Marley Crik Gang

 

Miracles & Mercy

Bonjour mes amis et ma famille! I hope each of you feels our Savior's love often! I pray each of you can help others feel the Savior's love always!

You might be wondering, "What was Elder Habel up to this week? Was he productive or did he have some more adventures?" I'm happy to say that I was able to do both!

This week was full of miracles from the Lord! We had some amazing and powerful spiritual experiences with Liydia! We were able to do a scripture study with her and the Munoz family! We had a special experience touring the church with the Meades and Brother Farnsworth! We met with her and the Meades as well! She then was able to join us at church and she really enjoyed the Spirit there and in all of our experiences! Liydia is such an amazing person!

We also had the opportunity to set a baptismal date with Brooke!!! She actually told us she wanted to be baptized!! We were discussing the new member lessons when she did so and the Spirit was so powerful that I couldn't stop smiling out of pure joy and charity towards the Tremls and our God! How great is His mercy! How deep and of fine making are His ways! I am so happy the Tremls want to be united as an eternal family in the arms of the love of our Savior! 

We also were able to invite Arnold Hammond to be baptized as well! We were teaching him about the Lord's Restoration of His Church when we expressed the experience of the First Vision! The Spirit was so powerful no one could talk, no one could speak for minutes. I am so happy Arnold wants to be baptized and we will work hard to help him do so for His Savior and His Heavenly Father! 

Transfers were this week as well on Thursday! Elder Finch and I knew we were getting a third ami so we were excited heading to Independence where the exchanging of companions was happening! Sadly, I had to say goodbye to Elder Miller who is truly a friend in the purest sense. To all you Marley Crik members out there know we have some good times still coming! We were able to pick up Elder Smith and after a crazy series of events Elder Finch had to leave and Elder Ahio came in his stead. It was very sudden and sad to lose Elder Finch. He truly helped me be a better missionary and I will miss him greatly! I love you Elder Finch! 

  

The crowning event of this week though was having the great privilege and astounding blessing of witnessing Brother Brent  Arnold's baptism! I was able to baptize him and the joy we felt together was awesome! We gave each other the biggest hug! Being there for Brother Arnold helped me feel the Spirit so strongly! 

 

So as you can see the Lord blessed us with many miracles because of His mercy and love towards our efforts and His people! I love each of you very dearly and deeply! Keep going! Your efforts are seen by the Lord! He will fulfill His will! He loves you! As so do I!

Love, Elder Habel 

(I'm going to Africa on March 4th!)

Miracles in the Frozen Midwest

Bonjour ma famille et mes amis!

I hope each of you is doing good things and are receiving the love and kindness you deserve! It's been really cold over here but the frigidness hasn't stopped the Lord from performing miracles! And boy was this week full of miracles! 

We were able to start teaching Annie Allen and Arnold Hammond! We had gone with Brother Pyne to drop off a Book of Mormon to Annie and when we arrived we were able to teach her and her friend Arnold! It was really cool! 

We also were able to teach Kiran the Restoration. He is a very kind man who had moved here from India about 2 years ago.  I had talked to him via FB messenger and we decided to meet him where he works: Baskin-Robbins! So there we were in a barren Baskin-Robbins in the middle of negative degree weather, teaching Kiran about the Restoration! He took to it well and he wanted to go to church! He gave us free ice cream which was awesome! We definitely didn't just chill outside and eat the ice cream is all I'll leave that to say! 

We then had a cool experience with Vonda who just called us out of the blue while we were weekly planning! The Lord definitely directed her to us! We are now her "dudes", haha and she is our "mission mom"! She is very spiritual and service-oriented so that's how we connected at first. We are her friends especially when it comes to spiritual matters because she doesn't have anyone to share her thoughts with.

We also had lunch with Chris Thomas and we grew our friendship even deeper! We were able to go over to his house and give him a priesthood blessing. We had a blast getting to know Emily better! Their kids have my heart and the Thomas family have all of my love! BrosR4Ever!!!

We had an amazing experience when some Elders in Chicago referred us to someone in our area who is on schedule to be baptized! Her name is Lydia Kahassai! She is awesome and yearns for the Spirit desperately and genuinely! The best and most joyous thought is knowing you can point someone to the source of their spiritual relief and fulfillment! 

Lastly, the greatest miracle the Lord provided was my companion Elder Finch! He and I have been able to work so hard together! He loves the people deeply, he teaches powerfully, and he can always make others smile! I am so blessed to serve alongside such a studly legend! I miss Elder Hawkins greatly but Elder Finch has been able to swallow that sorrow up in his joy and his work ethic! I deeply and full-heartedly know him to be a true, strong, and capable Elder of Israel! 

Well, I love you all and I know the Lord God loves you infinitely more! Keep going! You got this! God is greater!

Love, Elder Habel 

P.S. This is what eating at the member's houses looks like during Covid-19 times. 

Gifts, Drifts and The Big Game

Bonjour mes amis et ma famille! This week was good! I hope each of you had a great day and have a great day every day!

This week was good! We had a lot of good teaching opportunities! Cathy is feeling the Spirit strongly so that was awesome to see! We helped Clay Lozier burn some branches as well! We had a good conversation with him about what we believe and Clay enjoyed it! We hope we can help him progress!

 

Some really good memories this week came from; once again, the legends themselves: Megan and Eric Treml! We went over to their house on Monday night to give Megan a blessing and they, in turn, gave us gifts they had been waiting to give us for a while! They first had gotten Elder Finch; get this, a Lord of the Rings music box! If you know me at all you'll know my jealousy levels skyrocketed as soon as I saw and heard it! If you are wondering if I fought elder finch for it don't be alarmed, I didn't (thankfully haha) because Megan and Eric got Elder Hawkins and me something super cool as well! When we first had met Megan while doing service elder Hawkins wore a shirt that said: "Life is better in Tahiti". Megan noticed it and took sarcastic offense to it to be funny! Little did we know after that experience she had been making t-shirts for us to get back at the little quip on the t-shirt! What first had started as a jab back at Tahiti ended up being a gift to us after the baptism! I included a picture of them in the email and I'll let you go see what she put on them! That whole night was really special not only because of those special gifts but because of how happy they looked with the Spirit in their lives!

Another memory from this week was that Elder Hawkins had to unexpectedly leave our trio! We found out the news while we were on exchanges with Elder Loesh! It stung at first but after I found out he is going to be a district leader where he is now going I was happy for him! He is going to be a great district leader! I will forever cherish the man, the myth, the legend mon pere: Elder Hawkins. He made this first part of my mission very memorable and he will continue to be my friend forever! He left yesterday after we exchanged at Arrowhead Stadium at 11 pm when it was 5 degrees out. Let's just say we had a lot of fun Tokyo drifting in the empty and iced-over parking lot, haha.

 

Speaking of the Super Bowl, wasn't that a disappointment (game-wise)! We were very lucky to be able to watch it with the Pynes, the Tremls, and the Summers (they are nonmember friends of the Pynes, we got their numbers and hopefully we will be able to set up an appointment the next time we are with them)! While the game was hard to watch it definitely wasn't very hard to have good laughs and memories with all of those there! Goes to show that we make the most out of our situations! 

Well, I love each and every one of you! I hope you all find peace and happiness with the Savior! No matter what happens we can rely on our Savior! 

Au revior et a bientot! Je vous aime toutes les mondes! Love, Elder Habel

Special Edition!

Bonjour mes amis et ma famille! I hope each of you had a spectacular week! I pray every single one of you can feel God's immeasurable love for you! 

We had a very exciting and astonishingly joyful event occur over here in Liberty, Missouri! Megan and Eric got baptized! 

The day, right from the beginning, was special! It was raining, not heavily, but steadily and a thought crossed my heart thinking there was something to the rain on a baptismal day! I reflected as we prepared for the special privilege later in the day on the great and tender mercies of the Lord in seeing us up until the point where we were. He wrought a miracle in us first meeting Megan and Eric. He provided the Holy Ghost astoundingly as we taught and served with them. As I readied myself; thinking about every laugh, tear, and smile in this glorious experience, I can declare with a surety our God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost changed Megan and Eric's heart to be closer to them! I am astonished and greatly humbled before God to have been thought worthy to be a part of such a celestial journey. 

This sacred experience reminds me of a scripture in 1 Nephi 7: 4-5

    4  "And it came to pass that we went up unto the house of Ishmael, and we did gain favor in the sight of Ishmael, insomuch that we did speak unto him the words of the Lord.

    5 And it came to pass that the Lord did soften the heart of Ishmael, and also his household, insomuch that they took their journey with us down into the wilderness to the tent of our father."

 

Megan and Eric, I love you. Thank you for being our friends. Thank you for letting us "speak unto" you "the words of the Lord." More importantly, thank you so much for letting us witness the Lord soften and change both of your hearts! I'm so glad you have "took (your) journey with us" back to our Father who is God the Eternal Father! 

 

The Baptism was amazing! The baptism was also a little (a lot) nerve-racking. After giving a talk on the Holy Ghost and Baptism where I gave both big white blankets to remember this special day, we came to the ordinance itself! Elder Hawkins baptized Megan! Her smile beamed like a supernova! I had the great honor and high privilege to baptize Eric! We got in the font quickly and into the ready position smoothly! Everyone quieted down as I said the prayer and baptized him. It was awesome! The only problem was...his knee came up! No big deal, right? I went to do it again, and again his knee came up out of the water and I said the prayer wrong! My mind started racing as I attempted to say it again but by this time I was flustered. Everyone was hovering over me. I was focusing on saying the prayer right! This ended up being an 8-time ordeal! Finally, after stepping on his toes and taking some deep breathes we were able to baptize Eric by full immersion and proper incantation of prayer! Megan couldn't contain her joy, so she jumped into the font to hug us as well as Elder Hawkins! Elder Finch carried us throughout this entire process with his great people skills and personality! Let’s just say this was an unforgettable Baptism! 

The next day Megan and Eric were given the Holy Ghost and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! Thankfully, I wasn't called upon to do the confirmation of the Holy Ghost, Brother "Elder" Campbell, and Brother Pyne "the GOAT” were! The blessings they gave were beautiful and the Spirit was super strong, even malleable as it made us smile out of pure joy! 

All in all, I will never forget these sacred and joyful experiences! I can't wait to come back to Liberty one day and visit those I love here in my "home ward" family! Brother and Sister Treml, greatness resides in you! I am ecstatically eager to find out what is next on your fabulous and eternal journey!  

Till next time, Je vous aime, Elder Habel 

 

 The Baptismal Blankets! This literally melted my heart!

 

Some encouragement for all you missionaries and fellow members out there!