E-Mail 5-23-2011

Hello there, i cannot believe that today is the 23 day of May, it sure has really flew by fast! glad to hear that bailey is excited to get her finals done and out of school for a little while! :) hope and pray that you can finish up the crops this week and the weather will keep being good. it sure has been nice here. it is really weird for it to stay this cool this late into the year but we are loving it! they say it will 105 by the week end so here we go! :)


hope you get the equipment repaired and all goes well. i was driving to the mission home this week for zone leader council and we were driving through the pima salt river reservation(saves us about 15 mins) and they were all out in their fields planting pima cotton, looks like a little different method but there was still big tractors involved and it made me smile! :)

I got your package at transfers at the mission home! it was so awesome i loved it! the dvd was so fun and it was great to see. weird how really not too much has changed...i have forgotten what it looks like there with all the mnts and snow and green stuff called grass! haha but it was wonderful to watch and it was so fun to see dad planting. i really enjoyed it and after elder thomas' said that he wanted his family to do one! :) we had a good time and it brought up alot of funny stories! i cannot believe how much water is still in the fields! crazy, i hope that it sinks in and you can keep alot of it in the ground for a long time this summer! made me really laugh when you were talking about me and Nathan getting the sand rail almost stuck! good times! thanks for the goodies and ties, fun fun. thanks!
:) sounds like the valley is really crazy with out going and incoming missionaries. i am so excited for all of them and their sweet experiences and hard times that await them in the next two years! :) best thing anyone could ever do! that is so awesome for Micheal sterling! tell him congrats and give him my address. i would love to hear from him!
also you sent me that clipping about the solar powered church. well in that article it talked about the one Spanish branch, well that is the branch i was in when i was in my last area and i drove past that building every Sunday on our way to church! it looks like a really nice building and i guess if your going solar...Arizona is the place to do it! ;)
We have had a crazy busy week here and this coming week is looking about the same. tomorrow we have meetings with our district leaders for the first bit of our morning, wed we have district meeting, Thurs we are having zone conference which we haven't even looked at yet, Friday we will be weekly planning and then Saturday we have several teaching appointments already set up with WML's plus we have the Stoneburgs getting baptised at 6:00!! :) it will be pretty hectic!
Last night our stake had a priesthood meeting on preparing for service. it was so awesome, the stake presidency here is so awesome and they all are so missionary minded. president Ellsworth was also there and gave a amazing talk! he scared me and elder Thomas pretty good! there is all of the priesthood of the stake all gathered together in the stake center and out of the blue president asks us to stand up and recite a quote out of PMG, it is the work quote by president Benson. we hadn't practiced it or said it in over 6months. it was so nerve racking, haha. we got it though and we were yelling it so everyone could hear. leave it to president to push us a little out side our comfort zone! :)
so we are so excited for this weekend, the stoneburgs are doing great. they all came to church for the 4th time this Sunday and it was amazing to see them all there. on of their daughters is primary age and got up with them and sang a song in sacrament meeting, it was touching to see! they are getting interviewed for baptism tomorrow and hopefully everything will go as planned, and it will, they are so solid. It is going to be such a amazing baptism. our stake president is going to be there, along with president Ellsworth!! YA, he is coming for the baptism! :) an entire family getting baptised. so sweet! :) i am excited to send you pics next pday! :
we are being so blessed her. we are now covering the singles ward and come to find out the ward had requested for the sisters to leave because they weren't doing anything so the ward is so excited to have us there. its a blast covering that ward and we are getting so many referrals! we are teaching this lady named Chantal, she is 25 and is so prepared. we found her last week and she is doing so well. we set a baptismal date with her for the 11th of June in 2 weeks. she has been attending church with her family some where else and just now is deciding to move forward with it all! so awesome. we also started teaching this man, "Rey" he is 23 and said to us in our first lesson that he is looking for more peace and hope in life and hopes that he can find it here. he came and played volleyball with the ward on Thursday and absolutely loved it. all the members just wrapped him in their arms and made him feel like he was on top of the world. he is a real humble guy and will make a great member, we haven't had a chance to set a date with him yet but will be getting baptised in June some time! :) we are being so blessed!
so many people who are prepared, not only in AZ but everywhere across the world. i feel so blessed to be able to be apart of this wonderful work and see peoples lives change as they accept and live the gospel! :) i am so thankful for all your wonderful support and love that i receive and your willingness to help. i sure hope you are seeing as many blessing there in your lives as i am here! i always pray for you all and hope the best at the beginning of this new summer! :) have a wonderful week and keep up the good work there! i love you all.
Love,
Elder Dalan Lerwill