mission gets in a car accident the whole mission has to walk for a day, and so I've gotten quite the work out this week. I weighed myself this morning and in 2 weeks I have gone from 210 lbs to 198 lbs. Its sweet not feeling fat! Now my companion is just wishing he could gain some weight. There is always so much that happens in a week, but every time I sit down to write it doesn't feel like there’s a whole lot to tell. So in this ward we don't have a very good ward mission leader. In fact he has been out of town for almost 6 weeks now and he keeps calling us and asking us to teach his class on Sunday, which we are not suppose to do. So the bishop has taken care of that, but Saturday night at around 11 o'clock (when I'm already in bed and fast asleep) he calls us and starts to chat like he cares then he asked how the other elders were doing (little did he know that area was now closed) and then he asked us to, once again, teach his class. Afterward my Comp and I laughed and said "man, how many wards have a WML that will call them at 11 pm?" So there’s a sweet family, The Clarks, and every other Saturday morning we go to another church and have breakfast. There are a lot of church's that do community breakfasts and there's usually at least 1 every Saturday. But its sweet for 2 reasons, 1st we get free breakfast, And 2nd we get to meet a lot of people. So when we see them on the streets or at there home there’s an immediate ice breaker of "hey you were at my church a while ago." It’s been so fun getting to know new people and getting to hear what other religious denominations believe. It just makes me know that much more that this is the Lords restored church and that the authority off the Priesthood is real.

Thank you everyone for all your love and support and for letters, they are always enjoyed!

Love Elder Marsh

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Paducah, KY - Week 7

2010-03-29T08:43:00.001-07:00

So Paducah is a really weird, diverse place. You got your gangstas', your Hillbilly's, your Rednecks, your Rich snobs, and then you have your usual Baptist, Pentecostal, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Southern Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, 1st Baptist, Protestant, Jew's, Muslim, 3rd Baptist, Masons, Catholics, and more. But one thing that I have found is that they want the truth but they all refuse to listen to it. It’s been a wild ride so far here. Elder Syme and I have been working like crazy recently and were now teaching a guy who ran for mayor and lost because of some technicality and its funny he has a testimony but won’t read the Book of Mormon. So were going to start reading it with him. We actually had a member that told us if we could get him converted, and by the spirit then he could see a good portion of the community wanting to learn too. This week we got to go down to Nashville to get to the temple and it was a really sweet experiences getting to go and having a greater knowledge of the gospel then last time. And the things I have come to know and realize have been awesome! And on Saturday I went to Marion IL again and we saw about 40 people and we found 2 who want to learn more and going tochurch. It was awesome to see our day unfold and the lord lead us to exactly where He wanted us to be. Well that’s all for now. Until next week.
Love Elder Marsh

Paducah, KY - Week 6

2010-03-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone.
So this past week has been way fun. From Monday to Wednesday I was in Illinois, and man do they have the worst streets ever in Marion. But it was great, me and Elder Hansen got a referral from a member that they got a few weeks back. She is now preparing to be baptized on the 27th of March. It was really cool, then on Thursday night we drove to Clarksville and spent the night then headed off to Nashville the next morning and had a really good Conference with the other Zone Leaders and with President Hutchings. On Saturday I went with a missionary whose area is getting closed, so me and my companion are taking over. We worked like crazy and had a lot of miracles happen and it was really sweet to see people change in the middle of teaching them because of the spirit that we bring into there lives to testify of what we teach. Then that night I got a call giving us transfer info and one of the areas in our zone is closing so were taking over it and there is another area that is opening. So there is a district that is made up of one companionship and 2 other districts with 2 and 3 companionship's. And the zone is very large and spread out. President really didn't feel that the missionaries in the area that far away were ready to be a district leader so he called me and asked/told me that I was now a Zone Leader and a District Leader...I have never heard of it before but I guess its possible so this next transfer should be incredibly hard, and very time consuming, but that just means I have to learn to budget my time even better. This next week though we have a Temple trip and Zone Conference and is should be really good. I love meetings, which is really weird but it helps me find out what I need to improve on most- at that time. It’s been so fun as I have been reading The Book of Mormon again we, as a mission, are reading it cover to cover and were highlighting every time is says Jesus Christ, or it refers to Christ, or if it’s Christ speaking. I'm a little over 60 pages into it and have highlighted over 900 references! And as I have done so I have felt my testimony in Christ grow and I have gotten to know more and more about Him and I have come to know Him better then I ever have before, just in 60 short pages and I cant wait to see what happens when I get 120 pages into it then to see when I finish! It amazing to see what happens when you are in the service of your God.
Love, Elder Marsh

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Paducah, KY - Week 5

2010-03-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

So this week has been jammed pack with stuff. On Tuesday mornings we go to a place called Martha's Vineyard and provide service. We put together boxes of food for the shut ins, basically its like "meals on wheels." Its been really fun because missionaries have been helping there for a long time but have been too afraid to talk about the gospel to Martha, the owner. But me, the one who rarely puts his foot in his mouth, finds any little hint she drops and uses it to talk about the gospel and we have had some really good conversations! We also get free lunch so its a double deal.

Then that day we had interviews with President Hutchings. Elder Syme and I had very little time to actually talk we very quickly talked. While Elder Syme was in the interview Sister Hutchings and I just talked about stuff and I shared some experiences that happened...like me getting bit by a dog and she didn't know about. And it was a good time. Then Wednesday and Thursday we had one of the assistants to the President with us, he used to serve here too So we saw a lot of people and had a blast. Then we had to travel down to Murray for a District Meeting with other Missionary's it was a nice long drive and on the way back my companion fell asleep, it’s okay I was driving.

Then that night our mission President calls us, and we had already known before hand, but the Elders that cover the East side of Paducah their apartment was closing and they were getting moved out of the area. So we had to get all of their stuff out. So He called and asked us to help them move. So we got all there stuff outside and waited for the mission van with a trailer to show up so we could back it up. And when we got there our mission president was in service cloths. I was shocked so I got a picture of him while he was washing the windows. He said it was the first time he had worn those jeans in 18 months. (Since he was called to be a Mission President) He was pretty happy with the work we did to help out the mission and to make his job easier so I'm glad I got to help. So for the next week we have 4 missionary's in 1 apartment and then a new transfer begins and another area in our zone will be opening. So we will have 2 new missionary's there.

It has been great seeing our Zone get blessed for their work. This week and last week is what we have been calling W.A.R. week which stands for We Are Running and we have been waging war on the adversary (Satan). It has been really fun to see everyone get into it. There are 4 assistants and each of them has taken names from the Book of Mormon War chapters as have all the Zone Leaders. I'm Captain Antipus 2.0, the one that doesn't die. It’s been great. And it’s so nice to be in a full time car again so I have’nt ridden' my bike once this past 5 weeks. Well that's about it for this week.

Love ya.
Elder Marsh

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Paducah, KY - Week 4

2010-02-27T21:34:00.001-08:00

24 February, 2010

So this week has been a bit crazy. Monday to Wednesday I was with another missionary on exchanges and then from Thursday to Saturday we had 2 of our assistants to the President with us on exchanges. So not to much has happened in, all honesty, time goes on like a blur. Each day goes buy faster and faster and it’s getting hard to remember what day I did what. So a cool experience this week is we were driving on Thursday from a teaching appointment to our apartment to meet the AP's (Assistants to the President) and I got a call from some guy, who he and his wife were getting kicked out of there hotel for complaining about bed bugs (which by the way really hurt). They didn't have money because they had run away from a bad situation back in Tennessee, and they were trying to see if the church would help them out. I told them to call Bishop Harper they had already tried but he didn't answer. So we told him that we couldn't handle any issues with money and stuff but before I hung up I asked if there was anything I could do for them. And he said "yes, come over and talk to us" So we went over and taught them about the restoration of the church and committed them to be baptized and they both very excitedly excepted and came to church on Sunday. Now they plan on getting baptized on the 13th of March. So it was a really sweet blessing from God to be able to teach them and see them come to church and want to change their lives. It’s so sweet to meet so many crazy Hill-Billy's and stuff out here. Especially when they admit that they are Hill-Billy's. Life is pretty good out here though. We met this sweet older Black Lady a few days ago named May May, and she cooked us some of the best food I’ve have had in a long time. We had home made corn bread, home made deep fried chicken, and some good green beans. It was cool. There are 4 missionary that are here in the Paducah Ward. So we cover the West side and the other Elders cover the East side. And one of the AP's, Elder Beck, served in the east side so he told us about some people that he taught when he was here and gave us names of some people we have to go see. So it has been really nice to be here and get to know some new people and work in a different area. And it’s amazing to see the Lord at work and the miracles we see every day.
Love ya'll
Elder Marsh

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Paducah, KY - Week 3

2010-02-27T21:32:00.000-08:00

17 February, 2010
So on Monday me and 3 missionary's got stuck at the Church for 6 hours because we had to go early in the morning to fax in our reports for our Zone, and right after we did we got a call that said park the cars its too "dangerous" to drive. There was just a little snow on the ground from the night before and some ice on some back roads. But the whole mission had to park their cars till about 5 at night and by that time we were able to go shopping but the library was closed. So Monday night Elder Syme and I drove all the way down to Paris, TN and went on an exchange with some missionary's there. This week we had a great Zone Conference. It was really weird conducting a Conference with President Hutchings, the assistant's, and 12 other missionary's. I got to give training on Praying with Faith. It was really cool, and then afterward we had another meeting with our President and with the Stake President and his 2 counselors. It was kind of scary and a little intimidating but I got though it. So there is this awesome member who is a hair stylist and he gives all the missionary's free hair cut. So I now have a real hair cut instead of one from Elder Marsh's hair cuts for less. I like not having to cut my own hair. So this Wednesday we went up to Metropolis IL and a member gave us money and told us to go to this pizza place called Cubby Bear, and man it is really good pizza. So we have had lots of snow up here. It’s snowed at least once every week since I have been here, and that's really unusual for Kentucky. Well time is short and I have to get back to work, (the Lords work)
Love, Elder Marsh
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Paducah, KY - Week 2

2010-02-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

So this week has been really sweet. I now longer have a P-day because I’m now so busy its really just a catch up day. There is so much to do and so little time to do it. Plus we need to be trying to be out talking to people on top of that, is really hard. I have never fallen asleep and woken up later in the same position, until now. I'm so tired that I don't move around when I sleep which is really weird for me.

Tuesday night me and my companion traveled down to Clarksville and spent the night at the Hopekinsville Zone Leaders apt., and MY MTC companion is one of the zone leaders there. Then Wednesday morning we drove to Nashville for a Zone Leader Council, which is 14 Zone Leaders, and the 4 Assistants to the President, and President Hutchings. It was way good and it was sweet to get to see the other Zone's and see how they were doing and to get some help and advice for our Zone, as well as be able to give advice. Its funny to see a lot of the missionary's that were zone leaders when I had just come out and I looked up to them, and to be able to work with them and get to put their knowledge and experience to good use. And its funny as I think about it, it feels like the ZLC (Zone Leader Council) was weeks and weeks ago.

So this week we got a call from a 9 year old girl who has been trying to get baptized for quite some time but was waiting for her dad to come into town. Something happened in their family that caused there dad to come out from Utah and she called and said "my dads coming into town on Thursday, I want to get baptized on Saturday, what do i have to do?" So we went over and taught them. The family is a little messed up but they’re good people, and there are lots of members of the family that aren’t members of the church. Yet they were at the Baptism on Saturday. It was a really good experience for everyone and the spirit was really strong, and man our Bishop, and Primary President are on the ball. Sister Hayes, the Primary Prez gave her a CTR ring and some other stuff and Bishop gave her a brand new leather bound Scriptures, With the Old and New Testament, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine & Covenants. And then she got Confirmed and received the Holy Ghost on Sunday and had a lot of her family there too.

Here’s a sweet church with a crooked steeple. So me and my companion went over to an investigators house yesterday and he had some guitars so I picked up an acoustic and started to play a little bit, it was quite funny because I'm quite horrible at it now with not playing for several months. But the guy was pretty impressed and then we taught Elder Syme how to play 3 chords, he’s quite proud of himself. But we started talking to him and he said that he didn't believe in God and we talked to him about the Plan of Salvation and it was a really a good spirit in talking with him. He’s been taught so many crazy beliefs and false things about God that’s really turned him off but as we talked I could tell he does believe in God, it is just easier for him to say no than try to comprehend all the crazy stuff he has heard. I love being able to talk with people and to see how they really feel and to understand the things they go through and why things are the way they are. It is so nice to be out here and to see the changes these people make in there lives and how much happier they truly are. Till we meet again

Love Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Paducah, KY - Week 1

2010-02-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Family, 1 Feb, 2010

So this week has been the best. My new companion, Elder Syme and I are working like crazy. This past week we have been so busy. This week, because I'm now a Zone Leader, we had to travel all over the place from Marion IL, through Kentucky to Paris, TN doing interviews and what not. Its not so fun sitting in a car for hours just to do a 30 min baptismal interview for someone, but in the interviews its so great to see the joy in the investigators eyes as they prepare to get baptized. You can just see that they know that there was a restoration of the Gospel and they know we have a Prophet today. It has strengthened and built my testimony even stronger then it was. It has been really fun to be so busy this past week that were practically running from place to place to get everything done and still take care of the zone as well.

So throughout my whole mission I'm still companions with someone older then me which has been cool because they have had a lot more experience then me and I can learn from them and their mistakes. So at transfers the new missionary's have to say there name, where they’re from, and something interesting. And there is a new missionary in our mission that at transfers his interesting thing is, he does Chris Farley Impressions. It is Hilarious, so at transfers he did "Van down by the river" It was great and the best part is he’s now in my zone being trained in Paris (where they have an 18 foot Eiffle tower).

Here about 40% of the population are UK fans. It’s been nice to see everyone wearing UK stuff instead of TN stuff. The Blue looks much better than the Orange, and I have had like 3 members, including the Bishops wife, say they'll keep me up to date with how University Of Kentucky basketball is doing.

This week we have taught some sweet people, we have set 4 baptismal dates this week. It has been crazy how much the lord has been blessing us and this zone these past 6 days. It is truly amazing. One good story, We were driving around last night about 8:30 trying to figure out where we could go to find 1 more New Investigator to reach the goal we had set. And I wanted to get it. so we drove around this apartment complex in Metropolis, IL trying to find our way our to get back to the main road. And we see these people getting our of the car and walking to their apartment and I told my companion to stop the car and we jumped out and went to talk to them and as we did we invited this girl, Tiffany, to be cleansed from sin through being baptized by the Priesthood Authority of God. As we talked with her, her eyes lit up with excitement and she was like "yes I want to become clean and be baptized." It was amazing to see how the Lord prepared people for us, and when we least expect it there’s someone waiting for us to talk to them. It is amazing to be part of this work. Hope to hear from ya'll soon.
Love Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 17

2010-02-17T10:16:00.001-08:00

25 January, 2010

So these past few months have flown by. I feel like 3 weeks ago I was a greene and last week I was called to come here and be a district leader. So this past week I was able to go on an exchange with one of my favorite missionaries in my district, Elder Bischoff. It was sweet we walked around this huge subdivision almost the whole day and got a lot of work done. And we had just finished eating dinner in our truck (it’s way to far to drive back home and back up to where we were) and we were going walking and I was like “well it stopped raining you think we should take the umbrellas?” He told me ya just in case, so we grabbed them and within about 10 minutes is started to sprinkle so we opened them up and right when we got them above our heads we just heard this huge sheet of rain from behind us and it was way hard! It poured for a good 10 min and then is started to hail on us, and it hurt! Getting hit by paintball sized hail is not fun.

So as I was doing my personal study the other day I was reading in Preach My Gospel about the spirit. And in it under The Light of Christ an Apostle said "were not planting something foreign, we are simply teaching things that will have a familiar ring to them." And as I thought about that and when people say were planting seeds I thought of this sweet saying. "were not really planting seeds at all, Were simply giving a dry desert its first drink of the Lords living water. And, in due time it will flourish into a beautiful oasis." I was pretty happy when I started to think about that and the parable of the sower and the seed. The seed is already there but what we have to do is ensure that the ground is prepared for it to blossom. I love how as we study our minds think of things and then the spirit helps us remember and then other things come unto our remembrance and help us peace together the gospel so we can understand it more fully!

So at the end of last transfer I was in Paducah singing for the choir (at Christmas time). And I was talking to one of the assistants to the President and he was like "you haven’t served a mission until you’ve served here" and jokingly I said "well, put in a good word for me" He’s gone home since, then but on Saturday I heard our Mission Presidents ring tone go off. And my heart dropped for a few minutes because he calls new leadership and trainers early Saturday morning/afternoon. And he said, “guess what Elder, your going to Paducah, and your going to be a Zone Leader with Elder Syme”. And my heart dropped to my toes. So I'm way nervous about this next transfer. Ill have about 12-16 missionaries under me. And I was barely able to take care of 5. But the scriptures say “Whom the lord calls he qualifies” so I hope I’ll do well.

This has been so much fun and I can’t wait to get up there though because I know my companion is a hard worker. He trained my MTC companion. So I have some way good expectations of these next 6 weeks. Love ya and hope to hear from ya all soon!

Love Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 16

2010-01-28T22:16:00.001-08:00

So this week hasn't been too eventful. This Tuesday we had a great time. We went with our Bishop to teach his sister in-law and her non-member husband and it was sweet. First of all we got feed, some way good chili and then we had a wonderful lesson. It was pretty cool to see his reactions as the spirit hit him it’s like I was reading a book. It was really cool and after that I talked to Sara (his wife) and she thanked us so much because it was something that she had been talking to him about for the past 2 weeks and he didn’t understand it until now. Then after our district meeting we went on exchanges to the Rock Springs ward for 2 days and it was pretty fun. We got to hand out a lot of Book of Mormons and we had a very miracle filled exchange. But let me tell ya I have never hated pridefulness so much until now! The kid I went with, a great missionary. but so prideful. And as I let it annoy me I started thinking about how I was when I first got here. And the only difference between him and me almost 9 months ago is he voices everything. It was really neat to see how far I have come but even better in some ways since I see how far I have left to go in humbling myself before God. Then on Thursday the Zone Leaders gave us as a zone a challenge. They said if you pass out 10 Book Of Mormons by Sunday we'll come clean your apartment, if you do that and get 4 new investigators well clean and the assistants will cook you breakfast. So we got help cleaning and we had omelets this morning. It was sweet! So on Saturday we were on an exchange with a sweet Member Ethan Cox and the last 2 times we have gone out with him it was raining, and on Saturday...it was raining, Bit of irony I think. Then we found this church with one of the greatest signs I have ever seen right as you leave the parking lot. And there it is. Well Love ya and thank you for your love and support and prayers
Love Elder Marsh-Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 15

2010-01-28T22:09:00.002-08:00

Hey Everyone,
So this week has been sweet. I got to go on an exchange this week with one of my Zone Leaders Elder Schwendiman in Brentwood. And for those of you that don’t know Brentwood is one of the richest cities in the USA. It is huge. Its where most of the country stars and filthy rich people live but it was way fun. The morning of the second day we got a phone call from the Assistant to the President saying everyone had to park the cars and walk today. We were like why? Their reply because its snowing and Tennessee drivers don’t know how to drive in the snow. Then we went out side and realized there was 2 inches of snow on the ground lots of ice. It was crazy so we got to walk around for 2 days in the cold with no chance of driving and staying warm. It was so funny we were talking to this guy on his doorstep and he’s like “you guys are crazy its 9 degrees out side go in and get warm”, and in our minds we were both thinking ok then let us in so we can get warm. But instead he shut the door in our faces. But it’s all good. This weekend we held the baptismal service for Nikita Swett. It was way awesome. Her parents have been inactive for the longest time so she never got baptized but she’s really been helping her family out and she and her mom have been coming regularly. So her grandfather from Murfreesboro came up and baptized her and then got to confirm her a member of the church, it was a great experience. And after the baptism they had cookies and stuff and my companion commented about how the cookies were a good dinner because the service was during our dinner hour. And Brother Swett, who was friendly, but not to talkative said, “you haven’t had dinner yet? You're coming with us to dinner then!" I was just dumfounded. I really did not expect that. So they took us to O'Charlies and it was way good. First time in almost 6 months since I have had shrimp! Then on Sunday Nikita, her mom and her dad both came and her mom got called to be a new ward missionary. It seems like that family really loves my companion and me now, so I took the box of brownies that my mom had sent me, made them and brought them to their house last night as a thank you. Well Love ya and take care.
Love Elder Marsh
Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 14

2010-01-28T22:09:00.001-08:00

So this week has been way fun. Unfortunately it went by so fast I don’t remember much. It was way awesome though, this week we saw Marvin Freeman. We had been working with him for a while but for some reason he just hasn't been coming to church and for the past 2 weeks we haven’t been able to get a hold of him, so we were getting ready to drop him. But we wanted to try and see him one last time. So we went over and he was like hey guys come on in. So we talked to him and he was telling us about how his job has been really stressful and stuff. Then he’s like ya my moms been reading the Book of Mormon too. He went and got her copy and she was in Ether 4. I was like, no way she’s past me I’m only in Mormon. and she’s only been reading it for like 2 months. And she was like o ya its the word of God everything lines up with what the Bible teaches. It was way awesome then he’s like ya my moms been telling me to quit my job so I can come to church and get baptized and to just trust in God that he'll provide me with another job later. My jaw almost hit the floor. We haven’t even met his mom and she’s trying to help him get baptized. So now he’s back on to get baptized on the 23rd of January and then Niki Swett is getting baptized on Saturday. So our mission president is going to be interviewing her and he called us and he’s like hey while I’m down there what do you guys have planned for tonight? He was like, "you think you could set up 2 Preach My Gospel member visits up for us so I can go out with you?" So tonight we have her interview then were going with President Hutchings to teach our Bishop and Relief Society President with him. Then he’s going to do nightly planning with one of my companionships in my district so this should be fun! On the 1st we had a zone P-day. We went to Nashville and played Basketball, volleyball, and dodge ball. Then at about 3:30 me and one of my Zone Leaders went to get Pizza for the zone, President Hutchings gave each zones (areas of missionaries) 60 dollars to have food that day so we got 8 pizzas, 1 per companionship and we got to watch Wall-E while eating pizza. Then we watched Wall-E again while eating popcorn! It was way weird to watch TV and not have to worry about being disobedient. It was a very fun week and got some good exercise, maybe I’ll be able to loss some weight.
Love Ya'll
Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 13

2010-01-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

So this week has been really fun and packed full of stuff. On Monday we had a sweet District Meeting and it was a really good, uplifting meeting. Then on Tuesday we had our interviews with our mission president and it was really fun I walked in and before we even said or did anything we was like "thanks elder your doing great I’ve seen all I need to see, you can go" I was like huh? It was really funny and after that I got to pick his brain and got some really great advice and help. Then on Wednesday we went and spent 5 and 1/2 hours in the Temple in Franklin and it was on of the sweetest experiences I have had in a while. Then on Thursday we had a p-day with our whole zone and we got to play some basketball. And then on Friday was an unforgettable and very event filled Christmas. So Christmas morning we go over to this families house to open presents and stuff and Santa doesn’t wrap their presents. So when they wake up they all see what each other got. And their youngest went and took his sisters Nintendo DSI from her pile and started playing it. So there was this huge argument about whose where whose presents, it was really funny. And the night before was a really powerful wind storm and it blew a lot of the Christmas decorations and lights down. Then later on in the late afternoon, they have this dog. His name is Caesar and he is older then all of the kids in the family. He starts having a seizure in the middle of the living room and all the kids started freaking out. Then Bro. and Sister Byers were trying to get him to stop and he started to pee on Brother Byer’s foot. It was hilarious. So he eventually stopped and we was so tired afterward he walked around for like 10 seconds then just fell down and went to sleep. So ya, that was my Christmas. Then yesterday we got to have a full day of working and it was so hard to get back into the swing of things but it was fun. So this next year our ward starts at 1pm. I'm looking forward to being able to have my personal study in the morning and not have to wake up at 5:30. Well here are some pictures from a few weeks ago. One's of my district and one of The Nashville Mission Choir.

Love Ya'll
Elder Marsh
Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 12

2009-12-31T23:30:00.002-08:00

So not much has happened this week. Me and my companion did a lot of walking around in the cold rain, it was fun! And this week we finally got to meet a girl named Niki, she’s 19 and her parents are really less active and she’s getting ready to get baptized on the 9th of January. So we finally talked to her and it was so cool to see her enthusiasm about getting baptized and to see her mom even come to church and participate. It was really neat and we hope that this will help their family get active again. So it was funny as we were talking to her she was just telling us about herself and she said she was like 9 at heart and my companions eyes just lit up and for like 10 minutes I felt like I was babysitting. It was...really funny. But she is so sweet and I asked her what she has enjoyed the most about learning about the gospel and she’s like "I don’t know it just all makes me feel so good and fuzzy inside," it was really cool to see the Holy Ghost work. Well that’s all for this week. Until next time. Talk to you soon.
Love Ya'll
Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 11

2009-12-31T23:30:00.001-08:00

So this week has been a very different one. First of all, I'm not getting transferred tomorrow which is really weird I thought ether myself or Elder Movey was gone, but no (that’s three transfers with this Elder). And Second, I feel like I did absolutely no missionary work this week But that’s because I sat in a car for over 15 hours. This Wednesday we had to drive to downtown Nashville and we had a really good Zone Conference. Things really have started to come around in this Zone. The work and success has improved greatly. Then on Friday I drove down to the mission home in Brentwood, just below Nashville, myself and a really good missionary, Elder Cardon, drove 10 missionaries to Paducah Kentucky for our Mission Christmas Choir. And from here to there it’s about 160 miles each way!

So on Friday night me and Elder Cardon didn’t get home and in our beds until about 12:30 pm! Then the next morning we had to pick up the other missionaries and we went to some malls where we sang and then we got to go to the Opryland Hotel and sing. It was sweet. The whole thing is like living outside, in a bubble, and it was decorated Christmas style. I would send pictures but I can’t find my cord to plug my camera in. Then we drove to Murfreesboro which was about an hour away from Nashville, just below Smyrna. And we sang there and it was really cool to see some people from Tullahoma there. Then we loaded up more missionaries and took them to Clarksville (my first area), and Hopkinsville. Got there Saturday night around 10:30, slept there, then woke up drove back down to Nashville for church. Then we got more missionaries and drove back up to Hopkinsville. While there we got to record the concert so hopefully I can make a copy and send it home. It was an awesome experience. And the spirit was amazingly strong. It was really cool watching our mission President, and his wife cry because the spirit was that powerful. The last time someone saw president cry was one of his assistants, when President first got to the Mission and the Elder basically taught him how to be a mission President, when he went home. It has been one of the most wonderful and exhausting things on my mission so far. Then we got to drive back to Nashville then back home that night. My head hit my billow last night a little after 11. And that is my fun filled 3 day long road trip. I hope I’ll have pictures to send next week if I can find the thing to connect it.

Love ya'll
Elder Marsh

Smyrna - Week 10

2009-12-17T13:30:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone,
So this week has been crazy! My companion and I went out this week and we decided we were going to invite everyone we saw to be baptized. So our goal was 100. Well we fell really short of that goal, but by doing this we taught 2 really good and really powerful lessons to Marvin Freeman and an older lady named Judy and we committed both of them to be baptized; and both of them are way excited. So, on Thursday we went with a member to teach Marvin, he had a date to get baptized in the past but he couldn't come to church because of work, and he has been feeling pretty sick but we taught him and we asked him when he would feel prepared to be baptized and he’s like "I want to do it on the 26th, That would be the best Birthday present ever" and its funny as I though about it. He wants to get baptized after Christmas, the time of year we celebrate the birth of Christ because it’s through him that we are cleansed from our sins. It was way cool.

The day before we had an exchange, but he got sick so all our plans were foiled. So we started biking around and we come to this Church Of Christ. and were like hey it’s Wednesday I wonder if there having a bible study or something, long story short, were walking down this hall with one of the ministers assistants who was showing us where to go, and we get to this room where theres easily over 80 people. And she’s like oh look there just 2 seats left in the front row. So my companions sweating bullets and I'm just like "o ya, two Mormon missionaries just came to your "bible study." It was way fun and at the end the Youth Minister and like 8 other people came straight to us and introduced themselves and were way more friendly then most Church of Christ members. And the youth minister is like "hey I want you just to come back and teach me." So we’ll be going to teach him this week, should be way fun!

Then also on Thursday we had our district meeting and it was really cool. The spirit was really strong and I was giving training on helping others receive and recognize personal revelation. It was on of the best trainings I have ever given, and it was so sweet to study for it. I got out of it so much more than what I could tell them. Then on Saturday I got to go do service and in the morning we mowed a lawn then in the afternoon we had a less active who has lots of wood and another less active who needed steps coming out of the back door on his trailer. So we went and built him some steps, it was way fun to getting to build something again. And just this morning was a really cool experience. We had to wake up at five, I went down to Nashville to have a special interview with our mission president, assistants to the president, and my Zone Leaders. We were discussing the district and our zone and it was really cool because we got to see where we are as a zone compared, to were we were 3 months ago. And the improvement was incredible. For the past year Nashville zone has been struggling really bad and a lot of missionaries dread coming here because of it. But we have done so much work to get it back on its feet. And it has been truly amazing to see the grace of God as we have labored here, And to see what simple obedience and diligence can do for missionary work. The Lord’s hand is truly in the work that we do and I have felt his power in my life more these past 2 transfers then ever before. As I struggle with the responsibilities, my district, and my companion I have felt his love for me and the comfort of the spirit in my times of great need. I could never do what I'm doing out here without His help. Jesus Christ is real, He loves you the same as he loves me and as we lean unto the lord in all our doings he shall directed our paths. Learn it, live it, Love it. My new favorite saying.
Love Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 8

2009-12-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,
So to start this week of we had a good Preparation day on Monday we played some disc golf and i got nailed in the back twice because my companion wasn't paying attention when he chucked it. So that was fun, then on Tuesday we had just got in our Apartment for lunch and a member called us and asked us to go with him to a member who has been less active for a while because of her health problems. He said she woke up and her face felt weird and tingly but she refused to go to the doctor. We got there and her left side of her face was dropping a little so we assumed the worst and thought it could be a stroke. And she refused to listen to us too. So I asked her "if you wont listen to us will you listen to the Lord and let us give you a blessing?" so we did and it was a really great experience. And right after the blessing, which counseled her to "listen to the ones the loved and cared for her" without saying a word she got up got her stuff and said lets go! It was was cool. So we got there and she found out she had Bells Palsy or however you spell it, but shes doing really well now. Then, on Wednesday morning I had a meeting with Elder Arnald, First Quorum of the Seventy. It was really cool to see him speak and have himteach us all by the spirit, because we had a situation. And the things he was planning to teach us, he dropped them and said "this isn't what I'm suppose to teach you". I learned a lot of great things and it was an amazing experience and the spirit was amazing. And he counseled us to do some things, so that night me and my companion went to see this guy named Marvin Freeman. He had ordered a Bible from the churches commercial. And we went and taught him, and as we taught him about The Restoration and the Prophet Joseph Smith it was the strongest I have every felt it in that part of the lesson. I could see the spirit overwhelm him and as we taught just a little more I asked him he wanted to get baptized, and before I could even finish the question he was looking dead at me and said "Yes, I need to get baptized." It was sweet. Then Saturday was a baptism for one of my favorite families here, their youngest son who's 8. And they found out that I could sing and asked me to sing Come, Follow Me, and then I got to participate in the confirmation as well. It was a really great week.
Love Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 6

2009-11-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone
This week has been crazy. We have been working with a lot of our members here and we're finally to the point were there's trusting us with their friends. So this week we have met, and started to teach a lot of way sweet people. There's a family here, the Downey's, there from Utah and they are an awesome family. This week we had our Trunk or' Treat and they brought 3 different non-member families with them and they all loved it and are interested in learning more. One in particular we taught, her name his Helena. We went and taught her a really small simple lesson and she wants to get baptized November 21st. She has already read about Joseph Smith and a lot of the Book of Mormon, shes prayed and knows that its all true and she is way cool. And she actually lives in my last area So i talked with our Mission President and he gave me permission to go on exchanges with the missionary's way far away to keep teaching her. I was so excited to teach someone again that is so excited to learn and to grow.
So Next week we have Elder Arnald from the Quorum of the 70 coming to tour our Mission as well as our area seventy. Elder Cornish and i have to give them both a 1 on 1 report of my District here in Smyrna. I'm stoked and scared for it at the same time. This week we had interviews as well, and normally i just go and talk with him but this time i came prepared and had questions to ask. And i got a lot of really good council from him, and guidance for how to be more effective and a better missionary.
So some pictures this week, the first one is during a thunderstorm a few months back, and the rest are of the beautiful (real) fall while we were playing Disc Golf for our Preparation Day last week. Its so nice here to be able to enjoy the different seasons and see the natural beauty. It's times like the fall that you look at stuff and realize of course there's a God! There's know way that all of this just happened. The things that i am able to be a part of, and witness are amazing. I'm so grateful to be able to be a Representative of Jesus Christ at this time, and in this place. There's truly a marvelous work and a wonder taking place and I'm thankful to be a part of it.
Love Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 5

2009-11-01T21:58:00.002-08:00

Hey Family,
So this week has been flippen' sweet. The fall is so beautiful and we have been having some crazy weather, freezing cold one day, warm another raining the next, it’s been very odd. We have been having a great time here in Smyrna. So last Tuesday President Hutchings sent out a very powerful email that was very inspiring. And ever since I have taken his advice this week has gotten better and better. This week I had and exchange with one of my Zone Leaders and it was really nice because he was able to help me put some of the things of being in Leadership into perspective. It was so nice to be able to talk to someone who had to do what I'm doing for 9 months, and get his ideas and advice. And have the spirit support what he said. So I have high hopes and expectations these coming weeks. Being in this position has truly helped me become submissive to my leaders and understand what they go though. And has helped me learn to ask for advice.
So, for those of you who remember when I messed up my knee and ankles. They never really healed right. And for the past couple of weeks they have really been bothering me. There’s this way sweet member in the other ward, whose daughter is a temple square missionary, that has a chiropractic office in our area. So I’ve been going there 2 times a week for the past 3 weeks and man I have never felt better. Its was so funny the first time he adjusted me he was like "have you ever been in any accidents because your hip is really messed up" its was so funny every single thing that I have ever had problems with he found and fixed.
This week we had one of the members, Johnny Phillips, aka best southern cook in the world, cook us a Boston butt roast and it was so good. He’s going to teach me his secrets. So one thing I have been really learning about this week is the simple law of obedience. And being diligently consistent. So I’m really big on Christ like attributes and how they all relate. So I had a way good missionary give a training to the district on humility, diligence, and obedience and he came up with the word, "Humdilidence." It is so cool to be able to learn from other missionaries and gain a greater knowledge and strengthen my testimony as I listen to other missionaries. Well I’m out of time love ya'll.

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 4

2009-11-01T21:58:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone,
So, working backwards, this morning I woke up and it was 34 degrees outside, and yesterday I woke up and it was 32 and we had ice on our car. So that was pretty cool it already feels like Christmas and it’s not even close. So last Tuesday we taught this part member family, the mother and 3 kids are not members and we taught them the restoration and it was amazing. Their 11 year old daughter Alora was listening so intently she started sitting on the couch and ended up on the floor slowly inching close to us. And when we would ask her mom questions we could hear her whispering the answers. It was so cool and she (Alora) watched both sessions of Sundays conference too. And there is another family were teaching, it’s a mother and 5 sons. There 14, 12, 11, 9, and 5. So we went in and asked if we could start with a prayer and she said ya hold on. And she went and got her kids (who were fighting) out of their rooms and had them come pray with us. And after the prayer we started talking and the kids all went back to their rooms. But as we got more and more into the lesson, slowly, one by one all the kids all started to join us and sat around their moms feet and listened to us. We asked them if they would come to church with us and she was like well I don’t know, what do you think kids and they all yelled yes!!! And one of them said "ya, I don’t like our church their really mean." It was so cool to see their excitement and how little kids just know when the spirit tells them to do something they want to do it.

This week for district meeting I got to give training on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And as I was thinking about it, and studying it, there are a lot of important principles of the gospel we can learn from. It’s cool that in the book of Mark, when he describes his prayer to his Father he says "Abba, father" and Abba translates into daddy. And at no other time in his life was he so close to his father than these 2 days where he was suffering for the sins, pains, and heartache of the world. And I also learned an important lesson about prayer. We all know that God answers prayers but it was interesting to see when Christ prayed; he prayed that the cup would be passed from him, but instead and angel appeared and strengthened him. 2 good lessons from that. 1 God doesn't always answer our prayers the way we want them answered and, 2 God won’t remove our burdens but he makes them light so that we can be able to bare them.

This past month I have learned a lot about some of these principles that I teach almost every day and I hope that some day I can say what Bruce R. McConkey said in the April 1985 General Conference; "I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way."

Love Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 3

2009-11-01T21:52:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone.
So last week was a very different one, unfortunately I didn't get to teach that much because of people canceling appointments and stuff. But we found a lot of people to teach. And the wonderful thing about being a District Leader is I get to go on exchanges whenever I want really. So this week I went to Rock Springs (in Smyrna still, just a different ward) and went with Elder Davis. It was way fun. It was really nice to talk about stuff, and their area, and come up with ways to help out. And it was very helpful to me because Elder Davis is a very obedient missionary in a non annoying way so it was really cool. Then on Friday I got to do weekly planning with them. So basically, I sit around and watch while they plan for the next week for 3 hours and afterwards help them become more effective.

And on Wednesday we had our Zone Conference where President and some others teach us, and what not and it was really cool. A Member of the Mission Presidency, President Luke gave a training on "The difference between Surviving, and Enduring", and "Enduring with Faith". It was really cool to think and reflect which one do I fall under? And it was a great day.

This past Sunday me and my companion taught a guy from Guatemala and had a member of the ward interpret for us when needed, and it was really cool because I got to use some Spanish words that I know to help him understand. It was a really cool and awesome experience. Yesterday we went for our P-day to play disc golf, and the course that we play is all in the woods, and some of the gaps in the trees are so narrow it's easy to get them lost in the trees. I didn't get any ticks, chiggers, or poison ivy but there were lots of mosquito's. And we lost a lot of Frisbees, so we went on quite a few search parties into the woods. But it was a lot of fun. And on our way to the library I found the church named after us missionaries, and sent you all a picture. Well love ya'll and take care.

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 2

2009-11-01T21:50:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
So this weeks been a bit slow, but some of the crazy things too. There's this sweet member named Johnny Phillips, and it is amazing how good of a cook he is. He makes some of the best southern food I have ever had. It was awesome.

On Wednesday we had one of our Zone Leaders come with us for a few days, or he was suppose to at least. All of wed. he had like severe allergy's and took everything from Benadryl, cold ezzz, Airborne, to Clariten D, and it did nothing. So at about 2am I hear him walking around and he came woke me up and asked for my blanket so i gave it to him, no big deal. Then at 3 am I hear him wake up and go to the bathroom and start moaning and then I hear a loud thunk and then I noticed the apartment was super hot. When he had woken up earlier, he was cold and had turned the heater up on high. When I found him he had a temp of 104.4! And he had no idea what he was doing. So I very quickly sat his butt in a chair and gave him a blessing. I then gave him some Ibuprofen and sat him in a cold bath, and within 30 min his temp was down to 101.5, and he was actually thinking straight. So long story short, he spent a few days in the mission home under quarantine and is now back to work.

And man between this Friday having interviews with President Hutchings and General Conference I feel so spiritually exhausted. It was so great being able to watch it as a missionary and have such a better appreciation for it then ever before, and to stay awake through....most of it! Well there's not to much else this week.

Love All of you
Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Smyrna - Week 1

2009-10-05T11:25:00.001-07:00

Hello Ya' All,
Well this week has been a crazy one! So the first week we didn't have a car so it was rather frustrating to get to know the new area since we were both new to it and my GPS kept dying. It was a very interesting week but that's ok because it was also an amazing one. So the first day on Tue we spent most of the day inside trying to get to know the area and also there's is suppose to be a District leader folder that has a ton of info for me...and there was none. So i spent most of the first day on the phone (which is normal for a white wash) but on top of that and learning my area i had to keep track of 2 other areas and that added to the chaos. It was intense, but really humbling and quite cool! So wed. i had to run my first district meeting, it was pretty sweet and ran a lot smoother then i had thought. But through all this pandemonium and what not trying to get ready for the meeting we walked into the kitchen of the church and there were tons and tons of pastries, cakes, and breads all for us! and other people too. IT MADE MY WEEK!!! So back in Clarksville I gained weight and was up to 200, and then in Tullahoma i stopped eating so much and dropped down to about 193, I'm going to get fat here really quickly! There's a member that is a chiropractor, and he has this deal with this bakery that all their food that they don't sell before there sale by date goes to him and he just takes it to the church every Wed and Sunday. And its first come first serve of free food. It made me so happy! Then with some more chaos of trying to figure more stuff out and what not we found a Part-member Family and his wife was like hey i want to get baptized and i was like well dag-gum lets get you baptized. (it didn't happen exactly like that though). So there was another amazing miracle to help me overcome this stress, and after that its been semi-smooth sailing. So my new Zone Leaders are also new to the Zone the white washed too. And one of then is Elder Osmond son of the Osmond's. I was pretty stocked when i found that out and recently i met Tim McGraw's drummer. He and Taylor Swift were at the local high school Friday night. Its funny how many famous people I'm around up here in the Nashville area. Despite the stress and what not things have been going really well here. Both me and another missionary in my district got sick and had fevers. Our mission presidents wife found out and COMMANDED us to stay inside and get some rest. we were both unhappy with that one but we did. so i got caught up on my sleep and i got organized. It was like a painful blessing in disguise. (mom i really hope you spell check this because i still have a headache and cant spell for beans). Well that's about it for this week a lot of new stuff and its way fun. I've been having a blast with the challenges that have been thrown at me and i love to see how myself and my companion and my district grow form them. its truly amazing to see how the Lord works and being in a leadership position i have gained a grater knowledge of the dealings of our God. And it is amazing to see how all of this has been set up for a divine purpose and that there are no coincidence's. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers.

Love Elder Marsh
Return With Honor

Tullahoma- Week 6

2009-09-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya'll Things here are going great. This past week has been an interesting one. We have been doing a lot of work and we have been helping a lot of people. It's always funny how i love to do service for others but not my own parents. Example, i love mowing this loud lady in our wards lawn its so fun, (mostly because its a riding mower) but yet i really don't like mowing our lawn back home. This week we have been teaching this girl named Dorothy. She was raised a mix of Pentecostal, Baptist, and Church of Christ. So she has some interesting views and we have been teaching her, and no matter what she has ever heard this all makes just too much sense. It was awesome! So later a member of the High council went on exchanges with me and she started asking about the plan of salvation. so i couldn't help but to teach it. And man Bro. Lynn is a scriptorian, it was amazing! And at the and i asked her if she would like to be baptized by that same authority that Jesus Christ held, and she said yes! Its was one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me. The spirit was really strong and it was just a wonderful experience. And on Wednesday we had our Zone Conference and it was really good. and afterwards we played games and stuff. And there was one where a week before we had to tell our Zone Leaders one unique thing about us, or something we've done. And it ended up being a jeopardy thing where we had to guess for points and stuff, and our district actually won it. And then the next game was dodge ball. It wasn't very fair having me, Elder Dietz, and my comp. so we won. So, because we won both games we won this trophy the ZL's made out of toilet paper rolls, spray painted gold, and put a little golden calf on top. It was so cool i called it our graven image! And then after that we played Volleyball for like 2 hours...then we went back to work. But like all good things they must come to an end, or at least worldly good things. So tomorrow I make my way up to Franklin to be transferred to Smyrna. Its a town just to the south east of Nashville. And not only am I leaving I'll be "white washing" again. As if the boat load of responsibility couldn't get bigger not only will I be white washing but I'm being called to be a District Leader. This is going to be an interesting transfer. I am going to Have 5 Missionary's under me. Elders, Bott, Bytheway (nephew to john Bytheway), Bishoff, and I forgot the last one because i don't have my notes on me. So this will be a fun and very challenging experience for me. Well i don't have much bigger news then that. I love hearing from ya'll and hope that i get some more mail here next week.

Love Elder Marsh
Return With Honor

Tullahoma- Week 3

2009-09-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

Good Morning everyone. This week has been an interesting one! As a mission we have been striving for 100 baptisms this month. And, well I don’t know if were going to make it or not, but it has been interesting seeing how the people react and stuff when it comes down to the last few days. Our God is a 4th watch God. So it’s been really cool to sit back and see and even more importantly, RECOGNIZE the miracles that are happening! Last Monday we had the missionaries from Manchester come down and I grilled up some hamburgers and hotdogs so it was all 4 of us and they were pretty good! It has been really cool because my mtc companion Elder Dietz is now my district leader. So it’s been fun being on exchanges with him and to see how much he’s grown! We were joking about why in the world would president trust me to white wash and him to be leadership and we figured it’s just the refiners’ fire! We had a great exchange and we set a baptismal date with a woman named Avoe. Ya its different that’s for sure! And unfortunately Kalab who was going to get baptized Saturday got sick so he’s going to get baptized this Saturday instead.
Hehe there’s this older woman next to me looking at MySpace. It’s so funny to see it and realize how stupid and how much of a waste of time it was! There’s lots of stuff I am looking back on and laughing and wondering why it seemed so fun back then. Then I realized I'm easily entertained. Today were having a Zone P-day and where going to play some kickball and stuff and I don’t know how but I have become a pretty good cook on a grill, so I got asked too cook the hamburgers and hotdogs for today. It’s been crazy I can’t believe I’ve been out for 4 months! Some days I feel like I’ve been out for about 3 weeks and others I feel like I’ve been out for a year.
So the predictions from my district say I’m going to train next transfer. I want to see what ya'll think, so tell me. That way I don’t have 3 letters next week and every one of them from my mom! Take care and hope to hear from you soon!

Love Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Tullahoma- Week 2

2009-09-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

So this week some awesome things have been happening. I cut my own hair for the first time. its was getting a bit long and wow. now its very short! hehe. Its nice though because now when were out and its hot all i do is rub my hair 3 times or so and its completely dry! And when i was cutting it i made myself look a little bit like bozo the clown! it was awesome. Last Sunday we taught a member in our ward Bro. Lynn's nephew, Kaleb, and another part member family. Then we went back and taught Kaleb and he expressed that he had never been baptized before. I said "well....we can help you with that!" its was cool because i was just about to extend a baptismal commitment too! Hes a great kid and has a strong desire to learn more! He said that he hates going to churches and listening to preachers, but he loves listening to us! its was pretty cool. Then we tracted into another sweet guy his name is Bro. Cherry. We taught him about the restoration and he was like wow that's pretty important and we wants to work toward baptism as well but he doesn't want to set a date to do it yet. Hes a Vietnam vet and has a 1966 sting ray Corvette! its pretty sweet we had a lot in common despite the age gap. Then we got a call from Lance, the guy whose the part member family we taught with Kaleb. And he was like "hey what are you doing right now?" reply "not much just eating dinner at our apt." Lance, "cool we need to talk, i have some questions do you have time in 20 min?" We like jumped out of our seats with joy! its was awesome we talked about the Plan of Salvation and he really liked it. Then we went back the next day for dinner and talked to him some more and asked if he would kneel and pray with us if the church was true and we all did it one at a time. First Elder Porter Prayed and asked if it was true, then me, then his wife, then him! And wow! might have well been in the temple the spirit was so strong! It was an amazing experience and then he committed to prepare for a baptism of Sept. 12th. So were all excited for him too! There is a Marvelous Work And A Wonder going on here in this mission! We have had some amazing things happen. In our interviews with our Mission President this week he recounted an experience in which he had felt the voice of the Father as to what we as a mission need to understand D&C 58: 26-28, and at first i doubted the experience because of who he said spoke to him. But the spirit testified of the truthfulness so powerfully that i know it to be true. And for lack of a better phrase i'll just take one from Joseph Smith "i knew it, and i knew that god new it, and because of that i knew i could not deny it!" its was a great time, and during my actual interview after the prayer President Hutchings told me, "the Lord needs you to understand something, He has great things in store for you. But first you must learn to be patient with yourself." And how hard that hit me when i actually thought of it that i am very self critical and i just rely on the lords time table and not mine own. This week has been packed with great things, and in response Satan is digging at me now more then ever. We strive for the things the Lord has commanded us to do daily and as a result are allowed more temptation to test and try us. But our zone has started a new saying. "we can do it, we will do it, we must do it" and i added on a part just for me " I will over come!" I love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Tullahoma- Week 1

2009-08-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

Well this week has been an interesting one! Our ride came very late to pick us up for transfers but it was well worth the wait! Bro. Davis got baptized on the 15th and confirmed the 16th. I was very sad that I didn't get to see that happen but I got to talk to him after and he finally feels at peace with himself. (pic of him and me at transfers). It is very weird being here and being a senior companion. It has truly taught me to rely on the Lord and on my leaders! and not just my companion. So far we have found many new investigators and are starting to reteach a lot of formers. There is this one family, The Greccos. they are amazing. They have been prepared by the Lord and we plan on baptizing them ether this month or early next month. They are currently remodeling a house and we have been going over to help and Tony Grecco, the dad, was truly impressed with us and wants to have us over and feed us! That made me a happy camper! And later that week we were biking by as he pulled up to the house and we talked to him for a while, and his daughters were there also. and we walked inside and there was a water heater sitting there and I asked if we could help put it in and hes like...you know how? I was like ya its not that hard. He was like sweet what do I need to go buy to put it in? hehe So I can finally use some of the talents I've been given. And after that his daughter asked is she could make use brownies! i was like CA-CHING!!! My companion is a pretty chill guy. its nice because he likes being junior companion, so he just follows so its nice to just take the lead and do work! This week we found 17 new investigators! so my conclusion is that the last missionaries were just complacent with what little work they were doing. And that GPS is a big help, all I have to do is look up the address so I know where on the street. So when we bike we don't waste time trying to find where we're going. Things are going well here but there's not a lot happening. Well I got to run I'm getting kicked off.

Love you all,

Elder Marsh

Clarksville- Week 12

2009-08-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

Hey,
This week has been crazy. Lots of work has been going on and lots of things are changing. We lost a lot of the people that had baptismal dates set, but the ones that are left are the quality ones. And we have a lot more new investigators.

I have had some great spiritual and humbling experiences this week! This Friday we had our zone conference and its was great and after lunch we had Jason Deer, the guy who composed and produced "Joseph, a Nashville Tribute to the Prophet" and many other things in Nashville. And I got to hear some of his songs that he’s going to put on his new CD "Missionaries, A Nashville Tribute." Their awesome and he wants a group of missionaries to sing in one of his songs and I might be one of them! So Saturday night is the night we find out if were getting transferred or not. And I didn’t see this coming but, me a missionaries whose been out for 3 months, will be transferred to Tullahoma Tennessee. Which is one of the farthest south areas in the mission, and I will be senior companion to a missionary who has been out for longer than me, and we will be white washing the area (both missionaries that were there before are getting transferred out and 2 new come in). I’m a little scared! hehe but o well. There has to be a reason for it. Ether president trusts me enough to white wash or he’s banishing me or he’s testing me. Ether ways i'm nervous! It will be a cool experience though! The bummer is that all the investigators I have found and been teaching...I wont get to see them get baptized. One of our investigators was like "what the hell" (sorry, I had to quote it) "that’s gay". And then in priesthood when we said we needed a ride no one volunteered except for our investigator Chad Davis. So it should be a fun ride to Nashville. This also means I get to drive again, I hope I remember how to. So my new comp is Elder Porter, he’s actually taller then me. He’s about 6' 6" or so. Probably going to be my only companion taller then me. Well i’m off to enjoy my last day in Clarksville.
Hey Mom, it’s been going well here. I set a baptismal date with a guy last night just talking to him outside his apartment! It was pretty cool! I might be needing to buy a GPS and there are some good cheap ones for $129 here. So could you please make sure my debit card can cover it? Thanks

Love you all,
Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Clarksville- Week 11

2009-08-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Mi Familia,

This week has been interesting, because there are 3 of us. I have been on an exchanges with a member of the ward almost every night this week and I also went with one of our Zone Leaders Friday and Saturday and we doubled our work in our area. It has been a rough and tough battle with Lucifer this week, with our investigators and me personally and my companions. But the lord knows we can handle it so we will and we’ll do it with a smile on our faces. So there’s a fairly good chance that there will be 2 sets of missionaries in the area so I might be getting a new companion this transfer. But the exchanges with the zone leaders went great. The first day we taught 6 other lessons, and had like 4 member visits, and elder Treu and elder Campbell found 10 new investigators. Last week we had a great time. In total we found 20 something new investigators (non- ghetto) and taught 42 lessons! That’s a lot!! We have had some interesting times but they have been way fun! We have an investigator Bro. Davis, he’s retired SF sniper. We just moved his date up to this up coming Sunday so, hopefully things will work out.

As a missionary I see the importance of members in the work, it's great, you make the biggest difference. So from a missionary to all of you whom are members (except for the missionaries that get this email too) will all of you pray for a missionary opportunity for yourself and take joy in sharing the things that you know to be true with someone else? We are all held accountable for the knowledge that we have received and it is all of our responsibility’s to share it with our Brothers and Sisters.

I love you all and take care!

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Clarksville- Week 10

2009-07-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

This week has been something else! It’s been so stressful and tiring but its been amazing. So, last Monday at about 1:20 the phone rings and were all sitting around our apartment playing board games at the time, and its one of the assistants. He asks for Elder True, my comp and tells him that he'll be training a visa waiter (someone who's waiting for the visa so they can go to their mission) and that he'll be here at 8:15 (we had an appointment at 7:30 so we rushed home!) So, his name is Elder Campbell ( and ,yes Bro. and Sis. Campbell, it’s your nephew!) He’s from Detroit and going to India. So now there are 3 of us with no money in this tiny little 1 bedroom apartment. It’s been very interesting.

We have at this moment 10 people who have committed to baptism for a specific date! And we have 6 more that we plan on and are hoping to set this week, 1 of them is for tonight. So we called President and told him and we currently hold 1 tenth of the whole missions dates set! So now he is considering putting another set of missionaries in our area. That means I might be getting a new companion again! And staying in Clarksville for another transfer but I don’t know yet. There is so much going on and it is so stressful to keep up with, but President Hutchings said “Elders, This kind of stress is good," so hopefully it will fuel my drive and desire to keep the ball rolling!

There is a part member family here, that his mom just died and she is in the Fruitvale ward so they left to Bakersfield to visit and now their back and we set a date with his wife and 2 kids yesterday. And now, as we close this month and go into August the insanity and busyness is going to hit because we have 10 baptisms set for all of the Saturdays of next month. The 1st, 8th, 15th has most of them, 22nd, and the 29th a few more. Its going to be so awesomely hectic! I'm excited, so please keep our investigators in your prayers and mail me. I like letters. the picture, the first on is the 2 kids that no one else could get to commit. Their 9 and they took so much work, missionaries have been trying to reactivate and get them baptized for almost 5 months or so, the next one is my favorite, and the last is me, Elder True in the middle, And Elder Campbell on the right.
Love Ya'll

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Clarksville- Week 9

2009-07-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hey,

This week has been great. We had so many miracles happen! This week we had 14 new investigators, 2 Baptisms, 8 non-members at church and we set 3 future dates and we plan on setting another one tonight! We have been working so hard but it’s paying off for sure. After we set dates with investigators we call our president to let him know. We set a date yesterday after church and when I called him he asked me what the heck we were doing over here! And he asked what our secret was. And it was simple, set goals, pray often, diligence, and exact obedience...or close to it. And he laughed at that one. So we've been working with this guy who’s a retired sniper and we have been visiting with him and stuff and he is just on fire! He’s ready to quit smoking and change his life has already overcame a lot of his PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and he’s come so far. We showed him the church web sight on Saturday night at 8 and showed him desert book stuff...he told us he didn’t go to bed. He stayed up all night listening to conference talks and ordering his quad with his name on them and much much more! And got dressed and came to church that morning...no sleep! hehe he’s so awesome! We had a really good sacrament! and the only negative comment that the investigator I was sitting with said was "the only thing that bothered me was the noise of the kids" I laughed a little and told him be glad you don’t live in Utah! hehe. But after I explained the importance of family he was totally cool! And after 6 months of grueling work...only 2 of those were my part, we finally got these to very large 9 year old twins baptized and a lot of missionaries were like you finally did what!?!?! Ya just about every missionary knows this family so it was quite cool to finally get that done!
I love my comp! we had to go on exchanges this week. The most boring and long days I have ever had on my mission so far! And it felt so weird working with another Elder, because I know with out a doubt that Elder Treu and I knew each other before this life. I can picture us standing around and saying to each other “were going to be companions someday and were going to baptize you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, and you, and you”. Hehe but now were back and on a roll! And it’s so cool to see how quickly people start progressing in life and start to change and to see it happen so fast too! But the worst is when you have someone who’s right there, but they choose to drink coffee over baptism and eternal marriage to a deceased spouse! =[ But our calling is to help others, not to force and they still have their agency. We just try our best and move to another part of the Lords vineyard. Elder Treu and I, when were having a bad day, we just say “this part of the vineyard isn’t white yet”, and move one for a time.
And this morning we got to help someone re-roof part of their house, thats right up my alley! hehe There have been a lot of service projects out here for us. And it seams like we always get volunteered to do it, but almost no one else will. But were still happy to help, unless we have an appointment which is almost always recently! I thought this was the volunteer state?
You know its interesting the only thing I miss isn't what most people would think of, except those who know me really well! I MISS PANDA EXPRESS!!!
Well I got to go. I love this work and I know that this is where I am meant to be. I am still sad I’m not speaking another language but I think I'm going to start reading the B.O.M. in Espanol and hold President Hinkley to his promise that if you read and study the Book of Mormom in another language, by the end of it you will be fluent in that language. So lots of things of change and things to look forward too!

Love ya'll

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Clarksville- Week 8

2009-07-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

Hey Family,

This week has been the so different our p-day (prep. day) was moved around and stuff and just not a lot of time to proselyte this week. we've had a lot of appointments fall through but it was for a reason and time and time again if something falls through its because there's someone around there that needs it more. there are NO coincidences! we have been doing great. We got to go to the Temple on our p-day and it was something else! It is a lot like the Fresno temple! There have been many things that have been great blessings and miracles around me this week. We, and another companionship currently have 9 future baptismal dates and 4 of them are for this week! we even set a date with this woman we trackted by a wall looking around and we talked to her, didn't even really teach a lot of the restoration but promised her great blessings and the chance to change her life around (which she was desperate for!) and set a date. And we plan on setting 2 more this week! I love GOD! its so amazing to see this work progress so fast! if the ward here could handle it there would be another set of missionary's in this area with us next transfer! i cannot tell you how many people came up to us at church and commended us for the investigators we had at church! it was amazing. There's a Special Forces retired sniper were teaching and hes killed so many people and we talked to our mission president and he talked to him. Afterwards he said to us...."You sure picked the cream of the crop" and he is so dedicated and resilient to Satan! his house got broken into and he wanted to go blow the guys head off because he knew his neighbor did it but he said he remembered what i told him about the power of prayer, and he said he prayed for about 10 min just pleading that he would be able to resist killing this guy and after 15 min he said he felt this amazing peace come over him just like nothing had ever happened! i was like "WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! THAT'S THE SPIRIT MY FRIEND!!!" and right after he told us this we set a baptismal date with him! hehe i was so excited. So the first week were together E. Treu and I we set 10 goals as a comp. and there sweet goals. and at our Zone Conference we were asked to make a title of liberty comparative to Helamens. so we changed the wording of our goals and made it into our title. its sweet ill have to tell you next week though i don't have them with me. And now some pics. here's a picture of batman tower as we like to call it. Its in Nashville, and a pic of some deer we almost ran into! well, that's all i got. take care everyone and if you want to get an actuall letter from me...write me! and send stamps (I'm cheap =D)

Love ya'll

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Clarksville- Week 7

2009-07-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

Man I'm so tired! this week has been so...different. Elder Treu is from Orem, Utah. hes been out for 14 months. And things are going ballin'. hehe we've been setting some crazy goals and pushing as hard as we can. we have taught so many lessons this week. we have taught 32 lessons this week. the most elder Treu had before this week was 26. This week on wed we set 2 baptismal dates with people elder James and i found and weren't even teaching. they were just potentials that i felt like we should go back and see. and then on Thursday we set 2 more dates with 2 more potentials. and it was way cool and it was a great experience and I'm so tired that i just want to fall over in my chair! but we have been working so well with each other and everything just leads to another thing and the work here just keeps moving faster and faster. And then we gave 2 church tours (those are really nice) and we had 2 investigators and 3 Less-actives at church on Sunday and had a great fast and testimony meeting! way better then the ones at home. We are teaching so many people and are having a fun time doing it. I've been doing a lot of thinking recently, due to some problems the mission has been having from this guy from England. he's calling missionary's and trying to rebuke them with anti to shake their faith and i was told by leadership that i am not allowed to talk to him because "I'm to young" (<----horse poo) some missionaries have been affected by his crap. So Ive been thinking a lot about my faith and my firmness and it got me thinking and as i thought i remembered things in my p-blessing that just made me realize my faith isn't going anywhere but up! =] I've come across so much anti already even from elder James and when you really think about it its so easy to overcome! but anyway we had an all day p-day on Saturday because of the 4th so we didn't have p-day last Monday or today but we are still commanded to email. but we had a zone p-day on the 4th so the whole zone came down and we played b-ball and dodge ball and a game called groundies. and i was so sore after. and today we had to help more someone so it just added to the soreness. I'm so fat and out of shape hehe. but we had to stay in our apartments from 6pm till Sunday morning. and at about 7pm we hear the tornado warnings go off. and our neighbor comes over and tells us there are 2 tornado's on the ground just across the river and elder Treu didn't quite realize how close that was until he looked at the map. they were about 3 miles from us. so we jumped in our car and followed him to his parents house (our apartments are very old and breakable) and as we get there we watched one form and start pulling the cloud out of the sky. It was awesome. My comp was giving me jack cuz the whole time i was like aww man this is tight! and hes all freaking out (he forgets we're from Kansas) and stuff! it was pretty funny. but we have some appointments we have in 20 min so i have to go!

Love ya
Elder Marsh

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Extra Funny Stories and Pictures (week 6)

2009-07-02T10:41:00.001-07:00

2 funny stores and pics to be added to family letter.

1. So we have this investigator right and hes kinda old and forgetfull so after our lesson he lockes himself out so after 7 min of him trying to find a spare key i just jump though the window and unlock it! =]

2. So theres 4 companionsips in clarksville. 3 wards and a comp of sisters cover the ward with our Zone Leaders. so our district leader who doesnt have a full time car just got the car from the sisters and forgot to put there parking pass on the window...need i say more? there car got booted! hehehe fun times at the expense of others.

Clarksville- Week 6

2009-07-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Howdy Ya'll!
Just kidding! I'm not a hick yet! after all i still have all my teeth! Things are going really well some disappointments but that just means i have to try harder, right? He have some awesome investigators the problem is working around there families. (crazy peoples) Unfortunately this month we as a companionship had no baptisms but we got 3 people reactivated, that's just as good in my book. So this week has been good we have been doing a lot of teaching, i think i have knocked 20 doors in the past week because we have so many appointments and stuff. And lots of service. because this is a military town there are constantly people moving in and out and on and off post (its the army term for a base). This is such a weird feeling. I feel like i just got here yesterday but at the same time it feels like Ive been here almost a year. Like things that happened just last Wednesday feel like 4 weeks ago. I've been having some good times though here. so our mission has lots of Senior couples in it. and one of them is very musically inclined and under the direction of President Hutchings they wrote and compiled a 30 min musical fireside, its almost like a Music and the Spoken Word type thing. and I got asked a few weeks ago to learn it and they "MIGHT" ask me to perform sometime in a "FEW MONTHS" but i never got the CD so i could practice. so i never actually learned it. on Thursday night i got a call asking if i would go sing it up in Fulton, Kentucky with 5 other Elders on that Saturday. so of course i said yes but i told them i had never practiced. she got a little freaked out but she said its ok you'll just double someones part. So i got to practice it once in the car ride up. I didn't really sing just kinda listened to my part. so we get there and shes like o well darn..."Elder Marsh you'll be singing the bass 2 part by yourself" ......I AM SO GLAD I CAN SIGHT READ MUSIC!!!! hehe thank you Mr. Madewell! It sounded way good, could have been a lot better but it will get there. and that morning President called and told me who my new comp would be. and then i found out that he would be performing that night with us. so Elder Treu and i got to talk for a little bit and go figure he didn't even know he was going to get transferred when i told him! oops. this weeks been really good though and its been way fun. Hope everyones doing good and if you cant email me you can write me via snail mail, and it will get forwarded to me.

Love ya'll

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Clarksville- Week 5 (and Pictures!)

2009-06-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone.

This has been an interesting week. we've been doing a lot of teaching and its been really great not having to tract 4 hours a day but we have a lot of appointments so were in the car or in a cool house a lot thankfully. We've been having some of the nicest rain storms this week. last Wednesday we had to go to the church at like 6:30 and by 7 it was pouring rain like none other and then we got massive lightning storms and lightning like within half a mile of the church. it was loud and then all the sudden we heard the tornado warning sirens go off. normally our leaders are suppose to call us and warn us so we had to call them and within a few min of telling them we had reports (people with i-phones on the weather channel, and stuff) of 5 tornado's withing 30 miles of us touching down and there were more that night. it was so fun! I love the rain. And, we have set 3 baptismal dates this week so we are hoping for the best with them keeping commitments. We have been eating really well this week. we have had a member signed up for dinner every night this week and last week... which means new investigators! That's always a good thing! Well transfers are next Tuesday and my companion will be going home back to Orem, Utah and its a bummer because that means ill be the only one that knows the area. But i think i know it well enough, i hope i know it well enough. Were teaching this woman know who lives in the projects and her brother is a convert and she had 3 crazy kids and takes care of her sisters 4 other crazy kids and it is a very interesting teaching environment but their funny kids! one of the pic's is just a few of the kids. And then there are 2 others that are pretty funny ones. comments: "those were huge mushrooms!!!!", "We look like some of them Mennonite folk" And the last pic i want to know how many of you can read my missionary code. Well my time is up and I'm hungry love hearing from ya'll, yes i finally said ya'll, and i hope to hear from you next week.

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

P.S. (from Heather) If anyone can figure this code out let me know. I can't stand to not know something!

Clarksville- Week 4

2009-06-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone.
Things are going great here so far we have had 4 big rain storms...(1 was an hour ago) and they were really nice i love the rain and we got a few tornado warnings but not close enough to us for us to have to go inside. Just got to the library from golfing in the rain this morning, it was very fun. i shot a 53 on a par 30....i suck i know! Last p day i wrestled around with some wrestlers here and kicked trash. One of them gave me on of his wrestling shirts so i have a Clarksville High wrestling shirt now. We went on exchanges this week for 3 days and i went to the first ward and had some fun tracking and biking (no car) one morning it "California rained" on us the whole time so it wasn't too bad, and i got some good exercises in. I'm so lazy here. i have no desire to work-out in the morning especially this morning! i took some Tylenol pm last night and it was still working this morning! i did a sit-up fell asleep for 2 min, i did a sit-up fell asleep for 2 min, i did a sit-up fell asleep for 2 min. it felt nice. so there's this guy here he looks about 23 and he's playing runescape....for those of you who don't know what it is.....GOOD! hehe. So we had 3 investigators at church today 2 of them we didn't expect to hear from for another 2 weeks because their less active parents have been "sick" but we had zone conference and president challenged us to go the whole day saying nothing but positive things (first thing i said this morning was negative, hehe (the alarm was really loud)) but it turned out to be a great Sunday. and some members gave us 40 bucks so were going to eat well this week. Thank you for those who have written me this week, (Mom, Granados, and Heather Watson) (mom, nothing from Katie or Travis, i miss them) i enjoy hearing from all of you and i hope to hear from you all next week.

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Clarksville- Week 3 (and Pictures!)

2009-06-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

So these past few days here have felt great! the past week i was dripping sweat and the past 2 days have been like California beach weather. it was quite nice. Man we have tracted into so many members that are'nt on our records. because Clarksville is a military city to a point because we have Fort Campbell so close like half of the city is ether posted there or retired here. But we were tracking some Apt's and we saw a bike and a jeep with Utah plates. so we tracked the whole building looking for him and we knocked on the door and the first thing he says "THERE ARE MORMONS IN TENNESSEE!" hehe and he was wearing a Utah Jazz Shirt. so we talked for a little while, he's an E5 in the army but it seems like everyone here even some members love to dip! (chew tobacco) there are a lot of people that are, or have gone inactive because of it. Even some of the High school kids. So there's a family in our ward and 3 of there 6 sons wrestle and 2 of them placed 6th in state so ill be wrestling with them today...it should be interesting to compare! =] And we ran into a guy named Jose, he moved here from Nicaragua about 7 years ago and hes married and has a daughter and hes really struggling with life and hes been having troubles and not a lot was working out for him. and we knocked some doors and saw one door had a note on it. and i read it not thinking much of it and we were leaving and we see this guy freaking out and we talked to him and he was telling us how he locked his keys in the car and now there not there. the door was unlocked but nothing was stolen but the keys and i remembered what the note said, "Jose your keys are in the office" so we told him and he was very gratefully and said we could come back some time and we did and he is so ready! we taught him The first 3 lessons in Preach My Gospel. And all we need now is to help him and his wife and they'd be ready for baptism. he never smoked, drank, or anything like that and has never been baptized because he never felt right about any religion. he asked some of the best questions like "why did you pick me?" and the spirit was so strong and man he has been so well prepared and a lot has happened in his life. So the plan of salvation really hit home and made a difference in his life. I cant wait to work more with our investigators, unfortunately i have to go on splits with my district leaders comp so ill be in a different area for 3 days and miss some appointments...I'm not looking forward to that, but i love this place. There's some members of our ward the Abren's. They're from Jamaica and they're going there for the summer and Sis Abren made a huge dinner last night. The ribs just fell of the bone. Here's a Pic of their family (mines the white girl and boy, there the neighbors) And then a Picture of my district and my Comp and I.

Love All Ya'll, hehe

Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

Week 2 in Clarksville

2009-06-07T22:45:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone. All is well here in Clarksville. the work is progressing slowly because the last missionary's before my trainer got transferred in didn't do a whole lot so were still working on gaining the trust of the members because that is the most effective way to further the work. a rule that i mentioned last time about only eating at members houses if there was a non-member present was given about 3 months ago and it has helped to further the work greatly. In the month of Feb our mission baptized around 40 people, but in the month of march after imposing this rule more heavily we as a mission baptized 85, it is this missions record highest and puts us at the 2nd highest baptizing mission in the united states, Tampa Florida being first. So the work is progressing its just a matter of time. Were TRYING to teach this guy named Henry. he has so many books on the scriptures and has done a lot of studying but hes so weird. He lies so much its rather funny. he was telling us about how last week 85 of his construction workers got stuck in Georgia so he called his mafia Buddy's in NY and the next day there were 200 guys there to get them out and now there going to go send them to build a chemical plant in ether Brazil, Sweden, or Canada. and on Tue. he told use about how he knows all 23 animal defense styles of Martial arts. and hes trained in swords and all other weapons and he could kill us by hitting us in the chest once and we'd be dead exactly 1 week later. hes so crazy but its really funny and he said he cant keep his commitments to read the Book of Mormon because he has cataracts in both eyes and his doctor wont let him read! hehe i got a kick out of that one. But we hope that within the coming week we should be able to set 4 different baptismal dates so I'm excited for that and i hope that all turns out well in the end. its starting to get humid here. 85 and humid feels like 105 in Bakersfield, so this summer should be interesting...I'm very thankful for our car! I'm very happy here and i love the people and its fun tracking in the projects, you meet all sorts of crazy and nice and rude people. love you all and hope to hear from you next Monday!

Elder Marsh

Carksville Tennessee- Week 1

2009-05-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

Well I'm out here laboring in the Clarksville Tennessee 3rd Ward (North West of Nashville). It's a big area and surprise surprise its a full time car area. Most areas actually are other then a few in Nashville which are part time car so we have a 08 Chevy Malibu and its horrible on gas i dont know why the church got gas guzzlers but they did and they're comfortable. when i got off the plane, which from Dallas to Nashville was bad cuz i had this stinky Irishman on one side and my comp on the other side of me so it was bad but i slept most of the way, i meet Prez. Hutchings and his wife and the 4 assistants so it was a nice drive to the office then the mission home in Brentwood just below Nashville. Had transfers on Tue. and my trainer is Elder James. I'm the 4th person hes trained and this area when he got here there were ZERO people to teach because the last set that were there didn't do much so he spent the first week tracting and had to earn the members trust back and so ya hes a good Elder and a Great Comp. its funny how it feels like hes not actually training me but we work really well together all ready. the first day on Tue. we got a referral from the MTC for a women, Doris who ordered the finding faith in Christ and wanted us to deliver it to her. got there within 40 min of getting the call to go give it to her, talked to her for about 5 min and could all ready tell she had been well prepared by the lord for us! its was awesome and there are several other people were working with. Smoking is a big thing here but we have a program that can get you to quit in 7 days and we have a another girl, Trista, on it now and she really wants it there just have to get somethings done first. And after that we spent like the first 4 days tracting in and around the projects....yes the projects there are 3 in our area and there bad. hehe it was fun though. We've been doing really well and its nice because we have a washer and dryer in the apartment too! =] Ya we have it pretty easy. its been warming up though and its pretty humid! I LOVE REAL RAIN! its so nice to actually get rain. but the clouds move so fast that it only rains for about 30 min and stops and starts. But its been really fun and i love the people were working with and there are 3 people we are going to commit to baptism this week that are prepared they just need to take the leap of faith as some missionary's like to call it. And man i am going to get so fat here! there's a new rule that we cant go eat at a members house unless there's a less active, investigator, or recent convert, but most family's that feed us ARE LESS ACTIVE and they never have desert unless they have us over so we always are very full if we can go eat. O and by the way i gained 12 pounds in the MTC so if i could have stayed as long as David and Brian i would have gained a lot! I'm sitting at 186 right now and started at 174 in the MTC. So yesterday was our P-day (Monday) and because were so close to going over our miles on our car and we live so far from all the churches that we stayed home and played risk and monopoly hehe its was fun actually. I really enjoy the work here and the same thing still applied here (the weeks are like days and days are like weeks) but the days are speeding up slowly...until it gets hot then they'll really slow down! But I'm enjoying myself and the work! there's lots of work to be done. There's a talk given by a prophet i think called, vision for the south, or something like that. Its a great inspiration to me and if you get the chance you should go find and read it. Until next monday!

Love Elder Marsh

Return With Honor

MTC week two email

2009-05-15T23:04:00.000-07:00

So this past week has been pretty interesting. I've been having a lot of fun here. So Friday and Saturday i didn't really do much of anything. so there's nothing really to talk about there. On Sunday we had 3 of our districts leave and it was just our district of 8 and a new ASL district of 7 so more then half of our zone left. And we just got a new district yesterday of 12 elders, all of them are going to Pocatello Idaho! hehe. It was a good meeting though on Sunday. And their currently resurfacing the gym floor so for our firesides we have to sit in ether the small chapels or in the cafeteria. and it kinda sucks because this Tue. we had Elder Russell M. Nelson speak and I might of well just sat at home and watched conference. And man he didn't speak nearly as long or as much as Elder Ballard. His wife spoke for about 5 min and the then he spoke for about 40 and it was a very dry talk, but it reminded me about some things which was nice but ya. Then yesterday after lunch we went to the RC and basically all you do is call people and see if they got the video or the BoM they ordered then basically you try to teach them the first Lesson but what I typically do is I go and turn my station to available so I'll talk to people thatcall in and if they don't call I just sit there and study and I had 2 people that called and ordered stuff and then hung up (free loaders hehe). So i went back to studying and said a short little prayer and then I had a woman call about 10 min later and she wanted to order the finding faith in Christ DVD and so i got it to her then asked if she knew anyone else who would like to hear the gospel. And she gave me 2 names and then in about 20 min (which is pretty short) I taught here the first lesson (the restoration) and I talked to her for a bit and she told me about how her dad was a pastor and always told here that if you aren't satisfied with a church keep looking. And she told me that for a while she wantedto be baptized but after a while she realized that all they talked about was damnation in trying to scare you. So I felt inspired to teach her about the 3 degrees of glory. And I started to and I taught her almost the whole 2nd lesson as well. And she really enjoyed it and so i kept trying to see if she would like to have the missionaries come over and teach her and she kept saying no but she felt like she was inspired to order this movie so she wanted to watch it first. so i was a little disappointed but after talking for a little bit longer i got her to commit to going to church this Sunday. She said she would and she seemed to be sincere and truly looking for the the truth and so I'm going to call her this Sunday tofollow up and keep trying, and that whole conversation was about 45 min long. So anyway it was an amazing experience. So i leave the MTC Monday morning at 3 AM!!!! its ridiculous. my flight leaves at 6 am and I have a 3 hour flight to Dallas and a 2 hour layover in Dallas so ill call sometime in that 2 hour block so let me know your cell phone # mom. And after that we have a 2 hour flight to Nashville and we land at about 2pm. so ya looks like i wont be getting much sleep Sunday night. well that all for now family! love you all and I enjoy dearelder.com so plz write me!

MTC week one email

2009-05-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hey Family.
I wrote last week and dont know what happened to the letter sorry. So the first few days went by so slowly! Great way to put it "the weeksfeel like days and the days feel like weeks" but after fast sunday thingshave gon by so fast! I cant believe its thursday already! hehe Its a greatfeeling. My Companions name ins Elder Dietz, hes from Las Vegas, NV. hes apretty cool guy. Weve been having a good time together. So this first week wedidnt have ether of our regulear teachers so we had 3 subs bacically and manthere so awesome! Brother Avire is a really good teacher and always has greatlessons, Brother Gullard is great at teaching how to teach, and brother Wallacehas the most amazing spirit and is one of the most powerfull teachers i haveever had and my whole district agrees. So me and my comp are going to Nashville,our roomaters are going to Fresno, and the other 4 are going to Carlsbad, CA. Sothere always asking me, "does it get hot in fresno?" and stuff likethat and there both from cold places so there in for a nice suprise! So wevehad so me really good firesides and devotionals. On tuesday we had a Devotionaland you know when everyone starts to stand up bc someone important is walkingthrough the door and it was our speaker for the night was Elder M. RussellBallard! He gave an amazing talk on desire, and his wife bore a short but verygood heart felt testimony. I was on splits with another guy in my districbecause we were both singing in the chior at the devotional for some reason hewanted to walk the long way back to our class and as i passed 2 senior sistermissionarys, singing come though font, one of them grabbed my arm and said walkslower and i asked how come and she said "because i want to hear yousing." so i continued and as she got the other sister missionarys attentionto listen i looked back and they were both crying! i felt good but bad at thesame time. All in all it was a good night here at the mtc. Yesterday we got allour new Elders and our new district is an ASL district so 2 missionarys in ourzone pretended to be deaf too because there ASL as well but there leaving mondayand well it was quite funny! Thursday is our p-day so i need to go do laundrynow and i am only alowed 30 min otherwise after 30 min it will shut of so i gotabout 1 min left. Love you all. Take care and send me main via DearElder.com! =]
Love you all;Elder Jeffrey Marsh

MTC - an email from Chris Marsh, Jeff's mom

2009-04-30T11:12:00.001-07:00

Hello Family and Friends,

Well, we did it. Got the last out to the Mission Training Center and ready to harvest. I honestly didn't expect to cry....I was wrong. That was my baby and I think when I get home and find myself alone during those day spots or during Brian's business trips (like the mandatory one he's at right now) it's really gonna hit. But that's another day, right now I'm still loving on the grandbabies.

Jeff's address at the MTC:

Elder Jeffrey Michael Bjerke Marsh
MTC Mailbox #185
TN-NASH 0518
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

He will only be there for slightly under three weeks, leaving early on Monday, May 18. Guess I get cheated out of another phone call, as he'll be in the MTC on Mother's Day, but we'll catch a call from the airport. I will send his Tennessee address in a couple of weeks.

Jeff's Setting Apart

2009-04-23T12:31:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, April 22, 2009, Jeff was set apart as a missionary. President Kirk Russell set Jeff apart with his dad, Brian Marsh, his brothers, David and Brian, and his brother in law Rick Watson participation.

After the blessing we went to Rosemary's for ice cream. The Marsh's love their ice cream. Jeff's brother Brian, sister in law Miralda, neice Keira and other brother David.Keira loves ice cream.We said goodbye and goodnight to Elder Marsh. This morning, Thursday the 23rd, Elder Marsh and his parents headed to Utah to visit the Bready's before Elder Marsh reports. We're going to miss Elder Marsh but we're so excited for him and all that he will learn and accomplish over the next two years. Good luck Elder we'll miss you.

Jeff's Mission Blog

2009-04-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

My little brother Jeff asked me to put this blog together for him while he's on his mission. Each week when he writes home I'll post his letters here along with any pictures that he sends. That way his friends and family members can keep up with his progress as he is serving the Lord.

He got his call on the 5th of February. The family gathered, placed our final bets on where he'd be serving, got the Bready's and David on the phone and...

Elder Jeffrey Marsh was called to serve in the Tennesse Nashville mission for two years, speaking the English language.