February 25th, 2013

It has been a crazy week this one! We did not get done with as much as we would have wanted this week due to other responsibilities that we had to do. But it was still a good week!

 One of the weirdest things this week has been the weather! It snowed here.....twice!! Not once did it stick to the ground to be able to get some good pictures for you but it snowed! The second time was yesterday during church! It was crazy as it was definitely a blizzard. We were sitting in sacrament looking out the window or I would have gotten a pictures but it was snowing so hard that you couldn't see the cars in the parking lot about five feet on the other side of the window! So crazy! Yet still nothing stuck to the ground! Only in Arizona! Ha-ha But it has been so cold these last couple of days! Staying around 30 degrees for most of the time during the day and even less at night! That is quite the difference from the 120 degrees I got used to during the summer! And now I look back at myself and scratch my head because I sent my jacket home during the summer! But I think the cold will only last a week or so then it should start getting warm again!

 We were able to take 2 road trips this week! The first one was to "scenic" Duncan Arizona! It is about 45 minutes to an hour away from here. Tiny town that you can drive through in about a minute.....going 45. We went there to pick up a bag that was misplaced during transfers. One of our missionaries was without all of his white shirts and slacks for a few days while we tried to find it. But it was a fun little road trip! We drove down. Waited for the other missionaries to meet us there from Lordsburg.....and then drove back! Not a whole lot to report on that trip! The other road trip we did was to Tucson. We went down on Friday for a Young Single Adult Specialized Training! It was also a good road trip as we had Elder Hanni and Elder Auvia'a with us. They are both funny so we had a good trip down with them. We had a good meeting discussing working in YSA areas and I learned a lot. It is interesting to see that around 70 percent of people who join the church in this mission are people younger than the age of 30. This is the time that people are looking for structure, looking for a true foundation whereon to build and center their lives. This is why YSA work is so important and brings forth so much fruit! I love being in this area to help people find that solid foundation!

 It was a pretty good week as far as teaching goes as well! We didn't teach as much as we wanted but we had some really good lessons! We are continuing to meet with Tashena and it is so great to be able to meet with her! She is still so awesome and learns everything so well! It is almost as if we don't even have to teach her! She understands everything! We discussed Charity and the Enabling power of the Atonement with her this week and it was great! It is amazing that she is starting to teach her family and plant seeds! She is awesome!

 We were also able to meet with Larry again and had a really good lesson! He was able to get a job last week and also he was finally offered a scholarship at New Mexico State! It is not Tennessee that he had already signed for but it is D1 and he is super excited! Those things along with others have showed him that God is watching out for him! It is helping him a lot! He really opened up and discussed his childhood with us. He has had the roughest life of anyone that I have ever met! He has been through a lot! But he is still making progress! Slowly but surely!

We are still working with Tyler and have some really cool lessons with her! Her biggest problem right now are some of her influences. It is astounding to me what a powerful effect that your friends will have on you! I am so thankful for my friends and how good they were for me!

 We had another miracle this week that was really cool! Wednesday night we were doing our nightly planning and setting goals and we both had the feeling to put down one new investigator and one member present lesson. Now we had no idea where that would come from! Our Thursday was looking to be a slow day and we were wondering if it were possible to reach those goals. But we each had the feeling again and one thing that I have been learning is, when the spirit tells you something....you do it! No questions! Ha-ha so we put it down and then prayed that, according to our faith, we would be able to accomplish that goal! Thursday morning we did all that we were supposed to and had good studies and everything and then right as we were walking out of the door we received a text! It said, "Hey Elders, I have a friend that wants to learn about the Church and wants to meet with you before six today. Would that work?" We were so excited! Ha-ha What a miracle! God is in the workings! This is truly His work and I am blessed to be able to be involved and a tool in His almighty hands! We of course were able to do that and we were able to have a lesson with Nicole. Nicole is awesome as well. She is from the Phoenix area and is a cheerleader up here at EAC. She came up here, had some Mormon friends on the cheer squad, met some other Mormon people here, started to feel the spirit with these new friends, decided to check out the church and more importantly....decided it was time to grow up and find some stability. It was a really great lesson and it was cool to see the support group that she already has! We had seven people involved with that first lesson, five involved with the lesson we had on Saturday, and eight people involved with the lesson we had yesterday. Friends are amazing! If you choose your friends wisely in life then you will be set! Nicole has a baptism date she is working for, into 2 Nephi in her reading and really wants to know it this is all true! We are excited for the opportunity we have to be able to teach her and help her find what she is looking for in life! Funny side note- Nicole is the first all-white investigator that I have ever taught! Yep! Almost 15 months into the mission, five companions, three areas and she is the first! Now of course that doesn't make any difference to me but it is interesting because my Patriarchal blessing tells me that on my mission I will come to know and love people from all kinds of races, creeds, cultures, and lifestyles! When I was first called to Arizona I didn't think that would be able to happen. But the Lord knew! The Church is true!

 Also I just have to put a short comment about the 58 new missions announced...Holy crap! That is insane! The Lord is hastening His work! There has definitely been a different feel out here since Oct. We are getting near the end. We all need to think of what we can do to help Him in this work so that we can bring salvation to our souls!

 That will be it for this email! Good week! Till next time!

 Elder Banner

February 19th, 2013

It has been a crazy week!! I doubt that I will be able to write a lot about half of what we did this week but I will try!

 We will write by topic so this can go quicker!

 Today is transfer day! That is why this email is so late. It has been a long day. We had most of our zone move. Elder Clark and I are staying but most of the rest of the zone is leaving! Also Elder Dineheart is going home! That saddens me. Because of all of this I am so tired!! I hope I will still be able to write a good email!

 Now I am going to talk about Larry. Larry is still doing really well! He is still kind of like a roller coaster. He has made some amazing leaps this week and we were able to have a good lesson with him a few times; he was able to come to a baptism this week that he really liked! Other than that he is still struggling with finding a place to go play football and everything. 

We have been still teaching Tyler! She is great! She is learning and growing so much that it is crazy! We were able to have a lesson with her and with Bishop Bluth this week that was really cool! It was a real cool lesson and had a special spirit there! She was able to ask some of the most profound questions ever! Such as, "How do I know if what I am doing is right or wrong?" and "Would it be possible for someone like me to ever get to the temple again and what are those steps?" It was funny! After those questions and lots of others she said, "Wow..every answer is in this little blue book [Book of Mormon]." It was awesome! It really has an answer for every question!

 This week was valentine’s week....... Let me tell you.....Valentines in a full singles ward area is terrible!! We had absolutely nothing to do on the 14th and the entire rest of the weekend was super slow also! On Valentine’s Day they did have a seminar that we got to go to; but this time is was all about dating.... Yep! Fun stuff for a missionary! The whole time I was thinking, "Ten more months! Ten more months!" ha-ha it was crazy! They also had a Valentine’s Day dance on Saturday that we helped setup for! Not a good time to be here as a missionary! Ha-ha But it was all good! The other thing that didn't help is that it was also a three day weekend! Everyone goes home for those times! It is pretty crazy!

 We also had a really cool little miracle that happened. This week we have been trying to find new people and have been striking out! We were over at one of our ward mission leader’s house and he explained something that really helped him out on his mission that we decided to give a try! It is called purification. The whole point is that we need to "purify" ourselves and get rid of the things that we do wrong that keeps the spirit away from us. We have a 24 hour fast and during that day we think and write down everything that we are doing that is not conducive to the Spirit. After we break the fast we then "fast" from all of those things for 40 days and then finish with another 24 hour fast. So we started on Sunday. Saturday night we started our fast and then Sunday started really doing it. It is amazing how many things came to mind that I need to change. So we did all this and then broke our fast around 5:25 Sunday night and started our dinner at 5:30. At about 5:35 our phone starts vibrating! Yep! Good referral that is pretty solid! This stuff works! I am so excited to see what continues to happen! This is going to be great!

The last thing that needs special mention is the best part of the week. All of these are one thing with Tashena. The first thing is that we were able to have a lesson with her out on the temple grounds! It was so fun!! It was amazing to be able to teach about the temple with her while sitting there! There is a special feeling there that is unlike any other! She was really impressed and loved the lesson and is looking forward to the time (she wants to go next week) to the time that she can go! She loves that families can be together forever and the grave cannot take families away! Also......TASHENA WAS BAPTISED ON SATURDAY!!! It was the most amazing thing ever!  It was one of the most, if not the most, spiritual baptism that I have ever been too! Anther miracle happened; Tashena's family just decided to come down for Saturday even though she had not told them the day that she was getting baptized yet! So, seemingly by accident (if you believe in such a thing! Especially with this work), her parents were able to come all the way from Window Rock and were able to attend her baptism!! it was a great thing for all of us! Especially for her parents! I think that it was a spiritual sucker punch that they were not expecting! Anyways the entire thing was great! LennaKay (her friend) gave a great talk that tied in the Navajo culture and everything as well as the importance of Baptism and the Holy Ghost! We also had a great musical number that was super spiritual! After that she was baptized and then we (Elder Clark and I) were able to give a short lesson on the Book of Mormon while she was changing. But the best was yet to come! Tashena got up and bore her testimony after she came back out and it blew us all away!! It was one of the most impressive testimonies I have ever heard! I am not able to antiquity describe it now because of time but it is in my journal and is amazing! It was such a cool thing! The church is true! People can truly change with this gospel and it is amazing to see the extra happiness that it brings! Also she was able to receive the Holy Ghost on Sunday and it was an amazing experience! She was a different person that night when we had a lesson then she was that morning! She was almost literally glowing! It was amazing!

The Church is True!

That is it for now!

Elder Banner