Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Summa Time Week #17



Heyo from Mesa! Man I can't believe its already p-day again! Like I say in every email, time flies by. I loved loved loved getting your email mom! It made my day!  How is everything back home coming into the month of December? House decorated? Lights up? If they are I would love to see pictures! We decorated our apartment! Haha its pretty cozy here, I love it! And how's the weather? Is my car covered in snow?😭 

This week I have really loved. It's been the best week on my mission. We had so many good things happen. After a week and a half of being in the area we got 3 people on date for baptism and doubled the size of our teaching pool. If you work and do what the Lord wants, he will deliver😇 

Wednesday was probably my favorite day of the week, really fun and successful! We had district meeting in the morning for the first time in our new district. Elder Eaton is our district leader so he and I got everything ready for it. It turned out really good and our district is pretty funny! I was kind of hesitant at first towards my district but they are good. Later in the afternoon we helped this one family move out and that was pretty fun, a good chunk of the priest quorum came and I love them haha! They are like a reflection of our once priest quorum in the 7th ward! They reminded me so much of the guys in my quorum. Same personalities...it's crazy. I love my quorum back home and here. I kid you not they are like identical ha! Its pretty awesome! We had dinner with the Arnetts and they are the nicest people, I think I found my grandparents for this ward! They are super nice people and love the missionaries! We finished off the night by having some really cool visits! We visited one of our new investigators named Patrick, he just had knee surgery and so we gave him a priesthood blessing. We hope and pray that he will see the results of a priesthood blessing and connect the dots! After that we visited the Tapia's. They are less actives and we had an awesome lesson on the Plan of Salvation! Their two sons Gabriel and Israel are 10 and 9 and very smart. We were feeling the spirit and asked them to be baptized and they totally want to! We set their date for January 21st and I've never seen anyone more excited for baptism than they are! The Lord really works his miracles in his vineyard, people are out there everywhere ready to receive the gospel. Its up to us to find them and help them.

First day of December was great!!! We taught two of our investigators at the same time and it was soooo good! Their names are Patrick and Phylicia and they are the nicest people. We taught the restoration and it literally took 2 hours because they had so many questions. It's always a good sign when they are really thinking about what you say. They know a lot about the Bible and are really excited to read the BOM. That night we were able to go to the Mesa Temple Christmas lights for the first time! It was beautiful! It was just as good as temple square, maybe even better. I tried getting some pictures but they didn't turn out super well but I hope you like them! Josh emailed me saying when they are coming to Mesa. I'm super excited for that. We want to meet up at the Christmas lights sometime! It will be fun to see them! 

Loved last Sunday! We had an awesome time at both of our wards! The Tapias came to church today which was so great! They have the two boys who we got on date for baptism this week. Sister Arrington came to church for the first time in a while as well! We were super happy about that! Since today was fast Sunday that meant fast and testimony meeting. Being new missionaries in the area we got to bare our testimony in front of both our wards! People think that missionaries don't get afraid of talking in front of a lot of people but holy cow I still do! haha!😂 maybe someday it will become easier. Anyways we had to really rush from church to dinner because the 60th ward ends at 4:30 and dinner is at 5. We got to eat with the Flakes and they are such nice people, I felt like I was eating Christmas dinner with the family! It was that good. We got the opportunity to watch the Christmas Devotional on BYU tv at Bishop Allens house. Super super good, it was great because every time the choir came on screen, I saw my dentist and Mrs Woods my 7th grade English teacher!😂 We were able to have an investigator of ours watch it with us and they really enjoyed it. We finished of the night by having a lesson with two more new investigators! Billy and Diego! Billy is super awesome! She was really interested in what we had to share about the restoration and kept on asking questions. She really likes the Mormon church but is afraid to stick with one religion because she feels like their is more out there. We need to help her realize that this is the only true and full church of Christ on the earth today. It was such a fun lesson to teach, she is definitely on the path towards baptism. The Lord has blessed us so much by giving us the knowledge of the restored gospel. I am finally beginning to love it. Today I can honestly say it was the first time that I truly loved serving. Its been a bit of a struggle for me to find happiness and joy in the work, but I finally think I am getting it down! 

I love you so much Mom, your the best out there. I love getting pictures of everyone back home. Its nice to see that things are going well! I pray for you everyday and hope you have the best of weeks!😊LOVE YOU!❤️