13. Gilbert AZ

7 October 2013

All righty then everyone. I have a lot of things to tell and a lot of questions to answer and not enough time to do it in. We'll start with the Weekly Recap.

Monday- After the Pday festivities which included Elder P's debit card getting stolen at Walmart right before we were gonna withdraw MY funds that I had on there... The thief made a transaction of $84 and then $11 in just 20 minutes. He works fast! Funny enough I had exactly $95 on his card of my own funds. To sum up the story-$95 dollars was stolen from me that was in the care of someone else's card, and then that Elder (Elder P) got transferred to the complete other side of the mission..... yay. We gotta figure that out!  [This is complicated, I will try to explain the best I can.  Missionaries are given a debit card by their Mission Office as their expenses are paid through a Church account.  These accounts are set up ahead of time,  Cooper has a Brazilian Bank debit card- which does not work in Arizona.  So, apparently not knowing how long he was actually going to be in Arizona- instead of going to the trouble to get him his own debit card, the Mission Office puts his monthly "allowance" on his companion's debit card.  Since they are always together it hasn't really been a big deal.  (Cooper also has a personal debit card with him should he run in to any true emergencies.)  Anyway, it looks like Cooper may not have received part of his October allowance due to the stolen debit card, but I am sure the Mission Office will work it all out for him.]

That night we also taught an investigator named J and her two kids. They were introduced to us by one of my most favorite families here, The P's (I believe she was the first to contact you when I got here mom... she is one of my three moms out here!) Anywho, we had a good lesson with her.

Tuesday- WAS CRAZY. In one of the wards, every Tuesday night about 10-15 members of the wards get to together, pair up and just go do visits. Amazing. I went with a brother who brought me to the C Family. They are a less active family that we had visited just once before. When we were there, there was rap music playing and a kid getting a tattoo on the dining room table.  We were always a little scared to go back. But  I went with this Brother (who has known them for 8 years) so she spilled all the beans about whats really going on with the family. We built a really good relationship and we are really trying to help her. She's having a really hard time. How do the missionaries get involved between members and the bishop sometimes I just don't know. But I'm glad I was there, she is really struggling. The Relief Society President and I are going over there tonight. (She's also one of my moms).

Wednesday- We had transfer meeting and were informed that the ipads will becoming "very soon". Maybe this transfer? I got my first boy [missionary slang for junior companion?], His name his Elder H from Georgia. He's a great and a very smart Elder. I'm so glad to be with him, we are going to shock the zone by being very diligent in the work. We are stoked and fired up.

We taught another investigator named W. He's probably one of the MOST interesting people I have ever met. Elder P and I street contacted him in the pouring rain. We were at a crosswalk and he was standing there with an umbrella dressed in a full out tux. This is his everyday attire. He talks with a British type accent. He has long luscious hair and a nice trimmed goatee that he rubs. Hes from Mexico... yeah interesting right? In our lesson he had soooo many difficult questions for us. He is very familiar with the Bible and has clearly studied MANY things and pondered about the truths in this world. He has already read over half the Book of Mormon... He's a project.

Thursday- We were back at Bobbi's for servce. We cleaned out a pen of poop and dumped it all in her front yard... she asked us to.

We stopped by my most favorite family the B Family and we got a referral from them.

On Friday we had dinner with a less active family that went on for 3 hours!!!!! It is NOT supposed to be that long but it was a really good time and we really strengthened their testimonies.  Hopefully we can bring them back. They sure do love us.

Saturday and Sunday were really devoted on GeneralConference. This was the most attentive I've ever been that's for sure, but I watched from the eyes of an investigator, seeing which talks really stood out to me. President Uchtdorf's "Come, Join with Us" was a killer talk that I wish all my investigators could see. [The transcript of President Uchtdorf's talk is not up yet, I will try to remember to update the link in a couple of days.  When it gets published it may be called something different.  Audio and video of his talk are available on the General Conference link in this paragraph.)

There were so many talks about the Hastening of the Work. I sure hope it was enough to spark the new missionary age. THAT MEANS ALL OF YOU NEED TO GET YOU BUTTS IN ACTION TOO :)

Elder Ballard's, Dube's amd Gifford's were all spot on! What an exciting time to be a missionary!

J attended the last session of conference with the P family at the Stake Center with us.  We went back to the P's house afterwards and taught her the second lesson. I really don't know whats going to be the result of all this but I hope it leads to baptism.

Cooper and his new companion Elder H.

I love and miss you all!

[I came home from work today and found I had a postcard from Cooper as well.  It was a good day. I loved the content of this card- I can hear his "voice" and humor as I read it.  And his enthusiasm for bringing people to greater joy and happiness just jumps off the page.]

Hey Mom

I thought I would write to you seeing as I know you probably cherish my letters home and scrapbook them or something.  :)  My email will probably include a lot of what I am about to say but I am afraid I need to come home.  KIDDING!  (Hope I didn't scare you too bad.:))  ... We had a very inspirational Ward Mission Leader training last night and I am so FIRED UP right now!  We literally don't have enough time to do everything I want to get done.  Good problem though... I want to make a statement for our mission- that a greenie (me at six weeks) and a greenie (Elder H at one day) can work our butts off.   I think Elder H and I have what it takes.  We are about to go all out! Stay tuned.  Love you.