It's a new dawn, It's a new day (and year), it's a new life for me, and I'm feeling good.

Happy New Year!!!
Here we are, 2013. It's crazy how fast time goes by. It seems like just 2 days ago it was 2012.

:)

Anyway, things have been awesome in Granbury. (it rhymes with cranberry if you've tried to figure it out).

On Saturday we had 2 baptisms! It was a good day despite the circumstances. They wanted to be baptized in the morning so they could feel clean and spiritual all day, so we scheduled if for 10:00am. We got there about 9, and the ward mission leader was there filling the font. Here's the problem, the water heater was broken, and none of us knew it until that point. Three weeks ago there was a baptism and they water was way too hot, like it hurt the guy when he got in. Then about a week ago there were two little boys in the ward that got baptized, and they got it just right. So we had no idea it was going to be cold. And in case you don't know, it is not exactly warm in this part of Texas during the winter. It was between 35-40 degrees that morning. Plus humidity, which makes cold air colder and bite harder. But again, despite the circumstances, the baptism was awesome. Elder Parker baptized "Sister Nielsen" and I baptized the 11 yr old daughter. So we were all cold together.
As they left to go get lunch we asked if we could visit that night to explain more about the confirmation. But then that night during our dinner she texted us and said she was very sick and needed to cancel. We offered a priesthood blessing and she said she would love one (we had already taught about those, so she knew what we were talking about). We went there and she told us that for lunch they went to a steak house to celebrate, but her steak tasted funny and on the way home she was feeling sick, and then she was throwing up all day. But you could see she was still so happy, and just upset that she had to get sick that day. So we gave her a blessing, and left. The next day, she came walking in for sacrament meeting at quarter to 10 perfectly healthy and ready to go. We were all so happy.

I love seeing and hearing about how the work is moving forward throughout the world. It is picking up a lot. With the age requirement change for missionary service, obviously there has been a huge increase in the number of missionaries. So many that the MTC has to use some of BYU's housing in order to hold them all (scary thought). And now they have a need to get missionaries out of there more quickly. So they are modifying a transfer in a lot of (if not all) missions. Our next transfer (starting January 16) is only going to be 5 weeks long, instead of 6. President Sagers told us that there are some missions that are having as short as a 3 week transfer, and others are going as long as a 9 week transfer at that time, because they need to move missionaries out. So, if you do the math, I am going to be home a week earlier than I have thought I would for the last 22 months.
Anyway, I will be reporting my mission in Sacrament Meeting on February 24th.

Well, back to the work here, We are loving it. Things are starting to pick up and hopefully we'll be seeing some more miracles happening. We've got one more baptism scheduled, the other daughter of "Sister Nielsen" on January 19th, and then we have a few people that we have goals and dates to set with them too. It is awesome seeing progress. One of my high school buddies sent me a Christmas Card to my Arlington address, and before he forwarded it, Elder Johnson wrote a note on the back for me telling me that the investigator who I referred to as Vanessa, was baptized as scheduled, which I was really happy to hear. And the investigator I talked about who I called John who is married to a less-active and they came to church and loved it and all that, is getting baptized this weekend. So that was really good to hear too.

Missionary work is awesome. Everything about it. Everything from baptisms, to finding the elect, to getting sick, to getting bit by a dog, is just awesome. The persecutions and painful moments just make us more appreciate the good times. I love everything about this work.

I love all y'all! (I don't actually use "all y'all" by the way)
Have a great week, and Happy New Year!

-- 
--Elder Braxton C Foust--

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