Hey Fam!
I am indeed quite jealous of you all and your snowy adventures. It has been really cold and dark here. Some days it almost feels like I am in Oregon. It is alright though, I know the mountains will still be there two winters from now. As for the hot wax, I do it about every 5-6th time that I go to the mountain. It also depends on which wax you are using on the skis/boards. The higher quality, flourinated wax holds up longer and is faster.
We have a baptism coming up this Sunday. It is a little girl named Estrella (Star) who has been ready for a long time, her mom would just not sign the sheet until she was behaving a little better. She did such and now we have a baptism this week! WOOOOT! It has been a long time coming. Her dad is progressing and I believe that soon he will be entering the waters of baptism, too.
Moises and Graciela still have not recieved Graciela's birth certificate. They are awaiting that and we are planning on doing the wedding/baptism on Christmas day. So, we should have a total of three baptisms on Christmas. With talking to you, a wedding, and a 3 baptisms, this will assuredly be the best Christmas I have ever had. Nothing makes me happier than seeing lives change. Something sad did happen yesterday with Moises and Graciela. She was 2.5 months pregnant, but she lost the baby yesterday. She fasted on Sunday and I really hope that that did not have anything to do with the misscarriage.
The Mesa Temple pageant is indeed at easter time. This time is year is just all of the lights, and then every night a choir performs for about an hour on a stage right in front of the temple. It is a pretty powerful performance most of the time. We spent 3-4 nights there in the last week.
Thanks for keeping me up to date with all of the other missionaries. Any idea how Sawyer is doing in the Carribean? I would love to hear an update on him. I am really glad to be here in Mesa. There is an incredible member support system here that I doubt is in any other mission outside of Utah. In fact, I am 100% sure of that. Why you may be asking? Well, do I have a story for you all.
Satuday night we went to teach two brothers, Angel and Martin. They are 19 and 25 respectively and work as axmen at a tree cutting company. There boss is a member in an english ward, but he served in Chile 40 years ago. We met Hno. King (boss) over at there house on Ingram Street. This is by far the roughest part of Mesa. There are shootings and robberies that happen there nightly. I hate being on this street at night. Well, out appointment was at 8pm, well after dark. We show up, lock up our bikes to the chain link fence pole, and head on in to teach. We teach and INCREDIBLE lesson. They really grasped why we needed a Restoration and why they needed to read the Book of Mormon. They committed to reading and praying. Next step is getting them to Church. We were so excited after the lesson. We left the house laughing and smiling. Then, Brother King chatted with us for a while. Then he asked, "So, where's you put your bikes?"...............yeah. Well, I turned around and looked at the pole where we had locked the bikes. They were gone. The had yanked to fence pole out of the ground and clipped the chain link fence. Both of our bikes were stolen. Gone. I was furious. I still am a little furious. I had no idea what we were going to do. That was like $500 worth of my stuff, GONE!
Well, the miracle of mesa is that the next day at Church Bro. King asked around about getting us some bikes to use in the meantime. The Elders Quorum President of his ward said he had a bike he never used sitting in his garage. Brand new, never ridden. He gave it to me. A Trek 820 ST. I mean, it is nothing incredible fancy, but it is a Trek so it is of pretty admirable quality. I have a bike. The issue is that it has awful tires. I popped both already in one day. I am going to a bike store later today to buy a set of higher quality tires and thicker tubes. A terrible situation was covered by a miracle. I could have been set back $100's of dollars. But, a member pulled through and Elder Williams and I once again have bikes. It does amaze me how desperate those thieves were that they essentially took down a fence for the bikes. Angel and Martin said people have often stolen their washer and dryer out of their DEADBOLTED shed in the back of their house. Ingram is just the worst street in Mesa. It would take a steel cage to not have a bike taken I guess...but all is well now!
I am in the process of trying to catch up on writing everyone that has written me.
My greatest joy of the last week comes in the form of that we had members in 14 of 21 lessons! 67% with members present is so good! It helps our investigators out so much. One thing you could do is ask the elders when you could go out and teach with them. It really does not hurt your image in the community, it helps it. It also helps to accomplish the three needs of every recent convert. A friend, and assignment, and the nourishment of the good word of God. Do those things and be a part of those things as much as you can! The best members that come out to teach with us are all of those who have kids on missions. They rock!
Overall this last week was incredibly humbling. I prayed daily that the Lord would bless me with patience and humility. As my bike was stolen, I can honestly say that the Lord blessed me with that trial. I could have just given up and called it quits when a ton of my money just went missing. I could have just quit trying. But, every time those thoughts crossed my mind, the Spirit inspired me of how to cope with my challenge. Right when I noticed the bike was stolen, I felt a really strange sense of peace and comfort. I knew everything was going to be ok. Sure enough, the Holy Ghost was bearing wittness to me that I was going to be taken care of. My testimony of the Gospel has quadrupled while I have been here in the field. I know that when we try out absolute best every day to keep the commandments, the Lord watches over us just as you (Mom & Dad) did to me as I grew up. As I have been here on the mission, I have seen a few of my bad habits simply disappear as my desire to serve the Lord has grown. I guess you figure I am 25% done with the mission by now (Maddy said that...) and I think I am finally starting to understand the purpose to all of this. I am more easily recognizing the guidance of the Holy Ghost in my life. Some things that I merely once believe, I now know with a firmness of mind. I love my mission more than anything else. I know that regardless of where one is sent on their mission, they are going to enjoy it.
I love you all so much. I pray for you. I fast for you. You are always in my heart and mind, but you are only on my mind when it is breakfast, lunch, or bedtime. All the other time is for the Lord and for God's children. You are in my prayers!
With all my love,
Elder Jonathan Pearson
PS - I do not have any idea how the phone call home works. None at all! I will let you all know as soon as I do! Oh, and I met an RM in my ward who just got home from the Portland Mission, Spanish Speaking. He said the TV Hwy Spanish branch is huge and that I need to attend that ward after my mission. I will for sure!
(Posted By Maddy)
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