9 December 2013

Elder Diaz, Elder Gaspar, Elder Johnson

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?"

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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!

25 November 2013

That was the fastest 6 weeks of my life. Daaaang.

The highlight of this past week is this picture. She was finally baptized! President Toone came to teach her with us a few weeks ago and they hit it right off. It was only natural that she ask him to do it. That in and of itself was pretty special.

The service was powerful. President Toone's voice is as deep as he is tall and it made the baptismal prayer super intense. Our baptismal talk cancelled since her husband had to go to the ER so Sister Toone filled in and did a wonderful job. One of the local members gave the talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost and did the best talk I've ever heard.

He had served in the military for some time and was a paratrooper. He spoke about how sitting in that plane waiting to jump is a nerve racking experience and it is very loud. He said that as soon as you jump, you are surrounded by comparative silence. Everything just fades away and "for a brief moment you have the view of the angels." Ah, it was so great.

There was a great turnout at the baptism, including several missionaries who had originally taught her. 

That was a powerful powerful baptismal service and one I'll never forget. Her conversion is so deep, I wish everyone could have seen and felt her smile. I've never seen anyone so happy.

I confirmed her yesterday in church and, to our surprise, President and Sister Toone showed up for that as well! Pretty cool.

The church is trying to decide whether or not to equip these "hastening devices" with mobile phones that have hotspots. In our area we have an iPhone and an iPad, but the rest of the mission outside of Mesa zone uses just the wifi iPads. For my 4 months here we have been making the case for getting hotspot enabled phones in every area. 

We had a miracle happen that hopefully helps the Brethren make the decision. On Tuesday morning, I think, during our breakfast, we were able to teach four different lessons to people in four different countries. These were people we had been struggling to make contact with due to time zones. Well, we decided to forward that experience on to our contact in SLC. He texted us back an hour later,

"Your experience has been well received. Will you text me your mission, area, and names so I can  copy and paste the info in an email message that will get forwarded to department leaders and the Brethren. Thanks!"

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?! They're sending OUR experience to the Apostles?! With OUR names?! That shocked me, I thought someone would just summarize the story for them! How cool is that?!?!?!?

We went to the temple this past week. Always a very uplifting experience. There were lots of missionaries there and it was nice to see everyone again.

I got super stressed this past week while thinking about the future. A lot of wards in the area are way too unorganized. I was sitting there thinking about who was going to take care of the people we were baptizing into the area... We aren't going to be here in Mesa forever...

So the next day I took Elder Gaspar out to a Chinese buffet for lunch to relax. I stumbled upon some money I had hidden from myself from last Christmas. Miracle! That meal was just perfect and it did the trick. 

I have the best brothers in the world. 

We went to the visitors center this past weekend with the woman who got baptized. A year ago, she walked in there and was taught by the sister missionaries. She frequently tells us of her first experience seeing the picture of the First Vision (the one with Joseph Smith facing away from us and Jesus Christ and God the Father facing towards us) for the first time. She said she couldn't sleep that night because she felt the spirit so strongly. She didn't want to sleep.

It is "the picture that started it all" for her so we managed to find a copy of it from a member and gave it to her in a frame at her baptism. It is hanging in her home.

But we went back to the visitors center with her and she had another amazing experience. We went the day before her baptism and, again, she couldn't and wouldn't sleep at all that night! She is so excited to go inside the temple. This is a deep deep conversion that will bless the lives of her family forever. She has already referred her friends and family to missionaries. I wish all members had that kind of enthusiasm...

Apparently Elder Gaspar and I are famous in the Mesa Alma stake. News that we both play violin has gotten everywhere and people keep commenting about it. We played in church yesterday with the choir and the high counselors that were there mentioned before hand that they had already heard about us haha. Hopefully we don't get split up at transfers - playing together is way fun.

Yesterday after church Bishop told President Toone that he should leave us in the area. "As of now there aren't any plans of moving," he said. Five or so minutes later as we were talking to Bishop, President Toone walked by and said, laughing, "He told me to transfer you too!" hahaha

SLC sent a researcher to our mission last week to interview missionaries on how they're using the "hastening devices" and whether or not it is working. We had a nice two hour interview with him right before he left. He summarized some of the feelings that some missionaries had and asked for our views, as well as advice, on certain issues. It was a neat experience. It is a really unique place to be in here. This program is rolling out to 6,000 missionaries now and they're asking us how to do it since this has never ever been done before.

Cool.

This was a good week. Every week is a good week. I've never felt so optimistic before. Life is good. Bad things happen but life is good.

(I'm not going to be able to write anyone today - P-day ends at 1PM since we'll be staying in most of Thanksgiving day.)

Thanks for the letters family! 

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