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| Elder Diaz, Elder Gaspar, Elder Johnson |
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| Mesa Temple at Christmastime |
I love my family!
Thanks for the super creative
Christmas package! Half of the things said, "Open on arrival." I didn't
need any more prompting. Included was a felt Christmas tree that is
pinned to our wall (3' tall) and decorated by us, Christmas lights, and
cinnamon sticks! Genius! They smell delicious. We had fun putting all of
that up this morning. And to think that I was just thinking how boring
our apartment was haha.
Highlight of the week: Getting messages from Mom on Facebook saying, "You have a lesson I set up for you on Facebook at 2:00PM Tuesday. I can't teach ___ with you today at 4:00 so I found a member to join in with you and take my place."
Mom, I'm bragging about you to everyone and everyone
is jealous that we don't have to plan anymore. Keep up the great work!
This is the vision for what it is supposed to be like!
The Arizona Tempe mission had a standard of excellence for 12
lessons per week with members present. I remember coming here and
thinking that was absurd. Well, for 2 transfers straight we exceeded
that. Two weeks ago the standard of excellence was changed to more
accurately reflect the hastening of the work of salvation. Now, we are
encouraged to get 16+ lessons a week with members present. I've hit that
number twice on my mission, once three weeks ago before the standard
change and once this past week when we exceeded it and got 17. It was a
huge accomplishment and one that we are excited about. Very very very
few people are even at 8 or 9 a week. We've really buckled down on
planning ahead and using Facebook effectively. I would say 5 or so of
those member present lessons were on Facebook (thanks to those that
helped!)
It really makes a big difference having a member's
testimony as well. Missionaries can seem pretty intimidating with the
whole white shirt and tie thing. Members are (more) normal and (more)
relatable since they're normal humans haha.
It was an extra special accomplishment because this past week was transfer week and it was hectic.
Oh my goodness was it hectic. The following paragraphs will not do justice.
This was the Arizona Tempe mission's first transfer
with electronic AreaBook. I have the assignment to be the
"tech-specialist," whatever that means, and was thus not excited for
transfers. I knew there would be problems.
It started transfer day. The wifi was way too slow
at the transfer building to provision the new iPads in the AreaBook
program. So, a process that should have taken 30 minutes in a group
turned into a 4+ hour process as I had to call every new companionship
in their new areas and walk them through it over the phone. What a
nightmare.
That wasn't even the worst part. Basically EVERYONE
called that day or the day afterwards with questions. "My iPad is
empty!" "I can't connect to the internet!" "How do I turn this on?" "Our
area got split...what happens now?"
sdklfjasldfjkal;skdjfa;
We planned 9:45 AM - 5:00 PM on Thursday to do the phone calls. That didn't finish it. Friday from 9am - 12pm I was still on the phone.
We did the math afterwards. In 48 hours, I logged
over 10 hours on the phone and over 104 phone calls to unique/different
phone numbers.
Our Financial Secretary in the office is an ex-Intel exec and logged 6 hours on the phone.
We took part in two conference calls to SLC in that
time. Our Financial Secretary said, "until a more stable system is in
place, we recommend that these devices are not rolled out to any other
mission."
I felt bad but agreed. There just isn't enough
on-ground training, not enough resources at our disposal, and not enough
stability.
SLC said they planned to roll the
iPads out to 5 missions in December but has since cut it to 2 and said
they'll probably cut it again. Sorry, other missions! You'll be thankful
though, I promise!
But we are all totally 100% converted to this
program. It just isn't where it needs to be yet. We've seen miracles and
will continue to see miracles, but more needs to be established before
300 missions get "hastening devices."
What a unique experience this is.
Miracle
of the week: last week a member approached us and said, "Elders...my
brother-in-law is being taught by the missionaries and wants to come
here to get baptized. Can you make it happen?"
Nah, sorry. OF COURSE! We've contacted his
missionaries and everything is in place for his baptism in two weeks.
Life is good. God is real. Christmas miracles exist.
The Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple are unreal. We went with the
woman who was baptized last week and happened to run into the sister
missionary that first started teaching her 12 months ago. You see, her
"conversion process" began when she wandered into the visitors center.
And, without any planning, the two of them ran into each other 12 months
later last week! It was a special thing to witness and something they
don't get to see very much. We did everything possible to get her to the
woman's baptism but there was a misscomunication somewhere.
And the other big news of the week...
We're
in a trio! Elder Diaz is our third companion! I was his first companion
seven months or so ago. I hesitate to say I was his trainer since I
learned more from him than I think I taught him. Nevertheless, life is
awesome. Elder Gaspar finishes his mission in a little less than two
weeks, actually, 10 days, and so Elder Diaz will stick around
afterwards.
I wonder if I'll stay. It is convenient to be so
close to Tempe to help out with the iPad side of things but i've also
been here for almost 6 months. Vamos a ver.
We
have some great members here. We have some who are always inviting
people over to their home for dinner and us as well. It makes such a
great difference. Members, invite a friend and the missionaries over.
They'll love you for it.
It was great to hear from you family and Susie!
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Con amor,
EJ
PS:
At church a member asked a class if they could have anything for
Christmas what would it be. I said, "Homemade cookies." A package from
home with homemade cookies arrived. You're all the BEST!
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