Week 74 - January 8, 2018

Howdy y'all!

Alright I am going to give y'all some updates on some of the people that we have been teaching!

Donald: He quit smoking! He told his care taker to not buy him anymore and as of Friday he has none left! So he is on track to be baptized on the 19th!

Estefana: She is a lady that we just tracted into last week and we had our second lesson with her this week! She is Daisy's sister! We didn't find that out until the second lesson. She has been looking for a Church for a while and she has been thinking a lot about her salvation and if she is doing what she needs to to be saved. She has some really good potential! 

Well for now those are the main progressing ones! We have others that we found and the ones that we have been teaching but there haven't been many changes with their progress so I will keep y'all posted on that! Other than that is has been a pretty normal week. Spent a lot of time this week trying to find new investigators and we were fairly successful. The weather is also warming up again so we aren't freezing as we are out knocking doors! 

I think that is all I have for this week! I hope that all is well and that y'all are going strong in your 2018 resolutions! 

Elder Nathan Stoddard

Week 73 - January 3, 2018 - Happy New Year!

Hola y'all!

I hope all y'all lovely people are staying nice and warm out there cause us down here in NOLA definitely aren't! It got into the 20's this week! At one point a member told us it was 8 degrees with the windchill! Like what?! I thought I was never going to feel cold here in Louisiana but it looks like I bring cold weather with me! Haha oh well, better cold than hot in my opinion!

I hope y'all had a great New Year and that you are working hard on those New Years resolutions! This past Sunday I had the opportunity to speak both in the English branch and Spanish group about how we can use the Saviors Atonement in our lives to help us work through the struggles of live and to help us work on achieving goals! It was my first time speaking here in Chalmette and it was also my first time giving a talk in Spanish! It was kinda scary haha! So the main 3 points of my talk were
1) Pray

2) Make a plan/goal

3) Be patient

Life is kinda hard you know? We gotta remember that to make it through requires our action. We need to pray to our Heavenly Father for help and then go out and work like we are the only ones that can get us through the trial or goal or whatever it may be. If we are patient we will see the blessings of the Lord even in the midst of our trials and we will be soo much better for taking the hard path of faith.

Have a great week y'all :)

Elder Nathan Stoddard

Week 72 - December 27, 2017 - Merry Christmas y'all!

Hola and Merry late Christmas y'all! I hope that this was an excellent, love filled and, of course, food filled Christmas season for everyone!

So...... I honestly can't think of anything crazy to report this week. I wanna thank all y'all that sent me out letters and packages! It means more than you will ever know so thank you!

I just want to leave y'all with my testimony as a missionary that I know that we have a Savior Jesus Christ. He was born so that he could live a perfect life, suffer for our sins, die for us and greatest of all, be resurrected so that we can be resurrected to live with Him and our Father in Heaven again. He is the Lamb of God, the infinite and eternal sacrifice. He is our Older Brother, our Friend and our Advocate with the Father. He loves each of us perfectly. He knows each of us personally.  He knows exactly how to help us in our problems. He is always there when we are ready to turn to Him! I am so grateful for Him and for His infinite love unto all of us! I am so happy to wear His name over my heart every day! There is no place I would rather be that out here in Louisiana representing the Savior!

I love y'all and hope y'all have the happiest of new years!

Elder Nathan Stoddard