Buenas tardes!
This last week has been very good! We found a very good potential, Mark, while tracting our street. We will be stopping by later this week to see how he is doing. We left him with a Book of Mormon and challenged him to read it. It was very difficult to meet with Clark this week. Our schedules were just working out with each other. We were able to talk with him on Saturday. We invited him to a baptism Saturday night and join us for our Ward Christmas Party. He said that he would think about it. He decided to go with us to the baptism but unfortunately we were late and missed the baptismal ordinance. I was a little frustrated and then I thought to myself, "OK Elder Urry, why else would the Lord have wanted Clark to come to the baptism?" We gave him a church tour and clarified his concern about baptism. He said that he was told that the Bible does not talk about baptism being needed to get to "heaven". We addressed that concern with John 3:5-6 and reading parts of 2 Nephi 31. We ended up in the chapel and the spirit was so strong! We talked more about baptism and some of the plan of salvation. He opened up more to us and how he wants to change his life and start living a better life. We committed him to being baptized on 1/26/13 and he accepted! He did not think that he would be ready but we assured him that Heavenly Father would make sure that he would be ready by that date. That the Holy Ghost will testify to him about the truth of our message. One thing that he mentioned to us is that he believes that this is the way God wants him to go because we are persistent and are sincere about our message. That is so wonderful that he is able to recognize the need for the Gospel in his life! Elder Wynn and I are working hard trying to meet with members, visit people on the ward's 15 name list and finding people to teach. The temple trip was so amazing!!! The Gila (Heela) Valley Temple is such a beautiful temple! It is amazing the spirit that is felt when you are in the House of the Lord. I feel spiritually rejuvenated and ready to get back to work and bring souls closer to their Savior, Jesus Christ. Christmas Eve we are having a full mission conference. I am looking forward to seeing missionaries that I have not seen it a while I am going to have to cut this email short, we have lots to get done today. Thank you for all of your love and support! I truly feel it here in Tucson!
Love,
Elder Urry
LiveStrong
Moroni 10:32
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Tucson--#14
Hey Everyone!
This last week has been a little bit crazy! The last missionaries did not
leave us much to go by but that does not matter because the Lord knows what
is going on and He will guide us in the work. We traveled to the mission
office to make an area map. It took us over an hour of photocopying and
taping together but it is the "Mona Lisa" of area maps! The Picture Rocks
ward is pretty large and thank goodness that Elder Wynn has a GPS! The
weather has been pretty nice out here in Marana. It gets pretty cold at
night and during the summer it is the hottest part of the mission. We have
been cleaning up our trailer a lot this past week given two missionaries
died there. We took five trash bags of stuff to the church dumpster
yesterday and there is still more for us to clean! Every Wednesday we go
over to the ward mission leader, Bro. Hughes' house for dinner. Bro.
Hughes' sister I think is married to the youngest Owsley. Small world eh?
There is a lot of potential in my area. There is a part-member family, the
Boughan's where the husband and four kids are not members! They have been
going to church consistently but have never been taught the lessons. We are
going to meet with them this week. According to a ward member who is good
friends with the Boughans, the children will get baptized IF asked, it is
the husband that we need to focus on. We will have a white Christmas! There
is a guy who runs a horse rescue farm that we help feed his 27 horses twice
a week. To be honest, I was not looking forward to doing this until I asked
if there were any race horses that he takes care of. He said, "well as a
matter of fact, over here are my only two thorough bred." And guess what
triple-crown winner is their grandpa? Yep! Secretariat. Elder Wynn is an
awesome missionary. We both have recognized that we need to gain back the
member's trust. We have been visiting a lot of the members this last week
and just getting to know them. We coincidentally happened to have dinner
with the Bishop on Friday. We told him that we are here to serve and ready
to put our shoulders to the wheel. We asked him what would be the best way
to serve the ward. He told us, "Just show them that you are willing to work
hard. They will notice and help you with missionary work." He conducted
Sacrament meeting and when he introduced us to the ward he told them that
we are here to work hard. Bro. Hughes tells everyone that he comes in
contact with the same thing, that we are here to work hard. That is an
answer to prayers because I have been praying to find the easiest way to
get all of the members' trust and Bishop and Bro Hughes are doing just
that! I had a mini fast yesterday that we would be able to have success in
this area. We were tried to contact a former investigator who happened to
not be home at the time. There was a young man, Clark, who happened to be
there though. We introduced ourselves and he invited us to come in.
Apparently we hesitated a little bit and he said, "Don't worry I am not
going to shoot you guys. I'm not THAT crazy." haha Clark is apathetic
towards religions but believes in God. We taught him the Restoration and he
seemed to like the idea of the Priesthood and the importance of having the
priesthood on the earth. He asked us, "How can you know if someone has that
Priesthood?" We explained how Joseph Smith received the priesthood and it
has been passed down ever since. He committed to read, ponder and pray
about the Book of Mormon so he can get an answer and also to get the extra
strength he needs to quit smoking. We have a return appointment with him
tomorrow. This Thursday is our temple trip! I am so stoked to go to the
Gila Valley Temple! One thing I have learned on my mission is: If you work
hard missionary work is easy and if you work easy missionary work is hard.
We are going to work hard and I know that the Lord will open doors for us
because He already has with Clark!
Love,
Elder Urry
Livestrong
This last week has been a little bit crazy! The last missionaries did not
leave us much to go by but that does not matter because the Lord knows what
is going on and He will guide us in the work. We traveled to the mission
office to make an area map. It took us over an hour of photocopying and
taping together but it is the "Mona Lisa" of area maps! The Picture Rocks
ward is pretty large and thank goodness that Elder Wynn has a GPS! The
weather has been pretty nice out here in Marana. It gets pretty cold at
night and during the summer it is the hottest part of the mission. We have
been cleaning up our trailer a lot this past week given two missionaries
died there. We took five trash bags of stuff to the church dumpster
yesterday and there is still more for us to clean! Every Wednesday we go
over to the ward mission leader, Bro. Hughes' house for dinner. Bro.
Hughes' sister I think is married to the youngest Owsley. Small world eh?
There is a lot of potential in my area. There is a part-member family, the
Boughan's where the husband and four kids are not members! They have been
going to church consistently but have never been taught the lessons. We are
going to meet with them this week. According to a ward member who is good
friends with the Boughans, the children will get baptized IF asked, it is
the husband that we need to focus on. We will have a white Christmas! There
is a guy who runs a horse rescue farm that we help feed his 27 horses twice
a week. To be honest, I was not looking forward to doing this until I asked
if there were any race horses that he takes care of. He said, "well as a
matter of fact, over here are my only two thorough bred." And guess what
triple-crown winner is their grandpa? Yep! Secretariat. Elder Wynn is an
awesome missionary. We both have recognized that we need to gain back the
member's trust. We have been visiting a lot of the members this last week
and just getting to know them. We coincidentally happened to have dinner
with the Bishop on Friday. We told him that we are here to serve and ready
to put our shoulders to the wheel. We asked him what would be the best way
to serve the ward. He told us, "Just show them that you are willing to work
hard. They will notice and help you with missionary work." He conducted
Sacrament meeting and when he introduced us to the ward he told them that
we are here to work hard. Bro. Hughes tells everyone that he comes in
contact with the same thing, that we are here to work hard. That is an
answer to prayers because I have been praying to find the easiest way to
get all of the members' trust and Bishop and Bro Hughes are doing just
that! I had a mini fast yesterday that we would be able to have success in
this area. We were tried to contact a former investigator who happened to
not be home at the time. There was a young man, Clark, who happened to be
there though. We introduced ourselves and he invited us to come in.
Apparently we hesitated a little bit and he said, "Don't worry I am not
going to shoot you guys. I'm not THAT crazy." haha Clark is apathetic
towards religions but believes in God. We taught him the Restoration and he
seemed to like the idea of the Priesthood and the importance of having the
priesthood on the earth. He asked us, "How can you know if someone has that
Priesthood?" We explained how Joseph Smith received the priesthood and it
has been passed down ever since. He committed to read, ponder and pray
about the Book of Mormon so he can get an answer and also to get the extra
strength he needs to quit smoking. We have a return appointment with him
tomorrow. This Thursday is our temple trip! I am so stoked to go to the
Gila Valley Temple! One thing I have learned on my mission is: If you work
hard missionary work is easy and if you work easy missionary work is hard.
We are going to work hard and I know that the Lord will open doors for us
because He already has with Clark!
Love,
Elder Urry
Livestrong
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Tucson--#13
Hey Everyone!
I have been transferred! I am going to the Picture Rocks ward in the Tucson
West Stake which is actually in Marana, AZ. It is pretty much the farthest
west part of the entire mission. My companion is going to be Elder Wynn
whom I have not yet met because he is coming from Wilcox, AZ. So...yes we
will be "white-washing" the area! I am both excited and nervous. It is
weird leaving my first area even though I was only there for 3 months, I
met some amazing people and was blessed to have multiple baptisms. From
what I have heard, I am going to live in a trailor owned by a member.
Apparently there is a "zoo" in my front yard. There are some desert
tortoises, rattlesnakes, havelinas (wild pig like creatures). It will be
fun! And...we will have a truck! I always look forward to visiting the
Otero family because they are planning something new every single time.
Yvonne who has been a member for 12 years is preparing to go to the temple
in 3 months and Chris is preparing for a year from now. We were finally
able to get Patricia Vespoli to church! It was like pulling teeth but she
came. She mentioned that she was not getting an answer to her prayers. As
we talked we discovered that she was having trouble feeling the spirit.
Mary Bennett, the Relief Society President was at the appointment and
helped encourage her to come to church. We were a little nervous because
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and those are always toss-ups and who
participates. We promised her that she would feel the Spirit if she came to
church. We prayed that she would be able to feel the spirits and listen to
the meaningful testimonies that would be given. My goodness were our
prayers answered! There were some amazing testimonies and each one I would
say to myself, "I hope Pat is listening because this is really good!" After
Sacrament meeting Sis Bennett told us that Pat enjoyed the meeting and was
crying during the testimonies and asked, "I do not even know why I am
crying" Sis Bennett explained to her that she was feeling the spirit just
like we had promised would happen not even 24 hours later. We met with the
YW president and one of her counselors and discussed how we could help the
youth get involved in missionary work. We decided on showing them the
Mormon Message "Invite All To Come Unto Christ" and just brainstorm ideas
on how to do missionary work. We have been meeting with lots of families in
the ward and explaining to them that missionary work does not start or end
with baptism. They do not need to shove the gospel down people's throats.
All they have to do is invite. We read part of Lehi's dream with them and
explain that Lehi's family did not come to the tree of life until AFTER
Lehi invited them to come. I am looking forward to what is in store for me
and Elder Wynn this next transfer! There will be a "white Christmas" in the
Picture Rocks ward.
Elder Urry
Livestrong
I have been transferred! I am going to the Picture Rocks ward in the Tucson
West Stake which is actually in Marana, AZ. It is pretty much the farthest
west part of the entire mission. My companion is going to be Elder Wynn
whom I have not yet met because he is coming from Wilcox, AZ. So...yes we
will be "white-washing" the area! I am both excited and nervous. It is
weird leaving my first area even though I was only there for 3 months, I
met some amazing people and was blessed to have multiple baptisms. From
what I have heard, I am going to live in a trailor owned by a member.
Apparently there is a "zoo" in my front yard. There are some desert
tortoises, rattlesnakes, havelinas (wild pig like creatures). It will be
fun! And...we will have a truck! I always look forward to visiting the
Otero family because they are planning something new every single time.
Yvonne who has been a member for 12 years is preparing to go to the temple
in 3 months and Chris is preparing for a year from now. We were finally
able to get Patricia Vespoli to church! It was like pulling teeth but she
came. She mentioned that she was not getting an answer to her prayers. As
we talked we discovered that she was having trouble feeling the spirit.
Mary Bennett, the Relief Society President was at the appointment and
helped encourage her to come to church. We were a little nervous because
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and those are always toss-ups and who
participates. We promised her that she would feel the Spirit if she came to
church. We prayed that she would be able to feel the spirits and listen to
the meaningful testimonies that would be given. My goodness were our
prayers answered! There were some amazing testimonies and each one I would
say to myself, "I hope Pat is listening because this is really good!" After
Sacrament meeting Sis Bennett told us that Pat enjoyed the meeting and was
crying during the testimonies and asked, "I do not even know why I am
crying" Sis Bennett explained to her that she was feeling the spirit just
like we had promised would happen not even 24 hours later. We met with the
YW president and one of her counselors and discussed how we could help the
youth get involved in missionary work. We decided on showing them the
Mormon Message "Invite All To Come Unto Christ" and just brainstorm ideas
on how to do missionary work. We have been meeting with lots of families in
the ward and explaining to them that missionary work does not start or end
with baptism. They do not need to shove the gospel down people's throats.
All they have to do is invite. We read part of Lehi's dream with them and
explain that Lehi's family did not come to the tree of life until AFTER
Lehi invited them to come. I am looking forward to what is in store for me
and Elder Wynn this next transfer! There will be a "white Christmas" in the
Picture Rocks ward.
Elder Urry
Livestrong
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