Elder Jeremy Ashton Boyd

Miracle Amigos,

We must be living it up on 34th Street out here in the promised land of Slidell because THE DAY OF MIRACLES HAS NOT CEASED. Allow me to reference a beautiful scripture in the Book of Mormon:

35 And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power and great glory at the last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased?36 Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?37 Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.(Moroni 7:35-37)

Nay is right, Moroni. I am beyond blessed to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ. If you have ever wanted a more in-depth realization of how much God loves you and blesses you.. serve a mission. I promise, without a doubt, you will never feel more loved or blessed. The miracles will have you quoting one of my home-girls over in Chalmette: "I DARE you to bless me." And with that.. my friends.. my fellow laborers in a miraculous work.. we adventure into the SLIDELL SCROLLS: CHAPTER THREE. *miracles included*

Now, some of you may have noticed that I use the word, "miracle" a lot in these weeklies. No, I am not a hypnotized Elder with a false sense of reality and a fancy for the impossible. And YES, I do have my thesaurus, where no other word comes close to conveying the concept I have come to love. And YES, I am Prince of Egypt's #1 fan and I do love me some Miracle on 34th Street.. but that's BESIDES the point. The Louisiana Baton Rouge mission is ALL about miracles- and to understand why- how about we take a little looksie into what a miracle is, exactly-

Allow me to paraphrase the Bible Dictionary:

An important element in the work of Jesus Christ, being not only divine acts but forming also a part of the divine teaching. Christianity is founded on the greatest of all miracles, the Resurrection of our Lord. If that be admitted, other miracles cease to be improbable. Miracles should not be regarded as deviations from the ordinary course of nature so much as manifestations of divine or spiritual power.

I love that. A miracle is a manifestation of spiritual power, AND, because this is the work of our Heavenly Father, any occurrence of grace or faith.. should be entirely attributed to his divine will and guidance. And how beautiful is this definition? Thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing is impossible.. he has overcome death, both physically and spiritually, and because he lives, so we shall live also. ALL MIRACLES CEASE TO BE IMPROBABLE. I can guarantee that if you were to look back on your life.. you would find that you were moving mountains long before you knew you could. It just takes a little faith, trust, and.. diligent dust (long coveted by pixies everywhere) to see the miracles of God in your life. As a child of God, you are entitled to every good thing the Father has.. and OH how willing is he to bestow his gifts upon those who believe he can.

Now that you know the reason for the broken record of miracles, I shall expound upon the goodness of this week-

EXCHANGES GALORE.

Slidell is the second largest zone in our mission- and by the transitive property of congruence, we can conclude that that, in turn, means many exchanges. One of the greater privileges of being a zone leader is the blessing of going on exchanges with all of the district leaders in the zone. I will go to my grave saying, the best part about mission leadership.. is serving other missionaries- and exchanges allow me to do just that (however, I always end up being the one who learns so much from the awesome Elder I am with.) AND, this week was a two-fer in the realm of exchange magic! Elder Bowser and Elder Smith were my fateful companions this week, and my oh my, they are awesome Elders. Elder Jones and I prayed before selecting who should go with who.. and I can see so vividly the divinity of this work. Elder Bowser taught me how to relate to other religions. And Elder Smith taught me what it sincerely means.. to be genuine. AND, Elder Smith is a 1st tenor who also performed in Cinderella as his senior play... so the jam seshes were real. We found so many new people to teach who was just BEYOND prepared to receive us. I kid you not, over half of the new people we found... had a Mormon co-worker.. or enjoyed a jaunty saunter around temple square. If that isn't divine preparation, I tell you what. It felt so nice to just... work. No meetings, no conference calls.. just pure proselyting. Gosh, I love sharing the Gospel with others. We were so blessed to be in God's hands... whether it was in the ghetto or in the resorts.. people were ready to listen, and we were ready to share. BUT, that wasn't the only miracle of the week.

WE HAD A BAPTISM.

Well, three actually.

And I hate saying, "we had a baptism"- sounds like we're treating it as an object that we have ownership over. No, rather, God was merciful enough to let a squeaky tool like me to play a part in the beautiful conversion of three of his most beautiful daughters. The entire journey just had me so grateful that God would allow a soul so rebellious and proud as mine to be apart of something so miraculous and divine. The family who entered the waters of baptism this weekend are a trio we have been working with since Day One of my time here in Slidell. These two daughters and their mother have some of the biggest hearts I have seen down here. And the Ward hit it out of the park with fellowshipping them... I felt like such a proud parent watching my little, "children" grow up in the Gospel. Can you imagine how our Heavenly Father feels when he sees us choose the right? I can tell you... no matter how proud III may feel.. I know that he is perfectly and unfathomably even prouder. Words do no justice in describing the joy of watching someone make one of the best decisions of their life... I'll say it again, I was beyond honored to play a part in such a gorgeous ceremony. ...and somehow word got out that I like to play with my vocal chords.. because the Sisters volunteered me to sing at the baptism.. and now I'm scheduled to play the organ in sacrament meeting next Sunday with a pending musical number in the works... and a member has already called, "dibs" on signing me to his record label.. look out for, "Gingy: Wonderboy Extraordinaire" on your iTunes charts.

AND THE WORK KEEPS MOVING FORWARD, because this past Sunday, four of the people we are teaching moseyed on into church. When it becomes a matter of, "which investigator to sit by" you know that God is just being GENEROUS with the tender mercies. It was fast and testimony meeting too and aside from the few.. prayers that were said over the pulpit.. most of the testimonies were just SPIRITUAL NUTRITION. It was delightful. And as we bid adieu, the most beautiful words echoed through my tender ears, "see ya next week." :)

And in closing, we fasted as a mission yesterday for unity purposes, because... OUR MISSIONS HAVE OFFICIALLY MERGED. Huge shout-out to all those Mississippi troopers, we're happy to have you here. And a special thanks to all of you for the prayers and thoughts.. they are felt and reciprocated!

Well, Y'all... its been a good one. If you don't believe in miracles.. check your faith. Dump your doubts. And get to work! I love this church and this Gospel with everything I have and owe my entire character and being to the blessings I have received from my activity in the church. Stay tuned for next week, where the scroll gets longer, and the miracles keep a' coming like a gator to an all you can eat duck buffet. A duckfet some would call it... LOVE Y'ALL!!

With great prayers that you see the miracles that you are,

Elder Boyd

Pictures This Week:

Slidellutations my friends,

I feel trained in many arts after the past seven days. They call me, "Elder Boyd: Car Weasler Extraordinaire, Seeker of Government, and your friendly neighborhood magician." Or at least, that's what they SHOULD call me, considering previous events. Our scroll has been inked with the pen of adventure.. so please enjoy this week's, SLIDELL SCROLLS: CHAPTER TWO.

Allow me to elaborate:

Car Weasler Extraordinaire:

We spent the two hours following P-day in quite the automobile fiasco. To make things brief: a member calls and tells us his car needs to be jumped. Fun fact: missionaries cannot jump other cars (exception to mission vehicles)- so we texted a nearby member and had HIM come and jump his car. Apparently, this new truck constantly changes CD's and therefore.. the power is sucked dry throughout the night. Anyways, we jump his car... everything is fine and dandy.. until he locks his keys in the truck. SO, we spent the next two hours weaseling our way through his window cracks with a piece of bark as a shiv and an unwound coat hanger as the tool of weaseling. Alas, we were without anything but the look of missionary stress, level 3. THAT IS UNTIL, this alternative hipster and his baby husky, "Frito" come along with a sheriff and get into the car in less time than it took to unwind the coat hanger.. so yeah... Car Weasler Extraordinaire on a resume? Don't mind if I do...

Seeker of Government:

Basically, we tracted into the newly elected Mayor of Slidell, and he actually had a great interest in our message. The irony of the situation was that we should've predicted it was the MAYORS house we were knocking on.. because his lawn was decorated with more campaign signs than strands of grass.

Friendly Neighborhood Magician:

Well, the secret is out. Elder Boyd knows a card trick or two... and as of now, Elder Spencer and I are incorporating a combination of such card shenanigans into spiritual thoughts. So, watch out world... Elder Penn and Elder Teller are coming to your dinner appointments.. in style.

AND, as is typical with these scrolls.. we have QUITE the story for Y'all:

STORY TIME:

So, we may or may not have run into the literal incarnation of Simon the Sorcerer from Acts chapter 8, in the Bible. But, for confidentiality sake, we'll call her Susan. Susan the sorceress.

A LITTLE BACKSTORY:

Louisiana is a land of creatures. I'm pretty sure this bayou is the breeding ground for, "Satan's Next Top Carnivore" because some of the insects and creepy-crawlies down here are on a whole new level. Bed-bugs for instance: haven't had them.. but the stories alone are enough to inspire fear in the hearts of the entire human race. Anyways, the Sisters in the Slidell Area caught themselves their very own infestation of such buggers, and so NOW all of their people, have become our people. Henceforth, this past week has been a lot of catch-up and visitations with a few of the elect the previous sisters were working with... Susan happened to be one of these lucky few.

Now, at first sight, Susan is elect. Seriously, we walk through her door with the entire intent of just getting to know her and her background... BUT MY LANTA THIS WOMAN WAS ON PAGE 325 OF THE BOOK OF MORMON AND LEAD US ON A LITTLE READ-A-LONG OF THE WAR CHAPTERS. Definitely wasn't expecting that.. and you would think, "my, oh my, after reading three-fifths of a divine book.. you'd HAVE to know it was true and get baptized at the sight of the font" yes? Well, this wasn't exactly the case, you see.. because Susan, as we have previously mentioned, is a sorceress.

She LOVES the Plan of Salvation- especially the part about opening portals to other dimensions, like the Spirit World, and becoming anew with our, "debonair spiritual auras." Not only this, but Susan, she can see other realms.. and sometimes, she watches her flat screen, and suddenly a crystal ball archetype takes its place and she is left watching a play by play of her neighbors house.. everything in exact time as she lurks into her TV and predicts their every movement. Oh, and she doesn't believe in martyrdom. It's actually facade wrapped up in the government's way of brainwashing the elect into conforming to Christianity.. oh, and she was willing to buy the gift of the Holy Ghost from us... She does, however, LOVE the Book of Mormon- hates the Bible- and fully believes with all of her heart that if she was baptized, her powers would go away, and she would no longer possess the gift of divinity as it is replaced with the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Okay, I'll stop. Welcome to Louisiana, where the crazy just keeps getting crazier. :)

In other, AWESOME news, a less active we have been working with since I got here, came to church this past Sunday, which was.. as I have said... AWESOME! And on the way home from mission leadership council, I was asked to give a blessing to a member I had never before met, but when I laid my hands upon her head.. I felt like I knew exactly what she was going through and what blessings she needed at that time. I know the Priesthood is real and I know that this church is true. It was at that moment that I knew.. it didn't matter that I knew her.. but God knew her. He knew her perfectly, he knew what she had been through, and through me.. was able to give her that witness. The same goes for all of us- God knows us better than we know ourselves.. and not only is he IN the details of our lives.. he has created the details of our lives.

Well, Y'all in closing, I think it is suitable to mention.. our mission merges in five days! As of next week, the LBRM (Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission) mission family.. becomes 2x larger.. so please, send out a special prayer for those Mississippi missionaries, that they may feel our love for them.. and that the merger will go smoothly and we will become one big, happy, and unified family!

Oh, and I love Elder Spencer. He is awesome and every day we find new ways to get along with one another... He is a heaven-sent companion.

Thanks, Y'all! Have a stellar week! Go out and FIND the mayors of the world, share a message with them, unlock their cars with coat hangers, and spread little shenanigans every once in a while! (Of course.. please do not take this literally..) YOU'RE ALL DIVINE. ELDER BOYD LOVES YOU!!

Lots of Louisiana lovin',

Elder Boyd

Pictures This Week: