Hello everyone. Sorry about last weeks weekly update, I am sure that it was horrible. I was so distracted with all of the little kids around me swearing up a storm. It was buggin like crazy. I feel bad when I see kids so young just swearing like crazy. I had to get out of that place.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to confirm John as a member of the Church and to have him receive the Holy Ghost. I also was asked by a lady in church to give her son a blessing because he was sick. It was a great experience to be able to utilize the priesthood a lot yesterday. I felt the Spirit a lot and I felt good to perform those blessings. Yesterday I was also asked to give the lesson in Gospel Principals class, because the lady that was supposed to teach it didn’t show up. So I was prepared and I felt that I gave a very good spiritual lesson.
I also received a new companion this past week he is such a cool guy I know that him and I are going to do great this transfer together. I am now with my third companion. My new companions name is Elder Saeyang (say.yang). He is the coolest guy he is so humble and always very sincere about what he says. We have set some high goals for ourselves this transfer we set a goal to get 3 baptisms as a companionship within these next 6 weeks. We are going to do this through much prayer and much faith by allowing the Lords hand to guide us to those 3 people who are ready to accept the message that we have to share. I have a very good feeling about reaching this goal. We have another baptism that should be coming up soon. Her name is Karina, she is so ready to be baptized she has come to church for the past 6 weeks in a row. Her husband is a member and has now just started to come back to church. We love their family so much, they are seriously such an amazing family. So we are praying that we can help them get back into the church and have her get baptized so that they can become one step closer to having an eternal family.

One thing that I am a little bit bummed out about is that I found out that the Vikings lost in overtime. Dang the Vikings are my team, I also heard that they won the game, but they just had too many turnovers. Dad, I am sorry that they lost I am sure that you were watching the game. I am bummed that I didn’t get to watch it, Oh well…
Sometimes I feel that I am always repeating myself in these weekly updates to you all. I hope that most of you enjoy them and that you all may come to feel of this great work that is constantly moving forward. It is your decisions if you want to be a part of this work, by fulfilling your church callings. By fulfilling your church callings I know that your lives will be blessed, because that communicates to the Lord that you love him and you care about this work. There are many ways to serve others. So always look for ways to help those around you, and you will feel good about yourself as you do that.
That is all that I have to say for this week I love you all.

Elder Doyle

Hello everyone. I am currently at an internet lounge, because the library is closed, because of Martin Luther Kind Jr. Day. It is way distracting I am surrounded with little kids playing World of Warcraft, and they are swearing up a storm, so it is hard for the Spirit to dwell here as I am typing this weekly update to you all. So I pray and hope that I can be able to block out all of the distractions that I am currently surrounded by and type up a spiritual weekly update for you all to read. I am so thankful for this past week, I had a lot of success as a missionary and we had the opportunity to have another Baptism this transfer, his name is John Rivera. He asked me to baptize him. So I was honored to have him be my first time baptizing someone. It truly was such a great experience to have the opportunity to baptize someone. So our transfer calls came on on saturday night and Elder Werner is going to be transferred and I am staying. We will find out on tuesday where he is going and who my new companion is going to be. We had a good transfer with 2 baptisms. I am pumped for this next transfer and to be the leader in this area to introduce other missionaries to this area. So I will be in this area for at least another 6 weeks. This past week there was a huge earthquake in Haiti, I am sure that most of you know that, one of my recent converts Margaret is from Haiti. I got a phone call from her on wednesday morning she was crying and she explained to me that she has family in Haiti, and she couldn't get in contact with any of them because the whole place is destroyed. Her sister lives in the heart of where the earthquake happened, at this point Margaret has talked to her niece, which she got injured from stuff falling on her, but she still hasn't heard from her sister. She is so sad, she thinks that her sister is dead, and all that I can do is pray for her so that she may be comforted as all of this is going on in her life. It seems that whenever something happens in the world I end up talking to someone that is effected in their life. It is so sad, but here in New York City there are people from everywhere in the world. I just hope that Margaret can hold strong and not let this effect her special spirit that she has about her. So I ask that you all can pray for those people in Haiti, because someone that I really care about has been effected from this enormous tragedy. John got baptized and I got to baptize him, It really was such a special experience for me to stand there in the water with him and lower him down and lift him up out of the water for him to be pronounced clean from sin. He has a new life ahead of him. A lot of people in the ward think that he is going to be an awesome church member and a great priesthood holder. I am so excited for him to be willing to take upon him the name of Christ and intends to obey all of his commandments. Well I am sorry but I really cant write anymore this is pretty bad with these kids screaming and it will be best if I just leave so that I can have the Spirit to be with me. I love you all.
ELDER DOYLE

This week really started off so amazing. Last Monday we went to see John, and I really have been praying for him so much that he will be able to progress so that he can be baptized on the 17th of this month (which is on this Sunday). So we went to his house on Monday and we planned on teaching him the word of wisdom so as we taught him the word of wisdom we found out that he smokes about a half of a pack a day and that he has drank coffee everyday since he was 8 years old. So yeah, that is a typical New Yorker for ya. I felt that when we taught him the word of wisdom, at first he was very disappointed so we explained to him that the word of wisdom is a commandment from God, and the reason why God gives us commandments is because he loves us. We can find that eternal joy that comes as we live by them and apply them to our lives. After we taught him, I felt the Spirit come to me with such a great force that I had to get rid of the temptation that is placed before him and take his cigarettes from him. So I explained that we needed to eliminate the temptation and to take it out of his house. He was so willing when I said that to him it was like a child listening to his father. He gave me the pack of cigarettes and put them in my hand and told me to get rid of them. Up to this point he hasn’t had any coffee or any cigarettes for one week now. We have been visiting him every day his substitute for coffee has been hot chocolate. He is so amazing I know that God is blessing his life with so much love and happiness. John is now totally a different person than who he was when we met him. We now get to hear him laugh and smile. I love him and care so much about him and his eternal salvation. This week on Wednesday John wanted us to go with him to the Catholic Church, because they give him food because he doesn’t have a job. On Wednesday morning we had another appointment scheduled with one of our other investigators. So we called Bro. Keith Barton to see if he could help us out and take John to the church to get his food, and of course he was so willing to help us out, as well as helping John out. So how it works is that when you arrive at the church you draw a number and that is the order in which you go to pick up your food. So John he drew number 272 and they were on number 61. After he drew he began to cry he was so upset because by the time it was his turn to go pick up food he knew that most of the food would be gone. He was so upset, so when Brother Barton noticed that he was crying and upset, he asked John if what he was here for was food? He then told John to get in his car because they were going to the store. He got John a ton of groceries to get him by for a good while as he is going through this hard time. They also had such a good talk about trials in their life, and Bro. Barton compared their trials to what Joseph Smith went through as he was in jail. They both had a great experience together. Bro. Barton called us right as he dropped him off and explained how it was such a good experience for him to help John out. I look up to Bro. Barton so much not only as a member of the ward in which I attend, but as a ward missionary. He goes out and teaches with us once every week and he gets to know our investigators. That is a person that strives to fulfill his church calling. Yesterday we had 7 investigators that attended church. It was such a blessing in my life to see the people that we have been working with and that we love so much to have the desires to attend church. I know that the blessings that I receive are fully predicated upon my obedience. These past few weeks I have been focusing my thoughts towards applying my life to live at a higher standard of obedience as a missionary. I know that when I am obedient I feel and see the many blessings that come from that, which then create a desire within be to be more and more obedient so that I can receive more blessings and grow much more as an individual. I truly have such a great love for the gospel and the love that I have for it is real and the gospel is real. I know it is true, and I feel it everyday through Gods love and power. Now I must live by it and be an example to others in anyway that I can.
I hope that I am not starting to slack on my weekly updates, I am sorry if they haven’t been as good lately, but I promise you that the work here is amazing. This is the work that we have all come to fulfill is to help others come unto Christ. God loves each of his children and his Gospel is for everyone. There is no other way to gain a true testimony of its truthfulness than by reading it and praying about it.

Elder Doyle

This week is only a new beginning for the year of 2010. I have set some high goals for myself. I know that this next year of 2010 I am going to experience a year of mighty change and see many miracles. I hope that each of you were able to have a great year of 2009. If any of you haven’t had the time to reflect back on the year of 2009 and think about what you have done and what you could have done different, then do that right now! Setting goals is what helps us grow as individuals at a quicker rate. When we set goals we should set goals that make us stretch ourselves as individuals. When we set goals we must always constantly look over the goals that we have set for ourselves and push ourselves to reach our goals. Make sure that the goals that you have set are challenging for you to reach, by doing so you will progress as an individual and will be happy at the end of this next year. When we have set our goals, pray to God and let him know of the things that you have set for yourself are important to you and ask for help and strength that you may have the ability to achieve your goals.This past week our investigator John who has a baptismal date for the 17th had surgery, he had a hernia. It wasn’t too bad for him, he seems to be recovering very quickly. There is one thing that we found out about him that we had no idea about. We found out that he smokes, but not very often. Here in NYC it seems that everyone smokes. We taught him a brief Word of Wisdom. We are hoping and praying that he can overcome this addiction and continue to move forward to the waters of baptism. He enjoys the new things that we teach him about the gospel, he has a greater understanding that we are teaching him the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.On Tuesday I had an interview with President Nelson. He told me so many great things that makes me more motivated as a missionary. He told me that I have changed so much since the first time that he met me. He is such and awesome guy and he has such a great love for the gospel and for this work. He is a good example to each of us.On Saturday we were asked to go to the Bishops house he wanted to feed us and talk with us about missionary work. We were a bit nervous to go over there because from past experiences we have only heard bad things about missionaries going over there. It actually happened to go very well. We got to know him and his family better and we shared a short powerful message with his family.Alyse sent me an awesome blanket that smelt amazing. Ha ha ha. It is so warm and it keeps me warm every night that I go to sleep. I really did need that so badly. This week it got to 17 degrees with a -1 wind chill. It is the wind plus the humidity that gets you here. So when it is cold and the wind is blowing it is so uncomfortable, when you breathe it hurts your nose. I don’t have much to say this week so I am going to keep this weeks update short. Family make sure that you e-mail me more than what you have been. I love hearing from you all even if it is just an e-mail, that would mean a lot to me. Also tell Grandma Linda that I found her card, it was hiding. I love all of you and wish you all a happy new year. I pray and hope that each of you can fulfill the goals that you set for yourselves for 2010. Until next week I am signing off.
Thank you, ELDER DOYLE