New area

Well here I am in Glendale. I'm in the heart of the city on bike. I
cover the La Pradera Park Ward. My companion is Elder Katz. He is from
Casper Wyoming. He came out a few months after I did. He actually came
out at the same time as 2 of my past companions, Elder Peterson and
Elder Vanderplas. He's a really good missionary and we'll have a lot
of fun together!

This ward was covered by missionaries who also covered 2 other wards.
It was a little neglected. We had 2 investigators in our teaching pool
when I got here. One of which has been dropped by his own choosing. He
no longer wants to meet with missionaries. The other has yet to be
seen. We have a lesson with her this Thursday. As we looked at this
teaching puddle, we realized that we need to find some people. We
knelt down and prayed on Wednesday. We asked Heavenly Father to help
us find those searching for the gospel. We felt pretty confident, so
we set a goal to find 4 new people from Wednesday to Sunday. This was
quite a lofty goal. We pressed forward with faith and we found 7 new
people to teach! 5 of which were so ready that they have already
accepted a baptismal date!

Saying bye to all the friends I had made in Prescott Valley and
Kirkland was hard. I'm excited to be able to be here though. I know
that I'm suppose to be here. I know the Lord has a plan for me and
this is a part of it. I'm ready to work hard and help others enter in
to the waters of baptism.

A scripture that I read this week that hit me pretty hard was Romans 6:4
"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in newness of life."
I love the fact that I get to offer baptism to so many individuals. It
helps them be able to find new hope in this life and salvation in the
life to come. It is the greatest gift that I can offer to these
wonderful people.

I love all of you! Have a dandy week!

-Elder Toph Tribe

I'm being transferred.

Well. It's transfers. Once again I am being transferred. I was able to
see the Lord accomplish a lot of good in this area while I had the
pleasure of serving here. I've loved serving here. It's been an
incredible 2 transfers, and 4 transfers in Kirkland and Bagdad.

One night this week we had all of our lessons cancel on us. We were
kind of bummed out and trying to figure out what to do next, because
even our back up plans didn't work out. We were driving down the road
and see a car with its hazard lights were on. I felt prompted that we
needed to stop, so I followed the prompting. We found a young couple,
with a 10 year old girl, very frazzled,  looking confused under the hood
of this car. We asked if they needed help and they readily accepted.
We took a look under the hood and after a minor investigation, we saw
that this vehicle's belt had fallen off of the alternator. This is
quite a fun task to put it back on without the proper tools. It took
us a hour and a half to fix. This wasn't a waste of time though. We
found out that he had just returned home the day before from being
deployed in the armed forces. He is a paratrooper infantryman for the
Army. He'd been deployed for the past 8 months and was coming to
surprise his mom. It turns out that this couple had also been looking
for a church to go to. We were able to discuss and talk with them
about the restoration. They agreed to coming to church in a couple of
weeks! They want to start learning more about the church and what it
can offer them.

We helped our Bishop in the Dewey ward with a service project this
week. We put felt pads on the bottoms of all the chairs that go on the
gym floor, that is used as an overflow in the church building. We got this done
rather quickly, so we played a little basketball with Bishop and his
sons after. I found out that I can dunk a basketball wearing all of my
missionary attire. It was something I was always hesitant to try do, due to
the lack of grip my shoes have. I accomplished it though, on the first
try!

This week we had the opportunity to have some fun with some of my
favorite people! We went over to the Reed's house for dinner. This is
always a great time, but we got to end dinner with a bang. We launched
potatoes with a giant sling shot! Probably one of the funniest things
I've done at a member's house. The Reeds are the coolest.

The work here in Prescott Valley has slowed. Our investigators were
super busy this week. We didn't really get to meet and have a full
lesson with any of them. The work in Kirkland and Bagdad has picked up
quite significantly though! We got 2 new investigators this past week
out there! Leahanna works at the Mountainair (the only gas station out
there.) She saw how her coworker's life has been improving as she's
been meeting with us and wanted to find out what it's all about. We
got to teach her twice and she's eating it up! She's super prepared
for the gospel. Bud is a mine worker. He's been through some rough
stuff lately. His wife recently passed away. He's been around the
church his whole life, and he's now ready to make the changes in his
life so he can be baptized. He's an incredible man. He's so kind and
sincere. Aeriel, the one who we've been teaching for a few weeks now,
accepted a baptismal date! She's preparing herself to be baptized on
June 18th! I'm so excited for her. She picked the day and she reminded
me of all that we had been through. The first time that I offered to meet
with her she said, "I'm good with that whole God thing." Now she's
preparing for baptism. She's come so far and I'm so excited for her.
The love that hiss developed through sharing the gospel is amazing. I
am so happy to be able to have had the opportunity to teach her and
watch her get to this point. Missionary work is the best!!!

A scripture that has been on my mind a lot has been this:
2 Nephi 10:23 Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye
are free to act for yourselves--to choose the way of everlasting death
or the way of eternal life.
God has given us the ability to make our our choices. This is a huge
blessing! Because of this we are 100% responsible for our actions.
It's important to always remember this. We are held accountable for
everything that we do. Thankfully Jesus Christ makes up for the
foolish decisions we occasionally make. My favorite saying is, "Do
your best and let Christ make up the rest." As we do this, we can have
confidence and happiness no matter what our past is. We can look
forward to a brighter and more joy filled future.

I love you all! Have a great week!!

-Elder Toph Tribe

This is a gift from Hannah and Miah. They are 2 girls who we've been
helping prepare for missions. Their family is one of the coolest. They
heard that transfer were coming up and made one for me and Elder
Hedrick.

Saying goodbye to the Reed family. 

This has been a great week!

This has been a great week!

We hopefully will have a baptism this Saturday! It's for a 17 year old girl named Madorie. She's been taking the missionary lessons for a while now. She loves it and believes it all. The only hold up is her parents. Under the age of 18, you need parental consent to be baptized. Her parents aren't overly excited about her joining the church. She won't turn 18 until next January. She's determined to get baptized before the possibility of my companion or me leaving the area. That means that she'd need to be baptized this Saturday. We'll see what happens. We pray that she is able to be baptized this Saturday. Her parents seem to be softening.

We set ourselves up to get 2 new investigators in Kirkland and Bagdad this week! That's super exciting because we didn't have any investigators when I got transferred over here to Prescott Valley. Now we'll have 3 if all goes according to plan! I'm so excited because that means that the area might get missionaries back out there!

We got to go to a gymnastics place today for our P-Day. A member owns it and let us come and play around for free! It was a ton of fun! Lots of flips and jumping. Definitely some good cardio for the day.

As I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week this scripture really stuck out to me:

2 Nephi 11:6 And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all men must perish.

I realized that my soul delights in the same thing! I love testifying to others that through Jesus Christ's Atonement we can be saved. I then read this in the New Testament this week that went along perfectly with the first scripture and my thoughts about it:

Acts 4:10-12

10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

I am so thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is set as my rock and my sure foundation. I know that as I place my faith in Him, I can do anything and overcome any obstacle that enters in my path.

I love you all! I hope that all is lovely and delightful!

-Elder Toph Tribe

This is from mountain biking last P-Day. It was a lot of fun!

We had to take a trip to the valley so Elder Bradshaw and Elder
Fullmer could get their car. Sister Reed and Hannah were down there
with all the Reed kids. Sister Reed bought us all Chick-Fil-A. The
pics of me with the kids are her 2 youngest. They're 2 year old twins.
Logan, the boy, thinks that I'm his personal food carrier. So whatever
I'm eating, he thinks it's his too. He's adorable, so I don't mind
sharing haha.

This is from a service project at Beth Ann's house. She's the one who
got baptized the day before Easter. She had a lot of weeds, so we got
the Ward together and helped her out

Elder Bradshaw and I went on exchanges this week and after a lesson
with an investigator Hannah bought us ice cream.

Cool story..,

Sorry I have no time to write this week. We went mountain biking! It
was a ton of fun! We had a bunch of drops and it was 6 miles of fun!

So cool mission story of the week. We baptized a guy a few weeks back
named John. John is the man. He has been working super hard to stay
worthy and be a leader for his family. He received the priesthood 2 weeks
ago, which was sweet! He was ordained a priest. This weekend he had
the opportunity to baptize his two sons! It's was incredible. He was
stressed about doing the baptisms, but he did it perfectly.  It was so
spiritual to see the love that he had for his boys as he baptized
them. It's was amazing. Then I had the opportunity to confirm one of
the boys and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was really cool.
Blessings are he best. I love having the opportunity to give blessings
and use my priesthood.

I got to speak to my family yesterday for Mother's Day. It was so
great! I love my mom so much!!

Quote of the week, "Forgiveness is the very reason God sent His Son,
so let us rejoice in His offering to heal us all. The Savior’s
Atonement is not just for those who need to repent; it is also for
those who need to forgive. If you are having trouble forgiving another
person or even yourself, ask God to help you. Forgiveness is a
glorious, healing principle. We do not need to be a victim twice. We
can forgive." -Elder Kevin R. Duncan

I love you all! I hope all is great! Happy belated Mother's Day!

-Elder Toph Tribe

It was a great week!

It was a great week as a missionary!

We had the opportunity to go to a Nigerian party this week. We have a gentleman in one of our wards who is from Nigeria. He goes to a aeronautics school in Prescott. Apparently there are quite a few individuals in his same situation. He invites us to his home for what he claimed was going to be a small birthday get together. We went. This apartment was full of people! We met 35 different individuals, and more kept coming! It was really fun though because we were the only people there not from Nigeria. The accents and stories were fun to hear. He invited us to try to proselyte to his friends. We did our best. We had no initial success, but hopefully something will come of it eventually.

If you recall my last email, I mentioned that my mission was going to receive a visit from Elder Holland. Well his plane got delayed 3 times, and we didn't get to meet or hear from him. This wasn't all bad though because we still got to meet and hear from Elder Lynn G. Robbins! He spoke to us on the importance of gospel truths. He taught us of the importance that repentance plays in the life of the oppressor, while forgiveness places the same role of utilizing the Atonement of Jesus Christ in the life of the victim. This was great because it applied directly to one of our investigators. Plus it's always great to learn and have the Spirit bare witness of the truth of messages to me.

This week I had a really great opportunity that I wasn't expecting. I got to bless a baby in sacrament meeting this past Sunday. Our recent convert, Beth Ann, who I got to baptize asked if she could get her baby blessed after seeing another baby get blessed. We informed her that she definitely could. Her baby is 11 months old and adorable. She then asked if I would be willing to do it. It was incredible. The eternal perspective that comes is amazing. I've never given a blessing with so much of the future in mind. The Spirit was so strong. I was able to think so clearly exactly what I needed to say. I know that Priesthood blessings come from and are directed by God.

Ethan and Damon are still ready to go for their baptism this Saturday! We are so excited!! It's so great to see how this has all worked out. Their mom was excited about it and has invited all her family. This is incredible because so often in missionary work it doesn't happen that way. God has touched and blessed this situation so much. John, our recent convert and the boy's father, has been helping us teach them. It's so great to hear his testimony and excitement going forward to be able to baptize his children.

This week I have been sharing with many people President Monson's conference address entitled "Choices". This is my favorite paragraph from that address, "As we contemplate the decisions we make in our lives each day--whether to make this choice or that choice--if we choose Christ, we will have made the correct choice." It's so important that we follow the Saviors example to the best of our ability. As we do so, we will be blessed beyond our comprehension.

I love you all! Have a dandy week!

-Elder Toph Tribe