Email from Elder Lofthouse 7/28/14 Miracle!

his was a pretty crazy week. We had two miracle baptisms. One of our investigators, B, had accepted a baptismal date for July 26th, but we hadn't had much contact with her for a week and a half. We finally got to meet with heron Wednesday and we took the former bishop of the ward with us, Bishop A. She expressed doubts about being ready and Brother A bore powerful testimony of how it would change her life and if she would put her faith in Christ and take this step the blessings would come. He was very bold. At the end of the lesson she said she would get baptized on Sunday. She had her interview on Friday and at the interview her son asked when he was going to get baptized. We said, "would you like to get baptized with your mom?" We taught him pretty much everything over the next two days, he passed his interview and yesterday at 4pm they both entered the waters of baptism together. 

We fasted with I on Friday. She texted us at about 2pm to say she was starting and the next day at 2pm we went over to break our fast with her. She's doing well, but she didn't make it to church yesterday. She was going to come to the baptism, but she called me while I was playing the opening hymn, so I couldn't answer, and then after the opening prayer I completely forgot. She had come to the building but didn't know where in the building the baptism was at! Hopefully there will be a baptism this week or next that she can go to. Elder Herrera and I feel pretty certain she'll get baptized this month.

We had a really fun pioneer day activity on Saturday.  The food (pancakes, Chorizo, Orange Juice, Watermelon) looked great, but we were still fasting with I.  I took some pancakes home though and they're great!  We did gunny sack races, stick-pull, futbol (soccer), and a water balloon toss that turned into a big water fight.  It was great!

Today I was reading in 2 Nephi.  I like 2 Nephi 28:27-30.  I have found that attitude so much on my mission.  "We have enough.  We need no more."  God truly does teach line upon line, precept on precept, and if we are not seeking for greater light and truth, we will lose even the understanding we may already have.  People who don't ask questions and don't seek to know more, tend not to know very much in the first place.  Most of the people I talk to with that attitude, ("We need no more bible!") don't even really know the bible in the first place.  Or they already assume they know everything they need to, so they stop studying and they stop asking God for guidance.  Don't fall in that trap!  Keep searching the scriptures, ask God questions, seek to understand more about the principles of the Gospel.  "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened" (Matt 7:8).

I know this gospel is true and that this is the Lord's work.  I grow more sure of that every day.

I love you all!  Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

P.S.  If you haven't heard, my little brother Rusty got his mission call!  He's going to the Canada Edmonton mission and leaves December 3rd.  I'm so excited for him!

Email from Elder Lofthouse 7/21/14 Farmsville! Here to stay

 love Farmersville and I love Elder Herrera. He is such an amazing person. He is from Ecuador but has lived in L.A. the last 12 years, and he has an amazing conversion story.  The pictures he showed me of who he was 4 years ago are physical proof of the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. He can bear such a powerful witness of that power because he has experienced it so deeply. He is so loving, generous and is always looking out for the needs of others. So, he's a really easy companion to get along with and he does a lot of good in the lives of the people of this area. 

Farmersville is a small community about 5 minutes from Visalia.  We also cover Exeter which is also about 5 minutes from Farmersville.  I really, really like this area.  The Visalia area I mean.  My companion and I are both thinking that maybe one day we'd live here.  There are ten missionaries in our ward (the Visalia 5th ward).  Two pairs of sisters, the zone leaders, us, and the Woodlake Elders (another little town about five minutes from Exeter).  Elder Herrera and I live in what is known throughout the mission as "The Shack."  I'll have to get some pictures of it for you.  It's a tiny little house and I absolutely love it!  

I feel so not trunky right now. I really hope to conserve that over these next few months. I have the mentality that I will be here in Farmersville until November and I have work to do here. 4 months is not a lot of time and I don't want to waste a minute of it. I don't feel for a second that I'm anywhere near completing what God sent me to this mission to do. 

I feel our focus right now needs to be in getting lessons with a member present. What most of our investigators need is fellowship. We also need to find a bit more, but we've been focusing a lot on that this week and we're starting to increase our pool. That will continue this week. We had three investigators at church this week, one of which has a baptismal date, and the other two will soon have a date I'm certain. One of those is I. She lives right around the corner from us, she's been to church several times, she reads and prays, but she's afraid of what her mom will do if she gets baptized. Elder Herrera and I both feel that humility is the key for her, and I feel that if she will fast to know when to get baptized or to have the strength to do what she knows she needs to, that she will be baptized soon after.

Anyway, being in a new area is always a bit hard for me at first. I'm even quieter than normal when I'm around lots of people I don't know. But I expect with a little time to be able to work closely with the members here to bless the people of Farmersville. Who knows? Maybe one day we'll have a branch in Farmersville and Exeter (the other nearby city we cover). 

I've been reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning (in Spanish) with the goal of finishing it before I leave.  I love the Book of Mormon.  Every day as I ponder the verses I read, I get something out of it that I never got before.  I know that it is a Book meant for us and that as we prayerfully study it, "the words of Christ will tell you all things what [we] should do."  

Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 7/14/14 Transfers!

Transfer calls came!  I'm going to Farmersville in the Visalia Zone to be with Elder Herrera, from Ecuador.  He's been there for 10 months.  I'm being replaced by Elder Artal (one of my favorite misisonaries) from Venezuela who goes home this transfer and Elder Martinez from Chile.  Yep.  They needed two native speakers to replace me.  Just kidding.

I know transfers were inspired and I heard about how the Spirit just took over during transfer board. Going to a new part of the mission, with new leaders and a new companion is exactly what I needed. And I get a native speaking companion! I'm excited! I know, just as you said in your letter, that being humble and accepting, no committing to the Lord's will will be the key to success. My whole mission I've struggled with that, have improved much, and know that He is placing me in the right places with the right people to really master that attribute. I always have mixed feelings at transfers, but as I really ponder it I KNOW that Heavenly Father knows me, He wants what is best for me, and I am being sent exactly where I need to be right now.

We had 3 investigators at church, which was such a blessing! That was three times as many as we've had all transfer. One was R C who has a lot of desires to change his life. His ex-wife is a member and they and their kids have gone to church a lot in the past few months. I'm not really sure what their relationship status is, but regardless of what happens between them, he's determined to be a different person. He wants to be an example for his kids and I know he's felt the Spirit at church and as he's talked with us. The other two were I and C who have been investigating lots of different churches. Ismael has a baptismal date for August 9th, and they are progressing very well. C's been really busy though, so we haven't gotten to talk with her very much recently. We'll need to soon, because they need to get married before either of them can get baptized.

It's always really hard for me to not check out early the last couple days after transfer calls come. I feel like Farmersville is my new area and I just want to get there. I'm trying to stay focused though and do what I can with the last few investigators I'll see here in madera. I love Madera! It is such a wonderful place to serve as a Spanish missionary. On Sunday, R (who got baptized a month ago) gave me a great big hug. I'll miss him! I'm definitely going to make sure I stay in touch with him.

Well, here goes. I hope Farmersville is my last area. Last stretch! I'm going to give it all I've got. "Humble and full of love" will be my focus (D&C 12:8). I'm so thankful to be a missionary!  I know this is the Lord's work.  I know that He knows me.  He's guiding me and He has a plan for me.  I love all of you and I know He does too.  He also has a plan for you.  Trust Him, commit to His will, and you will see miracles in your life.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 7/7/14

This has been a really, really long week.  I can't believe how much has happened.  We got a new mission president!  President and Sister Clark are wonderful.  We got to meet with them individually for 2 1/2 minutes on Thursday.  Not much time, but it was worth it.  I'm excited!

On the 4th of July Elder Morrow and I just camped out in the apartment (we're only allowed out after six if we're with a member).  It was nice to just relax for a few hours.  We did see some fireworks from our apartment and we heard a lot.  Yay America!

M has a baptismal date for this Saturday. We stopped by last night and he first asked us about the Virgin Mary and we talked a bit about that, but in the course of our discussion we discovered what his biggest doubt has been, and that is what his parents will think. He's close to thirty, but he's finding it very difficult to leave behind the traditions his fathers have given him. He's felt the Spirit and he knows this is true and from what I understand he just wants to feel confident in being able to explain to his parents why he's changing. We're having a lesson in the home of his brother-in-law, E S, on Tuesday (the Elder's Quorum President) and plan on having a mini testimony meeting. When Hermano S joined the church, his wife was very angry at him, but several years later she was baptized and is now a faithful member of the church. We hope their example and their testimonies will help him make the decision.

A few weeks ago we were struggling to find, so we re-focused on our finding and have been having wonderful success. On Saturday, we felt we should set a goal of two new investigators, though we really weren't sure how we were going to looking at our plans. We had too many appointments. But we set the goal in faith and we found them! A and M! As we said the closing prayer in that lesson, I couldn't quite hold back the tears of gratitude and amazement as I realized that we had found the two new investigators the Lord had inspired us to look for. I know that this is His work and He directs it (unless we don't let Him).

I really want to finish off my last three transfers strong. During my fast yesterday, I decided to do the "Purification Challenge", and fasted to know what things kept me from having the Spirit more abundantly in my life. This morning I made a list of 10 or 11 things and commit to God to "fast" from those things this transfer (English is one of them). I look forward to this coming transfer (transfer calls come this week) and the opportunity to re-commit myself to this work and use up every last minute I have.   

I love you all and hope you are having a wonderful week!  I know that this is the only true and living church on the earth, that this is God's work and He is hastening it, and that as we give our lives over to him He can work wonders in us.

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 6/30/14

I love California summers!  109 today, but it should cool down to 101 for the rest of the week.  I'm so excited!

Well, in just a matter of hours, President and Sister Gelwix board a plane to head home to Salt Lake and in come President and Sister Clark.  We get to meet them officially on Thursday.  I will miss the Gelwix's so much.  On Thursdaya lot of missionaries in the Fresno zones got to go help clean the mission home and at the end we were all gathered in the living room and just spent about 20 quality minutes together.  None of us wanted to leave and President even invited us all to stay the night.  I think he was only half-joking.  I included a picture of a bunch of us elders with him on his couch.  That was such a great day!

Sadly, M did not get baptized on Saturday.  He got some cold feet but said he wants to keep reading, praying, and going to church.  He says he doesn't doubt God and the church, just himself.  We made some good plans to help him out though and I'm absolutely certain he'll be baptized in July.

R has been doing well.  The funeral will be tomorrow but we won't be able to go because of district meeting.  He's still been coming to church though which was absolutely amazing to me.  He has become such a solid member in such a short time.  I love him!

We've been finding a lot of new investigators this week and I'm excited for the month of July.  Time sure flies when you're having fun!  I love this work and I feel ever more present the thought that it's coming to an end.  I want to tear these last 4 1/2 months apart.  Good things are going to happen!

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!  

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 6/23/14

Well, it's been another one of those weeks that was kind of long but I can't really remember what happened.  We had zone conference on Thursday.  It was our last conference with President and Sister Gelwix and it was more just a lot of talking with them than anything else.  We got to see a video of when he proposed to her, a documentary done on him called, "No Regrets" (Sister Gelwix's idea to show), had some Q&A sessions, and also some good trainings on teaching like Christ and the Atonement.  President shared a lot of great stories.  For all you Cougar fans, do you remember when BYU beat Oklahoma in 2008 (I think it was 2008)?  Well, before that game Bronco Mendenhall asked President Gelwix to come give the team a pep talk.  In short, they won because of his inspiring comments.  At least, that's what we'd like to believe.  Cool, huh?

We had a hard time finding people to teach this week. It felt like everything was falling through all week long.  But we got through it, M came to church, and he should be getting baptized on Saturday!  I'm so excited for him!  I really think that with the help of his brother-in-law (Hermano S, Elders Quorum President), he and his wife will be getting sealed in about a year.  That's what it's all about!

We got a call on Friday morning from one of our investigators, J.  His neighbor is R C, who got baptized a couple weeks ago.  He told us that R's wife had fallen and was in the hospital and she wasn't doing too well.  So we went to the hospital immediately, found out she was in ICU and went up to give her a blessing.  It sounds like she's doing better now.  Thank goodness for good neighbors!  

Anyway, next week our new mission president arrives, President Clark.  We're excited! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse