November 25, 2013

Dear family,

 

It's has been quite the eventful week here in the mission field.  We had a mission tour with Elder Bruce D. Porter.  It was a great meeting.  He talked to us for about two hours about the doctrine of Jesus Christ.  He talked about each part of the gospel and what it really means to us.  

We also had stake conference and Elder S. Gifford Nielson spoke.  He was so fun to listen to, and he really likes his exclamation points!  The adult session on Saturday night was all about missionary work and President and Sister Nattress also spoke at that session.  Elder Nielson talked about how this is a historic time in the church and about how it's our time.  They talked about so many different things and I hope that it helped excite everyone in our area about missionary work.  In the general session of stake conference they talked about the temple and they president of the Mesa temple spoke.  

It also rained for the first time in the past two months or so.  Now that's it cooler I'm glad it only happens every couple months.

 

We have a couple of great potentials that we have appointments set up with.  There is a young women who has come to youth conferences, girls camp and trek for a couple years and her dad just gave her permission to get baptized.  Her mother also wants to get baptized.  We also have another member who invited a friend to take the missionary lessons and they accepted.  Right now we are just showing as many members as we can this video presentation about the temple.  We hope that they will invite their friends over to see the presentation before they take them to the open house.

 

I was talking to a member the other day who had a son just leave on a mission to Washington D.C.  Before their son left I told him that if he ever met an Elder Hansen to see if he knows an Elder Gandy.  It turns out that his new companion Elder Tanner Hansen.  That was a fun connection to make!  I was also talking to another member in one of our wards who was friends with aunt Cayla in jr high school.  There are just a few random connections I've made with some of the members.

 

Thank you for all of your prayers!  Love you all so much!

 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

November 18, 2013

Dear Family,

 

It's been a great and busy week!  We had a baptism on Saturday.  The person being baptized was Dawn.  She became friends with this family in one of our wards and she just fit right into their family.  She started coming to church and she loved it.  She was excited every week to come to church.  We started teaching her when we stopped by one Sunday to talk to Sis. Johnson about one of her other friends that she invited to learn about the gospel, and Dawn just ended up being there when we stopped by.  Sis. Johnson told us later that that day when we stopped by she was wondering how she was going to invite Dawn to meet with missionaries and then when we came it was the perfect opportunity.  She has been very prepared to accept the gospel into her life.  The baptism went very well and some of her family was able to come.  I ended up singing I Feel My Savior's Love.  We were also able to get one of our investigators to come to the baptism.  This is a huge step for this investigator. 

 

This Sunday we sang the second verse of If the Savior Stood Beside Me in one of our wards primary program.  It went really well.  I never thought I would be part of a primary program again.  Another one of our investigators came to church and stayed for all three hours.  They have come before but left right after sacrament meeting.  They also came to a new member fireside which is for investigators, recent converts, and less actives.  There were a lot of exciting things that happened this week.

 

This next week is also going to be very exciting.  Elder Porter in the seventy is coming to do a mission tour on Thursday and Friday.  So we get to hear him speak for an hour or two.  The stake that I serve in, the Highland East stake, is having stake conference this weekend.  The presiding authority at the stake conference is going to be Elder S. Gifford Nielson.  He spoke in general conference last month.

 

It's amazing how our Heavenly Father knows us and wants to help us in all that we do.  With Holy Ghost we can be directed in this great work!  Thanks so much for all your prayers.  I love you all so much!

 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

November 11, 2013

Dear Family,

It's been another great week!  Yesterday was transfer calls, but I'm staying in the same area with Elder Gardner.  I'm excited to see what will happen this next transfer.  One of our investigators had her baptismal interview yesterday and she is already to be baptized this next Saturday.  She has been very prepared to accept the gospel.  I also found out that I'm going to be singing at her baptism.  So yes I am getting many chances to sing on my mission.  

We went on exchanges this week with Elder Whitecar since he is my district leader.  It was fun to be with my old companion for a day.  We also got the Ensign with all the conference talks and I'm excited to go back and read some of them.

It's amazing how our Heavenly Father helps us with everything.  One day this week we did not have a scheduled dinner appointment so we were just planning on eating at our apartment.  While we were riding around we ran into one of the members in one of our wards.  He asked if we were still planning on coming to dinner.  Somehow we had a dinner appointment that we didn't know about and we were in the right place at just the right time.  We also saw that when we stopped by to see an investigator and we got there just as he was coming out to wait for his ride.  So we got to talk to him for a couple minutes.  We were also having some scheduling conflicts for the baptism this Saturday, but everything worked out perfectly.  

It does not feel like November here.  It's strange to have the highs in the 70's and the 80's still and it's snowing in Utah.  

Thanks for all your prayers and support! Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

November 4, 2013

Dear Family,

 

It has been a busy week!  Last Tuesday was that extended zone conference that I was telling you about.  There were three zones there and they invited all the ward councils to attend.  It was really crowded because there were seven or eight stakes there.  I sang a solo at the beginning of the conference, and now everyone knows I sing.  The conference was all about the temple open house and the 15 minute video presentation that the missionaries want to show non members before they actually go to the open house.  The idea is to have the members invite their friends to their house for ice cream, a barbaque or some kind of get together and ask if they would be willing to watch a short video presentation by the missionaries while they are there.  This way they will feel the spirit of the temple before actually going to the temple.  Right now we are trying to get all the members excited and to invite their friends to watch the video presentation.

 

This week was also Halloween.  We had a mission conference from 11 to 4.  Most of the conference we were practicing the video presentation.  After the conference we had to be back to our apartment at 5.  Our zone got permission to go to a member's house and watch Ephriam's Rescue.  We had dinner there and they had a table full of candy and treats, so I got plenty of sweets this halloween.  It was a lot of fun to just spend time with our zone!

 

Yesterday we taught the last lesson to our investigator who is being baptized on November 16th!  She has been prepared to accept the gospel, and she is already seeing the blessings.  She wants to read the entire Book of Mormon before her baptism.  She is in Helaman right now so I think she is going to be able to do it.  

We also met with one of our investigators 6 times this week!  She is a single lady who currently doesn't have a job and wants us to come as often as we can.  Every time we read from the Book of Mormon she says that it is beautiful and she loves it.  She met with missionaries 10 or 15 years ago, but never read out of the Book of Mormon.  She is still a little hesitant to come to church, but she said she would come this week.

 

Thanks for all your prayers! I love you all so much!

 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy