Week 96 - The power of fasting is real my friends.

"Holdin' on my mission.

All the people that I'll be missin'.

Brother Blake, Todd and Ashley were so sincere.

One day we'll have no more fear.

Eye to eye at the bar, we will stay.

And He will say....

My son, thank you for your service.

You left to find a purpose.

To come back with no regret."

Hello. :D There's a song I wrote a couple nights ago while waiting for calls. It was a great week! From MLC, New Missionary Trainer meeting, and Spanish conference, it went super well and the Lord blessed us in all trainings. The power of fasting is real my friends.

Our MLC group!! 

First off, our mission is having a mission unity day on Jan. 1, 2015, aka  "MUD" (guess who came up with that one :D) the whole mission will be coming together to have a fun day of sports and crafts and a brief training. Can't wait! Another mission-wide thing we're doing is a mission fast on Dec. 21 so we can reach 500 baptisms by the end of the year. We're suuper close!! At MLC we offered the idea to do a fast and they all liked it. wootwoot!!

MLC was great! The Lord led us in our discussion. President Passey had to leave for about half of it due to some emergency stuff, so we conducted a good portion of it and gave a couple trainings. We're excited to attend some zone meeting's this week and see how they are all able to take it back to their zones!

Leticia is a recent convert who has come SUCH a long way. The Law of Chastity was a big change for her and her conversion, but now she's that much more close to God and really does have a special spirit about her. 

The New Missionary Training meeting also went well. It was fun to hear all their comments after 3 weeks of their missions gone by. Man, at 3 weeks out, it was a different experience in Demnation! boo yeah!

Getting some training done Monday night!!

Then we had the Spanish conference for 5 hours on Wednesday. Our mission president is fluent in Spanish, and it ran smoothly. Although I was the only missionary there that didn't know how to speak spanish, I could understand roughly 30% or so. I was able to make a couple comments when the spirit was hitting me hard, and they said it fit in very well with what was being said. The spirit is so powerful, whether you understand the language or not.

All the spanish speaking missionaries in the ATM....and me.

"When we invite members to do missionary work, we invite them to do the same work that unifies God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost." - Elder Petrungaro - we went on an exchange and had a very cool experience while campus contacting. After being rejected super hard core, we kept walking and found a girl on the bench that was doing a final. She has been interested in learning more about religion and was very interested in the message of the Restoration. It was inspired that we walked campus. Throughout the week, there's a lot of....non-church approved things happening on campus, but that's why you keep your eye single to the glory of God! Or else nothing will get done. There's a reason that not every missionary will serve on campus. Some days, loads of guys and girls (not modestly dressed....at ALL) load up on buses and go down to Mexico to get wasted for the weekend. It's pretty crazy serving on a campus of one of the biggest party schools in the nation, but there's still lots of people that need the gospel. This past week we experienced a protest that happened....luckily it didn't delay anything :D

Elder Hall my son! And Elder Gosper on the right. 

Just over a year ago, Elder Hall and I did an appointment with the Lord in East Tucson, with a member. We felt prompted specifically to knock on a door at the end of the street, for some strange reason. Well. We did!! We taught him and passed him off to YSA....guess what?? He was BAPTIZED OVER THE SUMMER!! Heck yeah!!! Oh man, it was so good to see him and how the gospel's had an effect on his life. Not much has come from tracting, but most of it comes later on.

James!!! Who we tracted into a year ago, was later baptized by the YSA missionaries!!

One night, Elder Dalling and I basketball contacted a chinese person (my brother would be proud). The next time we headed over for our appointment, and he wasn't there....fail....but 3 other chinese dudes were! We played a couple rounds of basketball and taught them briefly about Christ!! It was super fun, but they really can't understand much English...men. Spanish? Chinese? Let's go!!!!

So I might be singing in sacrament meeting next week...hmmm..

Last night, President called the next assistant. His name is Elder Teichert!! He will be my last companion of my mission for the next 7 week transfer, starting next week. He's a 3 time state champ. wrestler and is from a very small town. This week he'll be with us as we tackle down the transfer board with President in preparation for transfers next week. Can't believe it's almost here. This transfer was only 5 weeks long. Taking over an area, and now training a new assistant seems like a good challenge, but I'm excited to finish strong and see what miracles God has in store for us with other missionaries, investigators, and of course our incredible mission President. I know this church is true and that fasting helps us access the Atonement by putting forth our spirit in front of our bodies. I'm grateful for Elder Dalling and the things he has taught about leadership and ministering unto others. I have learned so much the past month, and am excited to learn more. The church is so true, and God is always good.

Merry Christmas!! Best time of the year. 

Where we're emailing! Sister Burns, the office secretary, made us scarfs! wootwoot

 D&C84:61 For I will forgive you of your sins with this commandment—that you remain steadfast in your minds in solemnity and the spirit of prayer, in bearing testimony to all the world of those things which are communicated unto you.

-Elder Hales