Arizona Living - Letter 04/20/15

Monday April 13, 2015

-Monday we had a regular P-day, wrote some letters, went and played zone sports, and had a nap! Later that night we visited our Ward Mission Leader's less active son and his wife. They have twins, and two little girls. They are wild! We had a good lesson with them and as we were there I thought about how the gospel is literally for everyone! It can bless everyone's life no matter who you are. The Savior atoned for ALL of our sins, literally all of us. As we visited more people that night I realized the love the Savior had for each individual we visited, and how I needed to help them know that. 

Tuesday April 14, 2015   -Tuesday we had District Meeting early that morning and learned how to better work with members. If you haven't offered to help the missionaries in your area yet, DO IT! Seriously though we could use your testimony, it could be the answer someone needs to get baptized. That afternoon we had a lesson with a new family of a referral it went really well. When we left we said a prayer and the grandpa in the family stood up and put his hands together and said AMEN! Gracias! AMEN! It was so funny! In the evening Celia Palacios our new convert came on a few lessons with us, they were really good! She brought her granddaughter Leah with us and me and Leah ate chips and took pictures while she drove us to lessons. Wednesday April 15, 2015   -Wednesday morning we did 2 hours of service at St. Mary's food bank, and after we had studies. Later that afternoon we visited a new referral named Martin. He's really cool, we taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized. First lesson and he said... yes! He's on date for the 9 of May which, by the way, is the day before I Skype for the last time before I come home.. Weird.. That's not going to happen! Later that night we had dinner with Emilia Flores, and after headed to correlation for missionary work in our ward. After correlation Sister Jensen and I talked with Hermano Aguilera and were joking around him before we had to leave.  Thursday April 16, 2015    -Thursday we had our regular studies and after we finished we went and did service for a new referral named Brisa. She was a in a horrible accident in 2010 and is burn victim. We went over and cleaned her house, and the Elders came and did yard work for her. It was super cool to meet with her and to hear her story. She is so humble and sweet. I cleaned both of the sons rooms and then the bathroom and living room. Sister Jensen cleaned her kitchen and when we finished the inside we helped outside. Later we had dinner with the Rodriguez family and had a small birthday party for Elder Southwick. After dinner we had a lesson with the Quesada family the ones we had a lesson with Monday night. The kids were being super wild so I had all of them come play games with me while my companion and our member taught them. After we finished we went to a Relief Society party. Our investigator Olga came! She is awesome, she is special needs and loves when we come over! We had a small birthday party for the Relief Society as well! Lots of cake! After the party we biked home and planned.   Friday April 17, 2015   -Friday morning we had our regular weekly planning and after we headed home for lunch and then back to Brisa's house. At her house we continued to work on her yard, and I figured out how to use the weed whacker! I should be a professional landscaper just saying.. :) after we had to leave because we had lessons to go to. Later that night we had dinner with the Cuatle family and received some very sad news. Hermano Aguilera who I talked about Wednesday was murdered Thursday night. Hermano Cuatle had a feeling to call him, but could not reach him. He decided to leave to go talk with him, when he arrived at his house he found him dead. He was murdered by his girlfriend's ex husband. The guy who did it ran off to Mexico and is yet to be found. It was really hard to hear that. Hermano Aguilera is one of the happiest people I have ever met in my life, he ALWAYS had a smile on his face, and a joke to tell. He passed out programs every Sunday to everyone, and was so kind to everyone he knew. After we heard the news we all just cried at dinner, and after we had to go teach. Sister Jensen and I could barely keep ourselves together. We managed to have a few good lessons and our member Claudia came with us. That night we contacted a new referral named Dora who lives in a shelter, she was so sweet but lives way out of our area. She has been looking for the missionaries for 3 months and we found her! Another sheep has been brought back to the fold. Saturday April 18, 2015   -Saturday was a pretty good day we had a really good lesson with a less active. We talked about the Plan of Salvation with her and helped to know that she will see her friend again! Later we contacted another referral named Cecilia. She is so funny when we got there she asked us when was the soonest she could be baptized, so we told her to pray about a date and we will make it work! She has met with missionaries before but never wanted to do what they asked, and 3 years later, right now, she decided she needed God in her life! After we had dinner provided by a taco stand that is run by the Elder's investigators. The tacos are amazing!! When dinner ended we attended a baptism for Antonio Montoya. Sister Jensen and I found him, but he didn't live in our area so the Elders taught him and he got baptized! We had a lot of support from the ward it was super good!   Sunday April 19, 2015   -Sunday we had church in the morning and when we got there it was super hard to not see Hermano Aguilera handing out programs.. Sacrament started and a lot of people were teary eyed and the Obispo announced what had happened. We had 3 friends come to church today and the classes went well. After church we went home and I made lunch for Sister Jensen. I made grilled chicken, vegetables and rice. It turned out really good! After we had Spanish and companionship study. When we left our apartment we biked over to a few people's houses and tried to find them. No luck. But after we found Martin the one who's getting baptized and had a really good lesson with him about the Book of Mormon. After we had dinner the Obispo's house, and then headed to Tempe for the Mission President's devotional. On our way we got a little lost, but it's alright. While finding our way we passed a guy on his bicycle who thought he was something else, and he tried to get his jacket off and it got stuck in his bicycle tire... Awkward. When we arrived at the MPF we listened to a few recent converts speak and I saw some of my old members and investigators for Casa Grande!! Well, that is my week.  I hope you all have a good week! Transfers are Thursday so you won't know where I am until next Monday... So write me at 1871 E Del Rio Dr. Tempe, AZ 85282 Con Amor, Hermana Greenhalgh