Still No Rain

I would like to start out with a quote that I heard this week from a sister in the visitors center that touched my heart. - "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved" - Sister Cambell

 

When she said this to a family of our investigators I was stunned, I am not sure if she made that up or if she heard that from someone else, but that is an amazing phrase that we should all take to heart. I know that no matter how much we fight with someone, or no matter how badly we were offended by something said or done, that we need to move past that problem, that we need to show love and forgiveness to them all, just like the savior did.

 

Just to update you all, I have been here in AZ for a while now... and STILL haven't seen rain. Everyone I say this to tells me that there are monsoon storms coming soon, but I still havent seen them. I thought that yesterday we were going to have some rain because the sky was kind of dark and gloomy and there were a couple of clouds. If we see clouds in Oregon we almost can guarantee rain, but here it is completely different. The clouds lie! I hope to see some rain storms soon though because I really miss that wet stuff. The weather here has been consistent to say the least. 112 seems to be the temperature every day for the past week or so. Just to give you and Idea of how hot it gets, Elder Brown came outside one day last week and we hopped on our bikes, he let out a little scream and I looked over to see that his bike grips were all slimy and gross. Then later on the same day I went to pull the chapstick out of my pocket and when I opened the cap all of it poured out like a liquid...good thing it didnt pour out in my pocket! It is hot here, but the hottest month is July (so I'm told)

 

One more thing about Arizona, One of the first pieces of advice that I was given was to NEVER leave my towel on the ground, because if I did then scorpions would be attracted to it and that is bad! So this past week I realized that I still hadn't seen one of these creatures, so what did I do? I put my wet towel on the floor all night just to make sure that I would see one of the little guys. I woke up the next morning and I went over to my towel, lifted it up extremely cautiously and... no scorpions... I still have yet to see one of them as well. I guess its a good thing that they can't get into the house, but I better see one in the next two years or else!

 

The work here is going great! We have about 12 baptisms that will go through by the end of July, but none that are coming up this week. The investigators we have right now have a bunch of problems with the word of wisdom and those are tough things to deal with. They have to be clean for a certain amount of time before their baptism and that is why it is going to take longer to actually get them ready than we originally thought. i am excited for the rest of this transfer, we are in week 3 of 6 already and it is going by so fast because of how hard we are working. One thing that I read online about missions before I came out on my mission was some advice about writing home to your family, it said to NEVER lie to make yourself sound like you are doing better than you are. Just know that I am telling you all about how I feel with complete honesty. Elder Brown and I are working hard, he still doest know the area too well and I am having to do most of the planning, but this is good experience for me that will be valuable later on in the mission. His teaching is kind of different, he came from an area of mesa that has some wealthy people in it, so he is used to teaching at a more sophisticated level with bigger words and terms that cannot be used in this area. I have been working with him about these things and we are getting along great which helps when we go to give each other feedback. I know that he is working the hardest that he can, I am not bagging on him at all, he is a great missionary and I am having an awesome time with him. I will keep pushing him because my goal for these next 2 transfers is to send him home saying "those were the best 2 transfers of my whole mission."

 

Side note #1 - I saw a guy sleeping on a park bench on main st. so I decided that I would give him a pass along card. I got the experience on video and I got a picture. I will try to send both home! It was soooo funny! (he was drooling pretty bad and I'm pretty sure he was drunk and passed out)

 

(mom don't read) Side note #2 - I was street contacting someone the other day and he said to me, " you better get outta here before I shoot you" I looked down and he had a handgun in his belt/groin area (he was a true gangsta). I had never seen that before and I dont see how someone can just walk around with that and not be caught. Anyway I continued to talk with him, not because Im dumb, but because I knew he was just acting tough. eventually I left after he started cussing me out though. Not to worry though.

 

There have been a couple of scriptures that have been on my mind lately as I read them over and over again so I would like to share them with everyone. There is one in 3 Nephi 12:8 that says "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" - this scripture is written on the wall inside the temple here and when I saw it i asked myself a question, "when?" It clearly states that the pure in heart WILL see god, but doesnt say when, could be on earth or could be after, we dont know, but this has caused me to think a lot about it! The other scripture is Alma 26:12 - this is how I have felt this past week or so, I won't quote the scripture, but go look it up and you will understand!

 

Several changes in the things that I enjoy are happening, I have come to find out that every spare minute that I have at night I am reading, for those who knew me back home I would do anything to get out of reading, i would buy the books on tape or just look at sparknotes to get by, but now I am reading Jesus The Christ and I really enjoy reading. Also I have taken an interest in poetry, yeah this is weird, but one day I was sitting in church wondering how I could express my feelings, so I decided to try it out. I am not very good, but I am working on some stuff that means a lot to me. Another thing that a lot of people were aware of back home that I was the pickiest eater ever! Now I am not saying that I am liking everything that i eat here, but I will tell you that I have not refused to eat anything out here, shrimp and fish were some things that I have tried. The shrimp still had a head because it was part of a thai food dinner. I always eat whats on the plate, I just hope nothing too extreme comes my way.

 

I have bee strengthening my testimony every day out here. I love what I do and I wish that I could just record my whole time here so that you all could see. One thing that I have learned here is that if I want to talk to God, I can just pray, but if I want God to talk to me I have to read the scriptures and the words that it contains will speak to me. The Book of Mormon is amazing, as I read it I become a better missionary and person. As all of you study the scriptures you can strengthen your testimony too! Try it!

 

Love

 

Elder Thomas