weird schedule

Hey Family,

Sorry to sneak up on you all like this but I found out I was going to have p-day today last friday. We have leadership traning meetings in Scottsdale all this week and I got chosen to go up there. Tomorrow through friday I will be in a chapel in Scottsdale from 8am-4pm. I am way excited, but at the same time I am really wanting to be working the area more than just at night. But, I am 100% sure that I will be learning new things that will bless our area. I have been searching for new ways to teach and get our investigators to keep committments. I am sure that these meetings will help me grow as a more effective missionary.

This last week was a rough week number wise, but I feel like we had a lot of small victories overall that added up to be a great week. We got more members throwing out refferals from friends and we have gone and visited and taught all of these people and guess what?!?!? They ALL came to church. I think this shows 100% the magic and power of member involvment. We have had a really hard time having people committ to coming to Church this last month or so. We have the four regulars who come every week and we had not been able to break those few. It was really building and I was getting kind of depressed because we were teaching like fiends, but no one was coming to Church. I was trying to figure out if it was me or them, and I, as you all know, am really self-judgemental. If my investigators are not fulfilling their committments, it is not their fault but mine, in my eyes.

Well, Heavenly Father has really blessed us a lot these last few weeks, especially me. Our new investigators are Reyna, her kids (Beatriz, Reyna, David, Alan, Jordan), and Eva Quintana. We taught them all with their friends present as members and in each and every lesson I could feel the spirit working through me.

Reyna has gone through churches like a small baby goes through diapers. She goes to one once, gets offended, then goes to another, and the cycle repeats. She has studied with the Jehovah's Wittnesses. Therefore she is a little bit confused when we teach her at times. She has come to Church two consecutive weeks and she is growing more and more in the Gospel. She is socializing with a lot of the women and oddly enough she knows a lot of them from when she was younger. She is making new friends and she is really warming up to the Gospel. Her kids are all like little ducklings and follow her wherever she goes. They are all the most well-behaved, kind children I have ever met. It is just hard to teach them, and answer all of mom's questions at the same time. Teaching children is way hard, but I love it. I am learning to open up sometimes and just be a little bit silly. Kids are fun. I want a couple when I am older.

The next new lady is Eva Quintana. Her daughter used to date a member's son and the two mothers really hit it off in the preoccupations about the children being together. Hna. Dominguez introduced us and things are going great. Eva came to Church yesterday and stayed all three hours. She loved sacrament meeting, enjoyed Gospel Principles, and the third hour was meeeehhhhhh for everyone. Her husband has been without work for over a year and they are living in a nice house, that is empty, because they are selling everything inside to pay for the basics. She is way stressed and is really just looking for hope. The first night we taught her she was incredibly emotional. Her friend, Hna. Dominguez prayed and we all just broke out into tears. It was a sweet, honest, personal prayer.

Jocabed, well, we had to drop her. She had not come to church for 6 weeks after having regualrly attended for a month. She is almost done with the Book of Mormon and she will not ask specifically in prayer if the Book of Mormon is true. Nor will she ask regarding Joseph Smith. In her prayers she always says, "Oh God, please guide me down your path if these young men are on it." Yeah, it is hard. She is dropped for now, but I put it in her teaching records that she needs to be picked up a month or two down the road.

Moises and Graciela are back in town, FINALLY! We got to visit them and it was such a breath of fresh air to visit them and hear their powerful testimonies. He read while in New Mexico and she took her mother-in-law (out of law?!?!) to the temple twice. We are still awaiting her birth certificate so they can get married and baptized. They are so ready. I called the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix to ask them what to do. They said wait one more month for the mail, and then come in if it does not come and we can print out an official birth certificate their for $70. I hate tacking on another cost, but it might be neccesary. Graciela wants to become a citizen like her husband, so they need to be married under U.S. law. She wants her son, Moises, to not have to worry about her mom being shipped back to Mexico, never to return. I think that is a pretty fair statement.

Seeing as we ride 20-25 miles a day, my bike is a taking a decent beating. The chain broke last week and it was worn enough that it stripped down my cassette. I had to get those both replaced. ugh. That was another $60. Our money does not hit our cards until tomorrow, so I had to buy groceried from my personal funds. I am doing my bes to be prudent with my expenditures. I am not eating out or buying gadgets and stereos like some elders. I am just trying to keep my bike running so I can keep working. I got a good chain and a great cassette and a real nice crankset on their. I should have no more drivetrain problems for a while as long as I keep my chain cleaned and oiled.

Elder Nerveza and I are getting along great. He's got the islander spirit and all. He is nice, funny, and a hard worker. He is humble. He is my favorite companion thus far. I have been really blessed by the Lord with companions. I have been really blessed this last week with a lot of miracles! I have a much stronger testimony now of members and missionary work. I love it. I love, love, love, working with members. When I come home, I am not going to go to our ward. I am going to go out to the TV Branch. I hear it is pretty big and there is a lot of work. I also want to keep up the Spanish. We will see. That is a long ways away!

Next weeks email is my 7 month mark! AHHH! It just keeps on flying by. I love you all so much. Don't be in a rush to email me back. I won't read it till next monday. We have zone conference so P-day is monday again next week! I love you all. Keep studying the scriptures, and saying your prayers. You are in my prayers and I am going to fast for you all next week. No particular reason, I am just going to do it!

I am happy, healthy, and loving my time serving the Lord! I hope you are all happy as well.

Con amor,

Elder Jonathan Alma Pearson

posted by Maddy