COMPLETING A FAMILY

 If you would have told us two months ago that we would be attending Ed's baptism, we would have been skeptical.

But it is not up to us.  Thankfully.

The Lord had Ed and his family in mind, and with Ed's faithful attendance to Church each week since Dana's baptism two months ago, he has learned and grown and had a lot of faith.

 Elders Starr and Tucker finished teaching Ed the lessons and joined us for celebrating this special night...and you can see we were all wearing "Gameday Green" in honor of Braden's football team who were playing during the baptism.

Ed & Dana's kids joined us for the baptism or Open House.  It was great to see them again as well.  We have become friends with them over the months we have known this family.

It was also really neat to have Dee & Jim Cherry at the baptism.  Dee used to be in our office at the Mission, and we realized she and Dana were old friends.  About 5 years ago, she gave Dana a Book of Mormon, not knowing she was part of the journey!

 

Elder King, newly called to serve in our Mission Presidency as Secretary, gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and got the grandkids and daughter-in-law (to be) involved in holding up signs.

It was great fun!

 Afterwards we went to the Janulis home for an Open House and it was so fun to visit and see them with their grandkids and friends.  Huge support from the ward for the baptism!

Dana with baby Lyla.

Ed & Elder King chatting at the house.

We love this family so much, they are dear friends and neighbors and we know we were supposed to  be there for each other.

MUSIC SPECIALIZED TRAINING 9/12

 We had been wanting to do this training for a LONG TIME...talked about it, dreamed about it, and finally realized it!

The idea was to get all our pianists and several musically interested people from each zone to come together to:

Be taught about using APPROPRIATE MUSIC for meetings.

Be taught how to correctly CONDUCT MUSIC.

Share IDEAS for musical numbers & teaching with music.

Practice our MISSION SONG.

Have this information taught to the entire zone by MUSIC SPECIALISTS in each zone.

Sister Greenwood from Apache Park ward came to teach conducting.  She was PERFECT!  The missionaries loved it and she had them all conducting beautifully!

 We had discussions on appropriate music for meetings, how to put together musical numbers, ideas on teaching new members the music of the Church etc.

Sister King shared a personal story of how her husband used the words to a Primary song to basically keep himself alive after a massive heart attack while hiking the Grand Canyon.
"Heavenly Father, Are you really there?
And do you hear and answer every child's prayer?
Some say that Heaven is far away,
But I feel it close around me as I pray."

MUSIC INVITES THE SPIRIT AND  HOLDS GREAT POWER!

President Taylor had been hooked up with an amazing piano artist that lives here locally, when he is not on tour!

PLEASE CHECK OUT: william-joseph.com
and here's a link to audio of three of his songs ("Come Thou Font" was one of several he played for us): william-joseph.com/discography/

We were blessed today to learn how the gift of music can touch lives, bring the Spirit, and even save lives.

"For the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me."

It is great seeing wonderful LDS artists that are using their talents to reach out and bring peace to others.

WONDERFUL TRAINING!!
THANK YOU WILLIAM JOSEPH!

We look forward to more interactions with him down the road!

Youth Missionary Devotionals

One of the things that President Taylor and I get to do is speak to the youth about missionary work.  Sometimes we speak on Mission Preparation but mostly we help the youth with their skills at BEING MISSIONARIES NOW!

This week we had two devotionals!  On Sunday we met in our own ward's building for the two other wards that meet there.  We did our own ward separately.

We talk to them about gaining their own testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the restored Church, about the questions that friends may have about our religion, about tools we have available that can help us in sharing our beliefs, and then...

...we ROLE PLAY!
They sometimes roll their eyes when President Taylor suggests that we are going to role play, but it ends up being SO FUN!

We have made a list of all the things that they can think of that they could invite someone to attend with them...weekly youth activities,
scouts, camps, dances, church, a baptism etc. etc.

Then they work it into a conversation with their friend.  They pair up and practice, then switch and take turns.
Once you have practiced doing this, you know you can do it for real!  IT ISN'T THAT HARD!

 

 Wednesday we went up to Prescott Valley to do a youth devotional for their weekly youth activity.

We got to hear some of our elders sing in the choir number CALLED TO SERVE!  Then we had them sing the mission verse with President and I.  Good times!







There were really a good number of youth in attendance.  We were impressed!

The Church is alive and well in Arizona!

As we practiced, we could feel the confidence grow that WE KNOW ENOUGH to share!












One of our big take-aways is that the Gospel brings us such HAPPINESS that we just have to share it.  We cannot keep it to ourselves!


God knows and loves us, Christ lived and died for us so that we can repent/change our lives to become more like him, enjoy the blessings of the ordinances of the Gospel such as baptism, the sacrament and the temple.  We receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost to guide us and we try to follow the commandments throughout our lives as we ENJOY TO THE END!

We LOVE the potential the youth have for good in this world!

Back out — con las Hermanas!

Translation: con las Hermanas = with the Sisters
It had been a while since I made time to get out with Sisters and  I really missed it!  We have been just too busy!
I got to go out teaching with Hermanas Folsom and Holmes. What was really cool was that it was only 1 week exactly from when Hermana Holmes arrived here!  And how amazing to be out with her and hear her praying and speaking in Spanish!  These two are wonderful together!
When our first appointment fell through, we went to a neighbor and prayed with them.  It works!  They have an appointment to come back!
Our next lesson was great as well.  I got to share how I feel about the law of marriage, and the blessings that come when we obey the commandments and when we read the scriptures daily.  Those blessings are manifest not only spiritually, but temporally as well!
! Que todos vayan con Dios y obedezcan a los mandamientos!
May we all obey the commandments of God and may He be with us!

SEPTEMBER VISITORS

I went to add this photo to our August visitors and realized...IT IS SEPTEMBER ALREADY!

We started off the month with a visit from our returned missionary Zack McCook.  He was over for a baptism of a former investigator and brought his Dad for a visit to the Mission Home.

Zack is doing great, in school studying film production and still happy and strong in the Gospel!
Thanks for the visit Zack!  We love you so much!

 This first week, we also had a visit from the parents of one of our September Incoming Missionaries!  We love meeting parents, and it is really fun to meet them before we even meet the missionary...sort of a preview!
Let's just say we know we will love Elder Starr so much because we already love his parents!

We had the best visit, felt just like family to us!
So much so that we put them to work in our Mission Family!  They joined us in setting up tables for the Leadership Meeting that was being held the next day!

Mom Starr...


Dad Starr...

So happy to help out!

We had our Assistants come help set up and then grabbed two more sets of missionaries who were finishing up some correlation meetings at the building.  It made quick work in setting up the gym!
Thanks Starr family for jumping right in and becoming part of our mission!

This next picture was not at the Mission Home, but one we took from our hotel in Dallas over last week's Mission President Seminar in Dallas!  We were able to meet up with Sister Bailey and her folks!
It was so special to see her and meet them.  They are an incredible family and Sister Bailey is doing so much good serving in her ward back home now.  We love seeing our returned missionaries in action, and this was really special!



We had special friends from "THE DESERET NEWS" stop by when they were down covering a Utah/ASU football game last weekend.  So fun to see Brad and Dirk again!  It was great to talk news and talk mission.

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO SEE US!

TRANSFERS 9/12

 PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT

BIGGEST TRANSFER EVER!  Starting with the Trainer/Trainee meeting and 24 new companionships!!  It was like the Virginia Reel with all 24 incoming missionaries on the left and all 24 trainer missionaries on the right!

 Then you see the process of putting them into companionships and the magic begins.  They are automatic friends; some having more in common than others, but all having the desire to share the love they have for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We had a wonderful training meeting with them and then got ready to have them come into the chapel as we all sang "Called To Serve."

It is like magic!

 The line of new missionaries and trainers just kept coming and coming and coming through the song!

 They made about a full choir!

And when we looked at the audience of other missionaries involved in the transfer, it was a pretty large group...maybe 2/3 of our mission?

 After an incredible meeting, we all got to the business of moving stuff and people to their new locations...not without some fun involved.

Missionaries are the happiest group of people you will ever meet!  They just love doing whatever it is that needs to be done.
My life will never be the same after having been around them so much!  And I am saying that is a GOOD THING!

 We got all sorts of random groups of people together for pictures.  Please check out the link at the top for the rest of the photos!


WE LOVE TRANSFER DAY!
Change is hard, but makes us grow.  And we get to witness growth in miraculous ways all the time as we serve the Lord!  We would not trade this experience for anything!

Incoming MIssionaries September 2012

PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR ALL PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT!

WELCOME NEW MISSIONARIES!

We had our biggest transfer to date this week...24 amazing new missionaries joined the # 1 MISSION IN THE WORLD!!!

 We waited for them to all come off of the flight...

 ...and grouped them together for a photo before going down to get our luggage before we got in trouble with the airport for not retrieving our luggage in a timely manner.

They were excited to be here and just so eager to begin this phase of missionary service.

We had a huge line of missionaries and luggage waiting out on the curb for the transfer van and trailer.

It took that, our vehicle, the Assistants truck and two office couples to get everyone on their way.









At the office, we had them meet all the office couples and fill out their paperwork.  The staff had rearranged all the furniture to make it work.

Before we went to the mission home,  we stopped at the Phoenix Temple construction site.  This past week the spire was lifted onto the frame and it now looks like a temple so it is inSPIREing!!!

 Here are our new missionaries...hope I can remember all those names: Front: Elders Moala, Larsen, Rigby, Weiler and Cardwell.  Middle:  Sisters Taylor, Vallejo, Macy, Holmes, Greenwood, Scott, & Young, Elder Maynes. Back:  President Taylor, Elders Bolinger, Maxey, Stevens, Hicks, Goldsberry, Davies, J Johnson, Severe, MacLeod, Starr, Jackson & Wainwright.  WHEW!

 The few, the brave, eating lunch out on the patio at 102 degrees!  Not bad for AZ.

 The long promised NAPTIME!  They were sacked out all over the house!  We moved out some furniture to make this transfer work.

 Then we had stations all over the house as well for vehicle and bike training videos, signing the mission flag and quilt blocks, writing letters home, and cooking in the kitchen.  We made 3 large breakfast casseroles and prepared the rest of our taco salad for dinner.

 After dinner we had the rest of the orientation along with singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ELDER LARSEN!  It was his birthday on his very first day in the mission!  How cool is that?


After that we had a Get To Know You time sharing things about all of us before it was time to head to bed.

The morning of transfers, we all got up and went on a huge group run/walk!  It was like the Army of Helaman out there!  Beautiful day in Arizona!



"Called to Serve in Phoenix Arizona, teach the people, take them by the hand into the Living Waters!"