Three Weeks Already???

It just keeps getting better and better! Sure, I'm not afraid there will be downs to this mission, like how I realized at church this last Sunday that for the next two years nobody will be there to scratch my back during sacrament meeting. We haven't baptized anyone since Caiden but I know that Elder Bills and I are making a serious difference in people’s lives.  

Aww Man!!! Arizona sounds like the place to be! I really wish I could have been at the temple to see Zach go through. And WAY TO GO COLLIN!!! I cannot believe that Coach Vee and BJ were cool with you going. That’s kinda nuts actually. It's not hard to believe the other guys giving you a hard time though. Aubrey, I'm super proud of you too! BUT Mom told on you and said that you have been using the temple as an excuse to get out of chores. You can't be like Nacho Libre. Sometimes we have to put up with kitchen duties, and dead guy... duties and most importantly chore duties! I know you have a lot on your plate but I promise that the more good you try to do around the home and at the temple the more happy you will be.

So I got my hair cut last P-DAY. Man is it short! I will do my best to send some pictures next week. I don’t have my camera cuz we just finished exchanges. I just worked with a guy named Elder Taufa. Yes, he is a Poly and yes he is Hilarious! It's the craziest thing though. He lives in Mesa, Arizona and his uncle is Valoo (The Highland High Head Security Guard).  He is super Jealous of my mission call and says I need to baptize some of his family that lives in Auckland. Last night we went to two families’ houses, one for dinner and the other was a PMF [part-member family]. We went over for FHE. FHE was so awesome and the family loves the missionaries. They had three little girls; Emily 8, Itania 12, and one other, I forgot her name. Whoops. And a boy named Daniel. After family night I got to play freeze tag with them... I almost threw up. They were really good but what made it difficult to win was the fact that, well, they didn't freeze.

Let’s get back to what I was talking about with it getting better and better. A week ago, Elder Bills and I were running low on people to teach. So this last week we built our faith and read PMG chapter 9. And do you know what we did??? We found!  We found 11 new investigators and to put things in perspective the standard of excellence in the mission is 2. Now, I do not boast of my own strength for as to my strength I am weak, but I do boast of my God. Here is a good example of one. It was a little bit late at night, probably around 7:00 pm and we decided to go visit a former investigator. We knocked on their door and it turns out they moved... but the people in the apartment right next to them had their lights on so we figured we would give them a try. We knocked on the door and waited until the door opened. A younger guy stood in the doorway with a baseball cap, a sweet goatee-beard combo, and some interesting tattoos visible on his neck and arms. Seeing this, I started to summon all of my people skills obtained through months of experience with Moxie (not really).

Me: We’re missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Have you ever seen us walking around here before?

Him: No.

Me: Well, have you ever talked to us before?

Him: No.

Me: Well, do you want to?

Him: Yeah. Sure come on in. :)

There is absolutely nothing that I did to get him to open that door. That is pretty much how the whole week went.

So, we have to kick Carl and Fawn’s baptismal date back. They are really struggling but it's still amazing how much they've changed in the little time since we have been teaching them. They have a ton of desire and a ton of faith, but A TON to deal with. So I will keep you updated on them. We met a former investigator whose name is Eric. We knocked on his door and asked if he would like to meet with us again. This man is at his wit’s end. His life is an absolute mess. I can't even begin to tell you where he is at right now. I did figure something amazing though this week … that it doesn't matter what you’re going through, big or small, the Atonement covers it all. (Well … reaffirmed.) As we sat in Eric’s super trashy house and invited him to be baptized, he smiled. A man who had NOTHING to smile about except for one thing; to know that God loves him and that he was doing His will. He has a date for March 17th. 

I love you so much family. Sorry that I didn't mail you yesterday. All the libraries were closed for Presidents Day. Keep doing good things and always strive to obedient.

Love,

Elder Ward