Hey Everyone!

So, I want to apologize for not making a blog for last week. There were some problems with the loan I took out for school that I had to get resolved and I didn't NEARLY have the time to write a post up. All in all, that week was pretty slow. My comp. had his toenail taken care of and we had an amazing zone conference but, really, that was about it.

This week on the other hand was fantastic! Last Friday, we took a bunch of our Recent Converts and some of our Investigators to the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center and watched the Joseph Smith movie (in Spanish of course). It was the sweetest thing ever! All of the people we took just loved it and I believe that some of the investigators the other Elders have are now really thinking about a baptismal date. All in all, it was one of the coolest experiences of my mission so far.

Saturday was a normal working day but with awesome results. Elder Bingham and I tracted into this guy named Juan and shared a scripture with him from the Book of Mormon. To fill those in who don't know, our Zone recently started a new type of tracting that has just shown a lot of success. When ever we go tocar a las puertas all we take is a copy of the Book of Mormon and some Book of Mormon pass along cards. Whenever we talk to someone, we turn to the first scripture that comes to our mind, share it, talk about it, and invite them to learn more. So far it has shown incredible results! It really has a way of sifting through those who are ready to hear and those who aren't. Alright, so back to Juan. After we shared the scripture we set up a return appointment for Monday. Not a few doors down, we did the same thing with this little black lady. She was English speaking so we referred the English elders over there and I'm not really sure how it turned out but she showed a lot of promise. That afternoon the other elders had a baptism that we went to and that night we had a dinner for El dia de accion de gracias at the church. We didn't really have any new investigators there but we did have one of our formers attend. All in all, Saturday was a very good day.

This past Sunday was by far one of the best I've had while on my mission (or at least in the mission field). We had 2 of our investigators at church, I visited with a new potential investigator for the other elders that is showing a lot of interest, and all of the classes were just really good. One of the coolest things of the day though was PEC. I took Elder Holden (he's been in the field for about a month now) to the church for him to do his first PEC. I could tell he was a bit nervous. Anyway, being the senior companion for the time I knew that I really didn't have anyone else to rely on for help if I got into a Spanish jam. When we went in for the meeting, everything just came out smoothly. It was a complete turnaround from the week before. I spoke smoothly, clearly, and I could understand virtually everything that the members of the council asked me. After myself Elder Holden gave his report and he did really well for his first time. He was a little frustrated coming out but I just simply told him not to worry about it, keep working hard, keep praying for help, and to stay confident. He is coming along really well.

Monday was a fantastic day. Elder Bingham and I did some tracting in the morning and went on splits with the Spanish AP's in the afternoon (around 4 or so). We knocked for a little bit longer and went and had dinner with Obispo and his family. After dinner, we ran over to Juan's for our lesson. I can honestly say I have never had a lesson as good as that one. Both he and his wife (and their 3 year old "jamelas") were just into the lesson. They asked questions, were excited for the Book of Mormon, and are very much set on coming to church this week (if they get back from their vacation on time). The spirit was so powerful in that living room and when we left, I felt so....indescribably happy! :) Lots of promise with them that is for sure. The rest of the night we visited with a couple of recent converts and called it good for the day.

Yesterday was also a very good day. We had a very good district meeting where we talked about diligence and our tracting techniques. We came to find out from Elder Bingham (he heard this from President) that the area that we serve in is "One area in the mission, Arizona, and in the whole United States with the most people ready to hear the gospel." This statement just pumped us up like nothing else. Right after the meeting we went a had a lesson with one of our recent converts, had lunch, then went out and tracted most of the afternoon. In the evening we met with Melissa (a fifteen year old whose mom has been kind of less active in the past but has been coming to church pretty consistently now) and taught her some of the commandments. She actually has a baptismal date next week. Her mom made us Mole, which is like a chocolate chicken stew type dish (it's pretty delicious honestly :)) After which we ran over to the ward building and had a couple of baptismal interviews for the English Elders. Needless to say, things have been going really well!

Well all, that's about it for this week. If there is one piece of advice I can give is to persevere through the rough and slow times. Don't get frustrated. Things will work out in the best way it is for us. We are promised that if we endure hard times well, Heavenly Father will bless us with innumerable blessings. I know this to be true! But, I hope that you all have a safe and fun Thanksgiving. Know that you all are always in my prayers and are loved! Hasta proximo semana, Adios!



"Fivel went west...": But didn't make it. We waged more on the mice in the Shack. We are winning to say the least. We named this little guy Fivel and buried him by Jim the Squirrel. :D



"And it came to pass..": Elder Bingham has some serious art skills so, one P-day, he decided to decorate his chair. Pretty amazing huh? I love the coming of Christ to the Nephites he drew on the side. :)

Hey Everybody!

So we had a pretty kicking week this week besides our big “0” on investigators at church. That will remain the biggest struggle we will face as spanish missionaries. It’s funny because our investigators mean well but…I don’t know how to explain it. They want to be there but they kind of wig out over something else and want to get that done before they go to church…then the next thing they know they are late…then they decide that they can’t come because they are late…then they don’t come. BUT, a lot of them are still progressing minus that one problem.

Last week, being transfer week, was incredibly busy. For one, Elder Bingham and I are no longer covering our half of the Spanish ward and an English ward. They brought down a new set of English missionaries to take control of the 2 English wards in our area. So, now we can JUST focus on Hispanics…which is incredibly nice. But, because of the new Elders, we had to spend some time orienting them to the area, the people we taught, etc. Plus, it was good for them (our investigators, RC’s, etc.) to have a little bit of closure seeing that they did become a little fond of us. :)

Even with the new area and the loss of some really good people to teach, we made up for it by finding more and progressing farther with the people we have in the spanish ward. Last Friday, Elder Bingham and I spent all day tracting…5 hours of hard core fishing. By the end of the day, we ended up teaching 18 lessons and finding 8 new investigators. One of which we stopped by to visit yesterday and his whole family became involved. Needless to say, we are pretty excited for them and are hoping that we will be able to help them come into the fold of Christ. Speaking of coming unto fold, the highlight of our week was our baptism on Saturday of Hna. Margarita Coronado-Leon. She has a pretty cool story actually. She had been coming to church 2 months before we even met her, have been teaching her for about 3 weeks, and she was baptized this past weekend. It it such a testimony to meet and teach people like her because it shows that there are those people who Heavenly Father has prepared to hear about the gospel. And, sometimes, when they aren’t found in a timely manner, Heavenly Father puts them where they can be found. I had the privileged to baptize her so….It was pretty special to me. I’m sending a couple pictures that I hope you enjoy :)

In other news, we will be having a marriage for one of our investigators either at the end of this week or at the beginning of next. For those future missionaries who are out there, MAKE SURE your investigators are married before you have the baptismal interview. AND, don’t ever assume someone is married even if they have been living together for 23 years…just saying :) But, we are pretty excited for that. However, on a sadder note, our numbers are going to take a pretty big hit this week. My companion, Elder Bingham, has had this ingrown toenail for, like, the past 10 weeks. He has been performing surgery on it for about the same amount of time (his choice of tools? Box cutter, Q-tips, some cheap manicure kit from the dollar store, and band-aids…I’m being 100% serious and have the pictures to prove it :) ) Well, it’s now bad enough that he has to have the nail removed and we are going to be in The Shack for the next 6 days or so trying to get him all healed up. Our numbers/lessons/ everything is going to be a little low this week. But, hopefully the problem will be taken care of and we can hit the ground sprinting once he is healed. Until then, it’s appointment only visits.

But, that’s all for now! I wish I had more time to write but…sadly it is gone! Know that you are all in my prayers and that your prayers offered for me are felt every day. Love you all and enjoy the pictures!



“How great shall be your joy!”-The baptism of Margarita Coronado-Leon…This was right before we performed the ordinance. I don’t think I have ever seen somebody so excited for baptism in my life :)



“The devil can appear in many forms”- Okay, so this cat is by far the most annoying animal on the face of the earth. Every morning when I am stretching and what not it trys all sorts of junk to get me to pet it…well, we got our revenge...:P

Hey Everyone!

So, I want to start out by saying this week has been really really odd. We had a really bad week for numbers, some of our investigators have just really slowed down, some have disappeared, and we are really struggling to find new people to teach. It’s been really tough. We had a whole list of referrals that we checked this past week to which none of them were interested. Our tracting has been fruitless at best and we have gotten no member referrals for the past month. The work has really slowed down here I feel. It’s kind of interesting to look back on things. For example, when we are busy with a whole lot of work we come home at the end of the day and still not be tired. It’s nice to be home but you aren’t feeling exhausted. BUT, when you are constantly struggling to find people to teach, having to hunt down investigators and, all in all, spend a lot of your time trying to do things other than teach you come home at the end of the day and feel beat on so many levels because you feel like nothing was accomplished. Things have been a little rough recently…

On a bit of a more spiritual note, I was reading in the Book of Mormon this morning before we came to e-mail. I was reading in Alma chapter 43 (I’m pretty sure) which basically starts the war chapters in Alma. I was thinking about the Nephites and how different their purpose was to that of the Lamanites. I thought about myself and started thinking about where I was and, really, where the church was in the fight against Satan. I really enjoy studying the scriptures in the morning…they give you a lot of insight on the problems that you are facing and give you a major spiritual boost during the day.

This past week, like I said was a little off it seemed like but there were definitely some good points in there. We went to go visit one of our investigators that had been struggling with reading and praying since we started teaching him. When we started talking to him about it, he said that he had been reading a little bit everyday and had been praying to know what he should do. To make a long story short, we are going to push his baptismal date back a couple of weeks but we feel that he is doing really well and will be ready when his day comes. In other good news, we found out a couple of days ago that one of our recent converts (her name is Gina and she’s about 22) has decided to start saving up for a mission and is hoping that she’ll be able to go on one in the near future. Last big piece of good news, we have a baptism this coming Saturday of a sister in our spanish ward. I’ll actually be the one performing the baptism so I’m a little nervous but am really excited none the less! I’ll be sure to post some pictures for everyone to see.
In other news, transfers are this week but I will be staying in my area for another 6 weeks. I was a little nervous that I would be leaving but am relieved to know that I’ll be here for a little bit longer. We do have 3 or 4 investigators that are close to baptism right now and I would like to see them before I leave. But, that’s really about it for this week. Thank you for all the prayers you all have offered in my behalf. They have really been felt these past couple of weeks and have been giving more some strength and support…especially on the most difficult days. Your love and support mean a lot to me! Well, until next week my friends. Know that YOU all are in my prayers and that you are loved!




“Tractin’ in a dry and barren land”- I shined all of my shoes a couple of weeks ago (right before interviews I think). This was one of my tracting shoes right before I polished it. The picture doesn’t do it justice…This guy was full of dust, dirt, little rocks, the WORKS!





“This is how they roll”- The Mexican people (some at least) are real big pack rats. We followed this guy and were a little afraid that that bed was going to fall and just kill us dead. We survived!