The Lerwill Quad Adventures: E-Mail 12-19-2011 New Area, New Companion, All is Great. He looks awesome (pictures) and a Baptism

Hello everyone there, wow alot is going on happening there and here both. sounds like you had a good week and got alot of good stuff done. I cannot believe that it is Christmas this week, doesn't seem real, but i guess that it is! :) Glad to hear that you haven't opened your Christmas package yet...and yes Bailey i would know, Holy would come whisper it to me! ;) haha We are excited for Christmas for sure, it will be lots of fun.

Thursday we had a temple trip with half the mission and had a Christmas lunch and we all got to get together and visit. it was so much fun. 10 of my old companions were all there and it was great to get together! :) Eler ricks is in my district down here! so much fun! :)

So this is a lot different that Apache Junction AZ...the people most of all is what i have seen the difference in. but its a good different, i couldn't be happier anywhere else! There are going to be new trials and things we will have to face a deal with that i haven't had to yet on my mission but that's what its all about.

So I love my companion so much, we are having so much fun and doing great. He is from Finland and his name is elder Hyrkas, pronounced like Who-daa-kass. really hard to pronounce but I'm catching on! haha, he has taken English in school for 6 years so he can speak well and can convey his thoughts good. makes it alot easier but still, the change of one word in a sentence makes a big difference! haha, really sweet accent. he is awesome and is making the adjustment really well.

His family sense as far back as you can go is from Finland and his mom has been a member sense she was 12, his dad is still not a member and he is receiving some really cold upset feelings and letters from him because he chose to leave and come on a mission. Due to his dad and respecting him, Elder Hyrkas was baptised when he was 18. it is so great to have a convert companion who can vividly remember and testify of the difference before and after. he has such a solid testimony, it is fun to teach with him and hear his experiences over there and how the church is the same everywhere. we are having so much fun together. crazy that he will be my last companion and i couldn't be more excited about all the changes! :)

Our area is doing really well. They wanted a extra set of elders in the stake so we took one ward from a set of elders and another ward from the other. the work is booming here. i am in the Scottsdale Camelback stake and my area lays from the 101 north to osborn and from the 202 west to 40th street? i think, haha, still trying to figure out where i am! it is crazy tring to get it all straight. Our wards are way awesome, one of our wards has 85%less actives and each of them have only 80-120 people in sacrament on Sundays so there is definitely lots of work to be done! Our area is really big, we cover mostly Scottsdale but in the south west corner we have part of Tempe and Phoenix, we got a ghetto, like straight up ghetto, then we got a older part of Scottsdale where all the homes were built in the 70's and then we got the typical Scottsdale Scottsdale, ridiculously nice! I love it here, Scottsdale was rated the number one most livable city in the US and i can totally agree with that. there is everything you need and more and its somewhat easy to find! :) clean streets in the north and lots of REALLY nice cars. you see cars here that most people only see in magazines! seriously, its crazy.

We had a baptism this weekend. it was an amazing transfer miracle. it was a man named Juan Rodrigez, he has been taught for the past 3month or so and he has been doing awesome things as far as learning and growth in the gospel. in the past 2 weeks he has really got on board with it all and got ready for baptism, we have taught him several times, before and after his baptism and he is solid. the baptism went awesome and the spirit was really strong! we are being so blessed. we also have a baptism coming up in the next two week ends or so. he is 12 years old and name is Caleb. he is progressing and his whole family is coming back to church so that will be exciting!

we have been able to get around and meet all of our investigators, we have set 2 dates sense we have been here and have a awesome week coming, lots of good apts with inv. and also new investigators! :) we are being so blessed

We live with the Spanish elders in a big apt complex. it is in the nicer part of our area so that is nice. kinda small but its perfect for us, the only thing that sucks is that we live on the 3rd floor! haha, no fun but we'll live! :)

For Christmas we are going to be at church at 10:00, they are combining our two wards and then we are going to a families house for lunch and to call! it will be around 1ish, if you get out of church at noon we call some time between then. if you don't answer i will try back later, not a big deal. i will only have 40 mins or so to talk so be sure and have your questions all wrote out and it will be good! :)

Well thanks for all you do and your support, if there is anything i left out or remember i will ask you on Sunday or drop you a letter. hope you have a good week and are blessed in every way! we will talk soon! take care and keep safe!

Love Elder Lerwill