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 🤑

Transfer week...

Well this week is transfers. Both Elder Wilcox and I are getting
transferred out of this area. We went around and had quite a few sad
goodbyes to say. Elder Wilcox is asking a million questions about
getting transferred and going to a new area, because this is the first
time that he has been transferred. While it's going to be very sad to
leave this area, we both look forward to the adventures that are ahead
of us in our next areas.

We had interviews with our mission president this past week. President
Griffin is a wonderful mission president. I'm so grateful for the fact
that he'll be my mission president for my whole mission. In my
interview, we talked a lot about my area. We discussed the pros and
cons of taking both Elder Wilcox and myself out of the area. The
conclusion is evident in the fact that we're both leaving.

The thing that I'll always be glad for that I gained from this area is,
the love of the Book of Mormon that it inspired. This area presented
many trials and challenges. It tested my patience and my perseverance.
The Book of Mormon has helped me work through these. It has been my
support to lean on. It has brought me peace through the mentally hard
times. It's brought the Spirit greater into my life. I've learned how
to better recognize, understand, and follow the promptings that I
receive from the Holy Ghost. I'll be forever thankful for these
lessons and experiences.

President Griffin called this morning and told me where I'm going. I'm
going to the Prescott Valley Stake. I'm going to be taking over as the
lead zone leader. This zone covers the Prescott Valley and Prescott
Stakes. So I'll be in the same zone that I'm in now, just a different
stake. My companion will be Elder Hedrick. We came out together, so
that'll be fun! We are going to be in the Stoneridge and Dewey Wards.
I'm excited for that adventure! (Fun fact: My first companion, Elder
Burbank, started out in these wards that I'm going to.)

I love you all and hope all is great!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Miracles do happen...

Miracles do happen. This week we had an awesome experience. This
literally caused me to be awestruck. Elder Wilcox and I had been
getting frustrated that we can't seem to find someone who is willing
to listen to more than one lesson with us. We couldn't find someone who
wanted to learn about the gospel and progress towards baptism. This
was especially daunting because of the very real possibility that our
area could be getting shut down. It was clearly evident that we
couldn't do this on our own power, so we hit our knees. We prayed and
told Heavenly Father that we were willing to work as hard as we can to
just be able to find one new investigator who will be willing to
progress. We got up and went to work. We knocked doors, contacted
everyone we saw, and got rejected every time. I was determined though.
I knew that we were going to find someone. As we were making our way
back home, we noticed a car outside our neighbor's house that we'd
never seen. They were nice people, so we knocked on the door. They
invited us in to eat with them. The food was good, but the
conversation was better. Their granddaughter was over with her
boyfriend. We answered questions about the church and about
missionaries. She was very intrigued. She told us that she wants to
learn more and come to church. She also said her dad is looking for a
church to go to as well. She promised us that they would both be there
on Sunday. We left, went home, and hit our knees again. We thanked
Heavenly Father graciously for the miraculous blessing he gave us.
This was only the beginning though. The next day, we hit the streets
again. We felt the need to go visit a family that is on the ward
roster, but we've never seen them there. We called their home teacher
and asked if he could go with us to go meet them. He agreed. We got
there and they welcomed us in. As we talked to the single mother, a
daughter came out from the back room. Well it turns out that she is
over the age of 8 and not baptized. The mother said that she and her
daughter would be at church on Sunday as well. Yet again, we gave
thanks to Heavenly Father. It is amazing what prayer, faith, and hard
work can accomplish through the blessings of heaven.
Unfortunately they didn't come to church.... But this taught us to
stay humble and have faith in the Lord continually. Everyone has their
right to choose. We were still successful missionaries because we
invited them and allowed them to feel the Spirit. We can just pray
that we will be able to meet with them and they will be able to begin to
progress in the gospel.

"You Mormons aren't allowed to read any books that aren't written by
your church, huh?"
"Actually we can, and we are encouraged to. We believe in being well
educated and well read."
"No, no, no. Don't lie to me. I know your church."
....oh well thank you for telling me what my church believes....
This was a fun encounter I had while talking to a man on the street.
He wasn't interested in learning more about the gospel, but he did
provide some entertainment for the day.

"What if God is a woman?"
"What if God has a wife that He wants to keep safe by not allowing
acknowledgment of Her in scriptures? If you look at how many mock and
take God's name in vain, He would most certainly not want this to
happen to His wife."
"Hmmm. I've never thought of it that way."
This was a door contact of a guy who was trying to 'make us think
deeply about what truth is'. It was also pretty entertaining and was a
good conversation. He wasn't interested about learning more about the
gospel unfortunately.

This week will be Valentine's Day. Let us all remember who is the
source of all love this week as we celebrate.
1 John 4:7-9
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God
sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
him.

I love you all and pray that all is delightful!

-Elder Toph Tribe

This was a good week...

This week was a good week.

This week I went on exchanges with an Elder named Elder Bradshaw. I
lived with him in Peoria North and served with him for all 5ish months
that I was in Peoria. We had a way fun day! For morning exercise, we
decided after running that we needed a bit of stress relief. We found
some old metal chairs and took a sledge hammer to them. It was quite
enjoyable and was a great reminder that even though we may be
missionaries, we are still young men.

We had an amazing experience this week. We felt the overwhelming urge
to stop by the hospital to visit one of the non members we did service
for a while back. He's been in there for about a month. We stopped into his room and it turned out that they were pulling the plug on him
that day. His less active neighbor was there. We thought that this was
the reason we needed to go to the hospital. We were prompted however
to leave the hospital after only 5 minutes of talking to them and the
visitors in the room. We left. On our way out of the hospital we ran
into our branch president's wife. She told us that she needed us to
come with her and that she was so thankful that we were there. We went
into the ER with her. There sat one of the less active members of our
branch with a shattered wrist. He asked us for a blessing. We were
able to give him a blessing and he told us that because of this
experience, he now wants to come back to church. Then as we were able
to leave again, another less active family was in the ER. They didn't
want a blessing, but they were thankful for the offer and the
knowledge that we cared about them.
This definitely helped me realize that I need to continually be
listening to the Spirit. If we hadn't followed that prompting, those
experiences couldn't have happened for those less active members or
us.

The rest of the week was full of missionary work. We found some non
members who were not interested in the gospel. We did some service for
some less active members. It was just a solid week overall.

I love you all and hope all is grand!

-Elder Toph Tribe