Bretheren Adieu

Hey Y'all!!

These past 2 years that I have had to serve the Lord have been amazing! I don't think I could have done anything else to grow so much! I have learned so many things on my mission and I would love to just share a few of these things.

1. "It's not whether the storm will hit or not, but it's about what you will do during the storm." In life we all are going to face trials. That is a given, but it's about how we react to trials. If you react to them with a good attitude and with faith, it may seem hard at that time, but eventually you will come away a better person. But if you have a poor attitude and the why me attitude, then you are going to be dragging through it. I have done both. I have had the why me attitude, and it just makes it ten times worse than it would if I had only had a good attitude towards the trial.

2. I have learned personally that by keeping the commandments that you will find joy in what you do. I was talking with a missionary and we were talking about disobedient missionaries. They seem to do just as well as missionaries that are being obedient. In my mind I couldn't understand why. You always hear that obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles. But I just wasn't seeing that. In my mind I thought as long as I am working hard that it's okay to do what I want. When that was happening, you know what? I was not happy with the work. I would say this sucks and I wasn't finding that joy! I had a pretty good awakening and began on a new path. The miracle that I witnessed when I made that change with my attitude towards the work!! I freaking love missionary work! It's the greatest thing ever. If you asked me that when I wasn't at my best I would probably say playing football was ten times better. But that has changed! The miracles that we can witness by being obedient is a state of happiness and that goes a long with the first thing I learned.

3. I have learned that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real in our lives! It doesn't matter where you are at right now in life, but the thing that matters is what direction you are heading. For example, if you are a drug addict and you are on a path of repentance and change, that is what matters. If we are heading back to Christ he is always waiting for us with his arms wide open to receive us. He won't force us to come back to him, we always have our agency. Sometimes we will be given trials to humble us, to help us hit rock bottom so that we will realize we need to make that change. But as long as we are making the trek back, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you are going, or even crawling but as long as you are heading in the right direction is what matters.

Those are few of the many lessons that I have learned these past 2 years! I have loved the people here in Mississippi and in Louisiana. They have treated me so great! I am for sure leaving a part of my heart here, but I am super excited to be home to make the next steps in life. Thank you for everyone that has supported me! I have felt it so much and know that you have or will be blessed for it! And thank you for all those who actually read through my emails I sent out each week! Y'all are the real MVP's! I get home in 2 days 5 hours and 45 minutes! I am so excited to see my family! Like it's unreal!! I love each and everyone of you!!!

Love Elder Corbett

Last full week of the mission

Whats up y'all? Don't worry....I am not trunky!! haha

This past week has flown by. We have been just going, going and going. We had exchanges in Monroe with the zone leaders. That was a lot of fun. I went with Elder Ferrin. He is a good guy. We had a good lesson with one of their investigators.

Then we heard about how at Chick-Fil-A if you dressed up like a cow, that they would give you a free sandwich. So we got a white shirt and put black spots on it. Sadly we went to late, and the lady wouldn't give it to us. Oh well, we got a dope picture.

Then we went to their district meeting and stopped at a store called the rebel store. Let's just say they hook up missionaries with half price off of anything. I got a Trump hat, visor and sweatshirt. I'm pumped to rock them back at home!

We got back Wednesday night, and have been going hard since then. Thursday we saw all of our investigators and had some good lessons with them. Then Friday we had MLC, it was fun to meet everyone, but I started to get annoyed. When a problem was presented, everyone shared an opinion and no one was coming up with solutions. I have realized that a lot of people don't know how to hold councils. But it is what it is.

Then Saturday we worked in our area and found a family of 3 as we were tracting. They seem pretty prepared. They started off by telling us their beliefs. The father talked about so many different churches, and pretty much the apostasy. That was nice, because we could teach an in depth restoration lesson. It was a definite miracle right there! That's pretty much all of the exciting events that went on this week. About 10 more days till I see y'all!!

Love you guys!

Elder Corbett

Transfers and Promptings

This week was a crazy one! Transfer week has so many logistical things that we have to manage! We had a big change Monday night that we had to put into the system and change a few things on transportation. We had a busy day Tuesday and then Wednesday was the day before transfers! It was a normal day except we got a returning missionary that went home and was coming back out. We had a lesson with Gina that night with him and he was trying to take over our lesson and I got a little frustrated with that! But it is all good we got through it. Gina has been going through a lot. Her dad had surgery this week and her mom has some issues so Gina had to take care of them. It has been a lot for her, so we decided Sunday Morning Before church that we would go to their house and make pancakes and eat with them. We thought this would help them get to church, but sadly it did not. We are doing all that we can to support her through this rough trial that she is going through.

Thursday was transfer day. That was a lot of fun because I get to drive a truck and trailer around! It's funny last transfer I had never done that, and they just handed me the keys and pretty much said figure it out. I think I have the hang of backing it up. My dad would be so proud of me hahaha! The cool thing is that I had a bad feeling about it, I just couldn't get it off my mind to check the hitch and see if we connected it right. Luckily I listened to that prompting because we didn't have it on all the way. It took us a minute to get it on, but we got it on right and headed onto the freeway. I am grateful that I was warned of that, because on the freeway there are a lot of bumps where the trailer probably would have fallen off and could have done a lot of damage.

We got everyone to their places they need to go, and were left with the departing missionaries. It was hard to say goodbye to them because a few of them were my homies! It's all good because I will see them here in a few weeks at my homecoming talk! Thursday night we stayed up till 1:00 a.m. just talking and had to get up at 4 a.m. to get ready to take them to the airport. The saying that sleep is for the weak is true! haha - Just kidding, I was tired all day and I slept like a baby the next night!

Saturday was our first full day back to missionary work and it felt really nice! Then on Sunday we had a lesson with one of our investigators named Lester! He understood the Plan of Salvation after he read the pamphlet! He realizes he needs to repent now and begin to live the gospel of Jesus Christ! When doctrine is understood it motivates us to act! I love this gospel and all that it teaches!! This Saturday we merge into the new mission! That is when life gets crazy!! I am looking forward to seeing everyone here in a few weeks!!

Love you guys!!

Elder Corbett

It's getting hot!

Hey y'all!!

It has been heating up down here in Mississippi. I think that I am going to get home and have to wear a jacket because of how hot it has been down here haha. I think it's the humidity that gets you. You can be outside for 5 minutes and start to sweat.

A lot has gone on this week. First off we had exchanges with the Jackson Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Fonger who is such a good guy. He went to Utah State before the mission which is awesome! We talked about Logan and all of that good stuff.

We had a lot of fun on exchanges!! We started it off by hitting up Taco Bell for the free Loco's Taco that they had! Then we went to the other Taco Bell in our area and did the same thing. Then we went out tracting and met some really nice people, but none were really interested. We had made a cake in the morning for our investigators birthday. So we went over to his house and dropped it off and sang happy birthday to him.

We also cut some off the cake before and took it to Gina. She is doing awesome!! She was sick this week so she wasn't able to come to church but instead she found the BYU channel and has been watching that!! It has been such a blessing to see what the gospel has done in her life!

Then this week we had transfer planning. It was a lot of fun to be able to spend time with President Olson, and to see how transfers go. It was really neat to be able to be a part of that experience. We could definitely feel the spirit while we were doing it. It was nothing like I expected.

Anyways I think that is it!! I love and miss y'all I hope that you all have a good week!!!

Elder Corbett

The last month of the MJM

The past 2 weeks have been really busy for us. We have done 3 exchanges, taught a lot of people and also had zone conference. The month of June, I'm sad to say, is full of lasts for the MJM. Also President and Sister Olson go home July 1st.

It's been sad, but something I've learned is that change is good for us. It helps us grow and be better. We often get into routines and habits but when we get out of the comfortable stage is when we really grow.

This week's exchanges were with Elder Worlton and Elder Starks. I'll start with Elder Worlton. He's my mission grandson so that was pretty cool. We had an eventful day of teaching. We taught I think 4 lessons and they went really well! He's a great teacher! It was fun to see him and be with him!

Then there's Elder Starks! He's from Preston so it was cool to talk to him about the promised land! We witnessed a miracle!! We prayed for an opportunity to find someone new and we told God we'd be finding for 50 more minutes. Ask and ye shall receive! Little did we know everything leading up to it was preparing us to meet Adrian. Right as he was walking in from work we stopped him and taught him. He was great to teach as he understood false teachings, and the apostasy. It was a spiritual lesson!

Then on Saturday we had a lesson with Gina! She's doing awesome, she wrote some of her questions out to us and that is what our lesson was about! It was a spiritual environment and she was able to overcome her concerns. She also came to church!! It was awesome she is so great! She made the best lasagna too! The last place she was in the Book of Mormon was Alma haha. She's talking President Monsons challenge more serious than most members lol. I love the Book of Mormon and the spirit that it brings. It brings happiness and joy!

Elder Corbett

Hard Work

What's up everyone?! This week for me was very eventful. It consisted of planning for mission leadership council in a day, an exchange, and just hard work.

Last Tuesday which seems like forever ago, we had an exchange with the Monroe Zls and I got to go with my guy Elder Hendry. He is a fun guy to work with and we saw a lot of miracles that day. It seems like every exchange that I've been on we get blessed to see miracles. This time we were trying a potential that wasn't really interested... but when we knocked, his wife was there and she let us right in. She opened right up to us and we had an amazing lesson where the spirit was there.

Then Wednesday we had to prepare for mission leadership council. Our day was packed as well so I gained a testimony that if you do all that you can to prepare, that God will fill your mouth with the words that are needed. We were able to get through it. Elder Sillitoe and I are catching up on sleep hours today, that were missed last week. I have never been so tired, but I have loved it.

Working with Elder Sillitoe has been such a great blessing. I have leaned a ton from him. So I have just been loving life.

Our investigators are doing well. Some are progressing well and others are at their own pace right now. Something that I have learned this week is how precious life is, and how quickly it can change or be taken away. I have taken it for granted but it is amazing how merciful God is to us. We can't take life for granted, but we need to live it up to the potential that God has for us, by always accomplishing His will before ours. Anyways I hope all is well.

Love you guys!!

Elder Corbett

Where did the week go?

What’s up everyone?

Well it seems that the days blend together and time seems to fly. Elder Sillitoe and I have been getting along great. He is such a good guy and I love working with him. Before we were companions, I'd see him at zone conferences and tell him that he is the most Christ like dude in the MJM, and he truly is. He serves me and is very loving. I have loved being with him.

On Monday after p day ended we had a million appointments at the same apartment. And they all fell through. I think we had 8 appointments from 6 to 7 p.m.. It made me sad, but luckily we had a potential we tried named Ricky. We taught him a great lesson and he seemed to enjoy it. Then Tuesday we were seeing an investigator named Kevin and his Brother was there, so we invited him to join and we had another good lesson. The funny thing about it was when Elder Sillitoe invited them to be baptized they both looked down and were quiet, and they both were shaking their head up and down. Then one said yes and then the other did. It was a good lesson and they both are keeping commitments.

We also had to prepare for the mission conference! Elder Lynn G Robbins came to our mission and it was lit. We worked with the senior couples on what to feed the missionaries, to how they were going to get there. There were a lot of logistics and we couldn’t have done it without them. If anyone is able to serve a senior couple mission, I highly recommend it! Us young missionaries look up to them because they are wise. Our senior missionaries are super laid back and like to joke as well. They are like our grandparents and show us unconditional love. I appreciate them so much.

The conference came and it was so much fun. Something we also had to do was get every missionaries height and for some luckily, not their weight haha. But we had to arrange them in a photo and give them numbers to stand in certain spots. We did this so it wasn't a hectic time trying to get 100 missionaries to be seen in a photo. I personally learned so much at the conference. He taught us a life principle and then applied it to missionary work. He talked a lot about how we need to be good companions so we can be good spouses. We then got everyone back into their vans and shipped them back to their areas. I also got to see a lot of mission buddies and talk with them.

Then Saturday we didn't have a lot of appointments in the afternoon. We were fortunate enough to tract for 2 hours straight haha. We had some good contacts but no lessons. I think I got a little heat exhaustion. These kind of days are faith builders and also help build your character. You need these kind of days sometimes.

Then Sunday was an amazing day. First off we have had stake conference and since I have been in Jackson I got to see so many members. I know them all pretty much. I loved that, because I love so many people down here and have gotten so close with some.

Then the cherry on top of all that, was one of our investigators got baptized!! It was so weird this week. We were so busy that we didn't really get to mentally prepare for it, it just kind of happened. The service went really well. It was a reactivation and baptism of a 9-year old. Her name is Ceri Crowder and it was way fun to teach them. She also has an 8-year old sister named Ari that got baptized with her. The cool thing is, is that Ari asked me to confirm her a member and give her the Holy Ghost. That was a first for me, but it was amazing to be able to participate in it. Anyways that is all from me this week.

I love everyone and hope that all is well.

Love Elder Corbett