March 23, 2015

Dear family,

It has been busy week!  It seems like a lot of different things have happened this week.  Including interviews, choir performance, family home afternoon which we do with our zone once a transfer, a couple of baptisms, and a mini missionary.  It has been exciting!

The over-age youth that we've been teaching was baptized this week!  One of their fellowships invited them over for FHE and dinner last Monday night.  The non member husband was also there and we were able to share a message.  We were also able to have a lesson with them on Tuesday night to review what baptism is and to talk more about what was going to happen at the baptism.  The baptism went really well.  Her dad came a little late, but he got there just in time for the baptism.  At the end of the baptism her mom bore her testimony.  It was a wonderful testimony.  She talked about how she knew she needed to come back to church, and how it was through her daughter that she would start coming back.  It was a great experience for their family.  We also ended the baptism by singing I Love to See the Temple.  It was perfect!

A high school student we've been teaching was also baptized this weekend.  It was actually a really busy Saturday morning because we had to run from one baptism to another.  At the first baptism we were in charge of teaching while she was changing so we couldn't leave until after that.  It ended up working well and we got to both of the baptisms on time.  There were a lot of people at the high school student's baptism.  She has been coming to church for 3 or 4 years and she is a senior in high school so she had a lot of friends there. 

On Tuesday we got a random call from another missionary.  This missionary was calling to ask if I could take his spot in the choir performance on Thursday.  So I ended up singing a solo at the performance on Thursday.  I was a little nervous because I hadn't sung the song for a long time and I went through it twice on Thursday morning.  It ended up going well and of course the spirit is the most important part.

Something really cool happened this week!  One of our recent converts, was called to be a ward missionary just a couple weeks ago.  This week he taught the gospel principles class!  It wasn't a small class either.  There were probably around twenty people in the class.  He seemed nervous before the class, but he gave an awesome lesson.  It just happened to be lesson one which is about Heavenly Father and he asked great questions and led some great discussions.  It was really cool to see.  We joked around later that he can teach us the new member lessons.  It actually sounds like a great idea.  I also saw another recent convert again just today.  Several of the elders in the zone went to the church this morning to play basketball and there were several members there playing, and he (the recent convert) was playing with them.  It's great to see he is doing great and being very well fellowshipped.

We ended up getting a mini missionary for this past weekend.  He was with us from Friday evening to Sunday evening.  He was a great guy and is excited to do missionary work.  We took him street contacting at a park the first night and he did amazing.  It sounds like they have a great mission prep in his stake!  We were able to teach several people on the street while he was with us and found some new potential investigators.  We also met some interesting people so now he also has some great stories to tell people. 

It is going to be another busy week!  One of the stakes is doing something they call Get on the Bus.  The stake rented a couple of buses and these buses are going to take people to the Easter pageant on Thursday night.  It's great because you don't have to worry about parking or trying to get a good seat.  The only trick is if you are a member you have to bring a non member or less active friend to get on the bus.

It's great to be a missionary!  I'm so grateful to have this opportunity.  It's amazing all the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It truly changes lives.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

March 16, 2015

Dear family,

It has been another exciting and great week!  It has been spring break here for all the schools.  We were expecting a lot of people to be gone on vacation and not a lot would happen, but we saw some great things happen.  All the missionaries in the zone also had a great week! 

We were able to have a lesson with our over-age youth investigator this week.  Her mother had to work all weeks so they were not out of town luckily.  They didn't come to church the past two weeks and we were a little worried.  The lesson we had this week, we finished the last two principles in lesson five, which ended up being perfect.  We talked about the importance of learning at church and also enduring to the end.  The lesson went great!  I'm always excited to go over there because the lesson always goes great.  At the beginning of the lesson the mother offered to say the prayer, which usually does not happen.  It was neat to hear her pray and express thanks for all of their blessings they have because of the gospel.  They came to church and met with the bishop and they are all ready to have their daughter be baptized this Saturday.  I'm really excited to see her be baptized!  Their fellowship invited them and us over for a family home evening tonight. 

On Wednesday we went to the temple early in the morning.  I'm so grateful that we get to go to the temple so often.  We are quite lucky!  It's amazing to go and feel the spirit there.  It truly is a place where you can feel close to Heavenly Father and feel peace and joy.  Later that day something similar happened like what happened last week.  We took time to read the Book of Mormon that day like we usually do.  Afterwards I just felt like I learned so much, and as we left to go out to work I was ready to find those prepared people!  We decided to knock some doors and no one answered.  We stopped by a potential and that went okay.  Just before dinner we decided to go to a member who brought a non member friend to church.  We were just going to see if they invited the friend to learn more.  As we got to their house they were just pulling into their garage.  They just got back from taking their non member friend to the Mesa temple visitor center.  They invited us in and we were able to teach their friend.  Their friend doesn't live in our ward so we will have to pass them off to other missionaries, but we were able to have an unexpected lesson and found someone to teach.  Every time I feel like I had a great study of the Book of Mormon that day, we always see a miracle later that day.  Remember to read the Book of Mormon everyday! 

We have two baptisms this weekend!  It will be really exciting.  We set a goal for baptism in March as a zone and we are getting really close to reaching it.  Even if we don't reach it we will be closer to our goal than we usually are.  We also challenged our zone earlier this week to see who can talk to the most people.  We unfortunately didn't win the challenge, but together as a zone we talked to a lot more people than we usually do.  I love where it talks about talking to everyone in Preach My Gospel.  Everyone is a child of our Heavenly Father and he loves them just as he loves us. 

We have several people we are trying to work with and we have a great week ahead of us.  It's going to be another great week full of miracles.  We were able to teach a couple people around my age this week.  We taught them about the Book of Mormon and we were able to give it to them.  I just love being a missionary and being able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here and to be a missionary.  I know Jesus Christ is our Savior.  Thank you for all of your prayers and all that you do for me.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

March 9, 201

Dear family,

It has been another amazing week!  We saw quite a few miracles happen this week!  Hopefully I can remember everything.

This week we got a text from the bishop in the Higley Groves ward saying to give him a call.  When we called he told us that a young woman that has been attending the ward for about four years just received permission from her mother to be baptized.  She first started coming with her friend to youth activities and then started coming to church and she has been coming ever since.   She just hasn't been baptized because her mother wouldn't let her so she was just planning on doing it when she turned 18.  She is graduating this year and she wanted to be baptized before all her friends left for college so her mother agreed to let her be baptized a couple months early.  It's not everyday that the bishop call and gives you someone to teach.  We are hoping to encourage all the youth to invite their non member friends to the baptism. 

The mission has been doing another Book of Mormon read through, so most days we take 30 minutes to an hour to read from the Book of Mormon.  On Tuesday our morning went okay and after lunch we took the time to read the Book of Mormon.  Afterwards I remember feeling ready and excited to share the gospel with everyone feeling confident that we were going to find someone to teach.  We were driving to a referral that afternoon and as we turned into the neighborhood I saw a street and I felt that we needed to go there.  After we contacted the referral we started tracting on that street.  After we knocked on several doors we saw three teenagers on a doorstep.  We started talking to them and one of them ended up being a member.  We talked to them for a while and we ended up teaching them about the Book of Mormon.  At the end one of the non members took the Book of Mormon and we had a prayer with them.  Later that night we felt that we needed to stop by a family with over age youth.  We have tried this family several times before, but they were either not home or said come back.  That night when we stopped by the whole family was home.  We were able to have a lesson and all of the family members participated in the lesson.  The ward has been trying to work with this family for a while and we were able to teach them.  Reading the Book of Mormon that afternoon invited the spirit and we were able to find people to teach.  We had two unexpected lessons that day.  I have been thinking about the importance of the spirit in everything that we do especially as a missionary. 

Last p-day we had a super awesome zone activity!  We planned to play kick ball against another zone, but it ended up raining almost all day.  A lot of the missionaries wanted to play anyway.  I was hesitant at first because the baseball field was all muddy, but we did it anyway.  It turned out to be a lot of fun!  We did get muddy from running and some of us slipping in the mud.  It was great!

It great to be a missionary and I'm grateful for every day that I have to be here.  I'm excited to share the blessing of the restored gospel with everyone!  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

Love,
Elder Joshua Gandy

​

March 2, 2015

Dear family,

It has been another great week here!  I can't believe February is already over.  It went by really fast.  The last week of the month is always great because we have MLC (missionary leadership conference) and the last Thursday of every month is the choir fireside/performance.  We had a great MLC this week.  We had a former general authority come speak to us.  He was a general authority and was young men general president at one point in time.  I guess he is a good friend of President Nattress.  I can't remember how to spell his name or I would tell you his name. He was coming into town and Pres. Nattress asked him to come.  He taught us a lot of great stuff and told us stories about his mission.  One of the things he taught us was the consistent commitment creates conversion.  As a missionary we always need to be committed to do the Lord's work.  It's also true as we go through life. 

We had wonderful lesson with the over-age youth investigator and her mom this week.  We talked about eternal families.  We talked about all the blessing we have because of families.  We also talked about things we need to do to bless our families.  We talked about praying and reading scriptures together as families.  As we talked about families we could just see her face light up.  As we talked about how our families can be together forever, she was so excited.  It was a great lesson and the spirit was there as we talked about the importance of families.  They also came to the mission choir performance this week.  They really enjoyed it.  Afterwards we went to the reception area and showed her the baptismal font in that building.  They are really excited about their daughter's baptism. 

We had a lesson with another investigator.  He has been taught before, but something has always stopped him from progressing or meeting with the missionaries.  His wife is a member of the church and they have a couple of kids.  We went over to teach one of their kids that is approaching baptism age about baptism.  His dad was there and we were able to talk to him about baptism.  He knows he needs to be baptized and he is wants to set a date for his baptism the next time we meet with him.  We are going to have our next lesson on Wednesday. 

On Wednesday the missionaries in the Highland East stake put together a youth activity to invite all their friend to.  The activity was a dodge ball tournament.  It was a lot of fun, but it was a little crazy.  We were trying to get everyone's attention and organize the games.  It didn't work out to well, but the activity was successful and there was a great turn out from all of the wards.  There were also many non members there.  It's great to see the youth inviting their friends. 

At MLC Pres. Nattress asked the question "how has the restoration blessed your life?"  After he asked the question we probably talked about all the different blessing in our lives that we have because of the restoration for a while.  There are so many things we are blessing with because of the restoration.  We have the Book of Mormon, a prophet on the earth today, the priesthood authority, a greater knowledge of God's plan for us, and that our families can be together forever.  I'm so grateful for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ!  It's great to be a missionary.  Thanks for all your prayers.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

February 23, 2015

Dear family,

It has been an exciting week here in Gilbert!  Transfers were this week and my new companion is Elder Anderson from Ogden, Utah.  He has been out a little over a year.  I have had a lot of companions from Utah.  He went to Utah State before his mission and he is a big snowboarder.  I'm really excited to work with him.  We are going to see a lot of great things happen!

I've had a lot of great experiences this week.  It started with the baptism on Monday.  It was a little crazy because we were trying to get everything ready for Elder Rich to leave and get ready for the baptism.  Elder Rich literally had to leave right after he performed the baptism.  There was a priest in one of our wards that took him to the mission home while I stayed for the rest of the baptism.  The last time I saw him was when he was in the baptismal font.  It was a little crazy.  The baptism went really well though.  We taught the restoration while we were waiting for him to change.  We showed part of the restoration video.  The adversary knows that the first vision is the most powerful part of that lesson.  As soon as it was playing the part of the first vision on the video a thing popped up on the screen and someone's phone went off.  It's amazing all the distractions that can happen.  After the video I decided to re-teach the first vision without distractions and it definitely is powerful when you quote the first vision.  

It was interesting not having a companion for a day.  I ended up going with another missionary in the zone and we had a great day.  Monday evening we got a call from a missionary that returned from his missionary that morning.  He called us and told us to let him know if he could do anything for us.  I knew we had a couple lessons set up for the next day, so we invited him to come to those lessons with us.  We had some great lessons that night with him and the missionary I was with.  We were able to teach the over-age youth about missionary work and invited her to invite friends to her baptism.  We were also able to teach a less active family and invite them to come to church.  The spirit was definitely there in both of those lessons.  This returned missionary also took us to meet one of his friends.  It was cool to see this returned missionary still so excited to go do missionary work.  

On Wednesday we had transfer meeting and were trained by Pres. Nattress.  It is always a great training.  He is still focusing on these three works: Ask, Seek and Knock.  There are many different scriptures that talk about asking, seeking and knocking.  It is mentioned in the scripture about 120 times.

We were able to participate in a combined young mens and young womens activity for one of wards.  They invited all the missionaries in the stake (which is three companionships) to come teach the youth how to teach the restoration.  They learned how to teach this week and in a couple weeks they will go teach other families in the ward.  The youth seem so much more prepared than I was to go on a mission.  We were able to do role plays with them and show them how we teach.  It was a great experience.  

We also had a lesson with another investigator.  I have actually never taught him before.  The first time we taught him I was on exchanges, so I wasn't there.  He has expressed interest in being baptized and he has actually read the Book of Mormon a couple times.  As we taught about the Book of Mormon he said he knew he needed to start reading it again.  We invited him to start this week.  We have another lesson with him this week.  We had a lesson set up with a part member family that just moved in and is about to have a baby, but it ended up canceling.  He hope to meet with them soon.  There are some members that are also going to reach out to them and start fellowshipping them.  

We had a great lesson on Sunday.  Sunday started out being kind of a long day.  We got up early to go to a meeting at 7 and we had a busy morning trying to figure out another youth activity that some of the other missionaries put together.  It ended up being a little stressful.  We also had a lesson that evening with a member's friend that didn't go as well as we hoped.  Then we had one more appointment that evening with a less active member.  We have had many lessons with him and he just struggles to find his testimony.  It had been a long day and I didn't give much thought to what to teach him, but I felt we needed to teach him about the Holy Ghost.  We shared several scriptures about the role of the Holy Ghost and how we can recognize the Holy Ghost.  I don't remember what we asked him, but we were able to help him recognize an experience where he felt the spirit.   It was just earlier that day at church while he was listening to one of the talks in sacrament meeting.  Someone had talked about how spiritual questions deserve spiritual answers.  He told us how he felt when he heard that in church.  The spirit was very strong at the lesson.  I feel he now knows the role that the Holy Ghost plays in his conversion.  As it says in Moroni 10:5, it is by the Holy Ghost that we can know the truth of all things.  It was one of those experiences where I felt guided by the spirit to know what to say and what to teach.  I don't know for sure, but I think it was exactly what he needed to hear.  It was a long day with several different challenges, but I'm glad I continued to keep going and not give up.  I remember Pres. Porter (well I guess he is not president any more) always would teach us in seminary when things are hard there are blessing right around the corner waiting for us.

Feeling and recognizing the Holy Ghost is an essential part in gaining a testimony.  In Preach My Gospel there is this quote "Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke of the power of the Spirit: “True conversion comes through the power of the Spirit. When the Spirit touches the heart, hearts are changed. When individuals … feel the Spirit working with them, or when they see the evidence of the Lord’s love and mercy in their lives, they are edified and strengthened spiritually and their faith in Him increases. These experiences with the Spirit follow naturally when a person is willing to experiment upon the word. This is how we come to feel the gospel is true” (“Now Is the Time,”  Ensign, Nov. 2000, 75)."  It's amazing how we can all know the truth of the gospel for ourselves.  I know this is the Christ's church on the earth.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  I'm so grateful to be a missionary.  

Well this seems to be a little bit of a longer email.  I can't promise it will happen again.  I guess it makes up for the shorter email last week.  Thank you again for all of your prayers!  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

February 16, 2015

Dear family,

It has been another great week!  I'm sorry if this letter ends up being a little shorter.  Elder Rich is reporting to the mission office today, so there was a lot of packing and getting things done today.  I am staying in the area and I will find out on Wednesday who my new companion will be.  That also means that from this evening until Wednesday morning I will not really have a companion.  Tonight I will be with another missionary whose companion also reported to the mission office today and tomorrow I will most likely be in a trio with another companionship in the zone.  It will be fun!  

We have a baptism tonight!  Before baptisms I am always a little nervous just hoping everything is taken care of.  It is always nice when baptisms run smoothly.  We had a lesson with the over age youth this week.  They are doing well and are starting to plan her baptism.  We have another lesson with them this week.  We also had a great lesson with a recent convert that is being transitioned into the YSA ward.  He was baptized just a couple weeks ago in a family ward and will have the new member lessons in our singles ward.  He is an awesome convert and I'm excited to be able to teach him.  He is still excited to learn more about the gospel. We had a great lesson with him this week and we taught the restoration.  He will be receiving the priesthood and going to the temple soon.  

We set up a lesson with that part member family that I told you about.  When we went back to set up a lesson they were already thinking about a time that would work for them.  We are going to meet with them this week.  I'll let you know how it goes.  

I'm excited for this next week with transfers and the appointments that we already have set up.  We are also going to teach the youth in one of our wards this Wednesday for their combined youth activity.  We are going to teach them how to teach the restoration and then in a couple weeks they will go teach it to members in the ward.  It is always fun to work with the youth.  This week a youth invited two of his non member friends to dinner the same time they invited us over for dinner.  At the end we were able to share a message and invite his friends to read the Book of Mormon.  

Sorry I have to go set up for the baptism right now.  I'm so grateful for this chance to be a missionary.  I love the gospel of Jesus Christ!  The blessings of the gospel are truly amazing.  I know this is Christ's church.  Thank you for all of your prayers. I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy  

February 9, 2015

Dear family,

It has been another great week here in Arizona!  It seems like a lot has happened this week!  Hopefully I can remember everything. 

First, we were able to go to the temple with B. to do baptisms for the dead.  There was a group of about ten youth that went with him for his first time.  We were not able to stay the entire time, so we were not able to talk to him afterwards.  It sounds like he had a great experience.  Before we went to the temple we tried to find him a family name to take.  We had some difficulty with getting information about his relatives, so we were not able to find one, but the next time he goes he should be able to take some of his own family names.  

One of our investigators is going to be baptized next Monday.  It will be kind of strange to have a baptism on Monday, but I guess it will work.  That will be Elder Rich's last day, so it will probably be a busy day.  This week we were able to teach him about the priesthood and missionary work.  I'm glad that we teach that before his baptism, so that soon after he can receive the priesthood and go to the temple.  We're excited for him!  

We had a lesson with the over age youth this week and they decided on March 21st for her to be baptized.  Usually we try to do it sooner, but it is what works best for their family.  They are wanting family to come in town for the baptism.  Her grandfather  is coming to baptize her.  We were able to start teaching a less active part member family this week.  The father who is not a member has had a desire to be baptized, but hasn't been able to meet with us because of his work schedule. We are excited to start teaching them more.

We had a miracle this week that helps me know that we are being led to those that are prepared to receive the gospel.  We were visiting a member to follow up on one of their friends that we taught.  As we left we asked if there was anyone that they knew that we could do service for or that we could teach.  They jokingly pointed to one of their neighbors that they did not know.  I don't think they really thought we would go over there, but we did.  As we approached the door a older couple came out of the door and told us that they were busy right now.  The door was open and we could see that someone was still by the door.  The older couple left and we decided to talk to whoever was by the door.  There was a young couple that came to the door.  As we talked to them we found out that the husband is a less active member and the wife is not a member.  They recently moved in and nobody in the ward knew them yet.  They are also going to have a baby soon. The wife said they wanted to have their baby blessed, and asked if we could come and tell her more about how that works.  We hope to start teaching them soon!  The adversary might try to tell us not to reach out like the older couple did, but as we continue in faith we can see miracles.  I'm sure there are a lot of lessons to learn from this experience. 

We had several other great things happen this week.  We had our monthly meeting with the Val Vista stake presidency.  I always enjoy interacting and working with these great church leaders.  They are great examples to me.  I was also able to go on exchanges with a couple of elders in our zone.  I went on exchanges with Elder Bartlett and we went to my old area.  It was kind of strange.  We had a missionary coordination meeting that night and it was great to hear about some of the investigators and how they are doing.  During that exchange I was able to see a couple that we taught who have received a calling in the ward.  They teach the 9 and 10 year olds in primary.  I was really exciting to hear about that.  I also heard that another person I taught is going on a scout trip this summer with his step son.  We also had a lesson with M. and she has had some great experiences with feeling the spirit.  A lot of great things have happened this week.

I'm grateful to be a missionary.  In Pres. Nattress' weekly letter that he sends he mentioned the promise in the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 18: 14-15.  Being a missionary does bring us great joy.  It's amazing to see the gospel of Jesus Christ bless the lives of those around us.  I know this is Christ's church on the earth today and that we have the fullness of the gospel.  Thank you for all that you do for me.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much! 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy