September 7, 2010

Elder Mace Returns!!!!

On September 6th, 2010  Kassie and Joe were able to visit Jason at the mission home in Scottsdale, AZ before Jason returned home.  This took special permission from the Mission President as Kassie and Joe had to leave to return to Idaho for school.  They were able to spend approx. 1 1/2 hours with Jason!  Below are some of the pictures they sent to us.....

September 7th, Elder Mace arrived at the Phoenix airport for his 2 hour non stop flight home.  Little did he know this was about to be the longest flight of his life.   In the meantime, his family checked the internet and saw that his flight had taken off and would arrive on time. So off we left for the hour drive to the airport.  With signs in hand, we arrived at the airport all excited to meet Jason.   Little did we know, thanks to a tropical storm, the airport was closed, and Jason flight was diverted to Austin.  There he sat in the airplane for 5 extra hours.  So, we sat at the airport waiting.....

After  waiting at the airport for 5 long hours, his plane finally arrived!
We were a little tired, but still excited to see him arrive!!!

He was able to meet his new nephew for the 1st time....





Then we grabbed a quick bite to eat, before we had to meet
with the Stake President to be released....

we finally got home at 8:03 pm....  A very long day, but well worth the wait!

Last pictures sent from the mission field today...

Last Baptism in the mission field

August 28, 2010

His last zone in Snow Flake, AZ

August 31, 2010

Well today's emails came with bitter sweetness....  This is our 100th posting to Jason's blog, and his last email as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  One week from now Elder Mace will be home and released from his mission.  
    His "family" email was short today, as he took the time to email us each of us individually.  Which I will not post to this blog as they were personal for each of us.  Jason has grown tremendously these last two years and he is very grateful that he was able to serve our Heavenly Father in the great land of Mesa Arizona.  A true witness to those who are waiting for calls to the mission field, that the Lord truly knows where you are needed.   Elder Mace accomplished so much while serving in Scottsdale, Mesa (two different areas), Central Phoenix, Apache Junction, and finishing up in Snow Flake.  What a great blessing it was to our family to have Jason serve so diligently!  We are so proud of him! 
    Through out his mission, many things happened in our home, that would have given him many chances to just decide that he was going to quit and come home.  Starting with Hurricane Ike that came just after entering the MTC.  Then not ONE but TWO of his sisters got married.  (And Jason is VERY close to his sisters, so we know this was very hard for him to miss out on).  He was very concerned for months about his sister Kellie and the medical issues she was going through.  And to top it off, as soon as Kellie's surgery was over, he got news that his dad was seriously ill and would be in the hospital for 81 long days.  Still Jason moved on.  Never giving up!  And the Lord blessed him by keeping him extremely busy.  Oh and of course, He even became an Uncle! 
   There were also some very personal experiences that our family went through, that I'm sure broke Jason's heart, but still, he knew he had to keep going.  And he and our family was blessed for his dedication and service.  We are so grateful for his service and his willingness to endure to the end.  Jason's life has been
changed for the good!

    Here is the short email we received that we will share....

I love you all and hope you each got my email. I don't have time to give you a report of my week, but a quick update:

 

Damon and Dillon were baptized. It was a great experience for the family.

 

(The girl) is still struggling with her family's support. But she's still strong and "bearing with patience [her] adversity." Things will work out.

 

We have three baptisms still set for September, but all for after I come home.

 

I'll miss the mission a lot, but I love you all and I am looking forward to seeing you all. I'll give you a VIVID report when I come home.

 

I have to go now. Don't bother to try to email me, 'cause I won't get it.

 

Love you.

Elder Jason Mace

August 24, 2010

Hey family!

It sounds like life is as interesting as ever. :-)

Mom: I am really bad at looking ahead when I email! I'm really sorry, but I did remember your birthday. So Happy Late Birthday! . . . . It's not quite the same. . .. :-(

Dad: I am most certainly planning on doing Tae Kwon Do when I get back. And tell Addison that I would be SUPER happy to go with her to the ocean nationals. Heck, I might even compete (and thus lose because I am terrible now) just for the heck of it. It's probably mostly just an excuse so that I can wear my Tae Kwon Do uniform all day. That would be awesome.

And I'm excited to talk to Kassie and Joe soon.

But I am really having a hard time comprehending the idea of me leaving the mission. I don't understand how some missionaries get trunky, stop working, and want to come home. I mean, I love you all a ton and I really want to see you all soon and give you all massively big hugs. . . . But I don't want to leave. There is too much to do here, and too many people that I care about. It's like I'll be leaving my family here behind when I leave. We've had some crazy times, especially this last week, and through it all my love for the people that we've been teaching has really increased. I almost wish I could just get really homesick so that leaving here wouldn't be so painful. I don't know. But I do love you all and I'm excited to see you soon.

My week has been by far the hardest week of my mission. This is kind of a long story, but I wanted to fill you in:

I told you a while back about a person we're teaching. She was introduced to the church by a friend of hers. Her parents are both members, but both are not active.  With her dad's permission,   she started meeting with us. She's probably the most solid and sincere person that I have ever taught on my mission. As we taught her, she began to ask some amazing questions and she has been very diligent about reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. In not much time, she received a witness from God that it's all true, and that she needs to follow it. She has a great desire to be baptized, but lacked the courage to ask her mom....

We suggested that we should meet with her parents-- first her dad, then her mom and dad together. But her dad refused to talk to us (in fact he avoided us). And so it became apparent that she would have to do it on her own. That's always really hard on me when I can't help or do things for the people we are teaching. I could see how hard this would be for her, but I couldn't do anything to help. As I pondered what to do, the Lord inspired me to set a goal  for her to be baptized. I didn't understand why or how, but I knew I shouldn't doubt. As I studied, I came across a story that I felt would help. Last Wednesday we taught her and shared the story from the Old Testament about courage. Moses comes to the promised land and sends twelve men to spy on the land.

 Numbers 13:

17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan . . . 

  18 And see the land. . .  and the people. . .  whether they be strong or weak, few or many;

  19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;. . .

  25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

  26 And they went and came to Moses . . .

  27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it ^afloweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

  28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are ^awalled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

  29 The ^aAmalekites dwell in the land of the ^bsouth: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

  30 And ^aCaleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

  31 But the ^amen that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. . .

  33 And there we saw the ^agiants. . . .

Numbers 14:

6 ¶ And ^aJoshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:

  7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.

  8 If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.

  9 Only ^arebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: ^bfear them not.

After the lesson, we set a goal for her to be baptized on Sept 4th. We felt inspired to promise that, if she would ask her mom, everything would work out. That was not Elder Mace saying something that sounded good, that was an inspired promise from a loving Heavenly Father to one of His children. She was excited, but nervous about talking to her mom. On the car ride home with her mom, she remembered me saying that there would never really be a good time, so she got up the courage, turned to her mom and began explaining what was going on and how she felt. We had previously been fasting and praying that her mom's heart would be softened and that everything would work out. But her mom was not very supportive. She told her she couldn't support the decision..... She asked her mom to stop talking bad about the church because that's what she believed in. Her dad also seems to have withdrawn his support, and her older brother and sister are giving her a hard time over everything. I don't think I have ever fasted so hard, prayed so often, cried so much, or lost so much sleep over anything before in my life. It's been a tough week on everyone. But as Caleb and Joshua taught, the Lord is with us. I trust the promise the Lord gave in our last lesson. It will all work out.

We have a baptism coming up this week, which is a miracle in and of itself. Damon and Dillon are two kids who have been taught by missionaries for years, but they and their  family have never shown much desire apparently. But now they are doing great. They've been coming to church, reading the scriptures, praying as a family, and they're amazing. I am really excited for them.

We recently started teaching another guy. He's awesome. His parents are members, but they stopped going to church when he was 2 years old. Last night we taught the Plan of Salvation, and invited him to be baptized, and as if he were already expecting it, he said yes. Wow. He's a sharp young man. :-)

We've been blessed with new people to teach, and we set a lot of baptism dates. Things are going well, and we're getting through the trials.

I don't tell you all enough, but I really love you all and I thank you for your support on my mission so far. I know without a doubt that this is where I need to be, and what I need to be doing. Jesus Christ lives. He loves each of us individually, and knows our circumstances. He wants us to be happy, and can make even the worst pain bearable. This is His church and His gospel. Thank you for helping me come. Thank you for always being supportive of my decisions, whatever they were. Thank you for being there for me. I love you all.

Love,
Jason Mace

Oh, and Elder D called and gave me some bike mailing information. So I'm on top of that. I just need the address and info on how to mail it. Love you all.

August 17, 2010

Hey family!

 

How is everyone doing? I'm on late again today because we went to the temple this morning, and then we all got together and had a zone activity. It was really fun, we went to one our our bishop's-- Bishop Willis-- to go through their corn maze. Oh, yes, a corn maze! And then we had lunch afterward. So now I finally get to email you all.

 

First of all, to answer the bike question. I not really sure what to do with my faithful bike. To ship the bike home it will cost $70. I'll go ahead and do what ever you'd like my to.

 

And that is really strange that Phillip and Michael come home almost a year before I do. It's the darn-dest thing. But that's pretty crazy that their coming home soon. Time goes by quick, for sure.

 

It's been getting really hot up here, which is sad because this is SNOWFLAKE!!! I thought that I left Mesa and the heat behind! But it's been close to 100 degrees a couple of days this week, and one day I think it got all the way there. Lucky we're on bikes, huh? . . . But despite the intense heat, we found a ton of new people to teach this last week, which is a miracle in and of itself. This coming week we have over thirty lessons planned (already!), not including dinner appointments of course. That's amazing for the area. We're really excited by the sudden increase in work, or in other words blessings.

 

On Wednesday we taught a guy, who is a 70-ish year old man who's wife passed away in April. It's kind of a sad situation. He's been lonely and depressed since he lost his wife. He told us about how he often goes to casinos to get away. We taught him a little bit. He wasn't incredibly open to learning about things like the plan of salvation (ironic, because that's exactly what would help him-- understanding where his wife is at and how he can be with her again). But hopefully as he continues to learn he will be able to allow Christ to help him more in his life.

 

Another one was an absolute miracle. There is a family in our area that we started teaching on Saturday. Jena is a member of the church, but her husband Zack is not, and doesn't beleive in God or religion. Jena wants to start coming back to church, and so we asked if we could meet with her and she agreed. Her husband wasn't interested. Jena talked to him and finally convinced him to sit in on our visit to just give it a try. And the lesson went great. They're both awesome, and even Zack showed a great desire to follow God (turn's out he does have a least a little faith) and do what's right. What a miracle that we found them!

 

We also started teaching a guy named Josh. Here is an interesting story for you. Josh recently was baptized in Show Low, which is a city near Snowflake, but it's in the Arizona Tempe Mission. Josh just moved to Snowflake to live with his aunt for a while. His aunt found us and asked us if we would go by and teach him all over again, because his understanding of the gospel was limited. We went by and met with Josh, and he is an amazing young man. (he's 19.) The missionaries in Tempe visited him, but they didn't really teach him. They apparently just came and hung out and shared some brief messages that Josh didn't understand very well. Josh still had a desire to do what was right, and so he read the Book of Mormon like the missionaries asked and prayed to know if it and the church are true. The answer came, and he was baptized, faithfully following the direction he recieved from God.......  Oh. . . . Anyway. . . .

 

We are getting ready for a baptism in our area a week from Saturday. Damon and Dillon will be getting baptized. Damon is 12, Dillon is 11. Their parents are members of the church, but haven't been going to church for a long time. Missionaries have been working on them for a while-- like three or four years on and off-- and they never came to church or anything. But by some amazing miracles, the family is now excited. They've been coming to church. They've been reading their scriptures. They've been praying. And now they are preparing for baptism. Wow.

 

I'm not really sure what else to tell you all about. . . . Other than that, everything is about the same as always. The work moves foreward.

 

Thanks for all you've done for me.

I love you all,

 

Elder Jason Mace

 

P.S. Tell Ally and 'Lisha I said kick hard. :-)

P.S.S. And tell Brady I said good luck. The MTC is probably the best place on earth. Right next to Mesa, Arizona (and Scottsdale, Phoenix, Apache Junction, and Snowflake).

P.S.S.S. I just wanted to add another one of these. ;-)

August 10, 2010

Hey family!

 

How is everything going? I enjoyed the pictures of Camren eating the green beans. But the poor child doesn't realize that he's eating vegetables! Someone really needs to give him deep fried Cheerios quickly! Otherwise-- for the rest of his life-- he might eat. . . . healthy things! *shudder* Don't worry, uncle Elder Mace is coming to save you because aunt Kaydee's not doing her job right! ;-)

 

I got your package, by the way, on August 4th. Perfect timing. :-) Of course I waited until the 5th to open it. My companion thought I lost it, waiting to open a package. Anyway, thank you so much. I haven't had a chance to make the cakes yet, but I am planning on it. Who would be crazy enough to eat something that I make, I don't know-- I might have to make them think someone else made it-- but I am planning on it. Maybe for district meeting a week from tomorrow.

 

And Addison got baptized! I still can't believe she's that old. Oh, wait! How old is Logan now?! Please tell Addie that I said congratulations and she's awesome, if you didn't already.

 

Yesterday was Zone Conferrence with President Ellsworth. It was our first real zone conferrence with him, and it was great. I can see how the mission will continue to progress under his direction. The work will move forward even faster now with some of the new things that will be happening. One of the main things that we talked about was love, and showing our love for everyone like the Savior would if He were here.

 

At the end of Zone Conference, all of the missionaries that are going home share their testimonies. Since it was just the Snowflake zone that was there, there was only one missionary in the zone going home. Guess who that was? . . . . Me. Before that it hadn't really hit me that I am going home soon. But it hit me like a ton of bricks at that point. Of course I almost started crying; I've gotten emotional in my old age, apparently.

 

This week was amazing, too, in the sheer number of miracle that we saw. It was really crazy. We found new people that we will start teaching soon, a lot of them we found in some really crazy ways. One was a random house we knocked on, the occupant of which happened to be a member, and she happened to know one of her neighbors that might be interested. She had meant to tell us about him for months, but never did. Turns out her neighbor was interested.

 

We also had some people that we are teaching come to church-- FINALLY-- after we've been trying to convince them to come and give it a try for weeks.  And they had a great experience, which is the best part. Everything has really picked up this week. Hopefully the blessings and the miracles will continue to come. The Lord does his work well, that's all there is to it.

 

It rained a lot again this week, and the roads were SUPER muddy. My bike is now covered in mud and clay, and it has a flat tire. Wonderful. They just had to put a biking area up North. lol. It's been really fun to bike around in the rain, though.

 

And we played golf today, which is why we are a bit late getting online today. We had a group playing that was too big, so it went slow. . . . But it was fun anyway.

 

I know Elder Kunz a little bit. I don't know the other one, and probably won't now, lol. Speaking of missionaries from Houston, yesterday Elder Coffman came back to visit the mission and his old areas. :-) He's from Katy.

 

So that's about all for my week. Or at least that all I have time for, 'cause I gotta go.

 

Love you all,

Elder Jason Mace

August 3, 2010

Hey family!

 

How is everything going? Thank you for all the emails this week. The big 21 is coming up, huh?

 

Anyway, I got a letter from the mission office a few days ago informing me of my flight information, so I brought it with me to tell you about it, but I guess you already got all of that. lol. I'm was surprised to see that I was flying into Bush airport rather than Hobby. (I don't even know where the bush airport is anymore, but I know it's not as close, lol. I can drive right to the Phoenix airport, though. lol.) But that's alright. I was just surprised to see flight plans come in the mail. Speaking of which, I decided that from now on they should NOT repeat NOT send that to missionaries. There really is no reason for me to know my flight plans, it just makes me home sick. They should just send that stuff to the missionaries families and let the missionaries know about it when they show up at the mission office to go home. Why do I need to know what time I leave and what flight and all that stuff more then a month ahead of time? Anyway, enough of that. . . .

 

Libby Lee is FOUR? What?! When did that happen? Everyone is so grown up now. I probably won't recognize anyone. Tell Addison that I said a VERY VERY VERY VERY SPECIAL CONGRATULATIONS on her baptism this Sunday! That's super exciting. And tell Logan that if she wants to drive the three and a half hours to snowflake from Phoenix, I would be happy to keep my eyes open for her. lol.

 

Well, this has been an interesting week. It's rained a lot, thus I've been rained on a lot. lol. The temperatures have actually been really nice, though. Not too hot, and because of all the rain, we've had a good deal of humidity, which I am LOVING because it's sooooooooooooooooooooooooo dry in Arizona. Everyone here complains about it, so I get a good laugh out of it, too. My poor companion from Idaho hasn't seen humidity a day in his life, apparently, so he's suffering. But again, I love it.

 

And we have been really blessed with people to teach this week. We've had a hard time finding new people to teach lately, so everythings been struggling as a consequence. But the Lord blessed us a lot this week.

 

About six weeks ago elder Lerwill and I talked to a guy named Shawn, and he said that we were welcome to come by and visit with him. We got his address, and went by but couldn't catch him. After a while we gave up, thinking he gave us a fake address (that happens sometimes) because no one was ever at the apartment that he said he lived in. Well, a week ago we were going to another appartment and we saw a light on in Shawn's apartment. Elder Lerwill and I were shocked and obviously we knocked on the door to see if it was Shawn. A guy answered the door, and after talking with him it turned out it was him (I couldn't recongize him after a month and a half). He was busy but we set up a time to come by and talk to him and his girl friend.

 

We went by on the day that we had set up, and wouldn't you know it, no one was home. . . . We were really discouraged, but we left a note on the door and went with a member to drive around and make some other visits. While we were driving, we stopped and talked to some people who were walking around along the way. As we were talking to someone, I looked over and saw Shawn mowing someones lawn. I jumped out and talked to him. He apologized for not being home, and reset a time for us to go by. We did go by, and he and his girl friend were there and the visit went great. They're awesome. It took a lot a miracles to help us get to teach them, but we finally got there.

 

And we had a similar thing happen with another guy. We went by to teach him, he wasn't there, but we caught him later and had a great lesson anyway. Miracles. If there is one thing that I've learned, it's what's in Mormon 9:16-17

15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.

16 Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God?

I've seen lots of miracles. I guess those verses are kind of the unofficial theme of the mission.

 

Speaking of, funny story. We were out making visits a few nights ago, and we ran into some older members of the 6th ward. They invited us in for a minute, and we shared a message with them. I shared the story of Alma and the Zoromites in Alma chapters 31-32 (surmrised, of course) and talked about how the Lord prepare people. And then the sister said that it reminded her of a story that she had heard recently in a talk in sacrament meeting that impressed her, and she wanted to share it. It shocked me when she suddenly started sharing the story of me tracting in Scottdale, when I ran into Ceanna. When she finished the story (she left out some of the best parts, but that's okay) she started trying to figure out who it was that had told that story. I didn't want to say "that was me!" and sound prideful because she was just saying how it impressed her. "I think he was a returned missionary. . . " my companion and her started trying to figure out who it was, and then she said "No! It was a missionary who's companion was sick!" My companion finally figured out that she was talking about me, and that I wasn't telling her, and we changed the subject. But it was really funny, and really neat that something I said in a talk stuck out to someone who heard it. When I gave that talk, I wasn't planning on sharing that story, but I felt prompted to at the end, and so I did. I always choke up a little when I tell that story (I'm getting emotional in my old age ;-]).

 

But that's been about my week. Teaching has slowed down a little bit, but miracles have not.

No box yet, but I did get Kellie's letter a week ago. :-) Yay!

 

And trunkyness leads to laziness, which leads to apostacy, which leads to outer-darkness. See? Where do you want me to end up? lol.

 

I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Uncle Elder Jason Mace

 

P.S. I love you Camren!      o( ^ _ ^ )o

July 27, 2010

***  After this email, we chatted about his coming home plans...  no decision has been made yet as to if Rick and I will fly out to get him or not.  He still has NOT heard anything about coming home plans yet, so we are all still in the dark.  Only thing we decide was that some how,  He wants to somehow visit with Kassie & Joe in AZ before he comes home. So I will be talking with the Mission President at some point in the future to see how we can get that arranged.....

Hola familia!

How is everyone doing this week? Things are going good here. My gracious companion and Zone leader have been reminding me ALL WEEK that this is my last transfer. . . . How kind. . . . Elder Hilton (our zone leader) stayed with us all week because, like I mentioned last week, his companion Elder Jenkins is an assistant down in Scottsdale, now. It's been interesting trying to help him get member companions arranged and worrying about our own area as well. But we all survived the week and now he is on his way to Scottsdale to get his new companion.

Anyway. Does anyone care to hear about transfer news? Oh yes!

There are a lot of exciting things happening, so brace yourselves. I am staying a district leader in snowflake, and I am keeping my companion, Elder Lerwill. Yeah, nothing changed. But they created a new district in the zone, so now my district has been cut in half. I went from having the largest district in the mission to a small district of us and two other companionships. Oh well. Other than that, nothing has changed for me.

To answer mom and dad's emails, I haven't heard anything about going home yet. They don't have a fireside in this mission like mom described in her email as far as I know. In our mission, on the last day in the mission (Monday Sept 6th) we should be going to the mission office for dinner with the mission president. That's about all that I know. No one has called or emailed me to ask about coming home plans, so I don't know. They probably will ask-- eventually-- if I plan on driving home of flying home. I'm not sure when they plan on getting a hold of me to find out, or if they will call you. . . . But as far as driving or flying, I don't care either way. On the one hand I wouldn't mind getting back to the family and friends quicker, but on the other hand I wouldn't mind introducing you to some of the amazing people that I've been able to work with. So whatever you want to do. And I definitely want to see Kassie and Joe in less than a year! I don't know what you can arrange for that, but I really want to see everyone (obviously). Joe doesn't really need school, does he? Just kidding. To sum up everything, I'm basically as lost and clueless about going home plans as everyone else.

This week we had Aaron's Baptism. That was great! He was really excited for it. Unfortunately, because of the big 24th of July celebrations, not many people turned out to support him at his baptism. But it was still a really good experience for him. I certainly felt the spirit there as we all participated. The person who was supposed to conduct didn't come, so I got to conduct the baptism, and that was a great experience as well.

Also in celebration of the 24th of July, the youth of the Snowflake and Taylor stakes put on a play called "What Power Shall Stay the Heavens?" A play about the life of Joseph Smith. It was alright for a play put on by a bunch of 12-18 year olds. It went twice a day from Wednesday to Sunday. We got to see is at least 4 times out of the 10 times that they showed the play, lol. On the last night we brought some people to watch the play, and it was completely packed! The only reason we got in was because they managed to jam some extra chairs into the theater in random places.

The 24th was crazy for us as well. The population of this small town quadruples (at least!) for the parades, rodeos, fairs, dances, plays, craft sales, reunions, etc. It's crazy. As missionaries we try to talk to everyone that we see. Good luck with that on the 24th here! There were huge mobs of people walking around. And then at night it cleared out, and then it just poured rain. Like Houston rain, and it actually lasted more than a few minutes. Luckily we were with Elder Hilton in his truck when it rained. ;-)

That's pretty much all of the most exciting things that happened this week.

I love you all,

Elder Jason Mace

July 20, 2010

Hello family!

How is everything going this week? Hopefully things are still going well. Sounds like Camren is having a bad week. You all should be nicer to him or something. . . . I'll save him when I get back. . . . in six months. . . . ;-) Poor baby boy. :-( He needs a deep fried, chocolate covered cherio. :-)    And it sounds like Kassie and Nathan did a great job on Sunday. I had to fill in some extra time the last time I spoke, too. But not quite that much extra time, lol. Kassie should have given part two of her talk after Nathan spoke. :-p

Anyway, I'm glad Snowflake, Arizona is popular enough to be in the movie "Saints and Soldiers." Whoever wrote it must have been here as a missionary as well. :-)

Anyway, funny story: Yesterday I was on exchanges with Elder Jenkins,  one of the Zone Leaders of the Zone. (Back in the day he was a district leader in my zone in Apache Junction.) Well, as we were heading out the door from dinner we got a phone call from President Ellsworth, who wanted to talk to Elder Jenkins. Elder Jenkins is the new assistant to the president. :-) We're now on exchanges with his companion elder Hilton until transfers on Tuesday, when he will get a new companion.

Speaking of which, next week is the last time I will email you with

--== TRANSFER NEWS ==--

So you should be on the edge if your seat for that. I can still end up in Argentina. You never know.

Now I'll tell you about my week.

So Aaron is getting baptized this Saturday, so that will be awesome. It will be tough because the 24th of July is Pioneer day, the day that Salt Lake City, Utah and Snowflake, Arizona were founded. People here take that day serious-- we're talking parades, rodeos, fairs, etc. And in the middle of all of that, we have Aaron's baptism schedualed. But luckily Aaron is a popular guy, and everyone really wants to come to his baptism, even if it means missing some of the celebration. I love the Snowflake 3rd ward. It's one of the best wards I've ever served in.

Aaron is really excited for his baptism, and so far everything is good to go.

We got some crazy rain this last week (for a desert it was crazy-- I haven't seen rain like it since I left Houston). Sunday night was the worst of it. Luckily, that night a member was nice enought to drive us around. During one of our lessons, we had just said the opening prayer and were about to start teaching the plan of Salvation when suddenly-- the power went out. . . . Of course. . . . We still taught it anyway. In the dark. :-)

On Friday we had zone developement meeting and our first interviews with president Ellsworth. Elder Lerwill and I were asked to give an hour training on effectively planning for the day. That's something that I think we do well, so it was a pretty easy training to give. We started out by walking up and pretending to plan wrong. It was pretty funny. Then we actually taught how to plan and demonstrated it. It was good.

And interviews with President Ellsworth were great. He was really personal and tried to get to know us as well as our areas. The more I work with him, the more impressed I am.

And finally, I went on exchanges with Elder Paiz and Elder Mesecher this last week. This was the last companionship in my district that I needed to go with. I went with Elder Paiz to his area, and his companion and mine worked in our area. It was a great exchange. Elder Paiz did an awesome job, so I was really impressed. My district is amazing, I gotta say.

Tomorrow is Distric Meeting, so I've got some great things planned. :-)

I think that's about it for me.

I love you all, and hope you have a great week.

Elder Jason Mace

of the Mesa, Oh-No mission

Pictures from the mission field

Love the little boys face! 
Is he excited to be baptized????

July 13, 2010

Ok, so I'm posting this hot off the press today! Jason is still online, but I needed to post this before I forget like I did last week! ENJOY!!!

Hey family!

How is everything going? Dad didn't email me this week, but that's 'cause there will be a long one next week I bet. ;-) lol. Same with Kaydee. And Kellie. And Kassie. (I still never got Kellie's card, BTW. . . .)

And from mom's email, it sounds like I might be able to get a job! Yay for Alex and his good working skills. :-) There may yet be hope for me.

Thanks for the picture, too. Nathan does look exactly the same, lol. And his mom STILL didn't know about us ditching and going to the candy store? lol. That's awesome-- I mean terrible. :-D I remember that like it was yesterday, Nathan walking in with the cup right after dad told him not to, and wouldn't you know it, a counselor in the bishopric is right there. You'll have to let me know how the homecoming talk goes. Oh, and I guess you can tell me how Kassie's goes, too. lol.

And guess who got to speak in church again this week? Yup, they wards are keeping us busy here. Brother Mills of the Snowflake 6th ward called and asked is Elder Lerwill and I would speak on Sunday. We agreed and prepared our talks on "whatever you want but try to include something about pioneers." lol. (I love being a missionary because they never assign us a topic, they just ask us to speak. It's great!) I was having a hard time figuring out what to speak on to include pioneers, but I finally came up with something. But Saturday night we get home and my companion was not feeling good. Uh oh! Then the next morning (Sunday) he was feeling really sick, so I had to call and set up an emergency exchange so that I could still go and give my talk, and I had to call brother Mills and tell him my companion would not be there. It was a crazy day, but I got there and gave my talk, and it went okay. By the way, being stuck at the apartment with a sick companion as a missionary is AWEFUL!!! Just wanted to throw that out there, incase you had any doubts.

And I had a SWEET bike wreck on Friday. I did indeed jinx myself by saying I haven't had a bike wreck here yet. We were biking to the church to make some copies when it happened. When we get to where we are going, I always kick my kickstand down on my bike before I get off. So that's what I did. Or tried to do. My foot got caught on something and I started to go down, and I couldn't get my foot loose. It was one of the slowest falls ever, and I couldn't stop it. And it hurt. lol. Good times. Just thought that I would share. I'm Still not sure what my foot got stuck on.

I also got to be in charge of my very first district meeting! How exciting. It was funny because I have been in charge of Zone meetings before, but I was a lot more nervous about putting this one together. It turned out pretty good, though. I learned a lot from it, and I hope everyone else did too. We mostly focused on how to plan effectively and set goals. This next week is Zone development meeting, and Elder Lerwill and I were assigned to give a training on-- wouldn't you know it-- effective daily planning. We'll see how it goes.

We taught a ton of lessons last week, which is really exciting. Nothing is better than closing out a week like the last one. Everything went great. Yesterday, the start of this week, wasn't so good. All of our appointments cancelled and two people told us they didn't want us to come by anymore. . . . Hopefuly the week goes better from here on. lol. We have a really good night planned, at least, so things should turn around starting today.

Aaron (I thing I told you about him) is suppose to have a baptismal interview this week, so we are excited about that. That's the biggest thing coming up right now.

It was neat too: We're teaching a girl named Lindsey. She's 15 and is super smart. We asked her last week how her reading of the book of Mormon has been coming, and she dissapointedly (is that a word?) said that she was only on page 72 when her goal was to be on page 80. Woah. We asked if she had any questions, and she started asking us questions that I doubt I could have even comprehended two years ago, lol. It was great. Her parents aren't really supportive right now, but hopefully they'll come around. Lindsey knows it's true-- she's received a witness from the Holy Ghost that it is-- and she want's to follow it, so we are praying everything will work out.

Anyway, don't know what else to tell you. Things are going really good still. Love you all a lot.

--Jason

July 6, 2010

Sorry, I got busy and forgot to post this letter from last week.......

Hey family!

How was everyone's 4th of July? Were the fireworks awesome? From mom's email, it sounds like Kaydee had fun this week, lol. I pictured her playing the piano without her thumb, and it made me laugh a little. lol. (Which reminds me of some great news: so far I have had NO BIKE WRECKS in this area! I know it's boring for you, but it's great for me. :-D)

Random thought: did you ever hear back about that one guy-- I forget his name-- in League City that the missionaries are teaching? What's going on with him?

Anyway, is Nathan's mission really over now? That's crazy. I swear we just left. Tell him hi for me when you see him. :-) And tell me how his Spanish is, lol. Does he like Spanish yet? My Spanish won't get any better. lol. Sorry, but no time to learn Spanish. And there are not many people up here that speak Spanish. I think I already met both of them. lol.

My week was great. We had two people that were planning on getting baptized at the start of the week. They were both really great people, but they're desire to act wasn't really there. As the week went on, both in some way or another decided not to take that step. But what was really neat was that two more people decided that they did want to.

The first guy's name is Cody. He's a nice guy in his 20's that struggles with faith in God. He's not sure he believes that God exists. But he has a desire to do what's right, and especially to know if God does exist. What better way to find out then the Book of Mormon? If the Book of Mormon really is true, then God does exist, Jesus Christ lives, and they've called a prophet today to speak for them on the earth. And best of all, the only way to actually know for sure that it's true to to pray and receive the answer through revelation from God himself.

The other guy's name is Aaron. He's amazing. He has a really strong desire to follow God. I don't think that we can teach him fast enough. He always wants to know more, and he can see and feel the change that it's been making in his life, and in his families. He has a wife and a two year old daughter.

We got to meet President and Sister Ellsworth and part of their family (the ones that are not grown and moved out) on Friday. They're awesome, of course. I was really impressed with them, and as much as I miss the Bassett's, I'm really excited to work with them. President Ellsworth is from Idaho, I don't know how to spell the name of the town, but it's Carrie or Kary or something rather. He was in the mission presidency up there before he was assigned to come down here. Their going to do such a good job. They already love the work and are ready to get things moving.

Here in Snowflake/Taylor area (both are tiny towns right next to each other) they had the celebration on the 3rd instead of the 4th. You can probably guess why. :-D It was interesting, because I was biking around on the 3rd and I didn't know whether I should say "happy 4th of July" or "happy 3rd of July." Neither one really made sense. lol. Our day was really long and dull, too, because Taylor has a big rodeo to celebrate independence day, and everyone goes to it. The result is that no one is in snowflake all day. We caught-- no joke-- three people home all day. And all three were members of the church.

I had to teach the lesson in Elders Quorum in the Snowflake 6th ward on Sunday. That was kinda fun. The lesson was on chapter 2 of preach my gospel. Pop quiz, what does that chapter talk about . . . ? Effective study! (If you answered missionary work, that was a lame answer, lol.) So I brought in my study material and we had a discussion on the was that missionaries study and how those ideas can be applied to members. The lesson went well because the quorum was really involved and helped a lot, so I didn't have to do too much. Plus "Preach My Gospel" is amazing! It teaches by itself.

And then yesterday we went on Exchanges. I went with Elder Zakimi to his area in Taylor and Elder Harper went with Elder Lerwill to our area. Our day in Taylor was kind of slow, but we had some really good things happen. I have a lot of respect for Elder Zakimi. When he talks you can feel the charity and love that he automatically has for you. It's such a natural thing for him, it's amazing. And while I was gone Elder Lerwill and Elder Haper found three new people to teach and taught a ton of lessons. . . . Of course, when Elder Mace isn't there the work moves forward. lol.

And that brings us to a funny story for the day. We were suppose to go check out some Indian ruins today with one of our ward mission leaders. But last night he and his family went camping and their van got attacked by a bear. No kidding. The family is fine, but obviously he has other things to take care of today. The bear only damaged the bumper and maybe the back window.
I can pedal pretty quick down hill. Uphill not so much. lol.

Well, that's been my week. I love you all and hope everything goes well!
I gotta go. But I'll catch you next week.

Love
Elder Jason Mace

June 29, 2010

Hey family!

How's everything going?

Oh, and a happy 4th of July, by the way.

I hear the 24th of July (not a typo-- it's pioneer day) is a big deal here. Parades, parties, etc. I'm excited to see what all of that is about. :-)

BIG NEWS! I got an email from Kassie. :-o lol. But no email from Kellie. If she would have sent one, the whole family would have emailed me this last week. But nope, Kellie didn't. Not to put too much guilt on her. It's okay. I just thought that maybe an email from my other sister would have been nice. :-p lol.

So this has been a pretty good week, and the next week will be very good as well.

First of all, President Bassett met with us on Thursday to say good-bye and go through the temple with us one last time. It was a really neat experience. He took the time to take pictures with all of us individually, if we wanted (you better believe that I wanted to) and gave us all a card with his contact information for after the mission. After the mission I'm suppose to add him to facebook. And I have to add all of my companions. And all of the people that I worked with. Pretty much, I now absolutely have to get a facebook, which is funny because I don't really want one, lol. But anyway, it's really sad because President and Sister Bassett are actually gone already, from what I've heard. :-(

But President and Sister Ellsworth are here, and we will get to meet them on Friday. Wouldn't you know it, our zone is the LAST zone to meet them. I'm really looking forward to it. I feel kind of weird, too, because even though I joke about not going home, I'm going home soon so I won't really get to know him as well. I won't get to see any big changes in the mission. But at least I can help him get off to a good start. Hopefully.

Brandy was baptized this last Saturday, and Elder Lerwill baptized her. It was the fist time he had done a baptism, so it was really good for him. And she had a really great experience. The service was great, and a lot of people turned out to support her. The day was a little stressful (my companion was going crazy all day) but things actually went pretty smooth. I enjoyed it.

And guess who got to speak in church on Sunday? Yup! Elder Mace. I had to talk at a missionaries home coming. How awful is that?! Missionaries should never be assigned to speak in a setting like that, lol. But it was a lot of fun. I actually have come to like talking in church. Weird, huh?

Then yesterday I went on Exchanges with Elder Bickmore and Elder Fairbank (I went with Elder Bickmore to his area, and Elder Fairbank came to our area with Elder Lerwill). Elder Bickmore was in my Zone in Apache Junction, so I have gone on exchanges with him before. It brought back some good memories. And I got to do my first baptism interview in what seems like an eternity.

Today we also had a zone activity: Snowflake Zone versus the Painted Desert Zone in dodge ball. Snowflake is, of course, my zone. The Painted Desert zone is a new zone that was just created a few transfers ago because those areas will be leaving the mission to become part of the Farmington, New Mexico mission in a few days. This was our one last get together with them before they leave us. I was surprised at how many missionaries I knew that are going to be leaving, including an old Zone leader I had, some people from my zone in Apache Junction a while back, and Elder Rowe my old companion. (note... Elder Rowe is the Elder from Joe's ward in Blackfoot, Idaho). Dodge ball was a lot of fun-- we played for a couple of hours which in missionary years is a long time. ;-)
Sister Griffin? The members that I lived with in my second area? I was one of the last missionaries to live in her house. Missionaries were moved not long after I left. I loved their family! Tell her I still remember her free learning lessons. She'll know what that means. lol.

I'm not sure what more to tell you. It's been an interesting week, and another big one is coming up.

Love you all and hope everything goes good for you.

gotta go. See you all later.


Love,
Uncle Elder Jason Mace
Of the Arizona Mesa Mission

**** mom's note.... Kellie did not email Jason this week because her and Camren sent him a card in the mail last week. Obviously he didn't get it yet. Boy is he gonna feel bad when he gets that in the mail. lol

June 22, 2010

Hey family!

How's it going?

Dad, sorry again but happy late Father's day. . . lol. I'll try to get better at this. . . .

So I was glad to hear that brother Ross called. He's a great guy, and a really on-the-ball ward mission leader. AND I AM NOT SHY!!! People said that a lot because Elder Dursteller talked a lot and it was hard for me to get a word in. lol. Sorry I never told you about Corey, by the way. He's awesome too, and I have no doubt that he'll be getting baptized very soon. Having him teach us was not my idea, though. I just presented it to Brother Ross. The idea was Elder Moore's and mine, probably more Elder Moore's. And no, I didn't tell him that I was going to be a district leader, I don't usually mention that except to ya'll (I had to use "ya'll" :-]). I don't know if I even told the members that we lived with. I don't think I did. I didn't tell them that I was a Zone leader in my last area either, until Sister Allan complained that Elder Mackie didn't tell her he was an assistant to the president before he came into the area. She said it took him a whole three weeks to tell her. I figured since I had been there for three months I might mention it, lol. Anywho. . . .

Sometimes I do want to throw it out there though, because some members have no faith in missionaries and question everything we teach and do. Last night was kind of funny, for example. We were teaching someone named Jenell, and her friend was there who is a member. We started to set a baptismal date and the friend cut in and said "Wait! How long have you been teaching her for?" I know what I'm doing! lol. It's hard to leave a Zone Leader area because all of the members trust you and stick up for you. In other areas, not so much.

And speaking of cars-- though we weren't-- district leaders don't need cars, so I evidently don't need a car. . . . Only Zone Leaders and Assistants have a car no matter what. I hadn't thought about how I was the only one in my district without a car until you all mentioned it, so thanks a lot! lol. This area is crazy too-- it's really windy and there are hills everywhere. No matter where you go it's either uphill or down hill. Usually uphill, and against the wind. Man! Luckily it has been beautiful weather up here. It feels sooooooooo much better than Mesa. My companion complains a lot though. He's from Idaho and can't take the 80 degree weather. . . . :-p

It's a really small town, too, with nothing close by. I'm not used to that at all. There's no Wal Mart! There are a ton of members here, and so there is obviously a lot of Less Active work going on. But actually, the "teaching pool," or the number of people that we are teaching, is a lot higher up here than it was in Mesa. Amazing, huh? The missionary that I replaced was a REALLY good one, so the work is going great right now. My goal is mostly not to ruin it.

And mom: you would be so proud. I used a coupon for the first time a few weeks ago, and savde some $15 on a razor and some blades and some shaving cream. (I had to stop using the electric one when I was back in Phoenix; it was so dry that my skin couldn't take the electric one. I can't wait to get back to some humidity.)

And it's crazy that Nathan's coming home soon. Tell Nathan's family not to get too trunky. Or at least not to sound like it when they email him. :-)

We had a great day yesterday, too. We started teaching a family: Lamondo, his son Miles, and his grandma. His wife is a member, which is part of the reason why he wants to learn about the gospel. It was great talking to him. We asked him at the end if he would mind saying a prayer to close, but he refused and wanted Elder Lerwill to say it instead. After the prayer he said he was sorry, but he wanted to hear us pray, because that was how he could hear our conviction and our beliefs. I thought that was kind of profound. Anyway, great family.

And we have a baptism coming up this Saturday. Yay! Brandi is getting baptized, and she's of course really excited. We're going by today to get everything finalized for the baptism.

And on Thursday we have a temple trip in Mesa with President Bassett. I think it's kind of a farewell for him. I've really loved working with him. He's an inspired man. It'll be a 3 hour drive there that we'll make Wed. night and we'll head back Thursday afternoon.
As far as the new mission is concerned.... I know the reservations are out of the mission,(will be in New Mexico mission). Snow Flake is in the Arizona mission still. That's about the extent of what I know, lol.


That's about it for my week. I love you all and hope things go well for you.
Ok, I gotta go, but be on next week. Love you.

Uncle Elder Jason Mace
The coolest biking DL in all of Snowflake, Arizona, USA, Earth.

June 15, 2010

Hey family!

First of all:

SORRY DAD! Happy Birthday. I completely forgot to tell you. But, on the bright side, you are the only one who's gotten a birthday card from me, lol.

Now to less important things. TRANSFER NEWS:

So, you should have gotten a phone call already from a guy named Dave Ross. He asked for your phone number and said that he was going to call you. He was my ward mission leader in the singles ward (Mesa 54th ward, Maricopa North stake). But just in case you didn't get the update from him, I'll tell you the big news: Yes, I did in fact get transferred. (Hence why I am emailing you so late. This will probably be my last area, so I had better like it, huh?) I am now in the Africa Ghana South Greek Speaking mission. No joke. Really. I'm serious. It was a surprise to me too. Okay, so I'm in Snow Flake.

Wait! I'm in SNOW FLAKE! Cool weather, away from the 150 degree desert that I was in before. lol. And guess what else? All of the areas up North are car areas, because they're too big for bikes. Trucks, actually. Except for one area-- only one-- a small bike area in Snowflake. Guess who's in that one bike area? Yeah, me. Go figure. lol. I'm still biking. I don't know where in Snow Flake I am, I'm really lost and confused right now. I may give you more information on my area later on.

And the letter you got was probably because I was assigned to be a District Leader up here. I'm pretty excited about that-- never been one before, but I think it will be fun. It's a lot more involved than being a Zone Leader (ZL's do more background stuff). So it will be fun to give this a try. I kind of did this whole leadership thing backwards, being a Zone Leader and then a District Leader. But oh well.

My new companion is Elder Lerwill (I think that's how you spell it). He's been out for 6 weeks, and he's from Idaho.

And you can tell president Eullit that I have no "great grand kids" 'cause my son won't have any kids! He's too busy being a zone leader. lol. It looks like I won't train again, so he's my only shot at great great great grand kids.

So, before I left, Jaime got baptized. He was really excited, and the service was great. The whole ward really participated and made it a great experience for him. I wasn't able to go to the confirmation the next day, as I had to go to another ward that meets at the same time, but I heard that was also really good.

It's been really hard to say bye to people, too. I'm really going to miss people in my last area. It was a really good area, and I really grew to love the people there. Hopefully the same will happen here. I can't wait to hear about what's going to happen over there in the next transfer or two. Big miracles are going to be happening all over, no doubt.

Well, not much more exciting going on here. I am really tired after the 3 hour drive up here, plus the all-night packing that I had to do to be ready to come here. But I won't be able to sleep 'cause I already don't have enough time to get everything done that I need to today. Oh well.

I love you all and hope your week goes good.
Jason

June 9, 2010

Hey everyone!

How's everything going? Sounds like things are good. I would just like to start off with a small --==THANK YOU!!!==--(This was actually in HUGE letters, but wouldn't copy for the blog) for the package that I got in the mail. (It's not really a small thank you, by the way!) It was by far the best one you all have sent. Thanks. I loved the shirts, by the way. They were awesome. We spent a few minutes just laughing at them. :-) And the book of pictures/testimonies was great too. The candy flowers almost made it in one piece. It was pretty close. It only took me a few minutes to figure it out.

And it is officially transfer news week! Yes, the next email that you get from me should have some exciting transfer news. I'm not really sure what is going to happen any more. I could end up just staying here since Elder Moore came into the area late in the transfer. And if I do stay, I might as well just stay for my last transfer as well. Who knows. Whatever happens, it'll be exciting.

But my week has been good. (I believe it's improper grammer to start a paragraph with the word "but," and yet I don't care. :-] Random thought.) We had a great lesson with James yesterday. James is having a really hard time quiting smoking, and so we decided we would talk to him about fasting. When the lesson started, a scripture-- or rather a story from the scriptures-- came to mind. It's in Matthew chapter 17: (pasted in from lds.org)

14 ¶ And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

We talked about how faith + prayer + fasting = Miracles. It was a great lesson and all of us are fasting together to help him, and tonight we are going to talk about priesthood blessings and the help that it will give to him as well, and hopefully we'll give him one tonight. He has a great desire to quit, and I know this will help him a lot.

Jaime is getting baptized this Saturday as well. He had to go out of town, so we were going to move it to the next weekend, but at the last minute we ended up getting things set up enough to have it done this weekend. That's a miracle in and of itself. We're really excited for him, but not as excited as he is. His family hasn't been too interested in the church, but his sister seems to be getting more and more interested in what her brother is doing.

We also had Zone Development meeting, and guess what? I had to conduct the music. But I don't know how! I just waved my arm the best I could in that triangle shape, and it was working well. And then the 6/8 time happened. . . .

Our mission president is leaving us soon, and President Ellsworth will be coming in. A moving truck came to the mission office yesterday to start packing them up. Strange to think that's happening in just a few weeks. I'll miss president and Sister Bassett. They're awesome. A lot of the Senior couples in the mission office are also leaving, which is really sad. We love them all, but we look forward to meeting the "new guys."

Yay for modern video recording technology! I'll watch the videos when I get back in a year and a half.

Well, I love you all and I hope things continue to go well.

Love,
Uncle Elder Mace
(It's pronounced Ma-say from now on, so you know)

*** mom's note to explain the 1st paragraph of the letter. For a Family home evening a couple weeks ago, Kellie and KD planned for us all to make "Trunky" t-shirts, a candy flower bouquet, and got a small photo album, which we all took updated pictures individually. On one side of the book page was a picture of each of us, and on the opposite page we wrote our testimonies. Also, we grouped together and made the t-shirts. (Kassie and Joe, our artists, had to be on different teams). And we all designed two t-shirts for him. One was about BYU Hawaii and the other was a face with another funny scripture. It was great and I guess Jason loved it too!
.... and the last sentence about the video... We told him we video taped Camren doing Tae Known Do Kicking and punching with one of his floor mat toys. Jason refuses to admit to himself that he is nearing the end of his mission and tells us that he still has 1 1/2 years left!

and the final from Jason,

I gotta go, c-ya!

And tell Kaydee to keep playing the Geetor, not the gooter. :-) She'll get it if you don't.

Love you!
Jason

(this is because the twin we babysit insists that he "plays the geetar on his shoulder like a Gooter".) You just gotta be there..... We know what a "geetar" is, but no idea what a "Gooter" is. (we are guessing a violin????)

June 1, 2010

Hey family!

How is everything going? Sounds like things are good there-- except for dad's anemone (spelling?) sting. lol. Things aren't too bad here either. :-)

I am impressed with the sister missionaries there. Sounds like they are doing a good job of talking to everyone. Sisters are always really good. Well, never mind-- they're usually really good. Anyway, talking to everyone is definitely something that we are trying to do as well, although I'm not as good at remembering names of people and what's going on with their families. lol. That's awesome though.

And things are going well here. But is REALLY GETTING HOT. Again, who's pulling for me to go to snow flake over the summer? Anyone? I'll even take Payson. Heck, I'll take a car area if I have to. Just something cooler, lol.

Things have been going good here, though. We have a baptism coming up a week from Saturday-- Jaime. He's all set for his baptism and he seems really excited for it as well. Unfortunately the other people that were going to be getting baptized soon had some things come up, so we'll have to see what happens with them. We'll probably have to move their baptisms back so that they have more time to get ready for that. For the most part, though, things have been going good and I'm excited about all of the good stuff that's going on.

And an update on some of the people that have recently been baptized: Russell just got called to be a ward missionary, which is awesome! He comes with us all the time to help us teach. I really can't describe his testimony-- you just have to hear him speak and the stories he shares and the conviction that he feels. It's amazing. Also Robin and Serena got called a few weeks ago to be primary teachers (don't know if I told you that). They really are enjoying that calling, because it's helping them to learn about the gospel right along with their kids. Josh was ordained a deacon last Sunday. He's really, really, really excited to pass the sacrament (I think he's still a foot off the ground. Maybe more.) And I think that's about it with all of them.

As great as it is to see people get baptized and start on their "path," it's even better to see them moving along. Some people in the Mesa 5th ward who were baptized last year by Elder Seaborn (my comp in AJ) just went through the temple the other week and their family was sealed together for time and eternity. That pretty much the highlight of any missionary's life, I would expect.

We got to teach Earl (the dad who just went through the temple) how to give his family blessings. That was really neat. We helped him give his wife a blessing as she's been having some knee problems. The priesthood is a truly a gift that God has given us to help our families. I was happy to be a part of showing him how to use it in behalf of his family.

Most of our lessons fell through this last week, so that wasn't really good, but on the bright side, we still found opportunities to teach and to do some good. Over all it was a pretty good week.
Well, I gotta go. I'll catch you all next Wed. probably, as we have Zone Meeting next Tuesday.

Love you all and hope your week goes well.

--Jason

May 25, 2010

Hey Family!

How's everyone doing? Good I hope. It sounds like things are starting to get back to normal. And glad to hear that Hawaii isn't the worst place on earth, lol.

And speaking of dogs-- not that we were, but anyway-- you never told me my dog is gone! :-( Of course I was expecting to hear that she was at some point before I got home.

But my week was very, very, very, very alright. :-) Not every week can be Super Amazing, but it was still a great week. The Gila Valley Temple was dedicated this past Sunday, which was broadcast in three different sessions (9am, 12pm, and 3pm) throughout Arizona and parts of New Mexico. It was really neat to see it. It's a very pretty temple. Of course, President Monson was there and it's always great to hear from him. He is a great man with a really great sense of humor. I enjoyed hearing him speak. Elder Moore and I thought it was great. Unfortunately to my knowledge at this point, none of our recently converted members were able to make it. :-( Almost all of them were planning on going, but some were sick, others had things come up, etc.

I thought it was really cool too, that, because there was no regular meeting, so many of the people that we teach really missed going to church. They really wanted to go, and so the fact that there was no church on Sunday disappointed them, and that impressed me. We'll see what happens next Sunday.

It's interesting, too, that we found out that some of our recently converted members are intimidated by the temple. That really shouldn't be the case. We spent a good deal of time trying to resolve some concerns about it, and found that the real problem was that they had misunderstandings about what the temple is actually for. After we shared more about what temples are for, what goes on there, and what it's like, they began to feel much more comfortable. Not very ironically, most non-members of the church have a hard time understanding temples as well. I usually point people with questions about it to mormon.org-- it has a lot of great insights.

Elder Eyering also spoke on the purposes of temples at the dedication. His talk was very good, and I learned a lot from his remarks as well.

We also had the chance to do some service this past week. We helped Robin and Serena get ready to move into their new house just, for example. They're moving just down the road. We helped them clean some junk out of their new yard and haul it off to the dump. (Yeah, garbage dumps don't smell good by the way.)

Other than that we've been trying to find and teach people. So far so good. We still have some great people that we are teaching.

We started teaching a guy named Jaime (it's a spanish name-- pronounced hi-me rather than Jay-me). He's really awesome. He loves the church and has been attending services for a few months now. He's read the Book of Mormon once through, and is currently reading it a second time. He has really great faith and is a great example to his family. And he's only 15 or so. I wish I had been like Jaime at his age. :-)

.....It's not too hot-- it's actually been one of the coolest summers thus far. Yesterday it was only in the 80's. We call that a miracle. :-)

That's about it for here. Things are going well still.
Did you tell Michael he's getting a bad deal? lol. Oh well. BTW: Where is he going to school? BYU-I? I may change my mind yet. lol.

Love you all, and hope you have a great week.

--Uncle Elder Jason Mace
The coolest missionary uncle from
Texas in the Oh-No mission

P.S. So, I just looked over and saw "Black Belt" magazine sitting on the shelf next to me, and I have to say that it's really torturing me. Just wanted to let you know. lol.

May 18, 2010

Hello from Mesa!

(NOTE: the 1st comment is in reference to Camren's fall and trip to the Emergency room the night before)...

How's life for everyone? Sounds like some fun stuff going on. It sounds like Cam is getting toughened up for Isshin-Ryu when I get back. (Dad will get the Joke. And Brother Blake. ;-] ) So anywho. . . .

I did get a package from Alexandra and Elisha (and their mom and dad :-])! It came yesterday-- a delicious looking box of chocolates. I'm way excited. :-) I'll be sending a thank you card today hopefully. But if you would let them know that I got it and I really appreciate it that would be great.

And I was. . . *laugh* . . . really sorry. . . . *laugh* . . . . to hear that Kaydee. . . . *laugh* . . . . got a "B." I was really rooting for her. . . . lol. Hey, I can laugh all I want now, 'cause I haven't taken that class yet. My GPA is still a perfect, fantastic, amazing, unblemished 4.0. Now I just have to figure out how to NOT take a math class. lol. What other majors do they have at BYU-H? lol.

Seriously, though, I was wondering how hard it would be to change my major later on if I wanted to. I'm still not completely sure what I want to do with my life. lol. I've even been thinking about a psychology major lately. I don't know! lol.

So, now to my week.

It was a really neat week. Again! We had a lot of really neat miracles happen. But it was also very stressful.

First of all, we had our baptism scheduled for Saturday, so we had to call the building coordinator to reserve the building and the font to do the baptism. Well, we called him a week or so in advance, left a message, and he never got back to us. I began to stress out a little, as the baptism was getting closer and closer. We finally got a hold of him Thursday morning--two days before the baptism-- and he told us there was an activity on that Saturday. What?! The ward had already announced it and everything! He told us to call the guy in charge of the activity and see if we could work it out with him.

So we called the other guy. And then we called him again. And again. And Again. No response. We began praying for a miracle: that we would get a hold of him and that everything would work out. We looked into other options, did everything that we could, and left the rest up to Heavenly Father. Finally Friday afternoon he called. He told us that we could in fact use the building. Yay!

And so the baptism went well. We got there a little late setting up, so the font didn't get turned on at the right time, so it was still filling a little during the service. But it filled up in time and everything went well. Josh was really excited to get baptized-- he was practically jumping up and down he was so excited. lol. We're really happy for him. The service was really good, and a lot of people turned out for the service.

And, to make the week better, we once again broke my personal record for lessons taught in a week. The work is picking up ridiculously fast, and blessings are pouring in! We have been praying really hard that our lessons would hold, and we've done the best that we could to help those we were teaching to keep their appointments. And they did. Almost all of our appointments went through, which is a huge miracle in and of itself. That was amazing.

And that's still not all. As our week was coming to a close, we realized that we had not found anyone new to teach that week. With the other miracle that I had seen, I began to feel like Enos when he said that, after he had seen so many answers to his prayers "my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord." So we prayed. At the very last hour of the last day of the week, we found Shane. My companion began talking to him, and I was praying as hard as I ever have, and he invited us to come in and teach him. Wow.

The bible dictionary teaches that "Christianity is founded on the greatest of all miracles, the resurrection of our Lord. If that be admitted, other miracles cease to be improbable." I've seen that this week for sure. Nothing is impossible or improbable.

It was a really, really good week. And then to top it all off, yesterday was Zone Conference. That was really good to. The principles that were taught were really good, and well needed. One thing we talked a lot about was miracles. Ironic, huh?

I love you all, and I'm glad to hear things are going well.
--Jason

P.S. Love you Cameron!

May 11, 2010

Above..... Camren talking to Uncle Jason on Mother's day. We loved hearing the squeals!
Jason says..... Ha ha ha. These are my favorite pics. lol

Hola familia!

How is everything going for everyone this week? Sounds like things are going well, from the emails/ phone call. I really liked mom's email, by the way. That was really funny. But everyone aimed comments more at Kaydee than me, lol. Doesn't persuade me much either way, lol. It was really funny to read. Some of the comments were even legit, lol. Well, I'll get you caught up with all the crazy stuff that's happening here.

Now that Elder Coltrin is home (as of Monday Morning) for health reason, I now have a new companion. His name is Elder Moore, and he's from Kaysville (spelling?), Utah. He's been out for 18 months, almost as long as I have been out. He was my baby boys second companion, and he's served in two of my areas (Mesa and Phx), so it's kind of fun to talk about people that we both know. Never really been able to do that much before. :-) This is the SECOND time that I have had three companions in one area. That doesn't happen often, so I guess I'm just that lucky. Or unlucky. (It depends on how you want to look at it.)

Things are going well here. We're working hard and getting a lot of good things done. The most exciting thing right now is the upcoming baptism. Josh was interviewed on Saturday and now is all set to get baptized this coming Saturday at 6:00pm. We are all looking forward to that. Josh is awesome and surprized me with how much he understood and remembered when we went over the questions he would be asked in the baptismal interview. Jason, his dad is working on following him soon after. It's been a great experience so far working with the two of them.

There has also been a lot of progress with all of the other people that we are working with as well. The gospel is a neat thing-- the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know much, and the more you want to learn. I've been able to notice some really amazing changes in people as they follow the invitations that we extend to help them live more like the Savior. A common misconception that I am noticing lately is that people tend to think that God will not be happy with them until they live exactly how he wants. If that were the case, we'd all be in trouble. God loves us regardless, but he wants us to follow him. We taught a guy yesterday named James, and we talked about what it means to repent and about how our Father is there to help us no matter what. It was a great experience.

We've had a lot of great experiences.

As for the Pineapple verses the Potato issue:
I will do whatever Kaydee and Kellie can agree on.
Ha ha ha! :-p As if that would happen, lol. Seriously, though, here are my thoughts on the subject.

I've been thinking about both choices and what might be best. After all that effort (yes, thinking takes a lot of effort for me) I don't feel that it is really going to be that much of a life altering descision. After praying about it and thinking about it, I feel that either one would be a good choice. So, if it would work out, I wouldn't mind going with Kaydee to the great land of Hawaii. If Kaydee feels good about it, then so do I. I would be willing to go there for a few semesters and then transferring over after that.

BTW: I've decided that, after a mission, Chili's might not be a bad job, lol. Tell them to save a spot for Sept.-Dec. :-)

Speaking of, what ever happened to the graphic design job for Kassie?

Thanks family, I love you all.

Uncle Elder Jason Mace
The coolest uncle elder in the Oh-No mission

PS.... Kellie's side note: No prob bro.... So I guess you don't trust my opinion and Idaho? :-P Can we just pretend like you didn't answer yet? I was getting some good stuff ready for that package to send to convince you to go to Idaho :-P

And Jason's response back: You can still change my mind with oreo's. lol.

May 4, 2010

Don't know what happened this week... I don't think the computer was working as he got bumped off right away. But we did get this email.

Hey family!

What's happening?

Does anyone want to change there guesses on transfer news?
Elder Mace is either:
a) in the same area
b) in Scottsdale
c) in Payson
d) in Alberta, Canada

The answer: D! Not really. It's A. I'm in the same area, with the same companion, for another six weeks. Survived that one. Elder Christensen (the Elder Jason trained) is next to me and he tells me that he just got transferred to the Pueblo Zone (where we were companions) and now he's a zone leader there! His 3rd ZL area. Elder Ahurn from the MTC (the guy you met from New York at the missionary mall) is coming to our district to be our district leader. He's coming from being ZL in Pueblo.

We will be making phone calls from the Allen's home. (the members that we live with). We are planning on calling at about 4:00 our time-- don't know what that is for TX or ID. But that's the plan for now.

Last week was a crazy one for us. We were really, really blessed. I know that I say that a lot, but our week was amazing. We found 9 new investigators, and set another three baptismal dates. It was crazy. And their all amazing. Sometimes you get people that are kind of so-so as far as interest goes, but all of them are great. We even have found someone to teach in the Singles Ward. :-) I'm really excited to be sticking around for another transfer to see how all of this turns out.

I've never been happier with the progress of the work that's going on. I've also never been more tired in my life. I can barely type right now-- but it's worth it.

One of our new investigators is actually the daughter of a couple that works in the mission office. They called us up on Monday and told us that they had a granddaughter that wanted to learn about the church. She was really curious because her dad is a member, but she apparently lives with her mom who is Catholic and doesn't know much about religion at all. She had some great questions, and we're excited to keep teaching her.

Another family that we found had just been involved in a really bad crises, to say the least. It caused the family to really pull together and made them wonder about a few things. Their landlord called our bishop, and the bishop asked us to go by. We taught about the plan of Salvation. It was hard to tell what they thought of it all, but they called this morning (it's rare that ANYONE calls us) to set up an appointment. :-) That's always a good sign.

Lots of great things have been happening. And soon the Gila Vally Temple will be dedicated (23 May 2010). That will be really exciting!

Love you all a lot,
Elder Jason Mace
Your favorite missionary that's STILL on a bike even though it's warming up. . . fast. . . :-p