Elder Findlay Under the Sun: The Most Bizarre Week of my Mission! Mesa Week #68

What’s up Mom!

How goes it it Utah? Well I probably had one of the most eventful weeks of my mission this week😂 I saw so many people from my hometown! Running into the Marriotts, Naylors, and Markers was a treat! Yeah it was cool seeing the Marriotts at the temple, they seemed to be doing good. Bayleigh seemed pretty excited about getting out to the mission field. When I ran into the Naylors I was just walking through the Temple lights and I heard someone scream my name, then I was tackle hugged by Jeff😂 It was really good to see him. For those who don’t know he was my young men’s president growing up. THEN we went back to the our place and I was cleaning for our housing inspection the next morning when I heard the doorbell ring. I was like who could that possibly be, and it was Rob Marker😂 I was like no way, I must be dreaming haha, so their whole family came into our living room and we talked for a while. Man all of their kids are WAY bigger than when I left. It’s so weird! As far as how I felt seeing everyone I felt fine, it was different that’s for sure. But it was definitely a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. He gives me those a lot, I try to always be grateful for them😁

So we live with members and the Schnebly’s asked us if we could move a bunch of boxes of books from their front yard to their back yard sometime. There was no way me and Elder Draper could do that ourselves, so we got the whole district together and we did it in an hour or so on Wednesday morning. It was super tiring, those boxes weighed like 40-50 lbs each. I was so dead after it. Sister Schnebly also made us some delicious breakfast so it was a good morning. Our district is pretty tight so there is never a quiet moment😂

Thanksgiving was BOMB as ever. Every year Mesa does the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5k and 10k. It’s a pretty huge deal, a ton of people showed up. We volunteered to help out there in the morning because what better thing to do on Thanksgiving! We were first assigned to direct the parking lot traffic, not my favorite thing haha. But it worked out, people just aren’t good at listening😒 After everyone was parked we helped out at the water stations on the course. I got to show off my lighting fast cup placing skills, preparing the Sacrament prepared me for this very moment in my life😂 There were a handful of missionaries running and every time they ran by we would just throw cups of water on them, and basically just started a huge water fight. We went with Elder Bland and Elder Crossly which made it that much more fun!

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with the Garners. The service took up most of the morning and early afternoon, so by the time we were done with our studies and getting ready it was time to go to dinner. Brother Garner made a super good fried turkey which was a new experience for me. I’ve never had that before, and I approve. They had a ton of family there. The Garners are such a great family, they are a young family. Anyways Brother Garner lives right next to his Mom’s house and he has 10 siblings, 5 of which still live at his moms. The cool thing about those 5 is that they are special needs and they are ANGELS. One of them is Garrett, he has down syndrome and he can’t speak. So he’s been teaching me some sign language haha, he’s taught me to sign the words crazy and poop😂 It was fun to have Thanksgiving with all of them, whenever I’m around them I always feel the spirit. They all have such pure spirits. You can’t help but feel a piece of heaven when your around them. God loves ALL of his children.

THE TEMPLE LIGHTS ARE THE GREATEST THING OF MY LIFE OH MY GOODNESS. They are super pretty this year, they have a ton more lights than last year. We don’t work there at all, we just bring investigators or other people to enjoy them. But it’s been such a blessing, we’ve already received a few solid referrals which we desperately needed!! Such a huge missionary tool here in Mesa. The first night they had over 6,000 people there and it was so cool. Since we live so close we walk through the lights every night on our way home, we are the luckiest missionaries to live right across the street from it. Everyday I’m grateful for that. And we have already received 2 referrals from it!

Time flies by here. Everyday I wake up under my covers thinking "wasn't I literally just here?"😂 The weeks are like days to me. This week was great. We stayed busy for the most part. We are working with a young boy named Logan, he is almost 9 and isn’t baptized yet so we are helping him progress towards that. His mom is a convert of just over a year so she is still learning a lot. It’s good though, we are slowly having more and more work. We’ve been working with a less active member who finally came to church this week! He really enjoyed it so that was a huge miracle.

Today for p-day we had another good ball sesh. I invited TJ, the one who me and Elder Karren taught in Las Sendas. He is such a baller and he brought his friend who is super good too. Our team went undefeated😂 It was the first time I saw TJ since I was transferred. He’s gone to church the last 3 weeks, loves the YSA Ward, and is intending on being baptized here pretty soon. Salem(Elder Karren) has been messaging him from home and is planning on coming up this next month. So we will all get together and do something fun.

I love my mission and I especially love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it’s true and it is definitely the greatest thing you could possibly have. I love you Mom! Your the best!

Love, Elder Findlay

Mesa Temple Lights!!!

The Naylors found me at the temple lights!

Ran into the Marriotts at the Mesa Temple too!
Bayleigh took out her endowments and is going to leave for her mission to Santiago, Chile in a few weeks