Email From Elder Lofthouse 9/30/13

Wow!  This week felt really long.  I can't believe Elder Moody wasn't my companion last week.  It feels like we've been companions for a long time.  That's a good thing.  Elder Moody is great!  He's from Riverton, UT, and he has a ton of faith and he loves missionary work.  He always says, "Alright, whose life are we going to change now?"  This is going to be a good transfer.

Elder Neave leaves on Thursday.  It's kind of fun being in a trio.  I've been making most of the decisions with suggestions from my two "counselors."  That's what it feels like anyway.  I totally understand why there are three members in bishoprics and presidencies.  It really is the perfect number.  Three is little much when you're knocking on doors though.  But it's a lot of fun!  

One of the first lessons I had with Elder Moody was with V.  He hadn't been reading.  We had a very loving throw-down lesson.  The only reason he wasn't reading was because he wasn't making time for it, and why in the world wouldn't he make time for something that was so important.  The Spirit was there, and Elder Moody and I worked really well together.  V has since been reading, and he came to church on Sunday too!  Hopefully we'll get to meet with him tomorrow.

J's wife is slowly starting to progress too.  Elder Neave asked her if she'd read and she said no, like usual.  And he said, "One day, I'm going to ask that question, and you're going to say, 'Yes!'"  And she said, "That probably won't be until after I'm baptized."  And he said, "What?  You're getting baptized?"  And she said, "Well, eventually, one day, maybe."  She also gave a very strong commitment to start reading the Book of Mormon.  

I hope all of you are doing well!  I sure am.  I know that there are good things to come here in Merced.  Did I mention the other elders had a baptism on Saturday?  That's two in one month for the branch, more than they've seen in a long time.  And we're just starting!  This is the Lord's work, and when we do it His way, miracles start happening.  

I love you all!

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/23/13 Transfers!

Transfer calls came on Saturday.  My new companion will be Elder Moody.  I think I may have met him while he was being trained while I was down south, but I can't remember what he looks like.  And Elder Neave will be staying here for his extra week.  Did I tell you about that?  So, he wanted to go to conference in Salt Lake (he's from Australia), but his visa requires him to leave the country seven days after he gets released as a missionary.  So, he's going to stay here an extra week, get released over the phone and then go to Utah for conference.  He'll be staying with one of his MTC companions, so that's cool.  It will be interesting being in a trio for a week.

The weather is getting super cold.  It was 72 degrees at 3 in the afternoon, so we got our jackets out.  (I love California weather!)  I ran with my hoodie on this morning for the first time since March.  The sun was down at 7 o'clock yesterday.  I'm not looking forward to winter.  Winter as a missionary is no fun, because you feel really weird knocking on anyone's door after dark even if it's only 6:30, talking to people in the streets kind of creeps them out, and it's just cold.  Elder Neave is very happy that he gets to skip winter this year (It's Spring in Australia).  

This week is one of those weeks where I can't remember what happened.  We saw V a couple times.  He understands that if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith is a prophet and this church is the true church.  He said he believes it's true, but he's not sure.  He said, "If I stay with the Catholic church and it turns out the Mormon is right, I'll lose my family.  But if I go to the Mormon church and it turns out the Catholic is right, then I'll lose my family."  So we told him that he needs to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.  We haven't been able to follow up with him on if he's been reading yet.  

M, J's wife, is also listening to us, and they made us dinner the other night.  Elder Neave invited her to be baptized on the 29th and she said that was too soon, she didn't feel ready.  But she didn't say no to baptism!  When the elders first started teaching J, she didn't like them coming over, so J told them not to come back, because his family didn't like it.  But they went back anyway, and now they love the missionaries and we're making progress!  

Well, life just keeps on going.  I have a new favorite hymn, No. 217, "Come, Let us Anew."  "Our life as a dream, our time as a stream glide quickly away and the fugitive moment refuses to stay... Oh, that each in the day of His coming my say, 'I have fought my way thru, I have finished the work thou didst give me to do.' Oh that each from his Lord, my receive the glad word: 'Well and faithfully done.  Enter into my rest and sit down on my throne.'"

Our time is short here!  The temptation to give up and quit early is often there for me.  But I know that if we keep fighting and do our best, it will be so worth it in the end!  So keep going!

I love you all!

Elder Lofthouse   

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/16/13 Time Flies!

Alright, I've been waiting all week to do this.  I just want to start out by bragging a little about my mom.

She's so awesome!  And her birthday was last week, so if you didn't already, tell her happy birthday.  I told her I needed a shoulder bag, and a week later I had it.  It's really great, and it was for a great price.  Last week, I asked for some friends addresses, then I got off the computer with a few minutes left, because I just knew that if I waited a little bit she'd have them to me.  And sure enough, I was right!  I love her!  I love my whole family!  The letters I got last week made me so happy!  I am so blessed!

Anyway, this week wasn't terribly exciting.  On Monday, I decided to cut my hair.  Elder Benson has some clippers, and he let me borrow them.  At first, he didn't want to do it for me, because he always writes a super long letter to his girlfriend and he hates taking time out of his preparation day for anything else.  However, after I started, he graciously helped me out with the top.   However, he then went to the bathroom and left my companion to finish.  Looking back, I may have received a quick, subtle warning from the Spirit, but I didn't listen.  Be very cautious with who you trust to cut your hair.  It's really, really short on the sides, by the ears, and it was pretty uneven too until today when a member fixed it up a bit for me.  

And it was the day before zone conference too!  I did not want to see President.  All he said though was that I should cut Elder Neave's hair next time.  Nothing to do now but let it grow.  I still love my companion though.

Nothing too exciting happened this week.  We currently have no investigators with a baptismal date and none that are progressing.  However, we have about four or five part member families that have lots of potential.  One of them is V, whose wife is a member.  He came to church and the baptism last Sunday, and he told us on Saturday he was going to come again, but they didn't show up.  Still don't know why.  However, we taught him the Plan of Salvation this week and he loved it.  We just need to get him reading the Book of Mormon again and praying about it.  We're also going to focus on teaching J's family.  They came to church for his confirmation yesterday and really enjoyed it.  

My faith has been really tested her in Merced.  It's always been a struggling zone baptism-wise, and it's been so easy to start doubting that we can keep baptizing.  But there really is so much potential here.  We just need to follow the Spirit, apply the counsel of our priesthood leaders, and work smart.  

Transfer calls are this week.  I should be staying here, so I'm not too worried about it.  I can't believe how fast this transfer has gone by though!

I love you all and hope you're doing well!

Elder Lofthouse 

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/9/13 Baptism!!

So, last week, I mentioned that we would be following up with J on tithing and getting baptized that night.  He had to talk to his wife, because she handles all the finances, including his social security check.  Well, we went over there and he said his wife had said no.  They just couldn't do it.  After talking with him about faith and sacrifice and God's promises, it became clear that it wasn't his faith that was lacking.  It was his wife's.  So we asked if we could meet with her the next day and he said he'd let her know we were coming over.  We had zone meeting that day and it was such an inspired meeting!  The Spirit was strong, and we talked about increasing our faith and loving our investigators.  Something specific that was talked about was listening sincerely and being patient and loving as we resolve investigators' concerns.  

Well, we had the appointment at 4pm.  Zone meeting ended at 1:30, we had lunch after that, then we had to give a ride to the Atwater elders and they had to fit a big dresser in the back of our car and then there was tons of traffic on the way back and we probably didn't get to Julian's until 4:20 or 4:30.  We had dinner on the other side of town at 5 and had to pick up the other elders.  So we ended up having very little time.  Someone was working against us.  The very first thing J said as we sat down with them was, "We've decided that I can't get baptized.  We just can't make it work."  Turning to the training we had received that morning, we relied 100% on the Spirit.  I don't remember what we said or what was talked about, but the spirit was there and his wife said, "Alright. I'll give him the part from his check he needs for tithing.  I'll do it for God, and I'll do it for J because he loves your church so much."  So we invited him to be baptized that Saturday and his wife said, "Can it be on Sunday so that I can go?"  Well, of course!

So yesterday, J got baptized!  And his family was there too.  Hopefully they will follow him soon.  If I can find someone with a card-reader, I'll send you pictures.  Elder Benson baptized him since he found him and taught him everything, but hadn't been able to baptize him last transfer because of the tithing issue.  

That was the highlight of this week.  And we have zone conference tomorrow!  Woohoo!  Also, only 26 days until General Conference.  I'm so excited! This gospel is true!  Miracles happen.  Being a missionary is so great.  I love it!  

I love you all!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/2/13: September already??

August just blew by!  Happy Labor day!  We of course had no idea it was labor day until Saturday when we couldn't find anyone home.  Was the Payson parade today?  How'd the marching band sound?

Let's see, what happened this week?  We went up to Atwater for a baptismal interview, and I got to see two recent converts who were baptized while I was there (by the other elders).  It was so cool to talk to them in Spanish and realize how much my Spanish has improved in the last 4 months.  They sounded completely different!

J came to church yesterday and he was able to talk with the branch president.  We realized that he thought he would be meeting with the prophet when he said to the President Estrada, "I'm going to meet with the president of the church today."  So, President Estrada, being the good humored man he is walked past us with Julian and said, "We're going to go find the president of the church."  It sounds like they had a good meeting and Julian said he was going to talk to his wife and we're going to follow up with him tonight.  Hopefully he'll be getting baptized on Saturday!

Last week, we found a man from Florida named P.  He's been going through a lot of tough things lately, including divorce, back problems, blood clots, high blood pressure, depression and other things.  But that's made him really humble and he is very receptive.  The other day he told us that he woke up feeling a peace, something he hasn't felt in a long time.  He's been feeling better and better as we've met with him and he's begun praying every day and he wants to get baptized.  He's already living the Word of Wisdom (we triple-checked on tea and coffee, because we rarely meet anyone who isn't drinking those), he's reading the Book of Mormon and he really wants to come to church.  He didn't make it yesterday because he had to go to the hospital, but he's doing better.  

Speaking of the hospital, I got to go to the hospital yesterday to give someone a blessing who has tuberculosis.  I had to put on a gown, a facemask, gloves and go through two doors to get into the room.   It was intense.  He's doing well and should be home soon.  He lives with a member.  Apparently he's had all the missionary lessons before.  I'm not sure why he wasn't baptized.  

Anyway, the work is going well here.  Thanks for all of your love and support!  

Love,

Elder Lofthouse