"Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do, long after the mood you said it in has left you." George R. Zalucki
Hey Sister Bassett,
At the beginning of December, Sister Reed and I had been trying to think of pictures that we could take and send home on our Christmas card. We decided in front of an orange tree would be a lot of fun since citrus doesn't grow like that back home in Utah.
Near one of our recent convert's home are some nice orange trees. When we were there for an appointment, we got out to take a few quick pictures. Well none of them were working out like we wanted them to, and I felt like we were wasting time. So I said a prayer and told Heavenly Father that we were sorry and asked Him to help us take a good a good picture so that we could get back to work. Just as I said those things, a car pulled up and the passenger hollered "Hey, are you the missionaries?" We went up to the car, not quite sure what to think, and said yes. He then said his name was Kevin, that he just moved into the area and wanted to know what time church started so that he could go. We asked him if he was a member and he said no but he has talked to a lot of missionaries before and wanted to go to church to see what it was all about.
Kevin wasn't able to make it to church that week but we began meeting with him. Within that week, we set a baptismal date with him in our third visit with him while teaching the plan of salvation. He came to church the following two weeks and is scheduled for baptism on this Saturday, the 16th.
Oh and when he pulled over he also asked what we were doing. We explained we were trying to get a good picture to send home for our families for Christmas. So he offered to take it for us, and we got the best one out of the bunch. I love how Heavenly Father answers some of the simplest of prayers.
See you tomorrow at Zone Conference!
Love you!
Sister Tara Morton
Hello Sister Bassett,
It has been a neat experience reflecting on all the miracles I have seen since we have fasted as a mission. What keeps coming to my mind is how I have been so blessed as a missionary to have taught the G____ family. Anna and Noe are the parents of 5 boys. We recieved Anna as a referral sometime in October. We began just teaching Anna, and then we were able to set up a time to teach the whole family. The lessons were going great. The boys were always fighting over whose turn it was to pray. We saw their progression in the gospel, but I think the real miracle came when Sis Tuioti and I recieved an answer to their prayers through a member.
We went over to visit Anna one morning. She was upset, because she had to send her boys to school without breakfast. Tears filled her eyes as she explained the difficult situation they were in with unemployment. We reassured her and tried to comfort her. Throughout that day they were in our thoughts and prayers. We tried to get a hold of people who we think could help with food but we didn't hear back from anyone. Then at about 7 that night, we recieved a phone call from a member in a different ward. She asked us if we had dinner yet and if we were hungry. We told her that we already had dinner and asked her why. She then told us that she cooked dinner that night but then her husband brought dinner home, and they didn't want a hot meal to go to waste. She called around the ward and asked about 10 families if they needed dinner that night. All of them declined the offer. Then the impression came to her to call the missionaries. As she explained this, my heart filled with joy as I knew who exactly could use that meal. So I asked Sister Brown if we could take the dinner to a family that could really use it. Of course she said yes. When we picked up the dinner, much to our surprise, Sister Brown had a few more bags of food she had cleared from her pantry. An answer to our prayers!! 
We took the food over to the G____'s, and they were filled with so much joy. Anna and Noe both expressed gratitude, and we couldn't help but watch the boys get so excited about the fruit snacks and other tasty treats. That week was a huge motivator for this family. We set a baptismal date with them. Anna, Noe and their oldest son all got baptized together. They are strong members of the church already. Noe has expressed the desire to share his testimony in church several times and has been ordained as a priest. He looks forward to baptizing their son Jonathan in April. Also as a result we are now teaching Anna's nieces, Bianca and Crystal who live with them now. They are schedule to be baptized this saturday.
Of course there have been many other miracles that I would love to share. Minutes are running out here at the library so if you would like me to share a few more let me know.
Thanks for all you do Sister Bassett. You are amazing!! (I love it when they say that!)
Sister Tara Morton
Dear Sister Bassett,
I recorded this in my journal on Saturday, the 21 November: "The miracle for me today...was the lesson we had with a woman named Patricia. We met Patricia through a member that the Elders (Benson and Derochie) had met in a dinner appointment and then had referred to us. That lesson was one of the most powerful, spiritual lessons I feel that I have had in my mission. She was just so...prepared, I suppose I would say. She hungered after the message of the restoration and even told us Joseph Smith's story back to us (without invitation) after we had explained it. We invited her to pray, and even though she was nervous and anxious to do it, she did and toward the end of her prayer, began to speak with a great deal of emotion. With tears in her eyes as she closed the prayer, she said after we asked what she was feeling: 'I feel...this peace. I feel...beautiful.' She looked at us with a piercing gaze and, with The Book of Mormon outstretched toward us in her hands, said "I need this peace. I need these things. My children need to feel these things. I want to be a good mother. I want to be a good wife to my husband. I want to be a good person.'"
We left and said a prayer in the car in thanks for the miracles that God has been pouring out upon us, for that miracle is only one of thousands more that we have seen in these few short days. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve again with a dear friend and fellowservant in the work, and for the time that we have to do something about the miracles that God is sending to us. I know that they are not for our benefit alone, but for us to bless the lives of others.
Elder R
*To receive your own copy of The Book of Mormon" visit mormon.org
When I was 14 or 15, I had a teacher that prided himself on being a thinker. We had some enlightening discussions in his classroom. He helped me ask some great questions that led to tremendous answers that still guide me today. We agreed on many things, but were at odds on a few. One of them was religion. I had a lot of respect for this man, but it amazed me that someone who claimed to be open minded was blind to just how closed minded he was when it came to God. He was always challenging my faith. He considered my beliefs to be a sign of my weakness. His claim was that unless it could be acknowledged by the 5 senses, there was no proof that God existed. I struggled as a young person to help him understand that he was limiting his understanding to what he had personally experienced, cutting himself off from other possibilities. The best that I could do was to try and help him understand how I knew; that things of the spirit could only be understood and perceived by the spirit. Years later, I still don't have a better answer to this one fundamental question, but I face the same dilemma. This blog is dedicated to preserving stories and experiences of missionaries in the Arizona Mesa Mission both during and after their formal missions. Some stories are fun and light hearted, but others are of a spiritual nature. The blog forum is so convenient, yet the format is limiting. There is more to these words than letters on a page. To truly understand the messages requires not only an open mind, but a soft heart.
After all, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a Heaven for?- Robert Browning"
At the beginning of December, Sister Reed and I had been trying to think of pictures that we could take and send home on our Christmas card. We decided in front of an orange tree would be a lot of fun since citrus doesn't grow like that back home in Utah.
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