December 8, 2009

Hey everyone!
About the Christmas phone call, I have no idea how that will be working yet, but I'll let you know when we get that figured out. We actually have a home phone for our fax machine, because the mission office faxes us stuff, so I don't know if using that is an option or not. We'll probably end up doing calls at one of our Ward Mission Leaders houses.
Hey! Brother Butler is the new bishop! Yay! He'll do a great job. And there is finally a new bishop in the South Shore ward! The suspense is over! Tell Brother Butler that he's awesome for me. :-) He'll be a great bishop.
AND WHY DOES IT KEEP SNOWING IN TEXAS WHEN I'M NOT THERE?! Darn it! lol. That's pretty cool. No snow in the valley here, but it rained all day yesterday. I know that doesn't sound significant at all, but we are in Arizona. I've only seen it rain that much one other time in the past 15 months. (And it was when I was on a bike in Mesa!) We actually went tracting in the rain yesterday-- that was fun. :-) Good thing I had a rain coat.
The slide show sounds cool. I'll have to see it when I get back.
The Piano recital sounds like a success. And Kaydee, playing in front of Prof. Boyd and what's-his-face (the younger guy that really critics you) never really goes well. I'm sure you did fine. And your teacher is actually the one who gives you your final grade.
And Alex's friend not coming to dinner-- that happens a lot. But keep trying. :-) That actually reminds me of a story. . . So we were going to have a baptism this week upcoming week. . . . Samantha was suppose to get baptized. We had an appointment set for Friday so that we could go over the interview questions with her and then the interview was on Saturday. Well, she didn't show up for the appointment on Friday. We tried and tried to call her, but no luck. Saturday she didn't show up to the interview. It looks like she randomly went out of town. Hopefully nothing's wrong. Anyway, the baptism will have to be pushed back to the 26th of December.
I got to do a couple of baptism interviews this week. I did one for a lady named Patty last night. She's really awesome. We had a great interview. She was really nervous, so I read with her Doctrine and Covenants 20:37 ". . . All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church." From what she was telling me, she really is looking for more peace in her life. She's having a lot of things happen to her and her son right now. But I was glad that I had the chance to add my witness to the missionaries that taught her, that the Gift of the Holy Ghost that she would be given after baptism by one holding the authority to act in God's name, would bring that extra peace that she's been looking for.
The holiday season in already taking a toll on our zone. When we got the numbers in from the district leaders Sunday night, it showed that the number of lessons we're teaching has gone down quite a bit from where is was last trasnfer, even though we have two extra companionships now. Elder Seaborn and I are struggling to get lessons in during the week. But we are still finding, and the work is still moving along.
The mission temple trip was great! And the Christmas lights that night were also amazing. Our Zone did amazing. Everyone worked really hard, and according to the sisters at the visitors center, it was the best night so far at the lights. Best of all, everyone had a good time. I'm really glad I'm in this mission where we have the Christmas lights and the Easter pageant. It's a lot of fun to change things up a little bit and see some lights, watch a play about Christ, etc.
And I STILL haven't gotten a letter from Joe. :-P You should "ask(A.K.A. compelled(A.K.A. forced at gun point)) " him again, lol. Maybe not the gun point thing, I think Officer Tammy might frown on that. :-D
Well, that's about it for this week.
Love you all,
Jason
P.S. Oh yeah, and I played Elder Seaborn at checkers last night and I beat him like 4/5 times. So tell Rachel Watts that she may have won before, but I'm practicing!

December 1, 2009

Look at the picture.
I thought you might like it. :-)
It's Travis and Elder Seaborn and I on Saturday. :-D Don't we all look sharp? :-D


Hey family! How's everything going? I'm checking my emails right now....

Hey family!

How's everything going? Sounds like you all had a good turkey day. Mine was pretty good too. We went over to the Ward Mission Leader in the Ocotillo ward for dinner. They had a some good food, and they sent us home with a bunch. :-) Not quite the same as being home, but it was good.

So the new bishop is finally going to be picked, huh? Well, after he gets called, tell Brother Watts congrat's for me. :-D Just kidding. I'm looking forward to hearing who it is.

Travis was baptized on Saturday! The baptism went really well. All of his room-mates were there and a bunch of his friends as well. I got to do the actual baptism, so it was a cool experience for me. And it only took TWO times to get it right. :-P The water wasn't high enough, and he's a tall guy, so the first time he went under his knee was poking up out of the water. :-( So we did it a second time and he straightened his legs under water and it worked. Then, on Sunday, he was confirmed by Elder Seaborn. And then Travis gave a talk in church! Yeah, he already got assigned a talk. It was on Faith in Jesus Christ, and he did a great job with it. He's a super solid guy. His room-mates aren't really very active, so he'll be a great example to them as well.

We have another baptism scheduled for the 12th of December. Samantha, the one getting baptized, will be interviewed this coming Saturday, and baptized the next Saturday after that. I'll give you more information on Samantha later on.

Last week I didn't feel like I even worked. It was really crazy. Monday for most of the day we had Zone Leader Council meeting. Tuesday we had a half P-day to shop, email, etc. Wed. we had District meeting in the morning, and then we went on an exchange with one of the district leaders-- Elder Davenport actually. Thursday was obviously Thanksgiving, so it was P-day until the evening. Then Friday was weekly planning until 2:00, and we had to work the Christmas lights at the Temple at 5:00, so that tells you how much time we had there. Saturday we had a baptism, and Sunday we had church from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. In other words, we didn't have much time this past week. :-P But we actually managed to find 5 new people to teach. Still not sure how that happened, but I won't question the miracles that come.

The Christmas lights were pretty crazy. It was opening night, so there were a TON of people there. Our job is to talk to people and invite them to hear the message of the Restoration (if a non-member) or invite a friend to hear it (if a member). The problem was there were so many people it was hard to talk to anyone. I was having a hard time, myself. It's not that I have a hard time talking to people-- that's not a big deal to me. But trying to stop someone in a huge mob of people is hard and ackward. It wasn't my best night ever, but it was fun. Glad I could do it.

Tomorrow is our missions annual Temple Trip! Once a year around Christmas time, instead of a zone conference, we go to the temple as a mission. (Well, a only few of the zones in the mission go at a time.) And, tomorrow night our zone again works at the Christmas lights. YAY! That should be a lot of fun.

Yes, I can take family names to the temple. I don't know if I can do initiatory for the grandpa's, But I would love to do the endowments. :-) That would be great if you send the names.

Well, I love you all and hope that all is well.
--Jason

Now for his letter November 24. 2009

How's everything going?
Good I hope!
I got an email from Joe, to which I sent you my response to send to him. I think it speaks for itself. At least He has a sense of humor. :-D
So, sounds like things are going well. I actually have heard of mom's calling before, but I had no idea what it was until about four minutes ago when I read the email. Sounds like it will keep her busy. :-)
Kellie's pianist in RS, huh? No surprise there. And they still haven't called a bishop? What is taking so long? I guess that have to send a letter to the first presidency and they have to send a letter back before they can even interview the future bishop and extend the call. But still, it's been a long time, it seems like.
Anyway, we have a baptism on Saturday! Travis recently moved into a house with three other guys, all of whom happen to be return missionaries. When he moved in, he asked his room-mates not to talk about their religion with him-- he wasn't interested. But he agreed to live by their standards: no drinking, no smoking, etc. The changes were a little hard for him, but he managed to do it. His room-mates agreed to not bring up the church, but in a short time Travis started asking them questions. They eventually invited him to church, and he accepted and came. At church they introduced him to us and we started teaching him. He was already right on track to get baptized. He has a great testimony and a desire to become better.
We had Zone Leader Council meeting yesterday as well. It was really a good meeting, mostly focused on the Christmas lights at the temple and how our mission can become more united and more "Zion-like." On Friday us Zone Leaders will be going to the opening night of Christmas lights to get a feel for it. We will be doing exactly what the other missionaries will be doing later (which is what I did last year: stand and as people walk by talk to them and invite them to learn more about the gospel). After that, we will be mostly just walking around collecting referral cards, motivating people, and what-not. It should be a lot of fun, I'm really excited. I just hope it doesn't rain.
The miracle of the week: I got an impression to stop by David's house this week. Elder Gomez and I taught David for a long time, and he was suppose to get baptized but didn't quit smoking cigars in time. Then Elder Page came, and he suddenly started avoiding us. He stopped coming to church, he wouldn't answer the door for us (even when we knew he was home) and he wouldn't even answer our phone calls. In fact, he wouldn't even answer any phone calls from his friends in the church. We finally stopped trying to go by or call. Well, this week I strongly felt like we needed to go back and try him again. I didn't know why, because I figured he'd still just ignore us. But Elder Seaborn and I went. Something changed, because when we knocked on his door, he warmly welcomed us and invited us in. It turns out that he will be moving to Pheonix soon because of financial problems, so it's a good thing we caught him. We can teach him a few times, get his new address, and then turn him over to the other missionaries.
Well, that's about all for this week. I got a CD of pictures made. I'll mail it as soon as I can.
Love you all,
Jason

November 24, 2009 Introduction to his future Bro in law...

Kassie's fiance' Joe was asked to write Jason a letter. So this is what he wrote...

Dear Jason,
I was asked(A.K.A. compelled(A.K.A. forced at gun point)) to write an email to you about myself. Being the very articulate person I am, I decided to refrain from writing and let my Illustration skills speak for me. So I have included a fairly accurate illustration of myself that I hope will give you some idea of who I am. I hope you will appreciate the time and effort it took to render this drawing and hope you will find it to your liking. I would ask however that you refrain from showing other individuals since this would violate several copyright laws as well as the FBI warning on several DVDs, as the drawing is for your eyes alone. I would appreciate your thoughts and general feedback on the drawing since I'm always looking to improve my skills.
Much appreciated
Joseph Lee Kaa-Tani Hale
The Lamanite

( I do not have the exact picture he sent, but below you wil see it with a few additions Jason made to it...) Here is Jason's response back.

Would you please FW this to Joe:
Hmmm. That was an impressive display of shading and texture. I'd imagine that it took years to develope that unheard of talent. That was well said-- Uh, drawn. Now I have a perfect picture of you in my head. Except for one thing-- that picture matches the picture of a well known salsa dealer wanted in 53 states (figure that one out). I've included his picture so that you can see the striking resemblance. As you can imagine, more information would be good to help me be sure that you are not the same person. I've submitted your picture to the FBI as well, just in case. I don't want to say that I think your the same guy. . . . but I'm not saying I don't. I look forward to the actual letter.
--Elder Mace

November 17, 2009

Hey family! How's life? I'm on and checking my email. Get ready for TRANSFER NEWS!

Hey everyone!
How's everything going? Good I hope. I know you've really been waiting and looking forward to this email, so I'll just move it right along.
To start I've got some really exciting transfer news that I know you really want to know about ---
WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE PROPOSED?! What have Kaydee and Kellie been doing this whole time?! . . . . Tell him I expect a lengthy letter from him very soon to tell me who he is. :-P Kaydee, you failed me. And you too Kellie. And Alex. . . . you didn't even try. Whatever. Congrat's Kassie. Let me know the details when you get 'em. But I seriously better get something from him soon. :-D
So any way, where was I? Oh yes! TRANSFER NEWS!!!
My companion, Elder Page, "died" yesterday afternoon, so I was companion-less for a while. We dropped him off at the mission office in Scottsdale at around 4:30 in the afternoon, and I was with one of the spanish speaking missionaries in the zone after that until I picked up my new companion today. That was really wierd. I had a missionary with me, but I didn't have a companion, if that makes sense.
My NEW companion is Elder Seaborn, who is from Alberta, Canada. I've heard a lot of good things about him, and he seems like a good guy, so I'm pretty excited. And, since I am still in Apache Junction, I will be here for(a total of) six months, which is the longest I've ever been in an area. Crazy, huh? I am still the Jr. Zone Leader. I expect that's where I'll be for a while. And yes, time is flying by. To give you an idea of where I am right now, I am on transfer number 11 of 17 transfers. I remember when I was on transfer 1 of 17. Holy Bible where does the time go? Having a companion go home makes you contemplate your time a bit.
Elder Rutledge, one of my companions in Phoenix, got transferred into my zone, so that's exciting too. :-) He's a good guy, and I'm looking forward to seeing him again.
Our zone had two areas split as well, due (I think) to the sudden increase of work in the zone. So we are going from 8 sets of missionaries to 10 sets. That should really help a lot, too.
We're going to have an amazing next transfer. We are teaching a guy named Ken, who's been looking into the church for a long time. Missionaries have been teaching him on and off, and he was never sure if he wanted to join the church, but he kept coming on his own. He recently decided he needed to join, so we are excited to work with him and help him along. The problem is that two things are holding him back: Coffee and cigerettes. He is having a really hard time quiting those. We gave him a packet that the church produced on quiting smoking-- it's a 2 week program that helps you quit-- but he didn't feel like it would be enough. We asked him what he needed, and he told us he really wanted a class and a support group. So we met with the bishop, and no sooner did we tell him that than he jumped on it. Now we are organizing the Meridian ward Quit Smoking class! YAY! That should really help him a lot. He aims to get baptized early in January. He's got a great testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He's prayed about it, and knows it's true.
One thing that I am noticing more and more is that no one really seems to understand what we missionaries do. Even a lot of members don't understand what we do. Everyone seems to think that we go door to door looking for people to recruit/baptize-- which is why so many people don't want to talk to us. :-P "[Our] purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. . . ." (Preach My Gospel pg. 1) We aren't there to recruit or to baptize. It's to bring people closer to Christ. Sure we invite people to be baptized when they learn our message is true, but we really just want them to hear us out and ask God what's true. God loves us and wants us to be happy, and that's why he called prophets and apostles throughout time-- to teach us how to live so that we can be happy. And Because God loves us and cares about us just as much today as he did 2,000 years ago, he again called a prophet to lead us. And by asking Him, we can learn that it's true. People that listen to the message can't help but change and live better. Whether they accept our message or not, they do come closer to God everytime. And all of them find more peace and happiness in their lives. It's been amazing so far to see that happen.
I love you all and hope that you have a great week,
I've gotta go. Love you!
Elder Jason Mace

November 10, 2009

Hello family!
Sounds like things are going alright, and Tony had a great farewell. I'll keep that idea in mind. Not to be trunky, but that might not be a bad idea for when I get home. In fact, it might even work better. Maybe we can think more about that later on. (I still have a long time left. ;-])
Great news! MyLDS Mail will soon be NO MORE!!!
Well, kind of. The zone leaders got a note saying that Google's GMail (what I used back home) will be contracting with the church to provide better emailing service. YAY!!! I have full faith that it will be a world better than it is now, so I am SUPER excited. Everyone in our zone is as well. I don't think any missionaries actually like MyLDS mail. But I guess it work-- kind of. The new email service starts sometime between now and December, so really soon. :-)
We taught a lady named Nikki this week. She was actually taught be missionaries a few years ago, and was about to get baptized (interviewed and everything), when some crazy family situations caused her to miss it. So we set a date for November 28th, and she is really excited about it. And so are we. She's awesome, we just have to get her fellowshipped into the ward before her baptism. Yup, got a lot of dates for Nov 28. They're all doing great.
Other things are still going well. Transfers are next week, so I get to find out who my new companion will be. Also, there will probably be a new assistant to the president, so I'll find out who that is as well.There is a zero percent chance of me becoming AP-- they would have to put two new ZL's here, which they wouldn't do. :-)
Been listening to some conferrence talks lately-- Jeffery R. Holland's talk is my favorit. Also the 70 that spoke on Joseph Smith. That was another great one. But I'm also growing fond of Henry B. Eyering's Priesthood session talk. That one was really good too.
Elder Evans of the 70 came down this week end for the Apache Junction stake conferrence. That was really neat as well. He actually gave us missionaries a LOT of good advice from the pulpit. I think all of Saturday nights talk was directed to us, even though it was a stake conferrence and there were only 7 of us there. It was amazing. One thing he hit hard on is don't just assign investigaters chapters to read. Have them read from the beginning. That was an epiphany (spelling?) for me. He gave us a lot of other advice. And he broke down 1 Nephi chapter 1 and taught so many prinicples of the gospel from it that it was mind boogling. 70's are amazing. There just like apostles, I'm beginning to realize.
Hope all is going well for you,
Sounds good. I'l make a CD when I can.
I gotta go soon.
Love you all!
Jason

November 3, 2009

Hey Family!
Not too much exciting happened this week, but I'll write you a letter anyway. Speaking of which, I got a letter from Kaydee AND Kellie this week. Santa Biblia! (That's Holy Bible in spanish ;-]) Thank you. :-) And I did get your Halloween package, and I didn't even throw away the new MP3 player. Thank you so much for sending me the package. It was (and still is) awesome.
So, it sounds like my room is being put to work. . . . lol. I'm trying to imagine it covered in Winnie the Pooh fabric and what-not. :-D I do remember those quiet books, and I'm trying to remember why I found them so entertaining. Everythings fun when you're little, I guess. Oh, some advice for the soon to be new parents-- don't bother with gifts for a while, just get him boxes. :-P He'll be perfectly happy, and it will save you oodles. (Yes, that's a real word, ask Kaydee.)
Elder Page is going home in 2 weeks, so the question now is going to be who my new companion will be. Our Zone will also probably be going through a lot of changes this next transfer. My guess is that about half the Zone will be leaving, so that will be interesting.
Yesterday was Zone Development Meeting and Interviews with President Bassett. Our Zone is doing better than it's ever done before. When I went in for my interview yesterday, president Bassett asked me who in the zone I was concerned with, and I told him I really wasn't concerned with anyone. I don't know if he believed me, because he opened his records and asked about two missionaries who haven't done so well in the past. Then he looked down at their recent numbers and said "never mind. Your zone is doing good." It was amazing. Our latest graph shows all of our numbers are above the mission average. When I first got here all the numbers were below. :-) We set a couple of baptismal dates this week, all for November 28th. We won't have any baptisms until then (so Elder Page will miss them). One was a guy named Travis, who moved in with some room-mates (all of which happen to be returned missionaries) in our area. Elder Gomez and I talked to them when they were moving in. He became interested in the church because of his room-mates, and wants to change his life, and he's been to church twice and has a baptismal date already.
The other is a 16 year old named Clinton, who basically is a member, but he's afraid to ask his parents for permission to join the church. We still have to work past that.
So far things are going well.
I'm loving the area more and more.
Sorry, my time is about up, and this stinking computer is dying on me.lol.
I gotta go, but I'll catch you next week.
Love you,
Jason

October 27, 2009

Hey family!
I'm on and checking my-- IT'S A BABY BOY!!! YAY!!! . . . Alex's email was dramatic. lol. :-D

First of all, I just wanted to -- It's a baby BOY!!! I'm so excited! What names are you thinking of? When is the baby suppose to be born? (I'm a terrible uncle, I already forgot. :-]) That's awesome. Thanks for the email Alex.
The League City Stake, huh? That sounds interesting. I'm trying to remember President Reeves. I think I know him. . . . Any guesses on the new bishop? What's the word on the street? I'm trying to think of who it might be, but I'm having trouble deciding. Anyway, that sounds awsome. I'll let president Bassett know.
So we had two more baptisms this last week. I'll have to send pictures of it. I baptized Elsa, and Elder Page baptized Roy. Roy was baptized with no problem, but Elsa wouldn't bend her knees, so her foot kept coming out of the water. lol. But it was really good. They were both really excited about being baptized, and I'm glad I had the chance to teach them both.
We still have some more baptisms scheduled for this transfer, so that's exciting. We are being so blessed! I know I say that every week, but this week we found 7 new investigaters. Seven! That's the most I've ever found in a week, and for this area that is unheard of. And most of them are REALLY solid investigaters as well. It just goes to show you that when you try your hardest, God will lead you to them or lead them to you. Either way, he gets it done.
President Bassett said in ZLC that the only thing slowing down God's work is us. That's humbling.
We were on exchanges yesterday and so I had Elder Robertson in our area. We went and taught a 10 year old girl who has been taught many times, and doesn't want to get baptized. Her parents were less active for a long time and are just now coming back. Elder Robertson and I prepared a really great lesson on following the prophet, but when we got there she suddenly had some questions about being baptized. It started with "Why do I need to get baptized now? Why can't I wait until I am older?" We talked about blessings of baptism and why now would be better than later, and we talked about her praying and asking God that question. We kneeled down and prayed with her right there, and although she wasn't convinced she got an answer right then, she felt good and committed to pray about it every day-- twice a day actually. She is really close to finding her answer. It's interesting that teaching a 10 year old is no different than teaching a 40 year old. You can't pressure them, you have to let them find the answers for themself, or it won't mean anything. I'll let you know how that one works out. I'm really excited about it, because I know if she prays with a "sincere heart, real intent, having faith in Christ" [moroni 10:4] she'll get the answer.
Anyway, the Zone is still doing good. All of our numbers are either at the mission standard or above it, which is great. The work is moving forward faster than ever.
How missionary work going for you? I love hearing your experiences.
Kaydee: Where's my emails?! And what's up with the A's?
Oh, and I will make sure to not throw away the MP3 player. Thank you so much for getting it for me! And for loading the music.
I've gotta go. I'll catch you next week.

Love you all,
Jason