Email from Elder Lofthouse 8/25/14 The Beginning of the End (With Pictures)

Picture from R's baptism in Madera

Well, not much to add from the last four days, but I got baptized and confirmed! And President Mann (one of the counselor's in the mission presidency, who lives her in Visalia) was kind enough to invite her and her family to have brownies and ice cream at his house afterward. He is such a wonderful person!
Her daughter, A was also going to get baptized but I guess was scared about it a few days before hand just because she really wasn't sure what would actually happen. After the baptism, she was asking my companions questions like, "Why did you raise your arm in the air" and after seeing her mom get baptized, she's feeling better about it. Hopefully she'll get baptized this week or next.

We met with Teresa and A on Saturday and helped resolve T's doubts about marriage and baptism. At the end of the lesson they both said that nothing was holding them back from getting married or baptized and we set the date for Sept. 6th. They came to church on Sunday, as did Connie and all of them are progressing very well.

V

and his family didn't make it to church because they worked really late Saturday night, but we saw him later that evening and he commited to stop smoking and prepare for baptism on Sept 13th. I really feel he will get there and it will be a huge help for the rest of his family in making that decision too. 

Our area has been so blessed recently. We've been having so much success and I feel so grateful for the blessings Heavenly Father has been pouring out on us, the greatest of which has been the constant companionship of his Spirit.  I don't think I ever realized how literal that can be.

Also, transfer calls came!  Elder Herrera got a call at about 9 Saturday morning and President asked him to be a zone leader.  He didn't say anything to me, so I thought, "Well, looks like I'll have escaped leadership for my entire mission."  Then we got another call two hours later and President said he hadn't finished and had forgotten to ask me to serve as a trainer for my last two transfers.

I'm very excited and nervous to be training. I know it will help me grow so much and I really believe that these will be the best two transfers of my entire mission. God has been so good to me lately, I have felt the Spirit more than at almost any other time in my entire mission (and my entire life) and I have been learning how to maintain that Spirit through obedience and diligence. I love what this work is doing to me and I look forward to giving my all these last 12 weeks.

Elder Lofthouse's district and ward mission leader

I love you all and hope you are enjoying life!  We are so blessed to be members of God's church and to be able to participate in the great work of Salvation.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 8/21/14 Nothing feels better than the Spirit

Sorry I didn't write on Monday.  We just got back from the temple. I love going there so much! I made extra effort to prepare myself spiritually before I went and I had a very, very uplifting experience. I know that God is aware of me, He has a plan for me, and He loves me.

I and her daughter A are having their baptismal interviews tonight. I is still nervous and feels there is still so much left to learn, but it looks like she's going through with it. She's been to church six or seven times and I am so excited for her baptism on Saturday.

A is getting super solid. He met with the bishop on Sunday to talk about getting married to T and came out pretty excited. For some reason, T didn't come to church so he went home to go talk to her about it. We met with him last night and it sounds like she didn't really give an answer. He told us, "Just between you and me, she'll be here Friday morning. I'll be at work, but you should come talk to her and encourage her." He wants to get married and baptized as soon as she is willing. Pray for them!

C came to church again! She loved it even more this time. She's starting to put a lot of effort into getting an answer from God that this is where she should be. We'll be meeting with her tonight to review the Restoration and help her understand that this isn't just some other church but it is the very same church that Christ established when He was on the earth. She is also getting closer and closer to baptism.

And finally V and most of his family also came to church! (We had 8 investigators there) They loved it, but could only stay for one hour. The rest of the family is going to come this week and they will stay all three hours. They love the Spirit they feel when we come over and love how we explain things but they confided in us last night that they are confused because they have grown up with Catholic traditions and faith and a part of them feels it is wrong to change religions. They want to come to the baptism on Saturday to see how it is and how they feel and then decide if they want to set a baptismal date. Pray for them too!

I heard recently about how a while back (probably 20 years ago), President Eyering spoke at a stake conference here. I'd heard the part where he'd said that thousands of people were ready in Visalia to be baptized that very day, but I heard that he also said that one day there would not only being multiple stakes in Visalia, but multiple Spanish stakes. I thought, "Well if there were to be a Spanish stake here, we'd need a ward in Farmersville!" There is a good foundation being started here and it actually probably wouldn't take a ton more work to make a Spanish branch out of Farmersville, Exter, and Woodlake to make a branch at the Exeter building. That's my vision right now: Laying the foundation for a branch in Farmersville. I'm praying every day to find the future leaders of that branch.

We had a fantastic district meeting on Tuesday about being united with the Godhead. I find it interesting that in 3 Nephi 11, Christ teaches that the doctrine of the devil is contention and then immediately teaches His doctrine, which is the opposite. That doctrine is being one with the Father. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:20-21). The goal is complete unity. It is achieved through Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. As we seek to "repent, and become as a little child" (3 Nephi 11:37-38), submitting our will to the Father's (as King Benjamin explains beautifully in Mosiah 3:19) we will become one with the Father, and with the Son, and with the Holy Ghost and obtain eternal life which is to "know [Him] the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom [He hath] sent" (John 17:3). I know that when we are striving to do that, the Spirit enters into our lives with greater power. I know it, because I feel it.

I love you all so much!  I pray that each of us may be more united with our Heavenly Father, that we may become of one heart and one mind because there is no happier way to live.

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 8/11/14 God is good!

I can't believe how long the weeks are and yet how quickly they fly by.  I feel like it was an eternity ago that we did exchanges with the zone leaders but that was just on Tuesday!  I had a really good experience with Elder Cruz.  It was about eight o'clock and everything had fallen through.  We were working in the zone leader's area.  He had me pull over so we could say a prayer.  My initial attitude going into the prayer was, "I don't know this area.  I'm not going to receive anything."  But I received the subtle impression to not be so sure and pay a bit more attention during the prayer.  After the prayer I thought of a family that lives here in Visalia who has family in Merced.  Sister S M is currently on a mission in Costa Rica and when she heard I'd gotten transfered to Visalia she told me to go visit her family there.  Well, there in the car I could hardly even remember the names, I wasn't in my area and so I waited for Elder Cruz to say something even though as they came to mind I felt the peaceful confirmation of the Spirit.  Elder Cruz seemed stumped so I reached for my bag to find the ward directory.  I managed to find them, we put in their address and went to visit them.

Well, they weren't there (sorry Sister M).  We left a note and then Elder Cruz said, "Wait a minute, now that we're in this part of town there's a member over here that we've been working with that's been coming back to church.  Let's go see them!"  When we knocked on her door she opened it, looked at us and said, "You always come when I don't want you to come but when Heavenly Father knows I need you to come."  We had a fantastic lesson with her and we both knew that that was exactly where we were supposed to be.

When we trust the Spirit and we try to do God's will no matter how much we dont' understand it, He can guide us in ways we couldn't have imagined.  On Sunday we talked about the story of Naaman when he went to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy.  I wonder if Elisha initially had the same idea as Naaman to just go out, cry in a loud voice and heal him.  He could right?  It would be easy.  But then Naaman (and all of us through this story) would have been left out of an opportunity to learn a very important lesson.  Isn't God smart?

The work has been going, very, very well here in Farmersville.  It has been such a blessing.  I is getting back from Oregon tomorrow and we'll be able to solidify her date for the 23rd, T and A need to get married, but they are also progressing towards baptism, C, an investigator who had stopped progressing for awhile, finally just told her managers straight out that she wasn't going to work on Sunday, she was going to church.  She came yesterday, for all three hours, and absolutely loved it.  We started teaching all of V's family, including his wife's brother and his wife and all their kids, about 7 people in total.  And I could go on and on about all the good things Heavenly Father has been blessing us with.  

I've been saying it to myself over and over this week (well, singing it actually if you've ever heard the "Trek" CD): God is good.  I love being a missionary.  I love learning and progressing.  I love changing and becoming better.  That's what this life is all about isn't it?  

I hope that all of you are loving life as much as I am!  Keep learning from you mistakes, being humbled by your weaknesses and finding strength in the redeeming love of our Savior Jesus Christ.  There are good things to come!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 8/4/14 Hello again!

This was a a great week. We had eight lessons with a member present, a lot more than this area has seen in a long time. I'm excited! We even had a lesson in the home of a member. We have four dates for august, three of which are pretty solid and the fourth will be really solid as soon as he starts coming to church. We just found him on Monday. He's been talking with missionaries on and off for the last ten years and he said he's not sure what's been holding him back. His name is Viand he seems super ready to finally take the steps to get baptized. Then again, he didn't make it to church on Sunday, but I feel he still has a lot of potential.

I has been progressing well. She fed us lunch on Thursday, something called Chilekiles with the best Horchata I've ever had. We washed her car the next day and I love the relationship we have with her. She only lives a couple houses down from us and I feel like we are what neighbors should be for each other. She left to Oregon yesterday, but she made sure to come to church first. She was late, but made it just in time for the sacrament which she was happy about. I'm excited for her!

Well, I don't have much to write this week.  Sorry!  So much happens, but it all just becomes a blur to me and I forget a lot of it.  My companion thinks I have ADD.  He's the second person to suggest that.  I'm starting to think they might be right...

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Lofthouse