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