I'm dreamin' of a white Christmas

This week has been awesome. If there is a list of things a missionary would love to hear an investigator say, it would look something like this:
- I know the Book of Mormon is true
- We love having you come over
- I heard you don't drink tea, why? (then we teach the word of wisdom) ok, that's good enough for me
- I want to understand all the commandments so I can't break any of them 
- You can come over every day if you want
- People were giving me flak at work for being baptized in the church, but I don't care. I told them I know it's true.

We have the best investigators ever. That family I mentioned last week, who I am calling the Nielsen's (you know, that whole thing about not using people's real names) are incredible. We have taught them about 7 times over the course of a week and a half, and they have come to church both sundays, and the ward Christmas party. And this ward is awesome. The 11 yr old daughter heard them ask the primary kids to go to the primary room to get ready to put on the program they had practiced, and she asked if she could go, so they had her be a narrator, and it was awesome. Her mom was so happy to see them include her like that. It was awesome. And now the 15 yr old is loving it all too. We found out she likes to sing, so I asked her to do a musical number with me and she is learning How Great Thou Art and I'm going to figure out a cool accompaniment to go with it. It will be fun. I can't even tell y'all though how awesome this has been, working with this family. They have been so prepared and are very in tune with the spirit. I have grown to love them like family. Which is crazy cause it's only been a week and a half. I love the spirit involved in missionary work.

We also are seeing a lot of success in finding the people that the missionaries were working with in the past. There is one guy, I'll call him Steve, who really liked the Elders before, and then they combined the wards here and took the elders out and just left the sisters. Well, one of the sisters told him that his house was dark and depressing ( he listens to like metallica and megadeath and stuff like that, so he has posters up) and that he should change it and he really didn't like that. When we knocked on his door he was so excited to see us and set up an appointment for the soonest he could meet with us. I'm excited to teach him tonight, he seems like a cool guy.

We also found a couple that the elders were working with before that live in a sketchy neighborhood that the sisters don't like to go in cause there are stories of it being sketchy, but the other guys used the ride their bikes through there on a daily basis, and we're in a car, so we'll be fine. 

And there are part-member families that have been worked with that we're gonna keep on working with, they have a lot of potential and the ward really feels like they are ready, so we'll be teaching them too.

Things are picking up and we are seeing miracles. I love this work. And we're gonna have the font filled right after Christmas :)

-- --Elder Braxton C Foust--

Moses and Aaron‏

I am loving it being here in Granbury. It is so much fun to work back in the country.

My companion's name is Elder Parker, he is from South Jordan Utah. He's about half an inch taller than me, so I am once again in a very tall companionship. And he played football for SUU, so he's built pretty well too. We're a couple of big boys, and we get a lot of comments on that.
Like I said last week, we white washed the sisters out. There are a lot of people that were surprised to see us at church yesterday, some are sad o have the sisters gone, and some are excited to have elders here. And there are actually a couple of members that I already know because of my previous areas.

What I didn't tell you last week was that I was sick as a dog. I've basically gotten over it all except for one thing. On Thursday we had our weekly planning session from 10-2. Over the course of planning, my voice started to get scratchier and scratchier. By the end of it I could barely talk. For the rest of Thursday, all the way through today I have barely been able to talk, and it has been very weird. If you know me, you know I like to talk. And being in a new place with new people, especially with a new missionary, talking is a very good resource to have available. But apparently the Lord has something else in mind. It has been nice though, because Elder Parker has been given the opportunity to be pushed way outside his comfort zone to talk to people because I can't comfortably. So basically, I am Moses and he is Aaron. I have the experience and know what to say, but he has to say it. He has really stepped up too. It has been fun watching him in situations where he doesn't quite know what do to, so he figures it out. I am really impressed with him. We are going to see some miracles these two transfers. Today my voice is still very scratchy and low, but it's not tickling as much as I talk, and hopefully it will all be back by tomorrow or the next day. But we'll see what happens.

We have an awesome family we're teaching. I will call them the Nielsens. The mom and daughters are all on board and want to be baptized, the dad is cool with us being there and everything, but he's not too into it. (yet). But She is on fire. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and loves it, and she's been praying about it and has felt the spirit a lot. She loves coming to church and is just on fire. She told us we can come over every day if we want because she loves talking about it so much. Her one daughter (15) is just now being interesting in religion, and her mom told us that after we gave each of them their own copy of the Book of Mormon, that night she went in to check on her and she was under the covers with a flashlight reading it. They are such and awesome family.

I love this work. It is going to be an awesome area to finish up in.

I love y'all!

www.mormon.org/christmas

--
--Elder Braxton C Foust--

The Missionary Outside is Elder Johnson, the one inside is Elder Singleton,

Country roads, take me home To the place I belong

So Saturday morning, I got a phone call from President Sagers. He asked if I was ready to do the best thing you can do to end your mission. Train a new missionary. I am so stoked. And I get to do it back in one of my favorite zones ever, Weatherford!I'll be serving in the Granbury ward, which will be awesome.

 My new address is:

Elder B. Foust

 1005 Spring Ridge Circle #101

Granbury TX 76048

I'm so excited to get back into the country area. I have grown to love it since being in Burleson (Mix of Metroplex and country) To denton (90% of the ward boundaries were in the country) to weatherford, (all in the country). And being in the heart of the Metroplex has been weird, so it'll just be awesome to get back out there. You know those moments where someone says something and you just know for a fact it is meant for you specifically? Even if it is for other people it's still for you. I had one of those at ZLC on Friday. President told a story of when one of the prophets (I don't remember which one) was on his death bed, and the first counselor of the 1st presidency was at the foot of the bed. The President of the Quorum of the 12 came in and asked "what can I do for you?" He didn't reply, and within minutes, the prophet passed away. The 1st counselor then stood up and looked toward the President of the Quorum of the 12, who with the death of the prophet now becomes the President of the church, and asked him "what can I do for you?" This story illustrated a change in stewardship. (You may not understand it if you're not too familiar with the workings of priesthood leadership) But the point President Sagers was making was that some of the Zone Leaders were going to be reassigned to a different assignment and we need to be prepared to serve in whatever capacity it is, and to report to whoever has a stewardship over us now. For me it is especially close to home because my Zone Leaders will be Elder Border, who I just trained as a ZL, and Elder Fowers, who is just now becoming a ZL and when he was a new missionary I was a his first District Leader. I love it. I am so excited to be serving around these guys again. Several of the missionaries serving in Weatherford now are missionaries that were there when I was, so it'll be fun to see them all again. We had a good week.

 This weekend was Arlington's annual Nativity display, it was fun to work there. We didn't really get to take a lot of time looking at the different things, but we still had a good time. We had a cool experience with a less-active family these last couple weeks. The non-member husband, I will call him John, has never been interested in the church. He has never really been rude to the missionaries, but he doesn't care. The wife, who I will call Amber, has been less-active for 17 years. They have been having a hard time with a lot of different aspects of life and finally she called the bishop. She has been meeting with the missionaries for a couple months as well, and now she committed to coming to church. One of her big issues though is that she has some serious anxiety issues with people she doesn't know. But as she and John talked about it they decided they need to raise their son in a church and that it would really help them if they go back. So they came last week, and they loved it. We saw her last Sunday night and she was just happier in general. It was awesome. Then this past Thursday we saw her and she said that he doesn't read or write very well, so they downloaded the Book of Mormon mp3 files for his phone and he listens to it on the way to and from work. And he is loving it. He tells her about the things he is reading and gets excited as he does. Then they came again yesterday, and even though it was fast and testimony meeting with a bunch of people crying all the time, they still enjoyed it. And when we saw her last night, there is a total different feel in their house, in her countenance, in everything. There is actual joy there now. And that's just from 2 times at church! The difference it makes when we sincerely do spiritual things for our growth is incredible! And he wants us to answer his questions, so on Wednesday Elder Johnson and Elder Condie will go there, while I am headed to Granbury with my New Missionary, whose name will be told next week when I know what it is. It's this kind of stuff that I love about missionary work. One other cool thing happened this week. We were told that the Spanish bike area was getting a visa waiter, and I had a funny thought of "what if it is someone I know." Then we got the text that he would get here Wednesday morning during studies. Well Wednesday morning right after studies was Zone Training, so we got to meet him that first day. Lo and Behold, it's Glen Singleton from Kaysville Utah, I've known him for a few years, he's a year younger than me and hung out with Kade Butt, Jake Hunsaker, and that group of guys. It was pretty cool to see him. I walked up to him and when he saw me, and realized it was me, he said "What's up Braxton... I mean.. uh.. Elder Foust...." It was funny. That's about it for this week. Have a Good week! Love y'all!again, if you didn't last week, go to mormon.org/christmas

--
--Elder Braxton C Foust--

A newborn King to see, ba-rum-pum-pum-pum

This is Board Week again. We find out transfers next Monday, so don't send anything after Friday or it may not get to me. I have a feeling I may be leaving even though it has only been one transfer here.

This was a fast week.

On Tuesday we had district meeting with a district I hadn't been to before, it went very well. Near the end he had Elder Johnson read the account of Captain Moroni making the Title of Liberty

"And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—aIn memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole."

But when he read "Rent his coat" Elder Fulcher, the District Leader, took of his suit coat, and then ripped his white shirt and tie off his chest. It was pretty epic. (And he had another white shirt and tie on underneath.) And then we all wrote on the back of his shirt what we're fighting for. It was pretty cool.

On Wednesday I got to go to Elder Fowers' District Meeting. The cool thing about that is that a year ago, I was Elder Fowers first district leader. And now, he is my district leader and I am his zone leader. It was a really good meeting too, but it didn't have any shirt-ripping-off action there.

On Friday we had ZLC with President Sagers, which was awesome as always. We talked about how to work with the ward and stake leadership more effectively.

On Saturday we were going to visit a former investigator and there were some teenagers from the next door complex that we stopped to talk to. One girl had a lot of questions and we talked for a little bit and she told us that she and her mom are looking for a church. Her mom got there and knew who we were, and she was happy to see us. She told us that she used to go to the church with her cousin, and she had enough of a basic knowledge we wonder if she may be a less-active member that is just not on the roster. We are going to teach them on Wednesday.

This weekend is the annual Arlington City Nativity Celebration, hosted by us at the Stake Center. It is going to be really cool, I am excited to be involved. There are going to be nativities set up from all around the world, and musical groups from all over Texas. It will be a lot of fun, and I will take pictures.

Go to www.mormon.org/christmas

I love y'all! have a great week!

--

--Elder Braxton C Foust--

Elder Bowen pt 2

So last week I told y'all about how we had a meeting with Elder Bowen earlier that morning. On Tuesday we had our zone conference with him, and it was awesome.

The zone conference was in Colleyville, where Elder Johnson was trained. The night before (Monday) he remembered a very important piece of information about Colleyville. Colleyville is home to the one and only Costa Vida in Texas, and it is owned by a member. And we were instructed to eat lunch before our meeting, so we decided to take the missionaries we were driving, Elder Ash and Elder Lilo, to Costa Vida. They are from Kentucky and Hawaii (I bet you couldn't have guessed that with a name like Lilo) so they have never heard of Costa Vida before, so we decided to educate them in its awesomeness. We got there and there were already 8 other missionaries there, 4 from Colleyville, and 4 from Arlington (who we were not expecting to see there). The thing about this Costa Vida is that because it is the only one in the mission, a lot of missionaries know about it, especially if they served in Colleyville, so they all wanted to go. Well, long story short, within 15 minutes of us arriving, over 30 more missionaries showed up. It was a mad house. And remember how I said the owner was a member? He gave every one of us 50% off. What's better than a smothered sweet pork burrito? A smothered sweet pork burrito that only costs 4.50. Plus blessings for the member, because I am confident God rewards that kind of charity.

So after our lunch we went to the church to have our meeting. Our zone was asked to do a musical number, so we practiced that before. We did Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy, acapella, and it was awesome. We had about 10 of us singing. and 4 of the elders and a sister are Polynesian, so it had that awesome poly tone to it. It was awesome. Elder Lilo performed it in the MTC a couple times, so he came up with the style and things we did to it. It rocked.

Then we had our meeting. It was so good. Elder Bowen talked about a lot of the same things he did in our Zone Leader Meeting the day before, but of course he did some different things too. He talked about our relationship with Abraham, and the application of the covenants to us. He talked about our divine potential and really what we are here sharing with people. And he talked about the oath and covenant of the priesthood.

We have an investigator I don't think I have ever told you about, I will call her Vanessa. She is literally, the most converted non-member I have ever met. She has been with her husband for about 3 years now, and he has been less active for like, 15 years. When they first met she told him that she didn't want anything to do with his cult, and he said that's fine cause he doesn't go anyway. And that's how it was for a long time. But something changed, and she was invited to church by his sister, and she came a couple times and fell in love with the gospel. Now she says things like "I'm just so much happier than I have ever been before," and "I don't know why, but I just want to tell everyone else about how great this is." She told us that when she was first taught the Word of Wisdom she thought it was dumb and there was no reason for it. But Elder Larson, one of the first to teach her, told her to quit trying to take their word for it and trying to convince herself of its truth or being false, and just ask God. So she did. and after a while she got over it. She told us that now she believes it, even though she's not really sure why. And last time she drank a sweet tea it made her sick to her stomach, so she has taken that as further testimony. She is as solid as they come. She is waiting until her sister-in-law is in town to be baptized. So as long as the world doesn't end on 12/21/12, she'll be baptized that night. :) which it won't. As President Sagers would say, "That's all hokey pokey anyway."

Here's my challenge for y'all for this week. Read Doctrine and Covenants 84:33-44 and ask yourself "Am I living up to these covenants?" They apply to both men and women.

I love y'all! have a great week!

--
--Elder Braxton C Foust--

Different ends of the spectrum

This morning was a really cool morning. We had the opportunity to have an extra zone leader meeting at Hurst, because Elder Shayne M. Bowen of the 70 is here, and he wanted to meet with the Zone Leaders before the rest of the missionaries. We had a really good meeting and he taught a lot. He started out talking about the principle of Agency.

It was cool, because most of the time when we talk about agency we are talking about the things that we do. Whether or not we do homework. Whether or not we practice piano. Whether or not we see a movie. Whether or not we go to church. But there is more to it than that. He talked about receiving the Holy Ghost for example. He asked if it is possible for someone to be baptized by the proper authority, and have hands laid on their head (again, by the authority)

"And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord" D&C 84:35

and have the blessings given and everything done correctly, but the person does not receive the Holy Ghost, even though the words spoken are "receive the Holy Ghost." Of course, the answer is yes, it is possible to not receive it. Why? Because God has given us our agency. Just because we do something doesn't mean we choose to receive the blessings. Because God loves us, he will not force the Holy Ghost on us. He will not force us to be sanctified, purified, and receive that guidance he wants to give. We have to choose to accept that. And choosing to accept that is more than just going through the motion. It has to do with changing our nature.

He later talked about how Laman and Lemuel walked just as far as Nephi. They helped build the boat. and they had to leave their things behind too. But when all was said and done, after everyone had put in a lot of work, Laman and Lemuel did not receive the blessings. Although they put forth the effort and did what was required, it was not enough. They did not believe it and they did not choose to receive those blessings. The question then is, are we going through motions and doing things without putting everything into it and choosing to receive the blessings?

Now it's my turn to elaborate a little. We can go through the motions and not really believe it and mean it. But we cannot really mean it if we do not do the act. The perfect example I can think of is this. "I have accepted Jesus as my savior, I have been saved. Even though I break the Sabbath every week, and drink, and smoke, and break the law of chastity, and support others who break the law of chastity, I know that Jesus dies for my sins and I have been forgiven." By the way, this is much more common than you may think. If someone really, truly loves Christ, and has accepted Him, their actions will show it. Not eventually, but now. Doctrine understood changes behavior. If nature is changed, behavior is as well. You see, you cannot live the "spirit of the law" without living the "letter of the law."He said it Himself. "If you love me, keep my commandments."

Ok, so back to Elder Bowen, it was awesome. We were able to learn a lot from him. I really enjoyed it. I'm excited for our next meeting with him tomorrow.

So now for the other end of the spectrum. Right after getting fired up about missionary work and everything, I got a voicemail from the mission office. So I called Sister Brown back and she starts asking me some questions. She needed to double check my parents' email addresses, my home address, and my home ward information. And then the question that deems this phone call the "trunkie call." "What airport do you want to fly to when you go home in 4 months? “And seriously, that's how it is worded too. So that is the other end of the spectrum, the fact that in 3 1/2 months I will be on a plane. Which can be potentially dangerous to a drive to do missionary work. So now I get the fun part of my mission. Where I keep it all laid out on the table and see miracles. Like I heard President Sagers say before, I'm going to be the kind of missionary that when I wake up Satan says "Oh no... He's up again."

 --Elder Braxton C Foust--

Elder Phister

 Elder Border

Elder Fa

Elder Fibke

 Elder Johnson

Elder Moore 

A different type of email

This email is going to be different. I don't feel like there were any real stories to tell or updates to give. I am doing well, my companion is awesome, and we are working our tails off. I love being a missionary. But because I don't feel like there's much to tell y'all about with things that are happening, I'm just going to talk about... I don't know what. This is being fed by the things I see around me in Texas, in the world, in people I know and care about, and in complete strangers. But I feel like it will apply to everyone in some way.

We'll see where this all goes.

In this life we face many different situations. Many situations that bring us happiness, and also that bring us sorrow. Situations that bring us stress, and some that bring relief. Some that bring us health, sickness, prosperity, poverty, pleasure, pain, and a multitude of other opposites. Why? Why do we have to face so much opposition?

Many times we have situations in life that are difficult to handle. We don't know what to do, what to say, what to think, or what to feel. We get so caught up in the moment of stress that we just want to freak out, lash out, or shut down. We draw ourselves away from those who love us most, and many times we lead ourselves into darkness, and out of light. The worst part is, we may not even realize it. We still go through our days, minute by minute, until it's been weeks, and then months, and then years have gone by and we don't even realize that we've not been walking in the light. And it is simply because we have desensitized ourselves. It starts with little things. Usually contention of some sort. It leads to anger, fear, and hurt. Communication stops. Without communication, not only can a relationship not grow and become stronger, but it shrinks, becomes weaker, and eventually switches to an opposition, as opposed to cooperation. And the problem is, we are always sure we are right. But the truth of it all, is that we are all unclean, and we all have need to repent. That is the solution to every problem in this world. Repentance. Humbling ourselves enough to submit to the Lord's will, and to stop doing things that are wrong, and start doing things that are right. We all have weaknesses, they come in a variety of ways. But we cannot overcome them alone. If we pull away from those who love us most, we will fall. We learn a lot from the Fall of Adam and Eve, because it is a type and shadow of our personal falls. We all die spiritually, (meaning removing ourselves from God's presence) and we all must repent in order to walk in the light.

This applies not only to our worldly interactions, but our relationship with God. So ask yourself, "How is my relationship with God?" And then ask yourself again, "How is my relationship with God?" and this time be even more honest with yourself. Kneel down and ask God how your relationship is. This is not meant to form some sort of guilt or shame, because that's not my job, but that is the job of the Holy Ghost, so if it happens, ask God why, not me. And be humble enough to learn.

Not apply it again to the interactions with other mortals. Ask about your relationship with your family. Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters. As we live more righteously every aspect of our lives is positively influenced. every aspect. Not a couple, not one or two. All of them.

I don't know why I wrote about this. I don't want to sound preachy, but sometimes we have to. Like Elder Holland said in Conference a year ago, "This is a life-and-death contest we are in, so I am going to get in your face a little, nose to nose, with just enough fire in my voice to singe your eyebrows a little-the way coaches do when the game is close and victory means everything."

Not that I am anything compared to Elder Holland, but I do know at least one thing. This is the Lord's work. Victory means everything. To quote him again, this time from last month, (he is giving a non-scriptural elaboration as to what the Savior may have said to Peter on the shore of the sea)"What I need, Peter, are disciples-and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world."

 Now how does it apply to us as Saints? Well, it has a huge impact on those around us. Not only in sharing the gospel and trying to be a member missionary, but in a more natural way than that. In April 2001 Elder Holland shared a short experience"A young returned missionary sister from Hong Kong told me recently that when she and her companion asked an investigator if she believed in God, the woman replied, "I didn't until I met a member of your church and observed how she lived." What exemplary missionary work! Asking every member to be a missionary is not nearly as crucial as asking every member to be a member! Thank you for living the gospel."

 (Can you guess which apostle's talks I listen to the most?)

We need to live the gospel. Period. That is the only way to get out of this Hell we are in now, as individuals, as communities, as families, as a nation. Some of us are in it worse than others. And some of us are deluded to think we're not at all. Living the gospel will do more to help us and those around us than anything else we can do. Keep the commandments. Have Faith. Repent. Make and Keep covenants. Always remember Christ. It really is pretty simple.

Again, sorry if this came across as preachy. But take it how you will. It's all true.

I love y'all! Have a good week!--

--Elder Braxton C Foust--

De Ja Vu‏

It is so weird being back in the city, after spending so much time in the country (where i have been since January). From the sounds of it, Elder Nielsen and I are having a similar situation. Other than the fact that Texas Country and Cambodia Country are very, very different places. And I imagine Texas city and Cambodia city are very different too. But that's all beside the point.

This area reminds me so much of Burleson it's not even funny. Maybe even more of my exchanges in Fort Worth, but still, this is the Metroplex. And it has been a year since I was there, so the weather just adds to the memories. Plus, the library that I am sitting in right now uses the same system as the Burleson library and the login and everything is identical. So it is even more like where I was before. The biggest difference now is that I am not training a new missionary, but instead I am with another experienced missionary and we have a lot more responsibilities. Yay.... But I really love being a zone leader, so I'm not complaining.

I don't really know what to say about my new area. Things are going well, we are working to find people to teach and baptize. We are working hard. We live with some really cool members, the Idles. But they are moving once their house sells, so I may be moving at some point, who knows.

I have been studying the Abrahamic Covenant, and it has a lot of really good stuff in it. I realized something though, the basic outline of the Abrahamic covenant is the covenants we make at baptism and confirmation, as we receive the priesthood, and as we are endowed and sealed in the temple. The blessings given to Abraham are available to all of us as we make and keep those sacred covenants.

So to again quote , "So if you have made covenants, keep them. If you haven’t made them, make them. If you have made them and broken them, repent and repair them." (The Laborers in the Vineyard, April 2012 General Conference)

If you don't, you cannot inherit all the blessings our Father in Heaven has for us. Our eternal progression depends on how we use our agency. So make a choice.

I love all y'all ;)
-- 
--Elder Braxton C Foust--

What does a Cowboy, A ranger,Six Flags, and King of the hill all have in common?

Well, it is transfers this week, and if any of y'all are familiar with Texas at all, you'll know that the answer to the question in the subject line is this:

Arlington Texas

I am getting transferred to the great city of Arlington Texas, and I am freaking stoked. My new companion is Elder Connor Johnson, from Fruit Heights Utah. The same Elder Johnson who I went to Davis High School and played in band with. We are going to have way too much fun. This may even be my last area....

my new address is:

6102 Hedgeapple Ct.

Arlington TX 76001

Oh yeah, as for the Riddle Last week

Fill in the Blank

The ____________ is a good law, although adapted to a lower spiritual capacity than is required for obedience to the gospel in its fullness.

My Dad said "The Law of Moses." which is close. It would be the correct answer if the riddle's wording said "The ____was a good law" not "is a good law"

So with the present tense, the correct answer is actually

The BYU Honor Code is a good law, although adapted to a lower spiritual capacity than is required for obedience to the gospel in its fullness. :)

One interesting thing about Missionary work is that you are always supposed to leave the area stronger than you found it. I'm happy to say that I feel like this is the case. This week the whole zone did the best we have all 4 1/2 months I have been here. We even have a brand new family of 4 who all came to church yesterday and really liked it. But it is sad that I won't get to teach the rest of the lessons to them. I won't get to see them baptized. Obviously the important thing is that they do get taught and are baptized, but sometimes it hurts to leave the field right before the harvest, and know that someone else will enjoy the fruits of your labors. But I am comforted by the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 1

"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?"

In the same way, it does not really matter whether or not I get to be present for their baptism, or any of the other three families that we are teaching, what matters is that they have found the gospel.

I am excited for Elder Border, his new companion is Elder Phister, who I was with in Denton. Both of the missionaries that I trained as ZLs are now companions. And Elder Phister is following in my footsteps. He had 4 different companions in his 4 transfers in Denton, and is now coming to Weatherford. I also had 4 companions in my 4 transfers in Denton and then came to Weatherford. Just kind of funny.

This Saturday was a really cool day. At 11 we had our first appointment with the family of 4 I mentioned before. They came to the church for our first lesson, and were able to see a baptism, then get a church tour, and then have the first lesson. They loved it. They have been prepared like I have never seen before, and they are seeing answers to their prayers, and are also the answers to prayers here. They sat on the second row in sacrament meeting yesterday. Members here don't even sit that close, but they were up there before we even got in the chapel.

Later on on Saturday we had another baptism in the stake center. the Mineral Wells elders had 3 actually. 2 of those have been investigating for 2 years. They are also 72 and 75 yrs old. When the wife (75) was baptized, and came out of the water, the look of pure joy was incredible. I have never seen someone with so much happiness and just pure joy in their face before. It was incredible.

I am going to miss working here, I have had 2 awesome companions in Weatherford, and the members are great. Plus serving in the YSA was a blast. Speaking of YSA, I heard through the grapevine that a member from the YSA was stalking the Foust in Fort Worth blog (the link is on my mormon.org proflie, so that's my guess) so in case she reads this "Hi Bonnie! I hope you're having fun at BYU Hawaii!"

But I am seriously stoked for Arlington. Actually, Elder Johnson trained Elder Moore, so that ties us all in there even more. I am also really excited with my transfer call because I am still a zone leader, and Nov. 12 Elder Shayne M. Bowen of the 70 is coming and is going to have meetings with all the missionaries, but also an extra one with the Zone Leaders, so that will be cool. The entire Arlington stake geographically is smaller than the Weatherford Ward alone, so I am going from a huge zone to a small one, which will be weird, cause Denton Zone was almost as big as Weatherford.

Long story short, I love being a missionary. And I am really excited to keep going.

I love y'all! Have a good week!

--Elder Braxton C Foust--

Holiday in Cambodia

Ok, so this week has nothing to do with a Holiday in Cambodia, I just couldn't think of a subject line so I used Elder Nielsen's. Huzzah for plagiarism. This week was a really good week. For pretty much the first time in my mission we met most of our goals (but I won't tell you what those goals are, because compared to numbers in Cambodia, Mexico, or Mozambique they are look really low). What matters is that we met them, and we taught a lot of lessons compared to what we normally reach.

I got to go on exchange with Elder Tison, he's from the Marshall Islands. It was a lot of fun. We taught a few people and were able to get a hold of an investigator that has been off the map for a while. I had a lot of fun with him. The next day (Wednesday) we taught a bunch of lessons. We were able to have members with us for all of them too. One of them is a girl named Chelsea. She is open to learning about religions and wants to find a good church to raise her daughter in. She has attended a lot of churches and met with missionaries from Baptist churches, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other evangelical people. And she told us that with all of them after meeting with them for a while she had these feelings of uneasiness, and she just felt like she shouldn't continue with them. But when she met us, she had feelings of peace, and felt like this was good. We explained the role of the Holy Ghost and taught her about the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately she got a little bit of anti from some friends, but we were able to take care of it. Now she just needs to search for truth and pray about the Book of Mormon. She is solid though, she's gonna get baptized.

We have an Investigator named Bill who is in his late 50s and has been investigating the church on and off since he was 14 (talk about an eternal investigator). We don't spend a lot of time there because the likelihood of us baptizing him is very slim since no one else has before. He has read all the standard works, and a lot of Books from the church. Unfortunately he also likes to read the bad stuff too. He recognizes the false things in those other books, but his idea is he wants to know it all before he makes a final decision. He suffers from a need to understand everything intellectually before he'll try spiritually. He is not relying on the Lord in any way. This is a perfect example of what we need to not do. But he feeds us dinner sometimes, he takes us to a place with really good catfish and we discuss things there.

The best things about this week though have been things I have learned from my personal studies. One thing our ward mission leader said the other day was how the Books of Alma and Helaman were written for our time, and how there are showing us some of the things that happened to them leading up to Christ's first coming, and that will happen as we lead up to Christ's second. I have noticed a lot of things in there that are taking place. one of the things is in Helaman 5:2 For as their laws and their governments were established by the voice of the people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction, for the laws had become corrupted. We can see this today in some places, and even here in America. Things like homosexual marriage/activities, where the Bible and Book of Mormon teach us very clearly that there are severe penalties for such sins, and those penalties are not just for those participating, but for those supporting it as well. There are other parts where we see that as the people of the church are righteous, many souls are brought to baptism to make covenants with God. When they are wicked, the work ceases, and there are punishments fr everyone. This is a serious time. This is the time when we need to be on our game. We need to be focused on the things that really matter. Living the gospel as individuals and families, helping others to do the same, making and keeping covenants, serving missions if we're in that position in life, repenting of our sins and transgressions, studying, teaching, learning, and applying the gospel of Jesus Christ will do more for our future and the future of our families that anything else we can do. I know this is true.

So my invitation to you is to live it!I love you!

Elder Braxton C Foust--

Conference

This week was a really good week, and it was all topped off with General Conference. This conference was incredible. If you didn't watch all of it, repent and watch it.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2012/10?lang=eng

President Monson made the announcement that the minimum age for missionaries has changed, so that means if Jaden chooses to, he can leave as soon as 6 months after I get home instead of 18 months after, that's so crazy.

That was such a great start to conference, hearing the changes there. The work is going to increase dramatically, and we're going to see miracles happen. I won't get to see any 18 yr olds in my mission, but I know that when they start showing up things are going to take off.

I loved every apostle's talk. They were all things I needed to hear. Elder Anderson's was perfect for people in Texas, talking about how the Doctrine is taught by all 15 apostles, and the principles are found openly, not in some obscure paragraph somewhere. In other words, 98% of anti-mormon material needs to just be forgotten, because it is just nonsense. the other 2%, comes from people not understanding basic truths of the Gospel, and they just believe differently (and wrongly, by the way. I will be that bold to say.) In my studies I have been reading the New Testament again, I came across this the other day

  

37 ¶Now when they heard this, they were apricked in their bheart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men andbrethren, cwhat shall we do?

 38 Then Peter asaid unto them, bRepent, and be cbaptized every one of you in the dname of Jesus Christ for the eremission of sins, and ye shall receive the fgift of the gHoly Ghost.

 39 For the apromise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are bafar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

 40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying,aSave yourselves from this buntoward generation.

 41 ¶Then they that gladly areceived his bword were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about cthree thousand souls.

 42 And they continued astedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine andbfellowship, and in breaking of cbread, and in prayers.

These men who were baptized received a spiritual witness that Peter's testimony of the Atonement was true. They knew that he was a true apostle of Jesus Christ, and they accepted the fulness of the gospel. Now look again at verse 42. "they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine." Because they know they are apostles, they know that their doctrine is the doctrine of Christ. In the same way, once you gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, you know that these living apostle's today, and their predecessors back to and including Joseph Smith, are apostles, and you know theat their doctrine is the true doctrine of the Father.

 Back to General Conference, Elder Russell M Nelson gave one of my favorite talks. He explained that if you have any question concerning life, eternity, God, Christ, the gospel, the atonement, or if you need help spiritually, physically, or want help knowing more about family history, or a multitude of different things, "ask the missionaries. They can help." 

But by far my favorite talk, the one that totally pumped me up was Jeffrey R. Holland. He has always been my favorite, and this conference he did it again. His talk was first talked about when Peter and some of the other apostles went fishing after Christ's Resurrection. He talks about how Christ taught Peter that the commission was eternal, not just while Christ was here. And how there needed to be a change.

This makes me think about my mission. Is there a change in my nature? When I go home will I be the same person I was when I left? Will I have the same immature desires and habits? Or will I do as Paul says in 1 Corinthians "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." I need to change my nature. I need to go home and be something I wasn't before. Not just act differently, but Be different. Anyone who goes on a mission and goes home without changing their nature has wasted the Lord's time and their own. So I need to be able to say I have not wasted my time, or the Lord's. I feel like I can say that, but I am in the "endure to the end" phase.  Of course the Atonement is there for those who did not change, they still can. But I don't want to need to figure out how to change once I have the world's distractions again. We all need to be constantly growing, changing, repenting, and becoming more and more Christlike.

That's why I love Elder Holland's talks, because he pumps me up to change.

  

I love y'all! Have a great week!

----Elder Braxton C Foust--

A seed. A Tree. A Covenant.‏

Well, I am at a really weird spot this week, cause I don't really have much to talk about. It was another regular week in Weatherford. On Friday we had Zone Leader Council, it was really good as always. We had really good trainings from President and Sister Sagers about leadership and obedience. It is a good time to be a missionary. We were told that in November we will have another general authority visit, Elder Shayne M. Bowen of the 70 will be visiting. Here's a video you can check out from a talk he gave in general conference. http://mormonchannel.org/video?v=1795507066001 It is really good. Anyway, in preparation for that we are studying the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood (found in D&C 84:33-44). I studied it this morning for the first time and I learned a lot. A couple of the things that we covenant when we receive the Priesthood are "magnifying our calling", spreading the gospel, "diligently studying the words of eternal life", and "living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God". The blessings that come are of sanctification by the holy ghost, renewal of our physical bodies, and eventually receiving eternal life. If we break the covenant, "But whoso breaketh this ^acovenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall ^bnot have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come." D&C 84:41.

It's kind of a big deal.

"So if you have made covenants, keep them. If you haven’t made them, make them. If you have made them and broken them, repent and repair them."

 - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.

It reminds me of Alma 32, after the analogy of planting the seed, now looking at the tree. So you have planted the seed (the fullness of the gospel) in your heart, nourished it, and it grew. You know it is true. "37 And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.
 38 But if ye ^aneglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out."
If we do not keep the first principles of the gospel, if we do not study the Book of Mormon and the Bible, if we do not go to church to partake of the sacrament to renew our covenants, if we turn away from the fullness of the gospel, the testimony dies. And when those people turn away, they lose blessings in this life, and eternal life in the life to come. 

Again, Kind of a big deal.

So we need to make and keep covenants. We need to help others make and keep covenants. We cannot receive salvation without them. No one can. It takes more than "accepting Christ in our heart" We cannot just confess Christ, and cry unto him. Matthew 7:21 "Not every one that ^asaithunto me, ^bLord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that ^cdoeth the ^dwill of my Father which is in heaven" We need to do the Father's will, and his will is for us to make and keep covenants, just as it has been since the beginning of time, and how it will be until the end. 

It is really quite simple. Read the scriptures, make covenants by ordinances performed by the priesthood authority, go to church to partake of the sacrament to renew the covenants you made with God by the priesthood authority, and pray sincerely for guidance and direction and answers to questions, and then be humble enough to follow the guidance and direction and answers given to you. I promise that as you do, you will find peace in this life, and eternal life in the world to come.

I love you all! Live the Gospel! Share the Gospel! Listen to the Prophet and Apostles this weekend!

--Elder Braxton C Foust--

The best time of year

It's finally starting to hint that it may be getting cooler, which is awesome. The last couple weeks have been a lot cooler than before, so that is good. But the last couple days have still been about 90. But, I may not see another triple digit day the rest of my time in Texas. That's a weird thought. But the best thing about the cooler weather is that more people are out and we can talk to them easier now.

This week was really good. We are working really hard to find, teach, and baptize. We are starting to see more people that are interested, and that are willing to do a little bit. Now we are just working on helping them be willing to do a lot.

We found a new part member family this week. They met with missionaries before, and she learned something that concerned her, but she never told them what it was, they had no idea that there was a concern really. So they just kept teaching and it never went anywhere. She eventually told them that they are probably not doing much good there and should go work with someone else. We went over there not knowing all the details, but were able to sit down, and as we taught the spirit worked on her and after telling us that she was fine where she was and everything, she finally blurted out her concern, and it was obvious that she is not only not fine with where she was, but really she was worried about eternity. She had a friend tell her that she was going to hell and things like that, so we taught about the Atonement. She felt the spirit a lot, and now she is very willing to have us back.

We had a couple people drop us, and Gus (who has still been in and out of the hospital) told us that his sister told him to stop meeting with us. So he doesn't really want us to go by his house anymore. But he still wants to come to church. So hopefully we will be able to teach him there and eventually he'll decide he's ready to be baptized.

Yesterday in the YSA branch the pianist was out of town, so they asked

 me to play for sacrament meeting. Luckily they asked a week ago so I was able to figure out what I wanted to play. It was fun to get to play up there, but it is weird to play with people singing along.

Today is a really busy p-day, so I will have to end it here. I love y'all!

--Elder Braxton C Foust-

Insanity

This week has been insane. It has rocked, we have gotten a lot of work done. Elder Border is exactly what I needed to get pumped up and what this area needs to get into shape. Our work styles are a lot more compatible than Elder Moore's and mine, and so we work really well together.

We have been doing a lot of tracting, and we are finding that people are still about the same receptiveness as before, but we teach better together, so more gets done. Yesterday we met a lady who lived in Idaho most of her life, so she thought she knew all about the church, and had some common concerns, but as we taught the Restoration, things were explained to her in a way that made a lot more sense and she committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. One of her concerns was one I have heard a lot, but it is one that I never really understood the root of the issue. Behind every concern there is some point(s) of doctrine that are not understood. As we talked with her, I realized what the Doctrine is behind this concern. The concern is "Mormons believe that Christ and Satan are brothers." I realized something though. When people have this concern, it is because they believe that Christ is the Father, or in other words, they believe in the Trinitarian view of 3 in 1. One in being, which is completely false. The implications of this false belief, when tied to our understanding of the premortal existence implies that Satan is the Brother of our Father in Heaven. But when you understand that we are all spirit children of our Father in Heaven, and that Christ is NOT the Father, but his son, a separate being, and then you realize that we were all together as our Father's children, and that Satan rebelled, it is no longer this big scary thing. The Bible calls Satan a Fallen Angel. He was a spiritual son of God, but did not keep his first estate (meaning he did not accept our Father's plan to come to earth and receive a body and use agency.) As we resolved her concern, a lot of barriers were removed. I love the fullness of the gospel, because it makes so much sense.

Another great thing about transfers is that like I said last week we have three new missionaries. One of them is named Elder Weaver, he is from Kaysville and graduated from Davis High this spring. He was in Dean and DeAnn's stake, I know that because he asked if I was related to Landon Foust and said he was in his stake. It was fun to talk to him and try to find people that we both know, but we have very different types of people we hung around, he doesn't know Jaden either. But as soon as he saw me he said "Yup, I know I've seen you before." Jaden, you should ask Sam Barlow about this kid.

Have you ever heard about the Texas State Fair? They always deep fry tons of stuff there, and they have  new things they do each year. This year one is Deep-Fried-Bacon-Wrapped-Cinnamon-Rolls. I want to try one. Unfortunately the fair is out of my area.

Elder Border is a really cool guy. He is from Ogden. He played basketball in high school. He went to Fremont and Ben Lomon (idk how you spell that). He also played basketball at Dawson Community College in Montana, and then came on his mission. He is my second 6'6" companion (the first being Elder Pipher). We have fun together. We even got in a bash the other day and we rocked it :) not that i look for those, but when they come, sometimes you have to put these "Christians" in their place. It has made me love the Bible more though, and I have really gained a testimony of the Bible being out here.

Well, I need to wrap it up, I love y'all! Have a great week!

--Elder Braxton C Foust-