Elder Jeremy Duvall's Mission Blog: April 25, 2016 Looking forward to another great transfer!‏

It's the start of a new transfer! Still get to serve in Centreville! No longer in the trio, but still with Elder Shelley!

This is the only picture of us while we were in a trio the last week and a half before transfers. We enjoyed serving together with Elder Strawn and teaching some of the people in his ward. This picture was at a super good restaurant called Genghis Grill (similar to a Mongolian Grill).

My parents got to meet his parents in Provo this week! It was cool for us to see a picture of our families together.

Elder Duvall's parents met Elder Shelley's parents Scott & Jamie Shelley

Elder Duvall's family enjoyed meeting Elder Shelley's parents

As we were doing our weekly planning last week, we were trying to decide where to go that night. We both felt prompted to go check up on a certain lady from our ward. We didn't know why we were going there, but we biked the 30 minutes to her house. She answered the door and was so glad to see us! She had been sick and just barely lost her job, so she was feeling really down. We were able to comfort her and help her feel some hope and happiness moving forward by the time we left. She invited us in and introduced us to her son, who has been inactive in the church for a long time. We've been over to this house many times, but never met the son, because he just moved back in with his mom. He's a super cool guy and wants us to come back and talk with him about the gospel. We're excited to go back and help him feel the spirit and remember why he and his family joined the church 10 years ago. Another night we met another inactive father who has a wife and three kids that moved in over a month ago. He's the only member in his family, but he wants us to start teaching his 8 year old son! We hope that we can help him feel the spirit again in his life as we teach his son about the church. The father served a mission in Cambodia and told us some crazy stories from his mission! So we're also excited to meet with them again soon. It's important to introduce the gospel to people who don't have it in their lives, but it's equally important to help rekindle that spirit within people who've felt it in the past and have that testimony deep inside them. I know that through turning to Jesus Christ, these people can once again feel lasting peace and happiness that they have felt in the past.

We got to teach Amy’s relatives (her brother, sister in law, niece and nephew) a few times the last two weeks and we had a big family FHE where we all got together and watched the movie "Meet the Mormons." They all loved it! We were able to go to the baptism of Aminata and Sahid Jr this week! Amy gave a beautiful talk at their baptism! It's so great to hear testify so strongly about truth!

We taught Megan at her house this week! Bishop Duersch came with us and met her mother and father. They are a great family and are supportive of Megan's decision to be baptized! Megan "can't even express how excited" she is for her baptism! She and her mother actually came to Aminata and Sahid Jr's baptism on Saturday to see how it all works. We are so excited for the opportunity Megan has this Saturday to enter the waters of baptism as well! She is a great example to all of her friends and family!

This Sunday was ward conference in our ward so Bishop Duersch and our Stake President both spoke at sacrament meeting and church was great! After church we went with the Goehring family and Michelle and Kaylie up to the Washington DC Temple in Maryland. The weather was perfect! As we walked around the temple explaining to them the purpose of temples and why they're so important, I was reminded of President Monson’s conference talk from April 2015, called "Blessings of the Temple." He said: "As I think of temples, my thoughts turn to the many blessings we receive therein. As we enter through the doors of the temple, we leave behind us the distractions and confusion of the world. Inside this sacred sanctuary, we find beauty and order. There is rest for our souls and a respite from the cares of our lives.

Such an amazing place to be! I wish I could come here more often

Two of brother Goehrings kids, Kaden and Max! They're funny kids to be around and they enjoyed the visitors center!

"As we attend the temple, there can come to us a dimension of spirituality and a feeling of peace which will transcend any other feeling which could come into the human heart. We will grasp the true meaning of the words of the Savior when He said:“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you…Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

"Such peace can permeate any heart--hearts that are troubled, hearts that are burdened down with grief, hearts that feel confusion, hearts that plead for help."

Although we were not able to go into the temple yesterday, we definitely felt the peace and happiness of the temple walking around it and going into the visitor’s center! No place on earth can give us more guidance and peace than attending the temple! It's important to make attending the temple a priority. And if it's something we are currently unable to do, we need to set goals to be able to make it there. I'm so grateful for temples and the opportunity we have to learn and grow as we attend! They truly give us a glimpse of what heaven will be like! We watched the same video about eternal families that we watched at the beginning of March when we took Amy up there, and Michelle loved it! We all felt the spirit and she teared up a little bit at the end of the video. I'm so grateful for the temple and for the power of the Priesthood that allows us to be bound to our families for eternity!

We are looking forward to working hard this transfer!! I'm grateful that I get to stay here in Centreville!

I love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Duvall

Kadija, Sahid Jr., Amiza, Aminata, Amy, Omar, and another cousin Abdul after the baptism.

The four of us missionaries with some of Amy's family right after the baptism of Aminata and Sahid Jr.

Aminata is Amy's sister-in-law and Sahid Jr. is Aminata's son. Aminata's husband Sahid Sr. wasn't able to make it to the baptism, but he will eventually be getting baptized as well! It's so great to see Amy's family follow her example and the example of the Savior!

I love these kids!!!

A missionary in my district gave me this drum before he got transferred to another area. It is made with the same pattern and material that this tie is made from!

My brother Danny got me this African tie while serving his mission in New York City. Amy and Aminata loved this tie! They said the name of the pattern but I can't remember it. She said it is a popular Ghanaian pattern! And there's a cute baby picture of Jenny and I on the wall above my desk :)