Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Elder Pedro - September 16 2013

Elder Alexander and I just got back from the Denver Zoo with one of the members of the ward and that was pretty fun. The work is starting to really slow down in our ward. We are working with less actives but we haven't taught many investigator lessons in the last couple of weeks. We are probably going to knock a lot of doors this week to try and find some new people to teach. A lot of members went up to BYU Idaho this week as well. We had so many appointments cancel on us this week because of the rain. We weren't too effected by the floods... the city we live got 14inches of rain though. And a couple part of our areas were flooded and we couldn't get up to though. Most of the flooding was in the new fort Collins mission.

--
Elder Pedro




Elder Pedro - September 9 2013

Dear People,
It was a pretty interesting week. My companion got emergency transferred last week.. 2 days later I got a call that he was coming back. Elder Watkins was my companion for only 2 days. We taught 11 less actives this week which is a new record for me! We are back to finding and are focusing on Less Actives. We have found any new investigators for a while so we are trying to find some. There is a member coming from the first quorum of the seventy tomorrow and I was asked to sing with a few others when he comes. It should be pretty exciting. 

Elder Pedro

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Baptizing David and Baseball

We had Davids Baptism this week and it was awesome! he asked me to speak on Baptism and of course he asked the Stake President to follow my talk! It was great though. We have to do  a lot of finding now because we baptized everyone we were teaching. Yesterday for P-day my companion and I got club level seats to  a rockies game it was super sweet! President Toombs called yesterday and said he needs to do an Emergency Transfer so looks like I am getting a new companion today.

Elder Pedro


Thursday, August 29, 2013

8/26 - New Companion, Basketball, and More Baptisms!



We had a great week this past week. Elder Alexander is learning the ropes. On, Saturday we had Michaels baptism which went very well. He asked me to confirm him. We met with David a lot in preparation of his baptism this upcoming Saturday. In the past 4 weeks we have had 3 baptism which is so sweet! the ward is really starting to get excited. We are going to be doing a lot of finding this week. There is a college in our area that starts school soon and we are going to go campus contact up there. We are meeting with 3 brothers this week, we have been playing basketball with them.
--
Elder Pedro

 

8/20 - Transitions


Hello

I am getting a brand new missionary. His name is Elder Alexander and is from Western New York. He turned 18 in June! He is really out going and I think he is going to do well in the singles ward. We got a call from President Toombs that one of our investigators on parole got permission to be baptized. He is getting baptized this Saturday and then we have two more baptisms coming up! the Lord has truly blessed me here. Last week I got to  go to the Bronco's training camp which was awesome. I was right next to all the players!  


Elder Pedro

Monday, August 12, 2013

Raining Rain, Investigators and Baptisms!



Hello

It was a good week. On Friday, It rained so hard, I have never seen rain like that! On, Saturday we had a baptism his name is Eric and he was ordained a priest yesterday. We found 2 new investigators we still have 2 baptisms coming up. Its the last week of the transfer and I have a feeling that one of us will be getting transferred.

Elder Pedro

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&ik=1f77f1f535&view=att&th=140738328253122f&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_hk9xn13s0&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9VyTFFC-Ka3LrfgqPC6htr&sadet=1376352373747&sads=BKkyVR1Ktj-sr03LmnAIF8aXM6o

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Elder Pedro: GREAT Week, Crazy Weather and Basketball!

Hello

We had another boss week out here! Elder Brown and I found a new investigator  named David and he is super excited about the gospel he agreed to be baptized in a few weeks. We should have 3 baptisms in August! Eric who is getting baptized this week bore his testimony yesterday it was so awesome. There was some crazy storms this week, on Friday it was pouring and there was Tornado warnings and Flash flood warnings. On Saturday we played basketball with 15 non members who are all YSA age they want to start playing every week.
--
Elder Pedro

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Elder Pedro: Great week! Lots of Success!

Hello

I had one of the best weeks on my mission. Especially being in a Y.S.A ward. We found 5 new investigators and set 3 people to be baptized. It was so sweet! Its always a good feeling to work hard and to see blessing like that. Elder Brown and I are getting along well too! I really love the ward that I am serving in. Everyone is getting excited to do missionary work. We had interviews with President Toombs this week and he thanked me for enduring all the changes which have occurred down here. Our top investigator is named Eric he is getting baptized in two weeks. Then a girl named Megan will be baptized in a month. We have an investigator named Michael who has been coming to church forever  but he is on probation so he met with President Toombs and they are sending a letter to the first presidency to get approval. On Tuesday, we were late going to institute and when we were walking in we noticed a guy walking so we invited him to come to institute and we ended up teaching him 3 times this week. He came to church too. Good things are happening over here.

--
Elder Pedro
 
 



Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Elder Pedro Letter: A new area..

Hello

Things are going well for me. I hit my 19th month mark this week. Crazy how the time keeps flying by. The work is starting to pick up in the Flanders ward. We are teaching a ton and we are getting a lot of referrals. We have been starting to hit up the north part of our area, which is in Denver and is close to Down Town. It is ghetto and rich at the same time every block seems to be different. It has a sweet feel to it though. Elder brown and I are doing well! he cooks a lot of food and makes me eat it all.
--
Elder Pedro

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Record Baptisms in Arvada!

It was a very good week for us. We taught so much. We area teaching most of the day now which is awesome. I have been in Arvada for 6 months so I am sure that I will be transferred next Monday. I am going to miss this area if I am. On Wednesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Reiber he is an AP I got to go down to Aurora and do some office work with him. On Thursday, we were very busy and drove all over our area. I had an opportunity to do something I have never done before. I dedicated a grave for one of the recent converts that I taught here in Arvada. Emily, one of our investigators was supposed to be baptized this coming Saturday but she wants to delay it a few weeks, I was pretty bummed because I wanted to be there for it. The Arvada zone is doing well we had 5 baptisms this month and President Toombs says that is a record for Arvada. Every Monday we have a conference call with all the zone leaders and President Toombs, today was the last time we had it as the ''Denver North'' mission as we knew it. It officially splits today. I gave the closing prayer (which means I am probably done as a Zone Leader)


--
Elder Pedro
IMG_0086 - A picture of Denver I took from a hill in my area.
DSC01585 - Elder Ruppity rupp. and I  


Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Mafia Baptism!

Hello Everybody.
I hope you all got to watch ''The work of salvation'' broadcast. It was awesome. Elder Rupper and I are doing great out in Arvada. Emily, one of our investigators had a super hard week and she wants to push her baptism back so that was a bummer. We are still trying to work with her to keep it on the 6th of July. This transfer has gone by so quick, its already week 5! On Tuesday, we had a mission meeting with all 270 missionaries. This is the last week of the Colorado Denver North Mission as we know it. There was so many missionaries. We took a massive group picture. On Saturday, we got to go to a baptism of an ex-mafia guy. He was high up in the mafia world, and had to get permission from Salt Lake to get baptized. So cool story for the week... We have been doing service at ARC ( a thrift store), They had me organizing the books. I took a peak at the religion section and I found an old school large print blue Book of Mormon, it is in pristine condition. It only cost two dollars too!!

Elder Pedro

Fast Times in Arvada! (6/17/13)

Hello

It was a great time this past week. Elder Rupper is becoming one of my favorite companions. We are working hard and having a lot of success. I have a pretty rowdy zone and its been a handful, I'm glad I have a good companion to help me through it. I went to two different hospitals this week both out of the mission. On Monday, I went with Elder Rupper to National Jewish hospital in Denver for his check up. Then on Saturday, we were doing service at a huge festival in Arvada and for our lunch break I was playing volleyball with another missionary when he dislocated his shoulder again and collapsed. I ended up riding in the ambulance with him down to Wheat Ridge. Our mission president had lost his phone so it took me awhile to get ahold of him. Elder Carvalho has only been in America once and has dislocated his shoulder twice! he is doing well now. We are working hard on Just Serve. We coordinated 125 hours of service this past week in our zone. We are spending a lot of time teaching members right now and its been pretty successful.

--
Elder Pedro

Arvada! (6/10/13)

Hello!
Elder Rupper and I are tearing it up out here in Colorado. We are making a huge push to meet with members of the ward everyday and to challenge them to do missionary work. Tuesday, we had lunch with the zone at the Stake President's home. We have been working with Just Serve a lot as well. We are now doing service at a thrift store, we have to coordinate so that 4 missionaries go every single day. On Friday, we had a mission leadership council. We spent that whole day in meetings. On Saturday, we tried a new thing called ''zone blitzing'' we had everyone in the zone go to one area and we all tracted for two hours. Our top progressing investigator right now is named Emily I have been teaching her since I have been in Arvada. She is committed to being baptized in a few weeks. It's so exciting. We made a scripture study calendar to help prepare her for it. Gen our recent convert is doing well. Her parents are ''disowning'' her for being baptized, we are doing our best to help her cope. Today Elder Rupper and I are driving down to Denver, he has an appointment at National Jewish hospital to check on his CF.

Elder Pedro. 

Emergency Room and General Authority Visit (6/4/13)

Hello,
It was an eventful week last week. I love my new companion Elder Rupper he is such a great guy. Last Friday we got a call from one of our missionaries that his companion had crashed on his bike and would need a ride. When we arrived at the scene, his companion was curled up in a ball singing hymns, it was his fifth day in the mission field and was from Brazil. His shoulder was badly dislocated so we had to rush him the the Emergency Room we didn't leave until midnight. He is doing great now though. It was a slow week as far as investigators we didn't teach one investigator lesson. We are making a big focus with Less Actives and Recent converts. We had Stake Conference this week and two 70s came. Elder Zwick of the first quorum presided. All the missionaries went to the Adult Session on Saturday night and Elder Zwick dis-invited us and told us to go find people to teach, a lot of missionaries were upset but it's hard to disobey a 70. Missionary work was a major theme of the conference.

Elder Pedro

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Elder Pedro: New Companion and a Baptism!

Hey Everybody!
It was a great week. We had a baptism! Gen our new investigator wanted to get baptized so we planned it all out and did it. It went so smoothly. We also set one of our investigators named Emily with a Baptismal Date. Saturday we had transfers and I am staying in Arvada for my 4th transfer. I am training a new Zone Leader named Elder Rupper. He is from Pennsylvania. He has Cystic Fibrosis so he has to wear a vest every morning and night and he takes about 50 pills a day! The weather has been so nice over here.  I am excited for this transfer! Today is my 17 month mark. <p>

Elder Pedro<p>

Img_0158 - Saying Goodbye<br>
Img_0155 - Elder Andrus. my favorite Japanese person<br>
Img_0107 - Doing some service<br>
Img_0131 - Getting Baptized! <br>







Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Arvada, Arvada & Arvada

It was a hot week. We received some pretty good rain too. Our mission has really been pushing 'Just Serve' Because we are one of the pilot missions using it. A couple of weeks ago we volunteered at a festival and helped festival goers sort their trash. The City of Arvada wrote back and said that we are the best volunteers they have ever had! 6 of us spent Saturday morning painting the home of an elderly person. It was so fun. We also volunteer at a food bank every week. We are teaching a girl named Gen, she is Chinese. She has come to church the past 2 weeks. We taught her three times this week! She really wants to learn, it is so legit. This is the last week of the transfer and I am pretty sure that my companion is going to be the new A.P so we will see what happens.

Elder Pedro
Img_0066 - After Painting
IMG_0053 - There's the companionship
IMG_0015 - this is whom we live with.






Monday, May 13, 2013

Hello

What a great week. It rained quite a bit here. The weather has finally risen, it was in the 80s today! Mothers day was great. I got to talk to my Mom, it was a weird feeling because it is the last time I get to talk to her before I go home. It was good to hear from my family though. One of my recent converts wanted to talk to my Mom so I let her talk to her for a couple of minutes. We found a new investigator named Gen, she is Chinese and her boyfriend is a member. She came to church along with the two Brazilians. There have been 20 or so new people in our ward the last couple of weeks, there is a huge group doing summer sells out here. We have a pretty good week planned. We have zone conference on Wednesday in Boulder and a couple of investigator lessons. We taught a lot of Less-Active lessons this past week. I haven't worked with much L.A's on my mission but I think we are going to try and work with more.

Elder Pedro

IMG_0009 - Angelena and I.
IMG 0012 - Elder from Mesa AZ
IMG 0011 - Elder Fadika

Monday, May 6, 2013

Elder Pedro: New Mission Leader Council

Hello

This week went by very fast. Are two main investigators were both out of town this week so we weren't able to meet with them.We went on exchanges with the A.Ps on Wednesday. The sisters started fighting again while they were down here. We had to cancel district meeting it is getting pretty annoying. On Friday we had the first ever Mission Leader Council, It replaces the Zone Leader Council and sisters are now invited to sit on the council. It was pretty sweet. On Sunday, we had two Brazilians show up to sacrament meeting they aren't members but took English lessons from Elders in Brazil, We are going to start teaching them soon. My companion and I have been sick the past couple of days and we haven't gotten too much done.

Elder Pedro

Monday, April 22, 2013

Elder Pedro: A New Transfer

It has been quite the adventurous week. We has so much snow this past week. We are supposed to get more today too. (It is already coming down pretty hard) We had a lot of missionary 'drama' this past week. We got a call from the A.P's on Saturday that they Emergency Transferred a missionary out of our zone that was getting along with his companion. We had no idea! On Saturday we had some sisters who were fighting. We had to split them up and change companionship's. Our mission President was in Cheyenne so we couldn't get a hold of him so we had to deal with it our selves. It got pretty intense. We had 3 referrals at church which has never happened. All these people want to get taught now! Our main Investigator named Emily is doing great. She is still coming to church and praying. She is praying about May 18th as a day to be baptized. Elder Fadika and I are doing great he is a stud. Love all y'all.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Elder Pedro Email: Arvada, Temple and Snow!

It was a good last week of the transfer. We had transfer yesterday. Elder Fadika and I will be staying in Arvada I am so happy! We got to go to the temple last week it was great. On Saturday there was huge festival called the Kite festival and we got to do service there. We helped people sort there trash between recyclable, compostable and landfill. Sunday was our last day in the family ward we are solely in the Y.S.A now! We are teaching a girl named Emily who is doing really well I think she will be baptized in the next month or so. Elder Fadika backed into her car the other day though haha. but She was cool about it. Yesterday was crazy no one knew that the storm was going to be that bad. We probably had about 18 inches at our house. We were stranded at the mission office all day. We weren't able to leave until 8:30 PM. I had to drive sisters home by myself and a usual 25 minute drive turned into 2 hours. Elder Fadika and I didn't get home until close to 11 last night. It was crazy. We now have 6 sisters in the zone and 16 total missionaries.

Elder Pedro

Img_0065- one of our districts
Img_0016 - Elder Fadika and I
Img_220 - driving the sisters home
Img_208 - this is the car I had to drive home last night in.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Short Week.

It was a fast week over here. Friday we had a Zone Leader Council up in Broomfield. President Toombs had us vote on a music issue and we decided to go to just Hymns and Classical music. so I will be sending some cds home haha. General Conference was awesome as always. We spend Saturday watching it Y.S.As at the Bishops home. On Sunday we watched one session with Investigators and the other with a family in the 4th ward. Our mission President met with us this week about some problems in the Zone. He told me that I would be staying in Arvada this next transfer with Elder Fadika So I hope that happens. He is always changing his mind. 5 of us went hiking today and climbed to a peak on the west side of Denver it was so fun. We could see Denver and boulder and the surrounding Areas. Denver is so Flat. There is a strong storm coming into night and we are supposed to get at least a foot of snow maybe even more.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

4/1/13 - Just Serve Program

Hi

Things are going well out here. Our mission President challenged all the Zone Leaders to teach 20 lessons a week. So we are trying to reach that goal. Thursday was sweet. We met with our mission President and Sister Stacey at President Toombs home. I mentioned before that our mission is doing a pilot program called 'just serve' Well President chose Arvada to pilot the pilot. He gave us access to computers and pretty much whatever we want to do to see that our zone provides 140 hours of service each week. We were told that we pretty much are 'writing the hand book for the church' its pretty cool. Friday we had a spiritual experience we knocked on a door and my companion used the old ''Hey can I use your restroom'' trick and he let us in. He opened up to us and said it was one of the greatest day since his divorce. We shared the message of the restoration and are coming back this next week. This week is going to be a busy one. We have scheduled so many appointments we will be running all over.

-- Elder Pedro

3/25/13; Golden Investigators and 15 month mark

What a great week. We tried so hard to teach 20 lesson and only taught 16. But all but 3 were investigator lessons which is legit! We found 4 new investigators - B.K., helen, Kelly and Emily. All 4 of them can be termed ''golden'' I am so blessed to be able to work with them. Emily is legit she has already read the book of Mormon and she has two Mormon sisters. Joe Quinn got baptized this past week. He asked me to confirm him in Sacrament meeting. It was so spiritual. He showed up way late to his baptism so everyone was fretting but it happened! We had another snow day out here. It snowed about 8 inches on Saturday and was super windy. We had some YSA kids come pick us up and we played basketball at the church. Its amazing how much snow we get here and how it is gone a few days later. I really love Arvada I wouldn't mind living here! We have a sweet week planned out so hopefully it is awesome. By the way I hit my 15 month mark this week. So Crazy!

Img_0016 - Chilling in the Sauna
Img _ 0020 - Some of the awesome missionaries of Arvada.
Img_0022 - Joe Q getting baptized!

3/18/13 - Week 2!

Things are going well out here. Our mission President challenged all the Zone Leaders to teach 20 lessons a week. So we are trying to reach that goal. Thursday was sweet. We met with our mission President and Sister Stacey at President Toombs home. I mentioned before that our mission is doing a pilot program called 'just serve' Well President chose Arvada to pilot the pilot. He gave us access to computers and pretty much whatever we want to do to see that our zone provides 140 hours of service each week. We were told that we pretty much are 'writing the hand book for the church' its pretty cool. Friday we had a spiritual experience we knocked on a door and my companion used the old ''Hey can I use your restroom'' trick and he let us in. He opened up to us and said it was one of the greatest day since his divorce. We shared the message of the restoration and are coming back this next week. This week is going to be a busy one. We have scheduled so many appointments we will be running all over.

Elder Pedro

3/11/13: Arvada and Finding Investigators

We had a good week over here in Arvada, Colorado. I love Elder Fadika he is such a great guy and he is super humble. He has only been a member of the church for 2 years. I have found that the first week of a transfer is very busy for the Zone Leaders. We are always left picking stuff up and helping people out. We have a total of four sisters in the zone now. Two of them are brand new. We found a new investigator in the Y.S.A ward. Her name is Carla. I baptized her friend two transfers ago in another Y.S.A ward and she asked us to come teach her. We are having a baptism next week its a man named Joe he is so awesome. His friend who has only been a member since December invited him to hear the lessons and its going well so far. Friday, we had a Zone Leader council in Broomfield. President is so impressed with the Arvada zone because it has never been so good at finding. The A.P.s asked the question. ''When you came out on a mission did you hear that Arvada was the black hole of the mission?'' They went on to say that it is not the black hole any more. We talked about having a goal of teaching 20 lessons a week. Saturday there was a blizzard advisory. It snowed all day about 10-12 inches, it was super wet snow. We got our driving privileges taken away so we spent time with some other missionaries and there sauna they have in there basement. Well this next week is looking out to be great. We have high goals set to accomplish.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

New Transfer

So we just had transfers! Elder Anderson got transferred up to Greeley. And my new companion is Elder Fadika. He is African American and is from Virgina. He is my second African American from Virginia so that's pretty sweet. He is way tall and has been out a transfer longer than I. He went to high school at T.C Williams where Remember the Titans took place. We moved into a new house last week too. We moved in with the Lewis family who live in west Arvada he is the former Stake President and he is awesome. Last Friday we went to the temple with some of the YSA. It was so awesome I love going there. We didn't find any new investigators last week but we were able to teach a lot. The YSA is still excited about Angelena's baptism they are all inspired to do missionary work. Angelena was the first to bear her testimony on Sunday and it was awesome. The zone has changed a lot. There are now 4 sister missionaries in the zone and two are brand new. Elder Holben is in the zone. I was his district leader a couple of transfer ago and he is an interesting guy! We have two Elder Burtons in the zone and they are companions! we are working with The Stake President to get the work rolling his name is President Jones and I love the man I am learning so much from him. I am excited for this transfer. It will be my best yet.

IMG_0058 - district meeting photo.
IMg_0076 - With Sister Hernandez and Sister solomon at the temple.
Img_0084 - Transfer Doctrine party at A&W

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Elder Pedro Letter: Birthday and a New Mission

It was an eventful week over here in Colorado. I was pretty sick last week and I had to go to the doctor and I guess I have an ear infection. Tuesday we had a meeting with Just Serve which is the new service program. Zone Leaders have a position in the committee. Thursday was my birthday! and The sisters took me out to eat at a Mexican restaurant and then some members from the Denver North Ysa took me out to a Mongolian grill it was sweet! on Friday President Toombs had an emergency conference call with all the Zone Leaders and announced that they are SPLITTING THE MISSION! There will now be a Fort Collins mission. The Denver North mission is picking up 3 new stakes from the South mission. So we will now cover Parker and also Downtown! We have no idea who will be in which mission but President said he has known for awhile and has been putting missionaries where they need to be. I hope I stay in the Denver North mission! It takes effect on July 1st. Saturday we had a baptism it was a girl named Angelena and it was so spiritual. My companion got to baptize her and I confirmed her. The spirit was so strong it was awesome. She is so solid she has listened to almost every General conference address since 2008 in the last couple of weeks. Sunday morning we had a ward council training in the YSA ward and it was a blizzard when we got there they made the announcement that they were canceling church. We couldn't drive either so We just hung with other missionaries all day.

Elder Pedro

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Elder Pedro Letter - Arvada, Working Hard and 40 Nuggets!

Hey!

I don't know if I told you guys but this transfer is a 5 week transfer! We are trying to get aligned with the new MTC schedule. It also means that I will be coming home a week early now! We had a very successful week we found 6 new investigators! the zone found 12 which is the new record since the summer! President Toombs is very impressed with Arvada right now and the missionaries here are working so hard. Angelena one of our investigators is getting baptized this upcoming Saturday! She is a YSA and she referred herself through Mormon.org. Last Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Young who is an assistant. We worked so hard we taught a lot of people and tracted all afternoon in the snow. We taught a new guy named Joe and we set him to be baptized next month! on Saturday we got the zone together and we did the '40 nugget challenge' and went to Mcdonald I gave a talk in the YSA ward Sunday and I think I did alright it is the second time I have talked in a month. After church we were visiting some former investigators and ran into a man named Steve working on his car we got to talking and he finally said ''Sorry guys I don't think the Jehovah's Witness is for me'' we explained who we were and talked about the Book of Mormon he felt the spirit so strong and he let us inside and he rounded up his family to listen to us. I can not even describe his facial expressions as everything seemed to just click to him. We are going back tomorrow. Elder Anderson and I are doing great. I think Arvada might be my favorite area now. We met with President Toombs on Sunday night and he is planning on keeping us together next transfer. Well I turn 21 this Thursday! it is going to be so crazy Love you all!

-img_0036 - after the 40 nuggets!!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Arvada Update - February 11 2013

Hola!

Everything is good over here in Arvada! The zone is on fire with finding and teaching right now. We are still serving two wards a family ward and a YSA ward. The family ward is awesome there are so many service giving priesthood men. There are two former stake presidents and the current stake president as well as 8 former bishops. They are helping us out a lot. The west side of the ward is very wealthy and we have had dinner in some huge homes! We found three new investigators this past week and one will be getting baptized on the 23rd of February. we are excited for her! we are still working on finding and I think I will do more tracting here than I have the rest of my mission combined. We are doing the ''just serve'' pilot as well which will start up pretty soon. Well hopefully this week will be a good one. My companion got the Flu and was really sick so we had a lot of down time. BUt he is feeling better now. SO funny story of the week. We were heading to Wal-Mart to buy some medicine for Elder Anderson and these girls were waving to us and I thought it was funny... Well when we came out of Wal-MArt there was a note on our window saying that they thought we were cute and they gave us their numbers. We called them back of course (because they were YSA) and one is a less active member but it was pretty funny.

-- Elder Pedro

Transfer to Aravada

Hey sorry it has been transfer since I have sent an updating email! Well last Monday I got transferred to ARRRRRRvada which is in the foothills just northeast of Denver. I was so bummed out to get transferred because I really liked my last area and companion and I was only there for one transfer. When we went to get the transfer doctrine it had Elder Cowley and I staying together but president called later and said that he was transferring me last minute. We had a baptism before we left though. Her name was Christy and she was a boss it was so sweet. I spoke in church my last week there too. My new companion is Elder Anderson we were in the same MTC district and he was one of my best friends there. I really like Arvada now, It is known for being really slow with the work but there is a good bunch of missionaries and we have been doing all we can to get them motivated. There are only 12 missionaries in the zone compared to 25 in my last zone so it is very small. We had a busy week and spent a lot of time moving missionaries and getting everyone situated. We worked hard though we cover two wards the Arvada 4th ward and the Arvada 7th ward. The 7th ward is a YSA ward Im excited to be able to work with singles still! We don't have too much work going on but it won't be long untill we do. We had a Zone Leader Council with President last week and with all the zone leaders and he banned a lot of stuff including having instruments. I was pretty bummed out but Its all good. he also made a 3 strike rule and will be sending elders home from now on. Well I won't be slacking too much on my emails from now on. Love you all!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

New "Just Serve" Pilot Program

Hey!

Sorry its been so long since I've sent an email. So Zone Leader life is pretty busy we have meetings all the time.We meet with the Stake Presidency every other week. We've had what's called a Zone Leader Council twice since I've been Zone Leader, which is a meeting with all the other Zone Leaders in the mission. We go to 3 district meetings a week. We just found out that our mission is doing a new program called 'just serve' where we increase the amount of community service that we do each week. The First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 chose our mission and a Dallas mission to pilot the program. For the first time ever Zone Leaders sit on a stake committee and so that just means more meetings. We have one solid investigator named Christy she goes to church every week and is good friends with a lot of people. We are hoping that she will get baptized at the end of this month. The rest of our focus is on less active members and there are a lot that want to meet with us.

IMG_0073 - this is us at new years