24 Mar 10

I'm now in the Phoenix Zone. My new companion is Elder Johnson from Bountiful UT. He's been out for about 14 months. I'm in a car now. So it's exciting stuff.

I did get the homemade cookie cake. It was very good. Thank you. (My Visiting Teacher was visiting her son in Mesa. She and her grandkids made a giant cookie, decorated it and left it on his doorstep. She is the best!!)

Now I'm emailing from a Library now which means I have limited time, about an hour. So I won't have as much time to chat as I have before. But I would still love to do so. 

Not much to report this week as I have only been in the area for a day. But I'm sure I'll have an amazing missionary story for you next week. 

Elder Johnson is a really cool missionary. I'm excited to work with him.

Elder Morgan

Such a kid of few words this week. Love Jenn =)

16 Mar 10

Well we had an amazing Zone Development Meeting yesterday. I had an interview with President Bassett and it was awesome. That man is definitely going to be the next Apostle.

We've had probably the worst week ever on our mission’s numbers this past week. All our lessons fell through and nobody would answer the door. But then we had the best day ever yesterday. We found a new investigator and taught a lady that's going to get baptized this week.

Her name is Kim and she has an 8 year old daughter named Ashlyn and they are both getting baptized on Saturday at 3. She is awesome. She will be the fastest person to get baptized after finding her. 5 weeks it took her. And she's ready.

Today we're having lunch with the Avichucos! Yeay! This past transfer Elder Hoopes came down from Heber and is serving in the area next to us so Rayleen Avichuco called on Sunday and said it's time for a Family Reunion! SO we're meeting at Jack-in-the-Box and they’re bringing their son, Brother Taylor (the ward mission leader) and their missionaries. So it's going to be an awesome day.

We turned Mandi and Mike over to the ward since they weren't keeping their commitments. I had a hard time doing that. They have become my friends and I had a hard time telling them that there’s other people out there that are willing to keep the commitments we were leaving with them. But that doesn't mean that we would stop coming by. I talked with President Bassett about that and he told me the difference between being bold and overbearing is love. "If they know you love them then you can say whatever you want to them." he said. And that's something I've always struggled with is knowing how to drop investigators. Because I really do love them and I think they do benefit from our lessons.

Anyway, transfers are this week. I'll let you know what's going on.

Love you all. TTI

Jacob

09 Mar 10

Well, this has been a very Spiritual week. We have had wonderful blessings given to use this week.

We had Stake Conference this past Sunday. Where President Jensen (2nd counselor) talked on "the real world" and how we should not let these electronic devices distract from the Spirit. President Lambert (1st counselor) talked on Testimonies and how we as members of the church can know if we have a testimony. And President Whimmpy (Stake President) on Happiness. I loved Conference. Because Scooter, who was baptized on Jan. 9, was invited by President Lambert to share his testimony to the entire Stake, which were spread between 2 buildings. His testimony was so pure and simple my heart broke. I am so proud of him and his brother Tee-tye. They are so smart and are excited to be missionaries. They call us their best friends. And I can see the love they have for us when we come and visit. They run out the door excited to shake our hand with our own secret handshakes. They are awesome.

After Stake Conference we went to a Mission Presidents Fireside. That's were Recent Converts share there testimonies and conversion stories and at the end President and Sister Bassett share there testimonies as well. I had never been to one before. And let me tell you, President Bassett is very likely to become a General Authority. He is only 42 and he has been a Bishop, Stake President and Mission President. Just like President Monson.

We got a call from Sister Livingston in the Mission Office. She said that there was a baby in the Falcon Hill ward that needed a blessing as soon as possible. She gave us the address and the name of the mother. We had a scheduled appointment that we would be late, too. We found the apartment in a very confusing complex pretty fast. We knocked on the door and a young women answered. She looked at us and looked back and said "Oh, I didn't know if you were coming. My mom said she called the missionaries but... never mind, thank you for coming. You can come in." We stepped in while she disappeared into another room to change out of her jammies. The baby was laying on his stomach, sleeping on the couch. He was very tiny. Mom came back with some masks for us to ware and said it was doctors orders. She said the baby was 4 weeks old and she had spent the past 3 weeks going to and from the hospital. She told us that he was sick with something I had never heard before. We figured she was less-active because of clues from what she was wearing and from other things around the house. We told her to hold the baby while we gave the blessing. Elder Lemmon anointed and I sealed and blessed. As soon as my hands touched his tiny head, the Spirit took over my body and opened my mouth. I could see Heavenly Fathers love for this young baby. I thought I could feel what he would go through in his life. I'm not sure what it was but I know that at that time I wanted that child to heal and have the chance to live his life as I have. I know God loved all 4 of us in that room equally enough as he loved Joseph Smith to answer his question. Because of that, he will answer our questions.

Time is short and it's time to go. talk to you next week. Love you all. TTI

Jacob

3 Mar 10

Well, it didn't seem like it till the end but it has been a very long week. We had Zone Conference, then we went on exchanges, then I had bike trouble (cool story) then we had a long lesson on Saturday that we ended up milking a baptism date out of, then Sunday which is all ready long with four sacrament meetings to go to. Just long.

So with all the rain my bike got all the grease washed out of the crank and it was making this horrible squeek, you know the kind that not only get to your ears but somehow the sound waves travel through the canals in your ears and down the spinal cord to, anyway it was just unpleasant. So I got some tools and tried to grease up the crank as best as I could, put it back together and it sounded great, meaning silent. So we continued that night on our bikes and I just got a lot of resistance. So fearing I broke something I called up John Delp (the one guy who gave me the bike.) to come and fix it. He came and it was good seeing him from my last area. He's been on probation for 2 years so he can't get baptized but he told me then that the missionaries set a date for him. His last day on probation is September 13. He's getting baptized September 14. I told him I would do my best to be there. 

Apparently I had destroyed the ball bearings in the bike. He got new ones and installed it for free. I love that man. I'll take you to meet him once you come and pick me up, Dad. 

We set a baptismal date for a girl named Kim Christmas. March 20^th. 

Kinda short on time today but love you all and TTI

Jacob