Week 103 - Welcome Home Elder Doyle!

Week 102 - The Mission Continues!

Dear loved ones,

Well, I've thought quite a bit about what I would write in my last email as a full time proselyting missionary, and now that it's here, my mind is blank. It hasn't really sunk in yet that I'm going home in a couple days! I think that one reason is that I've begun to realize that my mission isn't really ending or changing. And I know this sounds as cliche and cheesy as you can get. But my purpose for the last two years has been to help bring others closer to Christ, and no part of that is changing. So it doesn't feel like the ending and starting of two different lives, I'm just getting transferred again.

A couple things I've learned: God loves me, and He loves everybody I've ever met. Jesus Christ's Atonement covers all. He understands everything because he's gone through everything. The temple is the house of the Lord. Joseph Smith is a prophet. Russell M. Nelson is a prophet. The Holy Ghost is essential to a happy life. Obedience is a blessing, and it brings miracles. God can make more of you than you can make of yourself. Eating heavy dessert every night for two years makes you fat. Scripture study is important. Spiritual experiences have a shelf life, so you need to seek more out all the time. And about a million other things.

I've loved my mission. I know it's setting me up for a more successful life in the future. Please ask me about people and experiences and lessons I've learned, because I never want to forget about them. Thank you for the prayers and love and support! I've felt those sustaining prayers. 

Don't forget, God loves you!

Elder Doyle, signing off.

Week 99 - Transfers, Concerts, and a New Comp!

Hello Beautiful People!

Sorry it's been a '"fat minute" since I've sent one of these out (all the missionaries here use that phrase)! It's been a great few weeks. 

From here on out, I'll be in a trio with Elders Kartchner and Ruiz. We just picked up Elder Ruiz about a week and a half ago, but he's been one of my best friends on the mission for a long time, so it's been a blast. He hails from Cincinnati, Ohio and spent most of his mission as a spanish missionary. He's an insanely good teacher, so I'm learning a lot from him. 

 

The Trio

 

Transfers happened last week, which is always crazy. The fact that we were merging two missions made it even crazier, but it actually went pretty well! We didn't even miss out on that much sleep! 

Crazy awesome thing happened on Saturday! We went with some people that we're teaching to a Christian concert featuring, David Archuleta, Alex Boye, Marie Osmond, the Nashville Tribute Band, and Daniel Emmett. I never pictured myself going to a concert on my mission, but it will honestly go down in my memories as one of the highlights. Somehow we found ourselves in the 2nd row (I'll include pics)! We got a couple shoutouts from the singers since we were right in front of them, and it was really enjoyable for the people we've been teaching. The whole thing was entertaining, and there were times when the spirit was really powerful.

 

 

I had another powerful experience this week while giving priesthood blessings to some members of the church that I've become really close with. For those of you unfamiliar with priesthood blessings, check out the link I'll put at the end of this post. While I was administering these blessings, I felt the Spirit really strongly and knew that God was guiding my words. The next day, the mother of this family messaged me and let me know that some of the things that had been said in those blessings had been exactly what they needed to hear. They had gone to the temple that morning, and some of the promises in those blessings had already begun to be fulfilled. It was a powerful experience to see the priesthood in action. I know God wants us to experience His love and power.

Thank you for the prayers and support! I love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Doyle

Week 96 - The Changing of the Guard

Hello! Sorry it's been forever!

It's been a hectic few weeks, but tons of fun. Here's the scoop:

I spent my last few weeks of June as a solo missionary. Hopped around with different companionships, living out of a suitcase, etc. Tried to keep my area in good shape too, mostly through texts and calls and whatnot. 

On June 28th, President and Sister Nygaard flew in from Saint George, Utah. As soon as they crossed the mission boundaries, the Sorensens and Bartletts (previous Boise mission president) were released. I met my new companion, Elder Kartchner from Pima, AZ, a few days prior. For the next week after President Nygaard flew in, we covered one area in Boise and one in Nampa. President eventually had us get rid of the one in Boise since it was less centrally located.

The Nygaards are amazing! Super loving and super musical! We've had a lot of fun. With all the random errands, office work, and meetings, we haven't done much proselyting, but we're starting to get some time back. We're excited to go teach some people!

Sorry this email is almost purely informational and not very spiritual! There have been plenty of spiritual moments in the past week, especially as I've made time to have sincere prayer and study the scriptures. I'm grateful for those personal moments when my days are filled with mostly administrative duties.

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Sincerely, 

Elder Doyle

Finally have a new companion Elder Kartchner!

Honoring a great President and his wife before they head home!

Final raquet ball battle with President Sorenson...still couldn't beat him!

Old and New Mission Presidents!

Week 93 - Going Solo!

Hello friends!

For the first time in a long time, this week has actually gone by really slowly! And it's not a bad thing! Tuesday and Wednesday consisted of about 500 miles of driving missionaries across the mission and to/from the airport, and then the rest of the week consisted of random errands and office work that wouldn't make any sense to anybody else. But it was fun! Not much sleep, but I'm pretty sure my body just doesn't need it anymore!

Sweet miracle! I picked up a new Elder from the airport on Wednesday, and we had a couple hours before the new missionary training meeting, so I decided to take him to my area to do some good ol' missionary work! I decided it would be cool to try a little experiment with him. I handed him my phone with a list of all the people that the missionaries have ever contacted here on it. I asked him to pick the name that he felt inspired to visit. The name he picked was one I had never heard of, but we went and tried it. Long story short, we found 2 new people to teach, and they weren't even the ones we were trying to contact! We both got pretty excited, and we had another half hour left, so I handed him the phone again, and off we went to another name I had never tried. Boom! Another new person to teach. It was a miracle! And I think he was officially hyped to be a missionary.

I know God loves you! He loves to hear from you and He loves to talk to you. Take time to listen!

Love ya, 

Elder Doyle

 

Naptime with Lilo!

 

Week 92 - Let the chaos begin!

Good morning!

This week has been filled with exciting stuff, and it's only going to get better! So here's the synopsis:

Corey and John got baptized, then confirmed! I'm grateful I could work with these fine gentlemen and help them make covenants with God. I feel confident that both of them are headed down a path that will bless them enormously. 

Okay, this one's a big one... We had a mission wide conference on Saturday, which is a very rare occurrence. So everyone drove in and met in Middleton, where we were visited and taught by Elder Neil L. Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles! Accompanying him were Elders Gifford Neilson (former NFL player) and Elder Alan Walker (Argentinian) of the Quorum of the Seventy. Plus a bunch of other stake presidents and area leaders. It was crazy and awesome! I was asked to do the musical number, and Elder Ebeling accompanied on the piano while Elder Newton played the cello. It was pretty intimidating to sing in front of a small army of priesthood leaders, but I think it went well. And we were all fed spiritually by the messages shared by the General Authorities. Very much needed.

Mission Conference with Elder Anderson

I attended my first wedding! It was cool! Weird to think that in my 20 years of life, I can't remember ever seeing two people get married! The wedding was for Burt and Carla, two people we're working with. We also did a musical number there, and overall the ceremony went very well. I can't wait to see them sealed in the temple a little over a year from now. 

Looking forward, the rest of my mission is shaping up to be rather unorthodox. Elder Ebeling heads home on Wednesday after 2 years of hard work, so between that point and when the new mission president flies in on the 28th, I will be companionless! The plan for the next few weeks is to travel around the mission to help out other companionships, while juggling the work here in my area. And getting the mission ready to merge with another mission, get a new president, etc. It's gonna be so fun! Definitely going to need God's help though. 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Quick quote from our mission conference: "God can make the willing, able. He can't make the able, willing." So go be willing to do God's will, and expect miracles. 

Sincerely, 

Elder Doyle

Week 90 - Puppies, Pizza, and Proselyting!

Hello Beautiful People!

Alright, we've got our temple trip today, so I don't have a ton of time (big surprise there). But here's a quick recap on our week's adventures!

John got baptized! I haven't gotten the pictures yet, but it was amazing! He shared his testimony at the end and started crying, and golly gee that got me. And it was an amazing experience for some of the other people we're teaching, whom we invited to come. A special spirit is present when people are making promises with God. 

Elder Ebeling and I have the opportunity to go on exchanges a lot with other missionaries, which is a blast. While on exchanges back in Middleton, my temporary companion and I got to help make and serve pizza at the local pizza restaurant for their 35th anniversary! Anyone that knows me well, knows that I love pizza, so it was probably one of the coolest service projects I've ever done. My hands still smell like pizza sauce 3 days later, but sacrifices must be made.

 

The Pizza Crew!

 

A discussion Elder Ebeling and I had while talking to a couple of ladies outside brought up some thoughts that I'd like to share. As missionaries, our purpose, put most simply, is to invite others to come unto Christ. We aren't forcing, convincing, tricking, or coercing. Just inviting. We talk with people about what we know is true, and then we invite them to do little experiments. We invite them to do things like praying or reading the Book of Mormon, and then they see whether or not their life gets better! That's what missionary work is: inviting people you care about to do things you know will make them happy. So I would invite whoever reads this to think about the thing that has made you happiest, and share it with someone you care about. It'll bring you a lot of joy, I promise.

Love you all!

Sincerely, 

Elder Doyle 

My little sleepy buddy

Double rainbow