It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me.... And I'm feeling good

The sun is shining, the breeze is cool, and people are happy. It has been a great week.

This past Wednesday was leadership training. This is my second one in my mission. It was awesome. We had trainings from President Sagers, Sister Sagers, the Assistants, and some Zone Leaders. I learned a lot. It is interesting being in leadership training because President Sagers takes the opportunity to let us know what the current problems are in the mission, usually including obedience issues. The nice thing about being the leaders in the mission is that, as Sister Sagers reminds us, they are preaching to the choir. So now we, as the leaders, get to help the missionaries which we have stewardship over to fix these issues so the work will progress. The first thing President Sagers brought up is obedience. There was not anything specific brought up, but just general obedience. He told us "If you want 75% of the lord's help, be 75% obedient. if you want 50% of the lord's help, be 50% obedient. But if you want all of the lord's help, be 100% obedient. And that is possible." This is applicable in all of our lives. We all fall short of the glory of God in our lives, but that is exactly what the atonement is for. We have made covenants with our Father, and if we want his blessings, all of them, we need to be 100% obedient to those covenants. If we want to experience all the blessings god wants for us in our earthly lives, we need to be 100% obedient to all of god's commandments in our earthy lives. If we are not yet experiencing all of the blessings God has for us, we are not fulfilling our side. Maybe we are not having the Faith we should. Maybe we are not repenting of everything. Maybe we have not kept our baptismal covenant, or not been baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God. Maybe we aren't living worthily to have the Holy Ghost (or again, have not received the gift of the holy ghost through the priesthood), and maybe we are not striving to endure to the end. Maybe we're not paying our tithing, or fasting, or serving others, or keeping our thoughts clean, or fulfilling our assignments and callings. Maybe we are all falling short. So fix it.

We also talked in Leadership training about being effective leaders. About how to serve those we work with. How to love those we serve. How to apply fundamentals of Preach my Gospel. It was a great meeting. President Sagers also talked about how the missionaries are like their leaders, who are like their leaders, all the way up to the mission president, and he is very sober and seemingly unexcited. But he really does love the work and is excited, just in general he is quiet. We discussed how the whole mission needs to be more excited and enthusiastic, so that is my goal, to follow Elder lao's example of being extremely Excited all the time.

After Leadership, we went on exchanges with the Assistants. Elder Fibke came to Denton with me, and Elder Lao stayed in Euless with Elder Wagner. The APs serve in a Tongan ward, so they were excited to have Elder lao in there. He met a couple people he knew in SLC, and, being tongan, was able to find his relation to most of the Tongans they met. Anyway, Elder Fibke is a good guy. He is quiet, which is a huge contrast to Elder Lao, but it was still good. We did a lot of contacting the next day, and he was very sober and relaxed. But we are supposed to be excited! So I went out of my comfort zone to be extremely enthusiastic and show how much I love the work. It was really fun, and Elder Fibke even loosened up a bit. THe last door we knocked on was rough though. This guy came out and brought his two little kids out to show them how good he is at confounding the Mormon missionaries. As soon as he came out we could see in his eyes that this was going to be a bad experience. The smile he had was arrogant and honestly made me feel sick. We knew this was not going to go well. He started off by telling us that he had investigated the "mormon church" before and prayed over 2000 times to know if the Book of Mormon was true, and then one day told god he wanted in answer in the next 5 minutes and he didn't feel anything. then he started on this rant about how everyone can have testimonies (which is true) and told his daughter (who was probably like 7) to tell us her testimony and she looked at her dad and said "which one? the I saw two angels one?" and he looked a little embarrassed that she asked that and said yes, then she looked at us and said "i saw two angels" and then he smiled and said, you see, she has seen angels, have you seen angels? see, we have accepted Christ." and then, he started attacking us with a bunch of random stuff, and Elder Fibke and I turned and walked away. He followed us all the way to our truck down the street, yelling at us the whole time. The spirit was completely gone, he shattered it, destroyed it. I have not felt that void of the spirit since I talked with Eli, the soap box preacher at USU, or when I went in the sanctuary (or whatever it is called) in the old Spanish mission in California on the band trip. Honestly, the spirit was completely gone. We got to the truck and prayed hard for its return, and then drove away. I am grateful for the experience though, because of something they told us in the MTC. Sometimes on your mission, you get so used to the presence of the spirit that you forget it's there. You begin to wonder if it is with you all the time or not. It just becomes normal. So this experience helped me feel the complete difference of having the spirit and not, and reminded me that I did in fact have it. I am blessed to recognize that the spirit's companionship is normal, not just this thing I get once in a while when something big happens, although the more powerful spiritual moments are still special like that. And instead, it is the moments without the spirit that are different and therefore uncomfortable. I would much prefer to have the scary moments be the few and far between where I lose the spirit and recognize change, than to have no spirit most of the time and have few and far moments where the spirit is with me. This church is true.

So that was Thursday. On Friday we went into another companionship's area and did and exchange with them to help them be better missionaries, that was fun.

On Saturday we decided to work in Ponder Texas, the furthest part of our area. We have a lot of miles saved up because we walk and use our bikes quite a bit. We had a great time driving the truck out in the dirt roads and with big fields surrounding us. I like our area because we have both city life and country life to experience. I got a great picture that is pure Texas, nothing but flat fields and cattle, with a good looking Mormon missionary standing in front of his Truck. But I forgot my camera cord, so it'll have to wait, sorry. While we were out there we had another pretty violent guy yell at us, his fiancé is a member and he was getting really aggressive. He had a broom that he was gripping like he might swing, and I was thinking "try it". Luckily, once we got close enough to him and he realized that I had about 8 inches and 50 lbs on him and Elder Lao is Elder Lao, he cooled off and tried to act like he was chill the whole time. It was pretty funny. We left a little frustrated at his arrogance, but whatever, he has his agency and there's no reason to be upset about things you can't control. Life goes on. That is one big lesson I have learned on my mission.

Well, I am about out of time. I love you all, thanks for your love, support, and prayers.

The church is true. Repent and be Baptized!
-- --Elder Braxton C Foust--

Ne Fai Pe Me Kalevale‏

Hey Howdy Hey!

This past week flew by so fast. It is crazy to think it's already p-day again. It has been a busy week, with a lot of zone leader stuff and a lot of fun proselyting stuff too. But, not really a lot of exciting new experiences to share, so as always I will try to hit the main points.

First of all, I will tell you a little about my companion, Elder Lao. He is Tongan, and from SLC. He's got a great singing voice and can play guitar dang well. We like to jam when there's a piano around. He speaks Tongan, but it has been dwindling a bit while he's been away for a while, he goes home in 4 months. Elder Lao is one of the best missionaries I have ever met. He knows how to listen intently to what people are saying and shows sincere interest in what they say and feels what they feel. He is very in tune with the spirit. I am very blessed to be learning from him. He is a hard worker and definitely understands his purpose. He is one of the funniest guys I have ever met, and his humor is very dry and sarcastic, which is hilarious. I love it. Dry humor is my favorite. Random fact, his first name is Heikoti, which translates to Hagoth in English. If you don't know what is significant about that, go read the 63rd chapter of Alma. He has been teaching me a little bit of Tongan, we sing a song called Ne fai pe me kalevale, which means take the name of Jesus with you. It is awesome, I can even pronounce the words correctly. There will be videos of us singing and playing stuff on an SD I will send home, so if you want to see it you'll have to ask my parents to show it to you.

Anyway, that's a bit about Elder Lao. I hope we get to serve together for more than one transfer.

Well, we set a baptismal date this past week! We are going to call this sister Hazel. Hazel is awesome, she is dating a member who grew up in Orem, and he is very supportive of her, but she's also not just investigating for him, because he is less-active and not pushing it. They both want to find a church they can grow closer to Christ and to each other in, so this is the right choice. We are going to help them become an eternal family. She is very open and she even reads the Book of Mormon and prays. She told us that everything we have taught her makes sense, and she us going to get baptized on the 25th of February.

I got to go on exchange this past week with Elder Jardine. Elder Jardine was trained by Elder Whittier in Joshua while I was in Burleson, so we know each other very well, because we spent every p-day together. He and I rode bikes and contacted all day long, it was a lot of fun and we learned a lot. it felt good to be on bike all day again, but I am definitely out of practice. Luckily, Elder Lao's last 2 companions finished their missions here in Denton3 and left their bikes behind, so I did a pick n pull to make my bike a little less crappy. ok, that just brought up a story.

About a year ago, two missionaries Elder Lao and Elder Poole were on bikes going to visit a less-active member. They planned on only being there for a minute, so they didn't lock their bikes up. Lo and Behold, 20 minutes later they got out and one of the bikes was missing. It was the bike Elder Poole had borrowed from Elder Rose, their DL. Well, Elder Lao was very upset and he jumped on his bike and started riding around looking for it, with Elder Poole close behind him. He spots 3 kids walking down the street, one of them sitting on Elder Rose's Bike. So Elder Lao rode as fast as he could at them (from behind) and when he got to them, he grabbed the kid on the bike by the back of his collar and yells "Get off the Bike!" The young man jumps off the bike and says 'hey man... I uh.. I saw some kid take it, so I took it from him...." Needless to say, Elder Lao got Elder Rose's Bike back for Elder Poole. Well, three weeks ago Elder Lao was reintroduced to Elder Rose's Bike, because it is now Elder Foust's bike. Funny how things all seem to work together, it's like a big, metaphorical patchwork quilt of awesome epic city.

random other fact for the day, today is my 11th birthday! Crazy how fast time flies by.

The pictures attached are from a member in the ward. They have a ton of animals in their house. I have never held a tarantula before this, so it was exciting to do. They are very interesting creatures that is for sure.

Well, I am running out of time, so I will just say thank you to everyone who has emailed and written me lately, i always love hearing from people.

I love you all! This church is true!
--
--Elder Palasitoni C Foust--

I Can Go The Distance‏

***Warning: The following email contains several movie and song references ***

Howdy Y'all.

Another great week has gone by in Denton. It has been one with a lot of the normal missionary stuff, and with not really anything exciting or crazy to tell. We are trying to find new investigators, as always, and it seems like whenever we find someone that seems to have potential, they fall off the map over the next couple days. But that's just life isn't it. Life as a missionary anyway. We work hard and have a lot of fun though. I have never been so tired in my life. It used to be that I go to bed exhausted and wake up tired, but now I wake up still exhausted. This is literally the hardest thing I have done in my life. Constantly moving, doing this and that, helping these people do this, teaching this one, than that one. Going here, going there, delivering this, calling them, texting this person, talking to these missionaries, delegating, passing on information, working, finding, teaching, working, running, biking, swimming (ha, yeah right), studying, praying, leading, guiding, walk besiding, helping people find their way. It is exhausting, and I love it. I have never been so tired, and I have never been so happy. It's a different happy than I have experienced. And the sadness I feel at times is different than what I have before as well. I have not been homesick; I have not been trunkie, just tired. Last night I had a dream I was home, but it all felt unfamiliar, the house was not right, things were off. But the family was there. Mom, dad, grandparents, my siblings, my aunts and uncles. We just talked. I had just gotten home from my mission and everyone was there to welcome me back. Matt and Stacie got there and Lily came in and gave me a big hug and I just held her for a long time. Everything felt so real. I felt completely different, like I had grown, like I was bigger, better, faster, stronger, I had a stronger testimony, better knowledge of the gospel. Everything just felt right. I was in shock that 2 years had gone by so fast, but relieved to be home again. Then the alarm went off, everything disappeared, I was laying in my bed and for a moment in consciousness the feelings were the same, and then, I realized I was still here, I am still a missionary, I still have 13 months to go. For the first time since the MTC I felt the pain of homesickness. But it lasted only a moment, as I my mind caught up and I came to my senses. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He has chosen me to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life. I will find my way, I can go the distance. I'll be there someday if I can be strong. I'll make every mile worth my while. I will go most anywhere, so that everyone can belong in the kingdom of heaven. That, my friends, is why I am here. I have 13 months to do as much as I can to help bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of god's children here in Texas. I have nothing to complain about, I have a bed, I have a truck, I have AC when it's hot and a heater when it's cold. I have good food, a refrigerator, a microwave, a shower, a mailbox. So what if I am tired? So what if I miss my family and friends? It does not matter, because this message is true. This is God's church. This is God's priesthood. This is God's plan. THIS. IS. SPARTA!!! (sorry, i couldn't help it). This is the message God wants all of his children to hear. He is the master of the house. It's not a question of who has the best pastor, or who has the most members, or who has the nicest building. It is a question of does Christ himself lead the church or not. There are only 2 churches, Christ's church is one. The other is anything that pulls you away from Christ's church. Whether that be another religion, a car, a video game, a rock band, a pastor, cell phones, ipods, ipads, girls, boys, food, money, sleep, music, instruments, school, books, literally anything. They are all highways to hell, not stairways to heaven. Especially other actual churches, those who imitate God's church, and those who don't. They have a form of godliness, but deny the power of the scriptures. They draw near to Christ with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. They are too busy passing the collection plate 3 times an hour, then the fourth, the fifth (the minor fall and the major lift) to pay for the pastors Lexus and house, and to fund the rock n roll band on stage. There's a problem there. It makes me vomit. It's the scum between my toes. Christ's church is Black and White. You are in it or not. If you're not first, you’re last. Numbers 12:6 says God will appear to a prophet to call him. That is just one evidence of the true church. Ok, I have ranted about that enough now.

We had an awesome P-day yesterday. We played ping-pong, pool, football, and foosball. And we hung out and talked and jammed and stuff. There were several companionships there, so it was a lot of fun. Today we had district meetings, which were great. 2/3 of the districts in our zone do it at one building on Tuesday, and then the 3rd does it on Wednesday at a different building, that way we can attend all of them and report on them. We had a great training on how to work with members today. Everyone needs to be a missionary; it is your duty to share the gospel, so does it. Bear testimony when given a chance. Make the chance if you have too. Invite people to learn. The best investigators are found by the members, not the full-time missionaries. And, everyone who is in the position to serve a full time mission, or to prepare to, needs to do it now. There's nothing to be afraid of. Nothing's gonna harm you, not while Christ’s around. I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. Anyway, after DM we went to China King Buffet for lunch, it was actually a pretty good buffet. I ate a baby octopus. It was spicy and tasted like the smell at aquariums, and it was very chewy. I figured I should try it once.

Well, that's about it for me. We are going to get out and find people to teach and baptize so they can have everlasting life.

Ofa Atu!

*bonus points to anyone who can tell me everything I referenced.
-- --Elder Braxton C Foust--

Welcome to the North

Week 1 in Denton has passed. It has been absolutely crazy. Lucky me, the first week I get to be a zone leader is the first week of a month, not only of a month, but of a year. So we had SMCs (Stake Missionary Correlation) which is where we meet with the stake president and mission president to discuss the missionary work in the past month and in this case, the year. It is great to sit in a room with the priesthood keys for all the people living in the area, both members and non-members, and discuss the needs of these people. We also had ZMCs, which is a meeting with all the Zone Leaders in the mission and President Sagers, where we discuss the needs of the missionaries and how to help them all progress in the work and be the best we can be. For both of these meetings we need to collect a lot of information from the missionaries in our zone, and spend a lot of time putting it all into spreadsheets for these meetings. But the time we sacrifice to do that is not unrewarded. We still had a great week and taught some great lessons.

My new companion is Elder Lao. He is from Salt Lake City, and he is Tongan. 2/6 of my companions have been tongan now, and I love it. One of the great things about being a zone leader is both missionaries are experienced, so you don’t need to worry as much about your companion, instead you have to worry about the 13 companionships (in our case) you have stewardship over..... But it is great. Elder Lao is teaching me a lot about being a ZL, and I love it. Plus, I have an awesome Zone.

First of all, I finally got to see a missionary I have been hoping to see since he got in the field. Elder Connor Johnson is a DL in our zone. He was in the DHS marching band with me, and was trained by Elder Ford, who was in the MTC with me. His companion is Elder Jardine, who was trained in Joshua ward (burleson's sister ward) by Elder Whittier while I was there. Then there's Elder Davis, who was in the MTC with me as well, he serves in the ward bordering ours. And Sister Bailey, who went to DHS, and is from Ashleigh's home ward in Farmington. We have a lot of fun out here. I love it.

Denton Texas is most known for the University of North Texas, and we actually live just off campus, but we don't cover the singles ward here. There is an actual LDS institute building here, which is where we chill on P-Day and where we do our reports on the computers and stuff, but not email, we do that at the library. It has ping-pong, foosball, and a pool table. And, most importantly, several pianos. And Elder Lao has a guitar, so I can keep learning that, and we jam together at the institute while we wait for people to call us with their reports on Sunday nights. It is sweet.

Another Perk to being a ZL, I get to drive a sweet truck.

We had an awesome lesson on Thursday Night. We taught this guy, let's call him Joe, and it was such a good lesson. The spirit was soooo powerful. Our exchange told us afterwards that he hasn't felt the spirit that powerfully since he was in the MTC (like 15 years ago). At the end of the lesson we invited him to be baptized, and he said yes. Then Elder Lao said that he had prayed about it and felt that Joe could be ready in January, and that we should set a goal for the 27th, and before he finished his sentence, Joe jumped up, ran to the calendar, and said "yeah, we'll be ready by the 27th". His enthusiasm was awesome.

This ward is great; there is a strong desire here to help the lord's missionary work progress. They are very supportive of us and want to do what they can to help. Elder Lao has been here for 2 transfers already, so he has a good relationship with many of the ward members, and we are going to have strong fellowshippers for those we teach.

 My testimony has grown a lot in just this past short week. There were experiences we had in teaching, studying, and conversation that better helped me understands a lot of the doctrines of the gospel and the Plan of Salvation.

God's Plan for us is miraculous. It is one of complete and indescribable happiness. We cannot comprehend the blessings that await us if we do his will. It saddens me to see people turn away from this true gospel, because there is no other way to experience exaltation than through Jesus Christ. And the only way to follow Christ fully and accept his Atonement is to keep his commandments, be baptized by the Priesthood authority handed down in a direct line to Christ himself, who received it from God. And then to be sealed to a spouse in god's temple by the same authority. It is the only way. It sickens me when people proclaim they have been "saved". That because they have "confessed Jesus" and "accepted him as their savior" they will be saved in the Kingdom of God. That is Mocking the Atonement. That is mocking the most sacred thing in this world, to say that all you must do is confess Christ and you are saved. You must work out your salvation. Works will not save you; we are saved by grace that is true. Nothing we do will save us, only what Christ has done. But we can ONLY partake of that atonement through the works of obedience that Christ himself has placed before us. I have seen friends, family, acquaintances,  and complete strangers fall away, and it makes me sick. It is tragic. Eternal Life hangs in the balance. Eternal Happiness. Eternal Joy. Exaltation. I am calling you out, if you are not doing what you need to do to progress towards that, repent now. Change. that's all repentance is, is changing that which is out of line with God's will to be in line with his will. Change now. Do it. I will not be held accountable for words I could have said but did not, so if you feel I may be talking to you, I am. I am being bold, and you may think I am being overbearing, and maybe I am, but if you get offended, you have only proved me right.

fix it.

I love you all, I am sorry to have gone on that tangent, but it was on my mind and it just kind of spewed out. I don't apologize for what I typed though, it is all true. I bear testimony to that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-- --Elder Braxton C Foust--

The Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turning

BUT, I do know where I'll be tomorrow. (Journey reference for anyone who didn't get it)

As I said last week, it is transfers this week, and I am leaving Burleson. It is very sad that I am leaving, because I love this ward. I love this area. I love my companion. I just love it all. Burleson is seriously amazing, there are tons of great people here, and I have gotten close to several of them.

If you recall, 12 weeks ago I got a phone call from President Sagers concerning transfers. I was told that I would be training a new missionary. Then, 6 weeks ago, I got another call from President Sagers, I was told I would be a District Leader.

On Friday night, our phone rang. part of me hoped it would be for me, but part hoped it would be for Elder Pipher to train. It was not for him. "Elder Foust, the Lord has a new assignment for you, are you ready for that?" "yes president" "Elder Foust, the Lord wants you to be a Zone Leader in Denton, can you do that?"

This is the moment my heart stopped.

So this week has been great. Our new years eve was awesome, we had dinner with a great family then played night games with them and a couple other families for a little bit, then headed out. We were in bed by 10:30 and I was passed out for the New Years. It was awesome. But even better than that was New Year's Day.

On New Year's Day the wards switched times (obviously) so we became the 1 o'clock ward and Joshua ward became 9 o'clock. Elder Whittier and Gardner spoke, and Elder Whittier is going home this week, so we went to listen to them. It was great. They both gave awesome talks and I learned from it. Their ward loves Elder Whittier, and it was totally another farewell for him, tons of people cried and told him they love him and would miss him. He was feeling under the weather, but made I through his talk just fine. The best thing was, right as the closing song began, a random lady sat next to us and said "Elder Whittier is my son. Will you please give him this medicine and tell him he has to take it? We want to be obedient so we can't talk to him until tomorrow" and then she got up and walked out. His sister lives in the mission boundaries, and his parents got permission to come tour the mission because they have family here, but they were supposed to meet with President Sagers before talking to him. It was hilarious when I realized she was serious about being his mom. (mom, don't get any ideas, I want to stereotypical walk out of the terminal missionary homecoming). But then that night we had dinner with Elder WHittier and Elder Gardner at Matt's house ( a member in our ward that we all have a great relationship with). They told Elder Whittier it would be his last supper and we had "unleavened bread and unfermented wine". We had tacos with grape juice. It was great.

Then we went to the family with 12 kids and had a bit of food there too, and I got a picture with them and said goodbye. Then we had our Baptismal Candidate interviewed, he is getting baptized tonight! I am excited for that. Then we went to the Duncanson's so I could give back the guitar I had borrowed and get a picture with them too. It was a really good last weekend in Burleson. Then on Monday the ward mission leader in Joshua took the four of us out to eat, (during p-day) as a last hurrah for Elder Whittier. He took us to this fancy steak place and told us to get whatever we wanted and insisted on us getting amazing food. Whittier and I both had 20 oz steaks, and the other two had fish. this restaurant made me feel like I was at moonlight serenade at Davis, but it was missing several critical elements. An awesome jazz band, friends and family, a beautiful girl and dancing. But that's ok, that can wait another year or so. anyway, back to the food, it was awesome. Such a good steak. Then Elder Whittier left. now he is with his parents driving around Texas. Then we went to our FHE, and had a great lesson there about the plan of salvation, and I got pictures there too. It was great.

Along with Elder Whittier, several missionaries I know went home today. Elder White and Elder Martinez, two of my first zone leaders, and two of my best friends out here, are both back in their home towns by now. They flew out at 8 o'clock this morning. It is so crazy to think about that. And along with that, they were all only out just past a year when I met them.... in 7 1/2 weeks, I will hit a year. holy. freaking. crap.

and... I am a zone leader..... it is still throwing me off. I still don't know what to think about it. I am excited and nervous, there's a lot of responsibility with being a zone leader, and a lot less sleep than being not a zone leader. but that's ok. I can't wait now. It is going to be awesome.

my new address is

Elder Braxton C. Foust

2121 stella st #201

Denton TX, 76028

All I know about Denton is it is a college town and the school is known for music. So that rocks. Hopefully I will be able to connect well with people. I don't know if I will even be near the college, but a couple of missionaries have said they think the ZLs are, so that would be me.

I love you all. I know this is God's true church on the Earth. The one and only. I'm sorry if you are reading this and disagree with that statement, but I will boldly say that you are wrong. This is it. Christ leads this church. He gave his priesthood to his original twelve apostles, and they gave it to Joseph Smith, and it has continued on the Earth since then. The Book of Mormon is true. God loves all his children, so he talks to his children all over the world. Jesus Christ suffered for us. Because of the infinite atonement, we all have the opportunity to be saved by his grace if we follow his laws. We must put forth an effort, and work out our own salvation, and then grace saves us after all we can do.

I know this is true.

Love, Elder Foust

--
--Elder Braxton C Foust--