2.4 Change of Pace

Dear Family and Friends (and the occasional cyber-stalker),

This past week has been most excellent for me down here in Albuquerque and I hope that everything is going well for all of you. And if its not you can always write to me and tell me about it *cough cough* ;)  hahah well anywho... Thank you for all of your love and support. I always love to hear from all of you!

As far as things down here in the land Albuquerque go. It's going pretty flippin' good! This past week was kind of crazy because on Tuesday, Elder Jewett crashed his bike and it caused us a whole bunch of bike problems the whole rest of the week... But it's ok, because even though we had bike problems, the Lord provided people to take care of us.

Also this past week we had Zone Conference (A combination of one or more Zones to train missionaries) which was pretty amazing! President Miller gave some awesome trainings on turning more to the Savior. Also the Assistants to the Presidents and the Zone Leaders gave some really good trainings on how to make our missionary work more effective. Conference was all around awesome though! Oh and I also got to see Elder Yates again at the conference and talk a little with him.

And last, but certainly not least, Elder Jewett and I have had a couple of awesome things happen this week that we wanted to share. Both stories have a lot to do with the power of prayer. The first experience happened at one of the lowest points in our week. On this past Wednesday we were trying to fix Elder Jewett's bike and the inner tube to his tire blew out. And as we tried to patch up some of the holes in it, nothing was working. And finally we gave up and so we travelled to the store to buy a new one. At the store, Elder Jewett's debit card froze and so we couldn't buy the tube and so we got home and we didn't know what to do.  We were both really down, because we had no idea where to turn to. We needed our bikes as soon as possible, and it wasn't looking like we would get her fixed anytime soon. And at this time we both prayed and asked that somehow we would be able to find a tube so we could get back to work. And nothing happened, and nothing happened, and then the Stake President called and asked if we were still on for dinner and then he told us that he had some extra tubes that we could have. 

And I know that story is kinda silly, because in the grand cosmic scheme of things an inner-tube isn't going to make or break eternity. But it made a big difference to us knowing that someone watches out and cares for us!

The second story actually took place today, but first I want to give some background on the story. So last Friday after a lesson with a less-active member and Elder Jewett, a ward  member, and I were walking back to our apartment complex. And as we were walking over we asked if this member  had any advice for us. And he did. :) He said, "Elders the thing that made the difference in my mission was believing that miracles can happen. And once you start having enough faith to ask for miracles, they come, and then missionary work becomes truly fun!" And so that night Elder Jewett and I decided to do just that and ask for a miracle to have a baptism on October 26th. And then we got to work and kinda forgot about the experience. But today a miracle happened.

So a brief interjection into the story to add in some background info onto our miracle story. We have been meeting with an Investigator named Jeremy for as long as we have been here. In fact Jeremy has been meeting with the missionaries for 14 years!!! He is so amazing and has wanted to be baptized for several years now, but couldn't be because of some things that happened in the past. And for the past years he has been doing his best to try and get the situation finished up.

Picking up the story again, for the past little while, Elder Jewett and I have been wondering what we could do to help him progress towards baptism. And a little while ago we got the impression to have him talk with the  Mission President about baptism.  So we scheduled a date for him to meet with the President, knowing that he may or may not be able to be baptized. And so today we travelled with Jeremy to his interview. And to make a long story short, Jeremy came out of the  President's office with a big smile on his face, and President said " So Elders, when are you going to get this man into the water!" Elder Jewett and I had big goofy grins on our face and we asked Jeremy when he wanted to be baptized. And as it turns out there is another baptism going on this Saturday and so he said, "Let's do it Saturday!"

So needless to say Elder Jewett and I are incredibly stoked ( and we will have our hands incredibly full) for Saturday! But that date isn't quite set in stone yet. Jeremy is good to be baptized as soon as possible, but the Bishop may have him wait a week or two so that way we can have more people come out to his baptism. But we are excited no matter what comes!

Anywho thanks for all of your love and support,

Elder Guymon

2.3 And the rains came down and the Floods Came up ;)

Dearest Family and Friends,   Thanks again to alls of you who write me and email me, it means a lot to hear from all of you! Also it breaks up some of the day-to-day drudgery that sometimes happens out on the mission!   Well anywho things have been nice and wet here in south-eastern Albuquerque! The past few years we have had 2 1/2 inches total. And this year before some of the biggest storms came in we had more than doubled that number. We actually broke the record for the most rainfall since 1929. But let's be honest, you probably don't want to hear about the weather do you?   Hahah some changes since last week is that we got a new set of missionaries in our ward! Their names are Elder Jenson and Elder Snow. Elder Jenson is from Rigby, Idaho and he actually trained my MTC Companion. Elder Snow is from Raymond, Alberta (Canada)  and has been out for only a couple of weeks! They are both awesome missionaries!   As far as life in general goes, I am still loving the Mission. Things get difficult at times, but even when things are bad its good! What makes it good is the people that are here! Knowing that you are making a difference in somebody's life makes up for all of the downsides. :)    Today actually we had another cool experience talking with Barbara! She said " I just want you guys to know how much you mean to me and to my family. You are starting to not only affect my life, but my children's life as well. Whenever we drive down the road and see somebody on the bike, they say 'Mommy! it's the missionaries, let's give them a ride' and I have to explain to them that the Elders don't wear jeans or wear pink backpacks...."   At that Elder Jewett and I had a good laugh about it!   Also one of the less-active members we are visiting with, Angelica, told us another funny story! And just to give a preface to the story, Angelica is one of the most amazing ladies I have ever met. She is older and has a LOT of health problems, but she is trying her best to raise her two adopted sons who are age 9 and age 3. We are teaching the 9 year-old the lessons, and the Three year-old had a very abusive past and has just now started to open up and become a normal happy kid.   Alrighty, now consider yourself fully prefaced. So a few weeks ago we had taught the older brother how to pray and the 3 year old had sat in on the lesson. And this past week Angelica told us the following story "So Elders, my youngest son has become addicted to praying ever since you taught Juedo (the 9 year-old), he always prays! He goes around the house singing 'In Jesus name amen! In Jesus name Amen!' "   And at this point, Elder Jewet and I started to crack up. And Juedo (pronounced whe-doe) jumped in and said " Yeah its kind of annoying! Last week he woke me up at like 6 am by holding my face and shouting 'Juedo, Juedo wake up. It's time to pray!' "   After Juedo said that everybody in the house started laughing! I don't remember laughing so hard in a lesson ever!   Well anywho things are still good down here in ABQ! I love where I am at! I love what I am doing! It's great!   ---Elder Guymon

 

2.2 Miracle

Hi-ho! Everybody!

Things are going pretty awesome down here! This past week has been a blast and thanks again for all of the Birthday wishes!

As far as just life in general, it's going pretty splendid. This past week though was one of the busiest of my life! For about half of this past week we were out doing service all day (Which is one of my favorite things, but it gobs up all of your time). While on the other days we were planning for the service, trying to find people to teach, and teaching lessons! Whew!

We also had a miracle happen in our Companionship this past week though! One of our investigators, Barbara, has been investigating the church for about the past 5-6 months. When she first started off with the missionaries, she was really excited, but then she stopped trying and for the past few months she's just been kinda walking the edge of whether or not she wanted to keep meeting with us. And last Wednesday we went over to her house thinking that we were going to drop her (not meet with her as often) so she could have some time to decide what she wanted. And when we stopped by her house, we bounced into the Spanish Elders and we had an appointment with her. (Yikes! trying to have two sets teach one lesson at once). 

But while we were there, she told us an experience that she'd had the past week. She told us that when the Spanish elders had stopped by to visit her and her friend, who are both taking lessons at the same time, they had encouraged the both of them to keep doing the basics (pray, read the Book of Mormon, go to church) and then something just clicked for her.

And while we were at that appointment, she said " Elders I have made my decision on what I want to do. I have found that whenever I hear from you  guys I hear the same message. And that's more than I can say for any other church. Your church is the only true church and I would like to be baptized!"

Now our jaws must have dropped to the floor when she said that because we couldn't answer her out of excitement. Eventually she broke the silence and said " Come on guys say something, you don't need to seem so shocked!"

And I know that doesn't seem too Miraculous, but it meant the world to Elder Jewett and I! 

Anywho, I just wanted to echo what Barbara said. "This church is true!" I am so grateful for all of the love and support that you give!

---Elder Guymon

2.1---Alls Well That Ends Well :)

Dear Family and Friends, 

You may be curious to what 2.1 means in the title. It means that I am on the 2nd Transfer and it is the first week of that transfer! I think I will use that as a system from now on!

As far as the work down here; it's going really well, but this past week was a really strange one. It was strange because we are at about 10 investigators now and just about every single one of them has cancelled on/ avoided us this week, and so we had a lot of finding(street contacting, park contacting, and service) to do! :) Which is good. Finding is good for the missionary soul :) So it was a bit of a curse and a blessing. Also we had another investigator came to church this past week and if everything works out well we should be setting a baptismal date with him too! woohoo!

Also the past few days Elder Jewett and I have both had birthdays (He is 20 now and I am now 19). The members here have really taken care of us :) In fact the Stake President's family had us come over and he fed us steak and cake :) I know that's not really that important in the cosmic-grand-scheme of things, but I really felt watched out for knowing that I wouldn't be forgotten :)

Oh and last night Elder Jewett and I had another cool experience with Luis (the retired marine who I talked about a little while ago). And just to give a little background info about the story to come: we are teaching lessons to an investigator in a half-way house right now, which is basically a home for former convicts who are trying to be eased back into society.  Anyways, we are meeting with a man who lives there and because of a decision he made, he is having trouble finding a job. And because he can't find a job, he is facing being kicked out onto the streets. Anywho last night Elder Jewett and I went out with Luis to visit this investigator. As we visited with him, he said something that caused me to think. He said, "Even though I am out, I still feel like I am in jail. I can't get a job, I can't see my family, and the only difference is that now I can be kicked out onto the street. I mean I am trying to do good, but why does God want me to keep suffering." 

After our appointment we talked with Luis about what happened, and he also said something which made me think. He said "I could see that you really wanted to help that man, but sometimes we have got to learn some things ourselves. If all the investigator had to do was go to jail and then come back to a life that was exactly the same, what would he learn? Although God doesn't want him to suffer, He wants him to be able to look back and remember how miserable that time in his life was so that way he won't do it again."

And today as I thought about this, I had the feeling that although God doesn't want His children to suffer, sometimes He allows it so that way they will grow.

Anywho that's just food for thought. But things are going super well, and although situations don't always work out perfectly, it's usually for the better! :) Thanks to all of your help and support!

 --Take Care

Elder Guymon