Baptism!

We had a baptism this week! Philip was baptized! It was great and the
Ward came out in full support of him and this decision that he made.
He made a covenant with Heavenly Father and the Spirit was so strong.
It was a great opportunity to be able to teach him and watch him enter
into the waters of baptism.

No bed bugs this week! Such a blessing. We have setting up lessons at
members homes so we can avoid an incident like that again. Our members
have been a huge blessing to us in supporting the missionary work.

This week we got a surprise. Friday we got a call from our Mission
President informing us that our area is about to get bigger. Not only
did our ward boundaries grow, but we also got a new ward to proselyte
in. Kind of crazy. So we now cover two wards in 2 different stakes. We
cover the La Pradera Park Ward in the Glendale stake and the Manistee
Ranch Ward in the Phoenix stake. A lot of extra planning, but a lot
more area for success! I'm excited for this challenge my last month as
a missionary!!

A scripture that I love and have been pondering this week is Doctrine
and Covenants 58:42 "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same
is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more."
The Atonement of Jesus Christ is amazing. We can never fully
comprehend it, but we can definitely enjoy the magnitude of blessings
that are promised by it. I will be forever grateful for my Savior
Jesus Christ.

I love you all! Have a great week!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Philip is in the blue.

 

New companion and bed bugs

Elder Glanzer is my new companion! We are here in the La Pradera Park
Ward, loving life! Elder Glanzer is 6'4" as well, so we are totally
going to use basketball as a way of street contacting! Don't worry, I
am a 1/4 inch taller than him. I've been taller than all of my
companions. Elder Glanzer is the man though! We are going to have a
great 6 weeks together!

This week we had an encounter with bed bugs. We got in with an
investigator that we haven't been able to teach in a while. We were
super excited! We jumped in and just started to teach. As we got up to
leave, I notice something on Elder Glanzer's arm. We get out and
realize that we are covered in bed bugs!!! Thankfully we have awesome
members. Our members recently just got done fighting bed bugs, so they
had all the stuff to kill them and scare them off! They debugged us
and our van. Those creepy things leave you feeling all sorts of
violated.

We found a couple more new people this week. We have been watching our
investigators drop like crazy. It's sad, but they aren't ready to
progress in the gospel just yet. So we were super excited to find the
new people!

We are having a baptism this weekend for a man named Phillip! He's an
older gentleman, and super prepared for the gospel. A member invited
him to church and its been a miracle since then. Member missionary
work is the best missionary work!! Invite your friends, the worst
thing they can say is no. But just imagine how amazing it's going to
be when they say yes! The greatest thing in the world is watching the
Atonement of Jesus Christ taking place in someone's life.

We got to sit down with our recent convert, Will, and all of the
priests to help him prepare to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. We are
incredibly excited for him!

The ping pong battle has commenced. The Cathcarts, the members I live
with, have just gotten a ping pong table. Today for p-day, we played for 5
hours. It's so much fun! The Cathcart sons and some other YSA members
joined us for some epic ping ponging!

That's the update for the week! I love you all! Have a dandy week!!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Last transfer...

It's been a crazy week here in Glendale. Elder Katz, Elder Steenson,
and I have been having a fun time. I don't remember if I mentioned
this, but we have Elder Steenson with us. A missionary ended up going
home, so Elder Steenson has been our companion for the past 2 weeks.
We have been covering 3 wards.

The work is progressing! It's moving slowly currently, but it is
moving! We were able to find a new family to teach this week. We are
super excited for them! We have helped a couple of our investigators
move out. We are so sad to see them go, but it's been good to see them
progress and move to where they will be baptized. One needed to move
so she can be baptized. The others moved to go and get married where
they got a job.

We found out that Elder Katz is getting transferred this week. I'm
super bummed that he is going, but I'm sure I'll love my new
companion! Elder Katz and I came into this ward with 2 investigators.
We have currently have 12 investigators that are actively being
taught. We have found more and unfortunately had to drop them or they
moved out, but it's been so great to be able to watch this area grow.
I'll be staying here in La Pradera Park Ward for my last transfer.
It'll be interesting to see what happens to the ward though, because
the stake is going to have the boundaries reorganized this Sunday.

We currently have 3 investigators that have a baptismal date. Doris is
on date for the 24th of September. She's done smoking, but now she's
on patches to help her stay off. We are waiting until she is off of
those to baptize her. Sharletta is on date to be baptized on the 17th
of September. We are just praying she'll start to make coming to
church a habit, so she can be baptized. David is on date for the 24th
of September as well. He just needs to understand the gospel more.
It'll come with time. I'm so excited to be working with all of these
wonderful individuals!!

I love you all! I hope it's a great week for everyone!!

-Elder Toph Tribe

We had a baptism!

We had a baptism here in the La Pradera Park Ward! Will was baptized
this past Saturday. It went really well! It took 4 times, but he
finally was submerged in the water and washed clean. There were
individuals who attended the baptism who were not members of the
church. It was a great opportunity to talk about the importance of
following Jesus Christ exactly. It helped drive home the principle of
complete submersion and the opportunity to more fully explain that. I
love the beauty of the fact that as we go under the water, it
represents the laying down of our old sinful life. Then as we come out
of the water, it represents the rebirth in to our new life as a
disciple of Jesus Christ.

Doris made us home made, southern style fried chicken this week! Hands
down the best fried chicken I've ever had. She unfortunately smoked
this past week. Her baptism is now back to its original day of August
20th. I think that this was a good experience for Doris though. She
had the opportunity to make a mistake and fully repent of her actions.
She testified of the power of the Atonement she was able to feel and
her renewed conviction to follow Jesus Christ.

We had zone meeting this past week. This takes place the first Friday
of every month. This one was one of the most spiritual zone meetings
that I have had the pleasure of attending. As I've reflected on what
made it so spiritual, I realized that it was the preparation of
everyone attending. Those who lead discussions prepared like always,
but we made an added push for everyone to come prepared studying a
Christlike attribute. Everyone was ready to learn and discuss. It was
amazing the difference a little preparation and pondering can do.

I also had the opportunity to go to the temple this week. I love going
to the Phoenix Temple because I get to see lots of members from
previous areas that I've served in. It's always a great privilege to
be in the House of the Lord. I've made it a personal goal to go to the
temple as much as I possibly can. As a missionary, I don't have that
availability as much as I'd like, so that is something that is going
to be a major focus in my life when I go home.

Alright so here is a fun word to ponder for the week. The word is
equanimity. Sister Griffin, the wife of my mission president,
introduced this word to me. It's means to be calm and evenly tempered
in all situations. Jesus Christ was the master of being equanimous.
Sister Griffin further described it as an attribute that can only be
developed through faith, prayer, and meaningful meditation. We must be
willing to place all trust on God and His timing. When we can do this,
we can achieve a state of equanimity. This is why people can be at
peace even during the difficult times in life. This is something that
I want and am continually working on. A great scripture to think of
while thinking of this word is in the Book of Mormon. It is found in
the Book of Mosiah chapter 24. This is a story of a people who are
temporarily put in to bondage, or slavery, and how through equanimous
living they are freed by the hand of the Lord. The whole chapter is
great and explains the story well. Verses 9-16 highlight exactly what
they did to achieve equanimity in their trial.

I love you all! Have a great week!!

-Elder Toph Tribe

An elder went home early from our zone. He was one of the brand new
missionaries. We sent him off in Glendale style by having a photo
shoot in front of a tagged wall. It was fun!
Then pictures from zone meeting. It went really well

More from zone meeting. The older gentleman is President Juchau. He's
the second councilor in the mission presidency

It rained!

Hallelujah for the rain!!! It rained twice this past week and I
absolutely loved it! The temperature drops to the mid 90s and it feels
wonderful. I'm so thankful for rainy days!

"Doris, how are you feeling about quitting smoking next week so you
can be baptized in 3 weeks?"
"Well I haven't smoked yet today, so I think I'm just going to be done
now. Can I be baptized sooner?"
This amazing interaction happened this Friday. Doris is the best!
She's now getting baptized on the 13th, and we couldn't be happier for
her! She's making us home made fried chicken on Wednesday and I'm
stoked for that too! She is the sweetest lady.

"What did you guys do to me? I feel tingling from my head to my toes,
and I don't have a head ache any more! This is incredible! I just feel
so peaceful and happy!"
This was another investigator after he received his first Priesthood
blessing. He was feeling ill and giving us more excuses of why he
couldn't meet with us or come to church. We felt prompted to offer him a
blessing, and he accepted. It was a powerful experience for all of us.

"The law of chastity means that no one can go south of the border.
Like Mexico, but on my body." This is our investigator who is slightly
autistic that is getting baptized this Saturday. He's the man! He's
super pumped to be able to go to the temple with the rest of the
priest's after he gets baptized. We're so happy for him, and this
whole experience has gotten his family active in the church once
again!

As I have been studying this past little bit, a quote as really stuck
out to me. It's by Paul H. Dunn. He said, "this is the purpose of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, to control that which we have been born with.
That is the purpose of the Church and its programs. We need to learn
how to control that which God has given us."
Coming on a mission has taught me so much how to utilize and control
what God has given me. It's a pursuit of a life time to be able to
fully control ourselves. We must bring ourselves to full submission to
God's will. Christ did this. To be like Him should be our goal.
Gaining faith through study and church attendance, daily repentance,
partaking in sacred ordinances, and learning how God speaks to us is
our path to get there.

I love you all!

-Elder Toph Tribe