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