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

Story time

"Oh Elders I invited my friend over to listen in. I hope that is
alright." This was one of the miracles that we were able to see this
week. But the story starts far before this event occurred. It started
when we knocked on the door of a member that no one really knew. We
found a 17 year old boy answering the door. He is a member, just
hasn't been to church in years. We got him to start coming and coming out with
us to make visits and teach lessons. We started to get better
acquainted with the rest of his family. We found a mom who works
Sunday's. His brother, he is 16 and not baptized. Another brother who
is 13 and is baptized, but hasn't been able to become a deacon. Well
the 16 year old brother is slightly autistic. We received permission
this week to teach and baptize him, because he wants to be. We
committed the whole family to coming to church this week, and they all
came!! It was incredible! The 16 year old is now on date to be
baptized on the 6th of August!! We were going over Sunday evening and
this is when the mom so sweetly said the quote I wrote above. She
invited her non member friend to listen to our lesson with her son.
She was interested and accepted a Book of Mormon. She actually lives
in our area, and we are going to begin to meet with her too! She just
so happened to be looking for a church when her friend gave her the
suggestion to come hear what we have to say. Miracles do happen! We
had been praying for more people to be able to teach and they were so
lovingly placed in our path.

One of my favorite people is Doris our investigator. She's the
sweetest lady you could ever meet. This week she told us that she is
going to make us some fried chicken that would put KFC to shame. I'm
pretty excited! She loves the church and claims that we are all such
beautiful people. She just needs to give up smoking and she will be
baptized! I'm so excited for her!

I love serving here in the La Pradera Park Ward. It might be
ridiculously hot biking around, but I love every second of it. I love
being here and serving these amazing people!

This week we had a meeting with our mission president. We talked about
the importance of stopping and pondering. He told us that too often in
life he failed to stop. He failed to really evaluate where he was. He
told us that life can overwhelm and consume our entire mind. We need
to stop and evaluate where we are in all aspects of our lives
regularly. If we fail to do this, we won't be able to achieve near as
much as we could've. This really hit me hard. It helped open my eyes
to see why as missionaries they encourage us to set weekly goals to
improve ourselves. We are to reflect, at least weekly, on our lives
and see what can be better. We need to see how we can better ourselves
to accomplish not only what we want to, but what God needs us to. It's
also made me really be contemplative with my goal setting and
planning. It means a whole lot more to me now and it's a practice I am
going to take with me my whole life.

I love you all and hope all is phenomenal! :)

-Elder Toph Tribe

Birthday!

Well let's start off with my birthday. Today is my 21st birthday! We
started off the day with studies. I love studying the gospel, so I
couldn't think of a better way to start off my morning. Then we played
a game of kickball with the zone. It was a ton of fun! It was hot, but
totally worth it for the good times. We then had a surprise visit from
one of my favorite families! The Reeds drove down from Prescott Valley
to visit me on my birthday. It was so much fun to be able to see them
again and play with those crazy little kids! Tonight we have multiple
lessons with new families that we met just last night. I can't think
of a better way to end my birthday than introducing the gospel to new
people!

We had an individual get baptized this week! It was crazy how it all
worked out. He showed up at our church, and so we started teaching
him. He was dating a member of our ward. He was living in California
and started listening to the missionary lessons there. He came to AZ
and wanted to be baptized. He's an incredible guy with a strong
testimony of the gospel already. This past week he moved in to another
ward. He was still able to be baptized on Saturday, which was such a
great experience for him and all involved. We were sad that he won't
be in our ward, but we are so happy for his decision to be baptized.

Sometimes I get to this point of my email and I just sit back and
think what to write next, and I draw a blank. So if you ever want to
know more, feel free to ask me.

I read an amazing talk this week called "Finishers Wanted" by
President Monson. One of my favorite quotes was this, "Vision without
effort is daydreaming, effort without vision is drudgery; but vision,
coupled with effort, will obtain the prize." It is so motivating for
me to make sure that I have my goals and desires in my sights. Then it
helps me be motivated to get out and actually make it happen. It
sounds simple, but it can make a world of difference. It's all about
having vision and then putting forth the effort to make it happen.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Toph 

Lesson learned

When life gives you lemons, use them to cure your upset stomach. This
was Elder Katz and my motto this week. Both of us, at different times,
had some really bad stomach problems. This wasn't the funnest
experience, but we worked through it. We also found out that lemons
are an excellent way to cure an upset stomach. A squirt of lemon juice
in water and you're good to go!

I had a crazy experience this week. I shared this experience with one
of the priests in the ward. He's 17 and quiet. He doesn't enjoy social
interactions very much. It's been a process to get him willing to even
come out with us. We initially took him by asking his parents, and they
shoved him out the door. Now he accepts our invitations to come, which
is great! This week this young man and I were out together. We went to
an apartment complex in a less pleasant end of town where we had a
lesson. We started to hear yelling. Then we realized that a man was
yelling at us. He yelled very profane things and then threatened us.
This went on as we walked toward  this apartment complex for a few
minutes. His threatening were getting more and more unnerving. We kept
walking and completely ignored him. At the end of the night this
priest said something cool to me. He said that even though there were
some scary things, he knew the Lord was going to keep us safe. As a
missionary, I feel that the Lord does protect us. He keeps us safe. It
was so neat that this young man was able to feel that.
We go out quite a bit with the priests in this ward, which I love.
It's so wonderful to be able to watch them grow as missionaries. They
are going to be so prepared for their opportunity to be able to go out
as full time missionaries. It's an opportunity that I wish I would've
taken advantage of before my mission. I'm glad that we can help these
young men though!

Our investigators are dropping like flies. It's sad to see so many of
these individuals that Elder Katz and I have grown to love, shy away
from the gospel. Then a lot of the rest seem to be moving. Right now
we have 2 people who are activity progressing towards baptism. We have
Donna and Doris. Donna is getting married to the man she lives with
soon. We are waiting on the wedding and then she'll be baptized. She
so sweet. She is one of the kindest people I've met. Her significant
other is the same. His name is Michael and he was baptized a few
months ago. Doris is the lady who called us seeking a ride to church.
She is now just trying to overcome some addictions and she will be
good to go! She loves the gospel. She's an individual who understands
when the Spirit is present in a situation. It's so neat to discuss
with her.

This week we had transfers. Elder Katz and I are still together. This
transfer day was a little hectic. It seemed like everything that could
go wrong, did go wrong. We ended up driving almost everyone who was
getting transferred because all the member rides cancelled last
minute. The mom van definitely came in handy. Then we were running
around trying to organize and help everyone out. We didn't end up
getting back to our area to work until 5 and the transfer meeting
ended at 12. Kind of crazy. All problems were able to be resolved. All
is well once again in the Glendale zone.

Here is my spiritual 2¢ for the week:
2 Nephi 15:20 Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that
put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter!
I feel that our world and our society is headed towards the days where
this is the common consensus. We need to stand our ground and stay on
the Lord's side. We need to hold in our hearts what we know to be good
as the Lord has shown us. As we do so, we will find true happiness.

I love you all! Have a great week!!

-Elder Toph Tribe

Staying where I am this transfer

So continuation of the story last week! The lady who called for a ride
to church came again! She asked us when she can be baptized!! She is
now on date to be baptized on the 16th of July.  If all works out, we
will have 3 baptisms on that day!

4th of July. It was a blast! A missionary in our zone finished his
mission and went home that morning. We have his companion with us from
then until Wednesday when he'll get his new companion. We taught
lessons and talked to people all day, and spent time with the family
we live with all evening. Lots of board games and having fun!

We were able to do lots of service this week. We utilized the website
JustServe.org to find community service projects in our area. We
helped out a organization called Hope For Hunger. There, we boxed
fresh fruits and veggies for low income families to come and get. We
also helped at a place called Maggie's Place. It is a women's shelter.
We were able to go and help them with their yard work. I love the
scripture Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may
learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of
your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." When ever
I get to serve others, I feel the love of God. It's a beautiful thing!

Thank you all for being so great! I love you all! Have a dandy week!!

-Elder Toph Tribe


Left is Devin, the RM we live with. Then Shane in the middle, he is Devin's friend who is here daily. Then Mason on the right, he just graduated and he comes and studies with us to prep for his mission.