Elder Oldroyd: Yolanda and The Gospel of Jesus Christ

WHAT UPPPP FAMMM!!!!!

Those pictures of the birthday party are soo awesome!!! It’s pretty sad to think that was the first birthday I have missed so far on my mission but that bounce house looks soo much fun! Did she have a lot of friends over?? And of course she had to get that cake.. you’re to young to think boys are cute Katie.. haha. But I came into tears reading this e-mail! I seriously miss and love you guys like crazy and actually had a dream about all y’all the other day. It was pretty weird haha. I was still a missionary in my shirt, tie and badge and all, I still went by Elder Oldroyd but we were with each other. It was weird waking up that morning.

First off I’m soooo glad The Pace family went over to the house! What a small world right?! haha It was so funny to think that she was in the 53rd ward! But Brother Pace is such a huge example to me out here. He has been teaching with us once and getting to know him more is just such an inspiration to me. He fulfills his responsibility of being a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. We are all missionaries as members but fortunately you have full-time missionaries who Preach the Gospel till sun up till sun down. Speaking of Brother Pace he is going teaching with us tomorrow night. He is a great fellowship person. What did you guys talk about when they were over there? I heard that you (dad) got home like 5-10 minutes before they showed up. It’s crazy how God puts people in our paths for a reason. EVERYTHING happens for a reason, no matter what you think. God did everything for a reason. Thanks for the package!! I love the treats and especially those pictures and notes. You guys are truly a blessing to me. This morning for our workout we played with the basketball hoop haha. I came up with a game that if you miss a basket you do 5 push ups. If you make it and the next Elder misses he does ten push ups. So it was a very fun game especially with 4 Elders in the apartment. They really recorded it?? haha you guys are sneaky! Breakin the law Breakin the law.. I’m over it :0 I’m glad you were able to hear it. When I got asked to speak in sacrament I studied and I was going to talk about the Atonement. but a couple of days before I was going to give the talk the spirit told me not to talk about the Atonement and focus on prayer and the Holy Ghost. And of course with me those two combined is with the accident with Alex. I wasn’t nervous at all to speak but when I got the pulpit the spirit hit/pierced my heart so bad I of course started crying. I have been fortunate enough to tell 2 investigators that story so far. But I didn’t really cry, tears were there but didn’t fall. The spirit as you could tell through the e-mail, was very strong in the room. It was a good sacrament meeting and I was first so the spirit you could tell hit every single person there. I want to thank you for everything we accomplished as a family, because I wouldn’t be able to do it without you guys. I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t have you. I tried doing everything by myself and we all know where that put me. Nowhere. So thank you. And the Love I have for you guys and why we are so close isn’t just because of me.. You can’t have something in life that’s just one way. It works both ways and that’s why everything is so great right now with our family. That’s what brings families closer together.

Speaking of bringing families closer together, we were at a less active members house (Wanda and Marcel Davis) and their family doesn’t do the fundamentals. It’s pretty cool because we can be missionaries and also counselors haha. They told us some family problems they have and why nothing is going the way they want it. They just want to be happy, and be a solid family. They have been coming to church and seeing if that would help their family. But the kids would never come with them. I had a prompting come to mind and I asked when was the last time you and your family had “Family Prayer.” They both started thinking for a while and couldn’t recall the last time that has token part in their house. I testified to them that if you would pray together as a family then you would become closer and you and your family will start becoming like one. I also shared about our family experience on how we prayed together, holding hands and after that prayer have a “Family hug.” That to me meant so much, at the time I didn’t notice a difference but coming out here and looking back at the memories. It seriously did bring us a lot closer as a family. So I asked them, “Wanda and Marcel WILL you and your family pray together every night?” They of course said yes because you could tell my testimony really opened up their eyes.

I had a really touching experience this week, we had a lesson with Yolanda about The Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about how he cleans us from our sins, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. Pretty important stuff right? Well everything is important that we talk about haha. But Yolanda loved it. We have to go really slow with her though. So she gets everything we talk about. But what touched me was when we were leaving. So she had a son get beat up and killed in jail. She said “You know guys, God took one of my sons, but he gave me two back.” while she was pointing to us. WOW are you serious?!! That touched my heart and meant so much to me. But unfortunately her or any of our investigators came to church this Sunday. Heart breaking moments! After we taught Roger on Friday before we even asked we said he was going to come to church haha it just made me smile but he had a seizure the night before

But I am sorry I have no more time unfortunately I have to get going but I love you guys so much and I hope you feel the love from all the way in Lorain. Have an amazing week!!!

Love Elder Oldroyd