Weekly Update 02-14-11

     Happy Valentines Day everyone, well since I cant have a Valentine out here on my mission, I just want you to all know and feel the love that I have for each of you my heart goes out to all of you as we are all continuing to grow throughout our lives and wherever we find ourselves. This weeks weekly update is going to be a short one. As you can see it is past my time to be e-mailing, and my P-day is over, but I am here with President Nelson and he wants me to e-mail my family because today was a busy day for us. 

     The highlight of this week was on Monday night I got a phone call from Bob Tut telling me that he just got done meeting with President Nelson and that he is going to be baptized on Sunday and that I have to come to his baptism. So yep, I sure enough was able to show up to his baptism yesterday and give him a big hug. I know that I am going to stay in contact with him throughout my life. I love that man so much, he has such a powerful spirituality about him. I know that he is going to bring a lot of others to the truth and knowledge of the restored gospel one day. 

     This week we had a "zone street sweep" it is when we get our whole zone together and set up a table with free DVD's and Books on the busy road of Jamaica Ave. We get there contact information and bring them the item that they request and try to share the restored gospel with them. Rony is a guy that I talked to from Haiti, he showed up to church yesterday, his family lives in Florida and they are Haitian, So I might have a referral for you BRO. He is a great guy we gave him a French Book of Mormon. We are meeting with him on Friday. Well we have to get going now I am sorry I wish I had more time. I have to go now BYE!!!  

     LOVE ELDER JD DOYLE

Weekly Update 02-07-11

     It has been a crazy week for us here in Jamaica! Living the life! So we were off to a somewhat of a rough start. My companion Elder Hunter was not feeling well at all this whole week. He all of a sudden had this huge infection in his mouth and he had canker sours all up in his mouth everywhere, and his gums were swollen as can be. You would have had to see it in order to fully understand, but it is seriously crazy. Something that I have never heard of before. He has herpes in his mouth. It has been a bit rough for him. As he was not feeling well I was making phone calls and getting appointments set up so that we can meet the wonderful people that we are going to be working with. The work here is so great in Jamaica, we have seen miracles already in which I will talk about in a bit. Getting blinded into an area is a lot of work, we got sent here knowing no one. It is kinda fun, because we just call people up and set up appointments, it is great being the new missionaries in town. 

     The highlight of my week and one of the highlights of my mission was that we had a General Authority come and speak to the Zone Leaders and also to the mission. It was so great to be able to have the opportunity to get to know him on a personal level. Elder Pearson is such a wonderful servant of the Lord and I look up to him in a lot of ways. The night that he came and spoke to us he told my companion for me to give him a blessing, and it was so great to give my companion a blessing.

     That same night when we got home after meeting with Elder Pearson, my companion was in major pain and we had to get some help. Luckily we live in the same house as the Mission Nurse, which she takes very good care of Elder Hunter and I, they even bought us some groceries. SHHHHH! No telling anyone about that, we keep that as our little secret. Anyways.... We went to the Emergency Room late that night and we got to the hospital at about 11 PM at night and we didnt get home until 5 AM the next morning, yeah... It was hard for us. We were so tired that morning, and we had to make it over to the Mission Office because Elder Pearson spoke to the entire mission. It was so great, but we were so tired.

     Now I am sure that you are all wondering about the miracles that we had that I began to talk to you about. Well... This Sunday church was so great. I happen to got transferred into an area where my recent converts the Bradford's moved. They havent been going to church as much lately and I went and saw them my first night here. I was able to talk to them and sure enough they showed up to church. It was testimony meeting and my companion and I both got up to share our testimonies. After we shared our testimonies everyone got up and was talking about the testimonies that we shared, it was so great. Sister Bradford then got up to share her testimony and talked about how the missionaries brought her back to church in East New York and baptized her 2 sons. She then said that, that missionary is here today Elder Doyle. It was a good first Sunday here. There was a guy that came up to me after sacrament meeting and told me that he has seen me before and he feels like he has met me before, but he doesnt know where. He has some children that arent members of the church. He said that he knows that I have to teach his daughters about the gospel, and the missionaries here have been trying to teach them for a long time. It was a miracle. Also another guy brought his friend to church and he isnt even a member in this ward, but his friend lives here in Jamaica. He introduced us to his friend and we are going to start teaching him. He seems so ready to accept the gospel. I know that there are going to be a lot of great things that are going to happen for us in the near future. It has only just begun. I now have to get going I love you all, I am completely out of time. I miss you all. I wish I had more time to talk, but I dont. LOVE YOU ALL!

Elder JD Doyle

Weekly Update 01-31-11

     Hello to all of my good friends there in Utah, and wherever else you all may be in the world. I am currently filled with an increased love for each of you. This week has been a great week for us here in Flushing Queens. This has been a week of: more snow, miracles, baptisms, transfer calls, and a personal change of heart. I absolutely love the joy that is found here in this gospel, this gospel is real and I know it because I feel it and the way I feel is a way that I just cant explain. I am filled with an ever increasing feeling of peace, that has bough a great change upon me. I feel that I always talk about change, but change is now my greatest passion. I love change. Change is traveling across Brooklyn on the Q56 bus in a suit, tie, and scratched nametag knowing that after a life of failures, I would not fail God. Change is seeing people like John Rivera give up lifelong addictions once having heard about the Restored Gospel. Change is the Atonement.
I measure my life by seeing the dark change to light through the Atonement. Nothing impassions me more than working to help others change. While knocking the streets of Queens, the greatest change I've witnessed is my own. I am not the man I once was, and I am eternally grateful for that.

     This week we were supposed to have 2 baptisms with Anita and with Bob Tut, well Anita was baptised and she is so great she is going to be such a strong member throughout the rest of her life and I know it. As for Bob Tut, we weren't able to baptize him because it would be against the Church Policy to baptize him, because he is currently here on a tourist visa, and he is not a legal resident here in this country. The reason why is because he is a former Muslim from Egypt and if they found out that he became converted to the church they would kill him and his family. He was so sad when I mentioned to him that he couldn't be baptized this pas Sunday, when I told him the news he looked me in the eyes, and said with his Egyptian accent,"So there will be no baptise on Sunday?" I told him no, and I explained why. He is such a strong person that I deeply love and look up to him in so many ways I know that he will be a future leader in this church, when we teach him he always shares words of counsel with us that I know are inspired by the spirit and I am moved every time I hear him speak about the truthfulness of this true church. He is going to continue to be faithful. He says that when he gets baptized he will be baptized in the presence of Thomas S. Monson. He is so funny, his testimony is so strong. He has only a little bit left in the Book of Mormon and then he is finished. He says that he will get married here and then he will be able to be baptized. He knows that he has found the truth. He was able to give the opening prayer at Anitas Baptism. He is such a good guy.

     As for transfers I am going to be transferred to Jamaica Queens, I am going to be living it up in Jamaica. I am being "blinded" into Jamaica, which means that my companion and I are both getting transferred into Jamaica at the same time without ever having served there before. I am going to be a Zone Leader there as well, my companion is going to be my District Leader from the MTC, I now have to train him as a Zone Leader. President Nelson says that this is where the Lord needs me and he has called me like 5 times this week to talk to me about going there and about the work that is laying ahead of me. I am so excited to go to Jamaica, but I am sad that I have to say bye to these great people that I have been working with. I love them so much. I know that this is where the Lord has called me to be is in Jamaica. Oh, I am also going to have a car there in Jamaica, it is actually the only car in the city. So I am kinda excited about that since I havent driven for like 17 months. I am also going to be the designated driver. So yeah that is what is going to be happening tomorrow, I am moving on over to Jamaica. I am excited about my new companion. I know that we will work very well together.

    So today I am going to be saying bye to some people and also I am going to be packing up all my stuff for the rest of the day today. Leaving this area is kinda sad for me because I havent been here for that long, but that is how it normally is for the Zone Leaders here, they usually aren't in an area for more than 3 transfers. I am sad to leave Bob Tut, he is like my best friend, I love him so so so much. I hope that some of you have the opportunity to meet him one day. I am now about out of time and I have to sign out. Again, I love you all so much thanks for everything!

 

         ELDER JD DOYLE

 

Weekly Update 01-24-11

     First off, I want you all to know and feel that the outcome of the rest of my life and many others have completely changed because of my wise decision to come and serve a mission. There is truly no greater work than this. I pray that today you all may be able to feel a portion of the Spirit that has filled my heart and continually guided me through out my life. As I reflect there have been times in my life when I felt that I was all alone, but I now know that I was never alone and that the Lord has been guiding my steps the entire way, regardless of the things that I went through. I know that I had to learn from these things that I have experienced. I also know that this applies to all of you and all of us (everyone).

     This week coming we have 2 baptisms ahead of us. We are going to have the baptism of Anita Ang on Saturday the 29th and we are also going to have the baptism of Bob Tut on Sunday the 30th. They are two individuals that I feel are seriously going to be some of the most powerful converts that I have had my entire mission. Not that I am comparing them, but they are dedicated to be devoted members for the rest of their lives. We are so excited to have had the opportunity to work with them.

     This week I was with a missionary in my zone Elder Cheng. I had to go with him to the Doctors office, because he was bitten by a poisonous spider or something. His leg was huge, and when we got to the doctor, he said that he haves to go into surgery immediately. So I thought that this one hour doctors appointment never would have turned into an all day thing. I had the opportunity to stand in the room when the surgery was performed, it was disgusting, watching the scaple stab into his leg. It was funny though. He is doing well, but man we have to watch out for those poisonous bugs here.

     I really don't have much time to write today. But I am grateful for the small time that I do have to write you all. There has been a lot of miracles that we have encountered over these past weeks as Elder Swain and I have been together, I absolutely love my companion so much. We are both learning so much from each other as we have been serving together. The work is great, and I am not sure how much time I have left to serve here in China town but this could very well be my last week here in China town. I will find out about transfers this week, but I am happy to go wherever the Lord calls me, I just hope that He might give me one more transfer here in this area. We will just have to wait and see.  I love you all so much thanks again for everything.

 

              Elder JD Doyle

Weekly Update 01-17-11 (read This one)

This week has been filled with opportunities and experiences that I will never forget. This week we have truly seen the Lords hand in this sacred work, His work. The Lord has blessed the lives of our investigators tremendously and has poured His Spirit upon them to witness to them the truthfulness with such great power that has now changed there lives forever, and also the outcome of their eternal salvation.
     One instance this week is with one of our main focuses when it comes to investigators. It is Bob Tut, I believe that I have told you a little bit about him last week, but not much. He is a man from Egypt, he has only been here for a few months and he is such an amazing person. Let me tell you a bit about his background first. He has been raised Muslim and had no Christian background or any belief about Jesus Christ being our Savior. He was willing to learn more and to read the Book of Mormom. Last week he received a copy of the Book of Mormon in Arabic, when we met with him on this past Monday he had already read 200 pages from the book. He sincerely explained to us that he knows that this book is true and that he was raised Muslim, but now that he has read the Book of Mormon, he no longer accepts his religion, and that he wants to be part of this church, the true church is the words he used. So he is going to be baptized on the 30th of this month. He is such a solid guy, he said that everyone in Egypt needs to know about this book.
     We are still working with Anita, and she got involved with some anti-Mormon material on the Internet that her friend told her to look up, and it was hard on her. We went and met with her and told her that the things that she read are not true, and that all concerns and answers that she needs are found in the Book of Mormon. She is progressing very well and we had a great experience with her this weekend. We decided to fast together with her, she was so willing to do it with us, and we shared our testimonies with her about the powerful influence of the Spirit that we will receive as we fast. So that is what we did, and on Sunday as she was fasting the lesson in Relief Society was on fasting, and she got up and shared with the entire Relief Society that she was currently fasting and that the Lord is blessing her at that very moment from it. She now feel that most of her doubts has been resolved and that she feels the spirit that has came to her through fasting.
     On Saturday the Relief Society had a lunch activity for the missionaries and their investigators so that they can get to know the missionaries better and their investigators. It was such a great experience for all of us in attendance. We had a lot of investigators that came. The ward here has changed so much within these few months that I have been here. There has been an ever increasing desire that has grown within the hearts of the people in the ward to work with the missionaries and to get to know their investigators. Anita is being fellowshipped so well she now has so many friends and is loving her church experience here. As for Bob, we don't really have to worry about him, he already has so many friends he just goes and talks to everyone. He is the man.
     We have been serving the ward and have changed our focus to the members and to serve them and much fruits have came from this great act. We are here to serve the people and to strengthen the saints. I love this work so much and I never want to leave, I know that there is only a small season left for me to serve here and to do this exact work as a full time missionary, I only get one shot and it is a shot that I am willing to fully give my heart to the Lord and to eliminate all distractions. As I have done that miracles have happened around me and within me. I have experienced such a mighty change all around and in every way, my path is clear when I comes to where to travel. The path is straight, and I am grateful for the road that lies ahead.  Thank you all for being patient with me, I am horrible at writing and I will strive to make it up to you all one day. Love you all!
 
     Elder JD Doyle 

Weekly Update 01-10-11

     Hey everyone I am so grateful for this time that I have to give a quick Update on the work here in NYC, it has been a week with a lot of mixed feelings, but most importantly another week of learning and growing as a missionary and as an individual. I truly feel like I have been so deeply blessed for having this experience to be here on a mission. My heart is extremely full of gratitude to our Loving Father in Heaven whom is always watchful of us and knows what is best for each of us.

     This week we went to Anitas home and I ate some chicken feet and duck feet, it wasnt too bad, but the fact that I was eating a foot, just wasnt very appealing to me. I luckily was with Elder Durr on exchanges when we went over there because he finished my scraps when she wasnt looking, I was thankful for that. It is just a complete different culture from where we come from. Our meeting with Anita went so great and she seemed so excited and ready for her baptism on this coming Sunday the 16th. Last night as I was doing follow up with my companion Anita called and said that she doesnt think that she is going to be ready to be baptized on the 16th. I asked her what it is that makes her feel that she is not ready. She explained that when she becomes a member of the church she wants to be a devoted member of the church. I then told her right then to get on her knees and ask God if the church is true, and then to call us back. My comp and I both dropped our knees to the floor and poured out our hearts to the Lord that she will know what to do. Right when we said Amen she called and said that she feels good about the church, but she still doesnt think that she is going to be ready this Sunday, she said that she loves the church and that she is going to continue to come to church every Sunday. Right now my faith and trust is in the Lord in her behalf, I know that the Lord has such a great love for her, and I am so blessed to have this opportunity to work with such a special person who loves the Lord so much and who is trying so hard to do what is right.

     This week I was on Exchanges with Elder Gregory, this is his first transfer out here on his mission, he came with me in my teaching pool, and we had an important meeting with Eduardo and Oscar they are two brothers. Their Uncle is a member of the church and he brought them to church and wants us to teach them. We taught them a powerful message and then invited them to be baptized, they accepted to be baptized on the 23rd of this month. We are so excited for them, and hope that the Lord will help us in this great work. One thing that the Lord can never do is take away ones agency. I know that each of these people that we have been blessed with to teach have the opportunity to make their own choices to accept the Gospel and to live the principals taught in it and apply it to their lives, or to reject the sacred message that we have to share with the world.

     Our teaching pool is continuing to grow so much and I am excited about that. Bob Tutt is a man that came to church yesterday for the first time and he loved it so much, we are meeting with him tonight and planning on inviting him to be baptized as well. I have seen a lot of great things happen in these past few weeks, and I know that the Lord is being watchful of His children and are preparing them to listen to our message that we have to change that will change the out come of their eternal salvation if they allow us to. I am now out of time and have to go, I am sorry that my last few updates have been week, but I am doing my best. I love you all!

 

Elder JD Doyle

Weekly Update 01-03-10

     Well as for the snow it is just about completely melted so that is a good thing, I just don't like the New York snow, I hope that all of the snow that we are supposed to get can be dumped in Utah. This week has been such a great week for us. We currently have 10 investigators that we are meeting with, this week a lot of our investigators were out of town so we had some extra time to find some new ones and we took that extra time that we were given and used it as guided and directed by the Spirit and we now have a lot of people to work with, our teaching pool is solid. I am surprised for how well the work is moving a long here in our teaching pool because I am in a complete China Town, with no English people. We definitely have some great miracles that are lying ahead of us. I am so grateful how the Lord has blessed the hearts and lives of the people that we are teaching and for blessing the lives of us missionaries to have some great people to teach. 

     This week we had such a great and rewarding meeting with Anita, she is preparing herself to be baptized on the 16th of this month. She is highly motivated to do all that she can to prepare herself for that day. She is such a wonderful lady, I love her so much. She definitely takes care of us missionaries she always feeds us and we try to take care of her as well. It is such a blessing to have the opportunity to serve her and to watch her life completely change from the blessings that come through the Gospel.

     As for me I am so happy to be where I am today, as I have reflected on my life and look forward to what lies ahead of me as we approach this new year, I know that there are great things ahead, and I know that is the same for each of you. It is time to not look back but to look ahead with an increase of faith relying fully upon the Lord and he will be our personal guide in our lives that our purposes will all be fulfilled, meaning the exact purpose in which the Lord has sent us forth to go forth and fulfill in this life. 

     I am completely out of time so I have to get going. I love you all I know this week is short and lame, but I am doing so great and I am happy for the great times that are lying ahead. Happy New Years everyone!