Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Newness in Mesa Week #58

Hey Momma! 

Yep transfers went pretty well! It was tough sending Elder Karren home though, he's become one of my best friends. He emailed me and said that all is well in Logan. He said Zane(Elder Nuttall) went to his homecoming talk! Kind of funny that my last two companions are home and hanging out with each other already. They are both doing really good. I love those guys. You seriously make the best of friends on your mission, that's been one of my favorite things about it. 

Our new house is a pretty sweet place. We live in our area with the Brown Family. Elder Brown is actually our mission bike coordinator so I've known him for a while. It's pretty cool that I get to live with them. This is the first time they've housed missionaries. And Sister Brown is a saint, she is already spoiling us. We live in the basement and it's so nice! And it's cool down there which is a blessing in AZ. And here's the plus...we both have queen sized beds😂 It's a really weird feeling, the first night I slept in it I felt like I was home in my own bed. Now I'm used to it though. Sister Brown provided all of the bedding and it's really nice. We have a super nice bathroom too. It's big and easy to keep clean. Our kitchen is nice, we have our own mini-fridge and it works out great. In the mornings for exercise we go outside and shoot hoops, so it feels just like home. 

Elder Bird was here for a transfer before me. He is from Salmon Idaho. Since we cover four wards our Sundays are soooo crazy. We do a lot of splits in order to attend all of our meetings. I went to 3 of the wards and will go to the the 4th next week. The Bishops in each of the wards are awesome! This area is so member dense. The wards are massive. The Stake is super active, to give you an idea 88% of the members are full tithe payers. I feel like I'm in a mini Utah😂 But I really really enjoyed it this week. I was really upset that I was leaving my last area because I love the people so much, but after meeting the amazing people that I did this week, my attitude has changed. One of my Ward Mission Leaders is a returned Mission President and he is such a good person. I felt really loved when I met with him. He knows how to make missionaries feel good and knows what missionary work is all about. I'm really excited to work with him and learn from him. 

Biking has been really stressful because we are both still trying to figure out the area. We have a car with 300 miles a month. That gives us about 10 miles a day. And that goes by really fast. Elder Bird hates biking, so I normally have to drag him into it😅. The area is a good mix economically, but there are a ton of really wealthy neighborhoods. I'm happy to say that there is so much more work happening here than in my last area. We have 3 people on date for baptism, I'm still trying to meet them but I've met almost everyone. We are teaching a man named Chen, he is from China. He is getting baptized in October. Has a very strong testimony of the Gospel and is very excited to be baptized. We are also teaching a gentlemen named Al, yep another Al😂 He is so solid. He comes to church every week, knows the church is true, and has the strongest desire to be baptized. He has come a long way and has changed everything in order to be where he is now. In order for him to be baptized he needs to go back to California where he lived before and take care of some things. So it's just a matter of getting him over there. Other than that we have a few other people we are teaching. This week we taught a young lady named Taz. She was just baptized and now we are teaching her the new member lessons, she's great. 

This coming week will be really exciting! I found out that my district leader is serving in my greenie area and I will be able to go back for exchanges! I have two exchanges this week and both days I will be in that area! I'm super excited. They told me that Sister Venegas, the lady who we taught and was baptized, she is now doing her visiting teaching with an innactive member and is helping her come back to church! I love seeing things like that happen. So if you couldn't tell I'm really excited about going back! 

As far as dinner appointments goes, we actually haven't had too many. But the members I did meet with were awesome. To answer your question about me being picky or not, I'm definitely not as picky anymore that's for sure. I eat whatever people give me and I enjoy it. I still don't like onions though, I still struggle with that one haha. And I'm still warming up to tomatoes😁. By the way that food at grandmas look really good. I still think Grandma Susan's cooking beats all the good food I've had here. 

I've definitely seen Gods hand in my life this last week. He has helped me know the area in such a short period of time. Last night we had a Stake General Priesthood meeting and I felt the spirit really strong. President Bawden, our Stake president, talked about teaching our children the principles of the gospel so that they not only hear it, but understand it. I kept thinking about my family and how well they taught me the gospel. I couldn't have asked for better parents or a better family. I am grateful for them and know that I can be with them for eternity. Thanks for all of the love Mom! I love you so much, have a good week in UT!
Love, Elder Findlay
We had a truck for a week. I was in love with it!

I am so spoiled in my queen sized bed.
My bed is the one made ;)

My kitchen...it works perfect

A glimpse of my area

This is one of my investigators homes 

Everyday I walk down the stairs and get to look at this..JIMMER! I get along really well with the Brown family.  They love basketball like I do ☺