Lemon Tree

Well, transfers this week were bittersweet. I'm sad that I had to say
goodbye to Elder Harris and that Elder Whipple got moved. Still, it
was a pretty good transfer meeting.

My new companion is named Elder Lemon. He's from Logan. He went to
Skyview High School and I've been trying to remember if that's the one
Mom went to or a rival. He's pretty cool though. He's super chill. I
think he could go a whole day without talking and be content. He came
here after serving his first six months in the branch out in Goodyear,
which means that this is his first experience with a real Spanish
ward.

The new Zone Leader living in our house is Elder Jeffs. He's pretty
cool. I knew him when he served in South Phoenix a year ago. He's been
up in cold, Mexican-less Prescott since then. We enjoy quoting
homestarrunner and xkcd together.

We set a pretty solid baptismal date this week. It's with a 15 year
old named Jorge. He's the boyfriend of a member. They took him to the
visitors' center and then to Church on Sunday, which of course is
always nice for a missionary when your first contact with an
investigator is inside the church building. We taught him the first
lesson and invited him to pray to know if what we'd shared was true
and he asked us why he needed to do that if he already knew it was
true. So he's pretty awesome. We just want to make sure he gets to the
point where he will still be an active member even if he breaks up
with his girlfriend.

Two of our investigators who came to Church this past Sunday are
leaving for Mexico for a few weeks. The husband has cancer and so
they're going to Mexico to look for treatment options. The doctors
here in the US only gave him a few months to live so he decided to try
his luck south of the border. Apparently he has cancer in his small
intestine which constricts his digestive tract and prevents him from
eating. He had to have some of his intestine removed but it still
seems like the cancer is going to overtake him. We're hoping that he
can hang on long enough to accept the Gospel and that they can have
that peace of mind when he goes.

Golfing last P-day was fun. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought
it would. I liked it because we just went to the driving range and so
I was only competing against myself. I definitely am not a natural
golfer, but it was fun and free so I didn't complain.

This past week I've been thinking a bit about faith. I like how faith
is the driving force behind everything in the Gospel. Basically, no
matter what we do our own efforts will always fall pretty short of
what we need so by faith in God we have the hope that there's a power
greater than our own to help make up the difference. I think too often
I forget that Christ is there to make up the difference as long as we
just have faith. Sometimes I feel too much like I just have to get rid
of the difference by my own effort.

Love,
Elder Grasley