This week we had a special music training down in Phoenix. It was sweet. They invited a guy named William Joseph to come talk to us. He's a member of one of the stakes here in the mission and also happens to be a professional piano player. He was the opening act for Josh Groban a few years back. It was funny because I looked back in the chapel and saw this guy with meticulously gelled hair and I thought, "He looks like some sort of celebrity." And lo and behold he was.
For being a famous piano player he really didn't seem very full of himself. He was pretty humble about it, which was nice. He talked to us about his mission and he said that on his mission he tried to be "the missionary who played the piano instead of the pianist who played the missionary." He talked about playing for church meetings and how you shouldn't overembelish things or make it a performance. He said that we're not there to attract attention to ourselves when we're playing for a church function, which I thought was a pretty cool statement coming from a famous musician.
This week was pretty crazy. On Wednesday one of our members got arrested. She was working with a bad social security number. It was weird because the day before we'd invited her to come to a lesson with us and the next day we stopped by her house and found out she'd been arrested. So we've been trying to stay on top of things with the case. It's been a nasty situation. She has four little kids who suddenly didn't have their mom. Fortunately, they're doing all right aside from the emotional shock of your mom getting arrested. The bishop of the English ward where she lives has been helping out a lot. He's a lawyer and so he's been looking into the case a little. He said it doesn't look very good. She has four felony charges and normally with that you get deported for sure. So we've kinda been acting as a go-between for all the people who are involved with the case, especially since some of them can only speak either Spanish or English. It's nice being bilingual. On the positive side we've already found some new investigators among the sister's friends who we've been working with to see if there's anything we can do to help.
I'm really thankful for the blessing I had of being born in this country. So many of the people we're working with have it so tough. Just last night we got some news that our family that's waiting to get baptized might have to wait a little longer for their work permit to come in. In the meantime they're working 12 hour days cleaning hotel rooms in Sedona. I feel bad when people want to do what's right but their economic situation prevents them from progressing much further in the Gospel. Sometimes I wish I had a billion dollars to just give to all the people who need help. We've got another family we're teaching whose house burned down last week. We're helping them out with some basic necessities while they get back on their feet.
It's been especially tough with the new law that just went into effect here in Arizona. It makes it so that you can get deported for any traffic violation or minor infraction. Basically what it's turning into is that if you look like a Mexican the police will try to find small things like doing a rolling stop at a stop sign and then they'll pull you over and ask for your papers. It's become pretty scary for a lot of the hispanics who live here. It's a testament to me of how bad Mexico must be if they're willing to go through all that rather than go back to Mexico. Mexico is not a happy place.
Well, I love you guys. Take care.
Elder Grasley
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