Tucson-- #8

Hey Everyone!

This last week has been very busy! We visited a less-active member in our
ward, Yvonne Otero and talked to her about the importance of coming to
church and The Book of Mormon. As we talked with her she mentioned that her
husband and daughters are interested in having us teach them. The oldest
daughter is 8 years old and the Bishop has given us permission to teach her
because she turns 9 next month. We meet with their family on Wednesday and
am looking forward to seeing the change that only the Gospel can bring. We
got a referral from a lady named Patricia. She lives in the "Catalina
Foothills" which is the higher income part of my area. On Saturday we went
over and got to know her. Previous missionaries had taught her but she
stopped having interest in the missionary lessons. She was born Catholic
and said that she has been looking for a church that she could go to. Her
research started with our church and keeps on coming back to our church. We
talked about Jesus Christ establishing His church, the 12 Apostles and the
Great Apostasy. We decided to watch the Restoration DVD which is about
20-25 minutes. The Spirit was so strong during the DVD and answered her
question about how and why Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet. She
seems pretty solid and is interested in learning more! She actually is
already looking forward to attending the temple. We plan on meeting with
her sometime this week and hopefully will be able to get her to church. We
set a baptismal date with Doug Dicky, who is an investigator that we have
been teaching for awhile. He knows and understands everything but has had
trouble with the Word of Wisdom. He understands the importance of staying
clean from drugs and not smoking and has been proactive in finding a better
environment to live in. His baptism is set for Nov. 17th and I have seen a
change in him that was not present before when we taught him previously and
set previous baptismal dates. He is volunteering at the Bishop storehouse
for 8-12 hours at a time and wants to do as much service as he can. He is
also a great missionary. He brought a friend, Dylan, from the rehab
recovery time home that he is staying in and Dylan mentioned to one of the
ward missionaries that he is interested in learning about the church. On
Thursday we went out our bikes to go and see if we could check up on some
former investigators. When we got to one of the apartment complexes we saw
a U-HAUL trailer and that people were moving in. We offered to help and
they graciously accepted. As we were helping take items and furniture into
the apartment we were engaging in normal small talk to get to know them.
Once we were done moving they mentioned that they would like us to come
back and teach them on Tuesday (tomorrow). Although I have been only field
for 7 weeks I have learned that the biggest missionary finding tool is
providing service and setting a good example. We did not bring up anything
about the Gospel in our little small discussions and yet they still invited
us back over to teach them. On Saturday we went over to the Wilkinsons who
is a less-active family for dinner. They invited a lady that Sister
Wilkinson works with to eat also. Although she was not *YET* comfortable
with having us teach her and her daughters, she saw and noticed the way
that we acted and carried ourselves. She is interested in the church but
wants to take it slow. She would make a great member of the church. Time
will only tell. We gave the Wilkinson's a copy of The Family: A
Proclamation to the World to give to her. The work is going real well out
here. The weather is starting to cool off so it makes biking that much more
enjoyable. I actually got my first flat tire on my bike so I am going to be
fixing that today. I had to bike to church yesterday on the flat tire and
it was the most miserable thing I have ever done. I cannot remember the
last time I was that tired and it was less that 2 miles! haha

Love,

Elder Urry
LiveStrong
Alma 7:11