February 24, 2014

Dear family,

 

Wow! What a week!  There have been a lot of exciting things happening this week and there are many more this next week!  We had zone conference this week and I always look forward to zone conference.  I always enjoy being taught by Pres. Nattress and the other mission leaders.  I wish I could copy all of my notes into this email.  I love the spirit that is always in those meetings.  

We also got to help at the Gilbert temple this week.  They needed help moving all of the furniture out of the temple so they can put up chairs for the dedication.  They moved the furniture to the stake center that is right next to the temple.  So we got to help move furniture out of most of the rooms including the sealing rooms and the celestial room.  We had to make sure everything was taken out very carefully.  We had to make sure we didn't hit any corners or drop anything.  We successfully moved everything without breaking anything.  We ended up seeing most of the temple again and parts of the temple that we didn't see at the open house.  It was interesting to see the celestial room with no furniture.  The Gilbert temple is really so beautiful.

 

This next Sunday is the temple dedication and Saturday is the cultural celebration.  The cultural celebration is the largest the church has ever done for a temple dedication.  There are about 12,000 youth participating.  Pres Monson and Pres. Eyring are both coming for the dedication.  All the youth are really excited to perform for the prophet.  The dedication and the celebration will be broadcast to all the stake centers in Arizona.  The celebration will also be on TV and online I believe.

 

We have been helping our investigators more with their yard.  We finished planting all the trees but they needed more help.  We didn't have to dig too big of holes because trees were really small still. We've been trying to introduce them to more of the people in the ward.  We also got to teach a part member family more about the temple.  

We had two of our other investigators come to church.  These investigators have been investigating the church for a long time, but have only come to church once.  One of them is actually 93 and the other is in her 60's.  It's a mother and daughter that live together.  They really loved church and said they would come back.  I'm really excited to work will all of our investigators!

 

I love being out on a mission!  Every day is exciting and something new.  I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  I know He lives and loves all of us!  I'm so grateful for the chance to be here in Gilbert at this amazing time.  I love you all!  Thanks for all your prayers.

 

Love,

 

Elder Joshua Gandy

 

P.S. We found out at zone conference that we might be starting to use facebook in the next few weeks and I just wanted to make sure that no one changed my password.

February 17, 2014

Dear family,

 

It has been another really exciting week!  I got to go to the temple open house twice.  The Gilbert temple is so beautiful!  We got to go with the two people we helped move last week.  We didn't have tickets so we waited in the non ticket line for about two hours, but it gave us a lot of time to answer their questions.  It was a really neat experience to take them through.  It was fun to see their faces as they saw the different rooms.  You could tell they could feel the spirit.  We should start to teach them here pretty soon.  

We also went with some members and their non member friends.  That time we had tickets so we got through the line a lot faster.  It is amazing how many people have gone through the open house.  I'm really sad that the open house is now over.  Ever since Christmas all we have been doing is inviting people to the open house.  We hope to see a lot of things come from the open house still.  Hopefully we get to start inviting people to the Easter pagaent soon.

 

This week we have been doing some service for a couple that we're teaching.  They wanted to plant around 19 trees and they needed help digging the holes.  We went over probably 3 or 4 times this week.  After we helped them for about an hour we would teach them. 

 

I think I'm getting use to my new area.  It's not very big so it doesn't take too long to figure out where everything is.  This next week we have zone conference which I'm always excited for.  Sorry I'm trying to remember everything we've done this week.  It seems like I forget everything when I sit down to write. 

 

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

 

Love,

 

Elder Joshua Gandy

February 10, 2014

Dear family,

 

I am now in my new area!  I was moved the long distance of about 2 1/2 miles.  I am now in the Val Vista stake and my new companion is Elder Merrell from Mapleton Utah.  My area is only two wards: the Emerald Bay ward and the Crystal Shores ward.     The area is kind of large because it just happens to take in a lot of shopping centers and 3 apartment complexes.  I'm excited to serve in this area and with Elder Merrell!

 

This week I have been trying to learn the area and about the investigators and potentials that we already have.  After being in my last area for almost 6 months, I forgot how hard it can be to come into a new area and know nothing about what is happening.  Elder Merrell was in the area for several months so it hasn't been that hard to figure out what is happening.  I've met quite a few of the investigators we have and I'm excited to teach all of them.  This area has a lot of potential so I'm excited to work with the wards here.

 

One day we were riding through one of the apartments and we saw someone moving in.  We offered to help and so we helped them move a mattress into their new apartment.  They were really grateful and said if we ever needed anything to knock on their door.  We invited them to the temple open house and they seemed really excited about it.  We told them that we had a few extra tickets and that they could join us if they wanted to.  They were really excited and asked if they could bring a neighbor who said they also wanted to go.  We are going to go on Wednesday with them.  I haven't been to the open house yet and I'm really excited to go with some non members!

 

This is the last week of the open house.  I'm really sad that it's almost over.  I wish it could last for a couple more months.  I've heard a lot of cool stories about members taking their friends to the open house and how it has softened people's hearts.

 

Sorry I don't have as much time today to tell you all about my new area.  Thank you for all your prayers!  I love you all so much!

 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

February 3, 2014

Dear family,

 

Yesterday was transfer calls.  I'm being transfered and Elder Gardner is staying in the area.  I'll find out on Wednesday where I'll be transfered, so next week I'll tell you all about my new area.  I've been in this area for a while so I was kind of expecting to be transfered.  This has been a fantastic area and I will have a lot of great memories of the wards here.  I have stories about this area that I will probably tell for the rest of my life.  I've met so many different people and have learned so much!  I'm grateful for the opportunity I've had to serve here!  I'm also really excited to find out who my next companion will be and where my area will be.  Since my mission is so small I might not be moving too far.  Instead of some missions where you wonder what part of the country you're going to, I'm wondering what part of Gilbert I'm going to.  It's still really exciting though!

 

We had a really great week doing missionary work!  Our investigator who was just baptized on Jan 11th, recieved a calling in church.  She is on the relief society compassionate services committee... or something like that.  I'm not actually sure what she will be doing but she will be working with one of her fellowships.  It was neat to see her stand up in sacrament meeting and recieve a calling.  The other person we've been working with is also doing really well!  He will be baptized in March so I don't know if I'll be able to come back to see that.  He is just doing great and really wants this in his life.

 

We started teaching a former investigator this week.  We saw him outside so we invited him to the temple open house.  He had some questions so we showed him the video about the temple and bore testimony of the temple.  After that we set up a return appointment with him.  We also recieved an unusual amount of referrals this week from members.  For one referral we didn't get very clear instructions on what apartment, so we accidentally knocked on the wrong door.  It was obviously the wrong person when they answered the door, but we invited them to the temple and they said they would be interested.  We set up a time to meet and came back a couple days later and had a great meeting with them.  They said they would be interested in taking the lessons, but were too busy right now.  This is almost exactly the same story as Regina's.  It took about a month after we met her before we started teaching her.  So I told Elder Gardner that he has to start teaching her just like Regina.  I know it was no accident that we knocked on that door.  We pray every day to be led to those that are ready to accept the gospel so when something like that happens I know we were meant to be there at that time.

 

I'm excited for the adventures that are ahead of me in my new area!  I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary!

 

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

 

Love,

Elder Gandy

 

January 27, 2014

Dear family,

 

Well it's been another great week like always!  It's always a great week when you're a missionary.   

So I found out earlier this week that we actually can go to the temple open house if we go with an investigator.  Right now we only have one investigator so we might be able to go with him next Tuesday.  I'm excited that our investigator and his girlfriend get to go to the temple.  They are planning on getting married and they really want to be sealed in the temple.  I hope that I get to go with them to see the inside.  I'm super excited to see it!  Well almost everything we do and talk about is the temple.  We have not received any referrals from the temple yet, but hopefully soon. 

 

Right now we have a lot of potential investigators.  It almost seems like potential investigators have just been falling from the sky!  We probably have close to ten potential investigators.  Some of them are so close, but we are having a hard time contacting and setting up appointments with all of them.  We hope to start teaching most of them this week.

 

This is the last week of the transfer so next week I'll tell you if I'm leaving or staying.  I've been in the stake for almost seven months and this area for almost six months, so I feel like I might be leaving.  Elder Gardner and I have been together for almost four months so I'm guessing at least one of us will be leaving.  I really want to stay in this area because I know everyone and we have so many potentials, but at the same time it might be nice to see another area.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  Either way I'll be happy!

 

So kind of a random thing that has happened this week.  I had spaghetti for the first time at a members house.  Everyone thinks we get spaghetti so they never make it for us when we come over for dinner.

 

I'm so grateful for this chance to be a missionary at this time and this place.  This week I was just thinking about all the people that I've met and have taught.  I've learned so much and I am so grateful that I've been able to serve these people.  I'm grateful for the Gospel in our lives!

 

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

 

Love,

 

Elder Joshua Gandy

January 20, 2014

Dear family,

The open house started on Saturday!  That doesn't really change anything for us since we are not helping at it, but it's all really exciting!  I'm really excited to see the temple, but we probably won't see it until after it's dedicated.  We're hoping to see some referrals coming in and finding more people interested in it.  Last week one of the news stations did a half hour program about the temple and the open house, so hopefully we will have some people asking us questions or wanting to know more.

We had a really great week!  We didn't have a lot of lessons planned this week, but we ended up having ten teaching opportunities.  We had one lesson with our investigator, and the rest were with recent converts and less active members.  Earlier this week I was reading Elder Ballards talk in this last general conference and in the talk he said, "If you want to teach more, you must talk to more people each day."  So that is what Elder Gardner and I worked on this week.  Normally we try to talk to at least ten people every day.  Since our area is mostly just neighborhoods we sometimes don't see a lot of people especially in the morning and at night (I think people think it's cold at night so they don't come out side usually even though it's only like 50 degrees).  So every week we have a goal of talking to 70 people, but this week we talked to 81.  This week we had a lot more teaching opportunities than we planned and we found 4 potential investigators.  I know that was because we talked to more people this week.  We also had a less active family invite us over for dinner, which usually doesn't happen.  The bishop asked us to visit this family but we have been unable to set up an appointment with them until this week.  One of our investigators also agreed to meet with us twice a week.

We visited the person that was baptized last week and as we met with her you could tell there was something different about her.  Ever since her baptism there is this new light about her and she is so happy even though she is going through a hard time with family and not having a job.  She came to church all by herself this week and she participated in class and everything!  Another investigator is also doing great and you can tell he wants this so much for his family.

I'm amazed every week at all the things I learn being a missionary.  There truly is no greater work than this!Thank you for all your prayer.  I love you all so much!

Love,Elder Joshua GandyP.S.  How is the missionary work going in our ward?

January 13, 2014

Dear Family,

 

It has been a very exciting week!  First, we had an unexpected baptism!  We had this investigator who wouldn't commit to a date and she kept on telling us she wanted to learn more because she wanted to be a good member.  We kept on trying to resolve her concern and help her feel ready for baptism.  It seemed like nothing we said would work.  Last Monday we met with her and out of nowhere she said that she decided that she did want to be baptized on Saturday.  I can only imagine the expression on my face because I was not expecting it!  Earlier that day and the day before she was helping another member in the ward get things ready for a funeral.  As they were putting things together they had a couple hours to talk.  This member helped her feel the spirit and helped her realize that she didn't need to know everything.  At every lesson we try to have a member there so they can have fellowships.  That just showed me how important it is for an investigator to have a fellowship.  This week we got everything ready for her baptism and I got to baptize her and Elder Gardner got to confirm her!  It has been amazing to see her change as we have taught her.  We first met her at the end of August and started teaching her at the beginning of October.  We found her when I accidently switched two numbers in the apartment number of a referral.  I think she is one of the people I would have missed if I didn't come on my mission at the time that I did.  

 

We also had the multi mission conference with the Mesa and Scottsdale missions.  Elder Holland was going to come, but last minute he was unable to make it.  We still had a seventy come to speak to us and it was an amazing meeting.  All of the mission presidents and their wives also spoke to us.  I also saw Sister Willahan!  

This week we were also able to give service to a less active member.  We have been looking for service opportunities for a long time and we finally found someone that would let us help them.  So we raked a yard full of leaves.  We've had a really great week and showed a couple of less active and a part member family the temple presentation that we have been showing people.  We also set up a time to show a non-member the temple presentation.

 

The citrus trees are full of fruit and we have more oranges and lemons then we can eat!  There is so much citrus that I'm not sure what everyone does with it. 

 

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

 

Love,

 

Elder Gandy

 

P.S. I was wondering have you heard about the book The Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton M. Christensen?  All of the members here talk about it and say it's a really good book, but of course it's not on our approved reading list.