3/15/10

Dear Parents,

That is really cool about Scott finally being in Arizona. Hopefully you got to talk with him longer than I got to. I don't think he is missing out on riding a bike. We have a car but before I got to this area it was a biking area so we still bike every once in a while to save car miles. The bike isn't too bad but because I'm freakishly tall it is a little hard on my back but I'm getting used to it.

We had another baptism yesterday. It was this old lady named Angelita. She was a super prepared lady but she had a ton of opposition before the baptism. First she had but smoking for like 50 years and she quit cold turkey but her friends would always offer her cigarettes but she resisted. Then she drank coffee and tea but she quit that cold turkey and switched to lemonade. Then her boyfriend was pressuring her to not obey the law of chastity but she refused. And then a week before her baptism she got an eviction notice on her door. So now she has to move out but we were able to get her baptized first and a guy in the ward helped her find a place to move into after. Also a week before her boyfriend completely lost touch with her a whole before the baptism and she felt super down and depressed but she still had the faith and desire and was really excited for her baptism. It was a really cool experience.

For internet, we usually go to a college that is in our area but today it is closed for spring break so we are at a library. You can't upload pictures here but at the college you can so next week I should have some pictures for you. I will even send you pictures of my apartment so you can see how I live. I think this food is too much to my liking. Last time I weighed myself I was 180 which is a gain of ten pounds! My companion is Elder Driesel from Kuna, Id which is by Boise. He has been out a little over a year. He used to play soccer in high school so we have that in common. He was originally supposed to go to Ecuador but he went home from the MTC for a surgery and got reassigned here.

Well that’s about it from me this week. Thanks for the sports update, it is really good to hear.

I hope all is well at home and make sure you guys are reading and praying daily, it makes a big difference in life. Have a great week

Love Elder Strong

Elder Strong, Angelita & Elder Driesel

3/15/10

   Well Angelita finally got baptized on Sunday. We were waiting for her to show up to the Church then she finally came half way through Sacrament Meeting. She was so excited for baptism, she could hardly wait. When we were going down into the font she almost slipped, and she said “Oh s**t” It was pretty funny. Today we had a really good lesson with Jonathan Pina. We knocked on his door and said “How are things going?” He said “not good” and invited us in. He told us all about how he lost his job. We then had an amazing lesson with him & the Spirit was definitely there. We told him how the gospel blessed lives & this is a trial of his faith. The one thing that we noticed that would stop him from becoming a progressing investigator was that he worked on Sundays. Now we can see great potential in Jonathan & we thank the Lord for the opportunity to teach him & help him progress. We also have started setting more BD’s and it has helped us know who is prepared.

3/16/10

   Today was a pretty good day. It was raining in the morning and that was when we did businesses, so we got a little wet. We then tried stopping by a few people, but didn’t have good luck, so we decided to look for Ruben, who had moved. We found him & got to teach him & he seemed excited that we found him. We were supposed to have a member named Efrain come out with us, but he went with Mercedes because Elder Mathusek was sick, so we couldn’t have a lesson with Angelita. We went to Sis. Azoca’s after and she fed us and we gave her a blessing. Before we got in touch with a less active member & hopefully he can start coming to Church.

Elder Strong Unloading Truck at Distribution Center

3/20/10

   Well, we got Efrain to come out with us on Thursday & he is going to be a pretty good missionary with all the experience he has been getting. We had some good lessons with our baptismal dates about coming to Church, so hopefully we can get some of them to Church. We had a good day. First we unloaded a truck at the Distribution Center & we got a really good workout. We got a bunch of ties there too, which was awesome. We found some pretty legit ones. Then we had lessons with Manuel (who we gave a blessing to), Jorge and Alicia (we gave a blessing to Alicia), Angelita, Ruben, and Ela. It was a pretty cool day & it all comes down to Church tomorrow, so we’ll have to see. The Lord has blessed us a lot lately & I know He will bless us with people at Church. Transfers are on Monday, so I’m excited to see what will happen.

Donna District