Chilly

Hey family!
It was a great week, we really picked up on our efforts compared to the past couple weeks with our new wards. We got a new ward mission leader last Sunday who is a recent RM and he's so fired up. We're actually at his house right now using his laptops but he leaves for work soon so this will be a short email. Thank you Mom and Dad both for your emails. I pray Mom will have a speedy recovery. I'll let you know about that list next week if that's alright.
Well yesterday we also had stake conference by satellite  Elder Eyring and Elder Holland spoke to all the saints in Arizona. It was hilarious to hear Elder Holland accuse Arizonans of not liking Utahans so much that they dug a ditch (the Grand Canyon) to keep them from crossing the border very far :) Aside from that, really inspiring words concerning missionary work and being more faithful disciples.
We had a really great lesson this week with one of our investigators named Jessica. She referred herself a couple months ago but only met with the previous missionaries once. They invited her to come to church on Gen Conf weekend and she couldn't make it but she watched some of it online. She's pretty interested and is actually "investigating" in the real sense of the word. And she was asking us such good questions! It was just a lot of FUN to teach her. I think it made the lesson more thrilling to see that she was being active in her learning, seeking to understand and willing to make changes. Missionary work is fun :)
Yeah we're having a good time down here. We're working with one of our investigators to help him stop smoking. He really wants to quit but is struggling a bit. We went over a stop-smoking program with him and he got so excited! Even his grandsons we're eager to help out and tape little reminders around the house. Pray for him, please. His name is Phil.
I got to do two baptismal interviews this week for my district. They are really neat experiences. Mom, I should let you know that I quote you a lot out here. Remember that you used to tell us, "Sorry means you won't' do it again"? I feel like that is pretty much the most basic way to describe repentance. I love sharing it with people to help them understand that repentance means change. And don't worry, I give you props as well. I feel like quoting Mom always adds more credibility :)
Well, I love you all. Enjoy the cool weather and have a great week!

Elder Joshua Gathro