Mesa is Awsome!

Hola Familia Mia!

Today is November 16th and it is 80 degrees out at 10am. Where am I at in the world? Clearly the desert because I froze last night. Haha, well, I am loving the weather. It has not even settled in that I am nearing the Christmas Season. I am used to cold and wet and snowboarding signifying the approach of the holidays. Here, the only clue I have is that slowly the temple grounds are being laced with lights of many colors. I am getting WAY excited for temple lights because on New Years Eve, the missionaries of the Phoenix and Mesa missions all get together to sing in a missionary choir. I know this next transfer is probably the last for Blake Davis so I am hoping to see him there at the temple lights sometime. I also hope to see Tyler Oliver and I think Derek Wood should be out in the field now, no? It would be so awesome to have a bethany ward/cedar mill stake missionary reunion at the temple! My companion and I are going to try and be at the temple every night with an investigator. The spirit on the temple grounds is so strong. I wuss up and usually end up crying by the time I leave every time.

As for the Family that sent you the email with the picture, they are the Cruz Family. Mom, Alizia, goes by Dora. Then you have dad, who is a truck driver looking for more steady work, and three kids named Samira, Alondra, and Anthony. Every one is a member in the family except for Anthony, the 12 year old boy. Elder Williams and I are in the process of teaching and preparing him to be baptized so that his family can be sealed. During weekly planning last week, Elder Williams and I felt inspired to set a date with Anthony for December the 25th. He was hesitant when we told him, but we know he will be ready by then. He knows everything is true and all, but he can not grasp that sin is sin whether you are baptized or not. We are planning on teaching him about how once you are baptized you recieve the Holy Ghost, which can be a help and a guide to keep you from falling into sin. His hold back is that when he turns 21, he wants to be able to drink...he thinks it is cool. It ultimately comes down to a matter of he has terribly awful friends as his influences.

Apart from this, this saturday two of our investigators are being married and baptized! They are so ready it is nuts. We went to the temple with them one last time as investigators sunday night and it was so exciting to tell them that in one year, they could be inside as an entire family and sealed for all eternity. The Husband, Moises, really grasped this and he wants nothing more. He is going to be a powerful member of the Church. The wife is still learning, but her entire countanance has changed since we began teaching her. She is happy, she talks, she reads, and best of all she makes us tamales! She has cooked us tons of food and she is good at it. The only issue is that she LOOOOOOVES spice. I always suffer in the bathroom the day after eating her food. I love it though!

For turkey day, a single lady (wealthy as all get out) has offered to feed all of the missionaries in our zone. So, it sounds like I should be getting a fairly traditional thanksgiving here. Probably just mass production style. This will be good because mexican thanksgiving is pretty rediculous from what I hear. They don't eat turkey, they don't eat pie. They have some drink that is baiscally like a bean smoothie. I hope I can avoid that one. I have not grown to like beans quite that much yet! You can all rest assured, I will be well fed and quite comfortable on thanksgiving day! Also, we start Christmas lights that day! YEAH! (If you can not tell, I am way excited...)

Stake conference was EXCELLENT! The Presiding Bishop, Sister Thompson (Gen. Relief Society), Elder Cook, and President Monson spoke. All of our investigators, recent converts, and life long members loved President Monson's talk. He spoke on serving others regardless of economic status, race, belief, habits, etc. I think this message was well needed for the members of my ward. Member retention in the Liahona 4th ward is pretty poor. Of 38 baptized last year, 17 are still active. 7 of those just moved to New Mexico. Home Teaching is below 25% and yeah, I could go on. I think that this was a sincere kick in the pants to our members and I have faith that things are about to change!
Sister Thompson's talk was fantastic, too! She spoke on the need of the Book of Mormon and how one is able to gain their own personal testimony of it's truthfulness. For our investigators, this was pure GOLD! One investigator, Guadalupe was really effected by this I think.

We taught a lesson with her last night and we read from Moroni Chapter(s) 7 and 10. Essentially, we are guiding her along the path to know that the Book of Mormon is from God. She loves the Book, but she just needs an answer before being baptized. She also will need to marry her husband or leave him. I would kind of hope for the latter because he is abusive and a drunk. There is a divorced, single man in our ward who is a recent convert to the Church. Armando Lopez. Elder Williams and I think they should pair up, but that is not our job as missionaries so we will allow Guadalupe to make her own decisions in that respect!

Dad! That one investigator I wanted to drop, Rick, came to Stake Conference and he love, love, loved it! We taught him also yesterday and he is actually progressing now! He said he loves the feeling of our church and he has an earnest desire to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He says, "The hardest thing for me to swallow right now is the story of Mr. Smith (Joseph Smith). Before I make any promises I need to gain a belief in what happened with him." When he said this, I just smiled. He is finally realizing what he needs to do to be able to find more happiness in life and more faith in Christ. We re-taught him the restoration and it actually made sense to him this time. He is a man of details so to explain the apostasy we had to teach him the whole history of the Catholic Church coming to power thtough constantine and such and then the reformation breaking ground for the restoration. Teaching in such depth really strengthened my testimony of the restoration. It is so clear that the world was being prepared for it. It is SO CLEAR!


All I heard from was my loyal and dear mother this week! Also from Grandma Sharon. I hope the rest of you are all doing well and enjoying yourselves. Know that I miss you and love you. Also, know that my mission is changing me as a person. Daily I find new faults and weaknesses that I am forced to improve. This mission is the greatest blessing ever to me, and I know that it is blessing you all as well! I love you and pray for you. Be happy, be safe, have fun, and go snowboarding for me! I miss you, but I don't want this to end! I NEED to be here!

With all my love,

Elder Jonathan Alma Pearson

(posted By Maddy)