February 22, 2016

Hey! Things here are going pretty good! I'm in Natchez Mississippi now! We went from the cajuns to the rednecks really quick! Thanks for taking such good care of Miss Gerrie it really means a lot to her. It sounds like you had a busy but productive week. It's been a little bit of a transition week but it's been good. Church was pretty exciting yesterday it was a little wild to see church pews again and a real sacrament table. It is still a pretty small ward only about 40 or 50 people but they sure are awesome. One of our recent converts has a little girl that's almost 1 and she kept honking my nose all during gospel principles class haha It made me smile and helped her mom be able to listen a little more so life was good. there also was a real cool tender mercy on sunday morning. I don't know why but it is always really scary for me to go to a new ward. I always worry that I'll get booed out of the place or something, but anyway we pulled up in the parking lot and the first guy I saw was one of the members from pineville that I had been to his house almost every sunday for 6 months! It was really cool. We also had a linger longer after church with some awesome food so that So Natchez is right on the Mississippi which divides Mississippi and Louisiana so me and Elder Mortenson are on the Mississippi side and Elder Stevenson and elder wise are on the louisiana side. We both live in Natchez and are the only ones in our district. The closest missionaries to us are an 1 1/2 hours away haha. I hope yall have an amazing week! I am so grateful for all of you! Thanks for all of your love and prayers! Love Mud

February 16th, 2016

yall are the best people I have ever met! I hope you know that I think all of you are the bomb.com! Thanks so much for the package! It has been a crazy but awesome week. Here are a few highlights. Elder Whitmarsh got another sweet armadillo kicking video, we taught a lot of people, got some good service done, survived Branch Conference with Bobby only trying to kiss Brittany once (hahaha), given a wild boar roast, having 2 investigators at sacrament meeting (yahoooooo), and just having a good time. They are canning me this week from Morgan City and I am really sad, but more importantly I am really grateful that I got to come to one of the best places on the earth! These people are so loving it really is crazy! "I wanted to pay a little tribute to my awesome friend Miss Gerrie Breaux. She is one of the best friends I have ever had. I have never met someone and so immediately felt the most pure Christlike love as I have with this sweet lady and her family. She knows the Savior, and she loves him. And I will forever be grateful for he willingness to share that love with a little Idaho boy that 6 months ago she didn't know. I will love her forever! There will always be that special place for her and for the good times we have shared and will share. God bless her and her family! Love her adopted grandson Justin Dye" I'm excited for the new adventure that this week will bring! I'm excited to find a new group of people that Heavenly Father has prepared to keep me in line until I get to party with my family again! It's going to be a good time. I hope yall have an awesome week! Thanks for all of your love and prayers and for loving me enough to teach me to be a good dude so I can help other people. I sure love yall! Love, Elder Dye :)

February 8th, 2016

Mercy mild! I can't believe that our hairy little Jessa is a driving chick now. I hope she keeps it under 100 going around the corners like James (working james) would always tell us to do. It sounds like you have had a busy week! I'm glad that you are keeping out of trouble for the most part :) Things here have been good this week! I hope that you like the pictures. I don't know if I've told you much about our homie Bobby Burgess but he is a great guy! He is like 28 and is one of the few truly active members of our branch. He has some special challenges, and a really hard home life but he is one of the finest men I have ever met. You can tell that he really has a strong testimony even though it's hard from him to express things. He also has a REALLY high pitched voice and when he blesses the sacrament every week it makes us all smile. :) So anyway we got to take him to a Madi Gras parade in Berwick and he was super pumped! He really enjoyed every second of it, he even got up in Testimony meeting yesterday and thanked us probably 15 times for taking him and being with him. It really made me stop and think how many things I take for granted. Church was pretty good this week but between Madi Gras and Super Bowl Sunday we were few in numbers, (17 including us 4 missionaries) but the spirit was still there. And it really brings a special spirit into a fast and testimony meeting when you end when everyone has borne their testimony not when you run out of time haha It really helps get you motivated to get up haha Gospel Doctrine turned out pretty good too. None of the primary kids made it this week so we got to have the 2 ladies that run the primary with us to. So it was 3 ladies, Bobby, Elder Stewart and me. It was a little intimidating cause most of the conversation was with the Relief Society and there is nothing more intimidating then the relief society. They are spiritual giants. If I have learned 1 thing on my mission it is that no matter how big or small the relief society is, stay on their good side and you are going to be alright. We have branch conference next week so that will be exciting, it is always fun to hear different perspectives and Testimony's. I love being here in Morgan City! Things are progressing really well. And we are having a good time too. Hope yall have an awesome week! I sure love ya! Love Mud

February 1st, 2016

Yall are the best people ever. It sounds like things were pretty good this week and that you've got a pretty good one planned. I can't believe that Jessa is almost a little driving chick...time goes to fast. Please party hard enough for me too and Grandpa's surprise party! This week was a good one! I got to go on exchanges this week with my district leader Elder Staley and it was a good time! He is one good dude. Sometimes it is hard for us to know what to do at night cause there are just so few people and they really don't like it when we tract after 6 so we went store contacting at Walmart (the hot spot of the tri-city area) haha Didn't meet anyone there but when we went to Dollar General we saw a less active we have been working with that really is going through some rough stuff. Just time after time Heavenly Father places people in our paths like that. It really is amazing! Elder Rasband came and that was pretty amazing! It was so fun to hear from him on a much more personal level then General Conference. You could tell he was a little nervous but he did great and the spirit there was amazing! We all got to shake his hand and then he got up and said, "today is Saturday and on Thursday I shook the prophets hand. That's how close you are to him." He told us to keep working hard and that when we complain about our area's or companions that we "are mocking God" so we are going to shape up about that. :) It was so fun to see all of the missionaries in our mission at 1 time. They are some of the best friends I have ever had. Church went good, we had an investigator there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was pumped out of my mind. I was helping another Elder Translate so when my companion got done speaking he went over and sat by him. I love going to church! We are few, about 26ish this week, but we are a happy few. And that is important. Had a Sunday headache like my papa but a little "dew from the mountains" fixed it real quick. I love yall! Time is flying fast. I hope we can all take a minute to enjoy where we are at cause it really is a gift. ....and the future can be intimidating sometimes, we had interviews this week and my mission president kept talking to me about eternal marriage and said "soon you are going to have a whole passel of children" and after I looked up what passel meant I was glad for my simple mission life right now haha Thanks for all of your love and prayers! I feel them every day. From your slug of a son in the dirty dirty south Mud

January 25th, 2016

I sure love yall too! My companion is starting to feel a little bit better but we are thinking we might have a sinus infection. So we might be at the doctor again this week. It sounds like you had a pretty wild week! Things this week have been good, a little crazy but good. :) Church was awesome yesterday! But I was ready for a nap after we were done. haha We got there at 8 for PEC meeting, Elder Whitmarsh and Elder Stewart went to that while Elder Shaddick talked to one of the Spanish investigators that came!! (We were all super excited about that!) So the branch president as they are going into the meeting asks me to get a Gospel Doctrine lesson ready, which happens quite a bit. So I prepared the Sacrament, passed out all of the hymn books, got the hymns ready, went and killed a bunch of ants and swept them up in the women's bathroom with my partner in crime bobby ( a 28 year old special needs guy in our branch, he is a character.) So got most of them killed but then found out that the toilet was leaking out of the bottom of the tank a little when it was flushed. But we didn't have time to fix it right then. Then I read through the lesson real quick, started some prelude music on our player piano and got ready to pass the sacrament. Bobby and I passed it and we had about 26 or 28 and about half where Spanish so that was pretty cool. As President Viator was up conducting and was announcing the opening song I realized that no one was playing the piano so I got president albert to go play it. haha Sunday school went pretty good and priesthood and relief society was awesome as always. Then after Church one of the older ladies came up to us and was like. Can you please tell the Branch President that the toilet won't flush in the ladies room... so then came the time to work on the toilet. :) All worked out well the water just needed to get turned back on. Then I got assigned to be the Gospel Doctrine teacher from now on. And that is a Sunday in Morgan City. :) Hope yall have an awesome week! Thanks for all of your love and prayers. I sure love all of you!! Love Mud "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." ~ President Gordon B. Hinckley p.s. Elder Rasband is also coming this week so that should be really cool.

January 19th, 2016

Yall are the homies! I'm glad to hear that you had another good week. Thanks for all of the fun gifts this week, they made my whole week! This week has been a pretty good one! We were able to get a ton done this week which always helps make you feel good. We had church over in Lafayette this week since it was a Regional broadcast and that was the closest one for our stake. We rode up with our Branch President and his family and Bobby it was an adventure. The shocks in the back of the van are going out so we kept bouncing and bottoming out and Sister Viator kept yelling at President Viator telling him to slow down, he finally told her to write her congressman if she wanted to change the rodes and Bobby was laughing the whole time it was awesome haha I love that family so much! We almost had 100% attendance from our Branch there so that made me really excited! They are some awesome people! It was really weird to see so many people at church and to meet in such a big building. Elder Stewart has been feeling pretty sick and he still is so I have been trying to be a good nurse, but I still am no where near Kassie level. One adventure this week we decided that we are going to make sure that we have at least one awesome photo every week. So sunday came around and during dinner break we realized we didn't have one. So we went out to this really cool train bridge over the Bayou and took the pictures I sent. Anyway we got out there and then somebody said what if a train comes? And then we heard the train whistle and we all starting running hahaha We got out of the way in plenty of time but it was still a little adrenaline rush. But the pictures where worth it. The work really is progressing. We are teaching some awesome people. I am learning a lot about not stressing to much. I was thinking the other day about how Jesus Christ delt with stress perfectly, if we can learn to do it even half as good as him we will be like Grandma, Grandpa, and Melissa. :) Hope yall have an awesome week!!! Love Mud :)

January 11th, 2016

That's an awesome letter! Thanks for always being willing to write me even when sometimes what I write back is garbage. This week has been a good one. I'm so happy to be here in Morgan City! It teaches me so much, I really think that I could stay here for the rest of my mission and I would be happy with that. Our little branch is little, but there is love there that isn't many other places that strong. Our branch president is my homie too. It's a neat growing experience to work so close with him all the time he is a good man and a strong leader. He's only in his 30's but he has a good head on his shoulders and he leads our branch with a lot of love and dignity. He also talks a lot of smack so we that's probably more why we get along so well haha This week, we walked a lot since Elder Stewart can't bike but there is supposed to be a car coming soon so we are very happy about that. It will help our branch a lot. We also went to a Baptist Inspiration concert with our friend Miss Gerrie. It was inspiration country music in this little church that she used to go too. It was pretty good and then all of the sudden at the end this lady came off the stage and started praying for this lady in tongues and start shaking and saying all sorts of stuff that definitely wasn't English haha It was crazy! Then things mellowed out and we had a good talk with the pastor after. He used to be a band teacher and he taught a Mormon girl that really impressed him. And accepted our offer of service to him or his congregation if they needed it. You never know how much your example really goes. We also remade "mega bedroom" this week. It makes the other elders really happy when we have both sets of bunk beds in the one room so we can have pillow talk and talk smack into the nights sometimes too. It usually ends with someone getting thrown off their mattress, their mattress and them getting thrown off, or getting someone elses thrown at them. It's a good time haha Last night I was the one that got thrown off. It really is the little things in life. Hope yall have a great week! I sure love ya! Love Elder Dye

January 5th, 2016

I can't, believe that Jessa is starting Drivers Ed next Monday that is crazy!! I'm glad to hear that Dad is feeling a little better, that castle dale was a party, and that Jake was hanging with good company for most of the holidays. :) So my companion got Emergency Transferred last week so that another Elder, my new companion Elder Stewart, could be closer to the doctor. So I am getting to practice my Kassie skills again and be nurse dye. He has a lot of back problems and so on Tuesday I was his helper while he got an epidural. I met a sweet old lady in the waiting room who tried to buy me coffee. Transfer calls were today and I get to stay here for another 6 weeks at least. I am really excited, I love our little branch. It is discouraging sometimes but I just keep trying to do my best and hope that it will work out. I got the sweater but not the shoes yet. I sure love yall! I have definently learned a little stronger this week that Heavenly Father knows what we need, even if we don't. His ways really are higher and so sometimes it's easier to just accept that "it's above our paygrade" and do what we are told. I love being a missionary, it's a good time. Love Elder Dye