Sunny in Greenwood, IN

Wow! this week has been a long one!

The sun has come out here in Greenwood! It feels so good to not have to wear a coat now! We have had the car this week so that has been great :) The Lord has truly blessed us with some new potentials and I am so excited to see what the future has in store. 

Our investigator Richard is still moving forward steadfastly towards baptism. He was on his way to church yesterday and when he walked out his door, his sister and cousin convinced him to go to their church (baptist) and he said that he did not feel the same feeling he felt at that church then he did at ours. He said he got bored there and made a paper airplane and wanted to throw it at the preacher (this is a 63 year old man here people!). It was a good experience for him to go through that and now he is committed to coming to church faithfully every week. 

We have been meeting with him everyday and it is amazing to see the change take place in his life. This guy used to be a bad, bad guy but just as Alma the younger made a miraculous change and became a man of God, Richard is doing the same. He called me this morning at 7:30 while I was eating breakfast (he gets up at 5 every morning and reads the Book of Mormon) and informed me that he was having an awesome day and that he hasn't felt this good in over 40 years. It is such a blessing to take part in this turning point in his life.

The ward here is wonderful. One of my favorite things about my mission is to get to know the saints in Indiana. They are a loving and dedicated people. I love getting to know about their lives and laugh and share the gospel together. These people are being prepared for their temple being built here. I also have to say that there are a TON of ties to Rigby, Idaho here! My goodness! Everyone has either lived in Rigby, visited Rigby, or has relatives that live in Rigby! haha I love it :)

That is about all this week. Its great out here in Indiana! Love you all!

Sincerely,
Elder Young

His companion just left for Australia (I think...) so maybe this was his "goodbye" kiss....idk. :)

Watch out Greenwood, Indiana...Here comes Elder Young!

Things are going well in Greenwood 1.2. My new companion is Elder Twitchell, he just got done training and so I am his follow-up trainer. 

We have a baptismal date from a guy named Richard. Richard is great, we love Richard :) He has been through a whole ton of things in his life and needs the gospel. We made a "game plan" for him to be able to get back on his feet and be able to fulfill the dreams he still has yet to accomplish (one of those is to find of good woman haha). His game plan is to read and pray daily and come to church weekly (very original, right? :) and he is very excited about it. We have been reading from the Book of Mormon with him frequently and likening it to him and taking it nice and slow so he can understand it. It is such a reward to see the light in his eyes and him say "that makes sense! I got it!" He has epilepsy though so he didn't come to church cause he had two siezsures in the morning and he was a wreck, but he is determined to keep moving forward. His baptismal date is for March 22 and he wants to meet everyday until his baptism. We are excited for him.

My testimony has greatly increased in being bold and courageous when leaving commitments with members. We have been leaving missionary commitments with members and the commitments consist of praying for opportunities, handing out temple cards, and talking with friends who might be interested. I have seen the blessings that come from that; member-missionary relationships increase, members are able to get the push they need to start their missionary work, and there is greater happiness with both member and missionaries. Yesterday while we were sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a member family and we asked if they had people they were "working on" Bro. Liegible gave us THREE REFERRALS! I have not gotten a referral from a member since being on my mission and let me tell you, that made my day! Then that evening another member family we committed to missionary work called us and gave us another referral! That was a great night :)

I want all of you to know of the testimony that I have. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ; the Savior and Redeemer of the world. God's love for His children is too great to understand. I know that we have a prophet on the earth today who holds all the keys necessary to salvation. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. I also know that if we remain faithful and strive to improve ourselves throughout this life, we can become like our Heavenly Father and experience all the blessings and joy possible. And I say that to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

I love you all, thank you all so much for your prayers and love. You all mean a lot to me. Keep fighting the good fight ;)

Sincerely,

Elder Young

A fun treat....

There is a Indiana Mission Mom's facebook page and one of the great members who lives in Indiana posted on the page that she was trying to help her daughter raise money to sing with her school choir at Carnege Hall so to raise the money she would make and deliver a heart shaped chocolate chip cookie for 10.00 and/or a dozen cc cookies to any missionaries going to be a transfers and take her camera with her. LUCKILY, Jake was going to be at transfers as evidenced below...

She reported that the picture above was the last of a dozen cookies eaten within 10 minutes. She didn't say if Jake was the sole consumer but it wouldn't surprise me! She also informed me that he was sent to her area but I still don't know what area that is. :( So glad he got a little something from his biggest admirer though!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY JAKE! LOVE YOU!

He's being transferred but we won't find out until next Monday.

Hello Everyone!

I am very sad to leave this area! I have come to love our ward soooo much and am going to miss all the wonderful associations I have made over these past six weeks. Elder Orr is leaving in about 2 hours and it is going to be sad to see him go. He is a good missionary with a lot of potential. I know he will do many good things in Australia. 

Although I may be sad to leave this area, I have noticed that the closer I have come to the Lord, it is hard to explain but it is almost like my will is starting to intertwine with His. So even though i am sad to leave I do feel very strongly that it is my time to leave this area and to serve somewhere else. It is a surreal feeling. I am excited to see where I will serve next and who I have the honor of serving with. I know that there are trying times ahead of me but though the Lord I can accomplish all things. 

Speaking of doing things with the Lord's help. I do believe our area is ready for sisters. We have 8 investigators, 2 with a date, and many more potentials on the way. The ward has a new power of missionary work they obtained from stake conference. I feel that this area will soon come to life with the gospel and it was all the Lord's doing. I love participating in the Lord's work!

This week our investigator Bill Engle came to a FHE at the Stearns house (the Stearns are the coolest people alive!) and he had a wonderful time. We also had a lesson with him on saturday with Bro. Stearns and Elder Wilson (my trainer) came at the end and played piano for Bill (who is a big musician guy at a university), so that was cool! Then Bill also come to a sunday night fireside called "why i believe" and that is where recent converts share their conversion story and so that was a great opportunity for him. Hopefully the sister missionaries that take over this area will get him to start praying (we couldn't)!

Anyways, that is about all this week. Love you all! Hope everyone is doing well!

Sincerely,

Elder Young

So today I got a text....

Today at lunch time I got a text from a couple that had invited Jake and his companion for lunch.

So I had a great idea! I asked her to get her camera ready and tell Jake that he got accepted to BYU-Hawaii. 

He was happy. :)

I'm very thankful for great members who take good care of our missionaries and are so kind to us parents! I love this kid; goofy faces and all!

I wish I could see his face when he finds out!

03 Feb 2014

Ira Young
461 Maple Dr
Rexburg, ID 83440


Dear Ira:

Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected for admission beginning Fall 2014. You have shown that you are academically prepared and also committed to upholding the high standards of the university.

The university is dedicated to preparing graduates whose "influence will be felt for good toward the establishment of peace internationally." We are confident that you will graduate and contribute to fulfilling this prophetic mission.

Please understand that because of the unique mission of our university and the need to serve more students, the University has adopted a policy that all students will be given 9 semesters [or fewer for transfer students] to complete their degree plan. For more information on this see the policy in the online catalog Academics.byuh.edu/9SIR (byuh.edu > Academics > Nine Semesters in Residence).

We wish you every success in your educational efforts and look forward to seeing you on campus. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Sincerely,


Brigham Young University-Hawaii Admissions Committee

Last week in Indy 2! (Stay tuned for the next installment when we will find out where he is being transferred)

Hello Everyone!

This week has been a week of miracles and great missionary experiences. We have been studying Ch. 9 in Preach My Gospel and we had a particular draw towards the Former Investigator's section which talks about going through your former's and (by the spirit) find those who you feel you need to contact. Well we decided to contact all of them and to our great surprise we obtained three return appointments and some great excitement from the former investigators. 

This week we met with two of them and one of the two has a baptismal date for March 15th. His name is Paul Ayers, he is in his 50's and has Parkinson's disease. He is one of the most humble and prepared people I have seen while on my mission. He had informed us that he was so thankful that we had called and you could tell that he was hurt that the missionaries had dropped him 2 years previous. TWO YEARS! Can you believe he has been neglected that long? Obviously it was planned by the Lord cause He is ready to be baptized. 

The other investigator is a man named Roger Chase. He used to be a big shot in the investment business but with a recent nasty divorce his wife went insane and took everything from him. So he has been pretty humbled. He still is focused on worldly things but I am certain the Lord has prepared him enough to where he can make the change. 

Our other investigators are doing good; Bill Engle is being well taken care of by some of the members in the ward, tonight Brother Stearns (a superstar in member missionary work) is holding a FHE at his home and before he invited Bill and all the missionaries over for dinner, so that should be a splendid night! Nathan Morell is still struggling really bad with substance abuse problems so it is like restarting with him every time we teach him or see him; it starts out bad then by the end he is super pumped to change and follow Christ.

Also today on our way to come and email, Elder Ercek (one of the missionaries in my appartment) ran into a snowbank and broke the front bumper of the car... Californian drivers.... :) I feel bad he is most likely going to lose his driving privileges. So we spent about 2 hours getting all of that hoopla figured out... I just ate some fruit snacks and a pear while I was waiting :)

So it turns out they are having a "mass exodus" in my area (which means they are transferring all four elders out of Indy 2 and bringing in a set of sister missionaries and a another set of elders). So I will be transferred again which really stinks cause I absolutely love my ward and am just getting to know all of them so well. Alas, I must go on to bigger and better things. I am hoping I get exiled to Niles Michigan (that is the top part of our mission) and I can have more snow!

Anyways, I hope you are all doing well. To all the Shelbytuckians who are on this list I am writing, I especially love all of you and tell the ward I said Hi!

Sincerely,

Elder Young