SLIDELL SCROLLS: CHAPTER TWENTY

Greetings from an old geezer.

May it be known, that never in the history of one's ministry has anyone ever felt Galatians 5:22-23 personified as I have this week. The fruits of the spirit were digested- with virtuous vitamins and miraculous minerals included. I dare not deny the confirming witness I have felt from the past seven days that God is aware, he is there, and he always cares. And if you're ever lacking some apostolic C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁, serve the Lord for two years, your spiritual sugars will skyrocket. And on that note, I say from the most sincere part of my heart, thank you for all of the birthday/year mark wishes. Y'all, the Lord, and my blessing of a family have made 20 years to remember already... here's to another year of serving the Lord, one scroll at a time. And on that note, let's get 20 started with SLIDELL SCROLLS; CHAPTER TWENTY. 

On the 27th of this month, I completed a year of full-time service in the work of the Lord. Never have I seen so many miracles in my life, so much growth in myself, developed such great love for others and this Gospel, appreciated the scriptures and the powers of prayer and revelation so much, overcome so many doubts and fears, worked so hard, knocked so many doors, talked to so many people, met a blessing load of elect spirits, and grown so appreciative for a restored Gospel, a savior, and a loving Heavenly Father, than I have in this past year. I have learned more about myself, who I was, who God wants me to be, and who I can become. I have grown SO dependent upon the Atonement of Jesus Christ, it's not even fathomable. Subsequently, I have seen my weaknesses magnified, and uncovered and acknowledged my personal endowment of strengths and talents. I have seen the hand of the Lord more openly in my life and become closer to my Savior than I ever imagined possible. I have put greater value on the word of God (reading it daily), on the gifts of the spirit, the attributes of Christ, on my relationships with others and with my Heavenly Father. With a strengthened testimony, a determined discipleship, and a crave for consecration,  LOOK OUT LOUISIANA, because this Elder is going out with a bang. Call me Farmer Boyd, cause the number of seeds about to be a'planted will undoubtedly prepare the promised land for the harvest for the century. 

...but before we harvest and reminisce about the best year of my life, we have work to do- and work we DID do this past week. 

The great conundrum of the elect in Slidell is casualness. In fact, as we pondered over the pool of our people being taught, we realized that most of them have been casual in their commitments. Well, we could have easily chosen to be frustrated... I mean, this is the Lord's work and we have a limited amount of time to accomplish what we have been foreordained to do... BUT, we chose this week to do away with the habits of Laman and Lemuel and to make miracles instead of murmurs. During my daily feast in the bakery that is the scriptures (daily bread, get it?), I stumbled upon this scripture that allowed us to do just that: 

For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. 

As members of the church we are given SO much- so naturally, it can be understood that much is required. As missionaries, however, we are given two toasty years in the furnace of affliction- a guaranteed opportunity to learn and grow and become your true self if you ALLOW yourself to be molded- now that if that isn't much given! So, shouldn't we expect a great requirement as missionaries? That's what we realized. We have committed so much to the Lord in this time, so we can only expect him to ask, "the more" of us! It is an honor and a privilege to suffer shame for the name of the Lord- we rejoice in rejection, we are optimistic about apposition, and positive about persecution! This is what we needed to be reaffirmed as we labored with the, "less motivated" this week...

...and when we consecrate ourselves and devote our lives to the service of the Lord, we qualify for an irreplaceable gift to ease our burdens and assist in this great apostolic work; the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, yes, I have a testimony of the spirit. A very STRONG testimony- but after the events of last night... I cannot deny that following promptings of the spirit are absolutely essential to the work of the Lord. 

Promptings precede protection if you follow them. 

First of all, y'all I am pretty sure Louisiana has a universally understood bedtime; 5:00. It is such a funny struggle to be obedient and knock doors from 8:00- 9:00, because everyone is either watching the Saints game or is ridiculously disappointed in our decision to knock their door during, "quiet time.." We even had the cops called on us this past week because we were, "soliciting hooligans." Anyways, I digress...

This particular evening, we were fulfilling our obedient duty by proselyting in an apartment complex with the other Elders to finish out the night. Game plan: we take one side, they take the other, and when we meet in the middle we'll head to the other side. Well, Elder Jones and I said our prayer, and specifically prayed as we do every time... to have the spirit to be with us. Taking no thought beforehand all that consists of that request, we hit up the hard knock life. It wasn't too long after we knocked on the first door that it both hit us simultaneously; sluggish, a lack of enthusiasm, frankly depressed, we did not feel good around these doors. At first, we couldn't understand it- usually, I am VERY ENTHUSIASTIC about knocking doors, meeting new people, and finding the elect. I personally was very frustrated and confused at this feeling... it wasn't until I voiced my concern that my companion admitted he felt the same. Both having voiced our concern, we knocked one more door until the feeling was undeniable, "stop knocking." We met up with the other Elders and told them how we felt, and without a second thought, made our way over to the other side of the complex. 

Immediately, we felt better. The enthusiasm returned, we sang hymns from door to door, and something felt entirely different about this side. As we were nearing the end of our efforts, we even found new people to teach who wasn't going to bed OR watching the Saints game- we even passed by some open blinds, and saw the other Elders in a lesson with some receptive people. It turned out to be a great night...

BUT EVERYTHING STARTED TO MAKE SENSE WHEN THE SHERIFF DEPARTMENT SHOWED UP.

..kinda like the fire nation, but with flashlights instead of lightning fingers. 

For some reason one of the doors we knocked, we only knocked once and then moved on. WELL, our card was still in the door when the Sheriff knocked and busted the first criminal. Yes, that's right, I said FIRST. As we anxiously made our way back to the car, we noticed there was not one... not two... BUT FOUR COPS on the side we were knocking before. And get this... we saw them bust some men and take them away in their cars.

Elder Jones and I were dumbfounded... if we had knocked that first door one more time, what would have happened? The reason we felt different was that we weren't qualifying for a spirit of enlivenment... but a spirit of premonition. God was protecting us. Both of our testimonies of the spirit have grown exponentially from this experience, NEVER will we ever forget to pray for the spirit. And you all can qualify for the same protection... God protects his anointed. 

Well y'all, other than that the quadship is on FUEGO and Slidell is about to flood with the baptisms of the elect. We are beyond fortunate to serve here. I love my mission. I know this past year will forever bless me and my family. I look forward to many more opportunities in this coming year to serve the Lord and his beloved people in Louisiana. 

In short, ALWAYS follow the spirit, keep the faith, remember what is required of you and what is in store, and never skip out on the virtuous vitamins of the gospel. HAVE A GREAT WEEK Y'ALL! ELDER BOYD LOVES YOU!

Twenty years older, not sure how much wiser

Elder Boyd

This Week's Pictures and Videos

So many members wanting to celebrate his birthday with him.  Lots of love was shown towards Elder Boyd

Facepaint from a Slidell Ward Activity 

Lots of door knocking

 Elder Jones & Elder Boyd

 Not sure what's happening in this pic?

How his family celebrated Elder Boyd's Birthday:

We celebrated Jeremy style. As you can see, we invited several sets of missionaries to help us celebrate your Birthday. We had Fat Coco's (back when you COULD eat dairy), rice krispy treats, and almond dream bites/ice cream sandwiches. 

Elder's reading their aprons

 

SLIDELL SCROLLS: CHAPTER NINETEEN

Watch out Satan,

In the great time expansion of history as we know it, we can observe certain patterns of behavior that have persisted and developed in humankind over the years. As missionaries, we bear testimony of one specific pattern, "the pride cycle." Well, allow me to divert your attention to another religious repetition, "The Missionary Model." As we near the second coming of the Savior, there seems to be a grand competition in the midst of mayhem- a dichotomy of sorts. Good versus evil. Satan versus missionaries. Well, as I have observed from the mission parenthood perspective, just as the adversary strengthens, so do the righteous. Satan may be enabling his forces but saddle up you Latter-day Saints, because the Lord's battalion has never been buffer. The Lord is ushering in his strongest soldiers for his toughest battles... and out here on the front-lines, the reinforcements are remarkable. In short, Elder Jones is pre-trained and this week the victory was ours! The battle is won when the battle is his- and the battle was ours in SLIDELL SCROLLS: CHAPTER NINETEEN.

One week down here in the promised land and the promises keep on coming. Elder Jones is INCREDIBLE! He has already taught me more than I can say and is a stellar missionary in and of himself! I am so grateful to be his companion and serve with one of the mightiest in this great work. The quad-ship has carved my abdominal muscles with laughter like the great cascades. We are doing such great work together and I have an even greater resolve to be that much more consecrated and, "on it" with Elder Jones around. We've already seen so many miracles- this weekly truly couldn't contain the magnificence of this week. We were lead and guided by the spirit, helped reactivate returning members of the church, moved a dog turd bed, committed some people to be baptized, resolved concerns through the scriptures, and eaten way too much cake. Every day was great, but after Sunday, I knew exactly what miracles the Lord wanted me to share with y'all:

In the missionary white handbook there resides a plain and simple rule, that if followed, is sure to guarantee miracles. 

"Spend as much time as possible proselyting on Sunday"

Now, some of you may question, "Elder Boyd, isn't Sunday supposed to be a day of rest?" And to you random citizen I would respond "yes."  Rest from the world but certainly not a rest from the Lord's work. I am convinced that God reserves his most magnificent miracles for the Sabbath Day:

We were car-tailing around the quad-ship in search of a flock of the elect. We had been driving around for a good minute, working entirely through prompting, until we had settled with the spirit on a particular location. We went our separate ways and began the hard-knock life as we ventured towards our first door. The response, to say the least, was a little unexpected. 

"Hi sir, we're your local missionaries...

"Come in."

That is the BEST way to get interrupted on your mission. :) Well, it turns out, this man has been taught by missionaries before and because we were willing to follow the Spirit, God blessed us with one of his elect. In fact, this man, in particular, was incredibly impressed with the church's relief efforts during Katrina and had been seeking to find which church it was that was so involved...  and the story continues... just as we were about to teach this man about the Restoration, I felt a vibration in my pocket. As I gazed at the caller ID I saw two words:

PRESIDENT VARNER.

Mission rule #6: President takes precedent. 

So, I took the call and had a nice conversation with our lovely Mission President. It wasn't more than 15 minutes when I came back AND ELDER JONES HAD TAUGHT THIS MAN THE RESTORATION, INVITED HIM TO PRAY, COMMITTED HIM TO CHURCH AND TO READ THE BOOK OF MORMON. Watch out Satan, these new missionaries are coming pre-trained... and they're ready to harvest, my goodness. Elder Jones is certainly one of the mighty Captains in the Lord's Battalion. 

But wait, there's more...

Later that evening...

We had finished a dinner appointment with a lovely family and reasoned with ourselves that we would close the night, reaping in the apartment complexes of Slidell. Mind you, it was a crisp 8:00 evening- and war flashbacks of the previous night (where cranky kooks with their shotgun threats and k-9 colony threatened our efforts) traced our minds. However, a profound truth echoed in my mind, and dispelled all dissonance and fear- 

"Latter-day Saints may expect miracles through their faith in Jesus Christ..." 

Before we hit the pavement we said a simple prayer, "Lord, we have faith. Please help us to see miracles and find someone who needs us this evening." And with that prayer, we were on our way.

Miracle #1: THE SECOND DOOR.

"Hi, we're your local missionaries..."

"Oh, I'm actually a member..." 

Imagine a super-soaker filled with a soldier serum, that when in contact with the epidermic tissue, immediately releases a plethora of neurotransmitters to suddenly make you feel like the most awkward homo-sapiens in existence? Yeah, that's pretty much how I felt.

But, once I dried off from the awkwardness, I noticed how special this moment was. This woman hadn't been to church in over five years because she has rheumatoid arthritis. Occasionally her father, an active member, brings her the sacrament, but she relayed to us how lonely she had felt... That night, right before we arrived, she said she was praying for a sign, a messenger, an answer to her prayer- that she might not feel so alone- that was when we showed up. For some reason, I felt so strongly impressed to share Alma 7 with her- that night, through a veil of tears, she professed how strengthened her testimony became that, God answers prayers. 

Miracle #2:

We knocked on the other side of the complex and found ourselves talking to this absolutely massive mountain of a man with biceps wider than the great Appalachians. Seeing as I am also on a quest to be large in stature, I had the confidence to ask how he acquired such gains. A simple response, "steak and eggs." His girlfriend then added the following fun fact: "he's addicted to cows and chickens." ANYWAYS, because we were so entranced with this conversation, we neglected one of the doors on the other side of his humble abode. I felt the prompting, Elder Jones willingly followed, and before we KNEW IT...

nobody answered. 

So, we made our way back to the car, with two minutes to spare in the night, and not one new person found. Just then, in my peripheral vision, I saw this lady and her two kids get out of their vehicle and slowly huddle indoors with a fair amount of groceries in their hands. They walked into their door at *:59- and that's when we pounced. She ended up being the most elect woman, who had met with missionaries before and even come to church. She has two enthusiastic children who are looking forward to primary this weekend and is anxiously engaged in reading the Book of Mormon. 

A simple prayer goes a long way. A lonely woman with a desperate plea for company. Two exhausted Elders with faith to find the elect. Pray, he is there. Speak, he is listening. You are his child and his love will forever surround you if you have the faith to ask for it. 

Well y'all, we couldn't be happier! It has been a stellar seven days out here in the bodacious bayou, and we look forward to the future. The area is great, my companion is great, the work is great, the members are great, and the gospel is great! Truly I cannot say even the smallest part of what I feel. I hope y'all have even the SMALLEST portion of as good of a week as we have- if you do, I promise you will feel such a greater desire to serve the Lord. Thanks for all the prayers! Y'all are the best! HAVE A GREAT WEEK Y'ALL! ELDER BOYD LOVES YOU!!

Still recovering from the super awkward soaker,

Elder Boyd

This Week's Pictures/Video:

Meet Elder Jones (2nd "son")

Saying Goodbye to Elder Cox and Hello to Elder Jones

Forever Friends:

SLIDELL SCROLLS: CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I have three words for y'all this week:

Expect the unexpected. 

It's funny, sometimes I think we forget that this is mortality, although we have agency, we can in no wise frustrate the purposes of God. A lesson learned from this week: never try and predict revelation. Transfers are a completely different game than march madness brackets- you can't expect to predict the championship when the game is in God's court. Get your brackets ready ladies and gentleman, cause we've got an upset on our hands... in SLIDELL SCROLLS: CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. 

AND THE NUMBER TWO SEED GETS KICKED OUT IN THE SECOND ROUND. Yes, that's right, after a long anticipated shoe-in for the championship title... Elder Cox has been defeated after his second transfer. In other words, West Monroe Louisiana is about to get substantially more legendary. And in the biggest shocker of 2k18- Elder Boyd is still kicking after three rounds in the promised land. And to join him in pursuit of the title, two rookies and another veteran have been recruited as members of the promised team. And by rookies, I mean trainees. Yessiree, the delivery room is ready, because another son is in the making. I am now training, again, in Slidell as the new District leader, in a new quad-ship with ANOTHER trainee and a great Elder. Although I feel like the LEAST qualified person to take on a task such as this, I am forever thankful to a God who likes to work with the weak things of the world... and grateful for the opportunity to be trained myself, once again. Dang, God is certainly quite the merciful guy, giving me all these opportunities to improve and repent. :) Here's to another six weeks in training!

And now, in great honor of a great human being... 

An homage to my firstborn in the wilderness... Elder Cox. 

Elder Cox. Slowly but surely, I realized the ultimate paradox of training... Truly the trainer, in time, becomes the trainee. The life lessons that I have learned from this great man, will forever be ingrained into my character. Not only have I been privileged to watch his development and growth into the amazing missionary he is today, but in turn, through him, I have experienced quite the needed change myself. A stellar teacher and an incredible gentleman, Elder Cox will change this mission, like he has changed my life. Guaranteed. The best companionships are those of best friends- and I can say with all my heart, that Elder Cox is a true homie. The most confident man I've ever met.... has surely become one of my best friends. Wherever he goes, the people will be blessed with the best. He has helped me become the missionary and man that I am today. This father couldn't be prouder. Thank you, Elder Cox, for a blessed two transfers. Be sober my son. farewell. God bless West Monroe. 

I'm excited to continue to work in the promised land- but Elder Cox will certainly be missed! 

The biggest miracle of this week came in the fellowship we found with some of the adorable children we are teaching. 

The ultimate way to fellowship children is to get them involved in the primary program.

We saw an insane conversion in their attitude towards the Gospel after this last Sunday. You know you're best friends when you have a handshake together. I'm pretty sure that is a universally understood, pivotal point in one's friendship. Elder Cox and I are happy to report, that three handshakes later... these sweet children are now on date for baptism! It has been such a wonderfully humbling experience to learn enough Spanish to teach them- and to truly understand why God loves little children so much. Can you blame him? Enthusiasm, willingness, and love make kiddos the most golden investigators. We are so blessed to work with the best- see attached photos for cuteness overload... 

Well y'all, I can't believe we've made it this far, but it looks like our library of scrolls shall continue! It has been an utmost pleasure to rub shoulders with such great men... and I anticipate the wonderful adventures ahead! Life lesson learned- NEVER try to outsmart God. West Monroe is seriously lucky, and we continue to be blessed here in Slidell. HOPE Y'ALL HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK! STAY TUNED FOR MANY MORE MIRACLES! ELDER BOYD LOVES Y'ALL!

With the unexpected now expected,

Elder Boyd

This Week's Pics & Videos