November 13, 2012

Hello Hello! Another week come and gone! I can't believe how fast they are starting to go! This week was an interesting one! There is not a lot that is really good to write about but I will do my best! Ha-ha

Ok, to go along with last week’s letter, this week we were unable to teach either Laura or Kayla. It is rather sad, we had a lesson set up with Laura but she became really sick so we had to cancel and it just didn't work out for the rest of the week with her. But it is ok! We have a lesson with her tonight so we are excited for that! With Kayla we invited her to the branch thanksgiving activity (see below) but she was actually out of town all weekended so that was a bummer! Hopefully we will be able to see her again soon! We did get another new investigator this week! Her name is Tara and she is awesome! I'm not totally sure if we are going to teach her now or not because of the situation. She is one of those amazing people that just show up to church and wants to be taught! She is the first person I've met that has done that and it is great! She showed up to church in the Camino Principal ward a few weeks ago and wanted to take the lessons. So the missionaries in that area started to teach her. But because she is YSA age, they let us know about her and right now are passing her off to us. We had a lesson with her and with the other missionaries on Thursday and it was awesome!

She is so ready but she doesn't even know it! She already knows that the Book of Mormon is true, she is halfway through first Nephi, and she said she wants to be baptized when she feels it's the right time! Ya, can you say GOLDEN?! Ha-ha One thing that is good if Elder Nelsen and I start teaching her is that we won’t force anything on her. A lot of missionaries have the problem of trying to force baptism on people when they (the missionaries) feel they are ready. but due to the nature of our work both of us have become extremely patient and understand that people need to progress on their own speed. Now we are going to help her as much as we can and we are going to push her a little bit of course but we actually understand that she needs to do it herself. So we will keep you posted on that!

On Friday we had a branch thanksgiving activity that was awesome! It was really successful and we had lots of people come! We had a few less active people show up that I have not met before so it was good to meet them! We also had a few really important people come, one that we really want to work with but we were unable to meet with her before as it was a weird situation. This lady showed up and myself, and more importantly Elder Nelsen, were able to talk to her for a while and really start to make a good relationship with her! It was really good and hopefully because of that good experience we will be able to go visit her and her family soon! So for this activity, it was a really good dinner! It was probably the best church activity dinner I have ever had! It was fantastic! It was the normal thanksgiving food but with ham, also and with some really good sweet potatoes! (Oh ya, I love sweet potatoes now dad! haha) It was a great activity and I really enjoyed it! I have some pictures and videos to send home from it! One of the craziest things that happened was how much food we had left over! We had SOO much! So we gave some to a few of the poorer members of the branch and everything. But then I turned around and I saw a piles of bags they had made and I asked, "What is that for?" and they told me that the two of us were taking it home! I was shocked! That was so much food! I tried to give some more to other people but everyone was insistent that we take it. So now we probably have two weeks’ worth of good thanksgiving leftovers! I love this branch! I really do! It is really hard to be in this mission but I truly love all the people in the branch and they make everything worth it! That is why missions are so good! It is because of the people you meet! Not because of what you do, but of who you grow to love! It was a wonderful activity!

The other interesting thing that happened this week was Stake Conference! We had Stake conference this weekend and it was a fantastic experience! We had the priesthood leadership meeting on Saturday afternoon and then our Elders quorum president, Gerry, took us to a really good Indian restaurant! It was really good! Following that we had the adult meeting that night! Both of these meeting were really really good! I really enjoyed them and learned a lot! For both of these meetings I was also asked to interpret! I know I mention interpreting like every week but sometimes it seems that is what I do! That is my job! Ha-ha Anyways it was a good experience! It was a good opportunity to practice and I did pretty well!

Now, the best part of Stake Conference is what happened on Sunday! It wasn't normal but it was a broadcast to all of the stakes in Arizona! We heard from the Presiding Bishop, a member from the RS general presidency, and then from Elder Holland and Elder Eyring! It was amazing! It was a great learning experience and a super strong spiritual experience! I really enjoyed it and it was a super strong meeting! One of the major things I got out of this meeting is that, it is time to stop fooling around and get to work! This is the last inning! This is the last harvest! Ya, pretty crazy! Ha-ha we are getting close. It is that time for "all men to warn his neighbor". That is our responsibility now as members of this church! We must warn our neighbor! People need to know what we know! For it truly is drawing to a close. That is an interesting note to end on but that is important!

Till next time,

Elder Banner

November 6, 2012

Ok first I want to thank all of you for the birthday things! Those videos were a great idea! I loved it! Please tell everyone thanks so much and I love them!  It was definitely an interesting week and we did party pretty well (as much as missionaries can)! Ha-ha

But I will get to that later! I want to talk about an interesting experience we had with our new investigator Laura. Laura is awesome! She is not deaf but she can sign really well and has been coming to our ASL class with her friend Ashley. Ashley is also awesome and has been helping us out a lot! So long story short, we recently found out that Laura actually lives in the YSA 2 ward boundaries....that's interesting....we cover that as well! So we were talking with Ashley and we mentioned that we are over that area and asked if Laura would be interested in taking the lessons. She said that Laura was actually kind of looking for a church right now and she (Ashley) just didn't know how to bring it up with her. This gave her the opportunity (and excuse) so she asked her when the two of them went to dinner that night.  Laura said that if Ashley would come with her she would be interested, so we had a lesson on Tuesday! Now Tuesday was an interesting day, we were both really tired, our studies weren't effective that day, and everything we had planned that day fell through, so by the time we had our lesson with her after dinner our hearts weren't completely in it. This is really sad because we were both super excited for her. Anyway, it was one of the worst lessons I have ever been a part of and most of it is my fault. We didn't teach evenly, we didn't cover everything how it should have been covered. I don't know why but we just didn't have it that night. And it was awful! The two of us felt so bad after that! But what was interesting was that there was one thing that went right, the spirit was there. And that is really all that matters!

After the lesson we had our ASL class and that one wasn't the best either, we were both kind of stewing over our "failed" golden investigator. But through the class I noticed that Laura wasn't herself either. She wasn't really paying attention and seemed a little anise. About halfway through class she stood up and walked out....and didn't come back! Again I was like oh crap! We screwed that one up! But....but....when class was finally over we walked out into the hall to find Laura sitting in the hall, reading from her new Book of Mormon and MARKING IT!! I'm not kidding! It was one of the coolest experiences ever! This just shows that this truly is God's work! It will move forward even if we suck! Ha-ha That also should give hope to all who are worried about sharing the gospel, you do not have to be perfect, and you do not even have to be good! If the spirit is there and you desire to share what we have and try to do your best! That will be enough! It was wonderful! And she came to church with us which was also wonderful! That is always is the hardest part, getting people to go to church!

Halloween! Halloween is a weird time for missionaries. We were told to head home at 7 on that night so that none of us get into trouble! Ha-ha I do understand, I saw some crazy stuff happening before we got home and I can only assume it got crazier as it went! But it was still good! We went over to the Belnaps and partied with them, the Agardys, Danielle, and a few other missionaries! It was mostly just dinner and talking and then we had cake and ice cream because Halloween is also Lily's birthday!  So it was really fun! All of them were dressed up and it was really fun! Having a costume as missionaries, most of them are boring! Elder Matson put on 3 black dots and was a three hole punched paper (see the office if doesn't make sense). And Elder Barlocker didn't dress up but he had a brown vest on and Elder Matson had some cardboard gold plates in his car so he was Joseph Smith (see pictures) and that was pretty cool! But me and Elder Nelsen were by far the coolest! I have been working for about two to three weeks on our costumes. They are 100% cardboard and duct tape (excluding the capes which were old bed sheets). We were SPARTANS!! It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself! So Halloween was really fun!

Let’s see...what else happened this week? Oh, we started an ASL class for missionaries which have been really good! Just them knowing the basics is great because they actually really want to know and learn pretty fast! It will be nice when they can kind of communicate with Elder Nelsen! Then they will finally get to know him without me in the middle! 

I guess that brings us to Friday! Birthdays are weird on the mission and this one was even weirder than normal because we had DLC (District Leader Council) which was also combined with ZLC (Zone Leader Council) which made it a very long meeting! It started at 8 and didn't end until 4! I went with Elder Matson, Eddy, Foote, and Jones. Elder Nelsen went to hang out with Elder Kim and Elder Eliason for the day. It was a good meeting but it was super, super, long! It finally finished at 4 but we still didn't leave until around 5 and got back about 5:30 to find Elder Nelsen and company was in the middle of dinner! So, I went to dinner with the zone leaders! It was good but it was 7:30 by the time we were able to go get Elder Nelsen! It was a really long day and by that time I got back, I was so tired that we just went back to the apartment and crashed! So that was my birthday! Ya! Ha-ha

But I don't consider that my birthday because we celebrated on Saturday! Me and Elder Nelsen went with Elders Field, Nuttle, Kim, and Eliason to lunch at Olive Garden for the all you can eat soups and bread sticks! It was great! It was really fun to go with them and that was really, really, good! I really like that group of missionaries! They are all super fun! Also on Saturday night, (after a very good dinner at the Krakowiaks), we went to the Agardys for cake ice cream and party! It was really fun! With the Agardys there were Elders Matson, Davidson, Barlocker, and Espinosa! It was fun! We had the cake and ice cream, we joked around and talked, and then we played spades for a while! It was really fun! I am grateful for all of the awesome people I've met down here! I love these people! It stinks to be away from all at home but there are good people everywhere! It was all in all, a good birthday!

Oh! One more really interesting thing happened this week! We went to a baptism for the YSA 2 ward Elders (they are doing amazing!) and while we were there the girl who was getting baptized asked me, (after seeing us signing), if I was going to interpret the baptism for Elder Nelsen. Oh, I should mention that she SIGNED all of this which kind of surprised me! Ha-ha I said yes and then she got excited and said, "Oh good! My friend is coming and she is deaf so I was worried she wouldn't understand it!" Both me and Elder Nelsen were shocked! That is fantastic! So we were excited for that! Sure enough, about ten minutes later one of the missionaries walked in with a girl and introduced her to us saying I don't think she can hear! Ha-ha I was a little surprised! Of all the deaf people I have only met one (excluding Elder Nelsen) that was younger then about 28. This girl was our age and she was smart! (You can tell from someone’s signing if they are smart or not). We talked with her for a while, her name is Kayla, and she is really cool! She has been going to Galledeut (the deaf university) and came back until next fall to work! Anyway, it was a good experience to have her there. We got her information so we will see if we can visit her soon and spark some interest! It has been a really good week!

That's it for this time, until the next!!

Elder Banner