April 28, 2014

Dear family,

 

It's has been a fantastic week!  We went to two expanded zone conferences.  They did almost the exact same thing at each zone conference, but I enjoyed each one and learned something new each time.  They showed clips from Elder Ballard's talk about following up and how important it is to follow up.  They also showed another clip about what a simple invite can do.  To help people know how to follow up they talked about using what they call a willing and brief invitation.   So you might say something like, "would you be willing to listen to a brief presentation about_______."  The presentation could really be about anything like the temple, family history, the Book of Mormon, ect.  We had a pretty busy week with the zone conferences and other events and appointments going on. 

 

We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to one of our investigators and the lesson went really well.  He is doing great and is still excited to join and have the priesthood in his home.  A week of two ago we met a part member family.  The father is less active and the mother and kids are not members.  We stopped by and invited them to church on Saturday and they ended up coming.  It was awesome to see after sacrament meeting several people came up and introduced themselves.  The non-member mother wasn't planning on staying for the whole time, but she ended up going to sunday school with two of their neighbors.  It's always exciting to see the members in the ward excited to introduce themselves and invite them to sit with them.

 

This week is transfers, but I'm staying in the same area.  I'm glad I get to stay for another transfer!

 

Thanks for all you prayers! I love you all!

 

Elder Joshua Gandy

April 21, 2014

Dear family,

 

It's been another great week!  We were able to do a lot of service this week.  We helped several people move and we also helped a non member pick the grapefruit off their grapefruit tree.  We also had one of the expanded zone conferences this week.  It was really amazing!  They had videos, recent converts speak, a chance for the members to role play, and showed how to invite people to meet with the missionaries.  The recent converts had some amazing stories of how they were invited to meet with the missionaries and how they were converted.  I'm excited for the two expanded zone conferences that are happening this week. 

 

It has been a great week with Easter.  You have probably seen the video on facebook already, but it's called Because of Him.  It was a video that the church put out this week for Easter.  It has been a great way for members to share it with their friends.  There is one member in the ward that as soon as she saw it she ran over to her non member friend's apartment and showed it to her friends.  I think she almost started knocking on doors to show it to people.  Missionary work is a really exciting work!  We were able to take another person to the Easter pageant this week and while we were there I saw someone we taught in my last area.  He was baptized at the end of March and you can tell he is so happy.  It was great to see him again!

 

So yesterday I was able to give a talk in church.  I'm grateful that I was able to study for the talk and learn more about the atonement.  I thought a lot about how we show our gratitude for the atonement.  One way is to share it with others.  Pres. Howard W. Hunter said, "Any time we experience the blessings of the Atonement in our lives, we cannot help but have a concern for the welfare of others..."  I also learned while preparing my talk how useful Preach My Gospel is when you give a talk.  It's an awesome resource!  I'm reminded of that everytime I read it.  That quote can be found on pg 13 of Preach My Gospel.

 

It's been a great week and we have a lot of things going on this week!  I'm excited for the lessons that we have set up and the potentials we have to visit. 

 

Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

 

Love,

 

Elder Joshua Gandy

 

P.S. How many wards do the missionaries in our ward cover?  Sometimes it can be hard to find things to do when you have a small area.  I would find out their names and include them in your prayers also.

Pictures from Gilbert

Helping with yard work.

On the way to a baptism.

April 7, 2014

Note from Gayleen:  If any of you would like to write about your conversion (even those of you who were "born in the church") Joshua would appreciate receiving them.  Please send them through regular mail so that he can have a hard copy.

Dear family,

 

Conference weekend is the best!  I love to hear the words of the Prophet and Apostles!  I'm so excited for the Ensign so we can read and reread the talks and to continue to learn from them.  I wish I could tell you all the things that I've learned, but unfortunately I don't have that great of a memory and I don't have my notes on me.  One thing I do remember is how important it is to love and serve everyone around us.  We should always try to be more Christlike because like Elder Holland said "Christ-like love can change the world."  It was also fun to have Gilbert mentioned a couple times in conference!

 

This week we taught Bro. P. again.  He is doing great!  He is excited to learn and find out for himself if the Book of Mormon is true.   We also taught a couple we're working  a couple times this week.  We always do some service in their yard and then we teach them.  The wife is starting to progress little by little.  I believe she has started reading the Book of Mormon before, but I don't think she has really gotten into it.  When we went over this week she actually had questions and was excited to find out more.  We have several other people that we're working with also.  We also found another potential investigator this week and it was another example of how when we follow the spirit we can be in the right place at the right time.  

 

We're having another expanded zone conference in a couple weeks.  We had one back in October and we invited all the ward councils.  This time we are inviting everyone, but especially the youth.  When Elder Anderson came in September he said we would find great success through the youth in our wards.

 

I'm learning so much every day. I'm so grateful for this chance to be a missionary especially at this exciting time.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

 

March 31, 2014

Dear family,

 

It has been a wonderful week!  We had the baptism I wrote about last week last Wednesday with the confirmation yesterday!  It's amazing how we find people at exactly the right time.  This was the perfect time for her to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The baptism went really well and I was able to sing the musical number ( I sang I am a Child of God) and Pres. Nattress was able to be there.  

We were also able to go to a baptism on Saturday for someone I taught in my last area.  It was fun to see him and other members in the ward.  Since my last area is only a couple miles away it made it easy to go.  There were about 8 or 9 family members there that were not members.  It's amazing to see the change in both of them as they have accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

I'm really excited for General conference!  I'll just be watching it from the stake center with the other missionaries in the stake.  Last general conference only a couple other people came to the church to watch it.  Hopefully we will have some investigators come to join us for a couple sessions.  

We will start going to the Gilbert temple in a couple transfers.  The Gilbert temple doesn't rent clothes so right now they don't have enough clothes for the missionaries.  They are working on a way that we can start going there soon.  We are not quite sure about the  iPads.  We are suppose to start using facebook before we get the iPads and that hasn't happened yet.  They are suppose to come really soon.  I think we are one of the next missions to get them.

 

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

 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

 

P.S. Mom, the chandelier in the Celestial room in the Gilbert temple was the most common thing people talked about after going to the open house.

March 24, 2014

Dear family,

 

It has been another great week here in Gilbert!  One of our investigators is all ready to be baptized this next week!  She is being baptized on Wednesday night which is also her birthday.  She is really excited to be baptized.  Whenever we meet with her she always tells us about how grateful she is to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in her life.  She has actually told us several times how she wants to go on a mission.  We told her about how she can be a missionary now and invite her friends and family to hear the missionaries, and about how she doesn't have to wait to go to some far away place.  

We also taught another investigator again this week.  We taught the restoration and it was a very spiritual lesson.  When we taught about the Book of Mormon, the member who came with us and his wife, who has been less active, bore powerful testimonies of the Book of Mormon.  By the end of the lesson he told us about how excited he is to start reading.  He was also telling us about how he wants to have the priesthood so that he can bless his family.  I'm just so grateful for our investigators.  My testimony grows every time we meet with them.

 

We taught the mother and daughter again this week.  I think I have told you about them, but if I haven't the mother is 94.  They came to church and I think the daughter might start singing with the ward choir.  They have been meeting with missionaries for a while now, but I think they are getting closer.

 

At the beginning of my mission not a lot of people would tract.  We decided to go tracting this week because we heard other missionaries were find success doing it.  We actually found a potential investigator while we were doing it.  I have a feeling we are going to go tracting some more.  I'm actually excited to start doing it some more.

 

Thanks for all your prayers. I love you all so much!  Hope you have a great week.

 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy