November 24, 2014

Dear family,

Guess what!?  I found out that I am going to be transferred!  I've been in this area since the beginning of February, so it is going to be a little hard to leave.  It has been an amazing area to serve in, and I have had many great experiences.  I have seen a lot of growth in the work and in myself.  I'm excited to find out where my next area is going to be!  I have only served in the northwest part of the mission.  This area and my last area were only a mile apart.  I will find out on Wednesday so next week I will let you know what happens.  

We had some great lessons this week.  We taught the investigator who has officially moved now.  We were hoping he would be willing to meet with missionaries after he moved.  During the lessons he was asking us about how he could meet with the missionaries in his new area.  I think sending a referral is just as exciting as receiving one.  Hopefully those missionaries will be able to meet with him soon.  We also had a lesson with a less active family this week.  It was a great lesson and we were able to help them apply scriptures to them.  Hopefully we can help them come to church soon.  They just moved in so nobody really knows them.  

We had some great lessons with members this week.  After dinner and occasionally when we don't have a busy night we teach members a short lesson and invite them to do missionary work.  It is amazing the spirit that comes into the room as you teach others about the restoration, member or non member.  We taught another lesson to some youth that we have been working with.  There is a 12, 10, and two 8 year olds.  It can be quite challenging to keep them interested and quiet.  We brought some pictures and used that plan of salvation puzzle you gave to me a while ago.  It went really well and we were able to teach the plan of salvation in 10 to 15 minutes.  The kids were asking all kinds of questions.  It was really fun to teach them and help them understand those basic principles that we learned in primary.  

We also had someone go over and help a couple who are recent converts get started on their family history.  We tried to help, but we were not too much help.  After that they sound really excited to do their family history.  We hope that they will have a couple names to take to the temple really soon.

We did another service project on Saturday.  We actually helped at the marathon that we helped get ready for last week.  We were along the route and cheering people on and making sure everyone was doing okay.  We also helped clean up afterwards.  The person who started the marathon was actually my ward mission leader in my last area.  He does it to raise money for shade covers over play grounds at schools to help prevent skin cancer. 

Thinking about Christmas, the church is doing something really excited for this Christmas season.  They are coming out with something called He is the Gift initiative.  They are coming out with a video that will be advertised on the main page on youtube and in time square in New York.  We are also getting pass along cards for it.  When you get the Ensign in December there will be something about it in there and it will also include some of those pass along cards.  We had a meeting this week how we are going to use it in our missionary work for the next month.  You will have to look at the video on Christmas.mormon.org and share it with others!

I'm excited to be a missionary at this time of the year.  It is a great time to teach people about the joy that comes as we live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thanks for all that you do for me.  I'm grateful for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!  

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

November 17, 2014

Dear family,

It has been another fantastic week!  The Phoenix temple dedication was this weekend.  The cultural celebration was on Saturday and on Sunday we were able to go to the dedication.  The dedication was great and there were some great talks given.  The cultural celebration and dedication was really cool.  

On Sunday evening we had the choir concert.  There was a great turn out.  The chapel was full and they had chairs set up in the gym.  All of the missionaries in the district had a couple of people come.  M and S came with their fellowship and we had a couple of potentials come.  There were several people from my last area that I also saw there.  There were a lot of people there that I haven't really taught, but people that I have met or know.  Some I have taught on exchanges with other missionaries or have heard all about from the other missionaries.  As I was sitting in the choir waiting for the fireside to start I was noticing all these different people and how their lives have been changed.  They are not all members yet, but they have felt or soon will feel the blessings and the peace and joy that comes through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  It turned out to be a great night and everyone was telling us how much they enjoyed it.  

We had a couple of lessons this week.  We taught a part member family this week that moved in a couple of months ago.  The dad is not a member, but the son is.  When we first met the dad a while ago I thought he was a member just by the way he was talking to us.  We hope to start teaching them some more.  We had a lesson with the investigator that is moving this week.  We had a great lesson about prayer and scripture study.  He was also telling us about how this is really something that he is wanting to do.  He actually was asking us how he can contact the missionaries when he moves.  

We also had a lesson with M and S.  They are still really wanting to find out more about our common ancestor.  They have a cousin who knows a lot about their family history and they want us to get together with the cousin to figure it out.  The cousin is not a member and lives in my last area.  I actually met this cousin before I met them.  Some interesting connections.  We also got a new investigator this week and he committed to read the Book of Mormon.  Hopefully we can start teaching him.

We did a couple service projects this week too.  We helped the mission office organize boxes full of invitations to the Mesa temple Christmas lights.  A large group of missionaries also helped get ready for a marathon next week.  We helped put together a bag for each runner so we helped put together around a thousand bags.

It is great to be a missionary!  It has been a huge blessing to help and see others come unto Christ and accept the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

November 10, 2014

Dear family,

It has been another great week here in this area.  There have been some exciting things happen this week.  Hopefully I can remember everything.

The first and most exciting thing is that we went to the temple with R. this week!  We went on Friday afternoon and one of his fellowships came with us.  We were not allowed to do baptisms with him, but we were able to go and watch.  We were able to explain to him what was going on and answer his questions.  He had an amazing experience!  On the ride back he was telling us how great it felt.  He told us that every time he came out of the water he was excited to see what the next name would be.  He was also asking questions about being sealed as a family.  He is really excited about that.  He just did temple names, but he wants to do his family history and start doing his family names.  Hopefully we can find someone in the ward that can come and help him get started and help him along the way. 

We also had a mission choir performance on Thursday.  The idea behind this one was to teach the Restoration through song.  So we sang songs about the different principles in that lesson.  There were different group numbers, solos, and they showed some short Mormon messages.  I ended up being in a quintet.  We didn't have that much practice time, but it went well.  We had an investigator come and a less active member come.  They really enjoyed it.  The less active member enjoyed it so much that she told us that we have to tell her about the next one.  We are going to do the same program again next Sunday and then we will do a Christmas one in December.

The investigator that came to the choir performance lives in the same apartment complex as us and she just recently moved her from Michigan (She doesn't like the cold).  She is an older single lady and some people call her grandma cookie.  I probably already mentioned her before in another letter.  She went to the Phoenix temple open house.  We were able to teach her the first lesson this week.  Unfortunately, I was on exchanges that day, but I heard it went great!  

I think I also mentioned in a previous letter that there are many foreigners that live in the same apartment complex as us.  They are here for flight school and come from all parts of the world.  I guess Arizona has cheap pilot training and perfect weather.  We talked to a man from China this week and he wanted to come to church.  We gave him a pamphlet (we happened to have one in Chinese) because there was a little bit of a communication barrier.  Well they came to church this Sunday!  Luckily there is a member that went to Taiwan on his mission and was able to communicate with them a little bit.  They want to come back next week so hopefully there is some way that they can be taught.  I believe there is an elder in the mission that lived in Taiwan and can teach them in Chinese.   

The members are starting to ask me if the mission president forgot I was here.  There have been some snow birds coming back from their summer homes and wondering if I have left and come back.  Most of them say I am just never going to leave and now I'm just a part of the ward.  I would be all right with that.

I love being a missionary and all the amazing miracles that we see in this amazing work!  I'm grateful for this opportunity that I have to be here.  I know that Christ lives and is our Savior.  It is an incredible blessing to know that. 

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

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

November 3, 2014

Dear family,

It has been an amazing week!  I can't believe it is November!  This is when the really nice weather starts to happen.  As soon as October was over the weather has been practically perfect.  Except for the fact that I am use to the warm weather and I get cold really easily now.  Last night as we were riding our bikes I was getting a little cold and Elder Bartlett could not understand why I was getting cold.  For the next several months the weather is going to be great!

We had zone conference this week which is always great.  There are so many things to learn from those meetings.  I wish you could have just been there to hear the training because me explaining it wouldn't be as great.  Pres. Nattress is a great teacher and tells us about things he has learned from the apostles.  During his training he would say things like "Elder Scott teaches this really well." and "I heard Elder Ballard say..."  

We also had stake conference this weekend.  The Saturday evening session was about the work of salvation and there were some great talks given.  They had a wide variety of talks about inviting neighbors, preparing to go on a mission, senior missions, and going to the temple.  Also they asked one of our recent converts to speak and tell his conversion story.  It was really neat to hear him tell his story.  At the beginning he talked about how he was never really a spiritual kind of person and he told how he began to recognized Heavenly Fathers hand in his life.  It was also really cool to hear him bear his testimony at the end.  I think a lot of the members enjoyed his talk.  We are hoping to take him to the temple soon to do baptisms for the dead.  

The Sunday morning session was also amazing.  The first half hour of the conference the stake president spoke and they did the stake business.  The next hour and a half was a broadcast from Salt Lake to 97 stakes in Arizona.  A seventy, a counselor in the general young women's presidency, Elder Christofferson and Pres. Uchtdorf spoke.  They gave some really amazing talks.  Elder Christofferson talked about being truly converted and Pres. Uchtdorf talked about the temple and having a temple recommend.  He compared the temple recommend interview to a pre flight check list.  The whole stake conference was great.  Our 94 year old investigator came Saturday night and Sunday morning.  It sounded like she enjoyed it!  

We went to the temple on Halloween like I mentioned last week.  We were there from 4 to 9.  We were able to do baptisms and confirmations, sealing children to their parents and a session.  We were also able to do the baptizing.  It was a awesome experience.  It was the best Halloween.  It didn't feel like we were there for 5 hours and I wanted to stay longer. 

We had some lessons this week even though it was really busy.  We taught a family with some young kids the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is always fun to teach kids, but it sure can be a little challenging.  We also had a great lesson again with one of our investigators who is moving in a week or two.  We had a great lesson with him and we showed a Mormon message that was perfect for him. He said he was waiting for an answer to his prayers so we were able to talk to him about how God answers our prayers.  I was also able to do a baptismal interview this week for a 9 year old.  That is always fun!  

We also had a couple experiences this week that showed me how important it is to follow the spirit and rely on the spirit to show us where to go.  This truly is God's work and he wants to help us with it.  We were walking in our apartment complex and we were on our way to an appointment and we passed by someone that was waiting for a ride.  We were late to our appointment, but I felt we really needed to go back.  I kept of thinking about how we were late, but after a few more steps we decided to go back.  We talked to the person and got their number.  They would go to the YSA ward so we wouldn't teach them, but I'm glad we went back.  Yesterday night we had a half hour left before we needed to go inside and we had four people that we could stop by that lived in the apartment complex.  We decided to pray and we both felt like we needed to stop by one of them.  We knocked on his door and he was just getting ready for bed, so we didn't talk to him very long.  As we were walking away we ran into another one of the people we prayed about.  We were able to follow up with him on his Book of Mormon reading.  He didn't have a lot of time to talk either so we went by another name we prayed about.  They weren't home so we went to the last name and we ran into him walking his dog and he told us to stop by soon.  By the time we talked to him it was time to go in.  So in a half hour we were able to talk to 3 of the 4 people we prayed about and two of them we ran into outside.  Now if we didn't go in that order we probably would have missed most of them.  

I'm so grateful to be a missionary!  It really is an amazing experience and I'm enjoying every minute of it.  It's not always easy of course, but it is amazing all the things that we learn.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

P.P.S Tell Hunter and Tayler thank you for the drawings!

 

October 27, 2014

Dear family,

It has been another great week here and there are some exciting things coming up.  This Saturday both of our wards had their fall festival and trunk or treat.  There was a great turn out and several non members were at both of them.  There were some investigators and friends of some of the members.  Since they were both on the same night at the same time we had to go to half of one and half of the other.  It was kind of difficult to talk to everyone since we didn't have as much time.  We were still able to talk to most of the non members that came.  On Sunday I sang in sacrament meeting in the Crystal Shores ward and Pres. Nattress came to the Emerald Bay ward and did the third hour lesson for all the adults and youth.  It was really cool!  He showed a video about someone and asked the ward member what they would teach the person and I was asked to write the responses on the chalk board.  I don't write very well on chalk boards so hopefully it didn't look too bad.  

This week we had some great lessons.  We have a couple of investigators that we are working with right now.  We taught one of them the plan of salvation and about baptism and he has a great desire to be baptized.  Unfortunately he is living in our area temporarily and we don't know how long he will stay.  We also taught another investigator who is currently living with his sister and brother-in-law who are members.  We had a great lesson about prayer and it was amazing the spirit in the lesson as his family bore their testimony to him.  Unfortunately he is moving in two weeks.  Don't worry not all of our investigators are moving.  Our 94 year old investigator, who has been taught for quite a while now is starting to come to all three hours of church.  She has come for all three hours two weeks in a row.  Her fellowship has started to read the Book of Mormon with her too.  I believe they have read the first 22 pages so far and she is really enjoying it.  I really want to be here when she is baptized.  That would be really cool!

I went on exchanges with one of the elders in the district this week.  We had a great day!  Things seemed to work out perfectly.  In the morning we had plans to invite a couple potentials to the fall festival but we ran out of invitations so we had to change our plans.  Instead we went to help our 94 year old investigator change a porch light and we ended up meeting her neighbor who was talking to a member that lives across the street and we had a great conversation with them.  Later the non-member neighbor went inside while we were still talking with the member.  Then he came back out and offered to take us to lunch.  I wasn't really expecting that and I don't think a non-member has ever taken us out to lunch before.  We had a great visit with him and talked about his family and the church at lunch.  The next day he went to the Phoenix temple open house with the members across the street.  Hopefully we get to start teaching him soon.  

Later that day we also taught one of the flight students from England that lives in our apartment complex.  It was really cool because the elder I was on exchanges with is from England.  He said it was nice to hear an English accent again.  That night we only had enough time to go see one more person and we were about to go to another potential, but we felt we needed to go visit this flight student instead.  We had a great lesson with him and he was really gratefully that we came and taught him about the church.  He wants to go to the temple open house, but I don't know if they will be able to make it with their school schedule.

We were able to teach some members the Restoration this week.  I really love teaching that lesson.  I remember when I was in my first area being trained and we taught a lot of the members the Restoration.  It is amazing how powerful the spirit is when you teach about Joseph Smith and quote the first vision.  It's amazing!

This week is going to be amazing!  We have zone conference on Wednesday which I always look forward to.  On Friday for Halloween, they don't really want us outside at all.  Last year we just went to a members house and watched a movie as a zone, but this year we get to go to the Gilbert temple and spend the night there!  We are only able to do a session when we go once a transfer, but this time we might be able to do baptisms depending on how many temple workers are there.  We also have stake conference this next weekend.  I'm excited!

Things are going well and I love being a missionary!  Thank you for all of your prayers!  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy

 

One of the members e-mailed  this photo of Joshua and his companion at the ward Halloween party.  With this comment:  Elder Gandy is at our ward Halloween party tonight. He is an awesome missionary and a great example of a disciple of Christ!

October 20, 2014

Dear family,

It has been another great and busy week!  We had some great lessons this week and found a couple people to teach!  Some of them came to church and we have a couple of them wanting to be baptized.  Doesn't get much better than that!  

We found a family in the apartments in the ward and we were able to meet with them twice this week and they came to church.  We're not quite sure if they are going to stay there too long, but hopefully they will stay.  We were also able to meet with a family that we have been trying to work with for a while now.  The parents are inactive but the kids want to come to church.  We stopped by this week to teach them a lesson and we talked to the dad for a little bit.  He was telling us all about his mission and the different experiences he had.  It was great that we were able to talk to him and help him remember those experiences and miracles he saw on his mission.  He told us about how important prayer was on his mission.  It was cool to hear him basically bear his testimony.  After talking to the dad, we taught them the restoration and had pictures and showed the restoration video for the kids.  It turned out great!  The kids really want to come to church and the dad knows they need to start coming back.  

We also taught a lady who was taught by the missionaries about a year ago.  For one reason or another she stopped taking the lessons, but her fellowship still stayed in contact with her.  After many conversations with her fellowship this past year, she decided to take the lessons again and she committed to be baptized!  She has come to church the past two weeks with her kids and she is really prepared and ready.  When we had the lesson she was telling us about how she has been searching her entire life and feels that she has found it.  We have another lesson with her this week. 

So something happened this week that I never imagined would ever happen.  We had a lesson with L. last Monday.  We teach the lessons again after they are baptized to help them continue to learn, so we taught the restoration and we had a member of the ward come with us.  It was a good lesson and we ended with a prayer.  After we all stood up from our seats, L. said he had a question except it wasn't for us.  Then he turned to the sister in the ward that he has been dating and got on one knee and proposed!  They are getting married.  I never thought someone would propose after one of our lessons.  It was an interesting experience.  

We also had transfer meeting this week.  I'm glad that even when we don't get transferred we get together as a mission and basically have a small mission conference.  We also had a new missionary meeting for Elder Bartlett.  At the end of your first and second transfer you go to this meeting where the assistants give trainings.  So all the trainers go along.  More opportunities to learn!

We have another great week ahead of us.  Hopefully many lessons and both of our wards are having their fall festivals this week so hopefully we will get many people there! 

It has been a great week and I've learned a lot.  It's great to be a missionary!  I'm truly grateful that I have this opportunity.  Thanks for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy 

October 13, 2014

Dear family,

Well last week was the last week of the transfer and we got transfer calls last night!  I'm staying again!  This will be my seventh transfer here and it will be about ten months in this area.  Usually when you train you stay together for two transfers so I'm not too surprised that I'm staying.  It is a great area and I have a great district so I'm glad that I get to stay!  This means I will also be here for the fall festivals the wards are having and thanksgiving next month.

So this week we saw Meet the Mormons!  It was great!  I really enjoyed it and the different stories that were told in it.  We gathered together as a couple of zones and watched it in a stake center.  As missionaries we are not allowed to go to the theater to see it of course.  We are actually not even allowed to be around the theaters that have it playing.  So I'm glad that we were able to see it.  We started talking to someone on the street this week after the movie came out and the member that lived across the street came over and joined the conversation.  The member brought up that he saw the movie and the non member mentioned that he saw a trailer and that he wanted to go and see it.  I heard of a couple other members who invited their friends to go see it and their friends wanted to go. It is so cool that people are wanting to see it.  It is a great movie to invite people to go and see.  As missionaries we can only invite investigators and less actives.  While it is in theaters we can talk about it on the street only if they ask us about it.  So we are hoping the members invite their friends and talk to people about it!

We started teaching another person this week!  He is the brother to one of the members in the ward.  He has a couple siblings that are members and he is wanting to learn.  I'm excited to teach him, but he is moving in a month so hopefully he will want to continue to meet with missionaries when he moves.  In the apartments that we live in there are a lot of people from all over the world that come to a flight school here.  It's kind of cool to be able to share the gospel with people from all over the place.  This week I was able to give a couple pamphlets out in Chinese.  That was pretty cool!

The Phoenix temple open house just started this week so that is another exciting thing happening.  We can go if we go with an investigator, so I'm not quite sure if we will be able to go.  We will be able to see the dedication in November so that is exciting! 

We were able to teach the restoration several times this week to multiple people and it is our unique message to the world and it is amazing!  It's great to know that we have prophets on the earth today and that this is the church of Jesus Christ.  It is a great blessing to have the fullness of the Gospel.  I'm so grateful to be a missionary.  I continue to learn so much each day. 

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

Love,

Elder Joshua Gandy