It Was Worth It

I love working with the members of the church to find people to teach! This week has been a true example to me of how missionary work is supposed to be.

One of our Ward Mission Leaders said that he had a goal to invite one person each day to either hear the lessons from us, come to church or to go to the visitors center. He has been so successful in his efforts this week! We were able to teach a woman in his home that he works with and she was super receptive to the gospel! She has learned in the past and told us that she wants to be more committed this time around. Her name is Lindsey and she is awesome, the only problem is that she doesn't live in our ward boundaries, but she will be baptized, just not in our ward.

The Greer family also invited a woman to meet with us in their home and so we did. Her name is Terri and she goes to the "Central Christian" church here in Mesa. We taught her about the restoration of the gospel and then invited her to be baptized on July 9th! She accepted and then I found out that she lives in my last area! (Kimball East Stake). So I called Elder Scott yesterday and we are going to have a transition lesson tonight at the visitors center. I love working with the members here, they are so amazing!

Tuesday morning we had Zone Leader Council meeting and I really enjoyed it. President Ellsworth is a great man and truly knows what our mission needs. He announced with the help of his assistants that we would be having what is called a mini training blitz. It is basically where the whole mission goes on exchanges for a day (This coming Thursday the 16th) so that we can brush up our skills in a particular area of the work. This exchange is going to focus on planning. So this Thursday I will be going into someones area to help them better understand how to plan and then to help them work throughout the day! I am so excited!

I was able to go on exchanges with one of our district leaders this past Thursday as well! Elder Scott (not the same one as the one I trained) and Elder Brixey work the Spanish branch in the area and I was able to get on my bike again for the whole day and help them in their area. They are solid Elders and I learned from them as well! We have a great zone, I am just bummed because Elder Scott goes home in 2 weeks and I don't know if the elder coming in will be able to fill his shoes. I am learning more and more Spanish, I can understand a lot more than I can speak so I enjoyed listening and simply bearing my testimony when I could.

I had an interesting day today too... We were playing Racket ball this morning and I was running towards the front wall trying to catch up to the ball and hit it, but right after I hit the ball I hit the solid concrete wall. My foot hit first and then my knee and shoulder, it hurt so badly! After we returned home I tried to walk on it again and my foot started turning purple so I called the doctor and went in. He told me that it could either be a break or a ligament tear, he doesn't know exactly so he sent me in for some x-rays. If I get a call today it means that something in my foot is broken, but if I don't get a call then it isn't. I hope that it isn't and that I wont need a cast. he said that I probably wouldn't need any kind of surgery either so I was happy about that. I am in pain, but it was my fault. I will have you know though that I did score the point as I ran into the wall...so it was worth it!

Today we were also able to go out onto the Indian reservation and see the heritage of the Stoneburgs children! It was amazing! We saw a lot of neat exhibits and things that must have taken a lot of effort to build! They are an amazing family and love us a lot, I am so grateful for the life-long friends that I am making out here.

Well that was about the extent of my week. I hope to hear from some of you soon via USPS!

-Elder Thomas