Happy 4th of July!

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great Independence day!! We sure did! Well, we didn't really do anything special, in fact we didn't really get to see the fireworks because we were supposed to be in our apartment by 10:15, but it was still a great day!

Elder Vann and I have been struggling to find more people to teach in this area, but that does not stop us from going out and walking around for a few hours in the sunny 100 degree weather! I won't lie, this work is hard. It is especially hard when you aren't seeing a lot of numerical success. I'm sure everyone who is a missionary or who was a missionary can attest to how easy it is to get discouraged on your mission.

This is something that I had always heard, but you cannot truly understand until you are out here working. I've had my fair share of discouraging times, maybe when someone you love decides not to meet with you anymore, but I have never let that get me down or stop me from getting back up! Missions are not easy, but they are worth it. In a talk given by Elder Holland at the MTC he said:

"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way."

I apologize for the long quote and the long email this week, but I feel that this was needed. To any of you missionaries who are struggling, to any of you members who feel the burden is too heavy, and to any of you who are discouraged, disappointed, or depressed there is someone who knows how you feel. I echo Elder Holland in that, "Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way." 

I hope all of you have a great week, and I thank you for your continual prayers and support. We cannot do this work without you!

Have a great week

Love,

Elder Francis

Pictures:

Elder Vann did this puzzle!

A nice member fed us home caught, breaded, and cooked rainbow trout.

Wow! It's hot out here!

Well hello all you wonderful people! I hope you all have had a great week!

We have had a fantastic week here in Sunny St.George. It has been over a hundred almost every day this week, at least it's not humid... oh wait it has also had some humidity. Hahaha, my past two companions have been from Texas and they always tell me, "Well, at least it's not humid." This week has been the start of monsoon season though so it's actually been fairly humid hahaha. It's fun, you just have to get used to sweating.

Elder Wood is transfered up to Gunnison and my new companion is Elder Vann. We have had a fairly busy week and so we haven't gotten any pictures together yet. 

We also had a baptism this Saturday for Kennedy! I have a goodbye picture with Elder Wood, he transferred right before the baptism, but we haven't gotten the picture we took at the baptism yet so you might see that in next weeks email. I am very thankful that I was able to be part of teaching Kennedy and helping her get baptized.

In other exciting news, we got a new mission president today!!! We get to meet him tomorrow, so I don't really know anything about him. I am going to miss President Smith though. He blessed my life so much and gave me valuable counsel that I will remember for the rest of my life, but I know that President Kaluhiokalani will be great leader and I will come to love him just as much as I do President Smith.

That's about it for this week! I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Francis

Transfers

Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a good week!

Things have been heating up here in sunny St. George. So transfers are tomorrow and we know what's happening. Elder Wood is gone. He is going to be heading up to Gunnison and I am staying here. My new companion is going to be Elder Vann! I am excited for this next transfer!

Our new mission president also comes in next week so that is super exciting! As far as miracles this week, we have seen too many of them to count. 

I would like to share my experience with my Book of Mormon study. I made it a personal goal to read the entire Book of Mormon in the month of June. I finished it yesterday. I decided to take Moroni's challenge again and ask Heavenly Father if the book is true. 

I testify, yet again, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that anyone who truly studies this book and opens their heart to its message may receive this same confirmation. This work is the best work I have ever done, and I would not trade it for anything in the world. 

In the word's of our Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson when speaking of the Book of Mormon compared to jewels and all worldly wealth, "Honestly, which is of greater worth to you?" I know that, for me, the Book of Mormon is worth more than all sums of money. That is why, not only do I not get paid to be out here telling people about it, but my family and I pay a total of $10,000 to do it. I am grateful for all the sacrifices that have been made for me to be here and for this great Book to go forth. 

I hope you all have a great week. I will talk to you all next week.

I would also like to give a shout out to my brother, Josh Francis, who leaves for the MTC tomorrow and is going to be serving in the Texas Fort Worth Mission Spanish speaking. I love him and am so proud of this decision which he has made. You'll do great out there brother.

Love,

Elder Francis

Pictures:

We saw this super small praying mantis so I somehow got it to climb on my thumb and we got a cool picture.

The Book of Mormon

Howdy everyone!!! Just so you all know, transfers are next week and so my p-day will be on Tuesday.

This week has gone by so fast and I also hit my 10 month mark!!! It's crazy how fast it has gone. 

This month, I have been reading the Book of Mormon trying to finish it in just a month. It has been incredibly fun to read through it this fast, but I am also receiving so much revelation! It definitely shows that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I would like to share a little bit from my studies this week. 

I was reading in Alma chapter 8 where Alma, after having much success as a missionary, goes to the city of Ammonihah and the people spit on him and kick him out of the city. As Alma is walking along "being weighed down with sorrow, wading through much tribulation and anguish of soul" an Angel appears to him and says, "Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God."

This scripture hit me very powerfully. Though I have not had to suffer nearly as much tribulation as Alma, or as many missionaries, there are always times of discouragement and disappointment on your mission. Though things may not be going your way, and you may be wading through your own furnace of afflictions, remember what this angel said. When we are keeping the commandments, we have "great cause to rejoice." No matter what is going on or how fierce your storm in life is, we all can find some reason to rejoice. 

I apologize for the long email this week, but I also wanted to share a story about a girl named Summer. A few weeks ago, as we were doing our weekly planning, we felt a prompting to head out to the edge of our area and contact a former investigator. We followed the prompting eventhough it was over 100 degrees outside. As we got to this door and knocked, no one answered. Though we were confused, we did not give up there but talked to some people who had just been talking outside. They told us about a young girl named Summer who was not a member of the church. 

We knocked on the door, met her, and set up a return appointment. Yesterday, we had our first lesson with her. In the lesson, she basically taught us the restoration and then said she wanted to be baptized. What is crazy to think about, is that we would never have even known this girl existed had we not followed the spirit. I know that Heavenly Father prepared this girl for us to be able to help and he guided us to her at the moment she was ready to receive us. 

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Francis

Pictures:

We made some sugar cookies to give to one of our investigators.

This is our new mission president who will be coming in at the beginning of July.

Zion National Park

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a fantastic week! I appologize for my crappy email last week, we did not have a lot of time because we went to Zion National Park with a member family! It was so much fun and I have decided that I am definitly going to go there again sometime after my mission.

Not a lot happened this week. We have been spending quite a bit of time trying to find more people to teach. So far, it has yielded no fruit, but we have seen so many miracles. I would like to share one of them. 

It was near the end of a long day and we were doing some of our weekly planning. After doing about 1/3 of our planning, I felt as though something was wrong. I was confused and so I was about to pray and ask when I felt that, though what we were doing was good, it was not where we needed to be. I jumped right up and told my companion that we needed to head out to the edge of our area and talk to some leadership in one of our wards. My companion was confused because the temperature was about 95 outside and we were in the middle of planning, but I was already up and leaving so he had no choice but to follow.

As we ride down to the edge of our area, we tried to contact some of the people we had planned. None of them answered. I was confused because I knew that the Lord had led us to this area and so I wasn't ready to give up quite yet. I saw of group of people talking and so we went up and just started talking to them. They were all members, one of which was less active. As we got talking to him, he told us about his neighbor who had her sister living there and she was not a member. We decided we had nothing else to do, so we stopped by. This girls name is Summer. As we got talking to her, she said that she was really interested in having us come by and teach her. I don't yet know if this will lead to anything, but I know that the Lord is directing this work.

Other than the cool miracles, we had our interviews with our mission president. This is possibly the last time I will see President Smith on the mission, maybe ever. It was very bitter sweet.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Francis

Zone Conference

Hello everyone!!!

Things are continuing to be really good here in Washington!! The weather has been below 90° which is unusual. I think the Lord is just looking out for Elder Wood and I who are walking hahaha. We are still struggling to find more people to teach, but everything else is going really good. 

A few cool things happened this week. We had Zone Conference and I think it was a mission president's last one. When he and his wife got up to bear their testimonies, we all felt the spirit so strong. I know that they truly love us and I know that our new mission President coming in at the end of the month will love us as well.

Other than that, I went on an exchange with Elder Beazel and we took a fun picture. That's pretty much all that happened this week.

We are going to Zion National Park today so I'll have a bit more to talk about next week!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love

Elder Francis

Baluut!!

This week has been a great week!!!

Not much really happened, but we did get a great dinner this week where they fed us Balute (pronounced beh-loo). It is a Filipino meal where they fertilize a duck egg and then cook it kind of like a boiled egg. It is an interesting meal, and I took pictures and videos so all of you can experience it with me hahaha! 

This week I read a great scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that hit me pretty hard. It is in D&C section 105. A little background: Jackson County Missouri, the place where the Lord told the Saints to gather for Zion, has faced much persecution and most of the saints have been driven out. In Secton 103, the Lord told the saints to form an army battalion later called Zion's camp. These 200 men, after marching almost 1000 miles from Ohio to Missouri, recieved revelation in section 105 telling them that they should stop the March and go back. Many men did not like this, but the Lord told them this to help ease that:

"19 I have heard their prayers, and will accept their offering; and it is expedient in me that they should be brought thus far for a trial of their faith."

That is the context of the scripture, but it hit me very powerfully. Elder Wood and I have been working hard and praying even harder that we will be able to find the elect for Heavenly Father. This scripture seemed to me to be an answer to our prayers. Heavenly Father has accepted the work which we have given Him and he has consecrated it for our good. 

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week!                                                            

Love,

Elder Francis