Well I’m guessing that you guys are not getting the pictures I’m sending..... Because I have sent some home every week. SO have you even gotten the pictures of the baptisms????

Anyway we were once again blessed here in the area and had one more baptism yesterday. Jeronimo was baptized! He just turned 75 yesterday and was baptized on his birthday. He said it was the best thing he’s ever done. Like Olivia, Jeronimo is a person that almost every elder has taught him and haven’t had him enter into the water. But for some reason my comp and I are getting these old ppl out of the house to get baptized. His wife has been a member for 26 years now and after all that time Jeronimo was finally got into that water. It’s a really cool story about their lives because his wife was actually secretly baptized for 6 years before she ever told him she was a Mormon. (It almost ended their marriage) but it was just a cool day. Because along with him, his grandson who’s 8 years old and who has special needs also was baptized so it was very cool. But the kid counts for the ward not for mission purposes. Anyway so the work has been really busy. On the 28 will be transfers and tomorrow I’ll find out where I’ll be going. I’m almost positive that will leave and my comp will stay. But it’s going to be cool to see where I will go to finish the mission.
I’m also looking forward to General Conference this week end and so that will be awesome also. But before I forget. Happy birthday to Jeff and Crue this week. I hope everything will go good for you guys
sounds like Jake is having all kinds of fun in Mexico! Man I totally want to know how it feels when the lord wakes ppl up by shaking the land. I have yet to experience that in my life.... But sounds like everyone is good back home and that it’s heating up but I’m going to send pics now. Let me know if you’re getting them....!! Sorry the letter is so short.

I'm Going To Be Baptized

Well I must say that once again this week is a week that I’ll never forget. Unfortunately I couldn’t go back to that family next week nor does it look like I will. :( But the other Elders who work in the area went by to talk to them and only talk to the wife. They said all they talked about was how cool and good teachers we were. Ha-ha but they will go back this next week and so I’ll get an up-date for you guys. But transfers are coming up on the 28th so it looks like I’ll be moved.
Anyway back to our awesome week. Well this week we received a HUGE un-expected blessing which lead to a surprise baptism. So I started teaching a lady on the 8th of Dec (I looked at the date on her teaching record) and this lady is a member’s mom she’s about 66 years old. But from day one she told us look I’m not going to be baptized until my grandson returns from his mission in 1 year 4 months. Well she would also remind us that she was waiting every time we would go to teach her. Well she’s been going to church every week since we have taught her. But ppl would ask her if she was going to be baptized and she would tell everyone that’s she was waiting. Well after teaching her for more than a month the ward members started to tell US that we shouldn’t waste our time and that she’s only going to be baptized when her grandson come back. Well for the past 3 months I have hear that like from every member. Even from Olivia’s own son but with that I wasn’t going to just give up. Even thought I thought about listening to everyone. Well during district meeting we talked about just setting her up for an interview and see how that goes. So Thursday E. Halgren came over with his comp and she looked at E. Halgren and said. ``I’m waiting for my grandson`` and then they walked into the house so he could do the interview. Well 1 hour and 40 min passed when she walked out with the biggest smile on her face and was like ``IM GOING TO BE BAPTIZED``! Man for me it was just soo cool. I was tearing up and I just couldn’t believe she wasn’t going to wait. It was just so cool and then while sitting at the table her son shows up and she told him that she was going to enter in to the water this Sunday and her son was so happy. He gave her a super big hug and couldn’t believe it himself. Well so Sunday he gave his testimony before the baptism and it was so strong. For him he explained it’s been 10 long year of him inviting her to go to church and to accept the missionaries and she finally did and for me I learned to always keep working even thought a lot of ppl said it was impossible. My comp leaned over to me after the baptism and said `` We Proved them wrong, when should we tell them....`` I had a good laugh because that’s what my thought were but were not going to rub in the members faces. Although when at her house one of Olivia’s daughters stopped us as we were walking out and said. ``After 10 years of her turning down the missionaries and after all the missionaries who passed through here, you guys managed to get her baptized. Good Job`´´ (her daughter isn’t a member) But for me I learned that prayer and faith makes miracles. Just like that in that film 7 miracles. We watched that at our conference like I said. But man dose faith and prayer move mountains.
But thanks so much for putting our names in the temple. It makes a difference. I hope everything is going good. Jakes growing so much. He’s going to be a good senior comp!!! Well I love you all. Be safe and read the BOM! Love -Josh

So another week flew bye and I really don’t know where to start at with this e-mail. Well the week went really good for us and we were blessed with new investigators. It’s crazy to me to see how the lord prepares people for us. When we suddenly lose some investigators I know now that the lord puts others in our way that is ready to hear. I find it very interesting on how everything is planned out here in the mission along with our lives. We really are blessed and watched over. Anyways Ill share an experience that happened to me last night. So last night we went on a ´´blitz´´ in another area to help some elders out. The whole zone was there. Well we went to this area and divided up with other Elders than our comps and were assigned an area to work in for a few hours. I went with an Elder from Alaska who name is Elder Wharton. (No he doesn’t hunt or fish so that part of the conversation was dead) Anyway he’s a very calm and quiet person and really white with red hair. But we set off on a couple of streets talking to EVERYONE in the streets or looking at us. Like if we were walking by a house and someone looked out the window we went back and talked to them it was crazy. Well we did that for a few hours contacting ppl and walked down this big dirt road and walked all the way back to the entrance of the street. Well we got back to the main road and I looked at Elder Wharton and told him we needed to return down the road again. So we went back down the road and went to the very end. At the very end we stopped and were watching some small air planes take off and land for a few moments. (There was also a glider plane that was practicing) anyway while we sat there I started looking around and saw a house with some ppl standing outside watching us watch the air planes. I told E. Wharton we got to talk to that family so we walked over and they came out to talk to us. We talked to them at the gate and got there info for to return another day but I asked if we could share a lesson with them. They accepted us in and we went and sat down with them. So we got to know them and their beliefs and found out that they were at one time Catholics, Jehovah witnesses and 7th day Adventist. SO I was like wow I guess this is going to be a difficult lesson. But we started a lesson started teaching and they started asking great questions. (A lesson that I thought was going to be a Bible bash was turning into a really good lesson) we taught the lesson and they just loved everything they were hearing. They gave us cake and a pop and we showed them our pictures and they wanted to know so much about the church. Even the 9 year old boy the 10 and 11 year old girls were eager to get the BOM to read. Anyway we lost track of time actually didn’t have time with us. (any watches or the cell phone) and we asked them what time it was and the said it was 6:38. I was like crap we got to get to the bus at 6:45 and the stop is super far away. So we said bye and explained that other Elders would pass by another day. When they heard that they all were like no, we want you to come back and I comforted them saying these other elders are really cool.... that’s when they were like will we ever see you guys again? and realizing that it almost would be impossible I told them maybe. Knowing that they are not in my area and it’s not easy to go into another area. Anyway this family was like oh no you have to come back, it was crazy as they stood at the gate they all got teary eyed and the little kid asked his mom if they would ever see ´´elder opper and elder wartun again´´´(that’s how he said our names) I was so surprised on this family and their reaction to us leaving. I don’t know why but they were truly a friend of ours and for some reason I don’t know why, we were so important to them. This family was awesome and I have never seen any family like this in my whole mission. I was told that maybe on Saturday I would go back to talk to them because this family is really important but that’s a maybe but they truly marked a memory in my heart.
Anyways my time is up. I’m glad you’re all doing well. I keep you all in my prayers and thoughts. Be strong and know that I’m ok. I also can’t believe Jake is 20 years old. Crazy!!! I love you all -Josh

Well we had one more baptism this week. Last week was a supper good week for us and we were to bounce back into rhythm with things. It’s also heated back up and today has been pretty hot basketball was good other than it was so hot I almost threw up so I gave it up and just played soccer to take it easy. But Like it said we had a baptism yesterday it went really good. Her name is Stefani and she 8 years old. It was a little sad because her mom didn’t show up for the baptism because of work but told her to go ahead and do it so she jumped right into the water and was super excited. It turned out really good thought.
But sounds like everyone had a good time a Boise. I’m supper surprised that there was that much cash on the table. I was sure it wasn’t real so it kind of crazy. But I think its good I wasn’t at the game. Never liked Rigby too much so I don’t think I could have controlled myself...... anyways even though they are still children of God, It’s hard to accept them as a school though. (Kind of like the Lamanites who raised their children in iniquity, I’m pretty sure the kids were raised to hate the Nephites and some really never had a reason.) Kind of like that for me. I’m pretty sure I spent the whole time in high school thinking and looking for things to stir up the students to cause problems. I remember one time Jake Dexter, Bill, Mack, and I’m sure Taylor were at a basketball game and we brought some duck calls and goose calls into the game and started blowing and honking them. At one point the school officer and the teachers were looking to find out who it was. Not going to lie it was pretty sweet. Every time they did a foul shot we were blowing on those things so loud. Pretty sure we succeeded on stirring them up and making problems. But hey I guess the ppl there are not too bad.
Enough with THE confession though but tell grandma thanks for the e-mail. To finish I better explain my comment on last week’s e-mail... yeah I had no idea we were going to Oregon. That was until I got mail on Friday and realized that I was ALSO going to be going....it was one of those moments where I couldn’t fix anything but just had to laugh because it was a surprise to me. Also I guess that means I won’t return to work for a few weeks after or settle down and adjust until after. I hope the adjustment is fast, and that I still have some friends to hang out with. It would stink to sit home on the 4th and not have any buds to go down to IF. Oh well though Oregon it is. Anyway I love you all. Be safe and happy. Thanks so much for your prayers. Love -Josh