Week 11

Arizona sure is hot! Tomorrow is Fall and its still in the 100's! will it ever end??? We had some very nice days, and I found that its very easy to go tracting when its not over 100 degrees! its almost pleasant!!! When before it was so hard to even be out for an hour, I could tract for hours and hours in 90 degree weather, oh I'm excited for the winter.

This week has been very good! We had some fun experiences, let me share...

A couple of days ago, we were tracting, and we walk up to this house and the lady says "Not interested in what you're doing." we said "okay, well have a great day then" and she said "I will, and then I'll pray that you can become christians and stop being sinners" and I said "Oh, well actually we are Christian, and I'm glad you are too! I'm grateful to know that Jesus Christ is my Savior" and she said "well you don't believe in Jesus Christ, you don't know him, and you're living in sin" and then she went off on how we've added to the bible, and then slammed the door on us. Oh I feel bad for her, but it builds my faith! The next house we found someone to teach! so blessings do come!

This week it was the privilege of the entire Arizona Phoenix Mission to meet with Elder Richard G........ Hinckley... not scott but Hinckley. It was a great experience to hear from not just a general authority, but the son of Gordon B. Hinckley! and I'll tell you what, he has the same humor as his father! he had the whole place laughing so much. He was teasing our mission president and others. It was a great experience. He gave us more B's like his father did, but said something that struck an interesting thought. He said "I'm not replacing what my father said, because he was a prophet and I am not" How interesting that must have been! I wonder if it would be difficult to accept for some people to see their father as the prophet of God to be completely faithful to him as your father and as your prophet. He was called as a mission president by his father, and he was called to Salt Lake City UT! he said he was disappointed! and then called his dad and asked about it, and his dad said it was because he wanted him close and needed him close, he moved 7 miles from his home to the mission home, and said it felt like he was 5000 miles away. He showed us some new commercials that the Church is going to be showing in television slots, they were pretty interesting, its an effort to change the worlds opinion on mormons, to show that we're not all just crazy!

I see missionaries even in this mission who don't put much into their missions and I am so sad! there are so many incredible experiences to have, I've been here a very short time really, and have had incredible experiences every day! I learn so much and I marvel at how the spirit directs this work. I hope everyone who hasn't had a chance to yet serve will have the desire, its well worth it and much better than sitting at home! It's so easy to be a missionary! its just easier NOT to be. It's easy to follow the rules here, its easier not to. Nothing that is asked of us is in and of itself a hard thing to do. Yes its hard and a sacrifice, but the blessings outweigh everything else. I see Elders in my own district who don't follow the rules, who don't try and they are so miserable! and they don't know why. The same is so true of life in general! if our lives are miserable, we should evaluate our obedience to God's laws, its that simple...

The church is true! nothing else is more important than that. If the church is true, then families can be together forever, if the church is true than Jesus Christ really is our Savior, the plan of Salvation is real and nothing else even matters as long as we do everything to make it to our next estate.

Love you all!

Elder Martin