September 29, 2014

Dear family,

It has been another great week! One of our investigators was baptized on Saturday.  We chose the perfect time to have the baptism on Saturday.  Just about 15 minutes before the baptism it started to pour outside.  It was raining really hard.  People were getting soaked from running from their car into the church.  It caused a little bit of a delay, but everything worked out.  His daughter who is older and has a son came to the baptism.  She really liked it and the ward members made her feel welcome.  I think she is going to start taking the lessons soon.  She doesn't live in our area, but I'm excited to find out what happens. 

There were some great things that happened this week.  The part member family that we have been working with for a while now came to our mission choir concert on Thursday.  One of our new member's has a daughter who was in the primary program on Sunday.  The Crystal Shores ward had another activity.  It was a fiesta game night.  There were a couple of non-members and a couple of less active members there.  The ward missionaries are having a great time putting these parties together and they are having some great success.  I also went on exchanges with one of the elders in the district.  There is always something going on! 

We had the expanded zone conference this week.  It was great!  The focus of the message at the zone conference was the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They really talked about a lot of different things, but that was the main message.  They also talked a lot about how to invite people and all the things to invite people too.

Now that we also teach lesson 5 in Preach My Gospel before baptism we have a couple more lessons than usual.  One of the things we teach in lesson 5 is about the temple and how families can be eternal.  It was really neat to teach him about that because in the church he use to go to, they didn't believe that at all.  Some people believe they will be with their families in heaven, but they didn't.  I thought about that later and how awesome it is to teach people that their family can be together forever.  We read this part of The Family: A Proclamation to the Worldwith him “The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.”  I'm so grateful that we know that and the great happiness that it brings.  In missionary work we should always remember to strengthen families.  Pres. Nattress has said that we find to teach, teach to baptize, and baptize to seal.  That should be our vision for everyone that we teach.  I was also reading Elder Scott's talk this last general conference.  In it he said, "Remember that the conversion of individuals is only part of the work. Always seek to strengthen families. Teach with a vision of the importance of families being sealed in the temple....When you have the vision of the sealing ordinances of the temple, you will help build the kingdom of God on earth."

I'm super excited for general conference!  I have been really excited for several weeks and it is finally almost here!  Hopefully we will get some people to come watch it with us.

Thank you for all of your prayers!  I love you all so much!  Hope you all have another great week!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

September 22, 2014

Dear family,

It sounds like a really fun trip in California!  It's cool that you have pictures to remember that wave.  Hope you have a fun time in Disneyland!  

The common ancestor that I have with one of our investigators is on Grandma Partna's line.  It is actually a little ways back, but their last name is Herr.  John Neff (senior, I believe) married a Herr.   The ancestor we definitely have in common is Bishop Hans Herr.  They actually showed me a picture in their home of his house in Pennsylvania. We went over for a lesson and we ended up talking about family history and why we do it. I'm not quite sure when or if they will join the church (missionaries have been working with them for a long time), but they have been coming to church the past couple of weeks in row.  Hopefully they keep coming.  They also have great fellowships and they absolutely love all of the members.  

We also had a potential investigator come to church on Sunday.  She lives in the same apartments as us and some of the other missionaries helped her move some furniture.  We ended up going by and invited her to church.  Most potentials usually don't just show up at church, but she just walked in and the relief society president invited her to sit with them.  It was really lucky that she met the relief society president because it was a missionary farewell and there were a lot of visitors.  She really liked church and she wants to come back!  She also wants to learn about the temple. 

We also had another neat experience this week.  Last Monday evening we had an appointment with a member family and before that we stopped by all the people we had planned to visit.  We had about ten minutes before our appointment and I couldn't think of anyone close by that we could stop by.  We decided to ride around the neighborhood to see if there was anyone to talk to.  As we rode our bikes down the street we saw a man standing outside on the curb.  We talked to him and found out his A/C is broken.  We also taught him a little bit about the restoration and the Book of Mormon.  When we were about to leave he said "I know there was a reason I walked outside."  We haven't been able to teach him yet, but it's really cool to see how we can be led to them and they can be led to us.

L. is being baptized this week on Saturday.  I feel like teaching him has gone really fast.  I guess it was only three weeks ago that we started teaching him.  Usually it doesn't happen that fast.  He is a quieter guy, but he is really nice.  We also went to young mens this week and talked to the priests about missions.  There were a couple of recently returned missionaries and us and we had a question and answer session.  It was a lot of fun.  We also got a new bishop in the Crystal Shores ward.  After being here for so long I really almost feel like a part of the ward.  It will be fun to get to know and work with the new bishop! 

We did some service this week for an older lady.  We met this lady at the ice cream social that the ward had a several weeks ago.  She went over to the neighbor that invited her to the ice cream social and asked them if we could come help her plant her garden.  So we helped plant a garden this week and helped her with a couple other things.  Hopefully none of the plants die, because I was not quite sure what I was doing.  They should be good though.  She is not interested in the church, but it was a great chance to do service.

We have another expanded zone conference this week!  I believe I told you about the last couple that we have had.  It's the zone conference for members and missionaries.  I really hope a lot of members come because they really are great!  They are fun and interactive and you learn so much.  The area seventy for this area is also coming and speaking at the zone conference.  I was also asked to be in a musical number for it so that should be fun.

It's great to be a missionary!  I would not want to be doing anything else right now.  I'm grateful every day for this opportunity to be here.  It is amazing the joy that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings to our lives.  I know that this is Christ's church.  Thank you for all the prayers and all that you do for me.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

A member in Joshua's area took this candid photo of him and his companion.

September 15, 2014

Dear family,

Well it has been another fantastic week as a missionary.  We are still working with L.  and he wants to be baptized on the 27th.  We actually met with him a couple times this week.  He is doing great and loves to learn.  We taught him some of the commandments this week and he is already living them.  It's not very often when your investigator doesn't drink coffee or tea or something like that.  

There is member in our ward who was baptized about 2 or 3 years ago and she usually has a "missionary dinner" at her house every month.  She invites the family that fellowshipped her and there are usually a couple of non members that she invites.  We went over for dinner this week and she invited our 94 year old investigator and her daughter.  It was a great dinner and we were able to teach the restoration at the end.  Earlier in the week we went to a family history training for Elder Bartlett (They train all the missionaries in family history so that if we need to we can help someone get started) and I had a few minutes to look at familysearch while they did the training.  While I was looking I found out that we are possibly related to two of our investigators.  They mentioned their ancestors once before in one of our visits and it just matched up perfectly.  Of course it is probably 7 or 8 generations back, but I decided to mention that to them at the dinner.  They actually got quite excited and said they would have to find out if it's the same people.  It was the same name, place, and story so there is a good chance it's the same person. 

J. who was baptized at the beginning of August, received the priesthood on Sunday.  His fellowship did the ordination and we could tell it was really special for both of them.  We visited with J. earlier this week and taught him about the priesthood and he could tell how special it really is.  He is also really excited to go home teaching.  He is super friendly man and loves to serve others.  We also stopped to see him another time this week and he just happened to have a childhood friend over.  We were able to teach his friend about the restoration and answer a few of his questions.  His friend wasn't interested right now, but it was a great opportunity for this new convert to do missionary work and talk about the church with his friend.

There were some other exciting things that happened this week, like random non members coming to church.  It is always exciting when that happens.  We also found out that one of our wards is getting a new bishop next week.  Bishop Anderson has been an amazing bishop and is a great example of a loving priesthood leader.  The Val Vista stake and these wards have amazing leaders and I'm grateful that I am able to work with all of them.  I'm excited to find out who the new bishop will be.

I didn't realize how much it actually rained last Monday when I was emailing, but there are still parks full of water.  I took a few pictures of one park in our area that probably had 7 or 8 feet of water in some areas.  It was pretty cool.

I'm excited for this next week!  I'm sure we will see many miracles!  It's great to be a missionary!  I've learned so much and my testimony grows every day.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

This is what all the rain did to one of the large parks in our area.

September 8, 2014

Dear family,

It has been an eventful and exciting week!  First, we had transfers!  My new companion is Elder Bartlett.  He is from Saratoga Springs, Utah.  That will be my fourth companion from Utah.  There are a lot of missionaries from Utah.  He just graduated this year and something interesting about him is that he likes to ballroom dance.  I guess he did competitions and stuff like that.  He is really excited to be here and get to work!  He is not shy and is very out going. 

We started teaching a new investigator this week.  We first met him at the ice cream social that the ward did.   He requested to take the missionary lessons so we set up our first appointment early this week.  We ended up meeting with him three times this week!  After each lesson he tells us thank you for coming and says that he is excited to learn more.  He is wanting to move into the ward really soon.  Unfortunately if it's going to be a while till he moves, we are going to give him to the missionaries in his area so they can baptize him there.  We are hoping to find out this week if he is going to be moving or not.  The ward mission is really excited since the week before the ward mission leader was telling everyone that he felt there was someone ready right now.  They are also excited to see something happen from the social they put together.  Not surprising at all, they are planning another activity at the end of the month.

We met with J. a couple times this week.  We had a great lesson with him before Elder Jewkes was transferred.  We read Alma 36 where Alma the younger tells his conversion and how he repented.  He really enjoyed reading it with us.  It's great to still see him grow in the Gospel.  He is looking for a job right now, but it's amazing how much faith he has that Heavenly Father loves him and he knows everything will be okay.

We also had dinner at a non members this week.  A couple weeks ago part of our district helped someone move from one apartment in our apartment complex to another apartment.  They wanted to make us dinner to thank us for helping.  We had a great dinner and we were able to share a message with them.  We weren't able to set up another lesson, but we invited them to our mission choir concert on Thursday.  We hope to see them there!

Overall it's been a great week with teaching and finding some new potentials.  I'm trying to get into training mode.  I realized it has been a while since I trained last or even served around a new missionary.  I'm really excited though, and I remember how much I learned the last time I trained.  I'm probably going to learn just as much this time too.  I'm grateful for all that I've learned on my mission, especially what I've learned about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know it's true.  I believe I told you about the mission website arizonagilbertmission.com.  They had all the missionaries write their testimonies and they are putting it on the website.  I don't know how many are on the website yet, but it would be great to check out! 

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

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

P.S. So it rained a lot here last night.  It has been a while since it has rained that much.  It's kind of cool because a lot of parking lots and parks are flooded now.  On the way to email we saw some kids swimming in a lake that use to be a park.  As soon as the sun comes out it should dry pretty fast. 

September 1, 2014

Dear family,

I haven't heard about transfers yet so I'm hoping I hear about it before I'm done emailing.  It has been another great week with a lot of exciting things going on.  We met with a couple of part member families this week.  One of them accepted the commitment to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  They said we could follow up with them this week.  The other family just moved in and they have been meeting with missionaries on and off for the past sixteen years.  That is a long time, but hopeful we can help them accept the gospel.  They were telling us all about all the different missionaries they have had.  It was interesting.  We got a referral from that ice cream party I told you about last week.  A member in the ward is dating a non member and inviting him to the party.  He came to church last week and this week.  We found out that he wants to learn more so we are going to meet with him on Tuesday!  

This week we were able to talk to more people on the street than usual.  I don't know if just more people were outside or what, but it was really great!  We saw some great miracles this week!  We found a couple of potentials and were able to teach one person about the restoration on the street.  It is always great when you have a lot of people to talk to and invite them to come unto Christ.  

I ended up singing in sacrament meeting yesterday in one of our wards.  When I sang at Jamie's baptism a couple of people in the ward decided to tell the music chair or whoever assigns musical numbers, so I was asked a couple weeks ago.  I ended up singing Lord, I Would Follow Thee.  They found me an arrangement that was really nice.  We also had our first mission choir concert.  It went pretty well for the first one and it ran quite smoothly.  We had a full chapel of people there so it was a good turn out.  Hopefully we have more people there next week!  This week I was also asked to do a solo or put together a group number for transfer meeting.  I decided to do a group number instead of doing a solo.  I had hard time deciding what song the group should sing, but I think I learned a little bit about revelation this week from that experience.  We really have to be willing to do whatever Heavenly Father needs us to do.

We taught R about the priesthood and we had a great lesson.  He wants to bless the sacrament in one of the coming weeks.  His experience with the priesthood was a big part of his conversion starting with the priesthood blessing he and his family got around the time that their baby was born prematurely.  He had already learned a lot about the priesthood, but it was neat to talk about the duties we have as priesthood holders.

This week I also went on exchanges with one of the elders in my district and with the zone leaders.  It has been a busy and exciting week!  It is amazing all the blessings we receive from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is truly for everyone!  What a great blessing to have it in our lives.  I know it's true.

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

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

P.S.  I found out about transfers!  I am staying and Elder Jewkes is leaving.  I also found out that I am training a new missionary!  I'm so excited!  I have been in this area a long time and I get to stay for at least another transfer!  I was not really expecting to stay but it's going to be great!

I'll let you know about my new companion next week!

August 25, 2014

Dear family,

It has been another great and busy week!  There were quite a few activities this week for members to invite their friends and neighbors to.  The Emerald Bay ward had their annual ice cream social which had a great turn out.  There were at least four part member families that came and a few non members that members invited.  The ward missionaries in the Crystal Shores ward put together ice cream making party.  They called it an ice cream freeze off.  It was at one of the ward missionaries houses and they had a great time making ice cream and then eating it.  They also had a great turn out.  There were probably around 20 to 25 people there and probably close to half of them were non members.  We were able to meet almost everyone we didn't know at both of these activities.  There was also what they called a "Mormon Movie Night."  It was a movie night put together for the youth to bring their friends.  They have done it every month this summer and every time there are about fifty youth and several non members.  The stake actually wants to continue doing activities like that every month.  It seems like all the activities just happened to be this last weekend. 

We started teaching a former investigator and her two kids this week and have an appointment for this week.  We also have a couple appointments set with part member families and some less active members.  It should be another busy week!  I'm also going on exchanges twice this next week so that should also be fun!  We also have the first mission choir performance at the reception area that our mission put together at the church right next to the temple. 

This has been a great area to serve in and a lot of great things have happened here.  This is the last week of the transfer so next week I'll let you know if anything is changing.  I've been in this area for a while, but who knows maybe I'll stay another transfer!

It's great to be a missionary and there are miracles that happen every day!  I'm grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is also the last week for the Book of Mormon reading.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

August 18, 2014

Dear family,

It has been another great week!  I can't believe it is already half way through August.  It feels like the summer just started.  This summer really doesn't seem that bad.  Maybe that's because it is my second summer.  We didn't have a lot of lessons this week, but a lot of cool things happened.  The Emerald Bay ward had a scout dinner for all of the cub scouts and boy scouts.  The family we're working with came and they are really getting to know more of the members.  We stopped by to say hi and we noticed a lot of people we didn't know.  They were several less active members and non members there and their parents.  Hopefully we and the members can invite them to start coming to church.  The ward is also having another ward social next week which I am excited about.  We were also able to do service for a part member family on Saturday.  We helped them move their yard and trim some large over-grown bushes in their back yard.  They were very grateful for the help.  We don't have an appointment to start teaching them yet, but it was a great start to getting to know the missionaries.  It was also nice to get in some service clothes and do some yard work.  I am not usually a fan of yard work, but it was fun.

We stopped by a less active family this week to set up an appointment.  We were not able to meet with them yet, but the wife came to church this week with their kids.  They probably haven't come ever since I have been in the area.  Now I don't know if us stopping by had anything to do with them coming to church, but I have seen that happen before.  Stopping by and just saying hi and then see them at church that Sunday.  One visit can really make a difference.  Just going a little out of your way to say hi to someone that you haven't seen at church in a while might make a big difference for that person. 

There are some great things happening in this area and we have a busy week ahead of us!  It will be exciting to see what happens!

Another cool thing that I forgot to mention is that the Gilbert mission is putting together a choir.  I guess the choir is going to perform each week at the reception area at the stake center by the temple.  We have had a couple rehearsals so far and I think the first performance in on the last Thursday of the month.  It's going to be a lot of fun.  Another benefit of having a small mission!

It's exciting to be a missionary!  As everyone that has been on a mission probably knows, every day brings something different!  Each day, week, month there is something to learn, progress to be made and faith to build.   I'm grateful for this opportunity!  We will be finishing the Book of Mormon pretty soon as a mission.  I don't think I have every read through it in such a short amount of time.  It has been great to read and study it again.  Also to focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we have been reading through it. 

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

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy