Monday, January 30, 2017

Mesa Week #25!

Hey Everyone!

 I am having a bunch of really awesome experiences in this area, I'm going to be sad when I leave it. And you cant beat the January weather! Man and there is so much snow back home! What the heck! Basin is probably amazing this year😭 And you are right about being out of the world when you are on a mission. Me and my roommates were actually talking about how sick the world is and how it is just going to get worse and worse. Yes I do miss things at home but holy cow I am in my own little spiritual bubble away from the world for two years! Its such a blessing! Its a time where I can find my relationship with Christ and bring others to Him! It just gets better and better!

Changes are always happening in the mission, and this time it's our mission schedule! And it's awesome! We no longer plan at night but in the morning instead. The reason is because the missionary health department is pushing for missionaries to get 9 hrs of sleep so we can go to bed at 9:30 if we want now! They gave us a lot more flexibility with when we can do our studies and all that good stuff, oh and they also cut lunch in half. No to stoked about that one but that's alright. Normally on P-day we would wake up, exercise, do 2 hrs of studies and then P-day would start at 10 a.m. Now we only do half an hour of personal study and P-day starts at 8 a.m.! Its pretty awesome! 

I went on exchanges with Elder Child in his area on Tuesday, it was cold! The nights have been really chilly but this next week is supposed to be 70's everyday! Anyway Elder Child is from Brigham City which is pretty cool! He lives like right by the temple! We talked for a while about that! But I love his apartment because it has a fireplace and so when we got back I just laid in the recliner and chilled. I was so relaxed haha! Now I know why Dad wants a recliner haha!

So we have this investigator that we have been teaching and she is 60 has read the BOM already 1 full time. She would get baptized in a heartbeat if she could, but she can't quit smoking! We have been working with her since we got here and have done everything that we know how to do. We have not been able to progress with her and so we had to stop teaching her this week.  That was really hard for us.  Hopefully she will be able to find the desire in her heart to fully commit to the gospel of Jesus Christ and be baptized someday. 

On Saturday we went to the visitors center with Gabriel and Israel and their family. We watched the old prodigal son video about forgiveness. Its an 80's movie that has terrible acting but puts out a good point. Afterwards I asked Israel what he learned from the video and he had some wise words, he said that "you can't change the past, you can only fix the future". Its so true though, the past is the past and it is nothing to dwell in. What's done is done and you should be changing  the future for the better! That's what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is! It is change. 

I love this gospel so much. I wish I would have focused more on it when I was home!! I had no idea what I was missing out on. I hope you guys are continuing to pray and read the scriptures! That is what will keep you close to God! I love you Momma so much! Your are the best and I miss you everyday! I'm always praying for you guys and hoping all is well! I hope you have a blessed week! I love you!!!😊

Elder Findlay

Oranges!!!

blessed

We were riding our bikes and starving so a nice member
invited us in for spaghetti.  The members of the
church really look out for us here in Mesa.

Exchanges

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Rain Rain Rain- Week 24

Wow this week sounded like it was a blast in Florida! I love the pictures and videos that you sent me! The Fam looks great and I am so glad you all are happy and doing well. 

Lately I have really been thinking about how the Lord works wonders and teaches you personally when you serve a mission. I've been studying about repentance and the Atonement because when you get a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, you can use it in every aspect of your life. The mission really brings you closer to the Savior and makes you want to do the right thing every time. I never could have asked for a better experience on my mission!

 This week was full of busy days as usual...

Saturday was really awesome! We had the baptism of Gabriel and Israel T. and it was special. They are righteous kids and it was really good for them and their family that they were baptized. And we had the privilege to baptize and confirm them. I was able to baptize Israel and it is something that I will never forget. Baptizing for the dead is really awesome but baptizing someone that you've taught comes with a different spirit. They joy you feel can't be described. Bringing someone into the fold of the Savior is one of the most important things that we can do here. And then I got to confirm Gabriel and that was a first for me! What an awesome day! Missionary work is super important and we can all do it everyday! Anyways after lunch we went to the visitors center by the temple with one of our recent converts. We watched a couple of meet the Mormon stories with her and she absolutely loved them, and it made her super emotional! She's the best. We watched one of the old ones, The Candy Bomber, and then a newer one called The Horseman. We are really lucky to have that resource in our mission!

And let me tell ya it just rained and rained and rained here all week. I've found that I really really don't like biking in the rain haha but my rain coat is a life saver. It doesn't rain here very much but when it rains, it RAINS! I'm honestly looking forward to seeing the sun again! 

Other than that I went on a bunch of exchanges which was pretty fun but nothing to crazy happened. Next week though we do have a world wide missionary broadcast that we will watch together as a mission. They are coming out with a whole new missionary schedule so it's a pretty big deal. We are excited to see what they come out with. I loved your email mom, it makes me smile every time I read it haha! I hope you have an amazing week in the freezing cold snow, enjoy it mom. When you move away from it you will miss it like me! Jk you probably wont😂 I love you!!!!❤

Love Elder Findlay

Me and Israel!

Gabriel and Israel on their baptism day

I love this family so much!
And yes, I am way taller than all of them..haha;)

And on exchanges we helped some people move
and they gave me like a whole box of sports
stuff, I thought this was cool!
 AZ pride 😂


Monday, January 23, 2017

Week 23 as a Mesa Missionary

Hey sorry this is last weeks email...we were out of town and I didnt get it posted to the blog...mom

That's so awesome that you are in Florida this week! I'm sure you'll soak as much sun up as you can! 

On Tuesday I was able to go with Elder Klaus in his area. We had a really good time and  went to a ton of houses. We also had zone training meeting that morning so that made things pretty crazy. But we did get to go to backyard Taco with Elder Campbell and Hanks. They are our zone leaders. We then went to like 30 people's houses and 1 person answered. Their area is really struggling. We found some potentials but that was about it. We had a really fun time haha plus elder Campbell and Hanks are their roommates so we partied that night. Me and Elder Campbell get along really well, he is from Louisiana and is thinking of going to LSU to play football. Haha we all slept in their room and talked til like 2 in the morning. I'm gonna remember those nights for a long time!!

On Wednesday I got to go to Elder Calio's area again. It was a blast and I love love having a car. Its so nice, you can do more things a lot faster than you can on bike. Brother Owens texted us and asked if we wanted to come over for lunch so we were pretty stoked about that. He made some bomb grilled cheese, it was sooooooo good. And he gave me a loaf of Grandma sycamore's bread which made me super happy. I can't find it at any stores in Mesa, mostly cause I can't go to Costco. Reminds me of home! You never go to Lanny's house without something special of course. He collects coins and has a huge collection of old coins from the 1800's and it's pretty sweet. He also showed us all of his deer skinned leather that he got from Canada. He makes pouches and cool things from it and then gives it to people. He is honestly the nicest most kind person that I have met it mesa. There are so many great people and I can say that I am loving them!! It makes the work very worth while!😎

Saturday was super cool, I went on exchanges with Elder Watmough for the last time because he goes home in a month. We went to do service that morning doing yard work and such. It was actually really sweet, the guy we did service for had a 1970 Ford Thunderbird and he couldn't get it started and so I worked on it for a while trying to get it going but had not so much luck. So then we just mowed their lawn and did some pretty good yard work for them. They were then kind enough to provide lunch for us and so the got Costco pizza! I hadn't had that stuff in forever. It was super good. Me and Elder Watmough biked back home and got ready and rushed to a lesson that was actually with one of my investigators. I think I might have mentioned her before but she is super awesome who really wants to build her faith in Jesus Christ. So we had an awesome restoration lesson with 4 missionaries which was bomb! We got her to commit to read and pray about the Book of Mormon! I know it will bless her and her kids sooooo much! I want people to know about it mucho mucho! Towards the end of the night Elder Watmough was just out of things that we could do. Their area is sooooo dry right now, they haven't had a single investigator for 2 transfers and no one is willing to listen. It stinks because Elder Quist and Watmough are probably the most hard working missionaries I've seen on my mission and yet the success isn't there. So Me and Elder Watmough decided to go to the church and offer a kneeling prayer. It was such a powerful prayer and especially for me. Hearing it from a missionary who has been out for 23 months was a real testimony builder for me. At the end of it we both pondered and both got the answer that its all in Gods time when the area will be bringing new investigators! It was awesome! Super cool experience! 

Sunday was so sweet!! We had some great meetings at church, had some investigators come which is always a joy! Church ended about 4:30 then we just went back to our apartment and had a pretty chill dinner. We were then privileged to have another baptism, this time for Tiana! It went super well and had a bunch of people come. After that we had a lesson with sister cook who is such a nice lady!! She is a recent convert and she made us apple cider with ice cream and brownies. Sooooo nice.

All in all this week flew by and it was crazy! I had such a good time with the other Elders and stuff! And I'm still enjoying the sun here in Mesa and I'm super glad that you can enjoy some too in Florida!! I love you momma and hope you have the best week!!

Love Elder Findlay
Our Zone:)

Sunday nights in the 480



It's cold in the mornings sometimes! ;0

Monday, January 9, 2017

5 Months! Week 22

Momma! How are you feeling now that the wedding is over with? Relieved ha? Did you guys do anything fun for New Years? No big celebrations for us, we just kept the same missionary schedule. We had transfers on Tuesday but nothing changed for us so things were good. Oh and thanks for sending the package!! We are going to the mission office today so hopefully it will be there, if not I will grab it this week sometime! Man today was super awesome Mom! You know Brother Owens, the guy who gave me those special gifts, well he decided to take us on a hike to weavers needle. It was so awesome and I forgot how much I loved climbing on rocks and messing around! It was super quiet and you could hear nothing but nature. I brought my hammock but there were no trees, there were cacti but I didn't want to destroy my straps putting them on it😂 I easily could have though! It was like a 4 hour hike and was bomb, it reminded me a lot of us going on the hiking trips with the Heatons and Markers! And how I always complained about going on them, well times have changed and I thirst for it now😎 

On Tuesday it was transfers so it was super crazy, even though our area didn't change at all. One of our investigators named Torrey got baptized that night! He has been so excited and has been waiting for this for a long long time. He was super ready for the gospel and has such a strong testimony of the spirit. Me and Elder Eaton worked our tails off trying to get the baptism all set up that whole day and it turned out perfect! Elder Edwards was able to baptize him, Elder Edwards is from England and went home on Friday. It was really cool because his parents came to Mesa to pick him up and so they got to see him baptize someone while he was on his mission! Super cool experience for him and his family! Anyways it was really cool to see another investigator get baptized!😂. 

This week we had a baptism, next Sunday we have a baptism for Tiana, and the week after that we have a baptism for Gabriel and Israel! The work has been moving along really well here. And you can't beat the weather! Most of the time it's 60 degrees plus. I love it but summer is going to be hoooootttttt! We have been visiting a lot of former members and less actives lately which can get really slow. They days feel longer when you don't have 4 or 5 lessons set up, but it does teach you how to handle rejection haha. There are two types of people in Mesa. When we say "hey have you been to the Visitors center in downtown Mesa?", the first type doesn't even acknowledge that we are even there. The second type just tells us straight up that they don't want to talk with us because they have talked to us many times before. Its really interesting to see what people think about Mormons and kind of funny at the same time. I just feel bad for them because they don't know what they are missing out on. And then once in a blue moon there is someone who will listen to what we have to say😂 and that"s always nice!

Haha oh and and something super funny happened last night! So we were going to meet at Brother Owens house at 7:00 in the morning by just getting up and going. Well all I remember was Elder Eaton waking me up while shaving and then turning on the lights. Then he went into Elder Watmough and Quists room, turned on their lights and came back in our room. I sat up and in my head I was thinking there was no way that it was already morning, so I checked the clock and it was 1:00 in the morning😂 Elder Eaton totally thought it was time to go, he even checked his watch and saw the time anyways and kept going! By the time I had convinced him that it was  it 6:30 he had gotten dressed, brushed his teeth, shaved and was ready to go😂 it was the best thing ever haha! Good stuff✌️

Well I hope this email finds everyone healthy and happy! I love ya Momma and pray about you everyday! I miss you soooooo much but look forward to serving the Lord some more! Love you!!

Love your fav missionary son, Elder Findlay😎
Elder Calio is an interesting kid😂

And there is famous Brother Owens. He's the best!

Torrey's baptism, missionaries dream


The crew.
 Elder Higham on the far left came
out with me and now he's in my district. 

Pretty much the definition of AZ

Monday, January 2, 2017

Happy New Year! Week 21

Happy New Year!!

Holy cow this week sounded crazy for you with all of the wedding events but so much fun! I do wish I could have been part of it, It sounded so much fun! And that's so great that the whole family was there. Everyone looked so happy and that was awesome! Kaitlyn and Brett look really happy.  

This week was super awesome. We really had a good time. So transfers are on Tuesday and it blows my mind that it's already here. Luckily for us everything is staying the same. We were hoping for a car but that didn't happen, so ya I'm stuck on bike for the next 6 weeks again😂 P-day last week was da bomb! It was by far the best p-day I've had haha! We watched the Saratov approach which makes me appreciate that I'm in Mesa haha. President also gave us permission to watch ELF!! So we watched it in Brother Thompsons theater which is the best thing ever, its literally the size of an actual theater! It was soooooo stress free and I just enjoyed it a lot. It reminded me of home watching it with Jack haha!

As far as the work goes, one of our investigators Torrey is getting baptized on Tuesday! Its awesome! We are super excited for him and he is more ready than ever. This week I've really been able to see the fruits of our labor in the field. They aren't massive but small and noticeable. Some of our other investigators Gabriel and Israel are getting baptized in a couple of weeks. They are 9 and 10 years old and the funniest kids, I love them! They asked us to baptized them so I am really looking forward to that! I've done baptisms in the temple before but this is the first time I've done it for someone on my mission! Sorry there isn't much to say about this week other than we knocked a lot of doors and talked to a bunch of people.

Today has been really awesome too! I got a haircut this morning and now I look like a little kid haha! I will send a pic. We also hung out with my Grandpa Elder Knudsen, he goes home tomorrow which makes me sad. We get along really well. He lives in draper so he will be in Utah tomorrow! We had the silver bullet today(aka ford transit mission car) and so we could do whatever. We went disc golfing at a course over at Red Mountain which was sweet! I loved it a lot, turns out I have been playing it wrong all my life haha! Since we were out that way we went to Winco and got some groceries. It's way better shopping there because things are cheaper but it is further away. P-day is so much easier with a car, I took it for granted when I had one! We also went to The mall, I didn't buy anything but I helped Elder Eaton pick out some ball shoes. I forgot how much I love shoes😎 Now we are chillin in the church playing ball and emailing. Sorry it's taken me forever to get it out, today has been crazy!! Oh and we didn't do anything special for New Years, just a normal missionary day😇

I love ya momma! You are the best and always make me smile when I read your emails.  Tell everyone back home I love and miss them a lot! I pray about you guys everyday! Love you!!!
New baby boy haircut

It rained like crazy on Christmas Eve

Elder Eaton didn't like it one bit!

got soaked


Thanks mom for the Christmas gifts,
especially these Chargers socks!

Having some good biking/finding weather!

Christmas Night...singing at the
 Mesa Temple in the missionary choir

Elder Eaton and I

Got to see my Texas cousins Amelia and Jett
who were visiting Mesa.  So awesome!

...and my Uncle Josh and Aunt Melisa.
Thanks for finding me!




Funny face but cool picture!