Email from Elder Lofthouse 4/23/13 (His 20th Birthday) with pictures!

Hello everyone!  I can finally say I'm 20.  You have no idea how happy that makes me.  Today is the beginning of a new decade.  So, so, so much happened in the last one.  It will probably always be one of the greatest decades of my life.   But I'm sure excited for this next one too.

I thought I'd share the letter from the Assistants this week.  It's pretty cool.

"We had a record breaking week all around as our key indicators were all time highs!  We had only three key indicators that were not all time records and they were baptized, with a date and at sacrament but even in these three categories we hit a VERY close 2^nd to the all time high.  With baptisms we only hit one less than the best we have done and with a date and at sacrament are within 10 of our best.  We had 330 new investigators, 399 member presents, 608 other lessons, 1923 quality lessons, 270 progressing investigators, and 280 contacted referrals.  It really was a great week and we must continue on this track of hard work and following the Spirit!  We hope under our new focus and system of accountability and leadership that you personally feel more liberty to do as you are directed by the Spirit for YOUR area and with that liberty an added sense of urgency and pressure to work hard and be in tune with God.  We know we can do it because we are doing it right now!!!  Keep it up Elders and Sisters and DO NOT let up now.  We can FAR surpass these numbers as a mission and more importantly we can far increase the amount of individuals we bring to Christ in His true church.  WE CAN DO BETTER!!!!  We love you and pray for you, keep it up!"

In that special zone conference we had a few weeks ago, we got rid of zone and district standards and put all the responsibility for our areas on our shoulders.  We are to seek revelation for our areas, use the finding techniques we feel inspired to use, come up with inspired plans to reach our inspired goals, and really do things the way our area needs them done.  We account to our district (or in my companionship's case, zone) leaders and are working closer with them than ever before.  As you can see, the results are showing.  I am so thankful for Presdient Gelwix.  He is such an inspired person who truly has the gift of discernment.  We have zone conference again this week, and I'm so excited!  We are always so uplifted by it.  And my zone is singing the EFY medley, with me accompanying.  I love that song!

So, my camera didn't complete survive.  Sorry if none of the pictures I sent are very good quality.  But we went to Yosemite yesterday, and I got a bunch of good pictures!  It was so much fun!  There are some really cool waterfalls there.  On one trail, we were hiking up stone steps through a bunch of mist through the waterfall.  I thought I was in Peru or somewhere else in South America. It was awesome!

V and her kids were baptized on Saturday.  They were 20 minutes late, but they came!  Yay!  It was a good baptism and a lot of people showed up and the members were all very friendly to her and welcoming her to the branch.  I'm so happy!

I've been having some rough times. There are days when I don't feel like talking to anyone and I don't see how I'm going to be able to teach with the Spirit.  On one of these days, we went riding to go see someone and talked to everyone on the way.  The second or third person we talked to turned around with a big smile and a big handshake and said, "Why hello!  I want to thank God for sending these two nice young men to say hi to me.  Thank you!"  We asked him if he'd ever talked to missionaries before.  He said, "I've been talking to people like you for 65 years, and I'm going to tell you what I tell all of them.  Thank you for what you do.  Thank you for what your church does.  This world is getting bad and we all know what that means.  In not too long, Christ, or God, or whatever you call Him is going to come.  And there are demons around you trying to keep you from going out and talking to everyone about the word.  Don't stop!  Don't stop!  You keep going, and one day you will receive a reward you can't even imagine."

      The Spirit filled my heart as God let me know that those words were from Him.  This man Jesse, was very in tune with the Spirit.  He even said, as he was talking about something, "And He's telling me right now that I need to shut up and give 10 or 15 minutes to these two young men because they know more than I do."  We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he'd read it.  I'm kind of hoping that when the English Elders go to the address he gave us it won't exist and that that was really an angel that God sent to me. I guess whether he's mortal or not, he was an angel and an answer to my prayers.  I know that God speaks to us today as He always has and that your prayers will always be answered.

Well, thank you for all your love and support.  I got Tiffany's and Grandma and Grandpa's package, and if you sent me one I'll probably be getting it at zone conference.  And just so you know, it seems to take 10 days for letters to get from you to me.  I love getting letters though, so go ahead and keep writing!  But e-mail is definitely more effective.

Sorry I can only share with you a fraction of all the wonderful things that happen in my mission.  I am loving it here.  Thank you again for all you do for me!

Love you!

-Elder Lofthouse

 

 

Email from Elder Lofthouse 4/16/2013

What in the world??  Dad has a beard!  Sorry, that really threw me off there for a second.  I'm so excited about Eric though!  That's so great!  I'm glad things are going well back home.

Well, here we are again, on Tuesday afternoon, and once again I can't remember what has happened in the past week.  Things here can change so much, so quickly!  Conference feels like it was a month ago.

V and her two kids are supposed to be getting baptized this Saturday, and they were so solid. But they didn't come to church on Sunday because of a friend or something.  The adversary is always putting things in people's ways when it comes to going to church.  We should have had more foresight and warned her that something was probably going to come up that would make it difficult to come to church the last Sunday before her baptism.  If she reads the Book of Mormon every day this week and we can keep daily contact with her, we'll probably still baptize them this Saturday, but if not we'll be pushing it back (again).  

We had an investigator come to church who Elder Hernandez and his companion had dropped just before I got here because her husband wouldn't let her come.  We re-visited her not too long ago and then had another lesson with her and her member neighbor, and I guess her husband is out of town or something, because she came to church!  She actually gave her neighbor a ride and brought her daughter as well.

M and R came too.  It was Fast Sunday and M said she almost cried during one of the testimonies.  I think we forgot to mention to them that church would be three hours long, but they still really enjoyed it and will be coming back!  

Well, I hope everyone is doing well!  I love you!

-Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 4/9/2013 (with pictures!)

Hello everyone!  This week was a great week.  Conference just goes by faster and faster each year.  I could hardly believe how quickly it went!  But I learned to much and I have more pages of notes than I've ever had before.  This week was also transfer week.  Seeing as how my training is over this week and my companion only has two more transfers, we were pretty sure he'd be leaving and I'd be staying.  Well, the way transfers work is the Misison Presient, the Assistants, and some others all get together on Friday and Saturday for Transfer Board.  They pray discuss things, call zone leaders and district leaders and ask about specific missionaries and what changes they (the zone and district leaders) would reccomend.  President makes calls to those who will be in leadership positions and asks them to accept the calling.  Then, Saturday night a general callout gets sent to each zone telling us who is staying and who is going and who the leaders are.  Well, just before the Priesthood session on Saturday we got a call from President Gelwix.  "How's your testimony," he asked my companion.  "Uh..good."  Presdient then extended the call to Elder Hernandez to be a District leader and told him that he would be staying in Atwater.  That was completely unexpected.  Suddenly it was looking more sure that I'd be getting transfered somewhere else.  But when the callout came it turns out that our district is pretty much staying untouched.  Elder Doane is leaving, and the companionship he was in is getting moved to another district and we're getting a new sister misisonary (someone who was in my MTC district, Sister Poston!!).  We're so excited!  There are six of us elders who live in the same appartment complex and we work well together and I know that this is going to be a great transfer!

 

There's always so much to write each week and there never seems to be enough time!  The library here only gives me an hour to e-mail.  I could really use that extra half hour they've given us.  Anyway, we had a really great lesson yesterday with a couple we found using the Harvest Blessing.  It was our second lesson with both of them.  They had read together the Introduction of the Book of Mormon and the Testimonies of the Three Witnesses, the Eight Witnesses, and Joseph Smith.  We taught the Restoration and they really understood what we were teaching and when we invited them to be baptized on May 11, they said they would try and prepare for that date.  They have been praying for guidance and are hungry to learn and draw closer to Christ.  They know that we're the answer to their prayers and I'm so excited for them. 

D is progressing very well.  She came to the two Sunday session of conference and she had the two questions she came with answered.  Isn't it amazing how everyone's questions are answered during conference?  That right there is a miracle.  I love both of President Uchtdorf's talks and Elder Hollands as well of course.  I felt like they were speaking to me.  I need to focus on the positive and on what I do know instead of always thinking about what I don't know and what I can't do, and how far I have to go. I am so glad I'm on a mission.  The majority of the time you experience rejection, disappointments, and frustration.  But all of those fade away when compared to the joyful moments of success.  That's what keeps me going . I know there are people out there searching for truth, people who are reading to change, people who will become strong members of the church.  I have already been blessed to see some people begin to change and I look forward to seeing many more.  

Thank you for all of your love and support.  I wouldn't be here without you.  Keep pressing forward in this great work.  Soon we will see our Savior coming in the clouds and we will finally receive the rest of the righteous.  Learn everyday and don't get discouraged by your shortcomings.  I loved President Uchtdorf's talk in the Priesthood session.  He pointed out that when a toddler is learning to walk, and he falls down, does his father get mad at him?  No!!  He keeps encouraging him and reaching his arms out to him.  It's exactly the same with our Heavenly Father.  We're toddlers, barely learning to walk.  So keep going!!

I love you all so much!  I love this gospel and I am filled with the Spirit right now.  I know that God loves each one of us!  He loves you!  One day, we will all together enter in to His rest.  I look forward to that great day!

Love, 

-Elder Lofthouse .

We had to confiscate their coffee several weeks ago.  That's the Word of Wisdom award right there

Email from Elder Lofthouse 4/2/2013

I can't believe how long the weeks are here and yet how quickly they pass.  We had a special zone conference on Saturday.  We got a mission call-out from President Gelwix on Thursday morning telling us that it was 1) To refocus the mission on baptizing, a call to repentance and 2) a special announcement.  I'm not sure he realized the impact that statement had on the missionaries.  The rumors were flying!  Well, we had the conference and nothing really special got announced, so that was slightly disappointing/relieving (there were some interesting theories).  The mission isn't getting split, President Gelwix isn't getting called as a Seventy, we still don't get to use facebook or have girlfriends, our service time is still the same, there was no major change in church policy, a war isn't starting, the District 3 isn't getting filmed here, nor  is anything else we came up with happening.  But it was a great conference and I learned a lot.

After the conference, we had a baptism.  J and K got baptized.  Hopefully V and her kids will be baptized this month.  I got to baptize J.  Sadly, I accidentally left my camera in my pocket.  The memory card is fine, and the camera is actually turning on again, but there's water in the lens or something and I can't take any good pictures.  Also, I forgot to bring my memory card here so I could send pictures.  Sorry!  I'll try to remember next week.  I'm hoping that maybe it eventually dries out, but I may have to go buy a new one. 

One day we were walking to an appointment we'd set earlier that day to give a blessing.  On our way, Elder Hernandez felt prompted to knock on a certain door.  A man opened it, and Elder Hernandez said (in Spanish), "Hello, we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we are here to leave a blessing."  "Oh, come in, come in!"  He then asked us how we knew his wife was sick and who had sent us here.  We said we hadn't known, but God had.  She just found out that week that she had cancer, and it's a pretty big tumor.  We gave her a blessing and the next day we taught them the Plan of Salvation.  I know that we were led to that door.

I can't wait for General Conference this weekend!  I love Conference so much!  I know that if you prepare yourself spiritually and you come with questions to be answered, if you listen carefully during each talk and write down the thoughts and impressions that come to you, you will find answers to all your questions, and you will find the guidance that you need right now in your life.

Transfers are next week and we'll probably be finding out on Friday what's happening.  Most likely my companion will be getting moved.  I can't believe my training is just about done.  I feel like I just got here!   I hope everyone is doing well at home!

I love you all!

-Elder Lofthouse 

Email from Elder Lofthouse 3/26/2013

Hello again!  Things are going well here.  I forgot to mention last week that there's a new e-mail policy which gives us an hour and half of computer time and we're now allowed to e-mail friends.  So if it's easier for some people to send me an e-mail rather than write me a letter, they're free to do that.  However, getting something in the mailbox is always fun.

We could be having up to five baptisms this Saturday, but could only end up with one.  E's son J is almost for sure getting baptized and he's so excited (he's 9).  His 13 year-old sister, K, should be as well, but she didn't come to church with them and she wasn't there when we visited them yesterday.  We're going to try and catch her home today, and hopefully she'll be prepared by Saturday as well.  Then there's Virginia and her son and daughter.  V can probably be baptized and as long as we get to teach them a few times this week, her 9 year-old daughter S probably will be ready as well (she reads her Book of Mormon every night!)  Her son, A is 8, and he's never really paid attention in the lessons and we're not sure if he'll be ready to be baptized on Saturday.  But we'll be working closely with both those families.

     We had brief hope that O might be able to be baptized on Saturday too.  He got home from Mexico on Friday.  But he's going back tomorrow because he found work there.  So we're going to try to send the missionaries to him there.

     In other news, we're still teaching D because she already knows us and is starting to get to know people in our branch, so she doesn't want to go to the YSA ward yet.  And we're fine with that.  She seems to be getting along with the older sisters.  She even went to a Relief Society activity last week.  We had branch conference this Sunday, and they talked about Family History and Temple work.  Church went half an hour long, but all our investigators who came are still planning on coming back.  Yay!  D had lots of questions about what she learned at church and what she's been reading in the Book of Mormon.  We met with her later that night to answer her questions.  While we were talking, Elder Hernandez felt prompted to ask her if she had prayed for help from God before she met us.  She said she had and that she felt like we have been giving her that help.  She doesn't want to commit to a baptismal date because she's afraid she's going to mess up or fall away.   She wants to change and become a better person.  She said that she'd smoked that day and that the day before she'd gotten drunk.  "And what if I hadn't come to church, just because I'd been drinking?  That'd be a lame reason!"  She felt so bad.  We haven't even taught her the Word of Wisdom, but she knows she's going to need to change those things.  She's already run in to so much opposicion, but she's been overcoming it so well!  She is going to grow so quickly.  We're going to be teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to her next time so that she can understand what Christ did for her and how she can overcome all these things.

     Well, that's about all I can think to write.  We had interviews with President Gelwix on Saturday.  He is so amazing!  Elder Hernandez and I watched Forever Strong with an investigator yesterday (we're allowed to) and it's so much better when you actually know President Gelwix.  He's done so much good in his life and he truly has a gift of discernment.  I'm so blessed to have him as a mission president.

     I hope everything is going well back home!  I enjoy reading your letters.  Love you!

-Elder Ryan Lofthouse-