If you always do what you've always done...

We had a pretty good week. We trying to focus on finding more investigators and getting the ones we have to church. Its been kinda difficult but we have seen some things pay off. We have gotten a couple referrals on our iPads and they said the only reason they havent been baptized is because they werent married and they want the missionaries to stop by. Just a bunch of awesome things like that. We are hopefully going to find quite a few people this week that are pretty solid. 

We had a couple people this week that were pretty cool. We stopped by to give this guy a Book of Mormon that he requested and we had contacted him before. He said he didnt have much time but was home for a bit so we could drop the book off. Well we sat out side his door talking to him for about an hour. He had tons of questions. They were all really good questions too. He is studying to be a minister right now.

Eating at Zuppas

We had a pretty slow week but I guess that's just life. You have your ups and downs. Your highs and lows. But its all part of the plan we are meant to fall just to get back up and learn from it. If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always got. Its all about learning and moving on. We all have hard parts of our lives but if we look forward with faith and hope, its only bound to get better. Im so grateful the the Plan of Salvation and the sense of purpose it gives us but Im even more grateful for the the central part of the Plan. The atonement was preformed so we all could get up and move forward from every single one of our falls. Its all about eternal progression. 

Cooked cookies in our car during church!

                                                                                                                                                                                   

        

Becoming a Disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ

This week has been really good. We are expecting to have someone interviewed for baptism this Saturday if everything works out! I'm super excited they are super awesome. The husband is a member and wants to baptize her so he is meeting with bishop his week to see what he needs to do to baptize her.  They should be good to go.

This transfer our zone is focusing on becoming a Disciple of Jesus Christ. I've been studying a bunch of talks and scriptures. Some things I learned this week is that it takes time and practice to become a Disciple of Jesus Christ. Like it says I'm Alma, you have to start with a seed and nurture it. Let it grow and keep doing what it takes to make it grow big. The Disciples inhe New Testament didn't just grow over night to become the Apostles but grew over time and learn from Jesus. In our life I think we expect too much of ourselves. There was an experience of someone reaching out to heir friend saying they needed advice. They felt like they were lacking in spiritual things and felt like they were losing their testimony. Their friend gave them a few things to do each night. The friend responded about a week later telling his friend that it wasn't working. He explained to his friend that it wasn't going to work in one quick week, but that it needed some time. Anything good takes time, practice and discipline. We don't expect to wake up in the morning being an all star in basketball or a pro golfer. Why would we expect the same with spiritual matters. For us to become Disciples of Jesus Christ we have to keep working and slowly growing our individual seeds. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said "Brothers and sisters, we have to stay with it. We don’t acquire eternal life in a sprint--this is a race of endurance. We have to apply and reapply the divine gospel principles. Day after day we need to make them part of our normal life." Keep pushing a keeping striving to become a Disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the best investment you can make in this life! 

32nd floor of a high rise in Central Phoenix

Caught a little squirrel

We had some appointments the day of our zone Conference so the top one is us with the Phoenix zone. The bottom one is us in our own zone. We made it for lunch afterwards but didn't have suits haha. Also I got to see Elder Bell again!

Picture texts are the best!

"Thank you for lending us your son for two years.  He is awesome!!" 

We had a BAPTISM!!!

We had a baptism! Its was super good. She is on fire. She called her dad (they dont live together) and told him she was getting baptized. He told her that she would hate it once she got baptized. He told her that it was a super bad decision and that we would trap her into doing a ton of bad stuff after she got baptized. She was the only in her family that got baptized and has the strongest testimony. She said she just felt something that she couldnt turn away from.  

Also we put another person on date this week. She is doing really good. She came to church her first time the other week and then we taught her this week. We ended up having a super good lesson and putting her on date. Our area is picking up a little bit. Its been really good. 

Ive been super grateful for the Lords hand in my life lately. There has been so many close calls of investigators dropping us. People actually wanting to listen to what we have to say and a ton of other things. I know that it wouldnt of been possible without the Lords hand. 1 Nephi 1:20 "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith" 

Before and after. Also her family took us the the Talking Stick resort it was super good. We had a buffet of crab, lobster, steak, sirloin, just anything you can imagine. Oysters and pretty gross by the way 

Stay on the straight and narrow!

This week was pretty killer. Im just gonna go over a few important things. First of all we are having a baptism this Saturday!! Its been such an experience teaching her. We found them by helping them move in and just lending a helping hand. Turns out they were really interested. we've been teaching the family and the 18 year old daughter just ate it up. She has a really strong testimony and is doing really good. We took her and her family to the temple visitors center this week. We are still working on the Mom but the Dad turned out to be a less active so we are in pretty good shape. We will have some pics in white this next week! :)

Also transfers happened and I'm staying! Im going to be a district leader again. Not my favorite but I guess if thats what the Lord wants me to do I will do it. Some times you just have to have a will do attitude and things work out better. Laman and Lemuel still did what their dad asked of them but it was so much harder for them just because they didn't want to do it or had doubts about it. Its so much easier when we follow the commandments and the things the Lord wants us to do. Life is so much simpler and easier. I hope you can all read the story about Nephi and his brothers this week and can learn a few things. There is so much to learn in the scriptures!

Love you all! Stay on the straight and narrow!

God is Good!

This week has been really good. We have a person getting interviewed for baptism this Saturday so hopefully everything goes well. We are seeing a bunch of miracles. One was Sunday. We had a ton of people come to church. I think it was like national bring your friend to church day. Everyone kept coming in the doors and was like "Hey missionaries! I want you to meet my friend _____. They have been asking a lot of questions and wanted to come today". It was literally so crazy. Elder Lemley and I had our minds blown. Not to mention our investigators came to church too. We had a great Sunday. We are going to meet with a few of them this week and are going to start teaching them.  The  other ones arent ready for lesson yet I guess. 

What made it even cooler was that everyone in our mission was having a fast of gratitude. Not a fast for gratitude but a fast of gratitude. It change my perspective on quite a few things. There is so much to be grateful for and just knowing where are blessings come from. I think when we show gratitude for our blessing the Lord is willing to bless us more. It shows we actually appreciate the things He does for us. It was a really good week for us and things are looking up. Hopefully we can keep working hard and keep it this way. God is good. :)

Ups and Downs

It's been an up and down week! We've had a bunch of good experiences and a few bad ones. We had some really good visits with a couple of families. Families we haven't been able to see in awhile. It's pretty hard work down here. People are so hot and cold. One week they are doing so good and then Satan gets in their lives. It's so hard to watch people turn from the gospel. I can't imagine what Heavenly Father feels like with so many of his children. There is a lot of hope for them and a lot work to do to help them get to the straight and narrow. 

We had a baptism coming up this Saturday and were going to get the interview this past Saturday for his baptism. The night before he texted us and said he wasn't ready for it. That was a huge bummer! He was doing so good and making so much progress. He had quit smoking this week, was reading and praying every night, coming to church and feeling peace there and so many other things then just dropped it all. We still go see him everyday and he is opening up more and more everyday but is moving in about 2 weeks so his time is running out. 

These experiences have taught me a few things about Heavenly Father. One, the love He has for each of us. The only thing I want for his guy is to bring him happiness. He talks about how his life has all these struggles and how he has struggled his whole life, turning to drugs, getting caught by the law and so many other things that he says destroyed his life. I wish I could give him the happiness I have for just a second to let him feel the affects the gospel can have on us. Secondly, Heavenly Father always respects our choices no matter how hard it might be to see us make mistakes. He is always going to honor our freedom of choice. That's why we have so much chaos and sin in the world, because no matter how bad he wants to see us in the gospel and happy he lets us make our own choices no matter what they might be. And third of all, He is always there to help us back up when we fall. Every time our investigator falls back we are always right there to help him with his struggles. We are there to back him up and help him in any way we can if he asks for it. Heavenly Father would do the exact same for us. Anytime we need help He would be there in a heart beat to strengthen us and help us get through our struggles. Missions are amazing things and open your eyes to so many different things that I think would be hard to experience back home. I'm so grateful for this gospel and the opportunity I have to share it with others.

We went to Top Golf with Elder Hampton and Shaw. It was pretty fun. It was good to see both of them again