Monday, December 8, 2014

Peoria Week 68 *December 1, 2014


Hello! 

Thanksgiving here for me was wonderful. Our new mission president is a great guy and wants us to enjoy our time here in the mission field so he allowed us to do just that. At 7:00 am we went and took some off-road trails in our truck to get to this field that members were having a turkey bowl game at. There were WAY to many people there at the beginning but it went down to about 20 people towards the end and it was way better. I even caught the winning touchdown pass! After that we went and played some basketball at the church with some other missionaries. We were all pretty tired but made it work. I am trying to get decent at basketball because Shane, Statton, and Matt all love it and I know they won't want me on their team if I suck! The members we live with took us in for dinner which was nice because we didn't have to dress in church clothes and we didn't have to stay around for too long. Then we just hung out the rest of the night. Pretty sweet. We have way too many pumpkin pie left overs and too much turkey haha. 

We taught our new investigator Brenda for the second time at Bishop Owens home. We wanted to teach her the restoration but when we tried to start the lesson with a prayer she wouldn't say it. We talked to her about it for a little and then it turned into the whole lesson on prayer. She didn't think she was worthy to receive answers to her prayers and even went as far to say that God wasn't even listening to her. We tried to help her understand it is an act of faith to pray. You have to show faith in God before he will manifest his answers to you. Faith is a huge aspect in all our church doctrine. Without faith you cannot move forward. You are stagnant. At the end of the lesson we felt she understood the doctrine of prayer and is ready to do it on her own. She will be and is amazing. 

Bishop Owens in the Sun Valley is amazing. He is SO missionary oriented and is always trying to get people motivated to do it. He is a good example of it though so I think the invitations mean more. He talks the talk but man can he also walk the walk. He gave us a huge list of people to visit and we are working hard to make good things come from these potentially amazing investigators. 

Christmas is right around the corner and the church is coming out with a whole new initiative called "He is the gift". Meaning that so much of the world has turned to stores and goods to try to find the joy that comes from the Christmas season but they are missing the whole point.  Christ was the first and greatest gift that we could ever receive. With out him there is nothing. Whiteout him we can never return to life with our families forever. We have to discover him, embrace him and share the great message that he brought to the world. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week. Talk to you soon

Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford

Peoria Week 67 *November 24, 2014

Hey family and friends!

This week was an answer to prayers on behalf of my companion and I. We were starting to struggle just a little but here only covering the Young Single Adult ward because there is only so much you can do to find new people to teach if members of the ward are not giving you ideas of friends and neighbors. I'm not bashing on the ward, all I'm saying is that the teaching was getting pretty slim and the future didn't look too bright. We prayed and fasted a bunch for a miracle. God is pretty mysterious at some points in time and with certain answers. He came through but not in the way that we thought. We wanted new investigators for the YSA ward but instead we went to the transfer meeting and were assigned a family ward to cover on top of covering the YSA! We now have so much work to do that we don't have enough time in the day to keep up with it all! It is probably one of the best problems that we could have. This doesn't mean that we stop trying to find people to go to the YSA and just forget about that obligation. But it does mean that we have plenty of teaching opportunities in the family ward to keep us busy while we seek for more YSA teaching. 

We started off on Saturday teaching an investigator that had taken a "break" from the missionaries in the past. Bishop Owens had his home open to us to teach her and it went amazing. We wanted to get to know her and her story and lucky for us she was an open book. She spilled the beans and really let us know everything. It was really a great experience. We taught her about faith and used chapter 32 in the book of Alma. She responded very well and understood the need to exercise her desire and build her faith. At the end of the lesson we invited her to be baptized and she said yes. We told her to pray about a date, so next time we meet with her we will be set to go!  She really is a great lady and is moving forward fast. 

Other then that we really haven't had too many things that are worthwhile to write about. Not that they weren't great, they just happen so often I don't want to repeat myself. Missionary work is great. There is no doubt about that. It is hard and frustrating at times but fulfilling. I know that this is were I need to be and where many 19 year olds need to be. My life is changed for the better and I couldn't be more thankful. This season is one of blessings and giving thanks. But that shouldn't be the only time of the year we do it. Thank you to everyone that has gotten me this far. It has been great and will continue to be. Love you all! I hope you have an amazing thanksgiving and I will write some exciting things next week. 

Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford

Peoria Week 66 * November 18, 2014

Hey!

This week has been a lot of fun and there have been so many rare
opportunities come my way that wouldn't normally happen but since I am
a missionary i have been able to be apart of them! The first and
probably the biggest opportunity was getting to be a part of the
Phoenix Temple Cultural Celebration. For the past few months they have
been telling us to practice singing a new version of "called to serve"
as well as the sign language for another song "Keepers of His Light".
So we spent countless numbers of hours working ourselves to death
trying to learn this sign language and when the time came to perform
we pulled through! It was so great! The day of the celebration went
like this : we got to the school at 11:45 am to begin our one and only
practice session. They told us where to go what to do and how loud to
sing and then it was off to the races. We were lead by a guy named
William Joseph who wrote most of the music and lives in our stake. We
got to run through the March for called to serve and then practice the
sign language once and then it was a lot of sitting around. We watched
the entire cultural celebration 2 times as they worked at becoming
perfect and just hung out waiting for our time to shine. There was
multiple stakes there so there was tons of members from my previous
areas that I got to say hello to. That might have been the best part.
So many people were stoked that the missionaries were there and gave
us high fives and cheered. The prophet came at 7:00pm and we got to
perform the final show. It went flawlessly and everyone did great. If
you watch the video I am in the second row holding a Brazilian flag!
It was so much fun. We got home right before 10:00 and hit the pillow.

The next day was the dedication of the temple itself. They have three
different dedication ceremonies so that everyone gets the chance to
see it. We went to the first two sessions just so that we could spread
the talks and see what the difference was. They were both great! It
was a unique experience in which the spirt was strong. Later that same
night a bunch of us missionaries were invited to go help get the
temple all put together do that it could start functioning. There was
a big group of us so it didn't take very long to accomplish the task.
We had to be insanely careful because if we nicked a wall then that
would delay the start date of the temple days as they fix it up. That
was also a really rewarding experience.

On Friday night I was able to go down to the Gilbert temple to see a
less active family, the Rowes, that I had taught in my very first area
a year ago, get sealed together for time and all eternity. One of my
most favorite members of all time was the one to drive us down to the
temple so it was amazing to see him and his family. The sealing was
Amazing! The family was so excited and crying and just full of smiles.
They had no idea that the missionaries were going to be able to come
so when they saw us all it was a surprise. We took lots of pictures
outside the temple and then went to dinner. It was a lot of fun to
reminisce and just see how they were all doing. I am grateful that I
was able to go and that it was such an amazing experience.

Thank you for everything! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford


1. The Rowe family and missionaries.
2. The Crandells. One of my favorites.
3. Classic jumping picture with the Assistants to the president.
4. All the youth at the cultural celebration.





Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Peoria Week 65 *November 10,2014

Well hello everyone!

As I am sure many of you know based on church news and me telling you
last week, the Phoenix Temple is being dedicated this week. So they
have to make sure the whole temple is absolutely perfect! It's
probably cleaner and just as perfect as NASA. Haha. Well after having
over 10,000 people walk through the open house on a specific path the
carpet needed to be cleaned. And unlike myself they weren't just going
to do a halfway Harry job. They recruited 30 missionaries including
myself and elder Allen to go and help move out every price of
furniture in the whole temple. It was the most amazing experience I
have had in that temple. It was pretty tedious work just because they
didn't want you to ding any walls or any doors. But it was a work that
was well worth doing. There are way more chairs in those temples then
you would imagine. I think we counted 500 in this one. One by one we
brought them into the storage under the temple. When we got into the
celestial room there were these two identical 12ft long banana shaped
couched that didn't come apart. They each weighed about 300 pounds and
needed 8 missionaries to carry. It was a bit ridiculous. We almost
killed two missionaries and about 20 walls but we made it down to 3
flights of stairs and through the 9 doorways without any incidents! It
was a miracle for sure. After we got all of the furniture out the
engineers took us on an inclusive tour of the temple. It was even more
beautiful when it was bare. They told us all about the symbolism and
the special materials used. It was great. The best part though was
getting to go into the "Brides Room". I literally can not put into
words how pretty and intricate everything in that room is. Those
brides will feel like absolute queens as they look into the three
sided mirrors and crystal chandeliers hanging. It was a once in a
lifetime opportunity because grooms are not allowed in those rooms
when you get married. They showed us the rest of the temple and even
took us into the basement to see the foundation and the work that goes
on behind the scene. Overall it was a once I a lifetime opportunity
and a great blessing.

We are still working with Brian twice a week. He is learning a ton and
is having a blast doing it. He hasn't had any exposure to religion so
we are starting from the very absolute beginning with everything and
taking it all slow. He is picking up on it and wanting to make changes.
His changes are going to be gradual but I know that one day he will be
able to make them stick. He came to church all on his own this week
and he was even in a white shirt and tie!  That was the most
surprising thing ever! We are excited to see what the future holds for
him and where he decides to take things.

It was fast a testimony meeting for us this week and that is the
biggest change in the ward I am in now and my last one. The last one
had tons of little babies and they were always crying. Their was snack
bags crunching and toys rattling. But in this ward there in NONE of
that. It is absolutely dead silent. It is actually really nice and relaxing. It
gives me time to think and ponder what I want to be and how much
better I can really become. Which is a lot. On Wednesday we had a
leadership meeting. It was good but it was a bit long. I firmly
believe that less meetings with more precise shorter ones would be so
much more effective. But that's not my call so for the time being I
just go with it and make the best of it all. We learned a lot and have
some improvements to make!

Well I love you all a ton and thank you for all you do for me. I want
to congratulate Hannah on her big announcement and Jon for pulling the
trigger and putting a ring on the thing he desires most! Haha.

Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford

The moving crew

Elder Allen and myself

Monday, November 3, 2014

Peoria Week 64 *November 3, 2014

Hello everyone!

So this week was the final week for the Phoenix Temple Open house.
There was a big push to get as many people there as possible and we
made that happen for sure. The temple presidency was saying that the
tours were supposed to stop going at 8:00pm but there were so many
people that they had to let the busses run until 9:30pm. They estimate
over 170,000 people have gone through the temple in just the past 3
weeks. There has already been so many great opportunities for people
to teach those that have gone through. They always have little "how
did we do?" cards that people can fill out after the tour. We got to
read some of them and so many people of other faiths had nothing but
nice things to say about the building, the experience and especially
the way that they felt. A few years ago in general conference there
was a great parable that explains the importance of helping people
identify exactly what they felt while in the temple. It goes like this
:

"A merchant man seeking precious jewels found at last the perfect
pearl. He had the finest craftsman carve a superb jewel box and line
it with blue velvet. He put his pearl of great price on display so
others could share his treasure. He watched as people came to see it.
Soon he turned away in sorrow. It was the box they admired, not the
pearl."

The pearl in the temple is the spirit of God. It is his house and that
is where he resides. We know how valuable the spirit is in our lives
and how much we love God. So we build these miraculous temples for
Him. They are the box. They are beautiful, intricate and amazing but
that is not why we build them. When people go through the temple they
will feel the spirit no doubt. But it is up to us to explain what it
is, where it comes from and how we can have it in our lives more
abundantly.

This past week we had stake conference and since I cover a Young
Single Adult ward I got to go to their conference. It was a great
meeting. They talked about dating... A lot. Haha. I guess that is the
whole point of going to one of those wards in the first place but they
really hounded it. The rest of the time they had recently baptized
people and people that had come back from inactivity speak and bare
testimonies. It was super powerful. They were all so prepared and knew
what needed to be said. I liked it a lot.

A few weeks ago a sister missionary in our zone told me that there was
a family in the ward she was covering that wanted to take me out to
lunch. I was a little confused but see cider to give the number a
call. It turned out to be Bryce Hays and his wife from Simi Valley!
They moved out here for school and work and happen to live in our
area! We set up a time and went there for Sunday dinner and it was
great. I had a great time talking to someone familiar and just being
able to relax. I was super grateful for it!

Halloween came and went and it was simply another day as a missionary
haha. No dressing up. No candy. We came in at 6:00pm which is required
by our mission president and then we had a nice little fire and
roasted some marshmallows and made s'mores. It was pretty relaxing but
the next morning I was just as tired as ever haha.

Thank you for everything! I got some letters this week and a great
package from my mom!  Now my house smells great and I am a happy kid.
Talk to you soon.

Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford

Peoria Week 63 *October 27, 2014

Hello!

We did something that has not been done for quite some time in this ward... We had a new investigator at church! I will give you the back story as to how we were able to find him and how we got him to come to church. We got a text from church headquarters with a name, address and a first name, Brian. We put it off for a few days and forgot about the whole thing, but one night we didn't know who to go by. We couldn't think of anyone that really needed us to stop by. Then Elder Allen remembered about the referral! We called him to see if we could swing by and he was so excited! He told us to come right away and talk to him. We drove over and he was sitting out in his garage waiting for us with chairs set up. We found out that he was drunk. But not like the sloppy making no sense drunk but enough to be noticeable. The visit went great besides that. He is just a little lost. He is not happy with his life at the current stage and he wants to find the happiness and joy that only God can give him. It was neat to see this tatted, pierced up guy break down and see that he wasn't reaching his potential. We are way excited for him and the path he wants to go down. He came to church on Sunday and he was a little nervous because he has only been to church once in his whole life. But everyone was super nice and made him feel welcomed. People were excited that we had someone new there so that made it easier for them to fellowship him. 

I really hope that is finding this new investigator will get the members excited and help them to find the desire to do missionary work themselves. It is hard to be so passionate about something that I do not have total control over. That has been a big learning experience for me. I am finding that it takes a lot of love and even more patience. I would love to just be able to find tons of new people to teach every week but the best teaching opportunities come from the referrals that members give us. If the investigator is referred from a member they have an immediate friend, support and someone to turn to. They know they are loved and the experience is all around better. I am excited for the day that we all work together and are on the same page. 

Elder Allen and I have been getting along great! We are laughing a ton and really figuring out how each other works. We are a bit different in our approaches but that is a good thing in most cases. Because of that we can work with groups differently and apply what we want in a way that best suits their needs. We live with another set of missionaries that are just as wild as we are so its a party every time we are together. Sometimes it is a bit distracting and we have to slow it down a bit but we are figuring it out. 

We had a huge mission wide service day this week. We all got together in the dirt of Avondale to help paint six pretty run down homes. It was a blast to get to serve such humble people but every better to see all of my friends from the mission and catch up. 

In other news I am learning how to play basketball haha. Me and a ball don't go together as well as some handlebars but Elder Allen is being awfully patient with me. The roommates I have now all love to play so if I don't play I am left out! So I am having to take baby steps and just get better each time. It's a work in progress for sure. 

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week and a great time trick-or-treating on Friday night. Thank you for everything you do. Keep it up!

Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford
The household. Left to right. Fackrell, Allen, Searle, me

Peoria Week 62 * October 20, 2014

Buenos tardes mi amigos!

I really hope that everything is going just great for you where ever
you might be. The sun is still shining and tomorrow will be a new day.
Sometimes that all I have to keep telling myself. And other times I
really wish the days would not end. I guess that's the trial of it all
right? There are good days and there are bad. This week was full of
both.

The good days were not just good but they were great. Since I am a
zone leader I get to go on a few more exchanges with different elders
in the zone. They are mainly the district leader but if we feel
another companionship needs a little training or help in some area of
missionary work then we can go on one with them too. I went on one
exchange with Elder Handy and one with Elder Rodriguez. Elder Handy
has been out for 20 months and is winding down. It is taking a toll on
him so I really wanted to help light a little fire under him and keep
him going strong. We had a great day filled with contacting people on
the street and appointments with a bunch of less active members. We
were on bikes so I got to have a little fun with that too. I'm not
going to lie and say he was t impressed with my wheelie skills. They
have become quite impressive. We had some good heart to heart talks
and I really was able to find out where he is coming from. He is a
great kid and is an amazing missionary. At the end of the exchange he
complimented me on my maturity and my leadership skills. It was kinda
weird. I was thinking that I did a bad job haha but I guess the lord
really does help you accomplish the things he needs you to.

Elder Rodriguez is from Argentina so his English is getting up to
speed. His mom taught him English back home so that definitely helped
him. He has only been out for 8 weeks but man he is just cruising
along. You would never guess he has been out such a short time. He is
a hard worker and a lot of fun to be around. I got to drive our truck
in our area and boy was that a treat! I haven't driven in 14 months so
I was a little rusty for the first little bit but it all came back
after 10 minutes or so haha. We had a tough time getting into the
doors of people's homes but that didn't stop us from having a great
exchange.

We have a less active named Andy who is amazing. He is setting tons of
goals to come back to the church and get himself to the temple. We had
a lesson where we taught him about faith, repentance, baptism,
receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. We
asked him tons of questions and he basically taught us the whole
thing. We ware excited to help him along his journey. He has a tough
living situation and work schedule but he is making the most of it. We
set a date to go to the Phoenix Temple open house with him and that
will be great. He is excited!

We went to the temple open house as a district on Friday and it was
AMAZING! It is such a pretty temple. From the outside it doesn't look
so big but actually it is pretty big on the inside. Their is symbolism
is everything and the agave plant is designed into the whole temple.
The place was packed with people with is not a bad thing at all. So
many teaching opportunities will come from this. We are excited that
we get to sing in the temple celebration with the youth and be apart
of the whole thing.

I hope you all have a great week! I want to thank you for the emails
and letters. They are always welcomed. Love you all.

Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford

Peoria Week 61 *October 18, 2014


Hey hey hey!

Transfers came and I found myself in a brand new area with a new companion. But not to worry they are both great. For the first time in my mission I get to cover a YSA ward which is for singles from the ages of 18-32. Let me tell you it is a huge change coming from a family ward to this! Luckily I have an amazing companion who has been here for a little while and has the show on lock. He knows what's going on and that has been very comforting to me. His name is Elder Zach Allen from Lewiston Utah. He has been here in Arizona serving for 18 months. Which means he is in the prime of his mission. He is trained and ready to swing at full speed. We are going to work hard. At first I though the relationship we had would be rocky but luckily we have found our similarities and have become good friends. Like my mom and dad always say "Attitude is everything". I believe that now more then ever. 

We live in a casita behind some members and we have a pretty sweet little set up. The casita is big and has 3 rooms and a nice living room. Right now we have another set of missionaries living with us while their apartment gets renovated. Which means more fun for us. They are also zone leaders so we go to the same meetings and are able to have a good time. The house is a little messy with suitcases due to the lack of storage room but we are making due. It has just been a week of firsts for me and the best one is that we have a TRUCK. Yep that's right. No more bikes for me. It's great. We don't sweat and we never have to ask for rides. My hair always looks great and I can wear whatever I want that would have otherwise been ruined on a bike. The only downfall is that I am way more tired at night as we are getting close to like 7:00 and I don't get to ride a bike, which I really do enjoy. 

Being in a YSA Ward is a lot different because instead of working with complete families and helping them the best we can, we are literally look for single people. One at a time. It is a lot harder then you think. We work a ton through referrals from both members in our ward and other missionaries in other wards. Our members have been working on the inviting part of missionary work. They haven't got their yet but we have seen glimmers of hope. Our bishop, relief society and elders quorum president are amazing. They have been a big blessing. It's weird sitting in sacrament meeting and not hearing the crying of little kids or the crunching of snack foods haha. 

Things are going really great here and I am excited for what the future holds. We have been working hard and that has lead to happiness. I know that if we all lose ourselves and focus on doing what God wants then we can never go wrong. The lord has promised it and he never breaks a promise. He also said that. So that's two birds with one stone. I love you all a ton and hope you have a great day! 

Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford 
 
Our Sunburst ward mission leader Ammon Taylor 

Elder Pemberton

Our TRUCK!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Glendale Week 60 *October 7, 2014

The end has come. We got the transfer news this morning and I am
leaving. I don't know where I'm going yet but all I know is that I
have to pack my bags and report to the transfer building tomorrow.
It's kind of a scary thought, but at the same time it's a new
adventure and new opportunities for growth and development. It's funny
how a mission works. You stand up in this big room and they tell you
who your new best friend is for six weeks. I guess for some it could
be hard because they don't like to talk or share anything personal
about themselves but I have found that it's best for you to share
those things about yourself that make you who you are. We are all
children of our heavenly father and so we should get along!
Unfortunately it doesn't always happen but one can only pray and try
their best.

My time here has been a roller coaster of emotions and a lot of
learning. I would have never grown this much if I hadn't come on a
mission. So I'm pretty grateful for the support I had to come out
here. I think today in this email I just wanted tell you all the
things that I've learned in the past nine months while serving in the
sunburst ward.

The first thing that I learned is is trust. The trust that you have to
have with the ward, the Lord and your companion at all times is
crucial to to success. There is no way that it will ever work if
yourself and others are not on the same page. We are all doing the
Lords work but we all have a little different flare on how we want to
do it and that is great! We need a difference in opinion. So if you
share your insights and your thoughts on how to do a specific thing,
then you can really help the work to progress and move forward. It
takes faith to trust others with responsibility. It takes stepping
into the dark a little bit but at the end of the day heavenly father
will get his work done and I think if we have the privilege of being a
part of it then that's just a bonus are on our behalf. The work will
go forward no matter what we just have to try our hardest to progress
it as much as we can.

The next thing that I have learned about is patience. The Lord has
patience

with. us every single day. He knows the mistakes we are going
to make. He knows where our weaknesses lie and yet he still gives us
the opportunity to make decisions on our own. It must be terribly
frustrating when we choose to make a decision that we have already
promised ourselves we wouldn't make 100 times. And yet he is still
just sitting up there waiting for us to make the right one. If that is
not a testimony of God's love for us but I don't know what it is. We
have to have the same love and patience for everyone else that we come
in contact with on a daily basis. We cannot call ourselves followers
of Jesus Christ if at the end of the day we are not acting like Christ
would. not treating people the way that they deserve to be treated.
It's not easy I promise. Sometimes people deserve to be kicked in the
butt! But it totally is worth it when we choose to be patient. We all
remember the saying "that you treat others the way that you want to be
treated." This is especially true for us as disciples of Christ with
our brothers and sisters. We were all there in the pre-mortal
existence and we all made the decision to come to this earth. It is
only a matter of time before our friends and neighbors remember that
choice. And choose to come back and to live their lives in such a way
that is pleasing to God. It really will be a great day when that
happens but until then we're going to have to go slow. We need to help
them get there because they can't do it on their own.

The third thing that I've learned, and it might be the most important
as far as missionary work goes, is the value in working with the
members of the church. As missionaries we don't live full-time in the
area in which we serve. We come and we go but as members we are always
there to talk to our friends about going to church and to help them to
have a good experience. If we will all have the mentality of
missionary work every minute of the day then we can really get some
stuff rolling. It all starts with having the faith that God will
provide a way for you to accomplish his will.  I have seen more
success in working with the members when it comes to finding then any
other method because the members know people who are not members. And
they know them personally. When members and missionaries come together
power is there. Opportunity is there and we get to change people's
lives.

I hope this wasn't too heavy for you all. I just wanted you to hear
what I have learned and what I am always trying to work on. I know
this will come as a shock to most of you but I am not perfect. I am
always working on the same things and becoming a little better each
day. I wish you all a great day!

Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford


 Elder "Superman" Stults right before he left for Brazil.

 The text that changed my fate

Monday, September 29, 2014

Glendale Week 59 *September 29, 2014

Hello!

After months of being here and trying to figure out why I am still
here I think I may have found my answer in the form of a new
investigator. His name in Jonathan. About three weeks ago we were
doing service for a non member named Larry, and we got a text from an
unknown number.it was from a guy named Jeff in a nearby ward that had
a friend who wanted to learn more. There was a phone number there so
we called and nothing happened. No answer. No call back. We tried to
call again but still there was nothing. So I gave up. All we had was a
name and a number. We tried calling so that was all we could do. Well
a week rolls by and we finally get a text from Jonathan saying that he
would like to meet with us. We started texting back and forth and
found that he crummy living situation and that he just wanted to turn
his life around. We tried a few different times to meet with him but
unfortunately something always came up on his end. We were finally
able to sit down with him at the church this past Friday. He is such
an amazing man. He has gone through a lot of trials including
adoption, jail and deaths but he is ready to move on. We asked him if
he was interested in being baptized and he said "I'm not interested in
it.... I am going to be baptized really soon." It was powerful. Since
he has a rough past he needed someone to just be honest with him. I
was able to be that person. I told him everything he needed to do and
change in order to be baptized. I could tell it was a shock that I was
so forward. But I know that confusion comes if we are not straight to
the point. He is set to be baptized on October 25th.

We had a pretty amazing Micro-Burst storm roll through town this week
and surprisingly it did a lot of damage. Since there is not much rain
here the trees have very shallow roots so they can soak up the water
that's close to the service. Well add 70 mph winds and you know what
happens. I have never seen so many trees and walls and fences strewn
all over the place. We were inside for the most of it so we were not
effected.

The Phoenix temple celebration is coming up pretty fast and we as
missionaries are pretty excited. It is a very simple way for people to
talk to their friends and neighbors about the gospel. We have not got
any teaching appointments out of it yet but I know it will come for
sure. The main thing I learned this week is that there is more we can
do then just invite someone to one activity. We need to follow up with
our friends and keep them accountable. The initial invite is just the
beginning. If they feel the spirit their curiosity will be peaked and
they will want to do something more. It doesn't have to be straight to
missionary lessons, but it can be a ward activity, dinner and your
place, or if we're brave enough we can invite them to church. The
point is that we cannot just leave them hanging. We are their friend
and their initial contact for the spirit. Help them learn how to have
it everyday of their lives.

I have had a trial the past six weeks that has really forced me to
focus on my attitude. There are so many days that I believe I can't do
it. That I cannot move forward. But then I remember that God is real.
That his love for me in infinite and that I can do all things through
Christ, who strengthens me. I am so grateful for everything that has
happened. I bore my testimony yesterday in sacrament on this same
thing. I know people have it much worse then me. I just try to see the
good in all things. That's all we can do I guess. No point in
complaining about things you cannot change.

I hope you all have a great day! Thank you for the letters of love and
encouragement.
Until next week,

Elder Cole Safford

This is Larry. We help him build his house probably three times a
month. Nice guy. The little guy in the red shirt is Elder Stults.