Elder Josh Carlile's Mission Blog: April 24, 2017 -- Wow, Has Another Week Already Gone By?

This week was a busy one as always. We had Zone Conference, two blitzes, Stake Conference and many many more things that I can't remember right now. The weather has been warm and so many more people have been out to talk to. Plus, people are so much nicer and willing to listen to what we have to say in the nice weather, so I'm praying that it keeps up.

Yvonne grows spiritually more and more by the week. I have always heard that after people are baptized naturally over time they just start to have a brighter and brighter countenance and that's exactly what is happening with her. She is a totally different person from two months ago. Her faith and determination is much greater. She just seems to glow when we go over to meet with her now. She says she has a lot more patience. She can feel the difference with the Holy Ghost in her life.

At Zone Conference, I was able to get a neat picture snapped of me with four of my current and past companions (with the exception of Elder Vorkink who was technically a companion to Elder Shore and me for a day and a half). It brought back a flood of good memories that I have had with all of them over the course of the mission.

We are teaching some great new people in Liverpool so it should be fun to see where it goes. Hopefully there will be more to report on with them next week.

We saw a lady on the street this past week. She was cleaning out her car and we started talking to her about family history. Anyway, she was asking me something about being a missionary and my response surprised me a little bit. In response to her question, I said something like "I've been out for about 19 months and I have loved every second of it." I know it's kind of a cheesy response but it surprised me. First, I never though I would be one of the "seasoned missionaries". Time has flown by too fast. The second reason I was surprised was that, just like most missionaries, I have definitely had my ups and downs on my mission. But as I look back, the overall feeling of my experiences as a missionary are positive. I feel like all my experiences have made me grow a lot and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to grow in times where I may have felt that He should have intervened by ether answering a serious question I have or by taking away a trial that I was going through. In the words of President Hinckley, the trick in the train ride of life is to thank the Lord for the ride.

The sky is blue, the Church is true and life is good.

Have a great week everyone, Elder Carlile