WELCOME ELDER ZAYAS!!!

This week we welcomed Elder Carlos Zayas to !Lo Mejor Mision en el Mundo! (The Best Mission in the World!)  !Bienvenidos!

Waiting at the airport were Elder Bruegger, Braden, Elder Bird and President Taylor.  (Sister Taylor was at a medical appointment with another elder)

 Elder Zayas was scheduled to arrive two weeks ago with the rest of the transfer, but due to VISA problems, he could not come to the MTC until two weeks late so he arrived here with us late.

Elder Zayas studied English in the MTC.  He is from Formosa, Argentina and has a beautiful Argentine accent that I am just loving.  He will be teaching the Gospel here in English as well.
I promise, his English will far surpass my Spanish in a few months!


He was so happy to finally get here!









President introduced him to his trainer, Elder Bird, and to Elder Bruegger who will be with them in the companionship for almost 2 weeks before he has another assignment.









We took Elder Zayas to the Mission Office first, to meet the staff there and fill out paperwork, then on to the Mission Home where we took photos, did orienting, had lunch and more orienting.

I was thrilled with the chance to speak Spanish with someone for more than a few minutes.  It was like "the blind leading the more enlightened" but so very fun for me to train a bit in Spanish!

 Here is the fearless trio...
Elders Bruegger, Zayas and Bird!!!

One more signature on the Mission Flag...SO GLAD IT IS ELDER ZAYAS!!!

WELCOME TO THE #1 MISSION IN THE WORLD!

My New Hat

This may seem like a self-serving post but it is to honor Elder Smith.
Elder Travis Smith was one of the most giving missionaries ever!  When I saw that he was making hats for other missionaries and got excited about it, he offered to crochet one for me.

I got him some yarn and when he left to go home, he gave me this hat.  Isn't it cute?
He did not like the color(because he is a GUY).  But look how perfect it is with my purple coat (that I may not ever wear here in AZ) and with the cute flower I found that matches perfectly.
I will think of Elder Smith every time I wear this hat!!!  THANK YOU ELDER SMITH!!! WE MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU!

Some May Visits

We have a few more visits to report on for May.

First we had a really fun visit from the family of a missionary we do not even know yet!  The King family were down in the area for a family event and brought down Elder Spencer Kings bicycle to the Mission Home.  We took advantage of this to meet Mom, Dad, Sister, Cousin and Niece.

They were so great to visit with, we learned a lot about Elder King...all good...and cannot wait to meet him in person!

 Our son Braden loved their license plate...being the big BYU fan that he is.  It is on a dark blue SUV so it really is perfect!


THANK YOU KING FAMILY for stopping by to see us!

 Next we had the Halligans stop in while touring the mission with Mason.  Oh how good it was to see him again!  Our home was filled with laughter.  The folks were so fun to meet...helps us see why he was such a wonderful missionary!


We hope it is not the last time they are here in the Mission Home!!

Last, I got to go out with Sisters Pousima and Anderson today and it was a ball!  We taught three families, all who are progressing line upon line.  I do not have amazing Spanish, but I just love being out and trying.  And I love seeing my girls in action!
They are full of love and faith!

Oh how we love this work!
Try it.  You will love it too!

ELDERS NEGATIVE NED & POSITIVE PETE

One of the things that our Assistants look forward to is playing a part in a skit at trainings...they are always asking me...is there a skit?



So, I try to come up with something fun to prove a point.

Hence the two new missionaries in our mission...Elders Negative Ned and Positive Pete, who proved many points in the virtue of living the daily schedule obediently and in choosing to be positive no matter the circumstance!

Love those rose-colored glasses, Elders!

We appreciate all of the hard work that goes into being a missionary!
Keep your chins up and LAUGH EVERY DAY!!!
"Men are that they might have joy"

Zone Conference May 24, 2012- Deer Valley-Glendale N. /Phx. N./ Prescott/ Cottonwood

 CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT!
We met our final day of Zone Conference in the Deer Valley Stake Center.  It was the final day of a great conference series!
It was a day of instruction and practice.  A day of learning, growth and revelation.

Besides the health presentation and skit (see other day posts) we had a couple of guest speakers in the morning session.

President Weathersby came to speak and told a great story and message for us.

 President Gassaway joined us yet again to share his testimony of temple work and missionary work as he oversees the construction of the Phoenix Temple.  He brought his family with him today and that was really fun to meet some of them!

 We had a couple of great musical numbers.
Our mission has a great tradition of being wonderful singers!

 They brought the Spirit so strongly into our meeting!  I loved seeing several of our brand new missionaries singing.  I knew they could because they sang in the Mission Home!

 We also had a couple of zones with matching tie colors. This always entertains me!  The color of the day was GREEN!

We love mealtime!  They eat and socialize and build each other up.  Braden joined us again today and just hopped right in with the missionaries!

 After lunch we had our traditional thank-you songs that we know and love...

 ...we celebrated a bunch of birthdays from March to May...

 Then we were back in the chapel for skills training.
We had two sets of zone leaders lead out in the training.
Elders Brame and Nelson ...

 ...and McBride and Hastings.
They are competent and teach with power!

 Sister Williams and I played investigators for the sister missionaries in break out sessions.

 Practice teaching is a powerful tool in how we learn to teach what we know!

President Taylor taught many great principles and led discussions to inspire and motivate our missionaries to find, teach and invite!


It was a wonderful day and wonderful week of conferences in the #1 Mission in the World!

Zone Conference May 23, 2012- Phoenix/ Phoenix S./ W. Maricopa/ Glendale

 PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PICTURES OF THIS EVENT!
Second day of Zone Conferences!  We met in the West Maricopa Stake Center with 4 zones today.

We had the health presentation with introductory skit by the Assistants...Elder Negative Ned and Elder Positive Pete.  They helped introduce the topic of sleep patterns and stress...big issues with missionaries.

We learned that all things are Spiritual in nature and that WE CAN CHOOSE OUR ATTITUDES!

 We had great guest speakers like President Waldron from West Maricopa Stake, and President Gassaway from Buckeye, who is project director over the Phoenix Temple, which is under construction.

 Lunch time is a favorite time to socialize with missionary friends and enjoy a great meal prepared by the stake or ward of the hosting stake.

 We love to sing!  We had our traditional "Army of Helaman" thank you song...

...and our Mission Fight Song!

 We celebrated March-May birthdays, quite a crew!

We had beautiful musical numbers...

 ...and even a sick zone leader :(  Sorry Elder A. Johnson!  No fun to be sick on any day, let alone a zone conference day!

Braden joined us for the afternoon and even though he was not sick, he liked the nap idea!!!


It was a great day with these zones!  We all learned how to implement the Doctrine of Christ into our own lives and how to help others come unto that same joy that we receive through living what we know!

Zone Conference May 2012- Peoria/ Surprise/Buckeye-Goodyear

PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PICTURES OF THIS EVENT! 

We had ZONE CONFERENCES this week!
We love these days with all our missionaries so much!

It is a chance to teach and train...that all things relate to things spiritual, whether about health or whatever!

 Our Assistants  helped with a very funny skit to introduce the topic of "Rest and Stress Management" which is a huge need for any missionary!  Meet Elders Negative Ned and Positive Pete!!!


We learned how to "See the world through rose- colored glasses" and that we can CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY!

We had three zones for this conference and they were in tune and fully participated in the conference session.

 President Taylor led discussions and trainings on several inspirational subjects in the chapel throughout the day.  He loves being with the missionaries and they love him!

 ...and invited President Gassaway from Buckeye to come share his testimony and experience of being project director for the currently under construction PHOENIX TEMPLE.  He shared a wonderful testimony of missionary work and temple work and how they relate.

Lunch is always a highlight at any gathering and this was no exception.

 The menu was Chinese today, and very fun!  Here are the fortunes from President Taylor and my fortune cookies...we hope they both come true   in dynamic missiony sorts of ways :)
Wait!  Both are totally being fulfilled!  We are in the middle of a bold and dashing adventure filled with a wealth of blessings!!!

 After lunch we sang to the members who prepared the meal for us...

...we celebrated March-May birthdays...

and we had everyone sign Braden's Atizona flag since he will be returning back to Provo for part of his senior year to care for our home there with our daughter at BYU.  He will be missed a lot by all the mission...and we will experience the joy of skype-parenting for awhile.


GREAT DAY OF CONFERENCE!!!

New Assistant: Elder Alvis

 There is nothing as constant as CHANGE and such it is in the Mission.

This transfer found us training a new assistant.
This means we had three assistants helping us just for that day so it was fun to get the traditional "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" picture with them at the airport as we awaited the arriving missionaries!
(Elders Barrett, Alvis and Bird)


The next day at transfers, we had all three helping out.  Elder Alvis and Bird stayed in the Trainer/Trainee Meeting while Elder Bird helped out at Leadership.
Elder Bird has moved on to serve the mission preparing to be a trainer and we THANK HIM FOR HIS LOVING SERVICE for the past 6 months.  He is one of the most loving and humble people we know.

We WELCOME Elder Collin Alvis as a new Assistant along with Elder Tye Barrett.  They are a great team already!  They both love the Lord, love the missionaries in our mission and want to serve with all their hearts, might, mind and will!


We love them so much and appreciate the patience they have with us.  It was a busy week of planning and preparing and DOING, DOING, DOING...a real initiation for Elder Alvis, but he was a superstar and just jumped right in!

The Lord prepares and qualifies whom he calls!
We look forward to serving alongside these great missionaries!