Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/29/14

Hello!

We had a lesson with our recent convert, I, this week and her 9 year-old daughter, A. A had told us about a month ago that she wanted to finish reading the picture Book of Mormon before getting baptized. Her grandma and her aunt had also been telling her that she wasn't old enough to make that kind of a decision. Elder Mora bore a very powerful testimony to her and she commited to get baptized Oct. 11th. The next lesson, we invited the primary president to come with us. She was fantastic and she took Arleth with her to the women's conference the next day. A (and I), C, T and A all came to church yesterday. We have a lot of potential for the month of October.

I'm super excited for General conference. We're really trying to get all our investigators to understand the importance of it so that they will come. Two weeks after conference we're having a temple trip for recent converts and the goal is for each of them to take a family name to get baptized for. I'm really excited and I think there will be a lot of success. I'm really hoping Connie can get baptized the 11th so she can got on the 18th.

Sorry for the short email this week.  I hope you are all doing well!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/22/14 So Much to Do!

Hello!

Time is just flying by. There is so much to do!! Sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed. But I know what God wants me to do and I know that as I focus on that and just seek to spend every minute the way He wants me to spend it, everything will fall into place. 

Monday night we met with C. She didn't make it to church because she didn't have gas and when we stopped by to make sure she didn't need a ride she had just gotten in the shower. Her daughter said that she would be driving herself. Woops! Anyway, in our lesson, we asked if she had had the chance to ask God what He wanted her to do. She said yes and that she had been thinking about September 20th because that was the date we had asked her to pray about several weeks ago. She said she didn't think she'd have everything taken care of by the 20th but that next month would be the month. She committed to be baptized by October 25th (earlier if at all possible). She's just waiting to get a new job so she can live on her own income and kick out the man she's living with. Pray that she'll get a new job soon!

We actually didn't have any investigators at church on Sunday, the first time in awhile. A lot of things fell through. We're going to be really making that a focus this week. Coming to church is one of the hardest things for investigators to do. I also believe it's something that the adversary tries extra hard to interfere with because it's only once a week. So he just has to try really hard one morning and the rest of the week he's won. Our job is to do everything in our power to prevent every possible obstacle.

Well, here comes another week. Again, there is just so much to do. I love never feeling like I don't know what to do next. There's always something. This is such a great area. I have a great companion. These last two months will be great!

In our letter this week, President gave some insightful comments from the Book of Mormon.  I'd like to share:

"Well as I began the Book of Mormon again, inspired to do so, it popped out at me again. "And my father dwelt in a tent." Did you ever wonder why Mormon, the Prophet editor, was inspired to put that in there? Of what significance could that possibly have for us other than telling us their living accommodations which we really already knew based on their description of what they took? I think the answer has significance for us. Go back to the very first verse - "I Nephi, having been born of 'goodly' parents...". Goodly is so much more than "nice people". In this sense it means or points to the rest of the verse - "therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father...". Clearly, Lehi was a man of substantial means and high education. Much of this is supported by the account of Nephi and his brothers returning for the Brass Plates and using the "gold and silver, and all manner of riches" in an attempt to obtain the plates. What really is being made clear here is that Lehi was a man of substantial wealth and the fact that he "dwelt in a tent" indicates what he was willing to do and give up to follow the Lord. I think it teaches us something powerful about discipleship."

I think we've all made fun of that verse before, saying that it's our favorite.  I really do believe though that every verse in the Book of Mormon is inspired and their for a reason.  Sometimes you really have to search and ponder to know why, but when you find out how powerful it is!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/15/14 So Much to Do!

Hello everyone!

Numbers were kind of low this week because of the various activities we had this week (Work of Salvation, Trainer/Trainee meeting, picking up mini-missionaries in Hanford, working in the Vineyard, and a Ward activity). But C told us that she no longer has doubts and she knows she's going to get baptized. However, she didn't show up at church, and she still is working on getting the faith to do whatever it takes to start living law of chastity so she can get baptized. If she kicks her boyfriend out, she wont' have enough money to pay the rent until she finds a new job. We're going to stop by today to find out what happened yesterday. T and A met with bishop on Sunday, and we'll be meeting with them tomorrow after zone conference to see how it went and to help T feel more confident about accepting a baptismal date. I have hope that this week will see a lot of success.

To explain the various activities this week:  On Tuesday night, the stake president and other stake representatives and our ward council went out with us to visit investigators and less-actives.  Me and my companion didn't have much success and Elder Mora only had one lesson.  But Elder Cruz got to go out with Bishop AND the Stake President and it sounds like they had some really great lessons.  On Wednesday we went up to Fresno to have a meeting for all the trainers and trainees where we had different trainings.  On Friday we went to the Hanford stake to pick up some youth who were set apart as missionaries for 2 days.  Our companion actually didn't show up which was sad.  The next morning we went to the vineyard to roll up the raisins and then that night we had a ward activity to celebrate the independence of Latin America.  There were a lot of cool cultural dances and great Mexican food.

Vl and his family also didn't show up to church even though they said 45 minutes before it started that they were coming. We're hoping to see them today as well. Setting baptismal dates and helping investigators come to church will be a focus this week.

Funny story from this week: I accidentally asked out a sister missionary.  You'd think after 22 months I'd have Spanish down, but while we were setting up for our Ward Activity on Saturday I made an embarrassing mistake. We needed tape to hang up some signs and one of the sister missionaries had it. So I went up to her and said, "Quiero cita. I mean tape! Cinta! Quiero cinta!" Cinta is "tape."  Cita is "appointment" or "date." Woops... She either didn't notice or just let it go though which was nice. 

To help me finish my mission strong I decided to fast yesterday and start the purification challenge. I want so much to see miracles with Elder Mora over the next 2 months and for that we need the Spirit, so I'm doing everything I can to get that Spirit. I'm really glad I was given the opportunity to train because it's really helping me to stay focused and keep striving to improve.

I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/8/14 Time's Flying!

Hello!

On one of our first days together a couple weeks ago, after yet another rejection from someone, my companion stated very simply, "Missionary work is hard!" It sure is. A lot of our investigators didn't show up to church yesterday and we now only have one baptismal date and it's not very solid. But we found a lot of new people this week and I think that as we focus on the Doctrine of Christ and helping these people to accept a baptismal commitment we'll be able to see baptisms in the weeks to come. 

C has been experiencing a lot of opposition. People in her family have been telling her lots of things about Joseph Smith and the church and she told us that she almost asked us not to come by anymore just to give her a little relief. We had a good lesson with her, but I'm a little worried that she didn't show up to church on Sunday. We have an appointment with her tonight. 

Right after that lesson with C we had a lesson with Vand his family. V sounds like he has developed a very strong testimony of the Restoration. His wife still has doubts, but the rest of his family seem to really like the church too. So, I'm not sure why they didn't come to church on Sunday. Hopefully we'll figure that out this week.

I'm excited for the future of this mission because I feel it will only have more and more success. I feel that way about the church as a whole. A lot of great things are starting to happen and I can't wait to see what happens in the next decade. I'm SO excited for General Conference (as always). We're going to make an effort to get investigators to watch it in members' homes this time because I've never had much success with that in the past. 

I can't believe how quickly time is passing. I'm already down to 10 weeks. I still have so much left to do! One of my personal goals coming out on my mission was to be able to talk more with people. I've gotten a lot better at talking to people I don't know, and Elder Mora has told me that me talking with him will help him not get homesick so I've been trying to push myself and I've started improving in my ability to just keep talking with him. I'm really glad he's my companion because I feel that not only will I help him, but he's going to help me reach the fullest potential I can before I go home. We're hitting these last 10 weeks hard!

I love you all, and hope you are doing well!  

Have a great week!

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/1/14 New Companion!

This has been a really long week. It feels like a month ago that Elder Herrera was my companion.  Wednesday I went up to Fresno with Elder Kane (my new district leader) to go pick up our new companions.  We went to the temple, had some trainings and then went and worked in an area in Fresno that night.  The next morning we got assigned to our new companions.  Mine is named Elder Mora, he's from Arkansas, but was born in Mexico.  He moved to the states when he was two so he speaks perfect English and great Spanish.  He got baptized a year and a half ago and is the only member in his family.  

I love Elder Mora! He is so diligent and has such good desires. He wants to talk with everyone and being a convert of only a year and a half what he wants out of a mission is a super strong testimony. He acknowledges that he has doubts at times, but his faith and hope is that in two years he will be able to say that he KNOWS this is true and will have a solid, firm testimony. I am absolutely certain that he will get there. Like most missionaries he doesn't like to role-play, but you wouldn't know it because he's so willing to do it. He asks great questions and based on his teaching, someone who didn't know him would probably guess he's been out quite some time. He is going to be a fantastic missionary.

I am quickly learning that I will not be a perfect trainer, that I'll make mistakes, but that that's okay as long as I am trying to follow the Spirit and serve my companion. My most embarrassing mistake this week was when I miscalculated our miles and we ended up going 15 over our limit. I honestly felt so stupid and I stressed about it for awhile, but Elder Mora helped me to let it go, not worry about it and just focus on continuing to work. I'm really thankful he's my companion.

We got up at 4 in the morning on Saturday to go to the vineyard and pick grapes.  Surprisingly I wasn't that tired and it was a lot of fun.  We had thirty or forty people from our ward show up and we got our assignment done pretty quick.  We have a great ward!

We're hoping to get T and A married and baptized this weekend.  They've been to church nine times now.  We're going to be seeing them tonight and we're going to get everything taken care of so we can make certain it happens this Saturday.  C's been coming to church, I wants to start doing Family Home Evening, most of our recent converts are doing great, and I just feel so blessed to be in Farmersville.

It's resting more and more heavily on my mind how little time I have left. I feel more and more of a sense of urgency every day. I just want to become everything I can be and accomplish everything I possibly can while I'm here. There is so much to do and so much to learn. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I was given to serve a mission.

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Lofthouse