12 May 2014

THERE IS NOTHING MORE DISGUSTING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD THAN BED BUGS.

Good thing they haven't found my bed yet. Poor Elder Myler is getting eaten alive. We tore the house apart this morning and somehow did not find them. Three apartments in the Phoenix South zone are infested now.

...South Phoenix is under attack! 

This was a week of success on Facebook. I committed two people to get baptized in Africa, sent three referrals to local missions, two were contacted, two have a Book of Mormon, two are reading it, and one is meeting with missionaries later in the week.

The people of Africa are prepared.

This past week I was able to go on an exchange with Elder Nelson  He, totally by chance, was traveling through the Arlington 2 ward when I gave my farewell talk. He entered the field six weeks after me and is a wonderful missionary. We had a lot of fun and saw a lot of success in those few 24 hours. He will be living in the same apartment building as Elder Myler and I and we hope the three of us are in the same ward! 

This week was also a week of continued miracles in the South Phoenix zone. Things are exploding. We've seen our average lessons double for two weeks straight now. This week was particularly exciting as the success was spread very evenly across the entire zone. Every Sunday night we meet at 8:30 to report stats and send them to SLC (via wifi sync) and it was so exciting to watch companionship walk through the door at random intervals and shout for joy as they reached a goal they set and run around and give everyone high fives. There is a special family feeling in this zone right now that is drawing everyone together. It's amazing how happiness is the best medicine for anything. 

With that success so evenly spread, we often wonder what makes it so hard to put people on date in our own area. We've never done more than we are now but the people just aren't saying yes to the invitations. We extend invitations literally in every single lesson. But joy is abundant in the face of opposition because this is the Lord's work and we know who wins at the end of the day.

Montana del Sur is a ward that never ceases to amaze me. The Bishop has been a member for 16 years, three of which in the Mission Presidency and three of which as a Bishop. He is a saint of a man and a living example of love, consecration, and service. Nothing makes us happier than when we get a call during the week from Bishop saying, "Elders...I've been thinking and praying about _____ (investigator.) How is he/she? How can I help?"

This ward has the missionary spirit because the Bishop has the missionary spirit. It's amazing!

The temperature has been uncharacteristically nice in Phoenix this past week.

One of the things that never gets old about missionary work is talking to the most interesting people. This past week we visited a home that was listed on the membership list. As we got closer three men approached us, obviously drunk, and when we asked if a woman lived there they said, slurred voice and all, "SHE'S DEAD..." Ok..."Wait, she lives down there, by that red truck!" 

We thanked them and walked away.

There was no red truck on the entire street. There was a red bush.

Alcohol...

DID I MENTIONED THAT WE HAVE BED BUGS?!?!?

On Friday afternoon during my spanish study I finished my reading of the Book of Mormon in Spanish. It took me 10 months to read the first 100 pages and two months to read the last 500 haha. I guess I wasn't really trying for those first 100. 

That book is true! Before I read it I would pray. After I read it I would pray. And every time I read it I knew that it was true. Read it. It will change your life! Reading it has brought me closer to God and has helped me make even the smallest of decisions. I set a goal to finish it in a certain amount of time and I made it. It was an enlightening experience. I'm currently reading through the New Testament and set a goal of four weeks to read the entire thing. The scriptures are the best.

Spanish wards are exciting in ways that English wards can never be. For the Mothers day party on Saturday the ward had a dinner that was prepared entirely by the men. Guess what we ate? Spaghetti with meat sauce and salad haha. Then there was a night of talents. The Elders Quorum did the best mariachi that I have ever seen. Except none of them sang or played an instrument. They made instruments out of cardboard and danced to Mariachi music and pretended to sing and play it. It was absolutely the funniest thing that I have ever seen before. They did a great job and it made everyone laugh. 

Next week I'll have the pictures.

There's just a different air in Spanish wards. In the face of so many trials there is so much joy! True joy comes from faith.

Happy Mothers day Mom! It was fun to Skype home yesterday and talk to you. Did my letter get to you this week? Thank you for everything you have done for me! You'll find more in that letter :)

I have had the best timing to go on a mission ever. In the past two years: missionary age has changed, my mission has been split, I've experienced two mission presidents (each for a year), online proselyting has rolled out, we have received iPads, AreaBooks have gone electronic, a temple open house has happened. Can you imagine more exciting things happening!?!? 

Yesterday at church I saw something very unique. I saw a family of 5 Muslims walk through the door and sit down! I went over and introduced myself and quickly learned that they came with their friend, a retired Air Force officer. He had served for years in Iraq and this man was his translator. I don't know how much detail I should go into for safety reasons but it was an amazing experience to meet this humble, humble family. I tried to shake his wife's hand and was politely denied: Muslim women do not shake hands of foreigners. They were very scared that they would offend me with that. They are an angelic family.

The man that brought them was sent by the First Presidency to be the first mission president in Afghanistan. He organized the church there, was the first branch/mission president,, baptized the first convert in Afghanistan. During his service he had zero proselyting missionaries with which to work. And do you know what is cool? I'M TEACHING PEOPLE IN AFGHANISTAN OVER FACEBOOK! 

Good things are happening. Next week is transfers. If you would like to send a letter (which you should) and cannot do so by Thursday, you will have better luck sending it to the Mission Office. I hope and pray that Elder Myler and I stay together. This is our last transfer. If this was ever likely to happen, the timing is perfect for it now. I'm going to remind the Office that we have bed bugs and we wouldn't want to spread them around the mission with a transfer :)

Have a fantastic week!

Love,

EJ

6 January 2014

When Elder Diaz and I are together, miracles happen. Everytime. It's ridiculous. We both just have the expectation that we're going to see miracles and we do everything we can to qualify ourselves for miracles.

One of the miracles from this past week was putting a very prepared woman on date for baptism. She and her husband have come to church for over a month, have read the entire gospel principles book (in two weeks), and read the Book of Mormon daily. They're past chapter 8 and LOVE it. It's awesome. But they were hesitant to get baptized since they wanted to wait until the husband's family from Colombia arrived. 

But they're read now.

We had a powerful lesson with them this past weekend. Their children (10, 14) live in Mexico and are members. The daughter called the mother before the lesson started and we had the daughter, 10, on the phone for the whole lesson. IT was awesome. She said she wanted her parents to get baptized. She also said she wanted to serve a mission, "and teach all the Catholics!" We laughed super hard.

We watched, "On the Road to Damascus," and talked about acting in faith. Now, the mother is on date for two weeks from now. The father is still wanting to wait for Feb. That's ok, we feel. She is so ready and so excited for baptism and we are sure that he will be baptized when she does. They are an amazing family and the result of much prayer.

Another miracle that we saw this past week happened on Friday. Oh man. It. Was. AWESOME! Here's the story:

 We had both just done an exchange with two other missionaries (changing companions for 24 hours as a learning experience). We both had awesome exchanges and specifically looked for miracles. Two of our miracles included getting two twenty dollar bills from random people.  Another one was finding a very prepared Muslim from Fiji who wanted to get baptized.

After our exchange, we realized we had inadvertently taught and focused on the same exact things. Inspired! We were excited and when we got home we decided to check the mail. To our surprise we found a referral inside.

I looked at it and said, "This is going to be a family of four who wants to get baptized."

We opened it...

And it was! A family of four who wanted to get baptized! We called them immediately and set up an appointment for the next day. The father referred themselves. They go to SLC twice a year, every year. They're surrounded by members and have been for years.They go to the temple lights every year and already own church DVDs. 

Our first visit was inspiring. They're an amazing family. As soon as we entered that home, we felt something special. It was powerful. They accepted a baptismal date ten minutes into our first visit. He quickly said, "But wait, I still want to have these lessons!" I replied, "Haha, don't worry, we do too!!" 

We love that family. They came to church and LOVED it. The five year old didn't want to leave the mother and so she sat through primary with her. She loved Primary. They both loved Primary.

And behind this whole story is a man who has been offering help for years. Their close friend who lives some miles away. He has always been there for him. In fact, this family has had inspiring encounters with Mormons for years: one included a random wrong phone call that turned into a friendship from a member of the church. 

Members, you don't know when your efforts will come to blossom, but they do and we love you for it!!!! 

The funny thing about this story is that the father that we were teaching is the one who invited his member friend to church. He called him up one day and said, "Hey, friend, I'm going to church tomorrow! Will you come with me?" Hahahaha. I responded, "Wait, wait, wait, so YOU invited your member friend to church?" I died, so funny.

This family is the most elect family I've ever seen. They're all ready. They're all progressing. And after 24 hours they commented to us on the changes they're already seeing in their family and their happiness. They're putting the gospel to the test and making it happen!!! 

We love them. After that visit we made a frantic phone call to President Toone and said, "YOU CAN'T TRANSFER US." He laughed and said he doesn't want to split us up and will do everything he can to not. That means 7.5 months in Mesa for me! Elder Diaz and I will have had over 15 baptisms together. That's a good companionship...

Our Bishops are calling and requesting we stay too haha. WHATEVER IT TAKES! When we walked through the door with the family last week, the bishop pulled me aside and said, "I just got chills! Good work Elders!" 

And that's just one ward...we have another family of 3 in the Spanish ward that, "want to get baptized" and it will be a February baptism.

Life. Is. So. Good.

And you know what goes behind it? President Toone, in their zone conference trainings, has been making this promise to all the missionaries. "I promise you that if you're obedient, you will unite a family in the gospel in these next few months."

Well, we're doing everything we can and we have found two families in both of our wards who want to get baptized! And President hasn't even come to Mesa to do those trainings yet, the promise is just working! We're getting the members super involved and every visit we have, the members invite the investigator family in the Spanish ward to get baptized. One said, "It was great to see you today! I'll see you on Saturday at your baptism, right?!" 

Spanish members have no shame! They're all converts and they're all super bold! It's awesome.

We've been developing a game this past week to use with members. It was Elder Diaz's idea and was super inspired. The game is called, "Many are called...many are chosen." The idea is that we visit member families and get the competitive side out. We sit down, go over some rules, and then give them two minutes to write every name they know - members, family, friends, whatever it could be. After two minutes we see which team has the most. That team chooses someone to say a prayer. Afterwards, we sit in silence and look over the names and see they feel inspired to visit/call/Facebook/whatever. We have those members call/contact those people right there on the spot while the spirit is super strong.

It works. We're seeing miracles now because of it. And the whole zone is catching fire! 

In January, that will be our focus. Miracles, miracles, miracles, and miracles. We are envisioning that each companionship can get 20 referrals per week (15x what we're at right now) and help fourteen people come closer to Christ through baptism. There are 17 who are working towards a baptismal date as of last night, 17 at church, and 17 progressing towards that date. 

It's just all coming together.

And if I get transferred away... idontevenknowwhatiddo!

I've got a good feeling that I'll be here for nine months. We'll see though! It might be safest to send any letters to the mission office if you can't send them by Wednesday.

Thank you, family, for the letters this past week!

Con mucho amor,!

Elder Johnson

2 December 2013

Transfer calls were last night!!

Annnnnnnnndddddddddddddddddddddddd

I'm not leaving. Elder Gaspar and I are staying together here in Mesa. By the end of this transfer it'll be six months here. I'm ok with that. It's a little weird though since Elder Gaspar goes home in three weeks. We're suspecting we get a third missionary on Wednesday but it's all up in the air. President Toone has been asking a lot of zone leaders to change assignments to provide more support at other areas in the mission. We're not sure who changed but a bunch did.

Well I've officially finished the book of Job in the Old Testament! I'm working on reading the standard works in my last seven (SEVEN?!) months of my mission and it's about 6 pages a day. Easy. Job was a pretty cool book. It reads differently than the other ones in the Old Testament do. It was different than I had expected - I've read parts of it through the years, but I didn't expect Job to talk so much about his trials. For some reason I thought he had endured them all silently. Nevertheless it was a good experience and I gained some good insights on keeping an eternal perspective things while going through trials. On to Psalms! 

This past week I went on exchanges with a missionary in the zone. Their area, and district, had been struggling with teaching people and getting their OYMs. I put my Queen Creek OYM hat back on and went at it. In one hour we trippled their week's worth of OYMs and doubled their lessons taught. So much of the success of an OYM and a lesson on the street has to deal with those first thirty seconds.

So many missionaries start those contacts with, "Have you ever talked with LDS missionaries before?" Not even a hi. We talked about that and set some goals together. As the quality went up, so did the number. It was pretty cool to see.

After a while we were heading back to our car to move on to another area. We had a really cool experience. Here is what I wrote about it on my Facebook page:

Two days ago we were walking in an apartment complex. We were talking with as many people as possible and inviting all who would listen to come to the Christmas Lights at the Mesa Arizona Temple and Mesa Arizona Temple Visitors' Center!

As we were walking across the parking complex, I looked across a field and saw someone 150 yards away. Immediately I felt that we needed to talk to him. My first thought was, "Move on, that's too far. He'll be gone if you go that way. There's no reason to waste that time."

But again, the prompting to talk to him came back.

So we power walked 150 yards across the grass, hoping we would get to him before he got in his car.

"Hi, how's your day going?" He quickly replied, "Terribly."

Three minutes later we were sitting on a bench with him and teaching the message of the #restoration of the #gospel of #Jesus #Christ and he loved everything he heard.

God puts people in our paths for a reason. I also believe He puts us in their paths for a reason as well!

You can touch someone's life and all you have to do is cross your personal "150 yard field" to get to them. He will provide the words for you and He will prepare the hearts of those that you speak with.

I know that we can be instrument's in #God's hands. I know He loves us all and wants us ALL to be happy! If you're not happy, drop down on your knees and ask if He loves you.

I promise you He does.

~~~~

The story took an interesting twist. Yesterday as we were at the Mesa temple lights, I got a text from those Elders. It read, "

Good thing we stopped ____. He was planning on taking his life.

I read that and thought for a moment, "God let me take a part in saving someone's life." If I hadn't followed that impression from the spirit, this man may or may not have taken his life. He is on a different path now; a better path. That was a humbling moment in my life.

We were seriously 150 yards away. And we had been a little more lazy, things could have gone completely different. Wow.

Yesterday I saw another miracle on Facebook. I posted it on the mission Facebook page since some people are losing faith in it as a proselyting tool. This is what happened:

I posted a status a week ago about someone's baptism. She liked it and shared it on a Christian page for me (someone who isn't a member.) Yesterday I got a message from someone saying she has loved what I've been posting. Within five minutes she said, "We need this in my country." The process to get her in contact with local missionaries has begun. She is prepared for the gospel. I wrote this on the mission Facebook page:

Next time you think what you're doing on Facebook isn't working, remember that people are reading what you type even if they don't "like," comment, or, "share," it right away!

Sometimes it takes time for your fruits to come forward. This person was touched by a post I made a week ago and initiated a conversation with me about it today! 

She is in the process of being referred to local missionaries. She's prepared for the gospel. There are tons of people on Facebook just like her for you to find them! Be proactive and productive and you'll see miracles!

It's also great idea to start Facebook hour with a prayer :)

 Fun stuff is happening. Everywhere.

We have a recent tradition here of having people send "Oh Yeah Moments" in via text of miracles that they see. We then send them out to everyone so we can all enjoy miracles we see daily. Yesterday, as a zone, we fasted for a miracle. Or two. Or three. For an hour straight we were getting text messages every few minutes from people seeing miracles. From one homeless man that was OYM'd, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it today! I will next week and can we meet this week?" From a set of missionaries, "Someone jogging past the church felt inspired to come inside and loved it!" From our own area, a whole FAMILY just showed up to church and loved it. 

Miracles are happening everywhere! President Toone told us to prepare for a spiritual Pentecost as the Christmas lights open and the Gilbert temple open house goes on. I'm glad I'm here for that! 

So yeah.

Yesterday we went to the Mesa temple lights. Super cool! You know what's cooler? I saw someone from EVERY area that I have served in! Even Yuma! The picture is of a very special man that I taught. I can't write all the details about it, but when I left he was working on baptism but had some things to work around. In the past 6 months he has gotten married, baptized, and the priesthood. He is amazing. He is proof that you can change and that your past doesn't need to hold you back.

We also found out that there are grapefruit trees around the property of the temple and they're free game! I had one this morning. "A holy grapefruit" for breakfast. Yum.

Anyway, all is well! Thanks for the letter family! I'll write back today!

Love you all!

Elder Johnson

28 October 2013

This morning I sat and made a list of how my mission has changed me. It'll be an ever-growing list I hope.

This coming week is going to be tough. From 5-9 PM tonight we have MLC where we will be at the mission home discussing the mission, goals, and the future.

Tomorrow from 9-12 we will have another MLC and the Director of Proselyting and some other SLC officials are coming to train the zone leaders about the iPads. From 1-4pm the mission will be coming in by zone to get the iPads and be trained quickly on how to use the AreaBook Planner app and other tools.

So we're not working tonight, half of tomorrow, and from 4-9pm on Thursday since it's Halloween. Joy.

Last week was the last "greenie" meeting for half of the zone as they completed their 12 week training program. Half of the zone got transferred. One sister missionary who has been out six weeks is training and three who have been out 12 weeks are training. 60% of the missionaries in the Arizona Tempe mission now are in their first 6 months. Things are changing dramatically! 

We made the last greenie meeting fun. From the stand, Elder Gaspar and I did announcements but only saying one word each. We played the opening hymn by playing one note each too. 

It has been really hard for a lot of the new missionaries to come into the field and then be put on Facebook. They said goodbye to their family 2-6 weeks before and now they can potentially talk to them everyday. That's not the idea of Facebook unless it's focused around a missionary purpose. 

The wards we cover have been very enthusiastic about us being on Facebook. We get lots of "thank yous" at church. We're still waiting for other people to start sharing the gospel over Facebook though. We invite, invite, invite, then follow up, follow up, follow up, and usually nothing happens. We are very grateful for the few who have taken it to heart and are sharing all over the place on Facebook. 

It has been fun to see friends and family posting on my statuses to answer questions and doubts of other people posting on my statuses on Facebook. The discussion is great! And it gives everyone a tiny tiny glimpse of the opposition we meet everyday :)

This past week we got a referral from other missionaries about a woman who wanted a blessing. We went over and gave the blessing. She has been very sick. Three days later we returned and she said she has felt dramatically better emotionally and physically. 

We also had the opportunity to give a blessing this past week who is struggling with giving up smoking. He's working towards baptism. Twice before he had "fallen off date" for smoking and so we decided we would step it up. We'd been praying for weeks for our investigators to get "recommitted," but it wasn't until this day that I realized we had to become recommitted as well.

That's not to say we've been lazy, no. I've just gotten in the mentality that I can teach correct principles and things will work out. I've taken a step out of the day to day affairs of those we teach. I've stopped caring about their personal lives as much as I should.

So I recommitted myself and we recommitted our companionship. We visited this man, taught a lesson around feeling the spirit, and then offered him a priesthood blessing. He asked me to administer it. He said that as soon as we said "Amen," that he felt a burden taken off his back. We sat down, finished the lesson, and left.

The next day we walked up and he had a cigarette in hand. He looked at us and said, "I have a curse." He told us that every time he had tried to smoke he felt sick and nauseous and like throwing up. 

He couldn't smoke anymore.

I left that day with an increased testimony in the power of priesthood blessings.

But as I pondered this morning on what helps me endure it isn't the amazing miracles that I see. What helps me keep going are the little things; the blessing given to me in the MTC by a dear friend, the personal revelation that has assured me of my purpose, the miraculous changes I've seen in those around me and in myself. Miracles are great. They reaffirm my faith. But I don't look to them in the times of trial - I look to the quiet and personal answers I have received from a loving Heavenly Father.

The work is picking up in the Spanish ward. We are finding people who are prepared and they are progressing in the gospel.

This week was another week with over 50 lessons taught. Facebook has clicked for me.

We got played. We were teaching someone who looked so interested. She did everything we asked her to do, she came to church, general conference, and made friends in the ward. And then she asked for welfare. She got it. And then she disappeared.

I've been thinking a lot about that this past week. The church helps random people out with everyday problems, why? Not because they're expecting them to get baptized and come to church, but because the church solves problem. Christ told us to sacrifice all we had for others. Through our sacrifices, through our charity, through our Christlike love, we can help other people recognize in themselves their true identity as sons and daughters of God. All we can do is hope they act on that.

I also realized this week that in my entire mission I've only come into an area and had one person that was already being taught get baptized. Of everyone I've ever baptized, I have found and taught them all except for one. That's pretty cool.

Well it's official! The Mesa Alma stake is part of the Gilbert temple district. We are 10 minutes walking distance from the Mesa temple and yet we are assigned to the temple 30 minutes away. Classic. All that that means is that we get to be super involved in the open house...assuming I'm here in two months.

Oh goodness this past week someone asked what we did as missionaries and I said, "we are eating people, I mean teaching people..." That was embarrassing. I was hungry...

Six weeks ago Elder Gaspar and I taught someone who we ended up referring to the young single adult ward in Tempe. He was a cool guy and had some things to work on, as we all do. That was the last we heard of him. This past week we were teaching the friend of one of our recent converts and this guy we had taught six weeks before randomly walks out of the house and says, "Hey! I'm getting baptized this Saturday!" 

That made our day.

That very recent convert is amazing. Every week she brings a friend to church. This past week she brought a family to church with her. Why do we, as lifelong members, lose the missionary spirit that these recent converts so clearly love, live, and share? I hope we can all recommit ourselves and follow Elder Ballard's challenge from General Conference and invite one person to church by Christmas.

I posted this status on Facebook this past week but I will repeat it here for those who missed it.

Talking with people on the street can either the best or the 

worst part of the day. 
Last night we were visiting someone who turned out not to be home. While we walked away I noticed two people on the third floor balcony. I wasn't planning on talking to them originally but as I walked away I felt something tell me to go back. So I did.

From 40 feet below them I said, "How's your evening going?" The woman yelled back, "I'm feeling blessed!"

I asked her why and she said, "Do you think I'm happy?" "Yes," I responded. She said, "Well, I'm not."

She and her friend were both smoking and had clearly been drinking. It wasn't a great situation and being 40 feet below didn't help.

I replied, "What can I do to help?" She quickly said, "Give me a 40 [ounce] to drink!" I told her, "I probably can't do that..."

She said, "Then what can you do?"

I thought for a second and said, "I can pray for you."

Thirty seconds later she was walking down the three flights of stairs with her friend to the ground level.

We gathered together and she said, "My best friend just died and I'm lost. I'm struggling with several addictions and I don't know what to do."

We bowed our heads in humble prayer.

As I said amen and looked up I saw them in tears. The woman thanked me repeatedly and said, "I feel better."

Watching her walk away with a smile on her face put an even bigger one on mine.

Just like I said the other day, it is those tender moments that make it all worthwhile. Watching one person struggling with the loss of a loved one, addictions, sadness, and depression is humbling but watching them overcome those and get back in their feet is truly inspiring.

May we all remember that He is the healer.

Missionary work is great. 

Thank you all for your support! Thanks for the letters Eric, Mom, Mark, and Will! 

Con amor,

EJ

22 July 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

Before I begin... This is week five! If you don't send a letter by this Wednesday to me in Chandler you should send it to the mission office at :  
1871 E. Del Rio Dr, Tempe AZ, 85282

Ok.

No one will ever guess what happened this week. No one. Except maybe someone who is familiar with miracles in the Bible.

With that introduction, I'll give a little background on a family we found this week. We were walking to visit a referral (who wasn't home) when a man yelled us over. We went over and he asked for a blessing for his wife. We were short on time so we set up an appointment and returned the next day. 

As we walked into his house he sat down and talked to us a bit. His mother was there, his son, and his wife was elsewhere. He told us a devastating story about his wife about how she has bone cancer and how she has had seven strokes recently. She has lost major control over her body and has not walked since January. He told us that he has so much faith and that he knows God can heal his wife. He told us that if it wasn't us that it would be someone else. Then he told us that he had talked to missionaries the week before, set up an appointment with them and then they never came back. Grrr. He said that when he saw us something told him he had to call us over, that he felt it in his heart. We prayed together. The spirit in the room was ridiculously strong. There was so much love there too.

He left to bring his wife over, to carry her to her wheel chair. It was heart breaking to see. He put her in the chair and we gave her a priesthood blessing. We left with a return appointment for the next day. 

We returned the next night. The whole family was outside.... and the wife was walking. She was walking. For the first time in almost eight months she was walking on her own. Her muscles shouldn't have been able to do that. It was a miracle. Through a priesthood blessing she had been healed. There was not a dry eye in that room that night. Not a single one. I'm still kind of in awe thinking about it - not surprised, but impressed. Impressed at priesthood power. 

After that lesson they gave us all their beer, all their cigarettes, and all their lighters and said they are never going back to that. They are on date to get baptized August 3rd.

They went to church yesterday and told the story in the gospel principles class and in priesthood. There was not a dry eye. 

That was what Jesus Christ did. He healed people. We were able to be a part of that this week. A miracle that Christ did. I don't really know what to say.

But you know what's crazy? That's not the only amazing miracle we saw this week. As a zone we have zero baptisms this month. ZERO. We are a brand new zone and not having a good start. So we fasted, all 14 of us, Saturday through Sunday. 

The first miracle of that fast was having eight investigators at church just in our companionship. I've never heard of a companionship having so many at church in just one ward. We had eight. Among some of investigators at church was our investigator who has supposed to get baptized July 1st who cancelled. He hasn't progressed much since then and we haven't visited him much. But during a torrential downpour on Saturday night we went by, soaked, and visited. We shared one scripture and invited him to church. He went. 

At church Elder Diaz and I spoke. It was probably the best talk I've ever delivered which was interesting since it was in Spanish. I put a lot of prayer into my talk and it came out pretty well. I spoke on "a mighty change of heart." After sacrament meeting he pulled us aside and the Bishop and said, "I'm sorry, but God has spoken to me." We thought he was going to drop us. He continued, "and I'm sorry, but...I want to get baptized next Saturday." BING BING BING BING! As a zone we fasted for a miracle and we had a miracle. We are going to be having two baptisms next Saturday to finish off the month and the transfer. We are very excited and are rushing to get everything figured out. That's my favorite problem to have!!! 

Everything is going so well right now. Of the eight we had at church, five have a baptismal date for the next three weeks and seven are progressing. EVERYTHING is going well. We're teaching in unity, we're finding, we're inviting, they're accepting, and it's raining! Things couldn't be any better! 

Which is a shame since transfers are next week. I'm pretty sure we're getting split up. Everyone is telling me I'm going to Phoenix or Coolidge. It would be fun to go to Coolidge since Elder Myler would be my companion again but I want to stay at least one more here with Elder Diaz to get all those baptisms and see these miracles turn into baptisms. But I go where I'm called.

This past week I was super tired as I wrote about. President and Sister Toone found out and each individually pulled me aside at Zone Conference to ask how I was doing. I was amazed how much they cared and then they mentioned they had prayed for me specifically and I felt even better haha. Ah, such great leaders.

It was interesting to watch President Toone at zone conference. While he wasn't talking, he was getting up every 30 seconds it seemed like to answer a phone call or respond to a text. They do so much in that calling; I'm convinced it's the hardest in the church. He gave us a little insight about what he's doing and how busy he has been since transfers are coming up. We talked about meshing the phoenix zones with the Tempe mission and he said, "both have unique mission songs, I don't even know which mission song to use!" It let me realize and appreciate a bit more the stress that he's dealing with right now.

Our other baptism this week is the funniest guy in the world. His name is Jesus and he always uses it jokingly and quotes the Bible but puts himself in for Jesus. Soooo funny. What's even better is that his wife's name is Maria = Mary. We asked him in a lesson this week what, "the door" was after reading a scripture describing it. He went off on a tangent and said, "AND IF YOU SEE A LIGHT, IT'S EL SENOR!!!!" Completely unrelated but so funny. 

Oh, there was another miracle this week! The housing coordinators brought me a waffle maker so I'm feasting on waffles for breakfast! Lesser miracle, shhhhh.

After one of our lessons we realized that we hadn't chosen a commitment to leave with one of our investigators. In a moment of inspired forgetfulness I asked her what her favorite number was and what her friend's favorite book in the Book of Mormon was. We came up with Alma 7. Perfeccctttt! That's a good chapter. She read it and received lots of great insights.

We street contacted this guy this week who said he didn't believe in the Holy Ghost. We quoted Christ and he left questioning what he believed. Success. 

Then we ran into someone who didn't believe in a judgement. We talked about how no unholy thing can dwell in God's presence and asked if I killed someone if I could live with God. She said no and then realized she contradicted herself. She goes to Cornerstone, the church that has anti-mormon classes during church. She was actually super nice though and left with a Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlet in hand and committed to read them.

I'm going to baptize a Jehovah's Witness. The only problem is she doesn't speak Spanish and we don't cover an English ward. She is the third JW I've given a Book of Mormon to (miracle in and of itself) and committed to read it. She's amazingly nice but lives with an anti-mormon JW.

At dinner this past week, well one in specific, we were given a TON of food. Elder Diaz was too full to eat all of it (but ate dessert regardless) and offended the member. So, taking one for the team and doing what the members love to see, I asked if she had any chiles. She pulled out a bag and handed me a Chile de Arbol. I munched slowly on it and her husband came out and said, "Take notes!" and ate the whole thing. So I did too, not wanting to be one-upped. Her husband saw my eyes watering and started laughing and said, (all in Spanish), "DONT CRY!!" then turned around and ran to eat salt and limes to keep the hotness down. He hid in the corner of the kitchen with his eyes watering haha as I sat in my chair getting a feel for what hell is like. That was one of the hottest chiles I've ever eaten! Not as bad as the habanero, but eating it + being so full was dangerous. I had to sit for 4 minutes trying to keep myself from throwing up as everyone laughed at us haha. It was successful and we left with more trust than was lost! I felt sick the rest of the night.

Thanks for the letters Will, Mom, Eric, Scott, and the young women!

We got a ride last night in a mini cooper. Not a bad car! Lots of road noise though - probably wouldn't buy.

On that bombshell,

Thanks for all your support!

Con amor,

EJ

8 July 2013

Dear people,

Time is FLYING. I'm a little worried since I've never stayed with a companion longer than 12 weeks and we both want to stay here and together for a while longer. There's a lot more to do.

This week I saw the Tesla sedan. The name escapes me... Model C or something? Pretty cool. 

We had a pretty awesome experience this week with our two soon-to-be-married investigators. We have been trying really hard to get them reading and to really pay attention to what they read. Well this past week they read a chapter in 1st Nephi and we read 8 of the verses afterwards to refresh their memory then stopped. Right as we stopped the husband said, "but wait, verse x was great because ______" and he went off on how he learned a ton from that one verse and how it really made him think. We were so happy to see he had really gotten something out of it! And then they told us three people they had invited to meet with us! They're doing missionary work and they're not even members yet! We are going by them this week. They were on date for next week and everything looked good for baptism but at the last minute yesterday they didn't go to church. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. That's the worst. We went to the temple with them this past week and watched the exhibit of "God's Plan." It was awesome and the spirit bore powerful testimony to them. On the drive back we asked them what they learned and they named off some of the parts of the Proclamation and how they want to implement it in their future family life. Sweet. We just need to get them back on track.

In Arizona we don't need to use irons because the sun irons them for us. No, seriously. Elder Diaz had a pretty wrinkly shirt and after two hours on the bikes it was pressed perfectly. 

This week we met President Toone! OH MY GOODNESS HE IS A GIANT. We had a 45 minute mini-meeting with him that was really cool. He walked in and gave us a hug and made me feel smaller than I've ever felt in my life. His wife is probably 5'5". He's 5'24". First impressions were all positive. We did an exercise where we introduced our companions to him and his wife and said one thing we loved about them. There was a tender spirit in the room. It was most powerful one the Senior couple husband tried to explain what he loved about his "eternal companion" and choked up and stood there for about 30 seconds trying to find the words and swallow the emotion. Something President Toone said that I liked was that, "I can never fill the spot that President Howes filled. I was called to be President Toone, not President Howes." It seems like a very smooth transition and we're all very excited. 

President Toone told us a cool story too. In his interview with President Eyring, he was told, "Brother Toone, you were on the list to go the Pacific Islands next year but we need you now." He served his mission in the Pacific Islands. So now he's in just-as-beautiful Arizona.

The only sad news is that he didn't approve polyester ties. This week, after 6 months of hanging in my closet unused, I finally packed up my polyester ties and they'll be arriving home this next week. I've waited 6 months to hear that they were approved but when he said no that was that and now they're gone. It was hard to pack them up. Pictures don't show emotion.

There's something else in that box. A backpack. Backpacks are now against church policy for missionaries. If we want to carry things we are 'encouraged to buy a shoulder bag.' I don't know how we'll drink, ride bikes or whatever, but right hand to the square. Family, you'll notice the backpack is brand new. I fought Camelbak's warranty department for a new one because the last one was dying. I went through so many people to get them to send me one for free and the day it arrived was the day the policy was passed. :( Enjoy.

A member gave me a shoulder bag. 

It sounds just like a guitar.

I left a plastic bottle of peanuts in the car the other day and when I came back the top had exploded off (3" away) and the grooves had melted away. They still tasted good!

We had a sweet lesson with one of our investigators this week. We knocked on the door and she answered and her first words were, "I got my answer and this isn't for me." I said, "Can you go grab your copy of the Book of Mormon and we'll sit down and talk for a bit?" She left and Elder Diaz asked me what we should do. I felt that we should just ignore it and teach her something and told him. So we did. At the end of the lesson her words were, "can you come back tomorrow?" YUP! She is on date for the 20th of July. It's cool to feel guided like that and just see everything change when you listen to the spirit. Jokingly afterward I told Elder Diaz that my mission has taught me how to ignore people. We didn't talk once in that lesson about why she wanted to drop us but rather focused on the Book of Mormon.

Apparently by 18 months the Church wants to globalize their new technology initiative. The missions that are piloting the Ipads and iPhones will get them first. That's us! I'm expecting within 4 months to have iPads and iPhones mission-wide. They're pretty restricted and the mission president has complete access to anything done at all on them and they are monitored daily. 

Roland, your wedding invitation arrived. Congrats! 

I decided this week that my IQ is slipping. We were talking to an English person I just started talking in Spanish and he looked at me really confused. The same happened with a Spanish person later that day. I can't spell anymore and I can never think of the right word in English that I want to say. Noooooooooooooo.

We had a pretty cool miracle this past few weeks. We were visiting a member who just started working on Sundays because his work is crazy. We told him we would fast with him to get another job so that he could go to church on Sundays. We did, he did and bam he got a new job that pays more that allows him to have Sundays off. 

The thunderstorms are coming. We saw some awesome storms this past week. It's super hot and it has been humid as well. 

We went on exchanges this last week with the zone leaders. We biked 4 miles to visit a trailerpark and on the way back Elder Egbert's tire popped. We walked two miles and then I asked him, "is your faith sufficient for a miracle?" He said yes, I said mine wasn't (jokingly), and then a member pulled over and fixed it for him. Woops hahaha

We are working really hard with one of our investigators to help her get an answer to her prayer. She reads, prays, and went to church but still says she struggles. Yesterday we had a landmark lesson with her where she said she thinks she isn't getting an answer because she's holding on to her past out of fear. We've been praying a lot to know her concern and now we just need to help her realize it's not a bad thing to learn more. It helped to grow my testimony that as we walk in faith, putting our trust in the Lord and holding nothing back, he does guide us and he guides us to a better place. Every time. The spirit was really strong and she is starting to recognize it. We're excited!

Oh and before I forget, I taught Elder Diaz how the US Government works this past week. It was July 4th and he asked me so for the first time in many months I talked about politics. I read him the Constitution and Declaration of Independence haha. Someone in Yuma gave them to me as a joke. I carried it in my suit pocket for like 4 months waiting for one of the missionaries to say something so that I could just pull it out and read a quote from. It would have been so funny but no one ever did :/ So I put it in my suitcase for the next 5 months and finally pulled it out last week.

Thanks for the letters Roland, Mark, Eric, Will, and Mom!

It was a fun week and we have better ones to come! Love you all!

Con mucho amor,

EJ