He's One of a Kind...

We're emailing earlier this morning than usual because we have a lesson in 22 minutes with J.! I'm going to have to cut my email short this morning as a result. I may be able to finish my email time later, I'll let you know.

Oh mammy, it was so good to see you on Thursday!!!!!! It was such a tender mercy.. I feel like God organized that entire day. I don't think anything happens by coincidence. I feel like a big part of why I was called to this mission was so that our family could get together on Thursday. How incredible.

Transfer calls were last night and I'm staying with Elder Goates for a 3rd transfer here in Chandler!! The rest of the district is mostly getting gutted out so that should be fun to have a bunch of new faces next transfer!

The man who we invited to thanksgiving but wasn't able to come is awesome! His name is M. and in the first lesson he accepted a baptismal date for Dec 21st! Yesterday he came to church and had a great experience there! Also another new investigator named M. came to church! We've had one lesson with him which was definitely the most interesting lesson I've had on my mission.. The reason being he is just a very quirky guy. M. has had a super hard life. He has some very big challenges and problems to over come so it will be a long road. As he told his life story I'm sure he spiced some stories up past reality. For example he told us he beat some guy to a pulp and then cut off his hand... But then because he is such a nice guy, he drove the guy who he beat up to the hospital.

I would like to share my testimony this week on change. So often in life we encounter change. In fact we are constantly changing and so are our circumstances. We seem to be very good at getting comfortable with how things are and we wish that they would stay that way. I believe that change is always good. The reason why it's always good is because change is the essence of growth. Every time we encounter change we have the ability to grow and as we adapt to our new situation we become more experienced and stronger.

Love Elder Janis

We were able to make it back to the library after our lesson so I will finish my letter :)

First let me say THANK YOU for the jacket and sweaters!!! They have been AWESOME! Plus a style boost ;)

I'm glad to hear Heather's lip is healing!! 

The lesson this morning was with J., and let me tell ya...... WHEW! What a character! We taught him in his living room with GQ magazines splayed out on the coffee table. J. lives with M. who is renting out one of his rooms. M. was unfortunately not there. Before we started he had to have his TV remote by his side even though he had the TV off. I think it's a man thing.. We taught about the restoration of the priesthood and also about the spirit and half way through the lesson he asked if anyone was thirsty. Elder Goates replied that water would be nice so Jim got into his wheel chair (He's the one who had his leg amputated a few weeks ago) and rolled over to the fridge. After opening it up, he yelled an expletive and then said, "Matt drank all my pop!" He rolled back over infuriated and said, "He drank all my pop. That pi**es me off." He then pulled out his phone to call M. and said, "Excuse me one second, I'm going to raise He**." Trying my hardest not to laugh my head off, I asked him if he'd wait till we finished the lesson. He was agreeable and so we continued. A few minutes later he paused the lesson because something wasn't quite right. He said, "something's bothering the sh** out of me." He rolled his wheelchair over to the coffee table and adjusted a decorative bowl LITERALLY an inch and then rolled back to the couch he had been sitting in and sat down. He's one of a kind...

This week I had the unique privilege of eating thanksgiving with my wonderful family!!! An awesome family in a ward I serve in invited me and my companion Elder Goates and my entire family over. The best part of it all was being able to teach a discussion to our two Chinese investigators with my family there. What an absolute treat! We taught the first lesson on the restoration.

Well that's all for this week!

Love Elder Janis