Well, yesterday was Christmas, just so you all know.  I am a fan of Christmas, it was fun this year!  It made for a really slow week though!

 

This week... we had a surprising amount of door slams this week! but no worries, I don't get many of those, so it was kinda fun.  I wish I could have a lot to report.  In fact I don't really know WHAT to report!

 

Christmas eve we drove through almost our entire Zone! we had a lot of presents to deliver and it was really nice to see the zone, we have definitely the most beautiful zone in the mission! We got to travel through almost all of Sedona! it is gorgeous! I've been there many times, but the other day I saw more than I have ever seen of it, got to go through the Village of Oak Creek for those who know Sedona. 

 

We've been having an influx of success! and we are going to have to start praying very hard to keep Satan at bay! by now he has heard word that the Cottonwood Arizona Zone is on fire and as we know, he likes fire so he is going to be sending a few of his friends here for sure.

 

Good news though, one of our investigators who moved to Connecticut is moving back! he's already back and wants to be baptized! that was very unexpected!! so we are very excited about that. 

 

I'm having a lot of desires to go into the field of Archaeology when I get home.  I don't know what I will do.  But I don't have much time to think!!

 

My spirits are high, my mood is set to "Ecstatic" I love being a missionary, I love this beautiful area, I love the missionaries, and I love most of the people.  Just kidding, I love them all.... well... no yeah I do.

 

Elder Martin

Pictures from the December Zone Conference

 You're never too old for Santa...

 Dinner at the President's house.

All the zones at the conference.

 Looks like he did a musical number.

 At the Mesa temple. Isn't it pretty.

I think this is the Cottonwood Zone.

Week 76

Well, I again forgot my planner this week.  But its been a great week.  I'm super tired though and I hope I can remember things, and have the patience to write them.  Ha. 

 

This transfer is going way too fast, I am having so much fun! We play basketball every morning for morning exercise, we wake up a little bit early even, its a lot of fun. 

 

Tuesday was a bust! we were supposed to have the best day ever, but it didn't turn out so well.  One lady we went back to visit turned out to be CRAZY! it was weird, a very interesting appointment.  We were talking about the Book of Mormon, and she says "Oh yeah, I know that book is true." "well have you read it?" "No, I just know its true.  Everything is true." ... hmmm... "Well, everything can't be true! because things differ so greatly." "Why does there have to be one true church, why can't just 'church' be true? and everyone be right?" We get that a lot up here... but she was moving around all crazy like, not sure if she was trying to cast a spell on us or not! her sister was really cool though, and we gave her a book of Mormon.

 

Wednesday was incredible! we went to the temple.  I learned SO much this time through, it was incredible.  I did a lot more preparing this time before I went in.  Went with questions, and I got answers.  It's incredible!!! We got a lot of pictures... and by a lot, I mean just a few.  I saw a lot of old missionary friends, it was a really good day! We didn't get back home until around midnight though!

 

Thursday was awesome, we went to an apartment complex to talk to an old investigator Meghan, but she didn't live there any longer, instead we met Deanna who is almost a golden investigator.  We set up a church tour with her that night, and she actually showed up!!! and it turns out she was super prepared, and wants to be baptized.  Oh it was great.

 

Again, I wish I had more time to write, but I don't.  I will have to end this one here.

 

Elder Martin

Week 75

uh....... ... mmm... I love being a missionary!!! its pretty awesome!

What a wonderful week, full of ups and downs, but mostly ups.  Things really start on Wednesday, tuesday was meetings most of the day, the meetings are in phoenix so a lot of our day is spent traveling.

Wednesday we were tracting and ran into a girl named Rose.  She was not very well dressed and had a lot of metal in her face, but we taught her anyway, she seemed embarrassed, but she said we could come back, so we set a time to come back.  We came back the next day, and she wasn't there, but her mom answered the door, and we talked to her mom.  Her husband is studying to be a pastor, but is currently... uhh... in jail... so no worries there, yet.  She has 3 kids, and we are going to be teaching them tomorrow!

I love being with Elder Davenport, we are getting so much done! We've been visiting potential investigators all week! in other words, people who missionaries in the past had been unable to teach for one reason or another, generally the reason being lack of effort.  Over the course of the week, we have set up appointments with 10 people! which is incredible.  since Elder Davenport got here we went from having 1 - 3 people to teach, to having hopefully by the end of this week having close to 25, not including the people we are going to meet this week.  One of the people was a former investigator named Nick.  He's awesome, we went and talked to him about the church, he said he felt the spirit very strong at a baptism one time, and at church, but wasn't sure if it was true.  We explained that was the spirit telling him it was true, and testified of many other things, the spirit was very strong.  He told us that the reason he stopped meeting with the missionaries is because one of them kept pestering him about baptism in a non-loving way "Soo... when you gettin' baptized man?" ugh, some missionaries just don't know how to be missionaries.  Anyway, we're excited to be teaching him.

Isay is infuriating! we gave him a gospel principles book to read, and he said it was the stupidest thing he's ever read.  He said the Book of Mormon is the best book ever, but everything in this other book was bologna and false.  I said there is nothing in that book that is not true.  he argued, so I said 'show me anything, and we'll talk about how its true.'  I've gotten to the point where I don't use tact with him anymore, I know him real well, and to be tactful doesn't work.  So he brought up the priesthood, and would say things like "The Book of Mormon and Bible don't teach about a priesthood, it just separates everyone." so I said "Do you want to go through this? I can show you where it talks about it in both books if you'd like." He didn't believe me, so we did it.  Then he changed subjects, and went to "graven images".  Ugh, it was the most frustrating lesson I've ever had!!!! I finally just said "Read Alma 13, we gotta go."

I've been playing basketball every morning for exercise, its a lot of fun and a great workout.  I'm so sore and tired though! but its good.  My knee is doing very good, but I worry that its just a missionary blessing and that as soon as I get home it will fail on me.

In the zone we went from 3 with a date for baptism, up to 9, and then mid week we had 16!! then it dropped back to 9.  Kind of a hard thing when it dropped, that was 7 people who said no after having set a date.  They should all still be baptized though.  We're going to be going through a lot of trials, or rather, we're going to encounter a lot of opposition, but we can overcome it as long as we put our faith in Jesus Christ who overcame all things.  I love this gospel! It's a gospel of excitement, its a gospel of truth! I love having the truth, and being able to feel that its true, not just know.

Elder Martin

The Haka

Pictures of a haboob. A big dust storm.

Week 74

Wow what a week! one of the best ever, I am so excited.  So new companions are in, we have five new missionaries in our zone, two are brand new being trained and are one fire! We had a record month in the Cottonwood stake of 9 baptisms, and we are going to have even more in December, and twice that in January! I am on fire right now with excitement and energy and the Spirit.  My new companion is Elder Davenport, he interestingly enough just came from being companions with Elder Pryor.  Elder Davenport is awesome.  He's significantly taller than my last companion, a bit taller than me.  We have had such a good week.

Monday we finally met with the Dunbar family, we had a great lesson with them, and on Friday a second lesson.  It's a struggle right now, the wife is catholic and doesn't see a need for baptism, and doesn't want to come to church, but she gave the closing prayer, and kind of asked a question and started crying, and the spirit was real strong! it was wonderful.

That monday night we had an FHE activity with the fosters, and it was a lot of fun! oh wait... I think I already mentioned this last week, cause last week I e-mailed on tuesday, I forgot... okay, on to tuesday.  Tuesday night I went and met with a guy named Jason who has been investigating the church for numerous years, he has read Jesus the Christ twice, and read all the standard works, but has a few problems still, he wouldn't tell me, and the guy I brought with me as a member someone who tried to keep us off track it seemed! he did a good job. 

Tuesday morning we had a wonderful breakfast with our stake president, all the missionaries in our stake were there, it was a lot of fun, a few missionaries were a little immature, but its okay cause they got transferred =] ha. 

Wednesday, Transfer day! beautiful day.  We were in a meeting before the main meeting, and I came to the realization that there were two possibilities to be my companion, Elder Davenport and Elder ---- I'll leave it blank.  Well the second elder gave a talk in this meeting, and I just thought "Ugh, he's prideful, he wont do.  I need Davenport" I had heard a lot of good things about Elder Davenport before I ever met him, so I really wanted it to be him.  There were two places where these two missionaries could go.  Surprise Zone, and Cottonwood Zone.  So the surprise guy stands up and is awaiting to hear who his companion was, and I was praying so hard! just knowing that he would get Elder Davenport, but to my great pleasure, he did not! which meant that I would be getting him.  Hurray, it did in fact happen.  Things have been so nice lately, I am loving it.

Thursday we met this wonderful lady named Helen.  I'm trying to be more bold in tracting, so we start talking to her at the doorstep, and I invite us in to talk to her, she's about 90 years old, she said okay but just for a few minutes.  We started teaching her the Restoration.  At first she seemed very hesitant, and not wanting to answer questions, but then the Spirit really came in, Elder Davenport is an awesome teacher, and asked some great questions, we told her the story of Joseph Smith and bore our testimonies, and the Spirit was really strong.  We asked if she believed what we were saying was true, she said she did, and that she wanted to be baptized.  She said that she really wished that her family was there to hear what we had to say.  We set up an appointment to teach her, her daughter, and grand daughter on Saturday, we were so excited.  We got a call friday night, it was helen's daughter saying she wanted us to come pick up the book of mormon and that her mom wouldn't be available for the appointment.  NO!!!! I am a big despiser of Satan!

Thursday we met with a guy named art, that isn't going to go anywhere, but we have had more appointments this week than I ever had up here in cottonwood, Elder Davenport is a man of faith!

Well, its been such a good week, I'll have more to tell next week.

Elder Martin

Week 73

Oh blast, once again it is transfers and I have forgotten my old planner with all the events of the past week!

Okay so here's the news.  I am staying, and I am getting a new companion! we will find out who it is tomorrow.  In fact, almost half of our zone is being transferred, so its going to be very interesting to see what happens.

Last monday was wonderful! President Taylor came up to Cottonwood to go hiking with us in Sedona, we hiked Bell Rock and had a blast! My feet are still not in perfect condition, and hikes always destroy them! this was no exception.  We had a lot of fun, and no one died.  After the hike, we took President and Sister Taylor to one of the host families in our area and we had breakfast but just with our district.  They had a little basketball hoop on the roof, probably about 8 feet up, and we had a great time playing some basketball before lunch with President, then we had Navajo tacos.  Delicious.  This took most of the day.

Things are really starting to look up here! we are teaching more people than ever.  We had an appointment with one guy John, who is CRAZY, he's so awesome though, he knows everything there is to know about guns, and he never ever ever has visitors, so he really likes us, but he's very interesting... and kinda harsh sometimes.  He came in with an M3 (a gun) and handed it to me... it was very awkward, cause we aren't allowed to handle weapons, I showed hesitation, and he shoved it at me angrily and said "Take it!!" good thing for him it wasn't loaded! just kidding... relax relax it was a joke.

We have another investigator Steve who is very intelligent religiously, its great teaching him.  Very open, very friendly. 

Then there is Brian, the 18 year old.  He is awesome! We had such a great lesson with him yesterday, we were talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or Lesson 3, and talking about Baptism, and he said "Ya know how you wanted me to pray about this? well I did, and I didn't hear any voice or anything, but I think I got my answer, it was more in how I felt about it, I just felt real good and happy and peaceful" SWEET!!! so we set a baptism date of January 7th, but hopefully we can move it forward.  Brian is the man! we invited him to a family home evening with a family in the ward he knows, who are less active, and also recent converts... we had a really fun time, it was good for him, for the family, and for us!

Yesterday we taught the dunbar family, its going to be a bit of a struggle probably with them, but they seem to have great potential, I think they will come around, they have one very rotten little boy though who would not listen to his parents, and kept trying to tear my scriptures!!!

Well, there is more that happened, and more to come next week, I know this will be a great week.

Elder Martin

Week 72

Oh man, I haven't even thought about what I will put in this letter yet.  I hope something comes to me!

Well, the Gospel is truth, this much I know.  I love studying the scriptures, and I love studying from the general conference talks.  Elder Scott talked about how scriptures can become our friends, I love that.  I love learning new insights from the scriptures, or having questions answered by going to the scriptures.  There are some real gems. 

I had a lot of exchanges this week.  It was a good week.  I went with one of the district leaders on Tuesday - Wednesday, always love going with him, Elder Malmberg, he's awesome.  I got sick though, I was reading while in the truck and got real sick. 

On Tuesday, before the exchange, we went to visit an investigator, and she wasn't home... but we did see her car parked on another street... avoiding us... we knocked on THAT door, and no one answered.  We kept knocking, and talked to this guy lewis, I thought he was so promising, he was all tattooed and bearded, he talked to us for a long time, about how he had sold his soul to the devil by ritual and thought he had no hope, and that some churches were showing him how to be helped, but he didn't like everything they were saying... he ended up not wanting us to come back though... dang it! He had a large family too, I've never taught a family.

When I was on exchanges with E. Malmberg, we talked to this small family, just a mom and two boys, one boy is 10, and is super smart and wants to be baptized SO bad, his mom is less active, and doesn't want him to be baptized cause he's too young she says.  He begs and begs her to let him, its really sad, and missionaries in the past were really stupid and ruined some things, so we tried to repair the damage done by dumb missionaries.  We made some progress, she wants to learn more herself, and when she becomes converted, he will be baptized.

We had dinner with a family in our ward of recent converts last week, it was a lot of fun, I love that family they are very humorous.  They love to make fun of Elder Geren for being so short, its great.  We had ham and mashed potatoes and stuffing, oh it was good! I'm going to get so fat this week I know it! we have dinners scheduled almost every night.

Well I wish I had some more time, but alas I do not.

I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving, and you should probably save some leftovers for me if you could.  Thanks,

Elder Martin

Week 71

I feel drained! But I'm pretty sure its because I just ate macaroni and cheese, and I always feel really tired and groggy after eating that 'food'.  But in life, I am happy.  It's been a good week.  I think I have some answering to do...

So the yellow shoes.  It's a good story don't worry.  They are not mine.  End of story.  Okay I'll tell more.  We had to come down to Cottonwood early for those meetings, and I forgot my shoes up here in cottonwood, so I borrowed the shoes of Elder Buttars a missionary we stayed with.  I'm not sure which picture of me made it look like I was up instructing... so I am not sure what to say about that.  Maybe in Zone Leader Council, but I wasn't instructing, I was singing.  Was it in a church? was I with my companion? in that case, it was during a role play that Elder Duncan called me up for.

We finally found a new investigator! hurray, he's a great guy, not sure how it will go.  He believes the story of Joseph Smith, but I'm not sure he see's its significance.  But I'm really excited to teach him! We've been meeting with another person, Betty, who says she knows me from somewhere... I suggested the pre-earth life.  She doesn't believe in that.  She's very much a seventh day adventist, and its going to be a struggle to get her over some of those things.  She's a sweet lady though and really enjoys us coming over.

I am so much out of time on the computer today... I don't really know what else to write.  Life is good, The church is True! if you don't believe me, just ask me, and I'll tell you it is.

That's all for this week, sorry for a boring letter! I wish I could include more.

Elder Martin

Week 70

Wow, what a week and a half! sorry the e-mail is late, we couldn't e-mail on monday, and we were busy tuesday (you'll understand) and today is the soonest I could do it.

 

So Monday we left to Phoenix and stayed the night with some other Zone Leaders who are AWESOME, I loved being there with them, it was a great time, and tuesday morning at 7 AM we started a hike for Zone Leader Council.  My foot was doing so well at the beginning of the hike, but that did me in.  I couldn't walk by the end (Update, I have a damaged nerve in my foot for those who don't know) so its back to where it was before I saw the doctor, and as even worse for a few days.  Anyway, ZLC was awesome, the spirit was strong and we had some great things to learn.  I sang a musical number of O My Father.  The next day we had leadership training meeting for the full day (ZLC was all day as well) so it was a LOT of meetings! but they were SO good! I learned so much, and we got this new talk from Elder Bednar about being a Preach my Gospel missionary, it was so good and will change my mission.  Then we had a Zone Meeting on Friday to bring all this goodness to the rest of the zone.  It was a week of meetings, and not much missionary work, but that's okay, cause you gotta sharpen the blades.

 

Now the best part of the whole week + is that we had a visit from Kevin R. Duncan of the Seventy! Wow, what a powerful day that was! We had to wake up at 4:45 so we could get down to phoenix by 7:30.  We had a leadership meeting at 8 with him, and he asked me specifically many questions, and then he asked Elder Pierson my District Leader even MORE questions... Elder Pierson is such an awesome missionary, Elder Duncan asked him something to prove a point.  He asked "How many progressing Investigators do you have right now?" most missionaries probably have between 2 - 6, a few 8-10.  Elder Pierson has 12-13.  Elder Duncan was not expecting that answer, but praised Elder Pierson for his hard work.  It was a really good meeting and I took tons of notes.  Then we went to the bulk of the meeting.  The Spirit was so strong throughout! just little things would bring the spirit in abundance.  At one point he called me and my companion to the front to do a little role play! That was fun... I guess... He talked a lot about how to do things, and then a lot about Faith to do things.  I am so on fire with missionary work right now, I am ready to baptize all of cottonwood! I know that good things are coming, we just need an increase of faith.  All things are possible, I know it! Faith is powerful, it is incredible! One of his big things that he talked about was just loving everyone, loving our investigators, and moving from "Non-members coming to church = converts to anyone we get to come to church = converts" We are here to lift everyone we can.  I am so excited for the gospel, I am so excited to be a missionary right now! My faith has been lacking, but this has been such a huge boost for me, its time to baptize thousands! and bring back thousands as well.  Sheesh, there aren't even that many people in cottonwood... more will have to move in so we can baptize more!

 

Elder Martin

Leadership meetings

There were a couple events that Elder Martin went to recently, that the mission president's wife blogged about. I stole pictures from her blog again.
From a leadership training, Elder Martin, with his companion, Elder Geran, and the other leaders of their the Cottonwood zone. (I think.)

I think it was November 1st that there was a zone leader conference thingy, where they hiked Sunrise mountain. Here are some pictures from that. Jason in the guy in the black shirt, wearing the bright yellow shoes. 

 

 I take it they then went to the presidents house, or somewhere, for food and lessons. And it looks like Jason taught.

So there you go! It's a good thing the president and wife take pictures, otherwise we'd never see any!

Stay tuned...there should be a letter from him coming today.

Week 69

Well, I wish I could report a super exciting week, but I unfortunately cannot! It was good though.

 

Monday night we did another FHE activity with a family, we played four square.  It was a lot of fun.  ummm... hmmm what else happened...

 

So Isay has been interesting.  I'm worried, cause he says no matter what he is going to be baptized on November 19th.  Problem is, we wont allow it, so I assume he may end up trying to baptize himself... and that could be real interesting.  The week started out real bad with him, we went over on tuesday and he was still very upset and giving us a bunch of Book of Mormon verses that supposedly prove why he can't be disallowed from being baptized for being on probation.  We provided counter scriptures, and he said "show me one scripture where someone wasn't allowed to be baptized" So I showed him one in Acts where Peter tells a group of people to repent and be baptized, and then he tells the sanhedrin to repent and be converted, so that by the time judgement comes they might be able to be forgiven of their sins... we explained that they weren't allowed to be baptized in this life for their works against the Savior and their responsibility in his murder.  He didn't like that, he said "Well that was wrong of Peter, no one can say that... that's why there are so many churches today! ya know what, I bet that every time someone is told they can't be baptized, they just start their own church.  Maybe that's what I will do!" So we flooded him with apostasy scriptures, showing it to be a BAD Idea. 

 

We went over Saturday and he had calmed down considerably, he has a lot of questions, and still argues, but he wasn't as contentious, and is more willing to learn and listen and pray.  We're again a bit excited about him.

 

Saturday we did a service project, the stake one.  It was fun I guess... but I didn't get to wear a helping hands shirt =[.  But it was still good.

 

Thursday and Friday we stayed in all day cause Elder Geren has been sick.  But it was good, I got to learn a lot of great things.  Number 1 was a statement made by Joseph Smith, something to the effect of "Weary the Lord, until He blesses you." That is my new theme.  There are righteous things that I desire, I want people to teach, I want more faith, so on, and thus I will ask until I receive, there is a parable about it as well in the bible.  The Lord WANTS to bless us, but according to the Bible Dictionary, the highest of blessings are conditional upon our asking for them!

 

I love that all prayers are answered.  I love that everything that we teach in this church are TRUE.  One investigator we have... or rather a recent convert who is less active, told us of an article she read by an LDS guy about how you dont' have to be fully engaged in the church, about how there isn't just black and white, about how you can stay on middle ground, still live how you want and go to church and pick what you want to believe.  AH! It was horrible, who would write such an awful article! I hate the philosophies of certain LDS members of the church, they go against the Apostles, they want to keep a summer cottage in Babylon! The Savior himself said that we are either hot or cold, and if we are lukewarm, he will spew us out of his mouth! sounds like a poor way to live.  I wish everyone would just be obedient to the commandments of God, life is SO MUCH BETTER! that's my rant for the day.  Don't be stupid, just do whats right.

 

Elder Martin

Week 68

Dear the People,

 

What an interesting week.

 

Item number 1.  Transfers.  No changes for me, except that in our zone we lost one missionary, Elder Nelson, the greatest missionary ever, I was real sad to see him go.  The meeting was fun as always, it was good to see some old friends, and my old Zone Leader, Elder Henrie is the new Assistant to the President. 

 

After transfer meeting I had an appointment with a podiatrist, I think that's how its spelled, a foot doctor.  My feet had been killing me for a couple of months, and I finally decided to see what was wrong.  My left foot has nerve damage, and my right foot has plantar fasciitis, but not at the heal, instead at the ball of the foot.  So, in order to fix this they used what seems to be their 'fix-all' and shot cortisone into my feet... first my left foot they took the 2 inch needle (literally! it was -------------------------- <-- that long!) and put some under my skin, real shallow, didn't hurt too bad... but I did get slightly worried as I watched my foot turn super pale white and look like death! Then he got another needle for my right foot, and he said "okay, this is going to hurt." Holy cow he wasn't lying!!! he went in from the side of my foot and shoved the needle all the way into my foot which caused an involuntary jerk as he brushed past nerves and things... that's what he said anyway "I know this hurts, the needle is touching nerves." It was surprising how much it hurt... it wasn't horrible, but worse than I would have ever expected.  I'm supposed to go in 3 weeks again for the same thing, I'm going to take my camera and video the whole thing.  My foot was numb the rest of the day, that was fun, I could finally walk again! then that night the numbness wore off and my left foot was in constant pain! I didn't think I would sleep, but I did, and I woke up with no pain in my foot for the first time in MONTHS! that next night it was my RIGHT foot that was in pain, and I woke up the next morning with no pain at all! the pain has tapered off now, its very minimal, but still obviously healing.  I'm so excited to not have so much pain in my feet, its such a weird feeling to be able to walk!

 

It's been a really tough weekend! we went from having a lot to do, to nothing.  We had two with a baptismal date a couple days ago, and now one of them moved unexpectedly to new hampshire, and the other one doesn't really like us right now.  I've been doing a lot of praying and fasting.  I don't know how things will turn out... but I know that God is in charge, and everything will be okay if I simply will put my trust in him.  If this wasn't true, missionary work would be real tough! thankfully the Gospel is real, its a fact, and we can all know for ourselves with just a little bit of effort on our part. 

 

Elder Martin

Pictures

Transfers came. I haven't heard where
 Elder Martin is, if he'll be staying or going, but President's blog had some pictures. Guess what? Once again, Elder Martin is caught with food. :)

This is he and his companion from a different day and mission pres. blog post.

Week 67

It's been a good week.

We have two investigators we're really working a lot with, one is Isay and the other is Richard. Isay we meet with probably every day! He is crazy and awesome. He's changed so much since we have met him! He talks SO much! he finally came to church on sunday and he absolutely loved it! We helped him change a tire yesterday.

Thursday and Friday we helped some lady move... we were tracting and asked if we could help with anything, and she asked if we cld help move, so we gave her our number and about 3 weeks later (this week) she called and asked for our help! it was unexpected. She really appreciated it, the second day we helped, there was a crazy lady there who was trying to direct everything, she made the truck get packed real poorly, so I went in and helped out, and would try to diplomatically change things positions... "Well that's a great place... what about over here though?"

Saturday we had dinner with Isay, when we first got there, he opened his fridge and there was this big bottle of expensive wine in there, and he said "Oh wow, I had no idea that this was here, how awesome!" So we said "Yeah, you should probably just give that to us, we'll take care of it." and he said "Oh no way, I'm not mormon yet! I'm drinking this thing." So we argued with him a bit, trying to convince him of the importance of giving it up. He said he wasn't there yet, but would be one day. So he cooks us food, and it was a bit scary... the whole thing was on fire a few times, and it got real smokey in the house so we left for a bit. Well we ate dinner, and then watched the restoration movie, and he loved it! He said "That's what I want, I want to show the evidence of my faith!" and later on talked about wanting to give up everything for God... so I said "Soo... now that you want to show the evidence of your faith... are you ready to give us that bottle of wine?" he said "Absolutely!" it was awesome, so he gave it to us, Elder Geren said "I'm not allowed to touch it, I'm not 21 yet." Sometimes I feel so old! So I put it in my backpack, and we went to the church and we dumped it down the drain! it felt good, but man it smelled real bad! I can't imagine anyone ever thinking to put that inside their mouth... gross.

Monday was great! we had a small exchange... one of the District Leaders in our area... actually he's my district leader, asked me to come with him to an appointment, cause he was worried that the guy was super anti, so I lovingly obliged (I often enjoy these discussions with anti mormons...) so we went and he also brought a friend with him, we did it at the church. There was Jory and Mack. Jory was real smart, and said he had some kind of Diodemic, or diadetic or something memory... in other words he supposedly had a fantastic memory and could memorize 10 pages of scripture in a month. He did have a fairly good memory and knew a lot of scriptures, but was still dumb as a rock! The conversation was civil, but they were definitely anti, Jory started the conversation in a way to try and outline OUR ignorance, by using obscure historical references and saying things like "You know about him right?" "Well surely you know the story of..." He changed that tactic pretty quick though. Long story short, we left thinking they were stupid, they left wondering, and realizing we weren't as stupid as they thought. Sometimes I was a little too... Brazen, we'll say. I told him that I thought the Nicene creed was repulsive. It was a good time though, I haven't been able to have a conversation with someone who actually knew some scriptures in a long time! It was fun.

Well that's all for today, hope you have a great week.

Elder Martin

Week 66

Alright... well its time to write for the blog, and thus I will.

My name is Elder Martin, I am a missionary, I'm serving in Cottonwood Arizona, and I am a Mormon!

So they are doing a huge media campaign here, and its awesome! we hear people talking about the I'm a Mormon commercials ALL THE TIME! some love them, and some hate them... but they just hate them cause they already hated us. We had some missionaries in our zone who got yelled at out of a window "Oh yeah, WELL IMNOT A MORMON!" ha... most people say "I love your commercials!" they are really well done, check out mormon.org if you haven't seen them. Also, if you dont' have a profile, I might encourage all who read this to log onto Mormon.org and get a profile! the leaders of the church has asked everyone to do this, so do it.

It's been a good week. We've been teaching Isay, coolest guy ever! former rastifarian, he's crazy. He has 5 big dogs... I've been taking allergy medicine all week. Isay loves the gospel, he thinks its mystical though... so we need to help him change that. He's obsessed with the Urim and Thummim, and he says that's what is holding him right now. I asked him the other day "Do you believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God?" he says he can't stop thinking about that question, and that he has talked to a lot of his friends about the question I asked. He set his own baptismal date, he said "I don't know why, but I really think that I should be baptized on November 19th!" we're just fine with that! He showed us this video from the history channel, it was so crazy! it was about how Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith, but that Moroni was actually an alien. I told him the truth is so much cooler.

Saturday was fun. We got yelled at SO much! we often get yelled at, but usually at most once or twice a day. It was fun.

Good times... Well that's all I have. The Gospel is true. Trust me, I know.

Elder Martin

Week 65

Dear people who read this blog,

I love conference. It is better than Christmas! I am so sad its over, but so glad it happened and now I get to look back on it and start applying all of my insights and key learnings from the wonderful counsel. I sure do get overwhelmed sometimes with how not good I'm doing whenever I watch conference... but I loved the talk by the only "Brother" who spoke... can't remember his name, and about taking one step at a time, and looking at how far you've come instead of how far you have to go! how inspired and inspiring! I loved the talks, Elder Christofferson gave one of the best I think! very inspiring.

I wish I had some great stories to write about! But seriously almost nothing happened this week! just a lot of tracting, and a lot of sore feet! So hopefully it will bring many blessings THIS week.

We did get a new investigator, he has been investigating for a while, but he moved from Sedona to Cottonwood, so we now get to teach him, he is awesome! super excited and very friendly, I'm really excited to teach him.

I love being up here in Cottonwood, its so beautiful and the weather is currently great! We got SOAKED the other day though, it was crazy. It wasn't so bad though, cause as soon as the rain started coming down real hard, this lady randomly stopped and gave us two umbrellas she happened to pick up at a yard sale!! The Lord sure does work in mysterious ways... she wasn't a member.

Well that's all for this week... I'll hope to have more next week.

Elder Martin

Week 64

This has been an eventful/uneventful week... Some fun things happened, but none are that important.

Wednesday I went on exchanges with the funniest Elder I know, Elder Nelson. We had so much fun, probably too much fun...

First we went tracting near our home, Elder Nelson told me he saw a magical place for tracting and that we HAD to go there... it turned out to be an apartment complex... which turned out to be an old persons apartment complex! we talked to 3 people, we weren't allowed to knock on doors. Lame. We then ate lunch. We went tracting and used his new tracting technique... it works quite well, but is so funny to me, that I really had a hard time with it. Basically you comment on whatever you see on their porch before you say anything else. So as soon as they open the door you say something to the effect of "So I see you have an old wooden bench!" for some reason it just makes them so much more agreeable and nice! they talk about the bench for a minute, and then you talk about the gospel. It's so weird and hilarious how well it works, and what things work. One time Elder Nelson said "I see you've got a thermometer!" Oh gosh, I thought it was the worst thing he could have said... the guy then excitedly talked to us about his two thermometers! It doesn't go well sometimes though. We once tracted into a guy who had a lot of foam swords and shields and things. It was Elder Nelson's turn. He said "I see you have a lot of foam weaponry!" the guy came out and said "What do you WANT?" he was a real big guy with a greek style beard (beard under the chin) Elder Nelson started laughing, so I had to take over, I talked to him for a minute, and asked him if he went to any churches. His response "I'm a son of Oden." My thought was that I didn't ask who his father was... so I rephrased the question. "Well do you have any religious beliefs?" "I told you, I'm a SON OF ODEN!" oh... apparently that's a religious belief. We talked for a couple more minutes, and left trying to not laugh... we had a hard time on a couple door steps cause we were laughing all day long.

Thursday we went on another exchange! and Friday was yet ANOTHER exchange! but they were all good. I went to Camp Verde and stayed with the Elders there, there are four of them in an office like apartment... they have one real big room, and all four beds are lined up! It reminded me of an orphanage!

Yesterday I rode bike... there are lots of hills here, it was not fun.

The End.

Elder Martin

Week 63

Dearest readers,

What a GLORIOUS week!!! I had such a good time this past week... Let me tell you.

Tuesday we had a training on Mormon.org from Brother Watson, the guy in charge of proselyting in the church missionary department. He's awesome! I wish I could be like him as a missionary. I am so excited for Mormon.org they are launching a huge media campaign here in the Phoenix area and its going to be really exciting!

Now for Wednesday. Wednesday was awesome, I went to Sedona! HURRAY! I love sedona, its so beautiful and crazy. The people who live in that city are so interesting! That's a nice word to use. First of all, the Elders who live in Sedona live above a Mortuary! weird. There is supposedly a lot of crazy things that happen... but its all silliness. So Wednesday morning we go and tract first thing, and I was so excited to be in Sedona, so I decided to let everyone know that... and ya know what? it made talking to people a lot easier. The very first guy we talked to, I just talked to him for about 5-7 minutes, and then started talking about the church... it was all just woven in to a good conversation. He agreed to a church tour... after that we didn't have as much luck, people are weird in Sedona... a lot of new agers, people who believe in something called the God Blob theory, where it states that God is everything, He is everywhere always, he isn't IN the tree's, He IS the tree's and the ocean and the animals, its crazy. Lots of drugs I assume. Anyway, we talked to a lot of those people.

After lunch we went to visit a part member family, and as we were arriving there was tons of lightning and it was so close! I LOVED IT!! we went under this guys porch and knocked on the door... no answer... we started heading back and the hail came... so we waited a moment. Hail only last a good minute or so. Not this time. I have never seen such intense Hail! and so big too! the diameter of an individual piece of hail was about 1 inch, and it was coming down so fast! I was so mad I didn't have my camera with me. It lasted about 10 minutes, I couldn't believe it! I got hit by one piece, and it hurt! then I saw this guy bookin' it down a hill with camera equipment trying to cover his head... poor fella. After it was all over, the hail was about one or 2 inches deep everywhere! So we went tracting after that, after it had all stopped. We went to an area that was supposed to be full of new age people, cause that was exciting to me and fun. Well we got about 30 minutes into tracting when it started to rain. My temporary companion had an umbrella... I did not. I got very wet.... then it REALLY started to rain, it drenched me, it was so awesome! I loved it. I haven't had rain in such a long time, it was so fun. It never stopped raining!!!

And then there was star. We went to Taco Bell to eat dinner, and this lady came in, and she was dressed very interestingly... but it wasn't something abnormal in Sedona, no one even batted an eye. I thought it was awesome... well it turns out she grew up LDS, she came up to us and said "Hey Elders!" so we started talking to her. We learned a lot of great things. Her name was Star, she was recently up near Idaho at a rainbow group party... she also told us about her most recent Full Moon Drum Circle! there were about 100 people there. We had such a fun conversation, I could have talked to her for hours!!!

Then we went tracting again, we went to one of the most creepy places I have ever been... it was down by a river, and it appeared as though we were transported 30 years back in time... if not 150... First house we got to I sware was the house of witches! no one was home, but wow it was a creepy house! I am so mad I didn't have my camera! every house must've been the house of a hippie or the house of a witch... most likely both. We didn't really talk to anyone unfortunately. Weird enough there was actually a small apartment complex there! I assume that in order to live there, it would be necessary to have at least one murder on your hands... it was creepy, and we talked to a couple people there. They weren't too happy to talk, but they did talk for a few minutes. Oh I had so much fun!!!

The rest of the week was also awesome, but I don't really have the time to tell about it. But I assure you it was a great week. The church is true, especially in Sedona!

Elder Martin

Week 62

Dear People,

My name is Elder Martin, and my week has been crazy. We'll start with... monday.

Well, nothing cool happened monday,

Tuesday. I was writing my e-mails when behold the news came. Elder Martin is leaving Waddell. I was sad. So we visited some families got some great pictures and it was sad to say goodbye.

Wednesday we had our transfer meeting at 11:15! I met my new companion and found out my new place to live. My new companion is Elder Geren from Spokane Washington! He is awesome, I am really excited to be working with him. My new area is Cottonwood, which is up right by Sedona, the Zone covers Sedona so I will be there on a number of occasions, so that will be fun. It is BEAUTIFUL here! So nice, the weather is perfect! probably a little too cold actually... I'm probably going to have to buy a real blanket. Well, it took an hour and a half to get up here, so that was no fun, the first night I was here there was a baptism, but not in my ward.

Thursday I just tried to get to know my new area, did some tracting, tried to meet some fo the people. Nothing to exciting.

Friday was awesome! we went on exchanges with the Assistants, so I had to travel back down to the valley, and I was with Elder Falconer who is great, the most exciting thing about that day was that there was a southwest mission presidents seminar that President Taylor was attending. He wanted his son Braden to come down for a dinner they were having, so they asked us to bring him there (mesa) so we did. We arrived early so we sat down outside the room for 30 or so minutes. Then it ended, and mission presidents started coming out, giving us weird looks... they obviously thought that we were not supposed to be there, we talked to a few of them though, and they were very nice! we talked to the Tempe Mission President, talked to him about Elder Turley who he told me is currently doing awesome and serving as a District Leader, so that was fun to hear! Then President Taylor came out and talked to us, and introduced us to Elder Rasband! That was really cool. It was Elder Rasband that requested Braden's presence. So after that we went back up to cottonwood, almost died a couple of times, the driver of the car wasn't good at all, I had to tell him about upcoming cars a couple of times, and red lights a couple times, once was pretty scary. No worries though.

Saturday I went to a baby shower... we were invited. Sunday was great, I got to meet the new ward and I approve of them. That's about all for now. I'm really excited to be here, I love this area so much, I love my companion, I love the district and the zone, I am so excited to be here!

Elder Martin

Pictures!

I snagged some pictures of Elder Martin from the presidents blog. They had transfers, and so many pictures were taken.
I am not sure, but this may be Jason's new companion. And a couple others...


Here he is doing...the robot?
Playing freeze tag?
Oh, he's guiding the truck back.
Caught in the act of stealing carrots!
Aww, he loves us.

Week 61

Well, I left my old planner at home, so I don't remember exactly what happened last week, but I remember the highlights. I can say that it has probably been the most incredible week of my mission, investigators aside.

First of all some sad news. I am being transferred. I have never been transferred in my 14 months out here, I have grown so close to this ward, its a family to me, and its going to be really hard to go. I have dinner scheduled with Bro. Healey tonight, he has been very influential on me here, I have been taking pictures with families lately just in case, and now I'm glad I did. I will now have to go and pack... darn it. I will find out tomorrow my new area and companion, it will be very interesting, we'll see how it goes.

Wednesday we had a leadership meeting for the mission. Best day of my whole mission. A few changes were made as to how we report numbers and just how things are done in general. In the mission we have somewhat gotten away from strict Preach My Gospel standards... different ideas for numbers, what an 'other lesson' means and things like that... and as such a lot of fake things happen... for example to get a new investigator before all we had to do was set up a return appointment with someone after teaching them a couple quick principles... we could pretty much get new investigators whenever we wanted to... of course those things are good to set up return appointments, but the numbers didn't truly reflect what was actually happening... I can't even explain it very well, but it was always a huge frustration to me! We no longer count things that don't need to be counted... such as how many people we contact. The basics of it is, we are no longer being babysat, we are true missionaries, each responsible for his or her own efforts! For some reason it just woke me up in a way, excited me so much! I have thusfar been a good missionary, obedient, hard working, and dependable, based on the fact that it was expected of me, it was done out of my sense of duty. Overnight it has changed, and now I do everything out of a true desire to serve God, out of love for Him, and for those I work with, its going from obedience to charity, which is how I think it should be. I never truly realized I wasn't doing it that way, I love the people, I love the work, but honestly something has just changed... I get home and I have a desire to study instead of go to bed, or to first write in my journal, which I have really slacked on! I AM EATING BREAKFAST! That never happens... that's how crazy this all is, it has changed my breakfast habits! I am so happy and so excited, and so motivated to do all I can, not because I have to report to someone, but because I WANT to do it, because I want to help people come unto Christ. This work is incredible, and I feel so much more like a true missionary now. I love life.

Morgan is getting baptized September 17. Ben Payne is getting baptized Sept. 17. I am leaving tomorrow... I am going to see if I can come back for the baptisms... I am so excited for both of them, they are so incredible, and are going to be powerful members of this church.

Sad news. Elder Kavatoe has left... he goes home today. He was my best friend on the mission, it was really sad to see him go. He was with me for 11 months, 5 weeks as my companion, the rest in my apartment except the last month. So much fun with that tongan!

That's all for today. The church is true, and is awesome! This work is run by revelation, I know it. I love the work and my mission president. Dont' ever forget that this is all run by God... there are difficult times ahead, and they are coming fast, the elect will be deceived... which means that at some point there will be things that come up that will make you question the church, or question the leaders, or your testimony, or something like that. Stick to the Prophet, seek revelation! God will tell you all things what you should do. I know it.

Elder Martin

Week 60

Not sure what all happened this week...

Wednesday was HOT! I was on exchanges with Elder Labrum in his area, which is the first time I've gone to that area... to get to their area its a five mile bike ride, most of it uphill, all day was biking and walking, it was 116 degrees, and I was fairly sick, but not enough to stay in.

Thursday was worse, I wasn't feeling very well, so I asked for some help so elder Hall could go to our appts that night, we had someone stay in with me... I felt okay to tract and things like that, but sitting inside and teaching I wasn't able to do... strange I know, but still true.

Saturday there were a couple more Baptisms in Elder Kavatoe's ward, after the baptism, I split with him for a few hours so we could practice a musical number we were singing the next day. Or rather, he was singing, and I was strangely enough playing the piano! It was Nearer My God To Thee, and the Bishop requested that he do it, since he is going home soon, and he heard it one day. Then we ran out of miles, and we are stuck for a few days...

Yesterday we had such a great lesson with an investigator Ben, he had before been unable to accept that the church was true, he knew it, but was having a hard time accepting it. We asked him to pray for acceptance, and now he is ready to be baptized! he is willing to do what is necessary to be baptized, and its so awesome to see his faith! He is going to be such a great member of the church, I am excited for him.

Today for a zone activity we played death ball (kinda like dodge ball) and volleyball and basketball, and my district performed the Haka, it was fun.

That's all for this week.

Elder Martin

Happy late birthday, Elder Martin

Elder Martin had him a birthday last month. It was celebrated at a zone conference.

Here are some pictures from that zone conference, as stolen from his mission presidents blog.

Week 59

Let me tell you of my wonderful week.

Monday we met with a family in our ward who has a child who will be baptized soon, we just felt like we should share a message with them before her baptism. So we went and we watched the John Tanner story, it is such a great video! even the 8 year old girl was in tears, the Spirit was strong and we had a great discussion afterwards. After all that, and the strong presence of the spirit, the mom told us that someone asked her a few weeks ago if, since she had a lot of nonmembers coming to the baptism, she would like the full time missionaries (me and Elder Hall) to speak at the baptism while the kids were changing... she said no, that she didn't want to push it with her friends too much, but that now she wants us to come and teach. This could be a great opportunity hopefully.

Tuesday we had an appointment with an anti-mormon... it was fun. All of his arguments were ridiculous! He first harped on how mormon researchers don't do their job right, and how they don't really go into it very well... and THEN he brings up 1st Nephi 19:1 which talks about plates... it says he was commanded to make plates, and then in verse two it indicates he wasn't commanded to make plates... he said that Joseph Smith was stupid to miss such an obvious mistake... Well this shows his lack of research, the verse clearly speaks of two sets of plates, and how he was commanded to make one of them, but he didn't know that he would be commanded to make the second one... or something like that... look into it, its pretty obvious! He had an old copy of the Book of Mormon which has pictures all throughout... he said that some of the pictures weren't historically accurate, or fitting to what was in the Book of Mormon. We said they were simply pictures, artist renderings. He whined about how we always just gloss things over, "You can't have the story say one thing, and have pictures say another thing!" "Mark, those pictures were not included with the gold plates!" anti's are funny.

Friday we had a Zone Conference, that was fun. We had some changes in the mission... a little more laxed on music rules... but at the same time not really. We don't have real limitations, other than it has to keep the spirit... I worry about some missionaries... but I love the hymns, so that's what I'll continue to listen to! It was a great conference, we have an incredibly obedient mission! President Beck took this mission from like 5% obedience, to 93% obedience! it is one of the most obedient missions probably in the world! President Taylor is taking us even farther, he puts it as, going from love to trust, which is higher than love.

Saturday was the baptism of the Caldwell family, not in my ward, but in Elder Kavatoe's ward... 6 people! it was so awesome, there were about 100 people in attendance. The caldwell family showed up 30 minutes late to their own baptism! crazy... President Taylor attended it with his wife and his 16 year old son Braden. After the Baptism, we asked President Taylor if we could take Braden out with us for an hour, which he said yes to, it was a lot of fun to get to know him a bit, he's a really good kid! Reminds me of myself at that age... HA! j/k.

Sunday we had a great lesson with Ryan and Curtis who finally both came to church! it was a really powerful lesson on the Plan of Salvation, it was done in the chapel.

Well that's all for today, love you all,

Elder Martin

Week 58

Well, its been a different week... not much got done, but we sure did use a lot of miles on our car! there were a couple days that nothing seemed to go right. We've lost a few investigators, found a few cool ones.

Tuesday we set a real baptism date with Morgan Welchoff, for 09/10/11 kinda cool eh? It's so good teaching her, it makes up for all the other people we teach who are tough! but the tough ones are good and rewarding too... sometimes...

I'm trying to think of any interesting stories. Not much happened this week. Friday went on exchanges with another missionary, we did a lot of tracting, and had a couple really fun lessons. I love teaching! We went to a thai restaurant hoping a guy we knew would be there, the owner, he always gives us free food... he wasn't there, or I would have had the roasted duck! but I just had curry instead, it was good.

Saturday was really our most interesting day, yet nothing happened! we had no 'numbers' anyway, but it was still a good day. Tom Wootton had his funeral, it was good, I really hope he will accept the gospel in the next life... it was so funny to hear all the stories, because it made so much sense, and made a lot of things make more sense. It was a good service.

Later that day we helped someone move, and then I got to go interview a family for baptism! it was a family of 6 (but the husband wasn't there, so just five) so I enlisted the Zone Leaders to help me interview. This family is awesome! they are very ready for the gospel... the 9 year old boy kept referring to the missionaries as the messengers, it was pretty funny, but I had each of them give the opening prayer, and their prayers were just awesome! I love hearing investigators or recent converts pray, its so real.

Sunday we had another fun incident in the Singles ward... I'm not sure if I told the last one where we had a 'heckler' talking about how abortion was okay... well he came back, he likes church sometimes... But the opening song was just finishing, and he stands up, and walks out and loudly says to his friend "Ya know how you told me last night that there is more to life than the Army? well there is more to life than the Book of Mormon!" and then he stormed out. I feel bad for his friend, he's trying so hard and doing a great job of being a missionary.

Well that's it for this week.

Elder Martin

Pictures

Here are some pictures of Elder Martin that I stole from the blog of his new mission president and wife.

Check out the blog, if you are so inclined.

http://azphxmission.blogspot.com/

Week 57

What a week.

Tuesday was awful! we had so many plans, not a single person was home! we seriously only talked to 3 people that day! It was not fun, but those days happen.

Wednesday was really fun! We had a District Meeting, and the focus for this month is personal and companionship study, so I taught the district how to study, and showed them things within the scriptures to help them study, no one knew how to effectively use some of the tools, such as the harmony of the gospels in the Bible Dictionary, and a number of them didn't have any clue how to properly use the Topical Guide, one in particular, a recent convert missionary, had no clue at all how to use the TG! he was ecstatic to finally learn how, no one had ever taken time to teach him. We then practiced, and I gave everyone a difficult subject to study. It was so much fun! everyone really enjoyed it I think. I think with the way things are going today, no one really knows HOW to study something, or how to figure something out themselves, its all so simple with google no one has to do the studying themselves.

Saturday was another day like tuesday! everyone was gone! people kept cancelling and everything.

Friday was an awesome day though, we went on exchanges with other missionaries, and between the four of us found 8 new people to teach! it was awesome.

Sunday was a fantastic day. We started teaching this really cool guy Ben. It is one of those ideal teaching situations, the spirit was in the meeting the entire time! He knows that its all true, but he is resisting it! I pointed that out to him, or rather I indicated that is how I often am personally, that I hear a new idea, and I immediately know its true, but I fight it. He got excited and said that is exactly what he is going through... so he knows he will accept the message one day, but is having a hard time with it. He was taught his whole life that Mormons are crazy and are a false church, so its hard for him to break that line of thinking.

Thursday we had an investigator challenge me in foosball. He thought he was pretty good. I suggested that if I won he would have to go to church on Sunday, and if he won, than I would have to go to church on sunday. He didn't think that was fair. He suggested that if I won, he would give up coffee and wine for a week, and if he won, that I would have to try coffee and wine! ha, yeah right... that didn't work. So we just played to see who was the true church, catholics or mormons. We played a total of 3 games one on one. Total score was 30-5 in my favor. He said he would come to church this next sunday, we'll see. I am not sure why he thought he was that good... he spins... his wife was shocked, she said he has never really lost before... I figure he must be only playing his 5 year old child... he he j/k he was okay. But most importantly is he will come to church.

That's all for this week.

Elder Martin

Week 56

I am SORE!! I was on bike most of the week since we ran out of miles in our car, and that wouldn't be so bad, but I realized my tires were low, not enough for me to tell, but enough to really drag! So I got them properly inflated, and its so nice! We got a ton of work done this week, it was awesome!

I'll tell you about church... cause it was funny! There is this guy bradyn in our ward who is just about to go on a mission, and he brought a friend with him to church. There was a speaker in sacrament who was talking about how keeping the commandments will save you money! it was a good talk, well he moved to the Law of Chastity, and how keeping that commandment will save you money, and I was sitting with Bradyn and his friend, and his friend shouts "Yeah, and it will save you a lot of pain too!" well the speaker took it well, and rolled with it, and moved on with his talk, "Not to mention how much money it will save you if you were to get an abortion. Abortion is a horrible thing as we all know, one of the worst things out there" and our friend piped up again "Yeah, it can be bad, but it can also be really good." Ha, how awkward! our bishop just looked at him and shook his finger. He didn't make any further comments. Ah, its always interesting bringing people to church. We are working with a guy dale that we are so afraid to bring to church! we are pretty sure he's been involved with some very hard drugs. It's really sad actually, and we are trying to help him out as much as we can. We will need miracles... thankfully that is something that occurs all the time!

We did a lot of tracting this week! Not a whole lot of good stories from it though, sadly. Oh wait... one I guess... not that cool, but we talked to one guy who was shaking a lot. He said he was going to be going to prison in about 30 minutes for 20 days. We gave him a book to read in prison.

We had an awesome lesson with the Welchoffs! the spirit was so strong, Morgan was crying, same with her step mom. She has read through a lot of Alma! she's in Alma 10 last time we talked. We are going to set a date for baptism with her soon!

Last month (July) our district had 1 baptism. August, we are planning on having 15 or 16! that would be the ZONE record in one month. It is going to be an awesome month!

Elder Martin

PS... the church IS TRUE! there is no other choice, but the church being true.

Week 55

Alright, well... hmmm... Ummm, so this is what is happening. It's transfer week. No one in the District is being transferred. Whoohooo! I'm staying here another six weeks... which I've known for the past six weeks, but its still good and I am happy.

I had a good week! I'm trying to remember the good points though. I LOVE living in my new house, or Casita (spanish for small house). This coming week I think we are going to be getting a lot done, I'm excited. We had a few hangups last week... Thursday was pretty much shot... a lot of meetings and planning, Friday we had some meetings, but they were good... got to get to know the mission President a little better, and that is always good. We went and stopped by a family we are going to start teaching... not an investigator family, just a family that is starting to come back to church... they are an awesome family, a lot of fun, very well behaved children! so that's good.

Saturday I went on splits with Zone Leaders, Elder Mendenhall, he's awesome. I am trying desperately to convince them that we need a truck in our area, so I decided I would innocently take him down the worst roads we have. He agrees we need a truck, but it still probably wont happen. So I took him down this horrible dirt road, and saw houses that I have never been to before, so we started tracting the road and we knocked on the third of four houses and talked for an hour with this couple. It was a great conversation! he kept saying "Oh I need to get going" and then he would ask another question! we ended up teaching the first lesson, which is the Restoration. Before we got to the part about Joseph Smith they asked "So who is the man that God chose to restore the gospel in our day? and when was that?" so we were led beautifully into our next point! It was so perfect, the reason we teach many of the points BEFORE Joseph Smith is so they will see the need to have a restoration in OUR day.

Have I told you about Dale? Dale is crazy, and he has done a lot of drugs I think in his day, and plenty of alchohol to go along with it. We've been trying to work with him, he's so sad, and so afraid to die. Well we went over the other day, and it turns out he has a twin brother, and it was the weirdest thing in the world! he was so normal!!! he looked exactly like him of course, but sober. So strange to see such a contrast, and to see what drugs will do to you! So many teenagers just think "Ah yeah cool cool, drugs are fun, it makes things better, makes you happy!" wow, they screw up lives, they destroy your mind, and it doesn't take much to affect you the rest of your life.

Well I can testify that the church is still most definitely the true church! God's church, and the only way we can find happiness in life. People like to find other ways, and they will always fail, ALWAYS. You cannot find lasting and real happiness unless it includes the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the TRUE Gospel of Jesus Christ, as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Elder Martin