Week 29

What a busy BUSY week! I had almost no time for tracting this week, its so awesome.

We finally found the 11 year old Jason boy! YES! we talked to him, and got him all set up to come to scouts and things! We're excited! He's such a neat kid! there were about 5 kids when we got there, and they were all SO excited when I gave them pictures (pass along cards) of Jesus and of the Temple. It was fun!

We set a date for baptism for Kelly!!! Everyone remember him? I've been teaching him since AUGUST! if not JULY! We tracted into him, and he's finally going to get baptized. We just have to get him to quit smoking. We gave him a program to help him stop.

We were called on to give 6 blessings in 4 days this week! between wed and sat we gave them. They were some remarkable experiences! I love the priesthood. I love being able to use the priesthood to bless the lives of others. I love the work that I have been called to do, its the most rewarding thing I've ever experienced.

Lauren may be getting baptized this saturday instead of February 12th. Hurray! David is still scheduled for February 19th, and now Kelly is for the same date. We had 9 investigators come to sacrament meeting yesterday! it was so wonderful. Some didn't even come! There were 3 that didn't show up. We have so many people to teach right now, and so many more on the horizon! I have never seen so much work to do! and not NEARLY enough time to do it. That's the hard part, that's why we can't tract, we are busy all day every day... and unfortunately we have meetings! I wish we didn't have such long meetings each week. We had a Zone Conference on Friday, but that was a great meeting, I love Zone Conferences. The Spirit was so strong. Our president is very inspired! We were just given a rule that we can no longer listen to EFY music. Most people were really upset about it, I was thrilled... I hate EFY music! I've always believed that much of the EFY music detracts from the spirit, and the President now agrees!

The older Jason investigator is doing well, super busy so we can't meet with him very much, but he is very close to baptism. I love that family. I love everyone we teach. Also the Billy Bishop family we are teaching, they are wonderful!

A couple weeks ago we raked the yard of an investigator, and that night there was a wind storm and blew the rest of the leaves of the tree... dang it! It's satan's doing, the bible calls him the prince of the air. or wind, or something like that. But now there are no more leaves to fall, so we'll go rake again.

Well I wish I could tell more stories but I haven't the time.

Elder Martin

Week 28

What a week! It was quite busy, I'll just get right into some stories.

Wednesday I was on splits with someone in the YSA ward, and the sister missionaries called us and asked us to come give a blessing to one of their investigators. Actually it wasn't even an investigator, it was a friend of their investigator who has MS. So we went and gave her a blessing, and then their investigator also asked for a blessing to help her quit smoking. Her daughter was also there, who has not yet been an investigator. Her daughter held her moms hand through the blessing, and afterwards she commented "It felt like electricity was rushing through my body when you were giving the blessing." So we talked to them a bit about why. It was a great experience. I encouraged them to listen to the sisters.

Tuesday we set two baptismal dates... kind of. David set his for May 14th. AGH! SO far away! not good. Lauren set hers for January 22nd! Awesome! or rather, we set it, and she accepted it. Thursday, Lauren canceled that date, and said no to it. Saturday we set two NEW baptism dates. David set his to February 19th! and Lauren to February 12th. We are so excited for both of those baptisms! David asked me to confirm him a member, and give the gift of the Holy Ghost. I'm excited, yet somewhat nervous as well. But mostly honored. He's doing so well, he is so humble and willing to learn, he is doing more than what is asked and is being blessed accordingly. He has changed his life so completely, I'm amazed at the faith that he shows! What a great man.

Friday we decided to rake some leaves. It was fun, we stopped by an investigators house and raked their leaves without them knowing. We even borrowed a garbage bag from the son. This is the family that has the Foosball table. Did I tell that story last week? I think I did.

Well, I wish I could write more, but time is running out, I would have written yesterday, but all the libraries and such things were closed.

Elder Martin

Week 27

What a week! I'm going to start with Saturday. Saturday, as we usually do, we went on all day splits with the priests in the ward, I went with a 16 year old... thankfully he still has a few years before his mission... it was good though. We sadly didn't have any bashers that day, that's always fun, we did meet a lot of rejection, so that was good for him. We, as we often do, tracted into a member, who invited us in and we started talking. Uncle Darrell, do you read my blog? I'm offended if you don't. Dad, you should forward this to him, it will be of interest. So we get to talking to this member, and he points out to his wife my name and says some movie quote about cursing the martin name til the day he dies, and then he said "There was a martin who served in my mission with me" at this point, I wasn't really paying attention, I was trying to get comfortable on his too deep couch... I hate couches that are almost impossible to lean back in! oi vey, why do people get those couches? STOP IT! so I almost missed it when he said "his name was Darrell Martin" and he continued on, when it registered in my mind that he said that name, I stopped him and said "Wait, what was the name of the missionary?" he repeated "Darrell Martin". I thought... well, Martin is the 10th most common surname in America, it can't be the same one. But I had to find out... so in my mind, my uncle who is Darrell Martin, served in Scotland... am I correct? Maybe Ireland? but I think Scotland, you'll correct me if I'm wrong. So I asked him "Did you serve in Scotland" and he said "No way! yeah, I did serve in Scotland!" so we laugh, and we talk about it, and he tells me ALL kinds of stories about my Uncle Darrell. He said "One thing I remember is that he was diabetic". Hmmm... well that doesn't sound right... maybe there is something I don't know about my uncle, so I let it slide... I figured he was the one that was wrong. He then said "After my mission I even went and watched a movie at his house!" so I said "Oh, where are you from?" "Eastern Idaho" oh, of course, cause that is where my uncle was from. So I was supposed to ask my uncle a question... so here it is: Uncle Darrell, do you remember watching the movie fugitive, and freaking out over the opening credits starting some 10 minutes after the movie started? You may, that would be strange, but perhaps not... here's why. He said "Yeah, so lets see my mission was back in 94-95... " I said "Wait, what?? That can't be right... also you look like you're in your 30's whereas my uncle is in his 60's" he he, just kidding, I didn't say that, and I know you're not in your sixties... So we found out that no, it couldn't be the same one. WHAT ARE THE ODDS? it was quite an amusing experience.

Kelly came to church again! Anyone remember him? Yeah, we went back over, and got him to come back to church! We're excited again about him.

Anyone remember the 11 year old boy Jason? well we finally found him! sweet! and we're going to hopefully start teaching him again, he is so excited to get baptized, and go to church and scouts, and now we will have a reliable ride for him each week! I am so glad that I am serving in this area at this time! I absolutely love the Waddell ward, I know the people better than I ever did in my home ward... but that's cause I have to do a lot more interacting with them, which I am grateful for. There are such great people in this ward, a lot of diversity as well, some strange ones, but we still love them. I feel very much a part of this ward, and I will be very sad when I am asked to leave. I hope that if I do leave its not until summer, at which point I can go up to Prescott/Cottonwood area, and then after the summer, I will be transferred to South Phoenix... these are still my plans.

Well I have to get going now, thanks for listening to my ramblings.

Elder Martin

Week 26

Dear Family and Friends and accidental Passersby.

Well 2010 is now behind us! I'm excited for the year of 2011, its the only full year of my mission, the entirety of 2011 will be spent on my mission. How exciting. The past 2 weeks have been SLOW!!! I have not been allowed to do as much missionary work, and its no fun! I hate being locked up inside. If people wouldn't get so drunk on holidays, I would be happy. Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve and New Years were all days by appointment only. Plus we had our regular P-days. Let me tell a story of one of the few times I was able to tract the past couple weeks.

So I'm on splits with Elder Kavatoe, and we knock on this door, and a guy answers and we tell him about the Book of Mormon, he agree's with most of what we say... I was thinking maybe he was a member. He invites us in and we talk about the Gospel, we share a part of the message of the Restoration. He believes most of what we tell him! it was pretty crazy. We have an appointment back there pretty soon. Thursday. He doesn't like being pushed or pressured though.

Hmmm, that story took less time than I thought to tell... darn... ummm.. Christmas was good! New Years was cold. It got below freezing that night, there are many reports that it actually SNOWED! here in phoenix, it snowed. I didn't see any. It rained pretty heavily a few days before that too.

I've been learning many wonderful things from the scriptures. I love learning new things! We had an awesome discussion with an investigator a few days ago, she was asking questions about our divine potential, we were able to have a wonderful discussion about it, such a new concept to so many people, yet it is so clear in the scriptures. I love when we are teaching new concepts, such as the 3 degree's of glory, and we go over bible passages, and an investigator says "Wow, It's been there the whole time, I can't believe I never saw that before". I love teaching! I got to teach a sunday school class a couple weeks ago, that was a lot of fun! I hope I get to be in the Primary as a teacher when I get home! that would just be awesome! I could serve in the Primary my whole life and be very content.

Did I mention that I'm staying here? I guess not since I couldn't write a letter last week. Well Transfers came, and no one left in the whole zone. So I'm here in Waddell for another 6 weeks! I couldn't be happier. I think I need even one more transfer here. I would be happy with 9 months in this area. I would be thrilled with 10 and a half, but then for Summer, I think I'll be okay with going to Sedona! and then come winter, I want to be in South Phoenix. Enos 1:12 "And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith." I will labor and pray with all diligence, and maybe the Lord will grant to me according to my transfer desires. =]

Well, It's time to go shopping now, hurray! I hate shopping... but I do need food. Oh, how about this for ridiculous, extra cartridges for razors cost $25!!! WHAT??? I can't afford to shave anymore!

Elder Martin

Week 24

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Oh I'm excited about Christmas, I'll be celebrating in shorts and a T-shirt! I got my first present a few days ago from the Nampa 17th Ward! how exciting, tell them all thank you.

Let me tell you about my awesome week! Tuesday was good, can't remember it though he he... oh yeah that is right, I had a meeting with the Halls! Every tuesday from now on. They are great, David is so much more ready for Baptism than he realizes, he is really doing well! It's always fun to go over there, as they are pretty much family! literally. Did Ruby send you pictures mom? we were playing with Chickens, maybe you can give them to Melanie and she can post them on the Blog.

Wednesday is the weirdest thing... I can't remember any of it!

Friday I had an awesome exchange with Elder Westbroek, he is our District Leader, he just got released as the Assistant to the President, so it was a great opportunity to learn from him all day, we put up some Christmas lights in the morning and did some tracting and contacting, it was a fun day.

It all led up to the greatest day of the week! Saturday. All day exchanges again with a priest in the ward. 10 AM we go tracting, ridiculous story... so we are talking to this lady and she has two dogs barking at us the whole time we are talking, she wasn't interested, so we start to leave, and one dog BITES MY SHOE! he just takes a nip at me as I'm walking away! stupid dog... named Maverick because the lady said "Maverick, what do you think you're doing?" I nearly kicked the dog in the face, but I caught myself. It's reactionary okay? If someone bites my shoe, my reaction is to kick back. Had she not been there.... So at 12:00 we went to a baptism! Asa. I taught her once, but then found out she was in a different ward. But I still wanted to go to the baptism. It was pretty good. Then we had lunch, I made my famous fried potatoes... they are quite famous! and thanks Christine for the idea of Brown Sugar in them... its actually my secret ingredient to almost everything. Saturday was probably my best batch of potatoes. Mmmm... I remember it like it happened only 2 days ago.... anyway, so we started teaching a girl Lauren on Saturday, we've been meeting with her for a while, but never got to teach her, she has been coming to church though. So I finally got to teach her, it was really good! she has already read the book of Mormon all the way through, and is again in Jacob! She knows that this is the right path, but is having a hard time committing to it, she will probably end up losing a lot of friends over it, which is really sad. We had a great lesson though, or at least I think so.

Right after the lesson, we had another Baptism. Trisha Miller!! YES!!! What a wonderful experience, it was such a great baptism, the spirit was so strong, she was crying through a lot of it. She was so prepared for it, it was so wonderful! I am so grateful I had the opportunity to teach her the gospel and to see the changes she has made, and the changes the Gospel has made in her life.

That was my week I guess! It was a great week, and I can't wait for this week cause every week is awesome out here!

Elder Martin

Week 23

Hello friends and family, how is it goin'?

Things here are awesome! It's still in the mid 70's, so I'm lovin' life, how is the weather there? he he, nah can you imagine?

So let me tell you about this week. Our awesome investigator Trisha didn't go to church a couple week ago, we were worried. I called her about an appointment, and she had cancelled, she wouldn't set one for that week, it felt as though she was backing off, I was so worried! I talked to Elder Farnsworth, and told him that same thing, I talked to the RS president, and asked her to call Trisha to invite her for a dinner to try and guage the situation. Thursday I was planning for the week with Elder Nuttall, but the phone wasn't with us, so when I got to the phone I had 4 missed calls, and 4 messages! AGH! I saw that one was E. Farnsworth, one was the RS president, and one was Trisha, and then someone else... First one was Elder Farnsworth, he said "Elder Martin, I just talked to Trisha. We need to talk, but I think it would be best if we talked in person." His voice was sad, he helped teach her for 5 weeks, he grew to love her as much as I did. I was devestated! NO!! This was obviously not good. Next message, Trisha. Similar somber voice, "This message is for Elder Martin, I just wanted to call and let you know some things. E. Farnsworth said I should talk to you. I was wondering if I can be Baptized on December 18th" WHAT??? That's not at ALL what I expected! That little punk Farnsworth, so I call her back and we iron out some details, and now she is going to be baptized THIS SATURDAY! YES!!! Oh I was so excited, and I still am SO excited! I was so scared for a while, but it ended up being so wonderful.

Last Saturday we did an all day split with some priests in the ward. It was an awesome experience, I wish I could have had that before I came out on my mission. We started at 8 AM and they came and studied with us, I asked my companion to study the Restoration lesson, because we would be teaching it that day. We ended up having the opportunity to teach it 3 times. One was to his family, which I set up, but he was unaware of, but it was a great experience. He had the wonderful priviledge of tracting! although no real bible bashers, that's too bad, but oh well. It was a great day. I had another lesson on faith. When I was with E. Farnsworth, he one day said "We'll get 52 contacts today" a contact is where we teach a principle and bear testimony and invite them to do something, we've been asked to contact 140 people a week, or 20 people a day. It's not very easy to get sometimes, with so many people not letting us say anything, they just say no thanks and that's it. Well, I doubted Elder Farnsworth, we ended up with more than 52 contacts that day. So for this saturday Elder Nuttall and I were planning, and I said "We need 80 contacts between the two of us" he said "Impossible" and looking back on the previous experience, I thought 'not so' so I told him we could get it if we had faith. I told him I could get 50 contacts, if he could just get 30, he said okay. Then I changed it, and said "No, I'll get 52 contacts" We didn't quite get 80. Elder Nuttall got 17 with his companion, and I got ... ... 52!!! I knew that I could get that if I put my faith in the Lord, and somehow he worked his miracles as he always does. I know that when we do what the Lord asks, he will always prepare a way for us. This week we got exactly 140 contacts. It may not be a significant story, but it strengthened my faith. Also taught me that faith requires action, we acted, and the Lord worked through us. That whole day was very spirit filled.

Well I must go now, I know the church is true! the spirit has been with us so strongly in the past few lessons, I wish I could tell you all about the wonderful lesson we had last night, the spirit was so strong.

Love,

Elder Martin

Week 22

Dear the World,

How is December? Cold? yeah, I bet it is... I wouldn't know though, it sometimes gets as cold as in the 40's here though! yet, its still in the beautiful 70's during the day. I am perfectly content with not having snow for Christmas.

Last monday we had a Zone Activity, we were supposed to be playing Ultimate Frisbee. We got there and played Soccer. Oh yeah, I hate soccer. I'm never playing again, I got knee'd in the back, kicked in the knee, and clotheslined! what a dumb sport. Sorry Soccer fans, its just no fun. I'll stick with Volleyball. My P-days are generally not very fun! I hate them, and I think I figured out why. P-day's my focus is on Elder Martin, what do I need to get done, what can I do for fun. The rest of the week, its what can I do for others. What a great principle, the more selfish we become, the more miserable we become. Service and selfless thinking truly is the key to happiness.

What a wonderful wonderful week this has been! absolutely incredible! I'll explain.

Tuesday was a good day, we were tracting and ran into this guy, he said he has friends who are LDS but he wasn't interested, so we kept going, 20 minutes later we were coming back the other side of the street, and he calls to us "Hey, come back, I want to talk a bit" so we went and talked to him for about an hour and a half, or maybe more like an hour, but we just answered all of his questions, we didn't have a bible with us, so we used his. I like the idea of using other people's bibles to show them what truth is. All the questions he asked we could back up with scripture, they were relatively easy questions... Baptism for the Dead, potential to become like God, excommunication. He said he had a lot of really hard questions for us to answer. The world doesn't realize that there truly is an answer to every question. We don't have to guess about God's character, or about our eternal destiny, we KNOW! we gave him a Book of Mormon and challenged him to read it 1 page at a time, then pause and ask himself if a man wrote the book, and then to pray about it, he said he'd take our challenge, I also gave him our number. He hasn't called us yet, which means he didn't truly take our challenge. Anyone alive will gain a testimony if they read the book of Mormon and Pray about it. Anyone!

Wednesday we had 5 appts! 4 of them cancelled. Boo. Relatively normal day.

Same with Thursday.

Friday however was incedible! the entire day. Yet I didn't do a single moment of proselyting, I didn't talk to anyone outside the church. We had Zone Conference in the Morning, a special Christmas Zone Conference, I played a violin duet of Still, Still, Still with Elder Cobourn, it turned out alright... we had no music, and Elder Cobourn can't play by ear, so I ended up writing out an arrangement on paper which I've never done before, so that was kind of fun. The violin I used was a little brassy, but got the job done. I'm playing next sunday as well, but I got a different violin this time, a really really nice one! Ooooh how I enjoy playing it. Anyway, that's a side note, so the Christmas Zone Conference was incredible, the spirit was so strong, and it was such a great experience, and then we went to the Mesa temple for the rest of the day. I love the temple! It is so beautiful inside of the Mesa Temple, they have scriptures and quotes by many of the doorways that really make you think and look at things differently. The spirit was very strong inside the temple, there was over 100 missionaries there which was such a neat experience.

Saturday and Sunday we had a nativity festival at the stake center, and choirs from all different churches were invited to attend. On Saturday night, the final choir was the Mt Pleasant Baptist Choir. Wow, what a treat! I'm sorry to say, but the average baptist choir has our choirs beat! Why can't we rejoice like that? Sometimes as Latter Day Saints we seem so somber and depressed. We should be the happiest people on the PLANET! We have the TRUTH, the fullness of the everlasting Gospel, we are told to REJOICE! in 1st nephi 11 I think verse 6, the Holy Ghost "Shouted with a loud voice; Hosanna!" So I've decided that when I get home I am joining a baptist choir. After the performance I went and told many of them thank you, and then later I found the choir director by her car, I told her about a concept called "Holy Envy" and that I had holy envy for her choir, and asked if she would let me join the choir after my mission. She said yes! SWEET! already in! By the end of one of their songs, they were all wiping sweat off their faces, they were panting, and nearly passing out, it was awesome! and the pianist was incredible!!!

Anyway, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is still better...

That's all for today, thanks for listening to my rantings.

Elder Martin

Hallelujah