Miracle fellowshipper and getting excited for the Gilbert Temple

Weekly Email

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MA!!!! I hope you have a great day today. Love you!
So this week was another good one, full of a ton of stuff, really busy. We had interviews with President Nattress this week, which was super awesome. Those happen about very 10 weeks or so. It was great to sit down with him and talk. He is so understanding and caring, you feel like he really loves you when you talk with him. So that was a great experience. We had two really good lessons with T--- and his family and they came to church again and loved it. We had a miracle happen yesterday with them that was amazing. We needed a ride to the lesson, which was in between our two wards, one ends at 11am and the next starts at 2pm. So I stood up in elders quorum right after the lesson to ask if there was anyone available to give us a ride and sit in on the lesson, if they would like to. Brother B volunteered, I had never met him before, he had only seen T--- but was excited to go to the lesson. At the lesson Elder Davis and I just wanted to answer questions they may have had and talk about prayer, just a quick visit. But it turned out that Brother B and his wife, who also came along, were one T---'s next door neighbors, and also in the exact same situation as T--- and A---- are in. Both have been married before, both have kids the same age, both had a ex spouse that is strongly against the church, and Brother B just recently reconverted, about a year ago. It was amazing, they related so well and gave advice and counsel that we could never give. Elder Davis and I hardly spoke at all actually, that's how it should be, haha. It was so cool, we couldn't have found better fellowship if we researched the ward for hours, haha. We also have been teaching S----- and her three children. the youngest, M------ who is about 15, came to church. First time he had ever been to church his whole life, so he was a bit confused, but he really liked it. We really want him to get involved and we think he will be the 'in' for the rest of the family. We have been going by and teaching a ton of less actives, which I love. One that we have been working with is Sister C------- who actually grew up in Brazil until she was a teenager, her parents moved their for work or something. She knows Portuguese, which is really awesome, she has been giving me a lot of pointers. We worked again in Sister S---------'s garden and mowed Sister L-----'s grass, I love to get out of church clothes and get dirty, haha, plus help them out any way we can.

Gilbert Arizona Temple

We are going to be doing this really neat finding idea that President Nattress and the stake presidents came up with. We are going to have the members invite their friends to have the missionaries give a 15 minute presentation about the Gilbert Temple. The mission gave us a DVD which has 4 videos about temples, they are all mormon messages, I think. So we will play one of those, answer questions, ask if they would like to know more, then get out the door. The idea is to have a powerful spiritual experience, then have then wanting for more, plus they will be able to see the temple soon, it opens January 18, 2014. It will be an awesome missionary tool, I kinda hope I'm around for it, haha, that would mean I'm here for 6 months or more though. (It will be a hard adjustment when he leaves for Brazil! His heart is where ever he serves, as it should be.) I hope you guys have had a good week, especially Ma, hope you have a good bday.
Love you guys!!!

love,

Elder Mountain

 

Crazy van that caught his attention :)

 

16 lessons in 1 week!!!!

Weekly email

This week has been awesome!!! We taught the most this week than I ever have before, 16 lessons!! Elder Davis and I have a goal of 21 in a week, or 3 a day, we totally are going to get it this week. T--- and his family are doing amazing. We had three lessons with them this week which is so awesome, they are progressing so quickly. They had us over for dinner one night and they made the best burgers I have ever had in my life. Seriously so good. Made them out of ground beef like Sloan, so tasty. They also gave us some elk jerky and sausage, T--- is a hunter, that is some really good stuff too. They all came to church and they really enjoyed it. They said the church they went to years ago wasn't too friendly but the ward did an awesomeeee job at introducing themselves and making them feel welcomed. It went better than we could have dreamed. We had a quick lesson with them in the evening right after church and he said 'Okay, I want to a member of this church, what do I have to do to be baptized and be sealed to my wife in that temple down the road?". If that isn't golden I don't know what is, haha. (golden means a dream investigator that is so ready for baptism) It is amazing how the Lord prepares people. We are going to extend a date to him on Tuesday, we are thinking about the 9th of November. Man I love them. We met with J---'s parents this morning, he is still good for the 9th for his baptism. His father is catholic and his mother is Buddhist, I believe, so an interesting back ground. But they have expressed that they have seen a positive change in J---'s life since has been coming to church and they fully support him. The meeting this morning was mainly about what is expected of them for the baptism but we really have hopes to start teaching them. One of our ward's (he & his companion cover 2 wards/congregations!) had a fall festival on Saturday and one of the families we have been working with, S----- and her 3 kids were there. They have a lot of friends in the ward and one of them invited them to church, which was so awesome. They weren't able to make it but they also have a ton of potential. We taught them most of the first lesson right there at the fall festival which was interesting, haha but it went well. We are still working with our neighbors. They work a lot but we have been able to catch them home here and there. Our next goal for them is to get them to church. Our wards have given us a ton of less active members to visit, which has been great. We have set up a time with them to go through the lessons as 'practice' for us once a week. We have three or four families now where its set every week. It's great to teach and great for them to feel the spirit. I hope you guys are doing well. I love and miss you. I wish I could've been at the wedding. (his uncle got married this past weekend) Have any pictures of it? Sounds like the Hutchens crew joking around like that, haha I love them. I love you guys!!!

love,

Elder Mountain

Busy with the work in Gilbert, Arizona!!

Weekly email


Man another week gone, time sure is flying. This was a great week, we had a lot of success finding and teaching. We are getting to know our neighbors really well, their names are Cory and Ariel. They have been really open with us and super friendly. We have been going back and forth dropping off cookies at each other's door. It was super funny, they dropped off some cookies with a poem on it saying they probably aren't as good as the Relief Society (womens organization at church) but enjoy, haha. It's funny everyone knows all the Mormon lingo down here. Last night we had a great lesson with them, and introduced another neighbor (Bro Hurvey) who is super great at missionary work. He was awesome, they are all about the same age (25ish), they both just graduated college and just had their first child (they are just a few weeks apart). So they have a ton in common and got along great. It was awesome to see. We shared a simple message about Christ and about hope. Cory and Ariel have gone though some tough experiences but they have an amazing hope for building a strong family. They are awesome. Our investigator Todd is doing awesome. He didn't make it to church because he had to work but he is awesome and absolutely full of questions, which is so nice. Normally we gotta pry the questions and concerns out, haha. Last lesson he said, "man I'd be baptized if i could see these gold plates", our next lesson probably will be about faith, haha. Our investigator Joey was at church, he is doing well, he is good to go for baptism. He is really excited to be baptized. We had some great oym's (open your mouth) this week. One I especially remember was with a Presbyterian minister. At first he was kinda stand offish and wasn't interested but we focused on Christ and the bible, he was interested and almost surprised. He thought we only read the Book of Mormon, I'm pretty sure. It was really cool, we got him to see we are one fellow christian talking to another. I wasn't able to attend Alfonso's baptism unfortunately. The baptism was before church, and we had a meeting with the stake president (leader of multiple congregations) at that time. I'm sure it was great. I am super excited for him. I really hope I can see him again some day. As far as I know, Jose is still good to go for baptism as well, hopefully I can make it to that one. Our lesson with Jordan (the less active we oym'ed on the street) went super well. He says if all goes well he wants to go on a mission, which was so awesome. He is 21 so he for sure has time. We talked about 2 Nephi 4 a lot, which is an amazing chapter about repentance and forgiveness. It's one of my new favorites. We have been doing a ton of service this week. We mowed a lawn, picked a ton of weeds, trimmed a tree, and cleaned out a garage. I really enjoy doing service, get in some regular clothes and work outside. It really builds strong relationships as well. I hope you guys have a super week. Thanks so much for the package Rae, I sure love your notes and letters and the gum! Thanks Ali for the nice picture of me and Solo, I hung that up soon as I got it. Tell the Larues howdy for me. 
Love you guys!!! 

2 Nephi 4:35

"Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, mine rock and mine everlasting God. Amen."

love,

Elder Mountain

Elder Davis, Elder Mountain and a ward member from Mesa, AZ.

Where will you serve?

We sure love and miss this missionary right here!!!

Biking in a new area & loving conference!

Weekly Email

Hey everyone!!! Sorry for the late email be have a bit of a different schedule in the new zone. We had transfers this week, I am now in Mesa, English speaking. My new companion is Elder Davis, he is from Draper Utah and has been out about 10 months. We have a tiny, tiny area, we cover two wards (congregations) which is about the size of 4 or 5 neighborhoods here, haha. It's crazy. So we are on bikes of course but im happy about that, its fun to bike around. 'Real missionaries bike' as they say down here, haha. The area unfortunately is kind of dead. Elder Davis had only been here for 6 weeks so he is still learning the area as well. We have seen some progress already though. We got in with two young couples in our apartment complex who are going to ASU and they seem to have a ton of potential. That was super exciting. We have one investigator on date in November, he is a teenager about 17 years old, we watched conference on Sunday with him and with his member fellowship. He and my companion both actually have mild forms of autism, so they relate to one another perfectly. You would never know it about my companion, but he says it was worse when he was a kid. He really is a great guy. Really different from Elder Macfarlane personality wise but we have gotten along really well already. It was kind of a hectic week overall moving places and getting used to the area but I'm settling in. I am really excited to serve here. I miss the spanish ward a lot, it's really tough leaving an area, but they are in good hands with elder macfarlane and his two new companions. I am really excited I will be able to go to Alfonso's and possibly Jose's baptism. Thanks for all the pictures you guys sent me, I'm gonna have to print a few out. Thanks for taking the truck out, don't be bashful about giving it a wax ;) I have a bunch of Rae's drawings and notes she has sent me on my desk area, they are so nice to see. Looks like Solo is sure growing up, I hope he had a great birthday. Conference was so awesome. All of the sessions, the Saturday evening I think was my favorite. I loved the talk about meekness from Elder Soares, and the one about exclamation points from the member of the seventy with the wavy hair I can't remember his name, haha. They sure talked a lot about missionary work and preserving the family. President Monson's talk about his wife was very powerful also. It's really amazing we have the chance to hear from them, to hear from modern day King Benjamin or Abinadi. I sure love you guys. I have two letters in the mail that should be there any day. My new address is 4776 East Guadalupe Road, apartment #2088, Mesa Arizona 85209. Sounds like the corn maze was sure fun, can't believe you guys did a haunted house, haha.

 Love you!!!
Elder Mountain

 I find it wonderfully amazing that Nate is serving with an autistic companion! He spent months in 11th grade working with a Special Olympics baseball team and one of his closest friends is a player on that team. Nate sees the best in all people but to him those in this life with any type of limit or restriction to their abilities are truly some of the choicest Spirits. As we have recently went to the corn maze, I am reminded of 3 years ago when we went as a family. When exiting the hayride we heard someone calling Nate's name, we then spotted many of the members of the team he helped coach. The joy they had on their faces to see Nate and to watch him interact with them left his father and I in tears. He fully embraces charity, the true love of Christ. I never was quite sure who was happier to see who that night, the group of players or Nate...

New companion, Elder Davis :)



LOVE to see that smile!!