Visit to Nashville

Here's the latest...

" I’m doing really well. We just got back from Nashville. We went there with two of our investigators, Lance and Haley. It was fun. We saw a bunch of cool stuff. We went to Vanderbilt University and walked around. We went into the football stadium and also the baseball stadium. That was fun.

We also went to the Parthenon there in Nashville. That was cool too. I'll send some pictures in a bit. They took us out to lunch to say sorry for not coming to church this weekend, but they are going to come to General Conference this weekend.

Other than that, we are doing really well, we had a really good week last week, no baptism dates set but we are still seeing successes as we work hard. We did not have a baptism, but the Stones River Elders did, so I am glad that my district is seeing the kind of successes that we are. That is really good.

All of our investigators are doing really well, and also, the best part, progressing! Lance and Haley stopped by Saturday night and we talked with them for about 20 minutes outside of our apartment, and found out that Lance has been praying and reading the Book of Mormon. He has gotten a soft answer, so we are really excited for them. We hopefully plan on setting a baptism date with them this Wednesday night. So we are definitely seeing ALOT of successes.

I am so excited for General Conference this weekend.

It has also been really, really nice here lately. Supposed to be all week.

We are going to have a pretty good week I think even though Elder Johnson will be gone all week on exchanges. So we shall see how it goes. We also have a mini zone conference on Friday evening. I don't think that this has ever happened, but it should be interesting to see what it is about.

Well, I can't really think of anything else to say today, other than we are doing really well, and I am glad that I am here...

Hope ya'll have a good week and a good Spring Break. "

Marvelous Work and Wonder

Here's a few blips (is that really a word?) from Elder Edgell's update today.


"We are supposed to be getting some snow, I heard. It already snowed a little bit this morning, but just a little flurry, it’s so weird, because Saturday we were sweating, and it was about 70, but we are supposed to be getting some today, hopefully not though.

I had the opportunity to confirm Ariana yesterday and that was AWESOME! Oh and to answer your question if she has been taught in a members home, yes, because her parents DON’T like the church

The Lord has definitely been blessing this area since I first got here. M'Boro was "Dry"(according to President) for about a year. They saw their first baptism in over a year like the first week I got here. And it has been improving ever since. President is thinking of putting another set here because of all the work that is going on. We actually SET A DATE yesterday also! With Michael Perry, if you remember him at all. For April 25th. We have 4 future dates as of right now, and 5 as a district, we are truly seeing blessings from the Lord. Actually this is the most blessings I have ever seen in my entire life. It really is amazing. We were low for this area last week in lessons, we only had 21. We average about 24-26 a week, and that is above average for the mission.

We had interviews with president on Saturday at our apartment. They went very well, and he continues to be amazed at the wonderful work that has been going on here in M'Boro. He told me this morning when he called us back that he was impressed with me and how much he respects me for doing what I have done here. I am trying to be really humble with all of this, because with this much praise, you kinda get in it, and become prideful as Elder Johnson and I learned a few weeks ago. But as I have learned how to be humble, you have to thank the Lord every single time you get, because if you don't the Lord will stop blessing you and teach you a thing or two.

I know that prayer truly does work. I have seen it work in my life as I have been on my mission and have seen it work in other people's life as well. It truly is amazing when you exercise faith and pray. I can definitely testify to that since I have been here in M'Boro. Just know that Heavenly Father knows each of us personally, and loves us, he will help us as long as we keep our covenants that we have made with Him.

Know that I love each of you and thank you for your support. I have grown so much since being on my mission;, spiritually, mentally, and physically."

Photos

Be sure to scroll down to see the last few weeks entries. I'm finally catching up. :-)

We received a memory card from Tim to unload for him so I thought I would share some of the photos from past 6 months...

March 8th

March 8, 2010

"Hey everyone!

CONGRATS TO BEN AND DIANA AND SAMANTHA!

First of all, Elder Johnson and I are both staying here in Murfreesboro, and I'm still district Leader. So that's that. Prayers are definitely answered because I wanted to see Ariana get baptized this week, so I'm excited. And I get to see everyone else get baptized as well.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes so far. And for once it’s not snowing around my birthday time...it’s BE-A-UTIFUL , 75degrees. My kind of weather.

First of all we have set two baptism dates this week, one on Tuesday with a new younger lady we found. Her name is Amanda Garrett, and she has been taught by the missionaries in the past that have been here. We got her from my past Zone Leader, well he called and gave her name and info. Anyways her baptism date is set for the 27th of March. Ariana's is still set for this coming Sunday the 14th. We set another one Saturday with a guy named Moses White (and yes he is black :) ) for the 10th of April, it is that far out because he smokes cigars, so we are helping with that.

We are very busy here, which is good, and the good weather is finally back so I'm excited about that. We can walk outside without wearing coats or jackets, so that's a good thing.

I just got word last week that Sulphur Well is being shut down, and is becoming part of the Louisville mission. :( but at least they will hopefully get missionaries there.

It has been a fun and interesting week. I changed my first flat tire since I've been on my mission. The inner-tube is entirely flat, so I'm gonna have to get a new one sometime this week. And hopefully I will be able to find my wallet, which I haven't seen since Saturday evening. I'm kinda bummed out about that, but I know that it will turn up sometime, hopefully soon, because I have important things in there.

We have found 6 new investigators this past week all of which are pretty solid. The work here is moving up and not going to slow down anytime soon which I'm happy about.

We actually have dinners lined up for good portion of the week, so that's even better. We have one tonight, actually we are probably going to have two tonight, tomorrow night, Thursday, and I think Friday. This is the first time I have seen the calendar filled up, so that's good. And I also think that the members here finally are beginning to trust us, and like us a lot. They are noticing all the work that has taken place since I have gotten here. So I'm beginning to finally see the fruits of my labor..."

March 15th

"WE BAPTIZED LAST NIGHT!!!! It was such a spiritual event, it was so strong there. Ariana was really excited and I just can't explain the feelings that I had there, other than the spirit was really strong. While they were getting changed back into normal clothes, Elder Johnson and I had the oppurtunity to teach the people that were there about eternal families and to bear our testimonies. It was an awesome experience to be able to share what I believe with the members and non-members that were there.

We found 7 new investigators last week, and all of which are pretty solid. We saw Lance and Hailey last night, and they actually read the assignment we gave them. I was actually really excited when they said they read, because I was expecting like all the times before for them to say no, but they read! We also read 3 Nephi chapter 11 with them last night. We taught them a little bit about it, I think we can set a baptism date with him the next time we see him which is Wednesday, we just need to get them married because we think they are living together, which is a no no. But we have a good relationship with them.

I am excited with all the work that is going on, we had a really good week last week. We taught about 25 lessons all together which is really good, 17 of those were all to investigators. Being obedient and hard work does pay off, and it is good to see.

We have two new Elders in the district. One of which is Elder Comstock,who I came out with last year and another is Elder Movey. They're both really good kids. Elder Bytheway is still here :), which I'm happy about because we are really good friends now.  "

Busy Busy and Baptisms

Last week's update(Feb. 22, 2010) was VERY short - Elder Edgell was heading to a baptism so didn't have time to say much. He ended with something about he and his companion almost getting arrested and would tell the rest of the story later.
So...
Here is his update from yesterday, March 1st, and a couple photos from baptism of Sidney Sandstrom (the little boy from entry Feb. 16th)

"Before I forget I will finish my almost getting arrested story...So we were knocking on doors a couple weeks ago, and of course this was the first door we knocked on. So the guy answered the door, and we introduced ourselves as missionaries and were about to ask him a question. By the way he did not look happy at all. Before we knew it he told us we were soliciting and then we told him we weren't, and then he said in a real loud voice almost yelling at us, YES YOU ARE! As he said it he reached toward his back pocket and pulled out a nice shinny star (he was a sheriff, not friendly) right in front of my face. I stood my ground, and was about to say again we are not soliciting, and what we have is free...right when I was about to say it he said..any more questions...I stood there for about a minute with his nice shinny star in front of my face and looked at my companion, and he said no...I was going to stay but I guess it’s a good thing we didn't, because we probably would have gotten arrested if we did stay on his doorstep. So that’s the story of me almost getting arrested, pretty exciting...Sorry I left my email at that last week, I thought I would leave yall hangin till this week

WE HAD A BAPTISM last Monday! It was amazing, they also got sealed in the temple this past Saturday, and I heard the sealing was amazing. ( This is Sidney Sandstrom and his family. The missionaries are all wearing a blue ribbon which is in memory of one of the Sandstroms children, Charlie, that passed away. He is the little boy in the picture the family is holding)

I also have some good news about Ariana, she has decided to get BAPTIZED on March 14. Transfer calls come this Saturday. Hopefully I won't be transferred so I can see her get baptized. If I do get transferred, hopefully it will be somewhere close by so I can still come down.

For some reason my whole district is predicting I’m going Zone Leader, so I guess we will find out this Saturday. I don't think I will get transferred though. I will hopefully stay at least one more transfer, but I will let yall know next Monday. That'd be a good birthday present huh?

We finally have a pretty normal week this week, no exchanges. Last week was very hectic, I went up to McMinnville with one of the Zone Leaders for an exchange from Monday-Wednesday, and then Elder Johnson went with the Blackman Elders Wed-Friday. So we didn't see each other for almost a week. We have had a lot of success this past week. A lot of really good potentials found.

And President has "declared war". He has asked us to restart the BofM and highlight all the times it refers to Christ and God/ or talks about it, I started last Tuesday and I think I’m towards the end of 2nd Nephi already. And we have a conference call today in a couple hours at 1 our time.

Our investigators are doing fine. Haven't seen Tammy since Thursday. She didn't come to church on Sunday, but we have an appointment with her on Wednesday evening.

Lance, a new guy we found is doing well, still hasn't read the BofM, but he really wants to and hopefully he will by the time we see him this week.

We are teaching a wide variety of religions...first we are teaching a l "Non-Denominational" girl (Ariana), but not long before she becomes a member in a couple weeks. A Jewish man, a gay girl (Haley), a Messianic Jew (Ben Gibson), that is an interesting religion. They believe in Christ, and that he is the Messiah, but they still go by Old Testament ways, so they still believe that the Law of Moses is still in affect because "God is the same, yesterday and forever:". So this week I’m going to start studying the Old Testament. I have tried multiple times, but I just can't seem to like it as much as the NT. So I am going outside my box and studying about that.

We have been going through the ward list and trying to visit everybody on it so we know who everyone is and updating it.

It’s fun, but not when you have 17 miles left for the month. We get 1,000 miles/month to share with other Elders, so it’s kinda difficult. But hopefully we will do better this month. And we get the car till Wednesday.

I got your box mom...thanks :), and yes I did get Ben and Diana's Christmas present...oh mom you’d be proud of me, guess what? I’m wearing my glasses almost every day now :)

Other than that, we are doing well, staying busy, and safe. Thanks for all your prayers, they are felt. most definitely. I love each of you and thanks for your support. :)

Love yall!!!!

-Elder Edgell  "