The Lord brings miracles!

The Lord brings miracles into the lives of his diligent servants.

This week was slow. Like everything we had set up cancelled. Even a lot of dinners cancelled. It was rough. It seemed like no one was ever home on any door we knocked on. Our investigators were sick or out of town. It was definitely a test of my diligence, perseverance, and sanity.

We got a notification that someone had just moved into our ward boundaries. We went and visited them just to see what would happen. A single mom answered the door. She had been taking the lessons in Avondale with her 8 year old daughter for the past couple of months. She told us that they were ready to be baptized. They're on date to be baptized on the 24th of October!

This morning we were going to visit Keith, our investigator. He invited his friend Shelby to sit in on the lesson. She lives a couple blocks away and is totally interested in the gospel and wants to be baptized too!

Prayers are answered. We just need to do the best we possibly can and the Lord will make up the rest.

I found out that the members we live with have a tiny bench rack. So I started lifting again this week! It felt so nice to be able to actually have some weights to throw around. It's only bench pressing, but it's better than what I've had for the past 5 months.

Saturday we went as a zone of missionaries and cleaned Lake Pleasant. It was a project on JustServe.org . We went and picked up trash on the beach for a few hours. It was really fun to get together with our zone and be able to help the community.

I love you all!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Photos: The first is us with some other missionaries just a minute ago. We picked them up to go P-Day. The second is the north district of our zone. We went to their district meeting this week to help with some training stuff and we took a picture after.

Sorry this is going to be short....

Sorry this is going to be short. Today got really busy really quick.
It was fun though! Today we celebrated my year mark. We did so by
burning a pair of my pants. They were a pair that got really beat up.
They were worn so bad that you could see through them at some points.
So they were burned to help me celebrate one year of being a
missionary!

I just love being a missionary. Easily the greatest decision I've ever
made in my life. It's hard, mentally taxing, and emotionally
exhausting. It's worth ever second though. I'm able to see the
greatest miracles first hand. That being the effect of the Atonement of
Jesus Christ taking full effect in the life of an individual. I've
been able to see that in coverts, members, missionaries, and myself.
I am so humbled and grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord.
I'm just so happy. I look forward to another year of joy and
obstacles. It's going to be amazing.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Toph Tribe

So here are some pictures from the week.

The first 2 are from mission tour. 5 zones got together and we heard
from Elder Frost and Elder Montoya. Both of from the 70. The first is
Elder Bunn, Elder Clark, Me, Elder Timm, and Elder Peterson. The
second is Elder Bradshaw, Elder Bunn, Elder Earl, Elder Ogden, Me, and
Elder Richards. From left to right on both photos. All missionaries I
love. The 3rd picture is Elder Bunn and me in our Waldo's tacos shirts
that we got this week. The Waldo's are a family in the Spanish branch
in our zone that we met because they own Waldo's tacos. They offer
missionaries free food and told us we had to come. We went and we
really hit it off with the family. They liked us so much  that they
gave us shirts. So that was pretty sweet
-Elder Toph Tribe

Ciera got baptized!

Ciera got baptized!!!
This was the best baptism I've ever been to. It was incredible. Ciera
was so incredibly ready to be baptized. She invited all of her cheer
squad and a ton of her friends to the baptism. There were more non
members than members at the baptism! She's already an amazing
missionary! She asked me to baptize her and it was a super spiritual
experience for both of us.

We had the opportunity to help a lady who suffers with mental health
issues this week. We went to 2 different mental health hospitals. Both
places we had people come to us and ask for blessings. We talked to
one gentleman who informed us he had been investigating the church for
a couple months but didn't know if it was for him. Elder Bunn talked
with him while I talked with our member. We gave them both blessings
and the man decided he wants to get baptized! So that was super cool.
Mental health issues are very interesting and delicate. It
strengthened my testimony of love. There was literally nothing we
could do besides love those people. It worked wonders though. Love is
key to everything.

This weekend we helped move some Elders from one apartment to another.
Then we completely emptied the one they moved from. In order to do so
we needed something a little bigger than our Nissan Frontier. We were
able to use a Chevy Silverado. We needed it only for one day, but
Elder Petty, a senior missionary who works in the office, let us take
it for the whole weekend! He then said he wanted me driving it. So I
got to drive a Silverado all weekend! It was pretty sweet.

We also got to go to the temple this week. It was wonderful as always.
It was a much needed boost as well. We went on Wednesday with Elder
Weston. The peace it brought was perfect for the timing. Elder Weston
was stressed about getting transferred and it brought him to ease. The
temple is the house of God and the place that we can feel closest to
Him here on earth. Go as much as you possibly can!

Life is just dandy down here in Peoria!

I love you all and hope all is swell!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Another transfer has come and gone..,

6 weeks here in Peoria, and I have a minimum of another 6 more I get to enjoy here!  Plus I get to stay with Elder Bunn, so that'll be great!

Ciera is continually doing great. She never ceases to amaze us. She is so prepared for the gospel, it's incredible. She is one of those people that I know was prepared for me to teach. I have yet another confirming witness that I was meant to be here at this time. God has a plan for Ciera and it definitely included Elder Bunn and me.

This week an Elder in our zone went home. It was his time to be done with his mission. While we were proud of him for completing his time as a missionary, it was also sad to see him leave. He left on Friday so we took his companion as our 3rd companion. So since Friday it has been Elder Bunn, Elder Weston, and I as a companionship. I love Elder Weston so it's been super fun!

Random act of kindness. So on the Monday of transfers we have to work all day instead of getting a preparation day. This is known as work day Monday. It's not missionaries favorite day. Our work day Monday was fantastic though! We had a productive day full of lessons. It ended on a great note. There is a drive thru coffee shop right by where we live. It's called Dutch Bros. They have the greatest white chocolate chocolate milk. We stopped their on our way home to get 3. When we got their, a nice young girl was taking our order. We ended up getting her super excited about the church! Then she told us our drinks were on her! Then we got 3 full punch cards, meaning we can get 3 free drinks next time we go! It was quite an eventful visit to Dutch Bros.

This week has been a little stressful. Transfer week always is. There is a lot to do as a leader, and a lot of anticipation with who's going and staying. The best part is when it's over. Yes I always miss those who go, but I'm able to see the Lord's hand in the week. I'm able to see who he places where. Then throughout the transfer you're able to find out why. It's an incredible experience. I love being a missionary!!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Toph Tribe