*WELCOME, WELCOME ELDER WILSON TO ARIZONA (APM)*

 

Aloha Family and Friends,

How are you all doing?  Well, I am doing great as usual here in Buckeye sharing the Gospel and helping others Come unto Christ.  The weather here in Buckeye has been great, a few days it was raining hard but it cleared up today.  On Wednesday, we had transfers which I got my new companion Elder Wilson.  First we had a trainer meeting that we went to receive our new trainees.  The trainers were on one side of the room and the trainees was on the other side.  President Taylor then announced who would be our companions.  I was anxious when we got down to the last 2 trainees and President Taylor announced that I would be training Elder Wilson.  Then we joined the rest of the missionaries being transferred in the Chapel.  We introduced our trainee then our trainee which mine is Elder Wilson bore his testimony about how excited he is to join the Arizona Phoenix Mission (APM).  Then President Taylor announced transfers and he changed one of my areas that I would be covering.  I now cover Palo Verde and Estrella Hills Ward.  So I had to move to a different home in the Palo Verde Ward which is a huge area that covers the southwestern part of our mission.  There is a pretty big suburb area called Tartesso besides that people live in the middle of the desert, sometimes we have to travel miles before we see another house.  We have a truck that I drive because there is lots of dirt roads we go on to get to people.  It is a bit of a challenge with me and my companion not knowing the area but with time we will get to know the area, investigators, and members.  The work is going great we have some great teaching appointments this week to help Elder Wilson with some Teaching Experience.  We had great lessons with Michael about the Restoration, Plan of Salvation , and Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was so great teaching him and feeling the spirit testifying to him that the Gospel is true.  He is moving back to Ohio but we hope he continues to learn about the Gospel because he has a great desire to follow Christ.  Elder Wilson did his first baptism invitation with Michael, he does not feel ready so we committed him to continue to read the Book of Mormon and pray if he should be baptized.  I know he will receive an answer through the Holy Ghost that he should be baptized and it will bless his life.  On Saturday, we tracted into a family who let us in to have a prayer with them and taught them a little bit about the Gospel and how Families can be Together Forever.  We got a return appointment to teach them about the Restoration of the Gospel and how the Gospel can bless them for Eternity.  We also visited some of the investigators and members in the Palo Verde Ward to get to know them and set up appointments to continue to teach them.  We had a good turnout of investigators that came to church on Sunday.  Training is going great, it is not as hard as I thought it would be.  We have 2 hours of companionship study to do the 12 week infield training for new missionaries.  It is great to teach him what I have learned through my experience that will help him be a successful missionary.  It helps me realize how much I have grown on my mission and how much stronger my knowledge and testimony of the Gospel since I came out.  He is a great missionary that is excited to do the Lord's work.  I have to lead by example because as a new missionary they follow what you do.  He is a bit quiet in teaching appointments.  I mostly teaching the lessons but with practice role playing and experience he will open up.  It feels weird being the senior companion because I was in his shoes when I came out quiet and afraid to speak but now I have confidence that as I study the Gospel that the Spirit will be there to guide you to what you should say and do.  Well that was my great week in the mission field sharing the Gospel.  I love and miss you all.  You are all in my prayers.  Take care until next week. 

Love,
Elder Lance Kuhi Cabral

*JOY CAME TO MARIA WHITE IN BUCKEYE & WELCOME TO MISSIONARY LIFE*

Hola Familia y Amigos,

How are you guys doing?  I am doing great here in Buckeye serving the Lord and helping others Come unto Christ.  The weather has been really nice this past week in the 70's - it was weird because at the beginning of the week it was really cold but then it got nice and warm.  We had a good week teaching the Gospel and helping them receive the Gospel.  Maria White got baptized on Saturday and it was spiritually wonderful to see her follow the example of Jesus Christ and make that covenant with God.  She was so excited and happy after many years of missionaries teaching her the Gospel that she finally felt ready and had a desire to be Baptized.  No work is wasted as we Preach the Gospel because sometimes we are the ones planting the seeds, helping it grow, or harvesting it by seeing them walk into the waters of Baptism and be Baptized by someone who has that Priesthood Authority.  It was so great to see her get confirmed the Holy Ghost on Sunday and become a member of his church.  We had a new investigator Scott McBryan come to church and he enjoyed it.  The spirit was so strong and it was so great to see Maria's daughter, brother, and sister-in-law witness her Baptism.  We had a great lesson with Maria White on the Restoration of the Gospel focusing on how the Gospel blesses families for Eternity and how she can know it is true by reading and praying about the Book of Mormon.  We also had a great lesson with William a 9yr old on the Restoration using Jenga Blocks which he enjoyed, we set a date with him for February 16.  We set a date with the Hornburgers to be baptized on February 9.  Well another exciting and nervous experience is on Saturday evening, we just finished having dinner with a less active family and I got a call from President Taylor and I got so nervous because I knew what he was calling me for the Saturday before transfers.  He asked me if I would accept an assignment to TRAIN A NEW MISSIONARY and of course I accepted it.  So I will be in Buckeye for the next 3 months or 2 transfers.  Yesterday, I went to a trainer meeting and went over the 12 week program in training new missionaries in to the mission field.  It was a great meeting to hear President Taylor talk about how important it is to be a great trainer and teaching new missionaries.  We have to make sure that we lead by example and be obedient because a missionaries first companion has a big influence on a missionaries success throughout his mission and the rest of there lives.  Training is the most important assignment a missionary can receive.  I am so grateful to the Lord and President Taylor for their trust in giving me this Sacred assignment.  We will be getting another set of missionaries back to our district.  So I will be going back to covering 2 wards probably Buckeye 1st and Sundance.  Well, I look forward to transfers tomorrow and getting my new companion in the Arizona Phoenix Mission (APM) http://azphxmission.blogspot.com/  and hope that I can do the best to help him be a successful servant of Christ.  That was my great and exciting week in the mission field Sharing the Gospel to all those who have the desire & enjoy the blessing of the Gospel.  I love and miss you all.  My prayers are with you all.  Take care until next week have a fantastic week. 

Love,
Elder Lance Kuhi Cabral

*LET'S FOCUS ON FINDING PEOPLE TO TEACH THE GOSPEL IN ARIZONA*

Aloha Ohana and Friends,

How are you guys all doing?  Well, I am doing great here in Buckeye doing the Lord's work.  It has been pretty cold these past few days. This morning it was 26 degrees outside when we did our morning exercise.  I was freezing cold.  This week was a pretty great week with zone interviews. We had a great devotional talk by Elder Bednar that we watched in our District meeting with wonderful lessons for our investigators.  Zone interviews were great with our focus on finding investigators so we did a great skills training where we did speed contacting by someone in 20 seconds then increasing it until we reached 1 minute.  Sister Taylor's games are always a big highlight at zone interviews with a game that we learned about how we should budget our mission money and shop wisely for food.  Then we had powerful talks and a testimony meeting on The Atonement of Jesus Christ.  We had a great week teaching this week.  We had 3 new investigators which were great because we were doing a lot of "finding people to teach the gospel".  We met with Megan King from a temple referral which we had a spiritually awesome lesson which we gave her a church tour and taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel.  The spirit was so strong especially as we taught the First Vision and how Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet and received and translated the Book of Mormon.  We committed her to be baptized on February 9 and she accepted.  We also had a great lesson with Maria White about prophets and preparing her for Baptism.  She had her baptism interview yesterday and passed.  She is so excited to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost.  She is getting baptized this Saturday, January 19 at 12 (noon).  Allie Delgado is doing great but she does not feel ready yet.  We invited her to pray about her Baptism on January 19 and she does not feel like she received an answer yet.  We will keep teaching her and helping her recognize the spirit.  We also met with a new investigator, Jesus Nazaro and a former investigator and taught them the Restoration.  We had a great lesson with the Baker Family at a members house that invited them over for dinner and a lesson.  It is so great when members fellowship investigators and helps support them.  Well that was my great week here in the mission field sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love and miss you all.  My prayers are with you guys.  Take care and have a wonderful week and look for opportunities to do missionary and share the Gospel with someone the Lord guides you to. 

Love,
Elder Cabral

*TRACTING IN ARIZONA SURE BRINGS OUT THE JOY/SUN LIGHT FOR ALL THOSE THAT FOLLOW THE SPIRIT*

Hello Family and Friends,

How are you all doing? How was your New Year's?  I am doing just great here in Buckeye - Serving the Lord and helping others Come unto Christ.  I had a great New Years.  We just mostly stayed at our home with the Maxwell's because we could not go out New Year's Day, by appointment only which we had a few in the evening.  We had a pretty good week teaching our investigators.  We had a great lesson with Allie on Baptism and Prayer.  We recommitted her to be baptized on January 19.  It was so great to hear that she told her mother that she is meeting with us and her mom is impressed about everything she is learning about the Gospel.  She even invited her to meet with us to learn more but she does not want to.  Her faith is growing so much and it was so wonderful to hear that she had the courage to tell her mom because that was a big concern.  When we committed her to be baptized on January 19, she felt that she is not ready so we taught her about Baptism and how it is only the gate to Eternal Life that we have to make that leap of Faith.  When we have a desire to Come unto Christ, we have to act upon and show our Heavenly Father that we want to return to live with him through keeping his commandments and being baptized and in return we will receive greater blessings like the Gift of the Holy Ghost as our constant companion to help us stay on the right path towards our Heavenly Father.  We also taught her about prayer and how our Heavenly Father can answer our prayers.  We committed her to pray to our Heavenly Father if she should be baptized on January 19 and our Heavenly Father will answer her through the Spirit.  We also had a great lesson with Maria on the Plan of Salvation and recommitted her to be baptized on January 19 as well.  We went over the baptism questions with her and it went great.  She just has to give up drinking coffee and she will be ready to enter the waters of Baptism.  We promised her blessings as she keeps the Word of Wisdom.  We also met with Mike and had a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation.  We also had a great lesson with the Baker Family on the Restoration of the Gospel.  It was a wonderful lesson for the first time.  We met with them because they had many questions and we kept jumping around teaching them different principles.  We kept it focus on the lesson and it really helped him understand the role of our Prophet and why it is important today that we have a prophet today that continues to lead and guide us back to our Heavenly Father.  We had a spiritually packed zone meeting on Friday that was focused on finding and different ways we can find those that the Lord is preparing to receive his Gospel.  It was so great to have a discussion with other missionaries in our zone and learn of things that are successful.  We all agreed that helping members invite their friends and families is effective in helping others because they have support that will help them and people are more likely to learn about the Gospel and be Baptized and stay active in the Gospel.  Well, we had a cool tracting experience this week.  We were tracting on a street when we got to this house and knocked this Spanish Lady, whom is a member that goes to the Spanish Branch - open the door and was so happy to see us.  She let us in and told us that she was feeling a little down and she prayed to our Heavenly Father to comfort her and then we showed up on her doorstep.  She could not speak much English so she had her son translate for her.  The spirit was so strong as we visited with her even though I could only understand a little of what she was saying in Spanish.  I could feel the spirit and felt so grateful that we followed the promptings of the Spirit to tract that street and to answer her prayer.  Well that was my wonderful week in the mission field - Sharing the Gospel and helping others feel our Heavenly Father's love for them. 

Love,
Elder Cabral