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

Rejoice Evermore

Hey Hey Hey! How about that? Another week is in the books. I say this every week, but I really can't believe how fast they are going by these days. I feel like that classic Kenny Chesney song is becoming reality. Don't blink or I will miss the end of my mission! Yikes!

This week was a good one of course. We spent the whole week in our area which isn't really that common, so it was a blessing and a half. We set a goal at the beginning of the week to be hooked up with 20 new people to teach, and God hooked it up even more and helped us find 23! Can't complain though, we found some real cool people and also some people who aren't so cool, but it is all part of the process I guess. We had some exchanges in our area with some stud ZLs from around the mission as well. One of which I go home with, and the other will most likely be my replacement here in the next couple of weeks. Pretty weird to think that I have been at this whole AP think for almost six months. It is about time I get subbed out! 

A couple updates on the people. I haven't mentioned this man before, but we are teaching this guy I. Of course he is from my favorite place on the planet and he is doing super good. He is looking to get baptized on the 11th of August, so I sure hope it goes through, nothing better than helping someone enter the waters of baptism on my very last week as a full time missionary. Other news is that we started teaching my guy SS's daughter who just moved here from New Jersey. I love that man. He is such a legend. She is also looking to be baptized on the 11th so it will be a big day for sure. We are pumped though. Gotta love Africa! We have also been teaching this guy named J. He is dating a returned missionary from Colorado here doing summer sales. He is a stud is and is super jacked. We have taught him a few times and will hopefully be getting dipped in September. It is a pretty weird thing right now because most of the people we are teaching have dates for after I get home. It was kind of like that moment when every movie that was advertised came out after I left on my mission. Similar to importance too I guess. :)

The ward I am serving in is pretty scarce on the young men to help out with the sacrament, so it isn't uncommon for us to get called on to help out. Today I had the amazing experience to stand shoulder to shoulder with S2 and S3 and pass the sacrament with them. It was a really tender experience for me and I felt a whole lot of joy as I watched them exercise their priesthood. Also today, my man NB went in for his temple recommend interview and priesthood interview. Right after his interview, his wife EB had hers. Man I sure love that family. We are going to try to squeeze in a temple date before I take off. Fingers crossed that it works out! 

Man I sure love being a missionary. I am really going to miss it when it is over.

Have a great week! Love you all.

Soon to be subbed out,

Elder Obray

My man, S hooked me up with a sweet African get up. He told me that this is what the prophets in his country wear. Hmm.

Feel the Burn

Hey Hey Hey! It was another great week in the IDMM. Things are really good these days. I am glad to hear that Trek was a success. I expected nothing less. It is also good to hear that it is was pretty tough. That is one of the things that I have been a little bit bummed about my trek. I felt like it was way too easy. Doing hard things is the good stuff. How else would we grow? This email is most likely going to be pretty short because not too much happened this week. We had a ton of administration stuff to do this week. Like always I will do my best to keep it lively. Lets get right to it. 

A pretty crazy day this week was my final mission leadership council of my mission. It was my ninth time being in that meeting and I really can't believe that I won't ever go to one of those again. Elder Wood and I prepared a training on having a burning desire in missionary work. We titled it "Feel the Burn" gotta love it. I shared some of my favorite track quotes in the training. You know that "Your altitude determines your altitude" made an appearance. In preach my gospel, it talks about the best way to increase your desire to do missionary work and to share the gospel is to study the Atonement of Jesus Christ. When we learn more about the sacrifice that He made for us, it becomes easier for us to make the daily sacrifices that bring the joy that only His Atonement can supply.

The next few days following MLC were spent helping people get situated after the transfer. We spent the majority of a couple of days stocking apartments and helping missionaries get settled. Bringing out the moving skills again. 

We had a cool little experience on Friday. The Stake asked us to help them with some of their youth conference, so we got to prepare a small training for some of the youth preparing to serve missions. It was a good time. It feels like just yesterday I was in their shoes. That is such an exciting time. 

A couple of updates, my man SF is doing awesome. He passed the sacrament today and even gave a short talk in sacrament meeting last week. TP got his patriarchal blessing a few weeks ago and is doing great. NB and EB have interviews with our bishop next week to get their temple recommends. Thinking about all of the amazing experiences from my mission truly "makes my heart swell" :) I am forever changed because of the privileged it has been to spend a couple years in Iowa serving my Savior. I love Him and am grateful for every minute that I have to represent Him. 

Love you! Have a great week!

The Elder with a swollen heart (shout out to Jen)

So It Begins...

Hey hey!  I am pretty sentimental today to be honest. This week marks the beginning of my last transfer as a full time missionary. I guess we need to make this one the best one yet right? I am stoked to hear that trek is this week! I feel like you guys started working on trek when I started my mission. Crazy that it is finally here. I have no doubt that this will be the best one yet. You will have to give me the run down next week after a nap and a nice cold Diet Coke of course. I am sure that those Diet Cokes are packed and ready to go already.

We had a great week this week and of course it was crazy busy. We had a bunch go down so I will get right to it. 

This week was transfers and you guessed it. I am staying right where I am for the last one. We spent the majority of the week coordinating all of the transportation, calling missionaries, solving problems and helping missionaries. The good life. Transfer week is always really stressful. There is a lot on the line for most of the missionaries. I remember as a young missionary being super nervous to find out where I was headed next and who with. It really adds a lot of pressure when you are responsible to help decide what happens to these missionaries for the next six weeks of their lives. Luckily, President is super inspired and makes most of the calls! That man is a legend. 

Wednesday is always a fun day. We picked up all of the new missionaries from the airport. We had a decent sized group this time with thirteen new young missionaries. It is always the coolest thing to see how excited they are and how ready they are to hit the streets. I also met my great grandson for the first time. Yep, I lived to see the day when the fruit of my loins (well kind of...) reached four generations serving at the same time. What a blessing. Because we were hanging out with the new missionaries, our Fourth of July was super lame. Its all good though, I'll be home for the next one. Wahoo! 

Thursday and Friday were also real good days. Thursday is the big day when transfers happen so Elder Wood and I were cruising around all over the place making sure things went smoothly. Luckily it was a successful one with only a few minor hiccups. We then spent the rest of the day helping the departing missionaries get ready to take off. It was a tough group to send home. Some of my best pals were in that group, like Elder Sampson and Elder Butterfield, Elder Hadfield, Elder McCain and others. The mission is really going to be weird for the next little while. All of those guys will be at my homecoming though so I am pumped to introduce you to them! They are studs and I am really going to miss them. Only said see you later though... 

From what you might have seen, we spent Saturday morning ripping out drywall and tearing out carpet. It was great day. Funny thing was, when we showed up to the church to meet our groups, I was assigned to a group with a bunch of members from the Ames 1st ward! It was so killer! Including Bishop Cannon. We laughed that it was a flood that brought us together almost a year and a half ago after his flood in his basement. Good times for sure! I guess I can now officially call myself an Obray after working with drywall all day. Good stuff!

This email is longer than I meant it to be so I will cut it off there! I love you guys!

Have a great week!

The Flood Cleaner Upper,

Elder Obray

Yep.

Bishop Cannon. Possibly one of my future professors at USU. 

Just Floating Away

Hey Hey Hey! Man what another great week. I feel like this week was incredibly quick, but looking back it feels like I emailed you guys like two months ago. We were super busy this week and all kinds of good stuff went down, so I will waste no time and get right to it. 

First of all my man N got dipped in the water yesterday! We are so pumped for him. He is the man. From what they told us, the baptism in Texas was a success. My friend M didn't end up getting baptized... She was really nervous about getting in the water before hand, but we thought it would be alright. No worries though, she has all kinds of time to get baptized. She is the coolest little girl. We are so pumped for that family. It has been a really amazing experience teaching them. We are looking forward to many years ahead of good friendship. They are definitely a family that I will have to visit whenever I am traveling through the Midwest! 

The departing temple trip was this week as well. It is always a good experience to sit down in the temple and think about holy things haha. The temple is a place of so much peace and I am so grateful for all of the amazing things that happen in temples. Hoorah for a temple in L Town!

Instead of traveling back to Des Moines after the temple trip, Elder Wood and I drove even farther into Illinois to meet all of the missionaries coming from the Chicago West mission. We held a short zone conference and met all of the great missionaries we are getting. It is going to be a little wild getting everyone moved over and acclimated to a new mission, but they were awesome missionaries and I am excited to serve with them for the home stretch of my mission.

The rest of the week was spent transfer planning. It is always a fun week to spend a lot of time with the Badgers. They are the coolest people around. I am really going to miss them when I go home. Never fear though, I have already discussed snapchatting Sister Badger to keep her updated. I am so grateful that I have had the privileged of serving close by them for so long. They are amazing. It is crazy to me that I am headed into my last transfer as a full time missionary. Yep..

Last thing, last night, we working on some stuff for transfers when we started getting phone calls from missionaries who were stranded in their cars. There was a huge storm yesterday which flooded a lot of the major streets here in Des Moines. Elder Wood and I got in our trusty vehicle, the van Shaylee, and hit the road. We spent the next few hours trying to help missionaries get back to their apartment and trying to help other people get their cars out of the road. We finally crawled into bed last night around 1. Man I was so tired, but it was quite the adventure. I only took one picture though.... Hopefully you will forgive me. It was a pretty cool experience though! Gotta love the Midwestern rain storms! 

That is about it this week. I hope things are going well back home. I will see you all in a few weeks! Love you

Just Floating Along... Literally

Elder Obray

The Pursuit of Happiness

Hello hello! What a week here in the promised land. I am really having a hard time thinking of ways that I can keep these emails exciting. I feel like after about 94 of these emails, I am running out of creativity. It was a wild week though, so hopefully it will be a good one. Oh I'm about to dive in!

We had zone conference this week... It is always a pretty stressful week filled with long car rides and long days in meetings. It was successful though. We had great conferences and I felt the spirit for sure. I had a lot of those Walter Mitty moments driving to Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Iowa City. The next time I make that trip to all of our zone conferences, I will only have a couple weeks left as a full time missionary. Ahh can't think about that too much or it gets me in the feels. I have really been impressed with how pretty Iowa is lately. Man I am so excited for you guys to see it someday. Something about the hills of corn and the sunset. It is definitely a different kind of beautiful, but I sure like it. 

We spent Wednesday on exchanges with some stud missionaries in Manchester, Iowa. Yep that place is booming with life. My companion for the day, Elder Broby, and I knocked a couple towns. One called Coggin and the other called Ryan. I am pretty sure they had the population of our cul-de-sac, but it was a fun experience. 

Update on the coolest investigators on the planet. The Bw are all set for their baptism this weekend. Their baptism is this Saturday and we couldn't be more stoked for them. M (the eight year old) gave us "tickets" this week for being the best missionaries in the world. She is the cutest. We went over the baptism interview questions with them this week and she knows her doctrine too. We are so pumped for them. Definitely feeling real grateful for the privilege that it has been to teach them. 

Today at church, I saw my girl E in the hallway. She is doing really good as well. She is so much happier than she was when we first started teaching her. Whenever I see her she always tell me how blessed she is. She is the greatest. I love that family as well. Man I am getting all sentimental already.. This is no good. 

Elder Wood and I trained on finding happiness in the work. There are a lot of missionaries in the mission who I feel are just going through the motions until their time is up. We really stressed that the time of missionary service is a time to enjoy. My big one liner for the training was "Called to Serve not Called to Survive." I know that I have had some of the happiest times on my mission. The Lord's work is a happy work that is for sure. 

On a super happy note. I found my camera this week! Someone turned it into the Stake Offices after the last zone conferences and it has just been chilling there. How about that? 

Have a great week! I love you!

You can still call me Walter,

Elder Obray

Yep.

Matching at zone conference. We planned it.

This little man got lost today at church. Elder Wood captured this super candid picture.