Hello hello. what a week it has been here in Apache Junction. I have so much to fill you in on! it has been crazy busy this week and we have got a lot done. So i hope that harvest is coming along and you have been able to run. what has the weather been like there? it was really chilly here this morning. we woke up at 6:00 and went to go play Frisbee at a park close by and we were walking out to the car and i started to shiver and teeth were chattering. we got in the car and it was 75! haha, i felt like such a baby. it was perfect to be out and running in though! :) So i got all my camera stuff put together so i could send you some pics but i couldn't find my cord before it was time to leave so i will print some out and send them to you! :) We have had a great morning here. after Frisbee we came back to our apt and made crapes. they were really good!! elder ricks and I eat really well together! haha, don't look too close in the pics and see how fat i am getting! ;)
so i am going to start on last Monday and walk you through our week. we only got 1/2 a p-day last week. we were in the middle of taking a nap and we got a phone call from a companionship in our zone who were have some struggles so we went over there at about 3 and were there talking with them until 5, came back to our apt and got dressed, then we drove back to their apt and elder ricks went on exchanges with the Spanish elders while i drove with this companionship to Scottsdale. we had a good visit with president and think we got a lot of the problem figured out. it has been really hard because we are doing all we can to keep the one elder on his mission but due to some mental illnesses it has been very difficult for him. we love them both to death and want whats going to be the absolute best for him but its really hard for all that are involved. so that consumed our whole day!
Tuesday we had to take this survey that Salt Lake wanted us to take and it took us 3 hours to fill out on-line. it was really time consuming but hopefully will be effective. we only have 4 computers at our family history center where we were asked to take it and we had to be there while every one was taking it so we could watch and give them their pass codes. we had to do it 2 different sessions so it took up a big part of our day getting everyone through that rat race. we had the whole evening to work in our area and we had some crazy stuff go down. so we got a call on Sunday from a member in mesa and she said that she had a friend who has a LA husband and the NM wife called her up and asked if some one from the church would be able to come over and pray over there house. they said that there was some evil feelings in the house. so we called them and set up to go over at 7. we walked in their house and sat down and there was a really cold, eerie feeling. goosebumps and just not good. they explained how they had just moved houses trying to get away from it but they followed them to their new house. they have been having really weird things happen to them for the past 4 months and they decided that it was time to get it taken care of. he explained that people would come to him in his sleep and take him out of his body and talk to him. the last time that it happened they told him that he didn't have very much time left and then they put him back into his body. we asked them if they were doing anything to invite these feelings/persons and they said no. so we figured that if we had enough faith we would be able to take care of the problem...right?! haha we were hoping like crazy some thing good was going to happen. we read some scrips with them explaining authority and how it works then we gave them each blessings. it was really sweet to feel the change to them personally. it was like a weight was lifted off both of their shoulders. we finished and everyone was in tears but there was still a eery feeling in the house so as we left we all knelt in prayer and dedicated the home. as i began to pray the feeling was still there (it wasn't like i am just freaking my self out type of feeling, it was real) half way through the prayer it was like a whole team of angels came into their house and started going to town! it was so sweet. instant change and it has stayed good there for this whole week! :) we are teaching them again tomorrow so we are excited to be able and go back. hopefully it wont be quite as creepy! haha :)
Wednesday we had district meeting all morning and we had to clean our car in preparation for the mission tour where elder Choy of the 70 came. we were busy teaching people all night! nothing as exciting as Tuesday! haha. we found a new PMF that just moved into our area a few months ago. they are 25 and have 5 kids ages 3 months, 2,3,5,6! CRAZY. she told us that she has been pregnant sense 2008. they are amazing. he is a member and she wants to be sealed in the temple. they are great and will come along great. the ward is already pulling them in under their wing and everyone is loving it! :)
Thursday was the mission tour. there is no doubt that there are prophets and apostles on the earth today who have the authority to bless those they have stewardship over. it was a amazing experience i had. he taught us all morning from 9am to 1pm and then we had lunch and after lunch there were 4 elders chosen out of the whole mission to have personal interviews with him. i was one of them. it was so sweet. he was very friendly and warm. got to know me and where i came from, what i liked and what i have learned from my mission. then he told me about him, he was hired by the Korean government to be a agent to tell if prisoners where lieing or telling the truth. He continued to tell me how he is able to just look into some ones eyes and tell instantly what kind of person they are...i wasn't intimidated at all, trust me. nothing to big was talked about but i receive so much revelation with what i want to do. in a way i felt like i was getting my patriarchal blessing all over again. he hardly knew me or my circumstances but his council and advice answered all me questions. it was amazing. he gave a talk in general conference a few times ago called "I love loud boys" if you are curious and want to look him up. They are ordinary men with weaknesses just as us but because of their divine calling from God they become extraordinary. it was a wonderful, full, busy, spirit filled day! it finished at 4:15 and we got back to our area around 5. some thing crazy happened Thursday night. Matt who is Kali (investigator) brother, and also lives in Nora's trailer park was killed. i guess that he stole close to 15 grand from the Mexican mafia and then decided that it was o.k. to stick around in town for a while, he was tricked into going to his girlfriends house which is right by our church bldg, and they were there waiting. after being almost beat to death, they shot him twice. sad deal, the family is really taking it hard but considering everything they are doing good. so sad to see. he was 25. really hard because at this point the only thing we can do that will be of any help is to pray. you never know, this may be the way to get the rest of the family back on the right track. it has been a long haul for them all and hopefully they can get everything turned around and right. i wouldn't be surprised if after the funeral they all pick up and move to a safer area for their family. they will be o.k. it just hard.
Friday we were weekly planning all morning and the Spanish elders just got a new visa waiter, he is going to Brazil and will be with them till he leaves so it will be fun to have him here for a while.
Saturday we we swamped all day long, between correlations, lessons, and zone stuff it kept us running all day! Transfer news came in at about 10p.m. and there are a lot of changes. Elder Ricks and I are staying together for 6 more weeks which is exciting! :) we are going to be really busy this next week with transfers. we pick up another district in our zone and they are all on bikes so now there is 17 elders and 2 sisters in our zone. crazy big and it is going to be hectic getting everyone settled and the new district in place. it will all work out though.
Sunday we had 6 investigators at church and we sitting around all day from 7:30 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. sure makes for a long day and so hopefully nothing will come up today and we will be able and take a well needed p-day nap! :) don't have anything really planned except maybe some b-ball later today...after the nap! :)
we are excited for this up coming transfer and the many miracles and blessing that will come to us here and also every one there in Idaho! got to love being a missionary and seeing people change. the chance and time to serve is limited and the blessings are boundless. i hope you all feel the same abundance of happiness and peace there that I am feeling here. I hope that you all have a good week and keep safe. hope that you are able to get a lot accomplishment and keep healthy!
Love you all so much,
Elder Lerwill
Monday, September 19, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Onion Harvest and Fall Wheat
I am quite proud of my onions. I have never been very good at this gardening thing. Hope I can get them dried well so they will last a while.
Happy Day. If you look REAL close you can see pretty green wheat coming up. Yippee!
Awesome Day at the Temple with the Bryant Family E-Mail Sept. 12, 2011
Wow what a sweet week. I am completely exhausted and sure feel run down but it has been a wonderful week.
that's great that you all had a good busy week there. sounds like you are on the waiting end for some sun shine and good weather to be able to cut some grain. your more than welcome to take some of ours if you want. this week the record for Arizona was broke...36 consecutive days over 110 degrees. everyone here is saying how it has been a unusually hot summer, for me it seems normal because i don't know anything different. haha. it was so nice to be able to escape and vacation up to Snowflake for a day!! so Thursday came and that night at about 7 we left. we rode with Roy Bryant, clay and Doug's brother who lives in queen creek which is only 10 miles from here so it worked out really well. we pulled in at 11:00 and it was 56 and raining. i got out and a flood of memories came rushing back. it was really weird to be there and see all those wonderful people again. we stayed the night with elder rowburry and rouse, the zone leaders up there and the session started at 8 the next morning. so after what seemed to be 30 mins of sleep the alarm went off and we got ready and went up to the temple. got all ready and was just almost ready to go into the waiting area and clay seen me from across the dressing room. it was so awesome to see them again. we were all very emotional. haha. the session went awesome and it felt so good to be there. in the celestial room we got to briefly talk there and give some hugs then we went into the sealing room and what happened was totally unexpected. the spirit was so strong there. the sealer did a great job with the ceremony and i don't think there was a dry eye in the room after. pretty sweet experience. right after we got some pics and the we all were going to go eat and trappers. the local grease spoon cafe that has amazing burgers. we were going to ride with Roy but Clay grabbed us and said that he had 3 hours to visit last night and is going to have 3 more on the way home so we got to ride with them back to their place and they changed and then we went to eat. it was by far the sweetest experience of my mission! after everyone had kind of left it was just clay and i talking and he was sharing with me the softened hearts of Brandys family and all the miracles that are happening. Brandy is going to be key in bringing a lot of people to the gospel. clay said that they are where they are today because of me. i tryed to tell them that it wasnt because of me but he cut me off and said "listen, i didn't want this a year ago. i didnt want anything to do with the church. all because you knocked on our door and talked to brandy she got baptized, and because she got baptized i felt obligated to come back to church. but then i seen first hand the blessings that came and i knew that this is what i needed to do for my family, now look where we are." we talked for a good 30 mins. and it was just great to hear of the miracles that have happened in their lives in the past year and to hear the hope for the many years to come. amazing week!!! i will send you some pictures next week. :)
we have a crazy week coming! tomorrow we have a survey we have to take for salt lake that will last 1-2 hours and each companionship needs to take it and we are going to have to be there the whole time that they are taking it and then we have to take it our selves. going to make a long day. wed. we have district meeting and lessons all day. Thursday we have Elder Choy of the 70 coming to visit our mission and he is going to be training us from 8am-4pm. so there is another long but spiritual day! Friday we have weekly planning and Saturday we have all of our correlations and all the fun stuff to prepare for Sunday and a new week! and on Saturday night we get transfer news! cant believe that another week has flown by. time is a weird thing for sure.
glad you got the pics from bro Hyer. he caught it in his house right before we came over for correlations so we hot glued its tail and played with it a little. haha, it was kinda fun. i love the Hyers so much. they do so much to help us out and are such good examples. great friends and leaders to look up to!.
We have got our zone activity today. we are going to play volleyball at one of our church bldgs and then have a little lunch. we got zone tshirts that are going to be really sweet. i drew them up and we are getting them put on a shirt. ill send pics of them next week as well. i hope that you can get a lot accomplished this week and everything goes smoothly. glad you got my package and are enjoying that! :) have a wonderful week. keep safe and healthy. all my love.
Love,
Elder Lerwill
that's great that you all had a good busy week there. sounds like you are on the waiting end for some sun shine and good weather to be able to cut some grain. your more than welcome to take some of ours if you want. this week the record for Arizona was broke...36 consecutive days over 110 degrees. everyone here is saying how it has been a unusually hot summer, for me it seems normal because i don't know anything different. haha. it was so nice to be able to escape and vacation up to Snowflake for a day!! so Thursday came and that night at about 7 we left. we rode with Roy Bryant, clay and Doug's brother who lives in queen creek which is only 10 miles from here so it worked out really well. we pulled in at 11:00 and it was 56 and raining. i got out and a flood of memories came rushing back. it was really weird to be there and see all those wonderful people again. we stayed the night with elder rowburry and rouse, the zone leaders up there and the session started at 8 the next morning. so after what seemed to be 30 mins of sleep the alarm went off and we got ready and went up to the temple. got all ready and was just almost ready to go into the waiting area and clay seen me from across the dressing room. it was so awesome to see them again. we were all very emotional. haha. the session went awesome and it felt so good to be there. in the celestial room we got to briefly talk there and give some hugs then we went into the sealing room and what happened was totally unexpected. the spirit was so strong there. the sealer did a great job with the ceremony and i don't think there was a dry eye in the room after. pretty sweet experience. right after we got some pics and the we all were going to go eat and trappers. the local grease spoon cafe that has amazing burgers. we were going to ride with Roy but Clay grabbed us and said that he had 3 hours to visit last night and is going to have 3 more on the way home so we got to ride with them back to their place and they changed and then we went to eat. it was by far the sweetest experience of my mission! after everyone had kind of left it was just clay and i talking and he was sharing with me the softened hearts of Brandys family and all the miracles that are happening. Brandy is going to be key in bringing a lot of people to the gospel. clay said that they are where they are today because of me. i tryed to tell them that it wasnt because of me but he cut me off and said "listen, i didn't want this a year ago. i didnt want anything to do with the church. all because you knocked on our door and talked to brandy she got baptized, and because she got baptized i felt obligated to come back to church. but then i seen first hand the blessings that came and i knew that this is what i needed to do for my family, now look where we are." we talked for a good 30 mins. and it was just great to hear of the miracles that have happened in their lives in the past year and to hear the hope for the many years to come. amazing week!!! i will send you some pictures next week. :)
we have a crazy week coming! tomorrow we have a survey we have to take for salt lake that will last 1-2 hours and each companionship needs to take it and we are going to have to be there the whole time that they are taking it and then we have to take it our selves. going to make a long day. wed. we have district meeting and lessons all day. Thursday we have Elder Choy of the 70 coming to visit our mission and he is going to be training us from 8am-4pm. so there is another long but spiritual day! Friday we have weekly planning and Saturday we have all of our correlations and all the fun stuff to prepare for Sunday and a new week! and on Saturday night we get transfer news! cant believe that another week has flown by. time is a weird thing for sure.
glad you got the pics from bro Hyer. he caught it in his house right before we came over for correlations so we hot glued its tail and played with it a little. haha, it was kinda fun. i love the Hyers so much. they do so much to help us out and are such good examples. great friends and leaders to look up to!.
We have got our zone activity today. we are going to play volleyball at one of our church bldgs and then have a little lunch. we got zone tshirts that are going to be really sweet. i drew them up and we are getting them put on a shirt. ill send pics of them next week as well. i hope that you can get a lot accomplished this week and everything goes smoothly. glad you got my package and are enjoying that! :) have a wonderful week. keep safe and healthy. all my love.
Love,
Elder Lerwill
I Am A Believer.......
O.k. my Mom has been using Green Tea Oil for years on her toothbrush. I tried it several years back and just couldn't convince myself I wanted to do it. Well I have started back and I LOVE IT! It makes your teeth and gums feel so good. Mom only has to clean her teeth at the dentist once a year and they always comment on how clean her teeth are. They always tell her to keep doing what ever it is she is doing. Well I am slowly converting Stacy over to it too. The taste at first isn't the best, but after the first time it gets better (Stacy's words). I made Bailey try it this morning. She loves the Melaluca toothpaste that has the oil in it, so maybe she will convert too. Stacy said this morning we should just send Mom a can of ether. ha ha. Thanks Mom and our pearly whites thank you too!!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Snack Time
Dear Families of Elder Lerwill and Elder Ricks,
It has been such a blessing to have your sons in our ward. I have had the privilege to work with both of them on a weekly basis. They show incredible faith and have helped our ward members a lot through slefless service. Never had I heard any complaint about our 115 degree weather or anything else.
My wife, two year old, and one year old just finished luch with both of them followed by our corelation meeting. They were still hungry so they wanted a snack - see pictures.
Thanks for raising them how you did. I served in Brazil and got home 4 years ago. They remind me of my mission all the time, it is great! I love hearing about Idaho and the country. I grew up in Lewiston, Utah until we moved here when I was 9 years old. I loved it up there. Enjoy your nice weather.
Sincerely,
Tyler Hyer
Ocotillo Ward, Apache Junction Stake
It has been such a blessing to have your sons in our ward. I have had the privilege to work with both of them on a weekly basis. They show incredible faith and have helped our ward members a lot through slefless service. Never had I heard any complaint about our 115 degree weather or anything else.
My wife, two year old, and one year old just finished luch with both of them followed by our corelation meeting. They were still hungry so they wanted a snack - see pictures.
Thanks for raising them how you did. I served in Brazil and got home 4 years ago. They remind me of my mission all the time, it is great! I love hearing about Idaho and the country. I grew up in Lewiston, Utah until we moved here when I was 9 years old. I loved it up there. Enjoy your nice weather.
Sincerely,
Tyler Hyer
Ocotillo Ward, Apache Junction Stake
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
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