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.

 

January 6, 2013

Dear family,

 

It's been another great week!  It's weird to think it's already 2014.  On New Years Eve we went in at 6 and studied.  It was a pretty normal day on new years eve and new years.  We had interviews so we got a little training from Pres Nattress.

 

We taught one of our investigators  several times this week.  She really wants to serve and learn more about the gospel.  The ward is finding ways that she can serve.  She always tells us about how much she loves coming to church.  She is doing really well, but she doesn't want to commit to a date to be baptized.  We also taught another investigator who has a great desire to serve and be baptized.  Every time I meet with them I'm always amazed at how well they have been prepared to accept the gospel at this time.  Yesterday we met a recent convert that moved in a while ago but decided to come to church for the first time.  We hope to work with him and help him stay active in the gospel.  We also have several potentials that we are working with.  There have not been a lot of exciting events this week, but we continue to learn and we see miracles every day.

 

We are really excited for this coming week!  We are going to the multi-mission conference with Elder Holland on Saturday and the director of proselyting is coming to tour our mission for a couple days. 

 

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

 

Love,

Elder Gandy

December 30, 2013 Happy New Year!

Dear family,

 

It has been a wonderful week with Christmas!  We had a wonderful Christmas.  I guess I didn't really tell you what I did on Christmas when I called, and if I did I'll tell you again.  They moved p-day to Christmas so it was just a really relaxing day full of food.  We went to one of our ward mission leaders home in the morning.   They fed us breakfast.  Then we went to the Dilles and called and they fed us lunch.  Then we went to another members home for dinner.  After that we went to the church and watched a movie with our zone.  It has been a great Christmas season.  I thought that this past week it would be really hard to catch people at home because everyone would be busy.  It turns out we have been able to talk to more less actives, members, part member families, and investigators than usual.  We were able to talk to some people that we have been trying to contact for a couple weeks.  December is an awesome month to be a missionary!

 

One of our investigators has been sick for almost two weeks now, but she has been feeling better the past couple days and made it to church yesterday.  She is doing very well and is on date to be baptized on the 11th.  All of our investigators are doing really well and progressing in the gospel.  We also have a couple really great potential investigators.  There are some people that have asked us to come back after the holidays when they are not busy, so we are really excited for this next week when we can talk to them.  

It is amazing to see how we are guided and put in the right place at the right time.  Sometimes we don't always notice the perfect timing.  This week we stopped by our ward mission leader's home just when a recent convert, who we have been trying to contact, also came over.  We passed by a less active member's home just as he was taking his trash in from the street.  We stopped to check our mail and ran into another less active member also checking her mail.  There are so many more experiences I could also tell you.

 

I have also been thinking about when you asked me what we do all day, and I think I forgot to mention one major thing we always try to do.  If we don't have investigators, less actives, or recent converts to teach, we teach members.  This not only helps us improve our teaching, but we hope to inspire the members to do missionary work.  As they bear their testimonies about the gospel it builds their desire to share it.  The best way we can find people to teach is through the members.  We were talking to one of the counsellors in the stake presidency and I realized something about our area.  I realized that in our one square mile area we have three wards and several hundred active members.  I guess I already knew that, but I didn't realize how many members we have to work with compared to other areas in the world.  Our wards are doing great at fellowshipping our investigators and opening their homes for lessons. 

 

I have some exciting news that we found out this week.  Elder Holland is coming to speak to the Mesa, Scottsdale, and Gilbert missions on the 11th!  I'm so excited to hear him speak!  It's also getting closer and closer to the open house!  I'm sure I have already said this before, but it is an exciting time here in Gilbert!

 

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

 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

December 16, 2013

Dear family,

 

So I'm staying for another transfer in the Highland East stake so my address will stay the same.  We will find out on Wednesday if our area is staying the same.  We are thinking we might lose a ward and go down to two wards.  I'll let you know what happens next week.   

We have a really exciting week ahead of us.  We have transfer meeting on Wednesday and a mission temple trip and Christmas conference on Thursday.  I believe we are going to be taking a picture of the whole mission in front of the Gilbert temple after transfer meeting.

 

We had another great week!  One of our investigators is doing very well and is very prepared for baptism.  She came to the ward Christmas party and the ward is fellowshipping her very well.  She is still on date to be baptized on the 28th.  I'm glad I'm going to be staying for that.  We were also able to have a lesson with our other investigator and his less active girlfriend.  They are planning on getting married in March and they want to be sealed in the temple.  The ward has also fellowshipped them very well.  

We have several potentials that we are working with and hope to start teaching soon.  We also taught our recent converts a new member discussion and taught them about the temple.  Everyone is so excited for the open house.  I can't wait to go see the inside.

 

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

 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

 

December 9, 2013

Dear family,

 

It's been another great week!  It's actually starting to get a little cold.  When we left our apartment this morning around 10:00 it was around 40 degrees.  It has also been interesting to see people covering their plants with blankets so they don't freeze.  

We also had a zone conference this week.  It's always great to be taught by President Nattress and the assistants.  I learned a lot from this zone conference and I'm excited to apply everything that I've learned.

 

The missionary work is still going great in our area.  We got a new investigator in one of our wards that we have another lesson with this week.  She just moved into the area and is friends with one of the members.  She also has a son who is around 10 so hopefully we will get to teach both of them.  The investigator I told you about last week is doing great and she is getting so close to being ready for baptism.  Another one of our investigators is also doing well and they love coming to church.  We were able to have seven lessons this week and five of them were with members.  We were also able to show the temple presentation to a non member for the first time.  It also looks like we are going to be able to show another one tonight.  I'm really excited to go to the open house!

 

We found out this week that Dawn, who was baptized in November, is already doing missionary work.  She has been out of town visiting family right now and has been receiving the new member discussions with the missionaries there.  Her family has been sitting in on the lessons and have been asking questions.  Her mother and brother also came to church with her yesterday.

 

Just to let you know that this Sunday is transfer calls, so I'll let you know next week what is happening. 

 

Thanks for all your prayers!  Love you all so much!

 

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy