The miracle of moving a baptismal date back

Hey everyone! I hope you all are having a great week!

So far, this transfer has been amazing! Elder Nielsen and I get along very well. He is a very good missionary and I am excited to be his companion. 

Because our area split in half, we are only covering the Enoch stake. Though there is a great deal of work here, we stopped teaching everyone who wasn't progressing when we were super busy last trasnfer. Now, we are spending much of our time finding, which is okay because I love finding!

I wanted to share with you a miracle that happened this week. First, a little background. In our mission, we teach a lot of youth from ages 9 to 17. We are currently teaching two such youth and they were on date for December 21st. The baptism is getting close and we have been putting together all of the information. As we have been teaching them and getting everything for the baptism ready, I have just felt kind of off about it. I felt almost as though one of the girls was not ready for baptism, but I had no real evidence as everything seemed to be really good with her and she was super excited for her baptism. The only thing she still needed to do was go to church at least one more time.

This past Sunday, we had everything set up to help her get to church. We had a ride, we texted her mom, we got people she could sit by in the ward, and so on. As we attended church that day in her ward, we saw her younger sister who we are also teaching come, but she did not. We were in a panic as, if she did not come, we would have to move her baptismal date back. Sufficient to say, she did not come. At first, I was extremely stressed and partially discouraged that we were going to have to move her baptismal date back, cancel all of the things we had set up, and tell everyone that it was off all because she did not come to church. Then, I thought about it from a different perspective. 

I decided to look at it as a blessing. I had felt that this girl was not quite ready for baptism, but I didn't have any valid reason to feel so, so I didn't call off the baptism. With this event, there was my valid reason to call off the baptism. It was hard and stressful, but I know that moving the date back will help them more in the long run because they will be better able to understand the covenant that they are making with Heavenly Father. We stopped by their house last night to talk about our options. Both the girls still wanted to be baptized and they were not only willing, but seemed a little happy that we would get to teach them more before their baptism. they were a little upset at first, but they understood after we explained it. I am very thankful that Heavenly Father was able to help me with this situation.

I think that there is another lesson from this miracle. The other lesson is that, no matter what, Heavenly Father's will will be done and that that will is far more eternal than our limited perspective and knowledge. This lesson does not just apply to when we don't get what we want, but it also applies to trials we receive. When we have to go through hardship, stress, and anxiety, it is most likely because the Eternal Happiness is more important to Heavenly Father than our momentary happiness. As we continue in this Christmas season, I invite all of you to view your trails differently. I invite you to see them not as a burden, but as a blessing, a miracle even. 

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Francis

A present my parents sent me!

My new companion and I 

There can be miracles when you believe.

Howdy everyone!!!

I hope you are all having a great week! Our week has been fantastic! 

We had a baptism for Kevin this week! I feel bad because Kevin was already on date and had been taught all of the lessons when Elder Hanson and I got to the area so we really only set up the baptism, but I feel so blessed to have been able to help this family, even just a little. They are such a solid family. Kevin has a great support system.

We had quite a few amazing miracles this week. I want to share just one of them. It was close to the end of the day and we had run out of things to do. I started driving home thinking we could just do some planning or something else productive. As we passed this neighborhood, I remembered that we had received a referral for a man that lived there. We had stopped by and talked to this guy twice and each time he set up a return appointment at the door and then wasn't there when we came back.

I figured we had nothing better to do, so we decided to knock. This was yesterday, meaning that it was labor day weekend and they probably wouldn't be home, but we decided to knock anyway. As we knocked, he answered the door and let us in. We ended up talking to him for 45 minutes asking questions and listening. He explained how he had met with missionaries 5 years ago and had been thinking about coming to church lately. He is not a member and his 10 year old daughter is not a member. He said he would want to meet with us so we were able to schedule an actual appointment and get his phone number. 

I believe that this event was completely inspired by the Holy Ghost and the promptings it gave to us. When I think of why we should deserve miracles such as these, I think about all the amazing saints who are praying for us every day. There are hundreds of thousands of prayers everyday said on behalf of the missionaries. I firmly believe that we, due to our decisions, have qualified to be apart of these miracles, but those prayers, along with the Love of our Heavenly Father, is the true cause. 

Thank you all for your continual prayers and support in behalf of the missionaries. I can feel it. Lives are being blessed because of it. This work could not be done without you.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Francis

Enoch West Stake

Hello all of you wonderful people!!!

This week has been amazing! I met my new greenie on Wednesday and he is from Chester, Idaho. Yep, like an hour away from where I live. So that's been kind of fun. 

Enoch is about 20 degrees cooler than St.George, plus we have a car. This means that I am basically living the life of luxary. The saying, "You never know what you have until it is gone" has taken on so much more meaning. Biking in the heat of St.George in an apartment without A/C has made me greatly appreciate being here.

Not only this, but Enoch is full of work! Our first full day in the area, we talked with someone the previous missionaries had been teaching. We just casually asked them if the other missionaries had talked to them about baptism and they said, "Yeah and we decided we wanted to be baptized on August 31st"!!! I had to turn to Elder Hanson afterword and tell him that things do not normally go this well hahaha. 

We are very excited to be in this area. Everything around here kind of reminds me of Idaho. There is farm land just outside the city and everyone here likes to hunt. I was sad to say goodbye to my last area, but I am very excited to continue moving. The members in this area are so kind to us. I think my mom has already recieved five pictures from nice members who have had missionaries out on missions. I know that, even if I end up hating this area, my mom is definitely going to love it haha!

Well, that's about all for this week. There is not much more to add. The work continues to move forward and I am very happy to be apart of it. Thank you all for the birthday wishes! I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Francis

Pictures:

A rare quarter I found this week.

Some pictures members took of Elder Hanson and I 

Transfers and my birthday!

Hello everyone! This week has been amazing!!

First of all, we have transfers tomorrow. I am heading to Enoch! For those of you who don't know, that is right next to Cedar City Utah. I am really excited because I am going to also be training! I have not met my greenie yet, but I am sure that he will be awesome! 

My birthday was also this week. The big 2-0. I was able to have a great birthday celebration with the family shown below. They are a recent convert family. It is always hard to say goodbye to an area, especially when I have been there for 4 and a half months. I know that this is the Lord's work and that I will be able to find people to help in my next area as well. 

I would like to talk about my experience with calling my brother on my birthday. He left from the MTC today and I got to talk to him yesterday. As I talked to him, I was able to share with him my experiences and help prepare him for his mission. I was able to bring peace to him as well as help our relationship grow. The change in the communication policy has made my mission so much better. I was never one who felt homesick, and so, when calling home, I get to focus on bringing my family closer to Heavenly Father through my experiences. 

Sorry for the short email this week! We are super busy with packing and getting ready for transfers. I love you all, have a great week!

Also, my new address is 315 E 3600 N Enoch, Utah.

Elder Francis

Pictures:

A family bought me donuts for my birthday cake and threw me a birthday party. 

What a Wonderful week!

Hello Everybody!!!

This week has been fairly eventful! To start off, we had the 24th of July! We got to go to a party at the park and watch fireworks that evening. 

Thursday, we had Zone conference, our first one with President Kaluhiokalani! It was really good, and I was able to learn from my new mission President. It was definitely different than President Smith's Zone Conference's, but it was still really good.

The rest of the week, we worked really hard and spent most of our time finding. It was a blast!

We did have some problems with our apartment. Our A/C went out. With it being 100° outside, it is about 10° cooler in our apartment. If any of you have not tried sleeping in a 90° room, I cannot recommend it hahaha. Even though it has been hot and uncomfortable, it is still the best thing I have ever done.

My life is good, really good! Next week is transfers so p-day will be on Tuesday.

Thank you all for the emails and prayers! I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Francis

1. Zone Conference 

2. Hermit crab

Lasagna

Hello Everyone!!!

I hope you all have had a great week! It has been pretty great here, except for the fact that it has been over 100° every day hahaha. Also, we had lasagna three times this week hahaha. Luckily, I like lasagna, but three times in a week is quite a bit. It was still really good!

Other than that, nothing noteworthy has really happened. We have been working hard, but have not seen many results yet.

With all this spare room in my email, I would like to talk about something that I feel is very important to missionary work: Member missionary work. Now, this does not have to be a big scary topic haha, but it is so incredibly important. It is my firm belief that we cannot do any real work without member support. Sure, we can tract, find someone to teach, and baptize them through our own efforts, but what then? The new member goes to church where they don't have any friends and then the missionaries get transfered. Imagine being a brand new member to the church and not having a single friend there. It's unthinkable. Not only does true conversion require the members, but we can find so much more with member help. 

I don't mean to say that the members are not doing enough. The members that I have worked with are amazing and have helped the work progress so much. No, I more mean to say thank you to all of you who understand that, to truly love people, we must invite them to come unto Christ. This is our callings as disciples of Christ. I love these people, and that love is my largest motivator for this work. We can't do this work without love, and we can't do this work without you. 

Thank you guys so much for your service in the Lord's vineyard. Whether you have invited non-members to an activity, encouraged a less-active member to come back, or even just shared your testimony with someone who is struggling, I know that you will be blessed.

I hope that all of you have a great week and a happy 24th of July (pioneer day).

Love,

Elder Francis

I was stabbed in the middle of the night!

Hello everybody!

Today is my 11 month mark! It is crazy how fast time flies! 

I don't have a lot of time this week, but it was a really good week! We got to meet with our mission President on Tuesday when we had our interviews with him. President Kaluhiokalani seems to be a great man and I am very excited to have him as my new mission president. President Smith taught me so much and showed great care and love to all of his missionaries. I know that President Kaluhiokalani will do the same.

This week, I also got to go on an exchange with my district Leader Elder Beazel. He is a really diligent missionary and we had a great time. 

So, now, about the heading. 4 am this morning, I woke up with a stinging pain in my right thigh. I grabbed the spot and felt something there! My first thought was that I had been bit by a spider, so I crushed the bug and laid on the bed waiting to see if I would die or not. I didn't. After about 3 minutes of just laying there, I my thigh begining to swell and so I went and checked it out in the bathroom. It looked kind of like a spider bite, but I had also not put my glasses on. I went back into the room to see if I could find what kind of spider it was so I could know if I was going to die or not. As I searched, I found a bee dead on the ground. I don't know how, or why, but that bee somehow found its way into my bed and decided to stab me with its stinger in the middle of the night!! Hahaha, it all turned out okay and my leg is completely find. 

Anyway, sorry for the short email, hopefully the pictures will make up for it.

Love you all! have a great week!

Love,

Elder Francis

Pictures:

This was a super cute dog we met at a dinner appointment.

This is a small bird I found in the street and it was so tired that it couldn't fly back into its tree so I picked it up and moved it to somewhere safe.

This is my District Leader Elder Beazel. We saw a bunch of raccoons cross the street and run up a tree and Elder Beazel wanted to take a picture with them.