And two shall put their tens of thousands to flight

 Doctrine and Covenants 133:57-59

“And for this cause, that men might be made partakers of the glories which were to be revealed, the Lord sent forth the fulness of his gospel, his everlasting covenant, reasoning in plainness and simplicity—

“To prepare the weak for those things which are coming on the earth, and for the Lord’s errand in the day when the weak shall confound the wise, and the little one become a strong nation, and two shall put their tens of thousands to flight.

“And by the weak things of the earth the Lord shall thrash the nations by the power of his Spirit.”

Welcome Home!

14 missionaries made it home today. They started checking in with president around 1:00. (We still haven't heard from a few.) Being close to his home town, we were able to surprise Elder Matsunaga. Miracles continue. We love you all and wish we could have been at each of your homes and met your families. Thank you to the Matsunaga family for their hospitality and graciousness, but especially for their son. We love him.

If you have tips for the transition back, we'd be glad if you'd share!

Make the Green Grow

From Elder Gleaves, a zone leader in Phoenix

"This week has just been amazing! We have seen so many miracles come from working hard and diligently especially with the "making the green grow" project. We have seen an elevated level of excitement in the Elders, and I really feel like it has unified us as a zone. It reminded me a lot of this past Christmas when we were all excited to hear about baptisms, where we were at and how many more we coming. It's the same thing now, but just with the TTI's (TTI is an acronym for Teach, Testify, and Invite. We use it to refer to street contacting). The Elders are excited to get feedback, and they worked harder than ever. Not only did we reach our goal, but we soared past it making a new recod in the zone of 1790 TTI's. And now that everyone did it, we all reached the goal of 140 TTI's per companionship, we know that we can do it every week. 

It was something really cool to see that the number of lessons didn't decrease, it actually continued to go up. We are teaching more, and seeing more people come to sacrament meeting. I believe that it is due to our efforts of talking to EVERYONE that we see. We were definetly able to see how God was able to prepare the way for us in giving us enough time to do everything. Just a quick example, yesterday we actually had the chance to have Elder Isom with us, and in that day we only had 2 lessons planned. So in the begining we were just trying to make contacts and visits, and not too much worked out. We we continued to work diligently even when we weren't teaching and the Lord did bless us. We ended up that night with 6 lessons, and 30 TTI's. Looking back, I dont even know how we did it with only 2 lessons planned. But the Lord prepared his children to be there in their homes at the right time so that we could visit them. And a lot of the people that we visited yesterday are on their way towards baptism in the next couple of weeks. We have been so blessed here to find those prepared to accept the gospel."

Well this past Sunday we had some amazing miracles both having to do with church attendance. We are teaching Juan, who has a baptism date. We have taught him for maybe a month now, and he is already in the book of Mosiah, and he started from the beginning. So that's cool, but he had a problem with being able to go to church every week due to his schedule. Then, just out of the blue, without us even asking him to do it, he asked for Sunday off, and like that he got it. There was no conflict, or problem what so ever. It was amazing. So we are excited to get him prepared to be baptised.

Then the next was a couple, who we have been teaching for about 2 transfers now. They had a date but couldn't make it because the husband always worked on Sunday. Just recently we had a church tour with them. Then his wife asked if he could drop her of at church on his way to work, so we had it planned that she would go while he went to work. But when they got there on Sunday both were there to go to church. We asked him if he was going to stay and he said yes, because the night before some one called him and told him that he had Sunday off. It's amazing. So we are really looking forward for these people so that they can continue progressing and soon be baptized.

But these are just some of the miracles that Elder Staton and I have received.

 

Elder Gleaves

President,

...Will you please forward this section to sister bassett as a miracle?

This week, we were biking around, our appointment fell through, our three backups for the hour all didn't answer the door, and we were without plans. We were just contemplating what we should do, when I saw this guy walking by a street away. I felt like I should go talk to him, and as I got ready to go, he turns the corner and starts walking toward us. I felt REALLY urged then, so we talked to him. It was just after a District meeting about questions of the soul, and I asked him a question. He completely opened up, and said how he would like to learn more about why he's here. It was a really neat experience to me, how God had put us in the right street at the right time to talk with His child. Every soul is precious in His eyes.

Elder Morgan

From Elder Gomez:

So you know the challenge you issued at zone conference?  We gave it a shot.  On Saturday we attempted to contact as many former investigators as we possibly could.  We got a couple that might be worth following up on.  So we were thinking... where is this person who is ready for the gospel that Sister Bassett promised us?  We had a baptism that night, which by the way was amazing, and the sister of the baptizee (is that a word?? :) ) really felt the spirit and decided that she wanted to learn the gospel as well.  So there you go, your faith was not in vain.  We did find somebody who is ready for the gospel... even though we didn't exactly find them the way we would have expected.

Dear sister bassett

 

First, last Friday Elder Parkin and I were feeling a little discouraged because we haven't found any one in a while.  We had two potentials in the area book. So I took the time to get down on my knees and say a prayer. I talked with the Lord. "We are talking to a lot of people. We are trying to do as you wish but where are the blessings?" The answer I received was to wait. The Lord has his time. So being pacified, the next day we had a baptism for our investigator named Amy, which is a miracle in and of itself. Low and behold one of our members brought their friend to the baptism and she wants to learn more. How sweet is that.

 

See you Thursday

 

Love Elder Thomas 

Sis Bassett

Well I have some amazing miracles, and one of them was the fulfilling of the promise that you made to us in ZLC, about the former investigators. We went through them and found a couple that we wanted to visit. The first one, Alma and Juan accepted us in their house, talked very highly of the missionaries prior, and we were able to teach the first lesson. It was amazing how much easier it was because they were already familiar with it, but also how willing they were to do things, such as read or pray. It looks like with the change in economy, they now don't work on Sunday and will be able to go to church. Also through other experiences they see more of a necessity to be baptised and come closer to God. It was amazing to see how just a few months later, so many changes can come into someone's life to make them more receptive to the gospel. Thanks so much for leaving that commitment with us, I know that we wouldn't have found them again if we weren't looking through the formers of our area book. It's been great to see the excitement in their eyes. 

 But, one of the biggest miracles and one of the best things that I have heard on my entire mission is that the family Parra, who Elder matsunaga and I were teaching back in July/August, now will soon be getting baptised. They were living on the streets, and the bishop found out and put them in a hotel, the relief society provided breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for 2 weeks, and we passed by just about everyday, and at the end, the mom Margarita had a baptism date. But they had to leave, and lost contact, they got some other apt. and I never heard of them. I kind of felt that those 2 weeks were just wasted. But, then I heard that some sisters in Pioneer zone had found them and were teaching them, and now, the mom and son are getting baptized, and I get to baptize the son! When I heard that it was literally one of the most tender moments of my mission. It put to life the section of Preach My Gospel that says "No effort is wasted"  And I know that it was through the amazing help that they received through the ward relief society/bishop that their hearts were touched, and the spirit was able to enter their hearts, and now, they will be getting baptized. It's amazing. I just can't believe it. It's just really interesting how people get put in the right place at the right time. 

 

Elder Gleaves

Dear Sister Bassett,

               On monday we were out contacting a potential investigator in an apartment complex.  We were getting out of our car, and we heard a voice say, "Hello!"  We looked around and asked "Hello?"  Then we heard a voice from the balcony above us say, "Hello!"  We looked and it was a woman.  We said hi, and she replied "Are you the new management?"  We told her no, but that we were the missionaries.  She said "Oh, that's great.  My sister is a missionary for her church."  We visited with her for a bit, and she said we could come back.  We taught her on Wednesday, and then we set a baptismal date with her on Saturday!  Her name is Sarah.  She told us at church on Sunday that the reason she yelled out to us, was because she had a plumbing problem and thought we were the managers.  The Lord works in mysterious ways.  She told us last night that she knows that the Lord sent us to her.  I love this work.  It is of God, and He will make miracles happen if we just have faith, and do our best.  Thank you for all that you do Sister Bassett.  We will see you soon.

Sincerely,

Elder Christensen

Well we have seen our fair share of miracles, one of the which Elder Staton mentioned in ZLC, which was truly amazing. We walked into this house for a lesson with a lady named Maria, and when we got in and sat down, her husband came out fairly excited and just told us, (now you have to know that we have never seen, nor talked to, nor met this man before) but he said, "I have been reading in your book, I like it, and we want to go to church with you next Sunday." We had only taught his wife Maria one time, and left her with the Book of Mormon. He, the husband Antonio, found it in his house and had read through the introduction and the testimonies on the witnesses and of Joseph Smith. We taught him the first lesson, which was also a good review for Maria, and as we left he was excited to continue reading. It's amazing to see how many people really do have the question that Joseph Smith had, "Why are there so many churches? and which one should I join?" And it's so comforting to me to know that we have the answers, and that everyone can know for themselves. 

But that was just one of our miracle lessons this past week. 

 

Elder Gleaves 

Hello again Sister Bassett

 

Here are some more miracles.

 

Yesterday was interesting. I had become a little discouraged because it seemed I wasn't having much success with TTIing people. Seemed like a lot of people just didn't want to hear from us. We had to make copys, and we like to walk that part to talk to more people. There was a man sitting on a bench. I didnt want to talk to him but the spirit told me to. So when I actually opened my mouth and listened to him everything just flowed and just from there on I didn't have a problem talking to people. We actually had gotten a great contact for the missionaries that cover central ward Phoenix that day.

 

Another miracle is with the sisters in our district. For a ling time they were struggling to TTI. Not because they were scared but because there was no one to talk to but then all of a sudden their TTI numbers skyrocketed and have been high ever since. Before they have been lucky to get 40 a week but now they have been getting about 80 to 90. I asked what was it that they changed and they said it was because they have been praying and making TTIs the deepest desire of their hearts.

 

One more miracle. Yesterday we taught a lesson to a young man. He has some smoking and some drug problems but this past week since we set up a plan to help him quit he has been taking off. Also when we taught him, his girlfriend (who we are teaching and also has a baptismal date) left for a sec to the bathroom. We continued to teach and when she came back he explained everything to her clearly and simply. It was awesome. I was so proud of him.

 

Time is short.

 

Love Elder Thomas

Dear Sister Bassett,

Here are a few miracles for this week.

1) Last Saturday we had a baptism (btw that's 2 baptisms in a transfer. That's something that hasn't happened in a long time and we have more on the way.) for an investigator named Chris. He was very prepared and very solid. Coming close to the baptism his Mom was nervous about him being baptised because it was so fast. She wanted to wait for a year, but she realized Chris is 18 and should choose for himself. So planned the baptism, but the day before we heard that his Dad had to work that day and couldn't be there. Never the less, Chris wanted to do it. While getting everything prepared, low and behold there is his dad at the baptism. That was cool.

2) last night because we were so far from our apartment and because we didn't have a dinner that day, we ate at burger king. Trying to keep everything cheap.A group of teenagers walked in and ordered their food and also applying for work. Then one of them started asking some questions. She had a belief in God but did understand the bible. We explained that God loves her and has rules that he wants to bless us with. Specifically she was asking about lesbianism. After her questions, her friend came over and started talking to us and said he really wants to change his life around because he now has a daughter (he is 19). He had some concerns, but we told him that he has the agency and God will help him. Then we committed him to meet with the local missionaries. By the end of our conversation with him he seemed to have a better understanding and some questions of the soul answered.

Time is short and only enough time for those 2 miracles but know we are seeing many miracles.

Love Elder Thomas

Hey Sister Bassett!

   This last week has felt like a miracle to me, so I just wanted to tell you about it...Sister Brox and I found 7 new investigators this last week and I know its because of our commitment to talk to at least 20 people a day. I'm not sure if on a normal day we even see 20 people during the time that we are in our area, so we had to pray for many more people to come into our path. We were blessed with tons and tons of people to talk to! It was incredible to me that we actually were able to get over 140 tti's for the week. So anyway, we found 7 new investigators, which I don't think I've ever done in a week before. I believe that it is a direct result of trying to talk to everyone. It is the best feeling when Heavenly Father really does pour you out a blessing that you don't have room enough to receive-actually I know that Heavenly Father is always pouring out blessings upon us, we just have to want to receive them.

                       Love, Sister Dorius

B

Sister Bassett,

 

We had a great miracle this past week that I wanted you to know about! This past week Elder Woolf and Elder McBride and I were at our church building taking care of a few things. While the other elders were busy, I took a quick break on the couch in the foyer. I pulled out a payday (it was bad I know) and started eating it. I looked out the front doors and saw a red van drive by slowly. Then I felt an impression that the person in that van wanted to come inside. I put the candy bar away and waited. A Native American lady came up to the front door, and I opened it for her. She then Introduced herself, "Hi, my name is Debbie Scott. I have been meeting with Elder Weight and Elder Tolman in Mesa and feel that I should come over here to this ward. I really want to meet with the Elders and be baptized." I felt the spirit really strong. Then Elder McBride and Elder Woolf came up and we talked to her for a few minutes. We set up a lesson with her for later that night. While we taught her, we set a baptism date for  the end February. She then came to church this past Sunday.

 

This was just one of the many that we saw this past week!! Thanks for all you do.

 

Elder Imlah

Dear Sister Bassett,

 

Here are a couple of miracles that are happening.

 

It's a miracle how many investigators we had show up to sacrament meeting. We have never gotten 5 people and now this last Sunday there were exactly 5 investigators. Including 1 that I didn't expect to show up whose name is Emmanuel. He is 9 years old, nearly 10. His Dad is a convert but is having some struggles with his testimony but he came to Church. It was great.

 

Another miracle is yesterday after our lesson with an awesome investigator named Chris, (He has a baptism date for the 6th of February) I had accidentally lost my keys. After searching for a few minuets, we decided to pray. 1 min latter my companion found them. It showed Chris just how much God is willing to help us even if it's as simple as praying for some lost keys.

 

Hope you re doing well.

 

Love Elder Thomas

From Elder Jenkins:

we expect miracles.

after all we are the miracle mission. we baptized 1203 people this  

year, a 32%increase from last year. it's great. our  

mission is very unified and we share our miracles because there are  

hundreds of them every day.

so back to our miracle.

we had been praying to find someone who was prepared to receive this  

gospel. we were in much need, considering we were left with 5  

investigators when we got here. we are up to more now, but we still  

needed the lord's help. we asked a member if they knew of anyone we  

could go visit two weeks ago, and he told us a name. we went and  

visited them with him and only the guy, kyle, was there.

kyle's wife is a member but less active. we sat down like every  

other lesson, and as usual we got to know him and things. then we  

asked him what he expected to get out of our visits with him, (one  

of the skills learned in ZC) much to our surprise, he literally said,

"i would like to be baptized the middle of next month, then

eventually be sealed in the temple to my sweet wife."

if we had not asked him we would have never known.

i am thankful for inspired leaders and the lord preparing people for

us.

he tells us

"and i will go before your face..." he did. and he prepared kyle to

hear this gospel. not only that, he already knew he needed to quit

smoking, and he was already planning on it. GOLDEN!

we set a date for his baptism feb 13th. he already had a book of

mormon, and he reads it regularly.

i dare you to tell me miracles don't exist, because your wrong if

you think they don't.

love forever

elder jenkins

mas miracles

Sister Bassett 
     This weekend was amazing. We had a marriage/baptism in our branch of Juan Carlos Ocampo. Also the same day I had the chance to go down to Mesa and baptize someone, Juan Rameriz, who I was teaching. Both have amazing stories.
1st. Juan Carlos Ocampo. He got married and baptized. His wife didn't really listen; she wasn't too interested. But something happened. She has seen big changes in her husband, and really felt the spirit at the baptism. Now she wants to meet with us. She already said that she wants to go to church every Sunday. With the support that she will get from her husband, there will be nothing stopping her from being baptized shortly, just her own will.
2nd. Juan Rameriz just got baptized. He is one who I have seen the biggest change in. When Elder Matsunaga and I were togeather, we TTIed him, and started to teach him. That was in July. He was progressing well, with a baptism date and all, but then shortly after moved to New York to work in the apple orchards. He said that he would return in December, and I just thought, "Well, whoever the missionaries are when that comes around, sure will be lucky." For me, that seemed like forever away. But when december rolled around, I was still there, in the same area We found him again, started to teach him, and he now has an amazing testimony of how the gospel has blessed his life. I have never seen someone so happy, or so giddy. It's truly amazing.
These are just two from this past week. And both people should be talking at the next charla foganera.
Elder Gleaves

Dear Sister Bassett

This week's miracle is from last Sunday. We were having a hard time finding people to teach. We set a goal to teach a good number of lessons. We didn't know what we could do, becasue it was Saturday morning. Most of our investigators weren't home. Then at church, 3 of our investigators showed up. One wanted a lesson right after church. Then we taught two other investigators, because their ride was staying later then expected. Then later that night, we taught another one more person. By the time we went in that week, we were only 1 lesson short of having our goal. Thank you for encouraging me to tell my district about these.
Love Elder Thomas

We Expect Miracles

This is an excerpt a missionary shared from his last letter home:


We expect miracles. After all we are the miracle mission. We baptized 1203 people this year. Our mission is very unified, and we share our miracles because there are hundreds of them every day.
So back to our miracle.
We had been praying to find someone who was prepared to recieve this gospel. We were in much need considering we were left with 5 investigators when we got here. We are up to more now but we still needed the Lord's help. We asked a member if they knew of anyone we could go visit. That was two weeks ago, and he told us a name. We went and visited them with him and only the guy was there named Kyle.
Kyle's wife is a member but less active. We sat down like we do in every other lesson, and as usual we got to know him. Then we asked him what he expected to get out of our visits with him (part of our zone conference training). Much to our surprise, he literally said, "I would like to be baptized the middle of next month. Then eventually be sealed in the temple to my sweet wife."
If we had not asked him we would have never known. I am thankful for inspired leaders and the Lord preparing people for us. He tells us, "and i will go before your face..." He did. And He prepared Kyle to hear this gospel. Not only that, he already knew he needed to quit smoking, and he was already planning on it. GOLDEN!
We set a date for his baptism on Feb 13th. He already had a Book of Mormon, and he reads it regularly.
I dare you to tell me miracles don't exist, because your wrong if you think they don't.
love forever
elder jenkins

A White Christmas

January 2009, ZLC

We had such a great group of zone leaders. They were so diligent, obedient and all full of faith. I watched as they discussed possible goals for the year. I remember how bold they were. They set a goal to help find the 1200 prepared people out there and help them make their way to the waters of baptism. It was a lofty goal, a significant increase from the previous year, but they knew the Lord would help them do it. And I watched. All year long I watched.

We've always had great missionaries, and I watched as they grew and built on the faith of the missionaries before them. We went through training blitz. We practiced teaching skills and learned together how to better develop Christlike attributes.  The mission as a whole began to better at accounting for the goals they were setting. We worked at making sure we were teaching people/not lessons and preparing them to understand the significance of the baptismal covenant. And we prayed. We prayed, and we prayed. And we worked. Things started changing in a miraculous way. Our transfer standard of excellence was to help 140 people every 6 weeks make those baptismal covenants. That was a stretch, but then people started popping up everywhere; people that had heard of the restoration and wanted to know more; people that had met with missionaries a year ago or two or three and now were ready; members' hearts started to be touched. Eventually that 'standard of excellence' wasn't something to stretch for, it was happening, consistently. By summer, we were finding 100's of people and many of them were progressing. Every transfer from that time forward was in excess of 160 people. We were getting close to realizing that goal from so many months before.

(insert slide show here...I need pictures of people who were baptized! Send me some please!)

3 Months before the end of the year, we were close to being on track to reach our goal, but Christmas is a very busy time in our mission with the added responsibilities of Christmas Lights at the temple. We met with the Zone Leaders again.  Their faith led them to set a new goal for the end of the year to help us stretch even farther. The goal they were talking about reminded me of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. Realizing this goal would let each of them know it could only have been accomplished with the help of the Lord. There was no way we could do it alone. They decided to hold a mission wide fast. We were asking for miracles. We were working for a White Christmas in the desert. Instead of snow, 100's of people dressed in white. Our gift to the Savior. Wether it was the white of baptism or the white of the temple, we were going to find all those the Lord had prepared and help them come closer to Him. What does a White Christmas look like?

I wish words could explain it to you. We fasted and prayed, then exercised our faith through obedient and dedicated service to the God we love. We testified of Jesus Christ and the power of His Atonement. We invited people to come to Him. And together, we watched for miracles. We talked about them and shared them with each other. And the more we began to acknowledge the hand of God in our work and lives, the greater the strength of our vision.

At the end of the year, over 1200 people entered the waters of baptism. Many others renewed their dedication to Christ with new commitments to serve Him and prepare to go to the temple. And we know that we have only scratched the surface.

January 2010, ZLC

Knowing the power of God and understanding the work to which we have jointly been called, the zone leaders set a new goal. A goal that will continue to stretch the missionaries that serve here. One that will bless them all their lives. But more importantly, one that will restore 1500 children of God to a knowledge of who they are, who God is and allow them to draw closer to Him each day through covenants.
We love ALL our missionaries, those that serve with us now, those that will come shortly, and especially those who have completed their service here and gone home to continue their life long missions to return to their Father. We love you all and are forever grateful for your faith and patience and love. And prayers. May you continue to do those things that will help you feel close to Him. Have a wonderful New Year, where ever you are all over the world.
President & Sister Bassett