This was an exciting week filled with lots of fun and awesome events! Elder Walker and I have been crushing our goals this week and found 21 new people we will start teaching! We also had 5 of our friends attend church and they described it as they felt so warm and welcomed! Church yesterday was a very spiritual experience and brought me a lot of peace and joy myself too! 

I want to keep this email more brief so here are some highlights!

We had Zone conference! It was a special christmas party and we got brisket catered! It was a very spiritual environment too as we learned how to put more Jesus Christ into our teaching and as we have started adopting the practices that were taught, we are already seeing more success! Elder Walker's family also had sent us matching ties for the Christmas season and so those of us in our apartment wore them to zone conference and we got a picture with President Bramwell! 

On Thursday I got to go on an exchange with Elder Echols so we got to work together for the day! We are both very new so it was definitely a challenge planning and going about our own day. But we had lots of fun together and we will do it again before the transfer is over at the end of the year. 

On Friday, Elder Walker and I received so many answers to our prayers! After much prayer and fasting, we talked to literally everyone that day! And 9 people were really interested and we will begin teaching them too. As we pray for God to put people in our path he surely does! We would literally turn the corner and boom two people who really wanted to talk about Jesus Christ!

This Saturday we also had a ward christmas party! What was special about it was we didn't do it at the church. A member named Brother McLane owns a massive ranch that is super nice! So we had the party in his decorated barn and got to walk around the ranch and look at all the animals. I had a lot of fun there! It felt like how I expected Texas to be lol. Big open ranch with lots of cows, lots of friendly people, and lots of really good food. I even got to eat a bacon wrapped cinnamon roll for crying out loud! 10/10 experience would do again 😁

My spiritual thought for today is on what we call the Framework. Instead of forcing new rules that go past church wide mission rules, President and Sister Bramwell have adopted what they call the framework. Referring to a picture frame, they teach that without all 4 sides the picture would fall out. And so each side of the framework is made up of important church issued things. Like the scriptures, Preach My Gospel handbook, Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ, and counsel from President make up our four sides of the framework in the TSAM. I am very grateful for the framework because it allows me to choose to be obedient to the laws of the Gospel and that brings more joy than forcing someone to do otherwise. It reminds me of the gift of agency which has been given to us by our Heavenly Father. 

Agency is the power and right to choose on our own. In order for us to choose we must have a this or that and so that is why good exists in the world, but so does evil. The Lord allows evil and trials because they test our faith. And they allow us to use that God given gift of agency to choose Jesus Christ and righteousness on our own. So with the framework, I see a closer alignment to the gospel of the Jesus Christ and I get to actively apply it to my life using the framework. That's why when something gets questioned, like a rule or standard, we can consult the framework and I like to say “It Fits in the Framework!”

Anyways yall! Hope you're having a blessed Christmas season already and I pray the Lord continues to bless you according to His will. If any of you are in need of specific prayers please reach out and I would love to! Have a wonderful week! 😊 

With Love, 

Elder Noble