Monday, August 28, 2017

A Ride out to the Reservation. Mesa Week #55

Hey!

Things are going pretty good here! Right now we are driving up to San Carlos, the Indian reservation, with Bro Kuboshige. He wanted to go up there with us and meet some other missionaries and have lunch! I'm pretty excited, I've been to Globe but not to the reservation. I hear it's a different world out there. It's about a 2 hour drive east from here. Plus Elder Karren served there and so he wanted to go back and
visit some people, it was his dying wish😂 I'll take some pictures and hopefully send them to you.

 I talked to Brother Miller this week and he said he really loved talking to you and Dad! He said that I have amazing parents, which I most definitely do! It makes me really happy when our two worlds connect!

I'm going to be honest this week was really grueling. We did a TON of finding and had only a few lessons with some members in our wards. Plus it was super hot, people keep saying that summer just decided to come late this year. I'm ready for it to be over. But like I said before,  I have learned so much about patience and diligence. There were times this week when me and Elder Karren were just beat. But we kept
working because we know there are people out there waiting for us to reach out to them. I'm glad to say yesterday was the miracle we've been working for! We had dinner with the Bunker family and they are AWESOME! They have two kids on missions, definitely a missionary mom haha. Anyways they invited a non-member friend over. His name is TJ. He is 20 years old. I connected with him right off the bat. He was
wearing a bunch of Air Jordan stuff and he loves basketball. We are going to play ball next week. We taught him the first lesson and he committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! We are meeting up with him tomorrow to see how it's going. It is a miracle in and of itself. I know that when we work hard and do our best, the Lord will bring miracles into our lives. And that goes with anything in our lives. No matter what you are struggling with, no matter how hard it
is, if you push through with all faith, diligence, and patience,
miracles will happen. That is something I've experienced and I know it's true. That is an eternal truth that will never change.

I am so grateful that I am serving a mission! I learn so much every day and I am continuing to find out who I am. I love this gospel and I know it's true. It's not always easy but it's all worth it. I hope you have a great week Momma! I love you sooo much! Your such an inspiration to me. Have a great week!

Love Elder Findlay


Out on the reservation

They call this "Mormon Hill" on the reservation


Sometimes I feel like I'm doing everyone's laundry!

Here is a video of our ride around the reservation:

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Summer is ending... but not here in Mesa! Week #54

Sorry I didn't email you yesterday, I didn't realize that this week is our temple week and it falls on a Tuesday. So today is my p-day. 

I don't know about you but I am super excited for summer to be over! Haha I am ready for a break from the heat, but still that won't be until October-ish. I remember last October it was still really warm. I'm praying that winter will come early this year! I'm super glad Dad was able to meet Brother Miller! He is such a good person, I love them soooo much! They take care of us really well. They are definitely a family I want to come back and visit. 

Where do I even start. We were very busy this week. On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Child to his area. It's always fun being his companion again haha, we just pick up right where we left off. We made a video and messaged it to Theresa, she was the one we baptized in our last area! She is doing good! There are actually sisters in that area now, so she is in good hands.

We had a big mission conference this week also. It was really good. We had two general authorities come, Elder Wilson of the seventy and his wife came as well as Elder Wakolo and his wife. The Wakolo's are from Fiji and they are new to this calling. He recently finished being mission president in the Little Rock Arkansas mission. Our meeting was from 8:30-4:30 and every minute of it was awesome! I think that the main focus of it was using the Book of Mormon to help people become truly converted. They said 1/20 people who are baptized have a meaningful experience with the Book of Mormon. He urged us to teach from it as much as we can. One thing that really stuck out to me is how similar Joseph Smiths vision/experience was compared to Lehi's vision/experience in 1 Nephi 1. There are so many similarities between the two. Its another testimony to me that God really is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He works the same way he has from the beginning. He is the same loving God that has been with us from the beginning, always watching out for us. We can ALWAYS turn to Heavenly Father for help. He is eager to stretch forth his helping hand to us. I love him and I know he is real.

I'm sure you were wondering if we had the chance to see the eclipse.....and we did! We were going to make some cereal box thing to look at it but didn't end up having time to make it😂 So we just gave up. As we were walking out of the church building there were some people who had some solar eclipse glasses outside and they called us over to check it out. It was pretty sweet. It was funny to watch everyone looking up at the sun! They all looked pretty mesmerized. I was actually on exchanges with Elder Draper that day. It was rough, their car was spazzing out and so we had to take it into the dealership and they took it right in for repairs. So we were without a car for half a day. It was a struggle because we ended up walking the rest of the day....it was like 6 miles. I was super dead. But it was a great day, we talked to a lot of people and sweat a lot!😂

Something funny that happened this week was during a service we were giving. We helped clean out a back patio, it was so dirty. Just years and years of dust and dirt. Anyways after we were done she asked if I wore size 11 shoe and I said yeah I do. She brought out a pair of Jordan Retro's and she gave them to me haha!!! I was super hyped about it😂 You know how much I like shoes......

Thanks for the email and all the support back home! Love serving and I love being a missionary! I know this work is true! I love you all!  Have a great week! 


Love Elder Findlay

Dream Team! Me and Elder Child

Temple Trip :)

My new "J's" (Jordans)

We think the sisters did this to our car....
(we actually drove him with them
still on and they actually stayed😂)

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Mesa Week #53

(Hey sorry for the delay in getting this posted..computer issues...ugh!)
Hey Momma!

Was it raspberry days this weekend?? I forgot about raspberry days.
One thing that I've noticed recently is that I've forgotten a lot of things... it's weird😂 Little things really. Like last week I was at a members house and I noticed their ukulele was the same exact one as mine! I was like man I had totally forgotten I had a ukulele. It's a interesting feeling. 


I had a really good week too! It flew by. I can't believe how fast it went by. We were really busy which was a huge blessing. We were able to do a lot with Al this week. He called us Monday night talking about how he just basically had a perspective change on his journey towards baptism. He said he hasn't been baptized yet because he felt like he needed to be perfect. He came to the realization that he can't be and that baptism is the gate and next step for him. We decided that we needed to help him have a more solid foundation on the restoration, mainly the BOM and Joseph Smith. So we had a lesson on that and now he sees the importance of having that testimony about those things as well as how to receive it. His new date for baptism is September 2nd!
Right before Elder Karren goes home! We are super excited for Al!

That's crazy to hear about Uncle Jim going to the temple!! That makes me super super happy for him. What a guy! I'm sure it will be a really special experience in the temple for everyone there. And you are absolutely right about temples being available to all who are willing to work hard to get there. It is such a beautiful and sacred place. This week was a really special week as far as temples go in Arizona. Yesterday morning we were able to be apart of the Tucson Arizona temple dedication. It was super cool. I remember when Ogden had its re-dedication and we all did the cultural celebration! I loved it. President Uchtdorf presided over this one and it was great. If you haven't seen what the temple looks like already, then you should look it up! It's a cool temple I have to say😁

We also had zone conference this week which was great as usual. We watched a talk that President Bednar gave at the MTC a few weeks ago talking about "The Word" meaning Jesus Christ. When we place the word in our hearts and nourish it, then it can sprout into a tree. Into a strong tree, a good tree, a tree of life. President Bednar is a genius and explained it way better than me but he basically dissected a bunch of scriptures. As I was listening to him speak I kept thinking to myself, how could you possibly listen to this man teach and not say he is called of God?! I am so grateful that we have the leaders that we do, because they ARE called of God and I know it.

We finally got to help Matt again with his bus. We painted it some more and cleaned up some things around it. Compared to when I first got there it is sooo much better. He said that he's going to try to get out of there today or tomorrow. He's been there for almost four months, in the blazing desert with no AC. He's crazy but he's still alive! I'm actually going to miss him a lot, I really hope that he remembers what we've taught him and eventually meet with the missionaries again. He says he will and I believe him, he'd make an awesome Mormon😂

This morning we played some football finally. Elder Cox and Higham were there so we had a good time. We dominated haha, but I realized how out of shape I am😂. As far as the rest of the day goes, we are going to relax and take it easy. That's all for this week! Oh and we're you able to get in contact with Brother Miller, or I guess did he contact you? I haven't seen or heard from him yet. Anyways thanks
for everything Momma. I love you so much. I really appreciate everything you and Dad do for allowing me to be out here. Have a great
week!!

Love, Elder Findlay

We found this bird chillin at the church with us. 
I think it's a golden eagle.......I could be wrong though. 

The green machine


Saturday nights ;)

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Hump Day! Week 52

Hey Mom! I can't believe I've been out a year either, time really does fly by. They say after a year it just takes off and goes by super fast. I can already see it happening! I did get your package by the way and it was awesome! I love love love ties, I can never have too many ties😂 They are sweet, thanks! I'm actually wearing one right now! 

Although the work is going slow we are seeing the fruits of our long hardworking labor! Its been great this week. I was definitely able to see the Lords hand everyday in all things! 

We finally got a hold of Al. He actually called us on Monday and asked for a blessing. I was able to give the blessing and it was really spiritual, I think it was the first time I've given an investigator a blessing. It was cool, he was really appreciative about it. He's got a really good heart. We are moving his baptismal date a few weeks out so that will be determined in the coming week probably. 

We taught the priests for mutual on Wednesday night on how to share the gospel over social media and it was cool. We also taught about the spirit and how important it is in missionary work We know the priests pretty well because they come to dinners with us and we go to mutual with them sometimes. It gives them a little taste of the mission life. Anyways we had them message their friends a video or even just a simple testimony about what they believe. Whatever the spirit directed them to do. One of the priests has a friend who has read the Book of Mormon twice and now wants to meet with missionaries! Sadly he isn't in our area but he's in good hands! We were really excited to see the success that comes from using technology to share the gospel! It works! 

Last night we stopped by a part member family whose son got baptized earlier this yea. We found out he wasn't taught all of the new member lessons so we are going to start teaching him. Anyways we stopped by and they had a non-member friend there. He is an older gentlemen and he's really nice. He's a good friend of the member we were with and we got to talk about the gospel with him. We shared a very simple message about the restoration with him and he accepted a Book of Mormon! That is the first Book of Mormon I've given out in this area!😁👍 He really enjoys the Mormon church and wants to learn more about it! Another great blessing!

Seattle sounded like a lot of fun! It also sounded like you missed us( Me, Landon, and Mason)! I love going up there. I have a lot of good memories there. We went golfing for p-day at a different course and there were a bunch of big pine trees everywhere, it totally reminded me of Lake Tapps golf course. 

Thanks so much for the support and words of encouragement! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!


Love Elder Findlay
My boy Elder Klaus, he's from Brazil.
He was in my district when I was with Elder Eaton. 

Some weird beetle we found


 Also when it was raining there was
 a ton of baby frogs everywhere! Here is a video.
 Pretty cool!


Monday, August 7, 2017

August Time! Week #51

Hey!

I'm doing really well thanks for asking! On Monday I wasn't dry but now I am! Its only rained one other day this week, yesterday for a little while. But I can't complain, I love the thunderstorms here! We've been trying to catch some cool pictures of the lightning but we haven't had any luck 😂 But we did manage to catch a huge scorpion! It was at a members house, we were with a priest and he caught it. I've seen lots of scorpions here but not one this big! It freaked me out when I saw it at first, I'm not much for creepy crawlers. Here is a picture! Oh and funny you mention me not biking, well I biked some this week! We are desperately trying to find people to teach so we just decided that being on the streets on our bikes is a better way to talk to people than driving in a car. It felt good to bike! I don't miss it but then again I do miss it sometimes😅

There was a missionary that got back from his mission this week. He served in Peru and he's awesome! Elder Holt is his name! Anyways he's been doing a lot of things with us and it's so cool to see returned missionaries right when they get home. And for some odd reason I feel like I've met this guy before, who knows, maybe pre earth life! Its been a good time, we've learned a ton from him already. He has the missionary spirit still so he's fired up about sharing the gospel! We need to take that to the members now!

And I am happy about Hailey's mission call! That's super cool, missionaries from Scottsdale come to the easter Pageant every year so I could bump into her there! I hear Scottsdale is super super nice. I'm excited for her!

So Transfers are tomorrow already! I can't believe it, I think this transfer has been the fastest transfer on my mission. We are both staying in the area so I'm happy about that! That means that I am killing 2 missionaries in a row😂 I think that's my calling in the mission haha. We are excited about it. Our whole district is staying the same too! It will be fun to be in this area longer. Although it is getting tough it's worth it! This week was hard. We had very few lessons and we struggled to keep busy. We are still figuring out how to do the missionary work in this area. But I'm so glad I'm here, I've learned a ton and I will continue to do that for the next few transfers😊 

By the way thanks for that Conversion story! I really enjoyed it, I've read it a few times now. One of the biggest things that I've learned in the last year of my mission is how important personal conversion is to Jesus Christ and His Gospel in our lives. It's everything. Conversion isn't a one time thing, it's something we build on our entire lives. How do we do that? By exercising faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repent, be baptized and take the sacrament every week, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end by following the guidance of the Holy Ghost and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ our whole lives. I've really come to know the importance of these things, we don't stand a chance without this. No chance at all. I know that this is true and I know that only in and through Jesus Christ, we can be happy in this life and in the life to come. I love it all!!😁❤️

Thanks for all of the support back home. I'm so blessed to have a supportive family helping me in my efforts to serve the Lord! I love you all so so much! I will always be praying for you! 

Thanks Mom you're truly the best! I love you and am so grateful for everything you've done and continue to do for me! Have a great week in Seattle!!😊


Love Elder Findlay

my goofy zone

CREEPY!!!!!