Merry Christmas.... A few days ago

It was cool to see how many relationships we've built out here in this
area this Christmas season. Our Branch President invited us over for
Christmas Eve. His mother in law, who lives with them, asked what
Christmas traditions we have in our families. Both Elder Wilcox and I
had the tradition of opening up pajamas on Christmas Eve. Well shortly
after dinner we gathered with there family and the kids opened up
pajamas. Then our Branch Presidents wife handed us each a gift and it
was pajamas! They helped each of us keep that Christmas tradition
alive for ourselves even though we are away from home. It was so nice.
There is a family out in Bagdad who I had a conversation with about
Nutella. I'm a big fan of Nutella and so are they. Well they surprised
me with a Christmas present of a big jar of Nutella and a case of
Nutella to go snack packs! They're the coolest! There is a family who
hasn't been to church in a long time. Elder Wilcox and I have been
working with them trying to get them to come back out. Well the dad is
the coach for the little league football team. Their team went
undefeated and won the championship. I've talked a lot of football
with him. He got me a Bagdad football championship hoodie with my name
on the back and my high school football number on the sleeve! He also
got one for Elder Wilcox! It's been a pleasure serving out here at
this time of year. The people are so kind and so loving.

I got to see and talk to my family this week!!! There wasn't the
greatest wifi connection, because I'm in the middle of no where, but
it was still wonderful to see them and hear their voices!

This week I had a really cool experience happen. We went over to do
serve for a guy who got baptized about a year ago. We were helping him
put new doors on his off-roading Blazer. His daughter came out and
informed us that her mom was slurring her words and wasn't looking
good at all. We all ran inside. She was having a mini stroke. The guy
looked at us will a look I can't forget. His face was scared, but
confident in a solution he had come to. He asked us to give her a
blessing. I had the privilege of giving her that blessing. After the
blessing she stood up, spoke clearly, and walked out to the truck to
go to the hospital. It was incredible. It was one of the most powerful
experience I've had with the Priesthood. I'm so blessed to be able to
hold this authority to act in God's name here on Earth for the
blessing of his children.

Have a happy new year! I love you all!

-Elder Toph Tribe

This week was interesting...

This week was an interesting one.

Our potential investigator fell through... That was a bummer, but
hopefully we'll be able to meet up with them again at a future time!

We went to the Mesa Temple lights this week! That was a fun
experience. My companion's response to all of it was, "Yeah, this is
nothing compared to Salt Lake." Our Mission President responded with,
"Well of course not. There is a Prophet of God, his first presidency,
and 12 Apostles in Salt Lake. They're going to save the best for
them." Makes sense to me! It was really pretty though and we did have
a good time there.

This week we went out knocking doors in Yarnell. Which is a small town
that we cover. We knocked a door and a lady came out looking really
excited to see us. We got to know her, and it turns out that when she
was in Mexico for a few years she had lots of contact with
missionaries. She was never baptized, but loves the Elders. Her
husband is, as he puts it, a retired biker. He has a sweet mustache
and some sweet long hair. They're both in their 70s. We got to talking
and it turns out they needed firewood. We devised a plan to get them
some firewood without them knowing. We went down to a ranch owned by a
member, chop up a truck load of wood they said we could have, and
deliver it to them. We were trying to be sneaky and unload it without
them knowing, but we got caught. She had tears running down her face
and she was so incredibly grateful. She told us that she was praying
for some way for them to be able to stay warm because they ran out of
wood that morning. I'm so thankful that we had the opportunity to help
them out. It was such an amazing spiritual experience that we realized
that we were being directed by Heavenly Father to bless the lives of 2
of his children.

This week we also had the opportunity to go help with some ranch work.
There is a couple who hasn't been to church in many years who own a
ranch. We went up and asked if we could serve them, and they put us
right to work. I got to feed and brush horses, feed young cows and
bulls, and play with some dogs. It was so much fun! At the end of it
we got talking about church and what was going on at the branch. We
talked them into committing to come to church next week!

Elder Wilcox and I have decided that if we are going to get anything
moving in this area, it is going to be through service. We are taking
the example of Ammon in the Book of Mormon. He served King Lamoni
diligently and it softened the heart of the King. Ammon was then able
to teach him and thus being able to convert his whole kingdom! This
lead to the softening of the heart of the King of the whole land who
was even King over Lamoni. Then Aaron was able to go and convert him
to the righteous ways of the Lord. This in turn caused a good portion
of the Lamanites to become converted as well. It all started with
service. Service for one man caused thousands to come to the truth and
light of the gospel. So that's our approach. We're going to serve and
loves these people

I love you all! I hope you have a delightful Christmas!

-Elder Toph Tribe

This is literally all of Bagdad. 

It snowed!!!

It snowed!!! Up here in the northern regions of Arizona I guess it
actually snows! It might only be a couple of inches, it might melt
away shortly after the sun comes up, but I actually got to see and
play in snow! I was so excited!

This week was a good one. We had the opportunity to meet lots of
people! We were asked by some of the members to go hand out
invitations to he Ward Christmas Party. It was a great way to be able
to get out and meet a bunch of people! Especially the people that no
one has seen in a long time. The Ward Christmas Party went great! We
had a really fun time and lots of people came. They had it Polar
Express themed. They took a long horse trailer and crafted it up to
kind of look like the Polar Express! The kids loved it!

One amazing thing that came from us going to people and inviting them
to the Ward Christmas Party was we got a new potential investigator
out of it! We knocked on this door and a lady who was very nice talked
to us for a little while. She is a member. Her son came up behind her.
She looked at her son and asked if he wanted to go to church. He said
that he did. She said,"Great! He's ten. How do we go about getting the
lessons so he can be baptized?" Such a tender mercy from the Lord!!
We're going over to this Tuesday to teach him!

There are lots of opportunities for us to do service up here. We raked
leaves, set up Christmas lights, chopped fire wood, and all sorts of
fun stuff like that. It's a wonderful way for us to start off
conversations. People are always very appreciative of the help.

One thing that I've learned on my mission is that no matter how good
you are at something, you're nothing without the Lord. He has given us
our talents. He has done so much for each and every one of us.
Humility is a wonderful thing. It helps us so much. It allows us to be
teachable and then we have the opportunity to learn so much more than
we already know. Humility is a blessing, because it helps you realize
all of your other blessings!

I love you all! Have a terrific week!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Crazy Week....

Crazy week. So I ended up getting transferred as a last minute
decision by President Griffin. I'm now up in the northern land! I'm in
the Prescott stake. I'm in the Kirkland Branch and the Bagdad Ward.
I'm with a missionary who just got done being trained. Elder Richards
stayed down in Peoria and is training. Which is awesome! I'm so happy
for him! It was weird. I was excited to know I was training, but it
didn't feel real. I never thought I was really staying. The Spirit was
preparing me for the surprise! It's a little chilly up here but I have
sweaters that are keeping me plenty warm. My companion is from
Sugarhouse, Utah. His name is Elder Wilcox. He has Cerebral Palsy.
He's a great guy and really excited to be a missionary. This area is a
hour from the next closest set of missionaries and is about 2 hours
from one end to the other. A lot of dirt roads. We have a sweet truck.
It's going to be fun!

Bagdad is a mining town. It's a town that is literally owned by the
mine. We can't openly proselyte. If we knock doors and the individuals
don't like us, we can get arrested. So we have to work a lot with
members! It's going to be a great opportunity to work more with the
ward and get them excited about missionary work!

The transition has been a little rough just because of the surprise of
the situation. It's going to be great though and I'm excited!

I love you all! Have a dandy week!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Pictures! Me on a duck rock in the middle of no where. And a selfie in
the middle of no where yet again haha. Our area has a lot of no where
in it.

Transfer week...

Elder Richards is getting transferred. It'll be sad to see him go.
I've absolutely loved being his companion! He's the man.
I'm getting a new trainee though! A brand new missionary. I'm so
excited to have this opportunity to train again!
I'm also the first zone leader to ever train. So this will be an exciting adventure!

Thanksgiving was great! We had the opportunity to spend time with a
lot of members. It was a really fun day!
We got permission to go and participate in the Turkey Bowl. It was such a
good time! We have a really athletic group of young men, which made it
really fun!

This week was great! We really had an amazing last week as a
companionship. We were able to find a new investigator family and a
new investigator individual! Our members are phasing over to become
phase 3 wards. We're literally having people come up to us at church
and invite us over to teach their friends!!! I'm so excited!! We'll
have a few more new investigators this week because of how great our
members are! I'm so excited to be here right now!

The power of positivity is incredible! That is the only reason that
this area is doing so well. It's the reason I'm being trusted with the
responsibility to train a new missionary. I'm just so happy and
joyful! It's the best!

I love you all! Have a great week!

-Elder Toph Tribe

We took family photos today. Elder Richards is next to me, Elder
Watson has the bear, and Elder Bradshaw has the flag. I'll send those
in a minute