Witness Received

Hey hey hey! Man I am writing this email with tears in my eyes... This is gonna be a tough one. I cannot believe that it is finally almost time to hang up the white shirts (at least until church on Sunday), take off the badge, and retire the title of Elder Obray (the third of course). I have a lot to say so this is going to be a novel. Like usual, I would not be offended if you took it in pieces and took your time reading this one. I really don't know where to start, so I guess I will start with some key events that took place this week. 

First off, my man IM got baptized yesterday! It was a great day, he is the man. He is a really serious guy, but we sure have seen a change in his countenance since he started coming to church. He even told us a joke today which is quite the big step. The baptism went well. He is going to be a great member of the church, and he is excited to work with the missionaries to help his family come to church and make the same covenants that he made. 

We picked up my replacement from his area this week. His name is Elder Schoenfeld and he is a stud. I have no doubt that I am leaving the mission in good hands. He and Elder Wood are going to be a great companionship that I know will continue to change the mission and hopefully correct all the mistakes I have made while serving in the office for the last six months.

The majority of the week was spent transfer planning and getting things ready to go for this week. I have been able to take a little bit of a back seat and watch my two companions take care of business. It has been nice, it has given me a glimpse of what relaxing really feels like. I have missed it.

As I sat in church today, I had the sacrament passed to me by the one and only SF. Close by him was my man NB dressed in a suit passing the sacrament, sitting next to me was my new friend IM, and sitting in the pews close by was my man SS. I am so grateful for all of these amazing men that I have been able to teach in the last little while. I feel like a proud father whenever they make a comment during priesthood or bless the sacrament for the first time. I am so grateful that I have been trusted with just a few of Heavenly Father's children in the past little while. 

We had the departing temple trip this last week as well. It was my fourth time being a part of that temple trip, but this time was much more special for me. As I sat in the celestial room in the temple, I was reading in 2 Timothy 4:6-7 (6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.), which is a favorite of mine and a scripture that I have looked forward to reading in the temple for a while now. As I read that scripture I asked in my mind if my offering was accepted by Heavenly Father. I felt a feeling that I haven't really felt before, I felt so much peace and so much joy as I reflected on the past two years of my life as a missionary. Although my mission has been far from perfect, and there were times when I am sure if I asked, I would get the soft rebuke that I needed to work harder or that I needed to change my attitude, but as I look back on the sum of my mission, the Lord has made known to me that He has accepted my offering. I cannot tell you how sweet of a feeling that truly is. 

I am so grateful for the privilege that I have had to serve her in Iowa. It has by far been the hardest experience of my life (yep harder than BYU soccer camp). I have experienced some of the lowest points of my life while serving, but I have also experienced some of the highest points of my life. I have grown so much and am a changed person as a result of the call to serve. I am a firm believer that God is in even the smallest details of our lives. His plan is so perfect. When I received a call to serve in Iowa you know how disappointed I was. For a season I doubted that His plan was perfect. My favorite scripture as you know is Ether 12:6 which talks about receiving a witness after the trial of your faith. I am so grateful to report, two years later, that I have received that witness. I have no doubt that Iowa is the place that I was supposed to serve. Iowa will forever be sacred ground to me. God lives, Jesus Christ lives and I know that the call to serve in Iowa was directly from Him. 

When I think about leaving the good ole land of Iowa, I get really sad honestly. But I am so excited to be reunited with my favorite people on the planet. I am so thrilled to be able to finally hug Jen again, and pick up my nephew for the first time. It has been a long long time coming, and it is finally here. I cannot wait to see you. Mom we did it! Thank you all for your support over the last two years, I couldn't have done it without you guys. You are my best friends and I am so grateful to be stuck with you guys for eternity. I hope you don't mind me sticking around. There sure are good things to come. 

It feels so good to say that I will see you in a couple of days. I love you! Take it easy. 

For the final time,

Elder Obray III

Cute little selfie for the road.

Los Tajones y yo 

The man himself. All ready to get in the water.

Feed My Sheep

Hey Hey Hey! Man it was a great week here in the promised land. We had a super busy week, but those are always good, right? The weeks are getting better and better these days, but I am starting to get pretty sad no lie. I will talk some more about that stuff here in a bit. Just know that all is well. Let's get right to it! 

This week was zone conference week. It always makes for a pretty stressful couple of days that make me really appreciate my bed more. We started at zone conference in Des Moines on Tuesday, headed to Iowa City for the New Trainers meeting and exchanges in Davenport on Wednesday, zone conference in D Port on Thursday, then traveled back over to Iowa CIty for the concluding zone conference. We had a killer zone conference this week. You always leave zone conference with a renewed fire to get work done and lay it all out there. Elder Wood and I gave our final training together... We have given like 7 together, so it was pretty sad to conclude that last one. I sure love that guy, I haven't really talked about our relationship too much but we are best pals. It is pretty weird being with someone 24/7 for this long, I feel like we are turning into the same human. We are going to try to add him to our apartment for second semester. Good things to come man. 

We trained on finding the elect.  It went well. We talked a lot about sacrificing temporal comforts to show our love to Jesus Christ. We talked about my guy Peter being asked three times if he loved Jesus Christ and the response every time being something along the lines of "feed my sheep." I have talked about it a lot on my mission, but we show God our love by showing His children love and helping them remember the things they may have forgotten. We also talked a lot about being personable with people and door step approaches and things. We put together a list of tips called the "Finding Fruit Snacks." They were a hit. We thought it was catchy. :)

At zone conference, I got to give my departing testimony. That was pretty weird.  At my first zone conference when everyone was going home I remember thinking that I am never going to do that. Two years seemed like an eternity. It went well and to my surprise, I didn't even cry. I was pumped about that, I have become pretty soft out here, physically and emotionally. 

After zone conference on Friday, we took a trip down to Nauvoo to watch the pageant. Man it is so cool. I am so excited to bring you guys out here to it. I have a ton of gratitude for the early saints of the church and the sacrifices they made to bring forth the gospel. We got a picture with the guy who played Heber C. Kimball. That guy baptized like 1500 people on his first mission to England, almost as many as Elder Wood and I here in Iowa. He is a legend. 

In other news, our friend I is entering the waters of baptism this Saturday. He is the man, I sure love LIberia. He is a stud, he knows the bible really well so all of our lessons are an adventure. He is really great though, he will make a great member of the church. He told us yesterday, "Elders, the reason I ask so many questions is because when I go back to Liberia, I will have to share with everyone the gospel I have received, and I don't want to lead anyone astray!" That dude is a scholar. He will be my final baptism, which is a happy and sad thing. I have been blessed to teach so many amazing people. I sure do love the people of the Iowa (and Liberia of course). 

Well, that is about it for the week. Pretty wild to me that I am headed into my last full week as a missionary. Good stuff for sure though. I am blessed to say that I don't have any regrets. I am eternally grateful for the privilege it has been to serve her in Iowa. We will get into all of that stuff next week. 

Love you all! 

The real softy,

Elder Obray

Learning to be more domestic. I can now bake bread thanks to Sister B.

Interesting picture, but I thought it was cute.

My pal 

The legend himself, Heber C. Kimball