Elder Chandler Obray: To the Promised Land

Hey Hey Hey! Sorry this email is a day late, all of the libraries in Iowa shut down yesterday to celebrate the super important holiday of Labor Day. Last week right after I logged off the computer I immediately regretted not giving my favorite nephew a birthday shout out. Man, it is so crazy to me that he is already a year old. It is even crazier that I haven't even met him yet. I loved the videos so much. If you have any other videos of the guy or even just videos on the boat I would love to see them. Missionary work gets a little redundant sometimes so I would love some spice in my day. This week was pretty standard so I can't promise that it will be anything earth shattering, but it was a great one.

It seems that the Lord is definitely hooking up the Des Moines Elders right now. We are finding so many awesome people. Currently we have six people who are progressing towards baptisms dates, we are so excited about the miracles that are happening in our area. Really quickly I will tell you about this family that we are teaching. We are teaching a woman named E. She and her family are from Liberia. Their story is incredible. A few months before Elder Robley and I got here, E was living in Rhode Island. Her sister was a member in another ward here in Des Moines. One day E got a call from her sister (here) and she told E that she needed help with her five kids. E dropped everything and prepared for the trip. When E was getting ready to travel here, her sister was shot and killed in their apartment by her boyfriend, right in front of all of her kids. (Her two boys are the kids I sent the picture with a couple weeks ago) They are the cutest kids ever. E took over custody of all of the children and has been taking care of them for the past few months. She is an amazing woman. She is so kind and is always so happy to see us. Of course, we are always excited to see her too. She agreed to feed us some African food here soon so I hope that I will make it out alive when that happens. She told me that I would cry if she fed it to us. We are also teaching her mother and her nephew. We are so excited for her to be baptized her soon.

Random side tangent, I am really noticing lately how much the Gospel really can change people. We are teaching some extremely humble people. Sometimes they are in pretty sad situations. But I am so grateful for the changes that I have seen in these people's lives when they learn to accept the Gospel. There is a huge difference between those who live the gospel standards and those who don't. This church is so true it blows my mind. It truly is the Lord's kingdom on the Earth.

I am sure you are dying to hear about the epic musical number that took place at the Des Moines Zone Conference this last week. Elder Mauldin and I sang a rendition of “Abide with Me tis Eventide.” It went pretty good. We didn't have too much time to practice between both of our schedules but I thought it went pretty good. President Badger told me that it was decent so that might count for something. I was super nervous though... But I guess there is no growth in the comfort zone or something like that right? Zone conference was awesome. You always leave big conferences like that with a refreshing desire to do the Lord's work.

We dropped off one of my old mission buddies at the airport this last Thursday, he had completed his mission so he exchanged with us for a couple of days and we sent him off. It was crazy to walk through the airport and to think that I was arriving in Des Moines a year ago already. Time sure flies. I have mentioned this before, but Maxwell and I have the same birthday. He was born into life on Earth, and I was born into life as a missionary. On Max's birthday, it marked my one year living in Iowa. But don't worry, I will be there for Max's next birthday. Crazy stuff.

In 1 Nephi 17, it is the chapter when Nephi is commanded to build a boat. He unwaveringly accepts the challenge and is promised that he will be led to the Promised Land. I love this chapter first because Nephi exemplifies incredible faith, but also the Lord promises he will be led to where he should go. Often times, the Lord requires massive things of us, but he also promises that if we follow his counsel that we will be led towards the "Promised Land" that could be anything that we are righteously seeking, (A new job, a better relationship with someone, a better testimony, etc.) We are promised that we will have our own type of Liahona leading us along if we are faithful. We cannot fail if we are on the Lord's errand.

I better send this one off. I love you guys so much and I am so grateful for all of you. Give Max a hug for me and make sure to tell Jen she looks slim. Have a great week!

The not so slim,

Elder Obray