This has been a great week to be a missionary! We had 2 baptisms this past weekend. First was for a lady named Debra. She's so great. There was an amazing turn out. We had around 40 people! It was so nice to see so many people there to support her in this decision. Then we had a baptism for an 8 year old girl named Jenna. She lives with her grandma, and she is super sweet. Her grandma has recently started coming back to church, so the bishop asked us to go and teach Jenna the lessons. It was a fun experience! It was so great to see her make that huge step in her life!
This week we have a baptism for one of my favorite 11 year olds! Alejandro is getting baptized! It's going to be so great!! I've seen so many hearts soften in that house hold. His mom is now going to be starting to take the lessons, and the whole family is going church every week!!
We went over to an investigator this week that we haven't seen in almost a month. She has never been to church and wasn't keeping commitments. We went over, invited her to read the Book of Mormon again, and invited her to church. She came to church! She read the Book of Mormon! And now she is getting baptized on the 8th of October! I'm super excited for her!!
Well this is my last week as a full time missionary. I'm so excited because this is going to be the greatest week of my mission! I get to use the accumulation of everything that I've learned to be able to help as many individuals as possible come closer to Christ. I also am really sad that this is my last week. This has honestly been the 2 greatest years for my life. I'm sad to see them come to an end. Everything has a time and a season though. I've learned so much about myself, social skills, the gospel, and my Savior. I've been able to meet so many wonderful people. I've had struggles, hardships, and disappointments that helped me learn so much. I've been able to experience happiness, personal victories, and true joy. Now I get to take all of this knowledge and apply it to the rest of my life! I'll treasure these memories forever. The greatest memories are the ones where I was able to clearly see the Atonement take place in my life and lives of the individuals around me. It truly is a miracle every single time. It's been such a blessing to be able to serve in a leadership assignment most of my mission because of the close association I've been able to have with so many great missionaries.
I look forward to being able to see all of you and sharing some of the experiences that I've had. I love you all! Have a great week! I'll see you next Tuesday.
-Elder Toph Tribe
Here our 2 baptisms from this week. Debra and Jenna. Jenna is 8 but we taught her all the lessons and helped her grandma come back to church
I love the members that love our missionaries. Georgia Born is one of those great people! She fed these boys and kept them busy.
This week we were able to have a great time trying to figure everything out. We are blessed to be serving in 2 wards that really want to get missionary work going! The members are working on finding people for us to teach, and we are just focused on teaching those individuals. Our greatest down fall is that we are trying to find the time to organize everything to have time for everyone. It's a good problem, but it also makes me feel so bad. I wish I had more time to spend with these individuals. These wards have enough work to have their own missionaries for sure, so it's sad that we have to cover both. We are working out hardest and utilizing splits like crazy!
We have a baptism this weekend for a lady named Debra. She is in her 50s and so ready for this change in her life. She has worked long and hard to be able to be baptize. It is so exciting to see her be able to achieve her goal!!
Alejandro has a baptism date for my last Saturday in the mission! He is my favorite 11 year old. He is the man! He's so ready to be baptized. He is setting an awesome example for his younger siblings and his mom, who is also not baptized. I'm so happy for him!
This week we got to serve our fellow missionaries. It seems like everyone is getting sick. While helping and serving those who got sick, they got me sick! So I've been pretty darn sick this week. I haven't missed a single minute of work though. It's been a great humbling opportunity. I had to rely on the Lord to be able to keep going. I've wanted to stay diligent, and He allowed me to be able to do so. Prayer works!
I had my last zone meeting this week. As a zone leader, we get to plan and put on zone meetings once a month. At the end of the meeting I got to give my 'departing testimony'. This was a surreal experience. It still hasn't hit me that I'm going home soon. I've loved working in this zone and with these great missionaries. It's going to be sad to leave them and this work here in Glendale. I've been so blessed to be able to be here.
Random fact. We went bowling today. I hit a personal record score of 181! It was so sweet!
-Elder Toph Tribe
The pictures are as follows: Elder Bradshaw and me saying bye. Elder Kinikini and me at zone meeting Elder Steenson and me at zone meeting The zone The zone
This week we had a baptism! Dani got baptized and it was wonderful! She's doesn't have a lot of family support, but she knows it's true and that's all that matters to her. She's an inspiration to me of faithfulness. She knew what she needed to do, and she wasn't going to let anything get in her way. She then gave me the opportunity to confirm her a member of the church. Those moments where I get the opportunity to use the Priesthood are my favorite. It's so incredibly spiritual.
Well, the transition into the Manistee Ranch Ward is going well. Due to the new ward boundaries and realignments, they are having to call a lot of new people to leadership positions. Lots of new blood that is excited to do missionary work. It's going to be great to watch this Ward flourish.
The La Pradera Park Ward is sad that they no longer have their own missionaries, but they are stepping up to the plate to find new investigators for us. We got 5 new investigators this week, and 3 were from the members finding people for us! This ward gets it. They are phenomenal!!
We met a spiritual warrior this week. This is an individual who believes that the best way to overcome a temptation to sin is to physically punch and kick an imaginary satan in front of them. She was telling us that she is training to be a spiritual warrior minister. She then turned to Elder Glanzer and told him, "You need to forgive your father. It is the only way you will be able to find happiness." All in all it was an interesting conversation. She's not interested in the gospel unfortunately.
We also got to play with blades this week. We talked with a family who use to be a part member family. They separated and now the member doesn't even live there. The family is way cool though. The 20 year old son has a weaponry collection, but he is a pacifist. Kind of interesting, but it was way cool to check out! Lots of swords, knives, and other crazy blades. They didn't end up being interested in the gospel, but we did get some sweet pictures!
Key learning from a scripture I studied this week. Chastity has been a huge topic, it seems like, recently down here in Glendale. We taught the Priests about it on Sunday, we taught it to multiple investigators, and it's been something that I studied. This is a scripture that I love about this subject. 1 Peter 2:11 "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;" As I thought further on this scripture, I thought what else this could apply to. This could apply to anything that our carnal mind desires. Like fast food, sleep, television, social media, or any matter of worldly desire. Our souls strive for order, structure, and moderation in all things. When we fall into these temptations for laziness, gluttony, or sexuality we are damaging our soul. Luckily one mistake won't damn us forever. We have our Savior who gives us the ability to not only be forgiven of past mistakes, but gives us the enabling power to do better every single day!!! Jesus loves us! He wants us to grow and progress. We are here to learn how to control ourselves. We will be able to put these fleshy lusts behind us. We have a long life to be able to learn and improve every single day! Just like it says in Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
We had a baptism this week! Philip was baptized! It was great and the Ward came out in full support of him and this decision that he made. He made a covenant with Heavenly Father and the Spirit was so strong. It was a great opportunity to be able to teach him and watch him enter into the waters of baptism.
No bed bugs this week! Such a blessing. We have setting up lessons at members homes so we can avoid an incident like that again. Our members have been a huge blessing to us in supporting the missionary work.
This week we got a surprise. Friday we got a call from our Mission President informing us that our area is about to get bigger. Not only did our ward boundaries grow, but we also got a new ward to proselyte in. Kind of crazy. So we now cover two wards in 2 different stakes. We cover the La Pradera Park Ward in the Glendale stake and the Manistee Ranch Ward in the Phoenix stake. A lot of extra planning, but a lot more area for success! I'm excited for this challenge my last month as a missionary!!
A scripture that I love and have been pondering this week is Doctrine and Covenants 58:42 "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more." The Atonement of Jesus Christ is amazing. We can never fully comprehend it, but we can definitely enjoy the magnitude of blessings that are promised by it. I will be forever grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ.