Conference is Coming!

Well everything here is going great. We weren't able to have our baptism on Saturday. The person that was supposed to get baptized ended up smoking 1 cigarette on Friday. So she wasn't able to get baptized. So that was a little disappointing. But we went to temple square with two of our investigators, Angelica and Silvia, and Angelica is preparing to be baptized this weekend. We're still hoping that Silvia will be baptized this weekend too. They're sisters so it would be pretty sweet to see them get baptized together. Then we talked with another kid who agreed to be baptized next weekend. He's had a pretty rough life. He's been in some gangs and stuff but he has a desire to change. So we're helping him with that.

Sunday was the first time that the Granger 2nd branch met together in the new chapel. It was kind of crazy. Nobody really knew where things were. But it was a good beginning. Everybody is pretty excited about it. It's tough for some of the members just because it's like splitting up family, but there will be more growth now. And more people will stay active because they'll have callings. One of the families I baptized last year was at church and told me they're going to be getting their temple recommend interviews done pretty soon and enter into the temple. I'm pretty excited about that. The Lopez family, who I baptized a year ago and sang to mom for her birthday, are in the middle of their temple prep classes and will be getting sealed in late May or early June. I'm hoping that they'll be able to do it in May. It's exciting to be able to see the families I baptized still active in the church and a little sad seeing the ones that aren't. Which I guess is the reason I'm here. To help more people come to Christ and to help those I baptized return.

I'm really excited for general conference this weekend. I can't wait. Tomorrow we're going to go do temple service again. It's crazy it'll be my last time. But it's all good. I only have tickets to the Sunday P.M. session of conference. So hopefully we'll be able to find some more tickets. We don't even have enough to give to investigators. But either way I'm excited for it.  I love this gospel and I love being a missionary in the work of the Lord. There's nothing better.

March Madness, Utah Salt Lake City Mission Style

Well everything here is going well. Sunday at church President Winn came because they split the branch I'm serving in. I'm no longer in the Granger 10th branch, but in the Granger 2nd branch. It'll be good. I look forward to baptizing like crazy. It's amazing how well the mission is doing - 295 baptisms in February. We were able to have a baptism on Saturday for Brenda. She's the girl that I told y'all about last week. She's 11-years-old and she's deaf. It's kind of sad because her parents don't really give her the care/ schooling she needs. But she's an amazing kid. We should be having another baptism this weekend too. A person who just needs to quit smoking and then she can be baptized. So hopefully she'll be able to give up that addiction and follow the example of Jesus Christ. I have been able to see some of the people that I worked with a year ago which has been pretty sweet. I'm working on reactivating one of them. And some people that never got baptized,  hopefully I'll be able to help them get baptized. I did see the Lopez family yesterday. They're planning on getting sealed in the temple either in May or June. I'm hoping that they do it in June while I'm still on the mission. It would be great. So things are going well here I don't really know what else to say. March and April have been tough on me both times during the mission. It's that dang March Madness. Luckily everybody keeps us updated on how things are going. Well I can't wait to keep seeing miracles and to keep working hard. I'm excited for general conference coming up, even though I haven't received any tickets yet. I can't wait to hear the messages from the leaders of the church.

Happy Birthday to Me

Thanks for the birthday cards and for the birthday cake and ice cream. We got a call from the bishop saying somebody wanted to drop something off at our house and I was kind of confused. But then I got the surprise.

Well everything here is going great. Monday and Tuesday I went around saying bye to investigators and members and converts. Most people were surprised that I was leaving so soon. So was I. But anyways, I'll be going back and visiting the people there. I can't believe I'm down to my 2nd to last transfer. I now have like 11 weeks left. It's crazy. I'm kind of scared to go back home I want to stay a missionary. But I guess it has to come to an end sometime. So Wednesday at transfers I found out that I was getting transferred to the Granger West stake, the Granger 10th branch out in West Valley. It's in the same area I served in last year. And I'm living next door to President Kendall, which is where I lived last year. They're related to the Harris's. I'm excited to have the same success here that I was able to have last year. The baptism they had planned for this weekend fell through so we were hoping for a miracle baptism. Friday night we find out that the Sisters in the other part of the stake were having a miracle baptism for an investigator that moved from another area, and that his cousin had been waiting to get baptized but never wanted to do it alone. His cousin lived in our part of the stake, so we were able to have that miracle baptism. Her name is Wendy. We're going to start to teach her parents tonight who are also interested in learning more about the church. Then this weekend we will be having a baptism that was supposed to happen last week. It's for a little girl named Brenda. She's deaf so it makes the lessons interesting. We have to use an interpreter that knows sign language. We're working on getting this area back to being overloaded with investigators. In two weeks they will be splitting the branch. So I don't really know what will be happening with that. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Oh yeah and my new companion is Elder Zambrano. He's been out for 4 transfers now. He was trained by my last companion Elder Byrd. He's originally from Ecuador, but came out from his mission from Magnolia, Texas. So things are going pretty well here. I'm just trying to work hard and not slack off. Even though it's kind of hard not to think about home when I have to figure out everything with school, and housing, and summer jobs. Speaking of which, I applied to be a counselor and got invited back for an interview. I guess I'll have to do the interview when I get off of my mission, if I understood your e-mail right. I got a pretty scary phone call on Thursday from the mission office. They called and said "are you flying home or are your parents going to be driving and picking you up?" I didn't know what to say. I was so shocked. So I'll probably be getting an itinerary in a week or two. I can't believe it. Oh yeah and I had a pretty good birthday I guess. I didn't really do to much. I guess I've just been lost in the work and trying to stay busy.

Advice from the Elders

Everything here is going great. I guess the biggest news is that on Wednesday we had interviews with President Winn. In it he talked to me about how for my last two transfers he's going to put me back down in the valley. So I'll probably get transferred this Wednesday. The plan is to have me train again for my last transfer. He asked me if there was a particular place that I wanted to go, which I didn't have any. I figure I'll go where I'm supposed to go. I did ask if I could serve around Elder Hiatt or Elder Morris though. Then midway through the interview he realized that there weren't any new spanish missionaries coming in on the April transfer, which will be my last one. So hopefully he'll keep me here a little longer. We've been able to see so many miracles this past week. We have a copy of the consent form for getting the kid baptized. We're still waiting on the parents to humble themselves and pick a date. Then on Thursday we received a referral and checked it. The dad opened up the door and started talking to us and he said that his daughters wanted to ge baptized so they had their friend send a referral, and they had another friend send another one just in case the first one didn't work. He also wants to start coming back to church. We'll be going back to visit them next week. They're down in Vegas getting married and all that stuff. And it turns out the mom might not be a member. So we're excited about them. As we were leaving their house a man pulled up in a truck and motioned for us to come over. So we walked over and started talking to him. He told us that he has a friend that's been reading the Book of Mormon and is sincerely considering baptism. But he had a bad experience with missionaries in the past so he doesn't want to be taught by us. So hopefully we'll be able to get him baptized pretty soon as well. Then a week ago we tracted into a house with a less-active mom and a non-member dad and a kid. So we set up an appointment to go talk with the mom and dad. Come to find out the kid isn't baptized either. But the dad doesn't want them taught in their home. So we get a call the day before the appointment from the mom cancelling our first appointment. As she's talking she mentions "you know, it's a weird coincidence. The day y'all knocked my door, my son came home from a band trip and said 'mom I want to start going back to church.'" So he had been taught by the missionaries before, but the dad wanted him to wait until he was older to decide to be baptized. Well it's been a few years and the kid is now older and is leaning towards baptism.

This week we also taught the young women in one of the wards for their mutual activity. It was kind of weird. I can't even talk to girls any more. I guess that's a good sign? But it went well, there wasn't much participation though. Yesterday we had lunch with the young womens leader who has been helping us with one of our investigators, Kayla. So we went over there after church and talked with Sister Adams and her husband and Kayla, just chatting. And one of the laurels came over that is Kayla's friend and Sister Adams told her to ask us for relationship advice about a boy she likes that is going on a mission. Naturally I deferred to Elder Byrd because I don't have any experience with girls. So I let him take that question. We came up with a plan for her. So that was pretty fun. Then at the end when we had to leave Kayla said that she wanted to start meeting with us more often. So that was sweet. It's been an amazing week.

So a little fun story for y'all. Saturday was prom here. And it is A LOT different than back home. They go out on an all day date starting in the morning, then go home get ready, go out to dinner, then go to their prom. They only have junior prom here, not senior. They have Senior ball. Anyways what they do for prom is have them walk out with their escort, introduce each of them and who their parents are, then do a choreographed dance that they've learned for the past two weeks before school starts, then have a dance with their mom/dad. And then it's pretty much over. So it's more of a community event here. But it's what they've grown up with, so to each his own I guess.

Oh and for the month of February the zone had 27 baptisms and 26 confirmations, which beats the Wyoming zone record. This weekend we had 9 baptisms and 10 confirmations and have 38 people on date as a zone. So we're doing pretty well. And as a mission we finished with 283 baptisms for the month, which is also a record. And there were 86 baptisms and confirmations that weekend. Another record.