Monday 09/14/15
Sooooooo... Results of transfers were that I got Elder Glover. Hes been out just over a year and he's from Kanab, UT. Way down south. I got to know him more and just show him how I am and then the magic started happening and I knew this transfer was good. Turns out he's a huge rocker. Likes and listens to everything that I did. Even Slipknot, which is hilarious to talk about out here. But were having fun.
We saw some awesome things this week. Oh and just a funny little thing... we went out with a recent returned missionary and I may or may not have heard a little Breaking Benjamin and RED!!! it was crazzzyzyyyyy. He was teasing me and showed me snip its of their new stuff. He was a funny dude. That was hard though, haha. It's weird having a missionary brain now. My new companion is super. He works way hard. We get along great becuase we both like rock/metal a lot and we just have fun all day. His name is Elder Glover from Kanab, UT.
But, as far as the work goes, nothing too exciting happened this week. Biggest progress we saw was that we were able to have Eric Brader actually come to more than one hour of church!!! He hasn't done that in a month or more. That was awesome. But, we gotta get more of them there. That's my goal for next week, pack the church with non members. But, we keep finding new investigators every week to replace the lame ones
We also found a new investigator named Brooklyn who's like 25 or so and we taught her the restoration out front of her apartment. went super well. We taught very simply and she was way interested. She wants to be baptized. We just need to extend a date for that and see her again tomorrow. We also saw some miracles as far as less active work too. Got to see Merri Bardwell again. I think I told you about her. She's a lady we met a couple weeks ago. We saw her this week and had another solid lesson. Told her to not stress so much and just take the gospel step by step. Start with one thing she is struggling with instead of all them. It was way cool.
So we're doing pretty good. Staying way busy. especially with zone leader work too. We just had our zone merge with another one, so I'm taking over two zones now. Its been hectic but pretty fun to have that responsibility and watch over all those missionaries. I have like 26 that I help now. I think thats so awesome that you are talking to Ceteka and Debbie. I love when Moms unite haha its silly. Thanks for everything. I really appreciate how cool you are. Miss ya'll tons. Keep having fun and showing it to me!
Love you!
Pantz, Elder Janz
Monday, November 9, 2015
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Alvin Texas, Week 50: August 31, 2015 - September 7, 2015
Tuesday 09/08//15
Had a way good week this week! But big news... TRANSFERS affected us. Both my buds are leaving me. I dont know if i'll get two new comps or if it'll go back to normal companionship. I totally thought I would leave here. I was shocked. Its all good though. Elder Noles needs more growth. He's doing so good these days. I love em. Same with Elder Theis. This will be a hard goodbye. But, we're gonna hang back in UT. so it'll be okay. But, we had a blast our last week as a trio. The boys are heading out to who knows where. They will find out tomorrow at this time and i'll find out who my new companion or companions are. But Elder Theis will go home eventually and tell me. he wants to come over.
Oh and Momma! Become friends with Ceteka Perry on Facebook. She is in my ward and recorded my song and wants to show you okay? She invited you to be friends on the FB. Just talk to her and you'll love the video. She thinks you'll cry. Sure you will.
So this week was good with investigators! No huge leaps forward but constant work with them. Eric B is still unmarried and working on WOW. Thats okay. He,s reading the Book of Mormon every day and he's a great friend, so its just a matter of time. We had a good time with Eric V this week. He is doing good but wasn't able to come to church. That stinker works a ton. He saw Slipknot the other night in concert out here and told me about it. That was awwweeesoommmee. He's a cool kid. I don't know if we will be able to baptize many people this weekend. They need a little more time. Hopefully the week after this one. I'll let you know. One family dropped us. They don't wanna look into the church anymore. Something happened and they don't want us over, whatever. Its sad but i'll give it time and go back in a month or so. There's still plenty of other prepared investigators. We have some new investigators. We have Adrian and Rhonda. Rhonda knows lots of members and called us last week and said " Can I come to church with ya'll this Sunday?" Of course we were like " No, that's weird" haha. She ended up coming and had a way good time. She liked fast and testimony meeting. Adrian is about 25ish and he came to church and loved it as well. Hopefully teaching them more tomorrow and Thursday.
We had a major miracle when we met a sweet lady named Merri this week. We just looked at the ward list and decided to visit some less actives and the one that jumped out to us on paper was Merri. We went over there and she let us right in and was happy to meet us. She is around 40 and has a tonnnnn going on. We got to know her for a few mins and then she told us all her follies and why she isn't as close to the Lord right now. She broke down big time. The Spirit was so strong. It actually caused me to have Christ like charity for her because I saw that she didn't want to be where she was and she just needed hope. We ended up giving one of the most powerful lessons on the Savior's Atonement I have ever shared and giving her a priesthood blessing. We all walked out of there almost crying. I was so humbled. It felt so amazing to do that. Way privileged. Hopefully we can see her again soon. but it was awesome.
I've heard the mountains there look awesome. I'd love to see that. Are they changing color? We have no mountains and we have no color to change for this fall.How fun, haha, but its all good. Alvin is pretty is other ways. Have a good week.
Love and miss you,
Elder Pantz
Had a way good week this week! But big news... TRANSFERS affected us. Both my buds are leaving me. I dont know if i'll get two new comps or if it'll go back to normal companionship. I totally thought I would leave here. I was shocked. Its all good though. Elder Noles needs more growth. He's doing so good these days. I love em. Same with Elder Theis. This will be a hard goodbye. But, we're gonna hang back in UT. so it'll be okay. But, we had a blast our last week as a trio. The boys are heading out to who knows where. They will find out tomorrow at this time and i'll find out who my new companion or companions are. But Elder Theis will go home eventually and tell me. he wants to come over.
Oh and Momma! Become friends with Ceteka Perry on Facebook. She is in my ward and recorded my song and wants to show you okay? She invited you to be friends on the FB. Just talk to her and you'll love the video. She thinks you'll cry. Sure you will.
So this week was good with investigators! No huge leaps forward but constant work with them. Eric B is still unmarried and working on WOW. Thats okay. He,s reading the Book of Mormon every day and he's a great friend, so its just a matter of time. We had a good time with Eric V this week. He is doing good but wasn't able to come to church. That stinker works a ton. He saw Slipknot the other night in concert out here and told me about it. That was awwweeesoommmee. He's a cool kid. I don't know if we will be able to baptize many people this weekend. They need a little more time. Hopefully the week after this one. I'll let you know. One family dropped us. They don't wanna look into the church anymore. Something happened and they don't want us over, whatever. Its sad but i'll give it time and go back in a month or so. There's still plenty of other prepared investigators. We have some new investigators. We have Adrian and Rhonda. Rhonda knows lots of members and called us last week and said " Can I come to church with ya'll this Sunday?" Of course we were like " No, that's weird" haha. She ended up coming and had a way good time. She liked fast and testimony meeting. Adrian is about 25ish and he came to church and loved it as well. Hopefully teaching them more tomorrow and Thursday.
We had a major miracle when we met a sweet lady named Merri this week. We just looked at the ward list and decided to visit some less actives and the one that jumped out to us on paper was Merri. We went over there and she let us right in and was happy to meet us. She is around 40 and has a tonnnnn going on. We got to know her for a few mins and then she told us all her follies and why she isn't as close to the Lord right now. She broke down big time. The Spirit was so strong. It actually caused me to have Christ like charity for her because I saw that she didn't want to be where she was and she just needed hope. We ended up giving one of the most powerful lessons on the Savior's Atonement I have ever shared and giving her a priesthood blessing. We all walked out of there almost crying. I was so humbled. It felt so amazing to do that. Way privileged. Hopefully we can see her again soon. but it was awesome.
I've heard the mountains there look awesome. I'd love to see that. Are they changing color? We have no mountains and we have no color to change for this fall.How fun, haha, but its all good. Alvin is pretty is other ways. Have a good week.
Love and miss you,
Elder Pantz
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Alvin Texas, Week 49: August 24, 2015 - August 30, 2015
Monday, August 31, 2015
Had a good 'ol week!! We saw some great miracles throughout the week. Unfortunately, we didn't have any of our investigators in church yesterday due to many different problems. But we had a great week with them and taught like no tomorrow. Eric is still good to be baptized soon. In two weeks.Im way close to him too so i think ill cry when hes dunked. He's doing good. He's reading and he's still working on the word of wisdom, but he'll get it. He also is just about to get married. They're just financially struggling and waiting for the money to get a license I guess. Its just he and the girls that wanna be baptized, not the wife... yet. We'll see. I actually got to talk to her for the first time in ages. She's nicer than I thought. Just not interested haha.
Brendan is doing pretty good. He's been busy with work and family trips. He just needs to read more. We had a powerful lesson with him where Elder Noles and I cried and shared testimony about Christ and how real he is, becuase Brendan isn't sure yet. Gotta pray for that boy. The other Eric wants to be baptized but he needs to come to church! He hasn't been able to come. We had some good lessons with him.
It's pretty funny, we also found some college girls to teach now haha. We were trying by a less active and found out that he doesn't live there anymore. We spoke to a girl who answered and we explained blah blah blah and then we actually got to go in and share a good restoration lesson with her the first day. And then come back the day after and teach her roommate too. It's weird though because we think they like us a little. They're kinda flirty. We had to be super careful and decided to get members to come over with us and that will help.
Lois is dropped. We're not seeing her anymore. She's too weird and uninterested haha. And Angela hasn't got back to us. Probably not for a while. But Love is back in business with us! We went over yesterday randomly and she let us in! That was amazing. She's good.
Oh, just a big news flash, I guess. I sang in sacrament meeting yesterday. I guess it went well cause all the girls flipped out. Everyone loved it. Elder Grondel and I sang 'Lead Kindly Light' with a different piano arrangement by Bro Newbold our WML. Twas so fun to be a rocker again haha. One sister wants me to go record it in a studio, we'll see. But things are great great great. Still think I'm gonna be transferred. Hope not, but i'll let ya know next week.
To answer your questions, we have two beds and an air mattress in the apartment. The apartment actually isn't tight quarters. It's really nice and open. We like it. Haha, no hurricanes yet, shoot. My companions want some to come soon. They don't get it. Those sound awful. But, we get to leave and do fun stuff so maybe thats why they want to see one. Or just so they can take pictures and say they've been through one. . Thanks for everything.
Love and miss ya tons!
Pantz
Had a good 'ol week!! We saw some great miracles throughout the week. Unfortunately, we didn't have any of our investigators in church yesterday due to many different problems. But we had a great week with them and taught like no tomorrow. Eric is still good to be baptized soon. In two weeks.Im way close to him too so i think ill cry when hes dunked. He's doing good. He's reading and he's still working on the word of wisdom, but he'll get it. He also is just about to get married. They're just financially struggling and waiting for the money to get a license I guess. Its just he and the girls that wanna be baptized, not the wife... yet. We'll see. I actually got to talk to her for the first time in ages. She's nicer than I thought. Just not interested haha.
Brendan is doing pretty good. He's been busy with work and family trips. He just needs to read more. We had a powerful lesson with him where Elder Noles and I cried and shared testimony about Christ and how real he is, becuase Brendan isn't sure yet. Gotta pray for that boy. The other Eric wants to be baptized but he needs to come to church! He hasn't been able to come. We had some good lessons with him.
It's pretty funny, we also found some college girls to teach now haha. We were trying by a less active and found out that he doesn't live there anymore. We spoke to a girl who answered and we explained blah blah blah and then we actually got to go in and share a good restoration lesson with her the first day. And then come back the day after and teach her roommate too. It's weird though because we think they like us a little. They're kinda flirty. We had to be super careful and decided to get members to come over with us and that will help.
Lois is dropped. We're not seeing her anymore. She's too weird and uninterested haha. And Angela hasn't got back to us. Probably not for a while. But Love is back in business with us! We went over yesterday randomly and she let us in! That was amazing. She's good.
Oh, just a big news flash, I guess. I sang in sacrament meeting yesterday. I guess it went well cause all the girls flipped out. Everyone loved it. Elder Grondel and I sang 'Lead Kindly Light' with a different piano arrangement by Bro Newbold our WML. Twas so fun to be a rocker again haha. One sister wants me to go record it in a studio, we'll see. But things are great great great. Still think I'm gonna be transferred. Hope not, but i'll let ya know next week.
To answer your questions, we have two beds and an air mattress in the apartment. The apartment actually isn't tight quarters. It's really nice and open. We like it. Haha, no hurricanes yet, shoot. My companions want some to come soon. They don't get it. Those sound awful. But, we get to leave and do fun stuff so maybe thats why they want to see one. Or just so they can take pictures and say they've been through one. . Thanks for everything.
Love and miss ya tons!
Pantz
Alvin Texas, Week 48: August 17, 2015 - August 23, 2015
Monday, August 24, 2015
This week was interesting. Lots of good and lots of unnecessary things as well haha. The good was that we were able to find a new family to teach! The other family we found, that I said was a miracle, isn't letting us come back. The mom talked to her husband, who wasn't there, and he doesn't agree and approve. So we have to wait for a while to get back to them. But the Lord gave us another one! They're the Beverlys. Its a mom and two boys. Things are going awesome with them. We've seen them three times now. They weren't able to come to church, but they're progressing besides that. Even reading the Book of Mormon and have a goal for Sept 12 baptism.
We were able to have all of Erics family in church! He wasnt able to get married this week :( He didn't have enough money for a marriage license. Thats the only thing holding him back from it. He's also got to get more serious about the word of wisdom too. He lives it for a few days and then relapses. But he's just the best. We got to see him and his kids a few times this week. They still want to be baptized all together and they even set a date for themselves this time, they picked Sept 12. We thought maybe that would help and give him some initiative. We've got lots of peeps that wanna get dunked on that day, should be wonderful.
We also had Brendan in church this week. He had a good time. We weren't able to teach him much. We only saw him once. But, he's got great relationships with the ward and. He even came to a dinner with us and some members. This is his second one! Already ffeels like he's part of the ward. He just needs to quit word of wisdom problems.
But all the investigators are doing pretty well. Best ones right now are Erics fam, Beverlys, Brendan and another Eric we've known for a long time. And he actually accepted a date this week for Sept 12 as well. He's a bro. He's a couple years older than me and it feels like were just good friends.
This week had some wonky things and things that weren't so great. I went on two exchanges to help other elders this week. The first one didn;t go so well. Wasn't much work done there. They weren't that spiritual and it was hard to feel the Lords presence there. We had a good 'ol time though, played lots of guitar with them. Just wasn't a lot of work we could do. The second exchange was a lot better. I went to the other area in the ward to help Elder Grondel. We had a wicked sweet day. We biked around there a lot. We would take long drives and road trips to certain places and then get out and bike. We found some new peeps for him to teach! We get along great and I could be more spiritual with him and still have goofy and fun times. So that was nice. The funny thing is that while I was doing that, my companions were joined by his companion and they did not like each other much. They had a hard day haha. I came back so happy and they were just exhausted. Got to talk about it a lot, and repent ha ha. It happens. Can't be all buddy buddy every day. Things are better now though. We're with them right now actually. Everyone got over it. .
Im doing excellent! Think I will be transferred this time. Been in Alvin since May. This has been tied with my last area for longest area so far. Bike is doing great. I had to get a new tube this week though. We also put on rear view mirrors on the handles to be cool and just so we can see cars coming up on us. Looks sweet. I also bought a honky horn for it today since the other two have little bells on their bikes, they ring. I guess you could say we like to deck out our bikes haha. But the fender is still on and the bike is very good. My calfs and thighs are definitely more large haha yes. I love and miss you tons!
Elder Pantz
This week was interesting. Lots of good and lots of unnecessary things as well haha. The good was that we were able to find a new family to teach! The other family we found, that I said was a miracle, isn't letting us come back. The mom talked to her husband, who wasn't there, and he doesn't agree and approve. So we have to wait for a while to get back to them. But the Lord gave us another one! They're the Beverlys. Its a mom and two boys. Things are going awesome with them. We've seen them three times now. They weren't able to come to church, but they're progressing besides that. Even reading the Book of Mormon and have a goal for Sept 12 baptism.
We were able to have all of Erics family in church! He wasnt able to get married this week :( He didn't have enough money for a marriage license. Thats the only thing holding him back from it. He's also got to get more serious about the word of wisdom too. He lives it for a few days and then relapses. But he's just the best. We got to see him and his kids a few times this week. They still want to be baptized all together and they even set a date for themselves this time, they picked Sept 12. We thought maybe that would help and give him some initiative. We've got lots of peeps that wanna get dunked on that day, should be wonderful.
We also had Brendan in church this week. He had a good time. We weren't able to teach him much. We only saw him once. But, he's got great relationships with the ward and. He even came to a dinner with us and some members. This is his second one! Already ffeels like he's part of the ward. He just needs to quit word of wisdom problems.
But all the investigators are doing pretty well. Best ones right now are Erics fam, Beverlys, Brendan and another Eric we've known for a long time. And he actually accepted a date this week for Sept 12 as well. He's a bro. He's a couple years older than me and it feels like were just good friends.
This week had some wonky things and things that weren't so great. I went on two exchanges to help other elders this week. The first one didn;t go so well. Wasn't much work done there. They weren't that spiritual and it was hard to feel the Lords presence there. We had a good 'ol time though, played lots of guitar with them. Just wasn't a lot of work we could do. The second exchange was a lot better. I went to the other area in the ward to help Elder Grondel. We had a wicked sweet day. We biked around there a lot. We would take long drives and road trips to certain places and then get out and bike. We found some new peeps for him to teach! We get along great and I could be more spiritual with him and still have goofy and fun times. So that was nice. The funny thing is that while I was doing that, my companions were joined by his companion and they did not like each other much. They had a hard day haha. I came back so happy and they were just exhausted. Got to talk about it a lot, and repent ha ha. It happens. Can't be all buddy buddy every day. Things are better now though. We're with them right now actually. Everyone got over it. .
Im doing excellent! Think I will be transferred this time. Been in Alvin since May. This has been tied with my last area for longest area so far. Bike is doing great. I had to get a new tube this week though. We also put on rear view mirrors on the handles to be cool and just so we can see cars coming up on us. Looks sweet. I also bought a honky horn for it today since the other two have little bells on their bikes, they ring. I guess you could say we like to deck out our bikes haha. But the fender is still on and the bike is very good. My calfs and thighs are definitely more large haha yes. I love and miss you tons!
Elder Pantz
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Alvin Texas, Week 47: August 10, 2015 - August 16, 2015
Monday, August 17, 2015
The work is going extraordinary. I'm finally seeing what its like to be a full purpose missionary. The Lord has blessed us so much. Just had a baptism, hit me way hard because haven't had one in a while, and I got way close to that family, and on top of that we're finding even more people that want to be baptized. Its just so humbling knowing that the Lord trusts me to do all this and he knows we can help all these people. Feels amazing. The Spirt is just comforting me so much. All the times I get stressed or down get completely erased once we see things like we saw this week. Then it changes me and increases my faith. I learned this week that there really isn't anything to worry about too much. Its the Lords work and he will push me along through it and make things happen if I just trust him and do it his way.
This. Was. The. Best. Week. Of. My. Mission. I dont even know where to begin! haha I literally just can't explain how awesome things have been. I'll show you my journal when I get home and we can talk more about it in the future. But, I will try my best to fill you in right now. So for starters.. I got to confirm Brittany a member of the church and give her the holy ghost. That was amazing. I love how certain things come to mind for me to say and thats exactly what she needs. Made her cry. Twas perfect. I was so happy and proud of her. She also went to a dinner with us later that night. For our lesson there, we just asked if we could have a mini testimony meeting. We all shared testimonies and even Brittany bore her testimony for the first time! Too dang cool. The Spirit was so strong. It's amazing how testimonies can do that. Plus I'm just so proud of Brittany and her husband.
We also had ridiculous success given to us by the Lord as far as finding new investigators!!! We met a girl named Love, thats our age, early in the week. We met her by trying her roommate who used to talk to missionaries. The roommate wasn't too interested anymore, but Love was way open and we later find out that she is golden.She was ready to hear the gospel! We had the best lessons with her, saw her four days straight, in a row! haha That just never happens here. And she wants to be baptized and is loving everything we share with her. One day we came over and she didn't answer and we just walked around the apartments waiting for her to hopefully come home soon. Then we found her in the middle park area of the apartments reading the Book of Mormon. She is awesome. She's from Nigeria too. She's just been such a miracle. She was sick and wasn't able to make it to church, but she is still doing real good and will progress.
Another way sweet miracle that we saw.. this actually just barely happened two hours ago. So, you almost got live news haha. But, we got a referral on our phone from Salt Lake letting us know about a lady that wanted a Book of Mormon. We went to go try her and drop it off and talk about it right away. She answered and confirmed all the things we got on the phone, but she didn't have any time and told us to come back this morning. So, this morning we go over, come to find out she's been reading the Book of Mormon and has tons of questions. We got to go in and have a super duper first lesson. She even had her whole family come meet us and join. But, the lesson was amazing. Her name is Angela. She was loving it and she said that she even saw us as an answer to her prayers. She prayed a couple days ago that she wanted to become a better christian and then all of a sudden we came along. She told us about that and cried from the spirit that came. She knows this is something that will change her life. They even accepted baptism, they just said they want to learn more and more before. But, I felt so humbled as we left though. The Lord has blessed us so much lately. We literally have the coolest people to work with. These people and these things are just meant to be. makes me so happy.
Eric was able to come to church after a long absence! It was so good. He is on tract for baptism this weekend if he gets married in these next few days. Another amazing moment is when we went over yesterday to see him and he told us that he was picking up the marriage certificate in a couple days. They have everything all planned out! So crazy to think that this is actually happening. I flipped out when he told me. I got so excited because its what we have been hoping and dreaming for for a while and he's just straight doing it now. His daughters are 9 and 11.
Brendan also made it to church this week and he is doing really good. We got to teach him quite a bit. he is progressing way well just doesnt have a baptismal date currently. But im A-okay because I can tell he is working for it and he wants to feel more spiritual first.
As far as the gator exploring, We went to a state park. It was just like going up to Brighton and then seeing a bunch of wildlife but instead of mountains, a crazy swamp with alligators around them. I didn't get to feed any, I could've. I almost stepped on one I got so close haha. It was my companionship and the other elders in the ward that went. So, 5 of us took the mom van that they drive. I've got lots of pictures. Yes. I can send them.
As far as the weather, I've already melted tons of times! We get turned back into solids once we get inside though. It's been crazy hot. But we also have got some rain too.
But things are so good out here. Its the time of my life and I dont wanna leave the area at all. Everything about it is fun, the ward, we're busy, my comps. It actually is fun. Doesnt even seem like work sometimes. Just doing what we do and having a blast.But, Im just so thankful for how things are. Life is just a joy. I'm glad we're doing things that are way different, but yet so excited about it and having a blast. I just want you to be here so I can talk to you and show you all this.
Love ya,
Janz
The work is going extraordinary. I'm finally seeing what its like to be a full purpose missionary. The Lord has blessed us so much. Just had a baptism, hit me way hard because haven't had one in a while, and I got way close to that family, and on top of that we're finding even more people that want to be baptized. Its just so humbling knowing that the Lord trusts me to do all this and he knows we can help all these people. Feels amazing. The Spirt is just comforting me so much. All the times I get stressed or down get completely erased once we see things like we saw this week. Then it changes me and increases my faith. I learned this week that there really isn't anything to worry about too much. Its the Lords work and he will push me along through it and make things happen if I just trust him and do it his way.
This. Was. The. Best. Week. Of. My. Mission. I dont even know where to begin! haha I literally just can't explain how awesome things have been. I'll show you my journal when I get home and we can talk more about it in the future. But, I will try my best to fill you in right now. So for starters.. I got to confirm Brittany a member of the church and give her the holy ghost. That was amazing. I love how certain things come to mind for me to say and thats exactly what she needs. Made her cry. Twas perfect. I was so happy and proud of her. She also went to a dinner with us later that night. For our lesson there, we just asked if we could have a mini testimony meeting. We all shared testimonies and even Brittany bore her testimony for the first time! Too dang cool. The Spirit was so strong. It's amazing how testimonies can do that. Plus I'm just so proud of Brittany and her husband.
We also had ridiculous success given to us by the Lord as far as finding new investigators!!! We met a girl named Love, thats our age, early in the week. We met her by trying her roommate who used to talk to missionaries. The roommate wasn't too interested anymore, but Love was way open and we later find out that she is golden.She was ready to hear the gospel! We had the best lessons with her, saw her four days straight, in a row! haha That just never happens here. And she wants to be baptized and is loving everything we share with her. One day we came over and she didn't answer and we just walked around the apartments waiting for her to hopefully come home soon. Then we found her in the middle park area of the apartments reading the Book of Mormon. She is awesome. She's from Nigeria too. She's just been such a miracle. She was sick and wasn't able to make it to church, but she is still doing real good and will progress.
Another way sweet miracle that we saw.. this actually just barely happened two hours ago. So, you almost got live news haha. But, we got a referral on our phone from Salt Lake letting us know about a lady that wanted a Book of Mormon. We went to go try her and drop it off and talk about it right away. She answered and confirmed all the things we got on the phone, but she didn't have any time and told us to come back this morning. So, this morning we go over, come to find out she's been reading the Book of Mormon and has tons of questions. We got to go in and have a super duper first lesson. She even had her whole family come meet us and join. But, the lesson was amazing. Her name is Angela. She was loving it and she said that she even saw us as an answer to her prayers. She prayed a couple days ago that she wanted to become a better christian and then all of a sudden we came along. She told us about that and cried from the spirit that came. She knows this is something that will change her life. They even accepted baptism, they just said they want to learn more and more before. But, I felt so humbled as we left though. The Lord has blessed us so much lately. We literally have the coolest people to work with. These people and these things are just meant to be. makes me so happy.
Eric was able to come to church after a long absence! It was so good. He is on tract for baptism this weekend if he gets married in these next few days. Another amazing moment is when we went over yesterday to see him and he told us that he was picking up the marriage certificate in a couple days. They have everything all planned out! So crazy to think that this is actually happening. I flipped out when he told me. I got so excited because its what we have been hoping and dreaming for for a while and he's just straight doing it now. His daughters are 9 and 11.
Brendan also made it to church this week and he is doing really good. We got to teach him quite a bit. he is progressing way well just doesnt have a baptismal date currently. But im A-okay because I can tell he is working for it and he wants to feel more spiritual first.
As far as the gator exploring, We went to a state park. It was just like going up to Brighton and then seeing a bunch of wildlife but instead of mountains, a crazy swamp with alligators around them. I didn't get to feed any, I could've. I almost stepped on one I got so close haha. It was my companionship and the other elders in the ward that went. So, 5 of us took the mom van that they drive. I've got lots of pictures. Yes. I can send them.
As far as the weather, I've already melted tons of times! We get turned back into solids once we get inside though. It's been crazy hot. But we also have got some rain too.
But things are so good out here. Its the time of my life and I dont wanna leave the area at all. Everything about it is fun, the ward, we're busy, my comps. It actually is fun. Doesnt even seem like work sometimes. Just doing what we do and having a blast.But, Im just so thankful for how things are. Life is just a joy. I'm glad we're doing things that are way different, but yet so excited about it and having a blast. I just want you to be here so I can talk to you and show you all this.
Love ya,
Janz
Alvin Texas, Week 46: August 3, 2015 - August 9, 2015
Monday, August 10, 2015
Howdy hey!! She got dunked!! Brittany was baptized yesterday right after church. I actually got the privilege of ordaining her husband to the office of priest so he could baptize her. It was straight amazing. Made me wanna cry all afternoon. We're gonna be great friends with them. We also have a FHE with them tonight at some other members house. Should be coolio julio.
Lois is doing interestingly. We had a good lesson with her yesterday though. Almost taught the whole lesson just by asking questions that allow her to think and convince her of a Restoration. Was fun. She is wonky. She gets off track so fast. We have a funny relationship too because she's like my grandma and were goofy around each other, haha.
huge huge miracles with Eric!!! HE finally talked to his wife to settle things down and she accepted to get married!! I fasted for that. It was such an amazing experience talking to him about it. He wants to be baptized ASAP. He totally will. Plus, he also wants his daughters to be baptized now! So we've been teaching them a little. So cool.
Brendan is pretty legit still. Couldn't make it to church this week due to emergency, but we had two awesome lessons. He wants to be baptized on the 29th. I'm excited. He can do it. Karen and Kristella are in timeout. They aren't in contact and making me mad, haha. We'll see.
But, had a miraculous week. I think it was the best of my mission really. We were blessed to the max. Power of the trio I guess. We love our companionship. We're all best buds and work our butts off. Elder Noles is doing awesome. Growin like a weed. Been great to meet more people. We found a bunch of new investigators this week.
The zone leader stuff is going alright. Got to visit a sister who just got her wisdom teeth out. Gave her some ice cream. That's my contribution to the zone for the week haha. It's been good though. I like to think I'm a good teacher, haha. I try my best. I feel like having lots of love for everyone we talk to helps. Plus I've had almost a years worth of practice. It's weird realizing how long I've been out and how much more time I have left. I'm almost halfway done. Scary. Feels like 6 months or so.
We got a way good zone conference coming up on Wednesday and President is changing a few things. We had a meeting with him as zone leaders this week and we prepared for zone conference. Had a great time. He's awesome. He's just so down to earth and normal, haha.
It's been hotter than satan out here. I'm sick of it. This week will be crazy. I got super sunburned last week. We have been biking like crazy. It all went away last night though, I'm good. About to go visit some alligators at a nearby state park and walk around. I'll send some pictures next week.
Love you tons,
Pantz
Howdy hey!! She got dunked!! Brittany was baptized yesterday right after church. I actually got the privilege of ordaining her husband to the office of priest so he could baptize her. It was straight amazing. Made me wanna cry all afternoon. We're gonna be great friends with them. We also have a FHE with them tonight at some other members house. Should be coolio julio.
Lois is doing interestingly. We had a good lesson with her yesterday though. Almost taught the whole lesson just by asking questions that allow her to think and convince her of a Restoration. Was fun. She is wonky. She gets off track so fast. We have a funny relationship too because she's like my grandma and were goofy around each other, haha.
huge huge miracles with Eric!!! HE finally talked to his wife to settle things down and she accepted to get married!! I fasted for that. It was such an amazing experience talking to him about it. He wants to be baptized ASAP. He totally will. Plus, he also wants his daughters to be baptized now! So we've been teaching them a little. So cool.
Brendan is pretty legit still. Couldn't make it to church this week due to emergency, but we had two awesome lessons. He wants to be baptized on the 29th. I'm excited. He can do it. Karen and Kristella are in timeout. They aren't in contact and making me mad, haha. We'll see.
But, had a miraculous week. I think it was the best of my mission really. We were blessed to the max. Power of the trio I guess. We love our companionship. We're all best buds and work our butts off. Elder Noles is doing awesome. Growin like a weed. Been great to meet more people. We found a bunch of new investigators this week.
The zone leader stuff is going alright. Got to visit a sister who just got her wisdom teeth out. Gave her some ice cream. That's my contribution to the zone for the week haha. It's been good though. I like to think I'm a good teacher, haha. I try my best. I feel like having lots of love for everyone we talk to helps. Plus I've had almost a years worth of practice. It's weird realizing how long I've been out and how much more time I have left. I'm almost halfway done. Scary. Feels like 6 months or so.
We got a way good zone conference coming up on Wednesday and President is changing a few things. We had a meeting with him as zone leaders this week and we prepared for zone conference. Had a great time. He's awesome. He's just so down to earth and normal, haha.
It's been hotter than satan out here. I'm sick of it. This week will be crazy. I got super sunburned last week. We have been biking like crazy. It all went away last night though, I'm good. About to go visit some alligators at a nearby state park and walk around. I'll send some pictures next week.
Love you tons,
Pantz
Monday, September 14, 2015
Alvin Texas, Week 45: July 27, 2015 - August 2, 2015
Monday, August 3, 2015
So, my new companion is Elder Noles from Spanish Fork! My second Utah son. He's a year younger than me. Let me tell you what else was crazy about transfers. So, they were calling the trainers up to the front of the chapel and then the trainee would go up and meet them. They called my name to go up and I started heading up and then they also said "Elder Theis" (Thice) and that meant he would train with me and we would be a trio!!!! We both started flipping out and laughing and hugging because we had no idea. We both just thought we would train someone. We're way good friends. We lived together for a few months in my first area. That whole first day we were in disbelief that they just told us last minute and that we were actually all together. We were so stoked. Elder Theis also is a zone leader. And now the Lord is putting zone leaders together in companionships. That's something they haven't done here in about 4 years. It makes it so easy to communicate about our missionaries in the zone, plan, decide if we can give permission to missionaries and what not. But my companions are awesome. No worries.
So we have 15 people in the zone. Our zone covers a large area. It's Pearland, Friendswood, Alvin, which are just the largest cities, plus all the smaller cities around them and in between. There are 11 zones in the mission. We also had another MLC this week and there are many new zone leaders. Some missionaries became zone leaders after only 6 weeks!! Its nuts. That never happens. I think the Lord and President Hall know we need new missonaries in MLC so new ideas won't get pushed aside due to the older missionaries being slow to agree since they are so used to President Ashton.
We had a great week though! We were able to see Brittany our first night together and the lesson was awesome. We actually didn't do too bad working in unity between the three of us even though we never had done it before. We taught about the Atonement of Christ. Brittany is so ready for baptism. She has so much faith and loves coming to church. The lesson went way well and she kept saying "that makes so much sense, that makes me feel more loved" We are going to have an FHE with them tonight as well. We're going to start planning her baptism for this weekend. Elder Noles is a rockstar. He is a very solid missionary straight from mtc. There's not much we need to teach him. He's just natural at it. The only thing holding him back is that he is homesick. We were able to mow a lawn together, him and I, while elder Theis went with other elders. We got to talk about it after. I tried my best to tell him that's normal and it takes a few weeks to call this place home. I told him the way to get rid of those feelings is to just settle in and act like you own and are committed to your area, to make it home and love it. We actually ended up pushing the lawn mower and carried a week wacker and gas can a mile back to the ward member who let us borrow it. We mowed the lawn for a lady whose son normally takes care of it, but he'd just got in a car accident. She was super grateful. Was great to be able to meet her and talk to her and then make the lawn look real good. It definitely needed some help.
So with investigators... Lois was not baptized yesterday. She still needs more lessons and to be able to come to church a second time. She didn't make it to church last week or this week. But we had contact with her and taught her a great lesson where we reviewed the Restoration and how Joseph Smith received all authority from those that held it previously. That was way helpful to her. She wanted to know more about that before baptism. We got to meet with Eric yesterday! He didn't make it to church but we had a good lesson on the Book of Mormon and turns out he's been reading it a ton even though we haven't been seeing him much. Now we're going to start seeing him more that he is acting and more committed.
Things are going way good. We had the Presidents family come and play games with us today at our stake center for p day. Such a great family. The kids are funny and athletic.
I love and miss you,
Pantz
So, my new companion is Elder Noles from Spanish Fork! My second Utah son. He's a year younger than me. Let me tell you what else was crazy about transfers. So, they were calling the trainers up to the front of the chapel and then the trainee would go up and meet them. They called my name to go up and I started heading up and then they also said "Elder Theis" (Thice) and that meant he would train with me and we would be a trio!!!! We both started flipping out and laughing and hugging because we had no idea. We both just thought we would train someone. We're way good friends. We lived together for a few months in my first area. That whole first day we were in disbelief that they just told us last minute and that we were actually all together. We were so stoked. Elder Theis also is a zone leader. And now the Lord is putting zone leaders together in companionships. That's something they haven't done here in about 4 years. It makes it so easy to communicate about our missionaries in the zone, plan, decide if we can give permission to missionaries and what not. But my companions are awesome. No worries.
So we have 15 people in the zone. Our zone covers a large area. It's Pearland, Friendswood, Alvin, which are just the largest cities, plus all the smaller cities around them and in between. There are 11 zones in the mission. We also had another MLC this week and there are many new zone leaders. Some missionaries became zone leaders after only 6 weeks!! Its nuts. That never happens. I think the Lord and President Hall know we need new missonaries in MLC so new ideas won't get pushed aside due to the older missionaries being slow to agree since they are so used to President Ashton.
We had a great week though! We were able to see Brittany our first night together and the lesson was awesome. We actually didn't do too bad working in unity between the three of us even though we never had done it before. We taught about the Atonement of Christ. Brittany is so ready for baptism. She has so much faith and loves coming to church. The lesson went way well and she kept saying "that makes so much sense, that makes me feel more loved" We are going to have an FHE with them tonight as well. We're going to start planning her baptism for this weekend. Elder Noles is a rockstar. He is a very solid missionary straight from mtc. There's not much we need to teach him. He's just natural at it. The only thing holding him back is that he is homesick. We were able to mow a lawn together, him and I, while elder Theis went with other elders. We got to talk about it after. I tried my best to tell him that's normal and it takes a few weeks to call this place home. I told him the way to get rid of those feelings is to just settle in and act like you own and are committed to your area, to make it home and love it. We actually ended up pushing the lawn mower and carried a week wacker and gas can a mile back to the ward member who let us borrow it. We mowed the lawn for a lady whose son normally takes care of it, but he'd just got in a car accident. She was super grateful. Was great to be able to meet her and talk to her and then make the lawn look real good. It definitely needed some help.
So with investigators... Lois was not baptized yesterday. She still needs more lessons and to be able to come to church a second time. She didn't make it to church last week or this week. But we had contact with her and taught her a great lesson where we reviewed the Restoration and how Joseph Smith received all authority from those that held it previously. That was way helpful to her. She wanted to know more about that before baptism. We got to meet with Eric yesterday! He didn't make it to church but we had a good lesson on the Book of Mormon and turns out he's been reading it a ton even though we haven't been seeing him much. Now we're going to start seeing him more that he is acting and more committed.
Things are going way good. We had the Presidents family come and play games with us today at our stake center for p day. Such a great family. The kids are funny and athletic.
I love and miss you,
Pantz
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| Elder Havea and me, our last day together |
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| Elders Deans, Noles & Theis in more casual attire |
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| Elders Deans, Noles & Theis, new companions |
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| Right behind our apartment is wilderness |
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| Attempting to play the accordion at the ward mission leader's |
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| Trying out a new instrument |
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| Local church cleverness |
Alvin Texas, Week 44: July 20, 2015 - July 26, 2015
Monday, July 27, 2015
Had a silly but super week!!! Some of the weird things were that we saw one of our less active dudes answered the door nude and told us to basically not come back for a while. Also Lois wasn't able to make it church this Sunday. She calls me later and tells me that when her ride came she was "doing the duty" and coudln't make it and felt bad. She also made it to a baptism on Saturday and bore a 15 minute testimony when everyone was invited to come up and share a testimony. It was tough. She went way off topic. Our ward mission leader had to go up and tell her to focus on Christ and then she finished. But that was all kinda crazy...
Buuutttttt good good news. I found out last night via text that I will be training a new missionary in my area this Wednesday!! Got a new comp on the way! a newbie too, wee hoo! I'm stoked. I'll still be a zone leader too so tha'tll be nuts. Lots of the zone is getting transferred. Elder Ve'e is leaving and I'm getting a new zone leader companion, little nervous for that.The zone leader stuff is going really well. I think everyone is learning from me and respects and loves me. Seems that way anyways. Been on a few exchanges with the elders and talk to the sisters quite a bit. I'm way excited for this transfer becuase now I'm the main zone leader since Elder Ve'e is leaving. Gotta keep up the hard work and love for these guys. It's been fun though. President helps me a lot too with anything I need. Or, he just gives wise trainings and I echo them to the zone. Things are way fun out here. Way happy get to stay and work with a brand new missionary.
The week was really fun though. We ended up having Brendan and Brittany in church. It was one of the best Sundays I've had in a long time. Very spiritual meetings and talks and everyone had a good time. We even had a "linger longer" afterward and ate food and socialized. Brendan was even invited to go to a BBQ with some recent converts in the ward. We all went and fished, BBQ'd and had a cool lesson. Twas a great time. We're all good friends.
So, we do the ward movie night every month. It's every third week. Maybe next time we will watch 17 miracles. Kristella has not made it to church. Giving her a break for a while. She's out of contact. Brittany is still way on track. She's reading and she loves church. Lessons are going quite well too. Eric is doing better. I went and saw him, to check on him. He actually read a little and gettin along with girlfriend a little more. Gotta get him to church though. Karen is out of contact. Brendan is becoming a way good friend and awesome investigator. He had a good week and hopefully he gets more serious about baptism. Wants to do it but not soon. The tattoo guy is also out of contact. Maybe something this week, his name is Asa. NO new investigators.
I am doing goooooodd! Yeah I'm solid. My week was awesome this week because I decided to just be happy and relax and worry more about others. Yeah, the weather has been a little lame, getting hotter and hotter and biking and biking. Luckily I haven't been burned or dehydrated though! People give us tons of water. My shirts get wrecked every time, get so wet and dirty.
Love and miss ya too!
Janz
Had a silly but super week!!! Some of the weird things were that we saw one of our less active dudes answered the door nude and told us to basically not come back for a while. Also Lois wasn't able to make it church this Sunday. She calls me later and tells me that when her ride came she was "doing the duty" and coudln't make it and felt bad. She also made it to a baptism on Saturday and bore a 15 minute testimony when everyone was invited to come up and share a testimony. It was tough. She went way off topic. Our ward mission leader had to go up and tell her to focus on Christ and then she finished. But that was all kinda crazy...
Buuutttttt good good news. I found out last night via text that I will be training a new missionary in my area this Wednesday!! Got a new comp on the way! a newbie too, wee hoo! I'm stoked. I'll still be a zone leader too so tha'tll be nuts. Lots of the zone is getting transferred. Elder Ve'e is leaving and I'm getting a new zone leader companion, little nervous for that.The zone leader stuff is going really well. I think everyone is learning from me and respects and loves me. Seems that way anyways. Been on a few exchanges with the elders and talk to the sisters quite a bit. I'm way excited for this transfer becuase now I'm the main zone leader since Elder Ve'e is leaving. Gotta keep up the hard work and love for these guys. It's been fun though. President helps me a lot too with anything I need. Or, he just gives wise trainings and I echo them to the zone. Things are way fun out here. Way happy get to stay and work with a brand new missionary.
The week was really fun though. We ended up having Brendan and Brittany in church. It was one of the best Sundays I've had in a long time. Very spiritual meetings and talks and everyone had a good time. We even had a "linger longer" afterward and ate food and socialized. Brendan was even invited to go to a BBQ with some recent converts in the ward. We all went and fished, BBQ'd and had a cool lesson. Twas a great time. We're all good friends.
So, we do the ward movie night every month. It's every third week. Maybe next time we will watch 17 miracles. Kristella has not made it to church. Giving her a break for a while. She's out of contact. Brittany is still way on track. She's reading and she loves church. Lessons are going quite well too. Eric is doing better. I went and saw him, to check on him. He actually read a little and gettin along with girlfriend a little more. Gotta get him to church though. Karen is out of contact. Brendan is becoming a way good friend and awesome investigator. He had a good week and hopefully he gets more serious about baptism. Wants to do it but not soon. The tattoo guy is also out of contact. Maybe something this week, his name is Asa. NO new investigators.
I am doing goooooodd! Yeah I'm solid. My week was awesome this week because I decided to just be happy and relax and worry more about others. Yeah, the weather has been a little lame, getting hotter and hotter and biking and biking. Luckily I haven't been burned or dehydrated though! People give us tons of water. My shirts get wrecked every time, get so wet and dirty.
Love and miss ya too!
Janz
Friday, September 4, 2015
Alvin Texas, Week 43: July 13, 2015 - July 19, 2015
Monday, July 20, 2015
Had a fun week this week! I feel like such an old missionary now, haha. Especially when I see you and Pops both showing me how long I've been out. You did the week amount and he did the monthly, haha. I like it. Even I can't believe I've been out this long. It's so weird to think that its been almost a year. It feels like just a few months ago I was in the MTC. But, it's been a lengthy journey. I'll be coming up on a year soon! I'll probably be here in Alvin close to when I hit my year mark. We have transfer calls a week from today. I'll most likely have a new companion. I think I will be training a greenie in a couple weeks, yes. I want to do it and see what it's like to train different people becuase they are so unique. I want to see what each elder does well with from the get go and what they struggle with and to see what I can come up with to help. Plus, I feel like I could've done better with my last son and I can improve on those things with the new one.
So some cool highlights were that I've actually been able to go on two Spanish exchanges in the past two weeks. I went to two different Spanish areas with my fellow zone elders and worked their areas. They were way surprised that I've never been to a Spanish area, was my first time. I guess thats unusual seeing I've been out for a while. It was way fun. I could understand most of what they were saying in the lessons and at dinner with members. I would just respond in English and have my Spanish companion translate it back. But they all loved how I knew how to respond and I knew what the people asked. I also got to read the Book of Mormon with a Spanish member. I read almost a whole chapter in Spanish! haha. I was just winging it becuase it was my turn to read. Turns out I pronounced it very well and they couldn't tell I didn't know what I'd read.
One of my favorite things about this week was our ward movie night. This was our second time doing it. The first time was a joke, no one came. This time I was determined to bring lots of people I'm working with. I also wanted to show bishop that we could bring people because the last time he was a little disappointed. So, we started inviting people at the beginning of the week and gettin the word out. We set up a few rides. We did tons and planned like crazy to get our people there and have it be a better turn out than the first. We prayed like crazy that all this effort we put in would pay off and lo and behold... it did. We ended up having a recent convert family come, they brought our investigator Lois. We also had another recent convert named Wyatt come with our ward mission leader. We watched Ephraims Rescue and it was a blast! Everyone had a really good night! Even Lois who doesn't like social things or being stuck indoors due to her claustrophobia! It was a huge testimony builder to me knowing that the Lord definitely heard my prayers and since I did all I could on my part he would pull his part and finish it beautifully. The Lord hears. He answers even quicker when we act like we know He's gonna help and start acting and planning. So that was thrilling haha.
. We work a lot of with recent converts on top of investigators. Its crazy,we almost have too many people to keep track of, haha.Nnew investigators pop up when we don't need any new ones because we have to focus on who we already have. But, this week was pretty good for our current investigators. We had Brittany in church. The rest had some complications. She had a good time despite three crazy little ones to bring along. She's glad she can drop them off in nursery and primary. But,we still have the three ladies on track for baptism. We just need to help Kristella get to church. She has yet to come. Karen has been out of contact for a couple weeks actually. She's been sick and hasn't gotten back to us. We gave Eric a break this week. We thought it might help the family situation and give him time to think about why we keep going over and want us to come back this week. He is quitting smoking. Same with Brendan. We got to see him outside and talk to him for a few minutes. He told us he would be at church,but we never saw him. . We work a lot of with recent converts on top of investigators. It's crazy, we almost have too many people to keep track of, haha. New investigators pop up when we don't need any new ones because we have to focus on who we already have.
We are still getting dinner appointments. We average about two a week. The ward likes us a lot, but don't exactly show in dinner appointments. The new mission president is awesome. We actually had interviews with him this week. He came all the way down to our stake center so he could see more of the mission. Also, went out to lunch with him and the other leaders and discussed what can help our zone. Had a super cool time doing all that. Thank you so much for all the support. I can feel it and it pushes me on when im not doing so well. But, I'm doing great right now! I'm just excited to keep growing and want to baptize pretty bad.
Love you lots,
Pantz
Had a fun week this week! I feel like such an old missionary now, haha. Especially when I see you and Pops both showing me how long I've been out. You did the week amount and he did the monthly, haha. I like it. Even I can't believe I've been out this long. It's so weird to think that its been almost a year. It feels like just a few months ago I was in the MTC. But, it's been a lengthy journey. I'll be coming up on a year soon! I'll probably be here in Alvin close to when I hit my year mark. We have transfer calls a week from today. I'll most likely have a new companion. I think I will be training a greenie in a couple weeks, yes. I want to do it and see what it's like to train different people becuase they are so unique. I want to see what each elder does well with from the get go and what they struggle with and to see what I can come up with to help. Plus, I feel like I could've done better with my last son and I can improve on those things with the new one.
So some cool highlights were that I've actually been able to go on two Spanish exchanges in the past two weeks. I went to two different Spanish areas with my fellow zone elders and worked their areas. They were way surprised that I've never been to a Spanish area, was my first time. I guess thats unusual seeing I've been out for a while. It was way fun. I could understand most of what they were saying in the lessons and at dinner with members. I would just respond in English and have my Spanish companion translate it back. But they all loved how I knew how to respond and I knew what the people asked. I also got to read the Book of Mormon with a Spanish member. I read almost a whole chapter in Spanish! haha. I was just winging it becuase it was my turn to read. Turns out I pronounced it very well and they couldn't tell I didn't know what I'd read.
One of my favorite things about this week was our ward movie night. This was our second time doing it. The first time was a joke, no one came. This time I was determined to bring lots of people I'm working with. I also wanted to show bishop that we could bring people because the last time he was a little disappointed. So, we started inviting people at the beginning of the week and gettin the word out. We set up a few rides. We did tons and planned like crazy to get our people there and have it be a better turn out than the first. We prayed like crazy that all this effort we put in would pay off and lo and behold... it did. We ended up having a recent convert family come, they brought our investigator Lois. We also had another recent convert named Wyatt come with our ward mission leader. We watched Ephraims Rescue and it was a blast! Everyone had a really good night! Even Lois who doesn't like social things or being stuck indoors due to her claustrophobia! It was a huge testimony builder to me knowing that the Lord definitely heard my prayers and since I did all I could on my part he would pull his part and finish it beautifully. The Lord hears. He answers even quicker when we act like we know He's gonna help and start acting and planning. So that was thrilling haha.
. We work a lot of with recent converts on top of investigators. Its crazy,we almost have too many people to keep track of, haha.Nnew investigators pop up when we don't need any new ones because we have to focus on who we already have. But, this week was pretty good for our current investigators. We had Brittany in church. The rest had some complications. She had a good time despite three crazy little ones to bring along. She's glad she can drop them off in nursery and primary. But,we still have the three ladies on track for baptism. We just need to help Kristella get to church. She has yet to come. Karen has been out of contact for a couple weeks actually. She's been sick and hasn't gotten back to us. We gave Eric a break this week. We thought it might help the family situation and give him time to think about why we keep going over and want us to come back this week. He is quitting smoking. Same with Brendan. We got to see him outside and talk to him for a few minutes. He told us he would be at church,but we never saw him. . We work a lot of with recent converts on top of investigators. It's crazy, we almost have too many people to keep track of, haha. New investigators pop up when we don't need any new ones because we have to focus on who we already have.
We are still getting dinner appointments. We average about two a week. The ward likes us a lot, but don't exactly show in dinner appointments. The new mission president is awesome. We actually had interviews with him this week. He came all the way down to our stake center so he could see more of the mission. Also, went out to lunch with him and the other leaders and discussed what can help our zone. Had a super cool time doing all that. Thank you so much for all the support. I can feel it and it pushes me on when im not doing so well. But, I'm doing great right now! I'm just excited to keep growing and want to baptize pretty bad.
Love you lots,
Pantz
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| Elder Deans sporting his new birthday tie |
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Alvin Texas, Week 42: July 8, 2015 - July 12, 2015
Monday, July 13, 2015
Had a pretty cool week this week! President Hall is getting the hang of things more and more. I like how personal and how aware of everything he is. He and his wife both talked to me on my birthday. We had a good week as far as the work in Alvin! We even got more baptismal dates! Two in August, Lois and a new investigator named Kristella. It all came because we upped the antyon our planning and our unity. The highlight was that we were able to find a new investigator, Kristella who is like 20. She is super prepared and ready to learn and be baptized. The other elders found her for us and told her we would come over. Things went way good in the first lesson and she accepted to be baptized on August 9. We saw her again last night and she had been praying a lot more she said. She hasn't really prayed or read scriptures too much before, but now she wants that in her life. It was cool because last night we even had the lesson out on her porch and taught all the Restoration. She had great questions and she learned a ton. She's way cool. She didn't make it to church due to ride situation but we'll fix that. We invited everyone to church, unfortunately none came. Just some older investigators from part member families. The other ones were either sick or too tired, kinda lame.
But Lois is doing way good. She accepted a baptismal date this week for August 2 and we finally had a solid lesson on the plan of salvation with her. It's easy to get off topic with her. Brittany is also doing great. She still has her date for August 9. Gonna have FHE again with them tonight. We stopped seeing Bill. He wasn't in contact and not very interested. Eric is struggling. We fasted for him last week and hope those blessings came this week or soon. Haven't seen him for a week. His family isn't getting along and his wife doesn't like us and his religiousness. He loves having us come, but he gets depressed because of family troubles. Brendan was out of contact all week.
Still gettin along great with Elder Havea. It's fun to have two leaders together, help each other a lot. Got to work on a farm on Saturday. It's some members in the ward who needed help fencing, cleaning up fallen trees and organizing. That's actually the second time we've gone there. It was pretty fun. It was tempting to hop in their pool after all that.
Things are fun around here. The zone is applying the trainings we gave them. Everyone is gettin along and we're finding more peeps to teach. Comp and I are still having a hoot of a time. He's probably leaving in a couple weeks for transfers though. I think I'm going to train a newbie, we'll see. That'd be fun.
Love you tons!
Pantz
Had a pretty cool week this week! President Hall is getting the hang of things more and more. I like how personal and how aware of everything he is. He and his wife both talked to me on my birthday. We had a good week as far as the work in Alvin! We even got more baptismal dates! Two in August, Lois and a new investigator named Kristella. It all came because we upped the antyon our planning and our unity. The highlight was that we were able to find a new investigator, Kristella who is like 20. She is super prepared and ready to learn and be baptized. The other elders found her for us and told her we would come over. Things went way good in the first lesson and she accepted to be baptized on August 9. We saw her again last night and she had been praying a lot more she said. She hasn't really prayed or read scriptures too much before, but now she wants that in her life. It was cool because last night we even had the lesson out on her porch and taught all the Restoration. She had great questions and she learned a ton. She's way cool. She didn't make it to church due to ride situation but we'll fix that. We invited everyone to church, unfortunately none came. Just some older investigators from part member families. The other ones were either sick or too tired, kinda lame.
But Lois is doing way good. She accepted a baptismal date this week for August 2 and we finally had a solid lesson on the plan of salvation with her. It's easy to get off topic with her. Brittany is also doing great. She still has her date for August 9. Gonna have FHE again with them tonight. We stopped seeing Bill. He wasn't in contact and not very interested. Eric is struggling. We fasted for him last week and hope those blessings came this week or soon. Haven't seen him for a week. His family isn't getting along and his wife doesn't like us and his religiousness. He loves having us come, but he gets depressed because of family troubles. Brendan was out of contact all week.
Still gettin along great with Elder Havea. It's fun to have two leaders together, help each other a lot. Got to work on a farm on Saturday. It's some members in the ward who needed help fencing, cleaning up fallen trees and organizing. That's actually the second time we've gone there. It was pretty fun. It was tempting to hop in their pool after all that.
Things are fun around here. The zone is applying the trainings we gave them. Everyone is gettin along and we're finding more peeps to teach. Comp and I are still having a hoot of a time. He's probably leaving in a couple weeks for transfers though. I think I'm going to train a newbie, we'll see. That'd be fun.
Love you tons!
Pantz
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| Our fancy pantz yard work van |
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| Inside the yard work utility van |
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| Got this from some skater dude |
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| Doing some yard work |
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| Elder Havea let me have this shirt |
Friday, August 14, 2015
Alvin texas, Week 41: June 29, 2015 - July 7, 2015
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Sorry I didn't let you know I'd be emailing so late! We changed our P day to today and we went to the temple this morning as half a zone!! Twas a great birthday party there.Meeting President Hall was super exciting! It was the hype and talk of the town for so long and I just wanted to hear from him. He's awesome, very very loving and affectionate. President Hall is bomb! He's a little younger than President Ashton, but acts like a teenager. He's a goof. He called me today and wished me a happy birthday, that was way cool. He does things much more simply. He's not as learned as far as vast doctrine as President Ashton, but he teaches well. He emails us every week, one to the mission and one to young missionaries. I didn't get one, maybe next week. But, I like him. His kids live with him, except the oldest one is about to move back to Utah for her senior year in high school.
We saw some good things with the investigators this week. So a new part member family just moved in, the Carrascos. We were in their complex unaware they lived there and then they saw us and told us to come over. They were happy to see us and we got to know them a little and they wanted us to come back soon. We saw them a few times this week. Last time we saw them, we had a super lesson. We actually set up a FHE. We watched the Joseph Smith Movie and taught Brittany the Restoration. The spirit rocked that place, it was fun. She believes in the restoration and she even accepted to be baptized! Her husband is a returning active member and he can help her a ton. Her only concern so far is that she wants to know lots about the church and gospel before baptism and wants to feel ready. But, she is awesome and she'll get it. We're going to try and baptize her in a month. They even came to church for the first time and liked it.
We also had another investigator named Lois come to church. That was a struggle. Lois is a decent investigator. She has great faith and loves us, so we invited her. We had a ride all set up the night before for her, but they ended up cancelling about an hour before church. We had to call lots of different peeps. Finally we got one of her neighbors, who is a member and good friend of our, to take her to church. She wasn't too excited about that because she wants to meet more ladys, but it worked. She had a good time at church and got a better ride home from a sister afterward.
Karen is doing alright. She's been way sick, so we haven't seen her. But we're going over tomorrow and having a good 'ol lesson. She's been reading lots of the Book of Mormon. She'll get baptized too, she just needs to come to church.
We had a big zone meeting last week. We actually had two. The first one was a recap of what president taught us and expects of us after MLC. MLC was fun. Got a lot of work to do as far as changing 'mission culture' we decided. We're going to work hard to be more purposeful and baptize more. We didn't make too many changes, just small stuff, but same rules. The second one was yesterday and I and the other leaders gave trainings on what we can do to be more purposeful missionaries in finding, teaching, inviting, retaining/activating. I was actually pretty nervous to train them. I wasn't quite prepared, but it went well and they said they liked what I shared. So, whatever. I just want to bear my testimony to all ya'll about the reality of the Holy Ghost and what it does for us. On my mission I've grown to get to know that gift well. Sometimes you don't have it due to a bad day, arguments, stress, depression, and it can be hard to teach. But, if we humble ourselves and truly not just ask to get it back but act like we want the Spirit back, we will receive it and it makes life amazing. It helps us learn and helps us say what we need to say constantly.
But, we had a great week this week! We as the THSM (Texas Houston South Mission) do not have any electronics to use besides old phones, no tablets. No word on when. We know we will get them eventually but even President doesn't know. Thanks for the trivia. I knew Nolan Ryan played baseball but I didn't know it was for the Astros. And he pitched, that's cool. There are signs that talk about him all over. They're proud of it. I gotta go to a game soon. We're also going to try to go to the zoo next Monday. We wanna have more to do on P day.
Love you tons,
Elder Pantz
Sorry I didn't let you know I'd be emailing so late! We changed our P day to today and we went to the temple this morning as half a zone!! Twas a great birthday party there.Meeting President Hall was super exciting! It was the hype and talk of the town for so long and I just wanted to hear from him. He's awesome, very very loving and affectionate. President Hall is bomb! He's a little younger than President Ashton, but acts like a teenager. He's a goof. He called me today and wished me a happy birthday, that was way cool. He does things much more simply. He's not as learned as far as vast doctrine as President Ashton, but he teaches well. He emails us every week, one to the mission and one to young missionaries. I didn't get one, maybe next week. But, I like him. His kids live with him, except the oldest one is about to move back to Utah for her senior year in high school.
We saw some good things with the investigators this week. So a new part member family just moved in, the Carrascos. We were in their complex unaware they lived there and then they saw us and told us to come over. They were happy to see us and we got to know them a little and they wanted us to come back soon. We saw them a few times this week. Last time we saw them, we had a super lesson. We actually set up a FHE. We watched the Joseph Smith Movie and taught Brittany the Restoration. The spirit rocked that place, it was fun. She believes in the restoration and she even accepted to be baptized! Her husband is a returning active member and he can help her a ton. Her only concern so far is that she wants to know lots about the church and gospel before baptism and wants to feel ready. But, she is awesome and she'll get it. We're going to try and baptize her in a month. They even came to church for the first time and liked it.
We also had another investigator named Lois come to church. That was a struggle. Lois is a decent investigator. She has great faith and loves us, so we invited her. We had a ride all set up the night before for her, but they ended up cancelling about an hour before church. We had to call lots of different peeps. Finally we got one of her neighbors, who is a member and good friend of our, to take her to church. She wasn't too excited about that because she wants to meet more ladys, but it worked. She had a good time at church and got a better ride home from a sister afterward.
Karen is doing alright. She's been way sick, so we haven't seen her. But we're going over tomorrow and having a good 'ol lesson. She's been reading lots of the Book of Mormon. She'll get baptized too, she just needs to come to church.
We had a big zone meeting last week. We actually had two. The first one was a recap of what president taught us and expects of us after MLC. MLC was fun. Got a lot of work to do as far as changing 'mission culture' we decided. We're going to work hard to be more purposeful and baptize more. We didn't make too many changes, just small stuff, but same rules. The second one was yesterday and I and the other leaders gave trainings on what we can do to be more purposeful missionaries in finding, teaching, inviting, retaining/activating. I was actually pretty nervous to train them. I wasn't quite prepared, but it went well and they said they liked what I shared. So, whatever. I just want to bear my testimony to all ya'll about the reality of the Holy Ghost and what it does for us. On my mission I've grown to get to know that gift well. Sometimes you don't have it due to a bad day, arguments, stress, depression, and it can be hard to teach. But, if we humble ourselves and truly not just ask to get it back but act like we want the Spirit back, we will receive it and it makes life amazing. It helps us learn and helps us say what we need to say constantly.
But, we had a great week this week! We as the THSM (Texas Houston South Mission) do not have any electronics to use besides old phones, no tablets. No word on when. We know we will get them eventually but even President doesn't know. Thanks for the trivia. I knew Nolan Ryan played baseball but I didn't know it was for the Astros. And he pitched, that's cool. There are signs that talk about him all over. They're proud of it. I gotta go to a game soon. We're also going to try to go to the zoo next Monday. We wanna have more to do on P day.
Love you tons,
Elder Pantz
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| Elder Charming(s)? |
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| Elders celebrating Janzen's birthday at the Houston Temple |
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| Houston Temple outing with half the zone |
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| P-day for the missionaries of the THSM |
Monday, August 10, 2015
Alvin Texas, Week 40: June22, 2015 - June 28, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
This week was spectaculangous!! So the zone had two baptisms this week! The dude I interviewed was baptized and the kid Elder Havea interviewed was baptized! Both were awesome programs. The kid was way funny at his. He kept walking around and saying silly things the whole time. Also played in the font. Good fun. Also, I got to go to a baptism in my first area. A family that I got really close to, the Garzas, just baptized their son and I got to go with Elder Ve'e to support them. That was super cool. They were way happy to see us.
So, about the Astros game, well, we hopefully will get to go soon. I'll work on that. We got a few new missionaries. I haven't met them yet. My last conference was ridiculously cool. I cried like a baby at the end. We learned a ton about how to keep the Spirit and use it to be successful, not just on our missions but for the rest of our lives. It was hard saying bye to President and his family and some of the office workers. But the best part is that,once I'm home, I can say that a general authority has invited me over to his house, because he wants me to come over. He's only like 15 mins away too! Its so weird though because today I emailed President Hall and he will hold the keys and preside, in the next hour or so, over the misson. I'm so pumped for it. I will meet President Hall on Wednesday. We've got a killer zone conference that day and then mission leader council the day after. So, I'll get to see him quite a bit this week.
Our investigators are doing good. We don't have any baptismal dates currently. Eric still needs to be married and continue quitting the cigs, which he is doing. But, we had some good lessons with him and he will be ready as soon as his girlfriend lets him. We finally got in touch with Bill this week. Just talked to him on the porch for a minute. But, whatever, we will see him this week and get him back on track. But,we saw a cool miracle with Brendan. We stopped by unplanned at his place sSaturday night to see how he's doing and to invite him to church, and he let us in. We got to talk to him for a little and he said he can finally make it to church. He ended up coming and staying the whole time. He had a great time. We had a lesson with him the third hour and we talked about baptism and he wants to do it but just not any time soon because he says he has so much hate for himself and his ex. Also, he is busy so he wants to get things in order first. But he is allowing us to help him more and more and see him multiple times a week and then church on sunday. So, that's a great step.But we also got to meet some new less actives this week and found some new people just by street contacting whole apartment complexes. I love the peeps we teach. This area is a blast. Everyone here I've make good friends with and its just so natural to teach them because I love them and I just tell them what I know.
This week, on Thursday, we had an interesting change. So a large part of the mission was supplied with mini missionaries this week. Our stake sent out youth to stay with us Thursday to Sunday to do missionary work. We had the stake president's son :O It went way well though. He had a good time. It was fun just to show someone what we do and be an example to them. He even got to teach a little bit too.
Its been hot here too, like really hot, haha. But yes, been downing water quite a bit.Thanks for pics. I'll send some I have too. I kinda forgot until you reminded me that my birthday is coming up... I guess those things still happen on a mission, I dont know. I miss ya. Have a good fourth of July.
Love you,
Elder Pantz
This week was spectaculangous!! So the zone had two baptisms this week! The dude I interviewed was baptized and the kid Elder Havea interviewed was baptized! Both were awesome programs. The kid was way funny at his. He kept walking around and saying silly things the whole time. Also played in the font. Good fun. Also, I got to go to a baptism in my first area. A family that I got really close to, the Garzas, just baptized their son and I got to go with Elder Ve'e to support them. That was super cool. They were way happy to see us.
So, about the Astros game, well, we hopefully will get to go soon. I'll work on that. We got a few new missionaries. I haven't met them yet. My last conference was ridiculously cool. I cried like a baby at the end. We learned a ton about how to keep the Spirit and use it to be successful, not just on our missions but for the rest of our lives. It was hard saying bye to President and his family and some of the office workers. But the best part is that,once I'm home, I can say that a general authority has invited me over to his house, because he wants me to come over. He's only like 15 mins away too! Its so weird though because today I emailed President Hall and he will hold the keys and preside, in the next hour or so, over the misson. I'm so pumped for it. I will meet President Hall on Wednesday. We've got a killer zone conference that day and then mission leader council the day after. So, I'll get to see him quite a bit this week.
Our investigators are doing good. We don't have any baptismal dates currently. Eric still needs to be married and continue quitting the cigs, which he is doing. But, we had some good lessons with him and he will be ready as soon as his girlfriend lets him. We finally got in touch with Bill this week. Just talked to him on the porch for a minute. But, whatever, we will see him this week and get him back on track. But,we saw a cool miracle with Brendan. We stopped by unplanned at his place sSaturday night to see how he's doing and to invite him to church, and he let us in. We got to talk to him for a little and he said he can finally make it to church. He ended up coming and staying the whole time. He had a great time. We had a lesson with him the third hour and we talked about baptism and he wants to do it but just not any time soon because he says he has so much hate for himself and his ex. Also, he is busy so he wants to get things in order first. But he is allowing us to help him more and more and see him multiple times a week and then church on sunday. So, that's a great step.But we also got to meet some new less actives this week and found some new people just by street contacting whole apartment complexes. I love the peeps we teach. This area is a blast. Everyone here I've make good friends with and its just so natural to teach them because I love them and I just tell them what I know.
This week, on Thursday, we had an interesting change. So a large part of the mission was supplied with mini missionaries this week. Our stake sent out youth to stay with us Thursday to Sunday to do missionary work. We had the stake president's son :O It went way well though. He had a good time. It was fun just to show someone what we do and be an example to them. He even got to teach a little bit too.
Its been hot here too, like really hot, haha. But yes, been downing water quite a bit.Thanks for pics. I'll send some I have too. I kinda forgot until you reminded me that my birthday is coming up... I guess those things still happen on a mission, I dont know. I miss ya. Have a good fourth of July.
Love you,
Elder Pantz
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| Mini Missionary, stake president's son |
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| Tristen's baptism!!! These are all the elders that worked with them |
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Alvin Texas, Week 39: June15, 2015 - June 21, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
So, this week was not expected!!! There was no new missionary that came in. President told us that the elder we were going to train went home. Made me sad because I wanted him to come. And, made me even more sad that he stopped serving. Also, the Astros game that we planned on having a good ol time at didnt happen as well.. That was rough. It was raining, blowing and thundering so hard that President told us it would be best to not go. It actually wasn't bad here in Alvin, just rained a little bit. But every surrounding city was nuts. It was kinda cool though because instead we got to camp out at the stake center because President didn't want us out. We all brought up our stuff and had lunch and played sports and watched movies.
Bill did not end up being baptized this week unfortunately. He's been out of contact. We think he might be nervous to talk to us since he's been out of contact and knew he had a baptismal goal for last weekend. So, maybe he'll talk to us more now that he knows our first goal won't work but that we can give it another and better try.
One really cool thing that did change about our companionship is that Elder Havea became my district leader! It's way fun because we can do all our leadershippy stuff together now. We get reports from the missionaries together so we can talk about plans and how to help the district. We actually had the chance to do our first baptismal interviews together! I forgot that that was another one of our leadership responsibilities until the sisters called us and asked if we could interview one of their investigators. I was pretty nervous. I realize I basically take the place of a bishop and become a judge in Israel! So, I had my interview, it went really well. The investigator is super ready. He had a long journey and was taught forever. He just struggled with the word of widsom and finally got that taken care of. It was good to hear about how he finally gave everything up. He was super talktive too. It was funny because I had to keep him on track of the baptismal interview questions because he was just so excited to tell me his whole life story. So, the next day Elder Havea had his first interview too. It was awesome because I got to go with him and help him understand they aren't as scary as they seem. He interviewed a young kid that has autism. it was such a neat experience. The spirit was so strong because the kid still knew the gospel so well and Elder Havea was so good with him and asking the questions more simple and helping him feel excited.
We met with Eric a couple times this week. It's gonna be hard but he can possibly still make his baptism this week. If not, next week. He needs to be married too. He's been talking to his girlfriend about it. We told him Bishop could do it for free and it would be quite easy and he was happy to hear. Karen is doing way well. We are going to see her tonight. She still hasn't accepted a baptism date but were going for that tonight. She is reading tons still and is just so curious it makes it so easy to teach. A lot times she asks questions that lead into the lesson right as we get there and it works out perfectly.
Im super excited because President Ashton is about to go home and we're having a final zone conference tomorrow! It's sad he's leaving, but he's gonna rock our socks with some amazing training and stories he's never told us yet, save the best for last. But things are going really well out here. Elder Havea and I are super determined to get a lot done. We also met some new investigators. One is way solid as his name is Asa. He's got tattoos from head to toe. He is super nice and really smart too. He already learned a ton about the church from friends and so when we taught him the Restoration he kept saying " I believe that for sure, that just makes sense!" I also got a new bed today. Our apartment got inspected by the office missionaries a while ago and they said they'll come back soon and get us a whole new bed set, box spring, mattress and bed frame because ours were kinda lame. So, that's what went down this morning and I'm excited to see how much of a diffrence it makes.
Love and miss you,
Elder Janz
So, this week was not expected!!! There was no new missionary that came in. President told us that the elder we were going to train went home. Made me sad because I wanted him to come. And, made me even more sad that he stopped serving. Also, the Astros game that we planned on having a good ol time at didnt happen as well.. That was rough. It was raining, blowing and thundering so hard that President told us it would be best to not go. It actually wasn't bad here in Alvin, just rained a little bit. But every surrounding city was nuts. It was kinda cool though because instead we got to camp out at the stake center because President didn't want us out. We all brought up our stuff and had lunch and played sports and watched movies.
Bill did not end up being baptized this week unfortunately. He's been out of contact. We think he might be nervous to talk to us since he's been out of contact and knew he had a baptismal goal for last weekend. So, maybe he'll talk to us more now that he knows our first goal won't work but that we can give it another and better try.
One really cool thing that did change about our companionship is that Elder Havea became my district leader! It's way fun because we can do all our leadershippy stuff together now. We get reports from the missionaries together so we can talk about plans and how to help the district. We actually had the chance to do our first baptismal interviews together! I forgot that that was another one of our leadership responsibilities until the sisters called us and asked if we could interview one of their investigators. I was pretty nervous. I realize I basically take the place of a bishop and become a judge in Israel! So, I had my interview, it went really well. The investigator is super ready. He had a long journey and was taught forever. He just struggled with the word of widsom and finally got that taken care of. It was good to hear about how he finally gave everything up. He was super talktive too. It was funny because I had to keep him on track of the baptismal interview questions because he was just so excited to tell me his whole life story. So, the next day Elder Havea had his first interview too. It was awesome because I got to go with him and help him understand they aren't as scary as they seem. He interviewed a young kid that has autism. it was such a neat experience. The spirit was so strong because the kid still knew the gospel so well and Elder Havea was so good with him and asking the questions more simple and helping him feel excited.
We met with Eric a couple times this week. It's gonna be hard but he can possibly still make his baptism this week. If not, next week. He needs to be married too. He's been talking to his girlfriend about it. We told him Bishop could do it for free and it would be quite easy and he was happy to hear. Karen is doing way well. We are going to see her tonight. She still hasn't accepted a baptism date but were going for that tonight. She is reading tons still and is just so curious it makes it so easy to teach. A lot times she asks questions that lead into the lesson right as we get there and it works out perfectly.
Im super excited because President Ashton is about to go home and we're having a final zone conference tomorrow! It's sad he's leaving, but he's gonna rock our socks with some amazing training and stories he's never told us yet, save the best for last. But things are going really well out here. Elder Havea and I are super determined to get a lot done. We also met some new investigators. One is way solid as his name is Asa. He's got tattoos from head to toe. He is super nice and really smart too. He already learned a ton about the church from friends and so when we taught him the Restoration he kept saying " I believe that for sure, that just makes sense!" I also got a new bed today. Our apartment got inspected by the office missionaries a while ago and they said they'll come back soon and get us a whole new bed set, box spring, mattress and bed frame because ours were kinda lame. So, that's what went down this morning and I'm excited to see how much of a diffrence it makes.
Love and miss you,
Elder Janz
Monday, July 20, 2015
Alvin Texas, Week 38: June 8, 2015 - June 14, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Had a pretty fun week! A lot has happened and about to happen! So for starters, Marjorie from my last area got baptized!!! I actually got to go. We had a good talk and she was way happy I came and kept hugging me. Was way fun seeing the last ward too. Such an amazing experience seeing her make that covenant. I got to be in the circle when confirming her. She also bore her testimony right after that! She did so well. The church is true. Experiences like that are just even more witness.
Also, this week is transfers. No one in my companionship is leaving, but Elder Pantz and Havea are going to be dads together. We're getting a newbie and we're going to be a trio!!! I'm so excited. Never been in one, but theres a lot of them in the mission now and they look fun. So we're going to co-train this new elder. I only meet new missionaries if I'm going to train them. We don't pick them up, we just meet them at the mission office transfer day.
This week was pretty good for us. Again we did the service on and off. I thought last week was the final trip, but there's just always someone or something to help with. We got to pass out flyers made by the city this week saying they can help some houses with damage and restoration. My district leader and I were put together with a bunch of sisters in a group and we had a blast racing to see who could put a flyer on each door on each street. We also helped a lady who is hoarder take out some trash to the curb. She isn't in good shape, least her house isn't. She's got sooooo much stuff, all wet and waiting to be sorted.
The work is going really well. I've been really happy and positive. People are really respecting me as a leader and the investigators are gems. We are seeing some real growth in the area with investigators. Hopefully we get a baptism or two at the end of the month. We have Bill and Eric that should be ready on the 28th. Also a couple in July. Still finding new people.
This week we had an awesome awesome lesson with Eric. We talked about the word of wisdom. I wasnt planning on teaching it but it was cool because the spirit just lead me that way because Eric started talking about not liking smoking but hes trying to quit and we also had a member with us who had to quit smoking years ago and they got along great. So I changed the lesson from temples and family history to word of wisdom. But, I've never had such a spiritual experience talking about that. It went way well. He understands and is willing to start quitting. He also was surprised about coffee and tea. But, he came to church this week agian. And, it's funny because we had stake conference Saturday and Sunday. and we went to the stake center and he went to the regular ward building. So, we didnt get to see him but he probably learned tons from watching the broadcast. It was a great conference. The Elder from the Seventy called up all the missionaries in the stake and asked us in front of everyone what members can do to be more part of the missionary work. He almost called on me but called on the elder next to me. I got to meet him after. He was funny, great speaker too. Oh, and Charles decided he's not interested in the gospel anymore. Not a shocker. He has been leaning that way for two weeks. We're a little sad, but saw it coming.
But, we did a blitz this week as a zone. What that is, is where we as a zone all go to one companionships area and OYM and tract to be able to help them find new people to teach. Turns out that some of the people found were English speakers and it was in the Spanish elder's area, which is our area too. So, we got a couple referrals from that. We went to an appointment, other missionaries set for us a couple days after the blitz, with an investigator named Karen.She's a really neat lady. She is very prepared to hear our message. We taught about the Book of Mormon and she was just fascinated. She is a historian and she said it all just makes sense. She is also a big reader and told us that she wants to finish the Book of Mormon this week. She's fun to teach. She is just soaking everything up so well and way excited when we come over. We went over earlier today and taught the full restoration. the spirit made her cry when my comp shared about Joseph Smiths story and first vision. She also had some good questions from her reading. She accepted to be baptized but didn't want a date quite yet. So that was our miracle this week. It was way fun.
We still have Bill set to be baptized this weekend but that might not happen. He needs a lot more lessons and he is hard to get in touch with. We'll see, have faith I guess. And, Eric is still committed to June 28. But this week was pretty fun. We had a good time. We're actually going to an Astros ball game, so stay tuned. Gonna be legit.
The storm we're getting is a pretty big deal I guess. We'll be alright. Some places are evacuating, but were staying. All the stores today ran out of water. We had to go to League City to get our groceries because Alvin was a mad house. Things are solid though. Going to be a crazy week this week. Got an Astros game tomorrow and then transfers on Wednesday.
Love you,
Elder Janz
Had a pretty fun week! A lot has happened and about to happen! So for starters, Marjorie from my last area got baptized!!! I actually got to go. We had a good talk and she was way happy I came and kept hugging me. Was way fun seeing the last ward too. Such an amazing experience seeing her make that covenant. I got to be in the circle when confirming her. She also bore her testimony right after that! She did so well. The church is true. Experiences like that are just even more witness.
Also, this week is transfers. No one in my companionship is leaving, but Elder Pantz and Havea are going to be dads together. We're getting a newbie and we're going to be a trio!!! I'm so excited. Never been in one, but theres a lot of them in the mission now and they look fun. So we're going to co-train this new elder. I only meet new missionaries if I'm going to train them. We don't pick them up, we just meet them at the mission office transfer day.
This week was pretty good for us. Again we did the service on and off. I thought last week was the final trip, but there's just always someone or something to help with. We got to pass out flyers made by the city this week saying they can help some houses with damage and restoration. My district leader and I were put together with a bunch of sisters in a group and we had a blast racing to see who could put a flyer on each door on each street. We also helped a lady who is hoarder take out some trash to the curb. She isn't in good shape, least her house isn't. She's got sooooo much stuff, all wet and waiting to be sorted.
The work is going really well. I've been really happy and positive. People are really respecting me as a leader and the investigators are gems. We are seeing some real growth in the area with investigators. Hopefully we get a baptism or two at the end of the month. We have Bill and Eric that should be ready on the 28th. Also a couple in July. Still finding new people.
This week we had an awesome awesome lesson with Eric. We talked about the word of wisdom. I wasnt planning on teaching it but it was cool because the spirit just lead me that way because Eric started talking about not liking smoking but hes trying to quit and we also had a member with us who had to quit smoking years ago and they got along great. So I changed the lesson from temples and family history to word of wisdom. But, I've never had such a spiritual experience talking about that. It went way well. He understands and is willing to start quitting. He also was surprised about coffee and tea. But, he came to church this week agian. And, it's funny because we had stake conference Saturday and Sunday. and we went to the stake center and he went to the regular ward building. So, we didnt get to see him but he probably learned tons from watching the broadcast. It was a great conference. The Elder from the Seventy called up all the missionaries in the stake and asked us in front of everyone what members can do to be more part of the missionary work. He almost called on me but called on the elder next to me. I got to meet him after. He was funny, great speaker too. Oh, and Charles decided he's not interested in the gospel anymore. Not a shocker. He has been leaning that way for two weeks. We're a little sad, but saw it coming.
But, we did a blitz this week as a zone. What that is, is where we as a zone all go to one companionships area and OYM and tract to be able to help them find new people to teach. Turns out that some of the people found were English speakers and it was in the Spanish elder's area, which is our area too. So, we got a couple referrals from that. We went to an appointment, other missionaries set for us a couple days after the blitz, with an investigator named Karen.She's a really neat lady. She is very prepared to hear our message. We taught about the Book of Mormon and she was just fascinated. She is a historian and she said it all just makes sense. She is also a big reader and told us that she wants to finish the Book of Mormon this week. She's fun to teach. She is just soaking everything up so well and way excited when we come over. We went over earlier today and taught the full restoration. the spirit made her cry when my comp shared about Joseph Smiths story and first vision. She also had some good questions from her reading. She accepted to be baptized but didn't want a date quite yet. So that was our miracle this week. It was way fun.
We still have Bill set to be baptized this weekend but that might not happen. He needs a lot more lessons and he is hard to get in touch with. We'll see, have faith I guess. And, Eric is still committed to June 28. But this week was pretty fun. We had a good time. We're actually going to an Astros ball game, so stay tuned. Gonna be legit.
The storm we're getting is a pretty big deal I guess. We'll be alright. Some places are evacuating, but were staying. All the stores today ran out of water. We had to go to League City to get our groceries because Alvin was a mad house. Things are solid though. Going to be a crazy week this week. Got an Astros game tomorrow and then transfers on Wednesday.
Love you,
Elder Janz
 |
| Marjorie |
 |
| The District |
 |
| Found a license plate for decoration |
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Alvin Texas, Week 37: June 1, 2015 - June 7, 2015
Monday, June 8, 2015
What a week! I wish i
could just email every day to ya’ll so that i woudln’t forget things and that
you could hear everything. But, this week was fun fun. On Tuesday, Elder Havea
stayed back in the area and ran things while I went with others to do service
in H town. I received the prompting that that was how we needed to do things.
There’s a lot to be done,not just in Houston with flood clean up, but that we
also need to be staying in our area taking care of the people every day as well.
So, we took turns going up and the other stayed. worked out really well
actually. This week was the last week that we will be helping up in Houston
Wednesday morning, I
had my first MLC! That’s the mission leadership council. Elder Ve'e and I went
together. It was funny because even though it was my first time, I could still
tell things were not as good as they should be there. President was only able
to stay for about 30 minutes then go to Houston and do interviews with the
press. Plus they decided to do the meeting last minute. It wasn’t horrible
though.
We found some new
investigators this week. We got some referrals and talked to lots of people. On
Friday, we had our zone meeting. My first being a leader. Elder Ve'e and I put
it all together and planned what would happen. I gave a training on the
importance of church and the sacrament and prayer. It was crazy too because one
of the assistants to the president called me the night before and said he
wanted to come down to be in our zone meeting and that he wanted to spend the
day there and work the area with me after. So, he was there and he said it was
a great meeting! He loved the way we addressed zone goals and concerns. That
made me feel good. He said he wants me to lead out setting goals at the next
MLC because of what he saw! We had a good day together after the meeting. He
taught me more about what I can be doing as a zone leader at lunch. We went out
and taught people after that and worked way well together. Felt like I had to
be perfect around him, ha ha.
On Saturday we had an awesome opportunity to go have
dinner with Bishop. He invited his friend Bill, who is actually one of our
investigators, over as well. We had a great lesson and bishop taught him a lot
too. It was amazing because we hadn’t been able to see Bill in ages and all of
sudden we get this ideal situation to help him come unto Christ. Because of
that he also came to church the next day. This week we had 5 investigators at
church! We had Bill, Eric and his family, and an investigator that the elders
used to teach a while ago show up and show interest again. Her name is
Daverine, and we jumped right on that. I introduced myself and got to know her
more. We actually spent the whole third hour in church getting to know her and
then teaching about the same things I did the training on in zone meeting,
Sacrament and prayer. Must be a big deal to the Lord. She wants to be baptized.
We’re going to see her more this week and set a date and help her progress.
Met with Charles more
as well. We’re going to have him get interviewed this week by one of the
mission presidency to see if he is accountable enough to be baptized because
he’s got some autism we think and his comprehension and maturity aren’t too
high. But we'll see! I’m excited for this week. We should be done with Houston
service. and we got baptisms right around the corner. We got Charles, Bill, and
Eric. Eric is pretty awesome. He comes to church quite a bit and we can see him
consistently. He’s a 40 year old rocker dude. We get along because he loves
rock and fishing, so after lessons we talk about all that, haha. But this week was a blast.
Love you,
Elder Janz |
| Elder Deans with fellow missionaries who volunteered after the flood |
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