I love teaching children

Hello friends and family!! My week was great! I just love being a
missionary!! It's truly the best!

I decided my favorite thing in the world is teaching children! I love
their energy and spunk! We're currently teaching 2 children who moved
in with their aunt and uncle who are members of one of our wards. The
children love the gospel, the scriptures, and learning about the
concepts we teach! I love teaching them because it allows my
creativity to come out. I make up fun games and such to help teach
them so they'll remember. It's a good time for everyone involved!

So you may ask yourself, "How does Elder Tribe help people come out of
their shell and become better friends with them?" Well the answer is
the same as when I was just regular Toph Tribe. I take selfies with
them! I've introduced the concept of selfies to my new companion and
he's hooked! He's now a big fan and has taken a couple each day. His
family loves them as well from what he tells me! We're going to be
starting an initiative in our wards here soon that involves selfies
and pictures, so it's going to be great! I'll give more detail once
we've started it. For now I'll just let the suspense build ;)

I want you all to know that I love the Book of Mormon. It is
incredible! I devour it every morning! It truly brings me so much
peace and happiness. I was scared and stressed coming into this new
area. I was sad I had to leave my last area. Every morning when I
study the Book of Mormon, these feelings left my mind instantly. I was
able to have the confidence and positivity I needed just because of my
studies in the Book of Mormon. Read it, pray about it, and it will
bring you happiness. I promise!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Week two...

Well here I am. Week 2 down in this new area. I feel like I'm getting pretty well accustomed to getting around. The nice thing about the Phoenix valley is that the lay out is the exact same no matter where you are for the most part. So because I've been in Phoenix for a while now, it was pretty easy to find my way around this new area. I just had to figure out some of the random side streets that end up being huge chunks of our area.

My companion Elder Vanderplas has never found a new investigator on his mission... Until this week!! We found a lady who is interested in hearing our message! We taught her and she wants to keep learning more! So that super exciting!

We also got another new investigator! 2 in a week! We're killing it! We're turning this place around! This one is an 11 year old boy. He's living with his aunt who's a member and he wants to learn more about how e church. He's a really funny kid :)

We had rain this week! On Friday it rained, and it rained hard! We got completely soaked! Unfortunately no one wanted to open up their door to let us in to give us relief from the rain. So we had a solid 3 hours of biking in a down pour. It was a nice break from the sun :)

Have you ever seen 14 tons of decorative rock? Well I sure have! We got asked by an older gentleman in our Ward if we could help him move some rock. Of course we told him that we would be happy to. So we had the pleasure of moving 14 tons of rock from the street to his backyard. Then filling his backyard with this rock. It's safe to say I woke up very sore the next day haha.

Random thought. Always remember that unicorns exist, because the Bible says so.

Numbers 23:22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

-Elder Toph Tribe

So I found the cat on my shirt. 

I got a haircut 

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! I got to FaceTime the family yesterday and that was great!

I figure it appropriate for me to give my mom a shout out. She deserves one every week of the year, but especially on this Mother's Day week. My mom is truly the greatest. She's the reason I'm out here on a mission. If it wasn't for her persistently reading me the Book of Mormon every morning, lovingly correcting me when I was a dumb teenager, and constantly encouraging me to do good, I wouldn't be out here today. I owe all of this happiness and joy that I'm able to experience out here on my mission to her. I'll be forever indebted to her for everything she has done for me. She's truly an angel given to me to guide me and help me along the way. I love her dearly. She's truly the best!

This week I got transferred. I'm now in the Stetson Valley/Thunderbird Hills wards. 2 wards and still on bike. It's slowly warming up and not looking like its wanting to turn back anytime soon.. 120 degrees on bike coving 2 wards... This is going to be a sweaty summer! It'll be great though! I'm still a district leader, but now over a new district in the Glendale North Stake. There is a Sister in my new district who has been in my district since she came out on her mission a month after I did! Kind of crazy! Really cool though. We joke that president kept us together so that we have one friend in this new environment. I can bike to the edge of the area I cover now and look into my last area so I didn't move too far away haha. Completely different demographic of people though. I'm now in the rich area. No apartment buildings. My companion is Elder Vanderplas. He's from Warner Robins Georgia. He's a quiet guy. Real quiet. He's super nice though! It's my goal to break him out of his quiet shell! He came out with Elder Peterson my last companion that I trained, so he's still just a new guy.

My churches start at 9 and 1. So I'm at church from 8 to 4:30 every Sunday... That's a long time to be at church. In the Stetson Valley Ward I was asked to give a talk 5 minutes before I was going to give it. I was to replace the youth speaker because she got mono. It went surprisingly well for being on the spot.

Moving to this new area has been hard for me. It was sad leaving the people that I've grown to love over the past 7 1/2 months in my last area. It was hard coming here and having to be the senior companion in a place I don't even know, especially with a companion that is super quiet and doesn't know the area very well either. It's been through a lot of prayer that I've been able to stay positive. It's truly incredible how much the Lord will bless you when you ask. I've had to pray just for the mental strength to keep a smile going while I knock on doors. And He blesses me with that boost I need :) There have been times since I've been in my new area where I have no clue where I am. My companion doesn't know where we are. And I've prayed and then a map that I never loaded on my iPad will pull up. I was able to navigate our way to where we needed to go. It's astounding. I know for a fact that God hears and answers my prayers, and I love that!

Well I hope you all had a great Mother's Day! I love you all and hope that this week is a delightful one!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Elder Vanderplas doesn't want to take any pictures....so I sneakily

took one from my bed.

Transfers

Well it's been real Deer Valley. 7 1/2 months. 2 family scares. Being
trained. Training a new missionary. Getting shot at. First time being
a district leader. We've been through a lot together, but now it's
time for me to move on to my next area. I'll find out Wednesday where
I'll end up and who my new companion will be.

This week has been a crazy one. Elder Farnsworth went home so we've
all been a little bummed out. We're working hard though. We're
currently in a tripanionship with Elder Clark until transfers. We
played games almost every night this week leading up to his departure.
So that was super fun!

Today I have discovered how much stuff I have accumulated while being
in this apartment... Let's just say packing has been difficult! I did
it though!

We had our last trainer/trainee meeting this past Friday. It went well
and was an enjoyable meeting. Afterward our mission president took
Elder Peterson and myself out to lunch. I really love President and
Sister Griffin. They're great people and when you're doing well they
let you know it.

No matter what is going on in your life, there is always time that can
be made for the Lord. Be willing to make that time. It will pay off. I
promise.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

-Elder Toph Tribe