Hey!!

How are you all doing?

I am doing pretty great out here. It was the last week of the transfer and we set all kinds of good records these last few weeks. We taught the most lessons that we have ever taught together last week. We found tons of new investigators and we had some really good, friendly conversations. I am going to miss Elder Williams. He is being transferred to Apache Junction and I am staying here in my area. I am going to be senior companion and I will be getting a super new missionary. His name is Elder Nerveza. Interestingly enough, he is from Hawai'i.

Moises and Graciela should be getting her birth certificate in the mail before this Saturday. As soon as that happens, we will just need to have them have another baptismal interview and then plan the wedding and baptism. They are so beyond ready to get baptized. The biggest thing that is holding them back is that it is way hard for them to stay at Church for all 3 hours. Graciela just get's really antsy and can't sit for 3 hours and she is scared to put her son in nursery. He is younger than the age limit, but we got the Stake President's approval to put him in nursery. We are merely waiting to get that piece of paper and then we will have two AWESOME new members of the Church. Moises will be coming out to teach with us all of the time and they will get sealed FOR SURE!!! I am so excited for them. I am just sad that Elder Williams will not be here for it. He will not be too far away, so he will come back.

The Cruz family is doing spectacularly! We had dinner and FHE with them last night. We always eat pizza and wings when we go to their place. We taught the the plan of salvation for FHE and then we played JENGA. That is our favorite game out here. Things are going great and we are getting them ready to go do baptisms for the dead in the Temple. They did not quite understand how it works, but we taught them about that, too.

Another investigator that is just dying to get baptized is Maria Aragon. Her daugher is a member and she wants to be baptized sooooo bad. The worst part of it all is that her "husband" is married to another woman. Every visit we call their lawyer to get an update on the divorce process. As soon as they are divorced, Maria and the Senor will get married and Maria will get baptized. Hopefully this will light a fire in the heart of the husband and he soon will join them by entering the waters of baptism. She is the sweetest lady ever and she is pretty much a member. She participates in class and everything. She is one strong lady. I love her and I will miss her a ton once I leave.

A really cool lesson that we had was with Jocabed. She is in the same marriage situation as Maria. That seems to be the curse of Hispanic Culture. No one every really gets divorced. They just move out and shack up with someone else. Thay may sound a bit racist of sorts, because I am generalizing, but I am just slowly learning the norms of the culture out here. It is truly something to behold. She prayed to God and asked Him to see a verse in the Bible referencing the Book of Mormon. Well, in our lesson with her, Elder Williams pulled out Ezekiel 37:16 on her. The one about the stick of Judah and the Stick of Joseph. Well, she is a very intelligent woman and she immediately recongized this as God's answer of sorts. We later on shared the verse in Revelations about the new angel bringing forth a new and eternal gospel. That pretty much sealed the deal. It was only after this that she told us what she had asked God for in her prayers. When worthy of the Holy Spirit's guidance, it is truly there.

Some bad-ish news on my part is that the free bike I was given had some low quality parts on them. As a missionary, I am riding the bike a ton....Well, the crankset stripped out and my pedals straight up fell out. It is in the shop having some repairs done on it that may cost a pretty penny or two. I also have been borrowing a helmet from another Elder. Well, he is being transferred to a bike area and needs it back so I am going to need to be purchasing one of those! AHHH! Other than that though, the bike store owner said that bike is in perfect working order and as long I keep the chain and moving parts well greased, I should not have to replace anything other than the chain every 6 months or so. I am taking really good care of it, it just had about a $5 crankset on it. I am getting in replaced with a nice Shimano Acera crank. I am going to be putting down a pretty chunk on it coming up here soon, so maybe just watch my bank account and if you feel like it, you could tansfer some extra money in there. I still have like $500-$600 still, I think. No big rush.

Other than that I am doing great. I am healthy and active. My testimony is growing and I am loving it out here. I hit my official six month mark on Friday so I burned a tie to follow the cruel tradition. I have pictures and all so I should shortly be sending those your way. I can not believe I am 25% of the way. I do not feel super comfortable in the language around people from Cuba and Puerto Rico still, but hey, as a senior companion with a companion who knows very little spanish, I will be forced to learn. I am excited though. I think I should progress a lot in the coming months. The mission is young and a lot of changes are being made. We now have texting and we can now use LDS.org or Mormon.org any day of the week. We have internet priviliges when we need to use it, we just need to be sure not to abuse this opportunity. I hope some Elders don't do anything dumb because of it.

I am going to pray and fast for Grandma's surgery. I really hope everything goes well there. Well, I trust modern medicine and I am fairly sure that it will go well. The Lord with be with her and bless her with health and strength according to her Faith in Him. That is something else I have learned on the mission. If I wake up at night feeling sick, I pray to Heavenly Father to bless me with health in the morning so that people can hear His Gospel. I have not had a sick day since day 3 in Phoenix. I know the Lord is there for Grandma. All she has to do is ask in Faith and all will be well!

Well, I had best be going! I have a lot to do today seeing as Elder Williams has to pack and all. I also have to go pick up my bike! Well, I love you all so much. Please keep me in your prayers. I miss you, but you all as well as myself know that I need to be here. You all should not want me to come home. Being trunky this early is bad for you all. If you think about me, you will not be able to enjoy traveling to the land of our Savior! That should be one of the greatest experiences of all of your lives. I expect a full like 30 page report with pictures and all on that. I love you and pray for you always!

With my love,

Elder Jonathan Alma Pearson