Joshua will be returning from his mission on June 23.  He will be speaking in our Sacrament Meeting at 1:00 on June 28.

May 25, 2015

Dear family,

It has been an amazing week full of miracles.  We received a call last Monday afternoon from a lady we did not know.  She started the conversation by saying, "You don't know me, but I have been looking for you."  At first, I thought that was really strange and weird, but she told us she is not a member, but wanted us to come give her a blessing.  She continued to tell me more about herself.  and we learned that she met with missionaries about 2 or 3 years ago, and was close to being baptized, but her husband at the time didn't want her to.  She just recently moved into our ward and told us that recently every time she passes a church building and the temple she has these feelings that keep pointing her to the church.  We gave her a blessing that night, and met her daughter who is 17 and her grandson (that she has basically raised) who is 11.  We came back on Wednesday and taught them the restoration and had a great lesson and she accepted to be baptized on June 13th!  They definitely felt the spirit and have a desire to be baptized.  We met with them also on Saturday and they came to church on Sunday.  They loved church and the ward did a great job on welcoming them.  It couldn't have gone better!  I'm super excited to teach this family!

We also started teaching another family, who was a referral from other missionaries.  This person was invited to meet with missionaries with one of her coworkers.  Her coworker recently had her husband pass away, and she saw how strong her coworker was during that difficult time, and wanted to learn more.  She loves the thought of having an eternal family.  We had our first lesson this week, and she has started reading the Book of Mormon.  She said we could text her every night to remind her.  She didn't come to church this Sunday because she had family come into town, but she is planning on coming this next week.  She also has a 9 year old daughter who we are going to teach as well.  

We have been working with several other people like a 17 year old who is a great soccer player.  He has a lot of friends that are members and wants to learn more about what they believe.  We are also hoping to work with a couple of old investigators from the area book.  One of them said they might come to our mission choir concert which is this week.  We also found a couple of potential investigators who we are going to teach tonight.

We had a really busy Sunday yesterday.  We started about 6 in the morning and got out of our last meeting at 6:30 in the evening.  I went to two ward councils, two sacrament meetings, other classes, and a stake ward missionary training in the evening that they asked us to give a class at. It was quite the day, but I learned a lot at church.  During one of the ward councils the bishop ended by saying thank you to the ward council and giving this thought.  He talked about being a disciple of Christ and how we do what we do in our calling for Christ.  We don't do it for ourselves nor for the bishop, but we do it because we love Christ.  It made me reflect on when we are doing our calling and when we are serving others, how often do we remember that.  If that is our desire and we just remember that, I can't imagine getting discouraged.  I can't imagine wanting to quit.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior.  I'm grateful for the gospel and how much it has blessed our family.

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

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

P.S.  So random cool fact, the person who played Joseph Smith in the restoration movie and who is Peter in the bible videos is in one of our wards and we had dinner at his house.  It was kind of cool, it was like Peter was at the dinner table.  

This is a street in one of the wards we cover.   It is just a little different compared to Gilbert.

May 18, 2015

Dear family,

It has been quite the week with transfers!  So for my last transfer I went to the Queen Creek zone.  So my area is actually partially in Queen Creek and on the border of San Tan valley.  It is a little different compared to Gilbert.  I'm a lot closer to mountains and there are a lot more farms and open fields.  It's a little different.  Also my new companion is Elder Legrand.  He is from France.  After only having companions from the western United States, it is a little different.  He has been out for about a year and a half, so he speaks English very well, but still has a thick french accent.  For the first couple of days I was having a little bit of a hard time understanding him, but I'm getting use to it.  I'm really excited to work with him.  He has a great desire to work hard and is an awesome missionary.  

My area consists of three wards: the Sunset, Circle Cross, and Hasting Farms wards.  They are very different compared to my last wards.  Elder Legrand has only been in the area for a transfer, so we are both trying to figure out what is going on in the area.  As I looked through the area books, I realized there were a lot of people that neither of us knew.  Most of this week we were stopping by these investigators.  There were several that were not interested, but there were some that said they lost contact with the missionaries and invited us back.  Looking through the area book, I can tell there is a lot of work to do in this area.  There are a lot of former investigators and potentials to work with.  We also found a couple of great potentials and received a great referral this week.  We are hoping that they will all become new investigators this week.  I'm really excited to see what happens in this area. 

Transfers were on Wednesday this week, and there were some cool things that happened before I left the area.  There is a Vietnamese family in one of the wards and the grandmother that lives with them is not a member.  On Monday evening this family called us and said the grandma would like to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The grandma doesn't speak english, so the family translated the lesson for her.  She also didn't have much of a religious background so we were trying to teach the very basics simply.  I don't know what it was or if there was something special about the situation, but the spirit was really strong in the lesson.  It reminded of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 90:11 "For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power, by the administration of the Comforter, shed forth upon them for the revelation of Jesus Christ."

It was sad to leave my last area because of the people we were teaching, but I'm excited to be in this area.  I know I was transferred here for a reason.  I doesn't really make sense for me to leave the area I know better than the back of my hand to spend only six weeks in an area that I don't know at all, but I know I'm here for a reason.  I don't know what that reason is yet, and I may not find out while I'm here, but I know Heavenly Father puts us where we need to be.  We have been able to see several miracles so far, and I know that as I try to follow the spirit and do the best that I can, we will continue to see those miracles.  

It seems like a lot has happened this past week and I wish I could tell you everything that has happened.  Thanks for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

Elder Joshua Gandy

May 11, 2015

Dear family,

It was great to see all of you yesterday!  So I thought I wasn't going to get transferred for my last transfer, but I guess I'm suppose to go somewhere else for my last transfer.  I've never served in an area outside of the Highland zone, so this will be interesting.  I'm excited to see what happens!  I'll let you know next week where I'm going and who my new companion will be.  I know I already told you some things that happened this week, but I'm going to write about them again and write about the things I forgot.  I actually forgot my planner to remind me what happened this transfer, so I'll probably forget something.

We had a lesson with one of our investigators yesterday before I talked with you.  She had questions about Joseph Smith so we watched the 20 minute restoration video.  She really enjoyed it and she prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true and she got an answer to her prayers.  When she was describing the answer she got, it sounded like she was feeling the spirit.  She also made a comment in the lesson that she has never been to a church that makes this much sense.  She said it all makes sense to her.  They are going to take her to the visitor center this week to see the Joseph Smith the prophet of the restoration movie.   

This week we found a couple of potential investigators.  On Tuesday we were knocking doors in the evening and at one door a lady answered and said she wasn't feeling well, but asked us to come back.  We went back on Thursday morning and a man opens the door and invites us in.  We were a little confused since that usually doesn't happen.  As we talked to him we found out that he is a less active member, but is trying to come back.  I guess he has been coming to church with his parents that live far away.  We also met his wife who is not a member and the lady who answered the door the other day was his mother-in-law who is also not a member.  They were going some place so we asked if we could come back to share a message and they said yes.  Hopefully the missionaries get to start teaching him.  This week we also stopped by a member when their non member parents were over.  They were not planning on us, but we just happened to stop by at the right time.  We shared a short message and were able to bear testimony.  The family seemed really happy that we stopped by, and were able to share a message.  I can tell the family is really hoping that someday the parents will be interested in learning more about the gospel.  We also found out our investigator who moved to California ended up staying, and he wants to be baptized!  So hopefully they get to start teaching him again.

We had a zone meeting this week and we gave the challenge to give out a box of Book of Mormons this week.  We talked about the blessing we have in our lives because of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There are so many things we blessed with, and as I pondered it I thought about how much my life has been changed.  I can't imagine my life without the restoration! We also talked about how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion.  Just like Pres. Benson said  “Just as the arch crumbles if the keystone is removed, so does all the Church stand or fall with the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The enemies of the Church understand this clearly. This is why they go to such great lengths to try to disprove the Book of Mormon, for if it can be discredited, the Prophet Joseph Smith goes with it. So does our claim to priesthood keys, and revelation, and the restored Church. But in like manner, if the Book of Mormon be true—and millions have now testified that they have the witness of the Spirit that it is indeed true—then one must accept the claims of the Restoration and all that accompanies it”

We also had the opportunity to go to a young mens activity where they talked about the Book of Mormon.  The new priest quorum adviser just recently got home from being a mission president in Peru, so he role played with the priests giving out a Book of Mormon.  It was really cool!  We were able to share our testimonies at the activity, and I was reminded of all the blessing I've received from the Book of Mormon.  I've received answers to my prayers, comfort and peace in stressful times, and so much more. 

Well I'm out of time, but it was great to talk to you yesterday!  Hope you have a great week.  Thank you for all of your prayers and I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

May 4, 2015

Dear family,

It has been another busy week!  It seems like we had a lot of meetings this past week.  The meetings seem to take a lot of time, but we still saw some great things happen this week. 

We were able to have a lesson with our new investigator from last week, on Sunday.  I believe I already told you about her in my last letter.  In our first lesson we mostly answered her questions and briefly taught the restoration.  This time we finished teaching and retaught parts of the restoration.  The lessons went great!  As we were talking about prophets, she told us that that was something she learned while coming to church with her daughter.  She talked about how it makes sense that God would have a prophet now.  We taught her more about the Book of Mormon and invited her to read and pray to know if it is true.  She told us that she knew she needed to pray about it, and she knew she would receive an answer.  We invited her to be baptized at the end, but she said she wanted to learn more about Joseph Smith first.  We are probably going to take her to the Mesa Temple visitor center to see the Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration movie.  She asked us a couple of questions about baptism and told us that she has already been thinking about it.  I'm super excited to continue to teach her! 

We also had a couple lessons with the kid we met last Sunday at the park.  We had a couple lessons with him and even gave him a church tour, but he ended up going back to California.  He was super excited to meet with us and said he wanted to be baptized.  Hopefully the missionaries in California talk to him soon.  When we taught him the Restoration and we got to the part about the Book of Mormon, he stopped us and asked "Why did you guys stop to talk to me Sunday night?"  We weren't quite sure how to respond exactly because we talk to everyone.  I can't remember how we answered, but he then told us how he found a book like that at his house the other day.  I have no idea how he already got a Book of Mormon, but maybe some body gave it to him or a family member forever ago.  It is kind of cool that he found it just a couple days before we talked to him. 

We had a cool miracle happen this week.  There is an inactive family in one of our wards with a son who is not baptized.  We were walking through the neighborhood and saw the father throwing a football to his son.  We ended up talking to him for 15 minutes and passing the football around.  That was the first miracle because we heard that he didn't want any contact with the church.  As we were talking to him, a ward missionary in the ward was biking around the neighborhood and stopped to talk to us.  This ward missionary was just assigned to be in charge of scheduling our dinners and told us that while we were talking to the father.  At the end of the conversation with this inactive member, we asked if we could come back to get to know their family and share a message with his family.  He said they were really busy, but said they would sign up to have us over for dinner.  The miracle is I don't think it could have happened any other way.  If we knocked on his door he probably wouldn't have talked to us for very long.  If that ward missionary didn't stop by, he probably wouldn't have had the idea to have us over for dinner.  It's always amazing when we are put in the right place at the right time.  This truly is the Lord's work and we cannot do it without him.

We had the last expanded zone conference this week.  Pres. Nattress invited all the members who came to use Elder Anderson's apostolic promise to pray to know with whom to speak.  We are going to be following up with all the members who came and see if they have someone they want to share the gospel with.  We also had our normal zone conference this week.  It was another awesome zone conference!  I wish I could explain all the things we were trained on, but there isn't enough time to write it all.  At the zone conference we also got Tiwi in all of the mission cars.  I don't know if you already know what it is, but it's a box that keeps track of how good of a driver you are.  It tells you if you are driving too fast, don't have your seat belt on, or are driving aggressively.  I don't really know how to explain it, but you could probably look it up.  We also had our mission choir concert this week.  It has been a busy week.

I'm so grateful to be a missionary!  I love the gospel of Jesus Christ.  As we follow Jesus Christ's example, it brings so much joy, happiness, and love into our lives.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

April 27, 2015

Dear family,

It has been another exciting week!  It seems like a lot of great things happened this week.  I'm not quite sure where to start.

We had a couple of lessons this week.  We met with one of our investigators on Sunday and we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They have to check his schedule, but he should have a date picked to be baptized by the end of this week.  He is doing well and he will probably be baptized at the beginning of June.  

We picked up a new investigator this week!  There are converts in one of our wards and the wife's mother lives in the ward.  Ever since I have been in this area, this convert's mother would come to church with them every once in a while.  For the past couple months she has been coming to church every week.  One time she brought her grandchildren when the parents couldn't come.  She has even read all of the Gospel Principles manual.  She watched general conference all by herself and loved it.  We have been trying to teach her for a while, and we were finally able to set up an actual lesson.  The lesson went well and she mostly wanted a couple of questions answered.  We answered her questions and taught about the restoration and she agreed to start meeting with us.  She says it will be hard for her to stop drinking coffee, but I'm sure she can do it. 

We also found a great potential investigator last night.  We just visited a member and we were on our way back to our apartment and we saw someone skateboarding at the park.  It must have seemed a little strange, but we pulled over and started talking to him.  Elder Anderson can skateboard so they talked about that.  We started talking about the church and he said he has been thinking about going back to church.  He said it was weird that we started talking to him because he was just thinking about that.  We taught him a little bit and he said that was something that he wanted to learn more about.  He was really excited about learning more.  So we have a lesson set up with him tonight.  Now the unfortunate thing is that he lives in California and is just visiting his dad for a week.  Hopefully we can teach him while he is here and the missionaries in California can finish teaching him.  It is one of those times where we were in the right place at the right time.  He just happened to be visiting in Arizona and just happened to be at the park and we just happened to pull over and start talking to him.

Something really exciting happened on Saturday!  Someone I taught my very first transfer in the Brighton ward was baptized.  Since the Brighton ward is in the zone and is right next to my area, I was able to go to the baptism.   She had been taught by a lot of missionaries.  She probably took lessons for three years or so.  Her baptism was great and the spirit was strong there. 

We had an expanded zone conference on Tuesday and Thursday this past week.  I was just in the musical number at the beginning, so we just had to be there at the start.  The last expanded zone conference is Tuesday this week and this is the expanded zone conference that our stakes are invited to, so this one we will stay the entire time.  This week we will have our actual zone conference on Thursday.  We also had mission leadership council this week, which is always a great meeting.  We talked about planning, Elder Holland's general conference talk, and all kinds of things.  We also had stake conference in one of our stakes this past weekend.  They had an incredible Saturday evening session.  They did a video slide show of all the missionaries from their stake.  They showed their picture and then showed a quote from one of their letters.  I knew several of the missionaries before they left on their missions and it's neat to see some of the things that they have learned on their missions.  I don't know if that made sense, but it was really cool.

Mom, sorry I didn't answer some of your questions from your letter.  For some reason the letter didn't come until Monday, so I didn't see it until after I emailed.  The weather here is still great!  The past weekend a rain storm came in and cooled things down for probably the last time.  April has been in the 80's and 90's, but this week it will probably be in the 90's all week.  It will only be like that for a little bit though.  I don't know when the mission is going to send you something, but I think I will be coming home on the June 23rd.  There is still a lot of missionary work to do, so I'm not going to think about that, but that should be the day. 

I wish I could include all the things that I'm learning and all the experiences that I'm having, but there are too many things to write and not enough time to write it all.  One of the things I learned this week was something Pres. Nattress taught at MLC.  He talked about how we always need to be testifying.  You can always testify when you don't know what to say and you should always testify when you teach.  When you share your testimony it can be the most powerful part of the lesson.  If you find a discouraged missionary, they probably are not testifying.  I know that Christ is our Savior and I know that this is Christ's church on the earth today.  It's incredible to have the fullness of the gospel in our lives and to know we have a prophet on the earth today.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

April 20, 2015

Dear family,

It has been another great and busy week!  We had some great teaching opportunities this week and we reached some goals that we set, so it has been an exciting week.  Last Monday we got a call from someone in our singles ward and they said they had a friend that wants to take the lessons and to be baptized.  We had a lesson with them on Wednesday and we taught her the restoration.  The lesson went really well and we invited her to be baptized at the end.  She said yes and she had already been thinking about a date.  We were really excited and then she said that she is moving at the end of this month.  It was a little disappointing, but she will still be in the mission, and there will be some very happy missionaries in the area that she is moving to.  Even though she won't be in our area, it was still great to teach the first lesson. 

We met with another investigator this week and taught him the plan of salvation.  He is doing great and is reading all of the assignments that we give him.  He also came to church on Sunday.  We were also able to teach a couple people on the street this week.  We met this one person on the street about a week ago, and he said that now wasn't a good time, but told us to come back.  We went back last night and he invited us in.  We talked to them for a while and we showed them the video Because He Lives.  We then invited them to learn more about the restoration.  We were really hoping they were going to say yes, because most people don't just invite us into their home after talking to them for a couple minutes.  They didn't accept the invitation to learn more, but they said they might come to one of our mission choir concerts.  We are still hoping something might happen there.  We talked to another man on the street for about a half hour answering his questions about what he has heard we believe.  He wasn't interested after we answered his questions, but I am amazed at some of the things people think we believe and all the misconceptions that are out there.

We were able to teach two recent converts this week.  Another gave a talk in sacrament meeting.  We didn't hear about it until after, and we ended up going to our other ward that starts at the same time.  I wish I could of gone, but we heard she did great!  We also had a lesson with a recent convert who is going to start coming to the singles ward.  She is a awesome recent convert and she is excited to do missionary work.

We have a couple of great potentials that we are trying to start teaching.  One member invited their neighbor to church.  They told their neighbor a couple of returned missionaries were going to speak in church (there were two missionaries in the ward that just got back and gave their talks) and their neighbor said yes.  We are also probably going to start teaching another lady who has been coming to church for the past several weeks with her daughter who is a convert. 

We went to the temple this week, and it's always great to go to the temple.  We get up early to go, but it is always worth it.  Most missionaries usually stop at Kneaders (which is really close to the temple) afterwards to get something to eat.  While we were there the cashier looks at my name tag and asks me if I had an older brother who served in Peru.  I guess this cashier served in Peru with Bryce.  He said they were in the same zone or something like that.  Small world.

We have another busy week ahead of us.  Our mission is doing expanded zone conferences (zone conference for members) again this month and I was asked to be in a musical number for all of them.  They are going to do three for the different parts of the mission and two of them are next week.  It should be fun!

I'm learning so much every day.  I have been thinking about this scripture and it has come to my mind lately.  It's Alma 5:26 " And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?"  I have thought back to those times where I feel the joy of the gospel.  Sometimes it can be easy to forget in the midst of the challenges and trials of life.  No wonder it is so important that we need to always pray and read our scriptures every day.  We always need to continue to come unto Christ and to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The gospel is truly a pattern for living.  As we continue to live the gospel we will be able to say "Yes, I can feel so now." 

I love you all so much and thank you for all of your prayers. 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy