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    

Email from Elder Lofthouse 8/27/13

Sorry, I forgot to tell you last week that I wouldn't be e-mailing until Tuesday.  I just barely realized that.  We went to the temple today, so today is our Preparation Day.  I love going to the temple!  We are so blessed in Utah to have so many temples nearby.  I'm super excited for the Payson Temple and the new Provo one.  

Anyway, I don't have much to write about this week.  It was pretty rough.  We only had 13 lessons and we had no investigators show up to church, not even the normally solid ones.  Everything's been falling through.  We haven't had any contact with F since we set up that baptismal date with him, and we've stopped by almost every day at different times.  And my companion is great and he still works, but I'm pretty sure he's slowing down.  I can't say much about that though, because maybe I'll be feeling the same in 15 months.  Hopefully not.  

Apparently the stake has been working on a way to help J pay his tithing and they just need him to talk to the branch president, President E.  That would have happened on Sunday, but J's car broke down and he didn't make it to church.  Hopefully it will happen soon, and I'm sure he'll then finally commit to be baptized.

Missions are hard, but you learn so much because of those challenges.  I've been learning about a lot of things that I'm not very good at.  Like, talking openly with my companions and making sure we're on the same page, planning, making decisions, and expressing love and appreciation for those around me.  But as I've recognized those weaknesses, I've been able to work on them and get better, and I know that as I turn to Christ those weaknesses will become strengths.  Ether 12:27 is true!  I love being out here and wouldn't give it up for anything!

I love you all and hope you're learning more every day!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

P.S.  Sorry I've been really bad at taking pictures lately.  I'll think about repenting of that, but we'll see.    

Email from Elder Lofthouse 8/19/13

Hello again everybody!  The first week in an area is always interesting, because you can't really help out with planning that much because you don't know anyone or where anything is.  But we've had a pretty good week.  I love our mission so much!  

It's interesting being back in a tiny branch, where "Ward Council" consists of the 6 missionaries (we have a senior couple), the Branch President, and his one counselor.  I taught Gospel Principles, helped pass the Sacrament, gave a talk in Sacrament meeting, and only narrowly avoided playing the piano (my name was on the program, but the regular pianist showed up at the last minute).  We need to find more members!  So, that's what Elder Neave and I are going to do.

The other two missionaries in our branch are Elder Benson and his trainee, Elder Taufa.  Elder Taufa got his bike tires stolen his second day here.  That was kind of funny.  Elder Neave and I have the car, and we almost never use our bikes, so Elder Taufa is using Elder Neave's.  Elder Neave is our District Leader and he goes home to Adelaide, Australia this transfer.  He admits that he's trunky and I'm trying to help him push to the end.  We need to baptize this transfer!!  

We taught a former investigator last night who had been taught by the missionaries a year earlier.  His name is F.  He's a painter, like Grandpa Larry, and two years ago he was helping someone with a painting job, outside of work, and he had a bad accident (I think he fell from a ladder or something) and broke his foot really bad and his hand as well.  He's only recently been able to start walking again and it's a miracle that he even still has his foot.  He's been reading his Book of Mormon!  We taught (re-taught) the restoration to him last night and invited him to be baptized Sept 14.  He said that if he gets an answer that the Book of Mormon is true, then yes, that would be the next step.

We also have a few other investigators who are so close to getting baptized but just have a hold up or two.  For example, J really wants to get baptized and feels he is ready, but he only gets a certain amount of social security each month and he can't afford to pay tithing.  We're trying to help him understand and exercise the principle of faith.

Anyway, I'm excited for another transfer!  I'm sure good things are going to happen.  It's a good day to be a Mormon missionary!  To end, I want to quote something from Elder Hatch's letter:

 "I love being a missionary.  I think only that people that have been
missionaries can understand the full joy and blessing of being a
missionary.  I love it with all my heart.  There are so many hard
times.  There are so many times where I am just hungry or tired or
discouraged that it would be easy to stop, to quit, or relax.  Each
time I am tired, hungry or discouraged, if I just keep going, giving
my very best despite my many weaknesses, that is when the miracles

happen.  That is when Heavenly Father blesses us."

I agree 100%.  I love being a missionary and I know that Heavenly Father blesses us with miracles when we do our best.  If you have the chance to serve a mission, don't hesitate to take it!  It is the most wonderful experience I have ever had!

I love you all!

Elder Lofthouse  

Email from Elder Lofthouse 8/12/13

I forgot to mention last week that we were getting transfer calls.  I was feeling pretty certain that our area wouldn't be affected, especially when it was 9:30 on Saturday night and we hadn't gotten a call from President.  But shortly thereafter he called Elder Crawford to be a trainer and a few minutes later I found out that I'm going back up close to Atwater, my first area, to a town called Merced.  

I was super disappointed at first.  I'm tired of getting moved around and getting new companions.  And I guess my next companion, Elder Neeves, is going home to Australia next transfer, so I'll only get to be with him one transfer as well.  I just want two transfers with one companion.  But I know that this is the Lord's work and that He has plans for me and that this is where I'm supposed to be going.  It's hard leaving Madera though because the ward is so amazing and pretty much every other Spanish congregation in the mission is dysfunctional.  But I'm sure there are great things to come in Merced!

The pictures this week are of our baptism and part of the Madera ward (the ones who came to the baptism).  The woman who got baptized is named N, and she was baptized by her grandson, J, with the help of me and Elder Crawford.  We had to try three times, but we finally got her baptized!

This transfer has been the best of my mission.  We saw so many miracles!  And we've been baptizing weekly (four weeks in a row now)!  We didn't think it was possible!  But as we trusted in God and we set inspired goals and made inspired plans and tried our very best to make things happen, God took our efforts and made them into something that we couldn't.  I learned so much in the last 6 weeks, and I'm going to miss it so much!  

I know that God loves us.  I know that this is His work.  I know that there are people ready to receive the gospel and we're finding them.  I am so, so grateful that I was able to come out here.  For a little while, I was wondering if I'd ever be able to go.  But with so much support from you, my friends and family, I was able to do it and I have been so blessed because of it.  Thank you so much!  I hope you are seeing all the blessings and miracles that God pours out on you each day.  He is very aware of you.  Do your best, be humble, work hard, and you will receive so much!

I love you all!  I hope you're enjoying life as much as I am despite all of it's disappointments, discouragements, and trials.  They last only a short time, and if you put your trust in God, they work together for your good.  I know that's true!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 8/5/13 (with pictures!)

It has been quite a week!  I've probably had my faith grow more in the last five days than I've had it grow in the whole rest of my mission.  I am blessed with an amazing companion, Elder Crawford.  Before I talk about what's happened this week, first I'd like to apologize if I don't convey very well how amazing it was.  I was up all night with irregular bowel movements because of some bad Pasole I ate last night, and I feel completely dead.  Hopefully I'll be back into the swing of things by tonight.

So, Elder Crawford and I got back together on Thursday morning after exchanges and went to work.  After a few minutes we stopped and started talking.  Our mission president has mentioned, but hasn't pushed very strongly, focusing on baptizing weekly.  My companion and I talked about faith, whether it was the will of the Lord and how it would be possible.  We discussed Mormon 9:21 and we prayed.  We felt confident that if we kept a constant prayer in our hearts, tried to follow the Spirit and worked hard and stayed humble ("Work hard and stay humble" is one of Elder Crawford's favorite phrases) that someone would be baptized that Sunday.  We had 3 days and we had a few ideas of who it could be.

That night, we stopped by N's house, whose two kids (M and L) got baptized last week, on the 28th.  It was one of the greatest lessons I've ever had.  She started out talking to us about all these problems she's been having with her ex-husband.  She kept going and going, and a part of me was worried that we wouldn't get anywhere in the lesson.  But we both felt prompted to just listen, both to her and to the Spirit.  "Why does got put trials in our life?" asked Elder Crawford.  "To try our faith and our patience," she said.  Elder Crawford's face lit up, because the scripture he was about to share was Mosiah 23:21-22, which says exactly that.  And it says that whoever puts their trust in Him will be lifted up at the last day.  We asked her how she thought she could put her trust in Him.  She then told us a story of something that had happened that day.  I didn't catch all of it, but it had to do with her husband and some people coming over to the house (she lives with a member now) with these papers she was supposed to sign, and it was really stressful for her.  But she noticed that Lupe, her daughter, who in the past would have been scared, was completely calm.  N asked her, "Why is God doing this?  Have I done something wrong or is this to get me to be baptized?"  L didn't say anything, she just nodded her head.  And N new exactly what she needed to do to put her trust in God.  She said she wanted to get baptized soon.  We invited her to be baptized that Sunday and she said yes.  Miracle!!

But that's not all.  Saturday, we knew we needed to set a date for next week if we were going to be able to keep baptizing weekly.  After a great lesson in a member's home (who had called us that afternoon saying there was a family who wanted to be taught that evening in their home) we went over to a recent convert's house, J

.  We were planning on meeting with him and his mom in another member's house, but she didn't want to go.  So we ended up talking with him, and his grandma came out to listen.  She's 74 and in a wheelchair because of a stroke she had, but she seemed perfectly lucid and understood everything we were talking about.  Elder Crawford started talking about baptism.  I thought, "What?  She's 74!  And in a wheelchair!  Are you crazy?"  But, supporting my companion, we taught her about baptism and asked if she would like to be baptized on the 28th of August.  She said, "How long did it take Jorge to get baptized?"  "15 days." "Well, if God wants me to get baptized sooner, I'll do that."  Elder Crawford looked at me.  "How about next week?"  She said okay, and she came to church yesterday!  Wow!

I can't believe how many miracles we've seen this week, both small and large.  There have been lots of disappointments too, but something good always comes up to replace them.  I love being a missionary!  I love my companion and I love my area!  I know this is the Lord's work.  I know that as we follow Him and just try to do our best, miracles happen.  And when we ask in faith, nothing doubting, it is given to us whatever we desire, if it is right.  Don't doubt that!  I have such a strong testimony of that promise now.  

I love you all so much!  God is a god of miracles.  I've seen so many, and I expect many more.

Love,

Elder Lofthouse        

We get so much great fruit here.  These grapes were huge, and picked that day.  We also get freshly picked nectarines, peaches, plums, and figs.

Email from Elder Lofthouse 7/29/13

Hello again from the California Fresno Mission (a.k.a. The Best Mission in the World)!

Can you believe it's almost August already?  I can't believe how quickly time passes and yet how much happens in that time.  

Anyway, we had two baptisms yesterday!  Sorry, I don't have pictures today because I forgot my camera.  But N's two kids, M and L were baptized, and I just know she's going to follow soon!  The sad news is that all the other baptisms in our district fell through.  We had a possibility of 7 baptisms that day and only had 2.  However, those other five should be baptized within the next few weeks.  

I love Madera!  There is way more Spanish spoken than English here.  The English elders refuse to tract because there are so many Hispanic homes.  In my other areas, you could tell if a neighborhood was mostly Hispanic or mostly white based on the quality of the neighborhood (the Hispanic people were generally in the poorer areas).  But here, it doesn't seem to matter what the neighborhood is like, you're bound to find lots of people from Mexico.  It's so much fun!  And I love having six missionaries in the same ward.  We see each other every day.  When you're in an area where it's just you and your companion for miles, it can get kind of boring.

The truck that the English elders and us four Spanish elders share got hit by a drunk driver a couple nights ago while it was parked in front of their apartment.  It's out of commission for awhile, which means we don't have a car for preparation day today.  But we should be able to work something out with the sisters and use their car to go shopping.  I feel bad for the English elders though, because they have a huge area and now they have no car to cover it with.

Well, things are going great!  I'd just like to close with a scripture I read this morning, Doctrine and Covenants 101:35-37 says basically that if we are faithful through all kinds of persecution and endure all things, even death, we will be partakers of eternal glory.  "Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body; but care for the soul and the life of the soul."  Now, that doesn't mean don't worry about your health, do whatever you want with your body.  But we should be far less concerned about our mortal lives than we are about our eternal lives.  Thinking of stepping into the arms of my Savior, clothed in Celestial glory always puts things into perspective for me.  If we endure faithfully through all kinds of trails, one day we will be able to say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness" (2 Timothy 4:7-8).  "For in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full" (D&C 101:36 

"And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy" (D&C 130:2).

Just imagine enjoying Celestial glory with your closest family and friends!  Won't that be worth every pain, every disappointment, every struggle, every heartache?  Hold fast to your faith, whatever the future brings!  

I love you all and hope your are having a wonderful time!  And remember, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" ( 1Cor 2:9).  

Elder Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 7/22/13

This was a great week!  We had Specialized Training on Wednesday (a.k.a. Zone Conference) and it was so uplifting!  We talked about leaving and following up on commitments, teaching people, not lessons, how Christ is both the Father and the Son, eternal marriage, and a bunch of other great stuff.  And Sister Gelwix is amazing and hemmed a pair of my pants for me!  She is so great!  And I got to sight-read a piece of music for our zone's musical number.  That was interesting.  Sister Guzy has a beautiful voice though, so I think that made up for my mistakes.  I really can't believe how often I'm asked to play the piano, whether for musical numbers, sacrament meeting, or baptisms.  This is actually the first ward I've been in where I haven't played the piano for sacrament meeting.

  The best part of the conference was probably the last part though.  Each time, the incoming missionaries and the departing missionaries share their testimonies.  It is so much fun to see the contrast between those who are just starting and those who have been completely changed by two years of faithful service.  It makes you reflect on who you were when you came in to the mission, who you are now, and who you want to be when you're giving your final testimony.  Elder Kahuhu, one of the assistants bore his testimony as he is leaving soon.  He is a convert to the church, and from what I've heard had a rough life before he found the gospel.  He is one of the greatest missionaries I've ever met and he literally talks to EVERYONE about the gospel (It took us about 20 minutes to get in to Hibachi grill once).  He said, with tears in his eyes, "I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior.  That's the only things I have a testimony about.  Jesus Christ.  My life is proof that the atonement works."  It was so powerful.  That's why I'm here as a missionary.  Because the atonement works!!  I want others to taste of the joy I've tasted and to become like Elder Kahuhu and so many others who have been completely transformed by the Atonement of Christ.

We had a baptism yesterday.  Have I told you about O? O is an amazing man.  He's not a member, but he goes on team-ups with us, attends church every week and he knows the Book of Mormon is true.  But his less-active wife has various fears when it comes to marriage and we still haven't been able to resolve them.  So until he gets married (or moves out), he can't get baptized.  But their ten year-old daughter, M, was baptized yesterday.  At the baptism was an investigator that the other Elders had just given to us because she moved to our area and she had kind of halted in her progress towards baptism (otherwise they would have just finished teaching her since we're all in the same ward).  Well, her kids were there too, and her daughter G said after the baptism that she wants to get baptized... next week!  She's about the same age as M I think.  And her older brother said he wants to too.  And a member friend of N's was also trying to convince her to do it too, and she said maybe.   And we already have a pretty solid baptism (a man named A) set up for next week, so that's a possibility of four baptisms!

Often, I can't explain some of the miracles and blessings I receive, and this is one of them.  But miracles do happen, hearts are changed, and as long as we are striving to live faithfully, God always steps in to take care of the rest.  

I've mentioned "The Easter Project" that we started in March, which is reading all the references in the Topical Guide that refer to Jesus Christ (such as Jesus Christ, Davidic Descent of or Jesus Christ, Savior).  Well, we have about a month left and though I've kept up with the reading, I haven't been getting very much out of it.  So last week, I resolved that I was going to get the very most I could out of the last month of the project so that I could experience the mighty change of heart that President Gelwix promised we would experience if we would do the project.  I have grown more in my love of the Savior in the last week than I had in the whole rest of my mission.  I have never felt the Spirit so often in my life as I have tried to make the Savior the center of everything I do.  I have so many thoughts and scriptures I could share with you right now, but I just don't have room or time.  I urge you to study about the Savior.  Ponder His sacrifice and how it can change your life.  He loves you so much.  I do too!  Make Him the center of all you do and you will come to know Him as He is.

I love being a missionary!!!!!  It really is training for the rest of your life.  I have already been changed so much by it and I'm not even half-way done.  If you have the opportunity to serve a mission in the future start preparing now!!  It will be the best choice you ever made.  But you do have to be prepared.  It's hard.  It's a refiner's fire.  I know a lot of missionaries who have gone home for various reasons.  But if you are prepared, a mission will be the greatest two years for your life.  You will learn and grow so much.  

I look forward to the day when we meet together in the Glorious Kingdom of our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  That day WILL come.  Stand firm, press foward, and have a firm hope that one day will receive eternal life.  I know we can do it if we rely on Him.

Love you!!

Elder Lofthouse