What an awesome week this was!! So many milestones! I am officially 6 months through my mission! Wow its gone by so fast, the longer I am out, the faster it goes! And I got my first baptism!!! The week started out with a wonderful Monday night to Tuesday night exchange in Canyon lake. I got to meet lots of cool people and it reminded me a lot of the good ol' days in Seguin! 

On Wednesday we got to go to Zone conference and I had lots of fun hanging out with my friends and learning from President and Sister Bramwell. They are so awesome and they gave us great insights on getting members involved!! I also got to see Josh, aka Elder Davis the AP. It was such a fun reunion cause I've missed him being my Zone Leader!! 

On Thursday through Saturday we had a youth come out with us on a mini mission! We got to be fed breakfast and lunch at a members house both days and do our studies with him there, which was so kind of them! He is super cool and already received his mission call to Estonia! So pretty much everything he experienced while following us around in Texas for 2.5 days will be nothing like that when he gets to his actual mission 🤣 I felt a little bad for him though because pretty much all of our lessons canceled and we didn't have any success in finding efforts. But we still had lots of fun and we went to a youth and missionary activity on Friday night where we got to play volleyball! This meant we ended up seeing our fellow missionaries in our District every single day this week! It was lots of fun! 😆

Then on Sunday, our friend Kenny got baptized! I love this man so much he is a true follower of Jesus Christ! His desire to have Jesus in his life is beautiful and he is one of the kindest and most humble souls I ever met. I remember my first sunday here when I met him, the spirit I felt told me this one is different from the others. And he truly is!! He is so special and we felt so much joy at his Baptismal service. The ward truly is a huge blessing and they all came to support him. He has very strong roots right now and we will continue to nourish him as he continues to grow into the wonderful man he is!! We weren't sure the night before if we'd be able to move forward or cancel it due to some unexpected scheduling conflicts on his end. But we got with other missionaries and said a mighty prayer!! And the Lord did answer it. Kenny hadn't answered us all evening until 3:30am when he texted us, “I will be baptized tomorrow.” And he was!! 🌊🌊

🚨 Spiritual Thought 🚨

This week I studied the story of Joseph of Egypt. This story is pretty popular throughout much of the rest of Christianity but has never really interested me too much until I looked at it in a light I haven't looked at it in before! I like how in many of the verses it says, “And the LORD was with Joseph.” Joseph had many difficult trials to go through. He was hated by his brothers who conspired to kill him, he was sold into slavery, tempted by Potiphar's wife, falsely accused by her, and thrown into Prison. Yet throughout all of these trials it says, “And the LORD was with Joseph.” It doesn't give much more detail of what that meant, did God directly speak to him, did angels or Christ appear to him?? Who knows! 

But what we do know about it is the simple phrase, “And the LORD was with Joseph.” And that throughout these various trials, God always helped him to come out on top. These trials were necessary for him to go through as it put him in the right spot at the right time to interpret the Chief Butler and Chief Bakers dreams. Two years after that, still in prison, Pharaoh dreams a dream and the Chief Butler tells Pharaoh about Joseph. Joseph then interprets the dream to be about years of plenty and famine to come. He proposes a plan to Pharaoh and then is rewarded by becoming Ruler of Egypt. This effectively makes him the second most powerful man in all of Egypt. He is also rewarded by the Lord with a family, a wife and two sons. 

As Joseph waited patiently admist his trials, the Lord prepared conditions that were just right to help Joseph be where God needed him. I like to think that maybe Joseph wasn't anymore special or particular than myself or others. Whether it be true or not, I like to picture that Joseph lived just as we do during our own trials. Most of us never receive a physical heavenly messenger or direct voice from Jesus Christ. But maybe it was simply personal revelation to Joseph and him trusting in God.

I feel a lot like Joseph when I think of him that way. Joseph is a great scriptural example of what my Mom taught me, “Just because something is hard; doesn't mean it is not the right thing.” I take comfort in knowing that as I be like Joseph, acting on personal revelation given to me, and trusting in the Lord and his timing, that I can also acclaim, “The LORD is with me!” 

Sorry this was a long one yall!! But trust me in just 6 months I have already seen and done so much I got stories for days. But I am only a quarter of the way through! But it's going by fast and I will see yall in no time! Have a wonderful week yall! 😄

With Love,

Elder Noble