Monday, March 18, 2013 - Heat Has Begun...

Well, the subject line pretty much says it all....unfortunately, the heat has begun. We have been around 95-105 this week...and that feels cool. That isn't even the high yet; just wait till we get up to 120! Ugh! But it is crazy to think that this will be my last summer in this heat and I will most likely never experience it ever again in my life...right? That doesn't mean I will try and take advantage of it, I will still have to complain a little bit. I think that climate is one of those things that can invoke the senses. You know like a smell or a song can remind you of memories, well I believe the heat does the same. As I have begun suffering again, I have been reflecting on what it was like the last time I felt this and it brought back many fond memories of Sonoyta and the horrible heat there, but the wonderful times I had! Well, this week was a little....long and fast at the same time! This has been quite difficult this week in some aspects. It seems like we just can't get investigators to understand sometimes. They just don't want to understand the importance of this message that we have! The lady we are teaching didn't come to church yesterday.... :( She worked late into the morning and didn't get up in time to come to church, so her date for this Saturday has fallen. However, we have come up with a deal. If she goes to church this coming Sunday, we will be able to do the baptism right after the services that afternoon. That means that she wouldn't be confirmed until the next week, but that is okay because we would still be getting a baptism. We went this week with her 9 year old son to see what he thought and, well, we've added him to the teaching pool and he has decided that he wants to get baptized with his mom! So we are looking at 2 baptisms for this coming Sunday! They are doing so well though and she is super duper excited! She came to the ward activity that we had today and was just chatting with was the sisters like she seemed to fit in really well with everyone and seems to be comfortable at church which is very important. The other family slowly seem to be drifting off a little. They still want all of their family to start listening to us, but the dad doesn't seem too happy about all of that. We are trying to get a lesson to talk with him and see what we can do. They like the lessons and all, but there is still some doubt or something that is holding them back. We just have to try and figure out what that is. There is the other Family...well, they are just rough! The Mom is a bit sensitive and the daughter doesn't know much about God or religion which makes it hard sometimes. They are the family where the dad is an inactive member and the mom and daughter want to learn about the church. So we are trying to reactivate an inactive and baptized 2 non-members. There have been 2 events that have happened that have almost jeopardized our relationship with them. Each of these events haven't really been our fault, and have been complete accidents, but since the mom is so sensitive it has a little rough and we have thought that we almost lost investigators a few times. However, yesterday we sat down with them and they were in good spirits and we were able to talk about how they have felt and what they want from us and how we can better help them, etc. So we will see how it goes with that. They are a neat family, but will just take a little time and patience on both ends. We had a neat experience with them one day when we went with them. The mom was telling us how the daughter told her that one time when we were there with them teaching, that the daughter could see a bright glow surrounding us. That made me feel quite neat! It really shows that we really are God's messengers and that His Spirit is always with us to testify and help. There was a sister in Nacozari that would always tell us, every time that we went to eat at her house, that God's angels were eating at her house and she felt really blessed. She always referred to us as God's Angels and it this experience made me think of that. This week we did an activity as a zone that we called, "The Bomb!" We planned that we would go to our areas and one day go to a place very populated like a park or flea market or something with a lot of people and just go talk and invite people like crazy to church. We handed out pamphlets like crazy! Apparently one zone did this once and they had a ton of people in attendance at church and got quite a few baptisms out of an activity like this one, so we decided to try it. Well, it didn't go so hot! Of all the people we talked to and invited, not one person showed up to church the next day. That was a little depressing, but oh well! Everyone has their feel agency! At least we tried to plant seeds. This week has really been a reflection week for me and a week of being very grateful for the parents I have and EVERYTHING they have taught me. I just can't even comprehend all that they have taught me! All that I am is because of them! I really like many of the traits that I have like being humble, patient, basically never getting made-or at least not showing it- cleanliness, and many other things because these are traits my parents have and they have passed them on to me! I read in a conference talk or something recently that said that for a parent to successfully raise a child is to teach them to live without them someday, to do things for themselves....something like that. I don't really remember. But I have feel that this is what my parents have done! They are successfully helped me to live on my own and take care of myself and my surroundings. One of the most important things they have taught me is about priorities and always putting God first. I have talked with less activities this week and have realized that one problem they have in life is that they don't have their priorities straight. I am thankful that my choices when I was younger were: you go to church or you go to church. There wasn't really even that option. You just go to church. And I am thankful for that because now I know that Sundays we go to church and I don't even have to think about that. I don't even have to think about if I want to get up early to go. I just do it because that is what I have been taught and I have come to know the truth of it! I am so thankful for my parents and all they have done for me and all they do for me and the sacrifices they make! I love you mom and dad! Well, this has been quite a fun letter to write! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did! Haha! I hope you all are well! Thanks for all your love and support! ¡Yo sé que vive mi Señor! Con Mucho Amor, Elder Joyner