Wed 9/29/10

Subject: Will your mom be mad that we are

here? No man she'll be cool.

Hello fam. that I love so much. Well things are going good here. are having a good time. We had our interviews this week. they were good. prez. talked to me a lot about the area. This area is a really hard area. All of the homes here are very big and all of the people here are just happy with what they have. they don't see a need for the gospel. so He was asking what i thought we should do to the area. I really don't know. I don't ever really want to think that there is a such a thing as a "dead area". I know that any area can have success. It just need hard work and faith. So enough with the soap box. So we have a Inactive member that has asked us to teach him the lessons. so on Sun. we went a gave him the first lesson. It went really well. All of the ward members have said that they have seen a change in him. Just the little that i have seen of him i have seen a difference. Now for the story that goes with the subject line. So we have this named Ashton that was a PI. So we went and try to follow up with him. We get there and he tells us to come in. So we talk for a bit and he tells us that he had read the BOM and prayed about it. I asked him want he had read. He said that he had read the Intro. That was it. We where like OK. Well we talk for a bit more and then his Mom and sisters come home. Elder Roothoff asked if his mom would be mad if we were there. (He is like 18 or 19 years old) He was like no man she'll be cool. (He had already told us that she didn't like Mormons) OK if you say so. She come in and the first thing he said to her is "Hi mom these two guys are Mormon." The look that came from that women would have killed any other man.Then she said to Ashton. "NO MORE ASHTON, NO MORE!!!!!!!" Then his sisters is talking to him right in front of us and and said " You picked up two Mormon off the side of the road?" Then He said "Why are you all talking about them like they are not here?" It was way funny. We left after that. She did get a little nicer after Ashton rebuked them. Then later that night we went to a Inactive members home for dinner. He and his non-member Wife were way nice. He told us right up front that he did not want to come to church, but they love to feed us. So they want us to come back so they can feed us. Well that's about it for now. We really don't have any one that we are teaching right now so no lessons to talk about sorry. Well i love you all so much and miss you tons.

Love Elder Thomas Scoble

My God by with you till we meet again.

Wed 9/22/10

Subject: LOOK OUT FOR THAT CAR!!!!!!!

So Fam how are things. Things are good here. Just one thing our happened. don't think it was to me calm down. it happened to our roommate. So we get a call from Elder Slade one of our roommates and he is telling us that his comp. Elder Grundvig was just hit by a car. So we had to drive over there and pick up the bikes and stuff. He was going to the hospital. He is OK other than he broke his coler bone. Oh and by the way he was using my bike. It is gone. that thing was pretty messed up. So i hope that i don't have to go on a bike now. other than that things are going good. We had a ward party. It was a lot of fun. we tryed really hard to get non-members there. We still had a lot of fun. Now Chastity was one of our invest. well she dropped us yesterday. she really didn't let us teach her much. We had the Bishops wife with us and she did a great job with what little time we did have. So today we are going to the Mission Home to have a BBQ and games. it will be lots of fun. we did met this one lady. I really really really wanted her to listen to us. She needed the Gospel in her life. She was telling us the she is just trying to find answers to her questions, like why bad things happen to good people and what happens to us when we die. Can you say the questions of the soul any one. I then told her that the BOM has answers to her questions. Then she told us that she is looking for spiritly answers and they can't come from a book or a church. I was like what?????????!!!!!! I just ended up giving her a card. Well thats about it for now i love you all and miss you.

Love Elder Thomas Scoble

Wed 9/15/10

Subject: Dear Darla,I hate your stinking

guts.you make me vomit.your the skum

between my toes.love Alfalfa

hello family. things are going good here. We have had some good days here. we are see lots of good things happen in a lot of the areas here. So we had this great lesson this week. We have this new family that we are teaching. The Pate famliy. They are so great. So the first time that we met them it was the dad that came to the door. he was way nice. he told us that he was thinking that we were going to call first. he was a referal. so we told him that we would give them a call to see when the next time to come by would be good. so we call and they are all happy to hear from us. We go to the appt. and they are super nice. They ask us all kinds of really good questions. we teach them about the BOM and asked them to read and pray. then we asked them if they would be baptised. they said they would when they came to know. it was soooooo good. I have been doing a lot of exchanges. I do 2 a week so far.They are fun. i try to help all that i can. So now yesterday we went and found this way ready lady and her son. She said that she was praying for Gods help and here we are. She asked us if she could have the BOM that we were taking with us. and she wants us to come back some time this week. it was great. well thats about it for now i love you all and miss you all soooo much.

Love Elder Thomas Scoble

9/8/10

Subject: being a DL is a lot of work

Why hello fam. who are you all doing? things are good here. So being a DL is a lot of work. My mind is always running. I have to try to be up beat all the time. It's a lot of work to keep a smile on your face. I'm having a harder time with my comp. this time around. He is really disobedin. lots of stuff that he does and he wont listen to me. So this new area is going to be a hard one to learn. there are so many trees that I really don't have land marks to use to remember where to go. it all looks the same. If it was not for my comps. GPS we would have no clue how to get any where without pulling out the map every 2 sec. I really don't know what my comp did the whole last transfer. I will ask him something about the area and he knows nothing. it's like im white washing. we have only one invest. and she can't get baptised. She has somethings to work out. and they will take a long time. One thing that we got to do that was a lot of fun. We went and did some way fun service. We went and split some wood with 2 things. a wood spliting ax and a 27 Ton wood spliter press. it was a lot of fun. I haven't gotten to do something like that for a long time. Well thats about it for now i love you all and miss you soooooooo much.

Love Elder Thomas Scoble

Message from the President

Subject: God Loves All His Children

Dear Elders and Sisters,

At the recent seminar for new mission presidents, Elder Oaks explained that sometimes we explain that ours is the “only true church” in a way that “gives great offense to people who belong to other churches or who subscribe to other philosophies. Sometimes we add to that offense by seeming to be arrogant or pretending to be holier than someone else. We may even add to that offense in other ways. We may seem to say that there is no truth in any other church or philosophy. We may seem to imply that members of this Church are better than other people. Or we may seem to suggest that God loves us more than His other children who do not belong to this church.”

Then Elder Oaks said that “all of those feelings are unfortunate. We should try to avoid them because they are not true. God has not taught us anything that should cause us to feel arrogant or superior to other people. Certainly all churches and philosophies have elements of truth in them, some more than others. Certainly God loves all of his children. Certainly His gospel plan is for all of His children, all according to His own timetable. “

Elder Oaks went on to explain that the statement in D&C 1:30 that this Church is the “only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” means that “this Church has the fullness of His doctrine and the power of His priesthood. That power includes the power to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost—the key to continuing revelation—and the power to perform the ordinances He has required to be performed in mortality.

Elder Oaks went on to explain that we also have, from Joseph’s First Vision, a unique belief in the nature of God. That “they are three separate and distinct beings, and that God the Father is not a spirit but a glorified being with a tangible body, as is His resurrected Son, Jesus Christ. Though separate in identity, they are one in purpose.”

It is our goal as missionaries to share these marvelous truths with all people, including good practicing Christians with other beliefs, and to do so in a manner that shows our love for them without implying some kind of false sense of superiority.

We love you and are proud of your hard work and obedience! Your accomplishments are amazing and we are so pleased that God is pouring out his blessings on you individually and on the mission as a whole.

Much Love,

Mark Albright

President

Washington D.C. South Mission

Wed 9/1/10

Subject: What the Crap do i do as a District Leader?!

Hello Family How are things? Things are good here. so I got my call yesterday for transfers. I am going to Bristow. It is in Hoodbridge, or in other words Woodbridge. My 2nd area was in woodbridge (Dale City). And I'm going to be a DL. I think it will be lots of fun. I have a huge district. My new comp is Elder Roothoff. He was my roommate for 3 month already. so i don't even need to get to know him. that also means that i know all of his bad habits too. I know a little bit about the new area. I hope to have a good and successful time there. I told elder Ditty that he has to take care of this area. There is a lot of people that he will be able to touch here still. that's probably the most that i will put for this week. It was a slow week this week. Sorry again it is so short email. I love you all so much and miss you tons.

Love Elder Thomas Scoble

PS Write me. Stacy is doing. Good Brit is emailing ever so often. Mindy you have not gotten anything to me in like 5 weeks or more. I know that you all still love me. Now show the love.