Email 6/6/2011

HELLO!!!

We had a really great week! Soo this is what happened with transfers. I know this will interest Hma Barker. Elder Burgos and Cuthberson are *AP's so we now have 4 APs! Didn't see that coming. They *white washed the elders in our ward and they will be working in our ward 2 or 3 days a week. So we have the main responsibility of the ward but I'm sure it will work out. It always does.

It was a good week because we had some really good lessons and we hit just about all of our goals which pretty much never happens. We only had like 2 cancellations all week..and a lot of members came out with us.

Probably my favorite thing that happened this week was with "H"! We stopped by and talked to him for a little while. He graduated!! Yay! So we asked him what his plans were (hoping he would say maybe a mission) and he said military, his brother is in the military and his family is kind of pushing him to do it. So..we broke it down and got to the bottom of it and he said " Ever since the last time I met with you guys I feel like I keep getting all these signs to go on a mission and it's always in the back of my mind! But I'm not sure i want to give up 2 years and I'm not even sure I would be able to go with my past."

We explained to him how we felt before we came on the mission and how he is being "picked" and prepared. We really got him thinking and the spirit was so strong it was SO clear Heavenly Father wants him to go, not to mention he would be an amazingly intense missionary, especially with all the experiences he has had. It was really cool for me though because he told me that he and his family talk about me, and have since we first met that they believe that I was sent to them specifically. They say that I will get "H" on a mission and I'm the only one he listens to and can tell him to do stuff and he does it. No one else can call him out without him losing his temper. He kept pointing at me and saying "you" "You are good. You make me think and you call me out!" I know it's not me and that my mouth is definitely being filled with what to say but I love the missionary that I can be when I'm with his family because I feel like I can really be myself and say it how it is. I feel like he is definitely one of the people I was sent here to teach. Because of the experiences I have had I get him and I can help him. Now he could go on a mission and be able to do the same thing. I explained to him how Heavenly Father is working so hard on him because there is someone waiting out there who he loves a lot and they are waiting for him to be their missionary because only he will get through to them in his own special way. "H" was so calm and he recognized the spirit and said "I haven't felt like this for a long time. Sometimes I think about myself in a white shirt and tie." I thought I was going to jump out of my seat!!! I love how divine Heavenly Father's plan is. I can't imagine not having have gone on a mission, I would have never met "H" and his family and who knows what will happen. I hope and pray he goes on a mission in Feb. That would make my mission worth it that all by itself, if he went I would be such a happy camper!

Other awesome lesson- with "B"! So they canceled the night we were supposed to have a lesson. "B" was going to go to Mexico so he got back the next day and his wife called us to come and open the church. We brought the keys and when we got there, "B" was there and asked if we had time to have a lesson! So "B" had been taught for about a year now and has never, not once even cracked open the Book of Mormon. His whole family are members, his wife just went through the temple and his son is going on a mission this year, but "B" is stubborn. He's basically a member. We had a ward party last week and he cooked for it. He drives me crazy because he won't read and that is the key!! So the last like 5 weeks we have been begging and committing him to read the stinkin book and every week he hasn't. Last week I yelled at him before we left and told him I was going to call him everyday to remind him to read and so he promised to actually read. HE READ! The intro and testimonies:) He was so happy to tell us he read because we are always so disappointed! So we explained the Book of Mormon for the tenth time and why it was so important and we sat down and started 1 Nephi and read it with him and his wife. We got done with chapter 1 and he was like..can we keep reading? We read 4 chapters! He loved it and had comments and questions and was really interested in what was going to happen with King Laban. The spirit was sooo strong, like undeniably strong. I asked him if he believed the Book of Mormon was true, he said YES, I asked if he believed that this was the true church, he said YES, I asked him if he would be baptized, he said YES!!!!!!!

That would be like the 8th time we have committed him to baptism! I had a calender in my scriptures with his name on it and a scripture about not procrastinating:) and I told him this is your calender, we are going to let you pick your own date. We have already prayed about a date and we know when it is but we want you to pray about it and feel comfortable with it because we know that Heavenly Father will give you the same answer he gave us. So he is going to tell us his date TONIGHT!!! His wife was tearing up and all of us bore our testimonies, it was a really cool experience to feel the spirit that strong. Every time we ask him if he has felt the spirit before he says he doesn't think he has. We pointed it out how strong the spirit was and asked him if he could feel it and he said "If course, how could I not right now?!" Sooo cool!! So excited for his family. They talked about going to Salt Lake and getting sealed in a year:) It's these moments where there is no where in the world I would rather be. It's so very worth it.

We're always trying to build other peoples testimonies yet we are always the ones growing the most seeing all these little miracles.

"M" (my recent covert in Gilbert) wrote me and he is doing so well! He got a job and is working for a Bishop of a different ward at his bread shop!! He blessed the sacrament last week!! He's doing great. I love hearing from recent coverts. All of them are still strong and growing:) Yay! We always worry about them when we leave.

Wish me luck in the heat... it's like walking into an oven when we leave the house. It's miserable. 111 degrees yesterday... and it's still going to get hotter. The sun is so intense here. Even at night it's hot when the sun is down because the asphalt is cooling down still. These months of summer might just drag a little. Oh well.

alright I LOVE YOU:)

*AP - not sure but I think it means Assistant to the President. Feel free to correct me.
*White Washed - absolutely no idea. Sorry.