Christ lives!

This week was grand! The week closed off with all 3 of the people who
got baptized receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost on Easter Sunday.
What a wonderful way to celebrate Easter! We are all thinking of the
eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and here are 3 people utilizing it
perfectly. They chose to put their old life behind them and move
forward being reborn with Christ as their exemplar.

Beth Ann's baptism was this past Saturday. She asked me to be the one
who baptized her. It was such an honor! After she was baptized she
stood in the water with a huge grin and savored the moment and the
incredible Spirit that was there. It was so touching. Her grandpa, who
is not a member, came to support her. After the service, he was
contacted by one of our members who felt the strongest urge to go talk
to him. It turns out that he now wants to be baptized too! We are
hopefully going to start teaching him this week!

Easter Sunday was pretty fun. We got invited to join a couple families
as they got together to celebrate. We went to a park with a bunch of
little kids and played with baby bunnies! It was a lot of fun. The
children ranged from 1 year olds to 12 year olds. The bunnies enjoyed
the older kids a little more, but everyone had fun playing with them.
Then we got to enjoy brownies and we read scriptures with them. It was
a pretty great Easter!

We have been going non stop as a companionship every day. We work
incredibly hard with all that we have to do. Our area is doing great
and we are so thankful for that. We have had a lot of big changes in
our zone, like missionaries moving housing and companionships
switching to different members homes to live. This falls on our
shoulders to make sure it happens smoothly. It's also our
responsibility to go and scrub the house they are leaving. This is
hours of hard cleaning. We get pretty exhausted with all this. We will
be planning, and I'll say something and not get a response. I turn
around to find my companion sleeping in various positions. It's pretty
amusing to see how he falls asleep. I don't blame him though, I'm
pretty tired myself! It's only happened a couple of times, but I still
find it super funny.

The work moves forward at a quickened pace. I'm so ecstatic to be
here! The members are incredible, I love my companion, the zone is
excited, and I'm so happy! I can promise each of you that the Book of
Mormon is true. I read it daily, and I find so much peace from it. If
it wasn't for this book, the stress would over run me. This book has
brought me more joy, than anything else in my life. This has happened
because it is the true word of God. He sends His love to each of us
through His holy word. I know this to be true because of the
experiences in my life.

I love you all and thank you for all you do. Keep your head up and
press forward!

-Elder Toph Tribe

2 baptisms!

We had 2 baptisms this week! It was so amazing! I loved it so much!!
We had one Friday for a man named John. When we teach people as
missionaries, we try to help them have the end in mind. We want them
to be planning for making it into the temple and the celestial
kingdom. He understands that perfectly! His goal is to be sealed to
his family in one year. He wants to do baptisms for the dead monthly
with his kids once we baptize them. Once he's retired he wants to work
as a temple worker. His goal is for his kids to serve missions and
have their kids serve missions. He wants all his children and
descendants to be in the celestial kingdom with him. He's the man!!
Then Saturday we had a baptism for a 9 year old girl named Alana.
She's super cute! She was a little timid at first. She doesn't like to
talk to anyone but her immediate family. She warmed up to us and she
loves the gospel. She loves being able to know that she'll have her
family forever. It was such a great 2 days!

This week I left my sunglasses on the dash of our truck for a few
hours. It was a very warm day and the sun was beating down. The frame
of my sunglasses snapped from the heat! Not only that, but Elder
Hedrick's sunglass lens fell off of his and won't go back in. So now
we're sunglassless in the Arizona desert...

This week Elder Hedrick and I hit the standard of excellence for our
mission. We've been having a lot of success and our members are
helping us so much! I'm so excited to be here at this time. The Lord
is truly blessing us. We found 4 new people to teach this week!

I love the gospel. I love the scriptures. I love my savior Jesus
Christ. I love being able to bring happiness to others. I love all the
support that each of you give me. I hope everything is great. I love
you all! Have a dandy week!!

-Elder Toph Tribe

What a week!

What a week! This week we had some great experiences. We had the
opportunity to find 4 new investigators to teach. We solidified 3
peoples baptismal dates for these next 2 weeks. We put another person
on date for the 9th of April. We had a day with a general authority.
Every one got sick at one point or another in our apartment. Kind of a
week full of craziness!

Last week we received a name to go visit from church head quarters in
SLC. People can go online and send in their friends and family members
information and missionaries will go visit them. We went to the house
the day we got it and she kind of blew us off. Another day we had just finished an appointment and were headed to our
next appointment and I had the overwhelming feeling to go to her
house. I changed our course and headed toward her house. My companion
asked if I got a prompting and I said, "yes." He just sat back and
said, "well I'm glad we're going then." We got to her house and there
were lots of packages on her doorstep. She answered the door and
invited us graciously in. We carried  the packages in her house for her
and sat down to begin teaching. We found out that her dog and closest
friend had just passed away. They had passed away the very day that we
had stopped by. She didn't know how to react that day because the
friend who had died was a Mormon. She wants to learn more and is
excited to be able to live with her loved ones again!

John will be baptized this Friday! He's pretty amped about it! We're
going to start teaching his 3 children next week. He's so excited
because we let him know that he'll be able to baptize his children. He
is also even more excited to be able to be married in the temple and
have his children sealed to him. All  he wants is a forever family. I
don't blame him either, because that is exactly what I want too!
Seeing this family grow so close together has made me so incredibly
happy. They were so ready for the gospel. It's astounding!

Alana is also ready to be baptized this Saturday! She's one of the
shyest 9 year olds I've ever met, but she has a heart of gold. She's
determined to be able to be baptized and come to church every week.
Despite her shyness, she loves primary and spending time with other
children. She invited her whole class to her baptism and they said
that they'll come.

Elder Arnold from the quorum of the 70 came and spent a couple of days
with our mission. This past Thursday we were able to go down to the Phoenix
Valley and discuss with this inspired man. Our meetings started at 9
and went until 5. It was a long day, but it was so revelatory. It
helped me realize so much. I felt the Spirit of God telling me the
little things I need to improve on to be the best that I can be. I am
so grateful for that opportunity!

Our house has been passing a flu bug around. It started with Elder
Hedrick, then went to Elder Wheeler, then Elder Phipps, and now it's
landed on me. Not the most fun, but members have been overly generous
by giving us a medicine. I'm praying that it'll pass quickly.

This is an amazing place to be. I am so happy to be here at this time.
I know I'm suppose to be here. I know that Jesus Christ is the head of
this church and he guides the leaders who inspire us. I'm so thankful
for the knowledge that there is a prophet on the earth today.

I love you all and hope all is delightsome!

-Elder Toph 

A week full of greatness

This week was a week full of greatness. Elder Hedrick and I are having
a great time together as a companionship. This week we have found more
new investigators, put another person on date to be baptized, and we
had a blast driving around in the rain and mud in our truck.

It's crazy to think I've only been here for almost 2 weeks. I feel as
though I've been here a couple of months. Everyone here is so friendly
and welcoming. The work is taking off here and it's exciting to be
apart of it. 

I'll fill you in on a few of our investigators.
BA: She's been taught for many months by many missionaries.
She's had some things holding her back from baptism. The second lesson
I had with her, we sat down and talked out her hold ups. We bore
testimony and promised her the blessings she could receive. She's now
going to be baptized on the 26th.
A: She's 9. She wants to be baptized, but her family is holding
here back. We went over based on a prompting the other day. The whole
family was incredibly sick. We went in and gave them all blessings.
They came to church for the first time on Sunday. She's now on date to
be baptized on the 19th.
J: He's been meeting with missionaries for a while as well. He's at
the point where he sees that he needs to just commit. We asked him to
pray about a baptismal date. We meet with him tonight, so by tonight
we should have 3 people on date to be baptized.

This is an exciting place to be right now. I know I'm suppose to be
here right now. Thank you so much for all the love and support! I love
you all! Have a delightful week!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Great week!

It's great to be in Prescott Valley! I love my new area! Elder Hedrick and I get along great! This is going to be a wonderful transfer! This week we have already found some new investigators. We have a pretty large teaching pool and it's getting larger. We are hopefully going to have a couple of baptisms in the near future already! I'm so excited to be here!

Today we decided to BBQ.  While we were at the store shopping and deciding what to get we decided to get a lot. We got a beef brisket, a pork brisket, a few pounds of hamburger, and hot dogs. We have a little grill on our back porch that is going to be used quite a bit. We pooled all of our money together in our 4 Elder house, so we have quite a bit of cash to eat really well. It's going to be great!

This week has been the easiest transition of my whole mission. I live with 3 great missionaries, I have great wards, I have a solid companion, and I'm super excited about the work.

This week I've been thinking a lot about the principle of peace. I find it so interesting that peace can be found in change. Most of my life I haven't been a fan of change. I was always frightened of the unknown. On my mission it stayed this way for a long time. The amount of moving around that I've done has helped me overcome this fear. I now know how to trust in the Lord. I know He'll help me through anything that may come my way. I'm able to take change and make it a great situation. I love this fact and this assurance. It helps me realize how much the Lord loves me and how my prayers are answered.

I love you all! Have a dandy week!

-Elder Toph Tribe

This was lunch today 🤑