Happy FATHER'S Day - Monday, June 16, 2014

Hey Fam! 

Things are going great in Tucson! Just one thing before my email...... 

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!

Sorry I didn't get to skype home for Sunday! But Dad is the best dad in town! Hope you know how much I appreciate you dad! I look to you for an example on most everything! I hope I am as a good a father as you are! Love ya dad!

Anyways, back tot he email... This week was pretty slow, cuz most all of our appointments fell through. It sucks biking 45 minutes to find nobody home! Oh well, it's good cardio! It also gives us more time to find more investigators. One day this week we went into a park where a lot of hobos live, and we got threatened to be shot cuz they thought we were cops!!! That freaked us out! So we got out of there pretty quick! This week we also blitzed our area! The Zone Leaders came and we went on a mini exchange to do that. I went with Elder Gosper, and we knocked on a few houses, and then this lady came out and was like "OH COME IN! PLEASE! Come in!" She was so happy to see us! She told us to sit down and make ourselves comfortable! We were a bit shocked, and didn't know if we should go in or not because this was pretty rare.. We went in anyways, and it turns out she and her husband are just really nice people and like to talk to everyone! We shared the message of the Restoration, and the spirit was really strong. It was an awesome lesson! Sometimes in missionary work, you will either find the elect, or the elect will find you. So that was great! Now we just need to stay on top of them.

I feel like all o our investigators are falling through our fingers. Central ward is a very unique ward. It's the highest baptizing ward in the mission, but has the lowest retention rate. So the area needs some tender loving, especially the members. Anyways, this Sunday, a returned missionary gave his homecoming talk. He served in Ecuador. One of his friends told us that she didn't think he changed at all from before his mission. So I was anxious to see how his talk went. He had a very simple testimony. Shared some experiences from his mission, and closed. A very generic talk. However, he Spirit was so incredibly strong in that talk. It has always been my worst fear to return from my mission and be the same person, and have the same personality. But the truth is, I don't think our personalities change a whole lot when we return, but what changes is our hearts and our desires. We are still the same person, but our desire to do good and to serve God increase substantially. I have focused a lot on changing myself and my personality. Yeah, there are things you learn on the mission that make you choose better choices, but our main focus in rooting our testimonies in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot change who we are, but we can recognize who we are. We are each children of God with unique talents and attributes, strengths and weaknesses. Once we have a true understanding of this, who we want to become falls into place. Our mission motto is "choose to become". I hope we all do that as Children of God! Love all of you have a great week!