Awkward Automobile Abduction

Well, one week in the new area is in the books. It has been an absolutely fantastic week overall. I really love the new area and all of the people in it. I was able to email on Tuesday last week, and after that we had some really great lessons. I was able to meet with an investigator named Pam Campbell. She has been investigating for a long time, and her husband is a less active member. The meeting with them was super full of the spirit and they are super committed and motivated to have Pam ready for baptism on October 17th. We taught them twice this week and covered the Plan of Salvation which deals with a lot of people's basic questions of where did I come from, what is my purpose on earth, and where do I go when I die. It was really powerful and answered a lot of their questions. They were not able to make it to church because of brother Campbell's back problems, he had a minor surgery on Friday, so pray that he can heal and they can come to church. They say they are in it for the long haul, so we have faith they will remain solid.

So, Tuesday we were lucky enough to have a car. It was really convenient, but we knew it would only last the day. Monday night we parked it in a general parking spot and all was well. The next morning we came out of the apartment ready to go, and we turn the corner, and to our horror the car was gone. We knew we had parked it there and there was no way we just forgot where it was. There was a brief moment of panic, and then we saw a group of workers sweeping off the surface. It was then we realized they were resurfacing the parking lot in the whole complex. Apparently a notice was put on all of the doors, but the elders that were there saw the word car, and threw it away (we are in a biking only area). It just so happened that the one night we are blessed with a car it is taken away. We rushed to the office and a cranky desk lady told us we would incur a $65 dollar penalty, and the car was somewhere on the street. We looked up and down that said street and couldn't find it. It was around the corner and the relief was fantastic. I guess this is why we can't have nice things.

One of our recent converts is Jheri and his family. They went from looking bleak in their lives to totally on the right track. Jheri now reads so much from The Book of Mormon that is gets in the way of his work. We went to teach them a lesson and their niece and nephews were over. They are non-members, so we taught a lesson to them. The niece Mikala has been to church once, and her brothers heard about it and were interested. The oldest is Paul who is 15 and Devin is 9, and they were at the lesson. Right in the middle of the lesson Mikala out of the blue said "I want to be a Mormon for sure" and in that moment we extended the baptismal invitation to all of them who accepted!!! Not only that they asked when and the 17th of October was a perfect day. They are beyond excited, and Paul even said he wants his Uncle Jheri to baptize him. It was a really special moment. They were all at church yesterday and loved the experience.

We had the chance this week to do some great service for people. Here in the desert the service opportunities are everywhere. We began with doing some yard-work for Uncle Bowk. He is an older man who just retired as a train engineer, and he lives in a world of his own. He is a self proclaimed mission president and the elders under him have opportunities for growth. For instance, Elder Coburn who has been in this area a while is a Bishop. He is very nice and feeds us every time we come over, and he calls it a feedbag. Also, we got to help out a member Bill Jenson. He is probably the busiest man I have ever come across. He is manager of a small airport in town, is a high level broker, and at one point was mayor. The airport is under investigation and Bill was a couple months ago forced out of his manager role at the airport by cheap owners. The FAA and FBI are conducting an investigation on the airport and Bill needs to file and copy all of the paperwork over the last 10 years to send to them, so we have been helping him organize and copy to get things moving. He is a genuinely nice man and loves the missionaries. Then we got to do weeding for the White family. They are non-active members who moved in a little while ago. They were offended at some point and now that they are in a new are they will hopefully come back to church.

On the way back from one of our dinners we say a guy checking his mail, and just said hi as we rode by. He stopped us and asked "how is it that I go about joining your church?" We were like, what?! That never happens, but we told him he ran into the right guys. We talked for a while and set up a meeting to come to the church and pass him off to the other elders because he is in their zone. We have been spending a lot of time with our ward mates Elders Boltz and Bentley. The are the zone leaders, and we have a great time with them. The four of us are an interesting bunch to be around. We all get along super well.

This area has a lot of work going on, and I love it here. Elder Coburn and I are the perfect match and we teach really well together. Time is once again flying, and I can't believe we are through week one. If any of you have questions of comments please email me and I will answer all of those questions. Love you all, have a great week!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Thelander

At Silverwood Lake- the only water around- the rest of the area is full on desert.