Week 27- Happy 6 Months!!!

Hey Family and Friends!

It's been an amazing week! So much to say and so little time! But I officially hit my 6 month mark! It's been an amazing 6 months of growing, learning, and loving. I've never loved more or felt more loved by God than I have in these 6 months. I've learned so much and met so many people I will never forget. I'm so excited for the growth, love, and learning that will take place over the next 18 months!

On Saturday I received word that I'm being transferred to Meridian! It's going to be a big change from Middleton, but I'm excited to go where the Lord needs me! My new companion will be Elder Wheeler from... Arizona? I'm not sure, I haven't met him yet haha! But I'll update you next week!

We were able to hear from a popular LDS public speaker named John Bytheway this week, and I really liked something that he said. He said that Satan chooses his followers when they're idle, and Christ chooses His when they're busy at work. This week, I invite you all to fill your time with wholesome activities and service, and I promise you will be a more effective instrument in the Lord's hands! I love you all and love hearing from you!

Sincerely, 

Elder Doyle

Dakota Fielding got baptized on Saturday! Love this girl!

Played an awesome game with the Walker family in which the loser had to press his face into a pan of flour

Doesn't take long for people to find the way to my heart: sugar

The Bethel family tried to make it a little more difficult for me to leave Middleton this morning

Week 26 - February is the New January!

Quote of the Week: "Dang that snowman is ripped!"

Hello My Peeps!

It's been another great week in Middleton! Might be one of the last I have! I'll find out whether I stay or leave on Saturday, and rumor has it that I'm heading out. But for now, Middleton is awesome! We've had a few inches of snow fall almost every day this week, so we were able to do some shoveling which 1. was great exercise and 2. opened some doors for us to talk to new people! 

We've visited the one family a few times since transferring here, and the wife is a member of the church and the husband is not. The husband is a big guy with a gruff voice and I'm not gonna lie, he intimidated me a little bit. I know what you're thinking, "Elder Doyle got intimidated? There's no one bigger and gruffer than Elder Doyle!" But believe it or not, he was. Anyway, we began to share a message about the grace of our Savior Jesus Christ, and the hard exterior began to melt away and the man began to tear up. It hit me that often I deny people a chance to hear my testimony or feel the spirit because I make judgments based on their appearance. It is so important that we give every single person the opportunity to hear the message of the restored Gospel!

This week, I invite you to share your family history with one of your friends or family members! We've been able to use the Family Search app on our smartphones, and it's opened a lot of cool teaching opportunities and ways to connect with people!

Love ya,

Elder Doyle

Week 25 - Winter is finally coming!

Quote of the Week: "I think someone just stabbed me in the belly button with a hot knife."

Hi Friends!

It's been a crazy week! And it's finally been getting cold! The first half of the week was sort of unusual and filled with lots of fun stuff like urgent care visits and appendicitis scares! But the last few days have been awesome! As you know, I now have a smartphone, which has given us a lot of new opportunities and ways to spread the good news! Here's a cool smartphone-related story from this week:

I was on Facebook (feel free to send me a friend request!) and found my Brother Ashdown, my ward mission leader from Fruitland! I was super pumped,  especially when I saw that we had a mutual friend! Curious, I tapped on the mutual friend and found out it was the Sister Irwin! Sister Irwin moved here to Idaho from Seattle and we've been teaching her kids and husband! To make a long story short, Brother Ashdown was the missionary that had interviewed Sister Irwin for baptism 7 years ago in Seattle. We were able to bring him to our lesson at the Irwins on Saturday, and upon seeing him, Sister Irwin started crying happy tears and it was awesome. The spirit was so strong! I'm so grateful for a gospel that lets us connect with people and make lifelong friends! 

This week, I've got two challenges for you. One, go friend me on Facebook if you'd like. I try to post inspirational messages that have strengthened my testimony and brought the spirit into my life. Second, go connect with an old friend. See how they're doing. See if you can serve them. I know that it can bring light into both their life and yours.

Love you all, 

Elder Doyle

Clearly my eating habits have gone downhill

When you're hungry enough to eat an entire loaf of French Toast #everyday

Week 24 - New Smartphones!!!!

Quote of the Week: "I'm fat, but I love being fat!" ~from a 5-year-old

Hello Friends!!

This has been a week full of new experiences and it's awesome! On Wednesday, the Idaho Nampa Mission rolled out smartphones, which has totally changed the way we're doing missionary work. As some of you may know, I'm now on Facebook, which helps us reach people who we may not be able to physically meet with. If you ever have any questions or comments about missionary work or the LDS church, please reach out to me on Facebook and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

This week, another elder and I were able to help out at a local food bank. At first, I wasn't too excited. We had made other plans, and the food bank wasn't the first place I wanted to be. But after I started to forget about myself and focused on the people I was helping, I enjoyed it so much! People were so grateful and friendly, and I thought about how this is what Jesus Christ spent basically his entire life doing. I thought about how although he lived the hardest life of anyone to ever live, he also lived the happiest one. I testify that service brings happiness.

My challenge for you this week is to serve a member of your family. It can be big or small, anonymous or not. But I know it will bring you happiness and will bring you closer as a family.

Love you all!

Elder Doyle 

When you realize you're gaining weight and need to change what you're eating​

Week 23 - Shoutout to Philly for winning the Superbowl!

Quote of the Week: "Why is the lightbulb stuck in the glass jar? Oh, someone was pounding on it with a dictionary."

For your amusement and by way of information, we vote as an apartment every Saturday night for which quote of the week makes it onto my weekly blog post.

Hola Mis Amigos!

It's been such an awesome week! Middleton is really making a space for itself in my heart. We were able to go to the temple on Wednesday as a district of missionaries, and it really hit me that we're so blessed to have a temple so close to us! And the newly built Meridian temple has been such an awesome missionary influence in this area. 

This past weekend was the Middleton Stake Conference, and we were able to be visited by Elder Sitati of the Quorum of the Seventy. He's from Kenya, which didn't even have a mission during the time that he joined the church. His conversion was due completely to the handful of members that met in the singular branch in Kenya. And now he's a member of the Quorum of the Seventy! It really was a testament to me of what a difference members can make in missionary work! 

One of our bishops is really into long-distance running. He was telling Elder Jones and I about the last long-distance race he ran: It was a 122 miles race. No sleep. It took him 37 hours. He had to use 6 different pairs of shoes. It was through the mountains of Canada, and the total elevation of all the uphill sections was over 29,000 feet, which is about the height of Mount Everest. The bishop's wife was saying that she saw him at various parts of the race, and at every point, he looked different. Sometimes he would look alert and energetic. At other times he swayed from side to side, looking like he might collapse at any moment. Their experience made me think of how each of us often hit bumps in the road in our journey back to our Heavenly Father. Sometimes we feel like we're doing great, but often we feel like we're about to collapse and won't be able to reach our destination. I'm so glad we have another runner, in fact the most perfect runner ever to live, right by our side to keep us going if we lean on Him. 

This week, I invite you to do some spiritual cardio workout. Look for other runners who may be struggling, and help them out. We all have the same final detination!

Love you all,

Elder Doyle 

Kali, the coolest 7yr old in Idaho!

Ryker, the fearless Jedi baby!

Week 22 - Crazy Week!

Quote of the Week: "Oh, I can't possibly mess this up!" (says Elder Young as his hand slips and he proceeds to shave a giant strip of hair of the side of my head)

Hi Friends!

I don't have a much time to write this week, but the mission life is going great! After I'm done emailing, I'm heading off to the Meridian temple, and I'm so pumped! Temples are such a blessing! I was able to testify to someone this week of the importance of temples and families, and the Spirit hit me like a ton of bricks! I was bawling like a baby, but it was an awesome experience, and my testimony of those wonderful blessings increased. 

Thank you all for being my family!

Sincerely,

Elder Doyle

Meridian Idaho Temple

Experiment with a new kind of necktie!

Week 21 - Another Transfer in Middleton!

Quote of the Week:

"It smells like something is burning. Yes, something is definitely burning." (it was the bacon)

Happy Transfer Day!

Today marks one transfer here in Middleton, Idaho! Throughout the day, missionaries will be traveling throughout the mission to their new areas. But not for Elder Jones and I! Since Elder Jones is being trained, we get to stay for another 6 weeks. And I'm definitely not complaining! The work is progressing so well and I feel so blessed to serve here. 

As most of you have probably heard, there have been some changes in the Church leadership in the last couple weeks due to the passing of Prophet and President Thomas S. Monson. My love for President Monson has really grown recently, and I know that he was called of God to be a prophet. I also have a firm testimony that President Nelson, and whomever else God calls, is who we need at this time. I love that God can lead His church through modern-day prophets. 

In church on Sunday, one of the members of the Stake Presidency told about an experience of his from Halloween. For his family's family home evening activity, they decided to carve pumpkins to set out on the front porch. This dad wasn't a big fan of pumpkin carving, so he sat on the couch reading emails while his kids struggled to make their pumpkin designs become a reality. His youngest daughter in particular struggled, and without the help of her dad, she felt like her pumpkin hadn't turned out very well. Later that week, the dad walked up to the front door and noticed some writing in Sharpie on the side of his youngest daughter's pumpkin on the porch. He picked it up and read the childish scrawling, "it's the best that I could do." Feeling like he had failed as a father, he apologized to both his daughter and to God. This dad testified to us on Sunday, and I echo his testimony, that we have a Father who never leaves us to do anything alone. And when we fall short (which we all do), if we can honestly say "it's the best that I could do," we have an incomprehensibly merciful Savior who picks us up when we fall short. 

This week, I invite you to watch, listen to, or read a talk from a recent modern-day prophet. Talks such as these can be found on lds.org. I've felt the Spirit so much as I've freshened up on President Monson's words for us, and I promise that the Spirit will reside more abundantly in the lives of any who learn and apply the teachings of God's servants. 

Love you all!

Elder Jack Doyle

My Wacky district from the past transfer.