Week 70 - The Lone Ranger

Howdy Folks!

I find myself today in the unique position of not having a companion! My normal companion, Elder Hillyer, had to fly up to Canada for a bit to renew his visa, which means I get to float around with various companionships. And the most exciting part: President Sorensen is taking me to play racquetball! Apparently he's a legend, so I'm hoping to just score one point. But I'm so excited! I'll update you all on how badly he crushed me next week.

It's been an amazing week! Started things off on Tuesday with a mission-wide conference to discuss the upcoming boundary and name changes for our mission. It was amazing to see so many people that I love so much! And we ended the week off with the amazing baptisms and confirmations of Donna and Kat! It was such a special experience.

Sorry I don't have a ton of details this week! Gotta go warm up for the big racquetball showdown! But I love you all and hope you have a stellar week!

Sincerely, 

Elder Doyle

 

 President starts the conference off with "does anyone want to do a musical number?" so we make something up on the spot!

The Wymers' Baptism!

The old Weiser District united at the mission conference!

 

Week 69 - Welcome to the Boise Idaho Mission!

Hey Dudes, 

Wow, what a week! As I'm sure some of you have already heard, we got some big news regarding the future of our mission. As of July 1st, 2019, the Idaho Nampa Mission (the mission I serve in) will no longer exist! It's kind of complicated, but to summarize things, it really won't change much for the last month or two of my mission. Our mission will be gaining about 50 missionaries and a bit more geographical area, and changing our name to the Boise mission. And even though I've spent my whole mission being told that the Boise mission is the dark side, I'm super excited! 

Some other super exciting things are happening! On the 29th, I got to go see Aaron, one of the first kids I taught on my mission, get baptized! This weekend, Donna and Kat will be baptized! And another family who has been taught by missionaries for years finally accepted the invitation to be baptized in March! So many miracles.

I feel like the list of topics and books I want to study increases almost daily, but I've made it a goal to follow along with the new Come, Follow Me program that the Church has come out with. I've really loved it, and we saw an amazing miracle last night as we shared a short message from it with a group of teens. These teens came from a variety of religious backgrounds including a few members of our church and even a few that didn't believe in God at all. We talked about where we can find truth in such a confusing world. We talked about what to do when we have questions. We talked about God's love for us. And I can't explain exactly how it happened, but by the end of this discussion, everyone in that room knew that God was real, that He loved them, and that they can turn to Him whenever they need help. It was so awesome. Go look up the Come, Follow Me program if you haven't already. It will bless your life.

Alright, love you all tons! Talk to you next week!

Sincerely, 

Elder Doyle

Minivan squad

 Me and my Eskimo companion

Aaron's baptism!!

 

 

Week 68 - Happy New Year!!!

Hello 2019!

These past two weeks have flown by so quickly I'm not sure if they actually happened. And honestly I can say that about all of 2018! My companion reminded me yesterday that 2019 is the year we go home, which sounds obvious and meaningless, but feels like a pretty big deal when years keep flying by like weeks! But instead of dwelling on that, here's a recap of my latest adventures since my last email on December 18th:

Elder Hillyer and I spent some time recording audio and video for our Facebook video, then accidentally deleted the audio, and then recorded it again haha! Took a bit longer than expected, but we were happy with the finished product. 

We invited what felt like the entire city of Nampa to church on the 23rd for our special Christmas service, and God took our meager efforts and made a miracle happen! Here are some quick stats for you: our entire mission gets about 120 nonmembers (visitors) at church per week on average. We set a goal to hit 200 on the 23rd. And when the final tally came in on Sunday night, the total was... 503! We all got so excited, it was awesome.

Christmas was superb as usual! Got to video chat with my awesome family and finally meet McKenzie's fiancé Keaton! The rest of the day was pretty laid back, and I surprisingly don't think I gained any weight over Christmas!

Quick funny story from an exchange this week: me and another elder were walking down the sidewalk and suddenly a guy opens the door of the house next to us pushing a stretcher with a dead body on it (covered by a sheet thing)! He quickly pushes the stretcher down the driveway, loads it into his minivan, and speeds off. It all happened so fast that we just stood there awkwardly, wondering if we should help or just stand there being respectful or what. Felt super uncomfortable. But made for a good story to tell our companions when we re-exchanged!

Alright, gotta go! But I hope you were able to participate in Light the World and that you let it change you! Keep it up for the new year!

Love ya,

Elder Doyle

Week 66 - #3 in Nampa!

Howdy folks!

It is transfer day here in Nampa, and I'll be staying with Elder Hillyer for another one! I'm usually moved around pretty often, so I'm excited keep things rolling here in South Nampa.

This week has flown by! We had zone conference on Tuesday, which was the special Christmas edition! Makes me feel old when I reminisce about the zone conference last Christmas and most the missionaries don't know what I'm talking about. But it was still awesome! The annual talent show was super impressive. We've got singers, break dancers, piano players, and even someone that makes dolphin noises with her ear.

The highlight of my week has probably been my reading of the Book of Mormon! Normally our morning schedule is insane with meetings and random errands, so our personal study just gets squeezed in wherever we have time. But our schedule was much more reliable this week, so I was able to spend a ton of time in the scriptures! And it was awesome! I feel better after reading the Book of Mormon, every time. I feel the spirit while reading the Book of Mormon, every time. And it's so enjoyable to read that I can barely put it down!

Well I don't have time to write much more, but I do have plenty of pictures! Don't forget Light the World! Love ya!

Sincerely, 

Elder Doyle

Making cookies with the youth, although a few cookies somehow made their way into my mouth

Spanish Missionary Choir

Majestic Christmas skit by the Assistants at the Christmas talent show

Caroling with the Johnsons! (you can see I sing a lot)

On our way out of the best zone conference everrrrr!

Caroling with missionaries, youth from church, and friends at the nursing home!

Had to say "see ya later" to one of my best friends! 2 years well served.

Week 65 - Week two; Light Your Community!

Howdy Partners!

It has been an exhausting week but a good one! I think we had at least 3 hours of meetings every weekday, which for some reason wipes me out more than 3 hours of running around. But it makes for some high quality sleep at night!

The whole week feels like a blur, but here's a couple highlights that I can remember. I was able to interview 3 people for baptism (one of my favorite things to do EVER), and then see 3 other people actually get baptized! I got to go to the temple with a recent convert for her first time at 5 in the morning! I thought we'd be the only ones crazy enough to be there that early, but I've actually never seen so many people there! We did an awesome service project in town placing scarfs for homeless people. And to top the week off, Elder Hillyer and I have spent every free second of our time caroling to people! It's nice to be able to use the gifts God gives us.

Hopefully you remember the Light The World Initiative I've mentioned in past posts! This week's invitation is to find ways to be a light to your community! Love ya!

Sincerely, 

Elder Doylex (the nickname a fellow missionary gave me while talking in his sleep) 

 

Crashing the Nampa West District Council

My wonderful district (aka the best district ever)

Sneak peak at our much anticipated Christmas card

Totally awesome service project in downtown Nampa!!!

 

Week 64 - Light the World Time!

Hello wonderful people!

This past week has been super duper awesome and super duper spiritual! We were able to have really amazing lessons with almost every person that we regularly teach, which hasn't happened in awhile, especially with the holidays. Having such amazing spiritual experiences so often is exhausting but invigorating at the same time! Somehow I've felt like I could pass out for a few days and yet go run a marathon at the same time. But that's missionary life for ya!

On Tuesday, we were able to go to the temple as a district with our own ancestors' names. We had the chance to do every ordinance in the temple, which ended up being a good 6 or 7 hour trip for our group. But let me tell ya, there is no where else I'd rather spend 6 or 7 hours! And very few people I'd rather spend that time with. The love I feel for my fellow missionaries is seriously too much for my body to contain sometimes! So it often will leak out in very enthusiastic handshakes, unanticipated happy tears, etc. Anyway, Tuesday was a stellar day!

The rest of the week was filled with great discussions with both members of the church and non-members! Saturday was the official start of Light the World as well as the Worldwide Day of Service! If you haven't checked out lighttheworld.org yet, go do it! I'm a firsthand witness that service to others will bring you more joy than you thought possible!

Holy guacamole, I could keep going on and on about random things, but I gotta go! The Church is true. But more importantly, the Gospel is true! It makes us happy and leads us back to God. And the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds the fulness of that Gospel. God loves ya. I love ya. Happy December.

Sincerely, 

Elder Doyle 

The dudes

Seriously some of the best friends I've had in my whole life

The first snow of the season! 

My super duper ultra lightning district (plus a few guests)!

Week 63 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Dinner number 5 on Thanksgiving!

Both Keller and Jeremy made the decision to be baptized!

Decided to dress up like old men for absolutely no reason last pday!