Estoy en Arizona!

I'm finally here! I made it! The flight out here was terrific. Before I even sat down I started talking to the man seated next to me and we talked for the whole hour and a half long plane ride, minus about ten minutes. We just talked about life and I asked a lot of questions. We chatted about the mission, and a little bit about the Book of Mormon. I asked him for advice for my mission and he had some good things to say. When we landed, the mission presidency and assistants were there to welcome us. We had a brunch at the chapel next to the mission home and there was a lot of orientation to go through. There were 19 missionaries who entered the Arizona Tempe Mission this week, 4 of which are Spanish-speaking. It turns out we have almost 200 missionaries here and only 32 are Spanish-speaking. So we're the minority but there are a lot of Spanish speakers in Arizona. My Spanish is coming along slowly but surely. I have a hard time understanding everything that is said during the lessons but I can catch a bit, and my companion helps me to know what is going on. I can understand his Spanish perfectly. I think the reason is because his Spanish isn't as fast as the natives. My companion is awesome, by the way. He's from Pocatello, ID, has been out on his mission for 9 months, has great Spanish and a solid understanding of our purpose and how to accomplish it. We get along really well and can joke and tease each other. He's a pleasure to work with.

I'm over at a member's house right now using their computer. Mondays are our preparation days. I'm not sure what you all would like to hear. We do similar things everyday, visiting less actives and investigators. The members here are sweet. The first night, our branch mission leader told us that because he's out of work right now, he only had 16 dollars in his bank account when we was supposed to pick us up from the mission home that morning. Because he was concerned about using gas, he suggested to his wife that he ask someone else to pick us up. She told him that God would provide and not to worry. After dropping us off at our apartment (which is way nice, and we have a car, but we use bikes too), and arriving back home, his neighbor starting talking to him and offered to loan him $7,000 so our mission leader could pay off his truck payments. I couldn't believe it. How awesome is that!

One more quick story and I have to go. Last night after dinner we were walking in the street when a little boy about 4-years-old called out to us and said, "No one will play with me." We stopped and started talking to him. We told him that even when he's alone, Christ can help him, and we gave him a pass-along card with a picture of Jesus. Then he asked how Jesus could help him. We told him that he can always pray and asked him if he knew how to do that. After he told us that he didn't know how to pray, we taught him in a couple seconds, and had to take off. It was so cool to feel that we were going "about doing good."

Oh, I should note, the weather here has been beautiful! The day I arrived was the first day of cooler weather, and it has been so nice since. The cactus are huge! Twenty feet, some of them. I'm loving it here and I'm stoked for the work!

Elder Joshua Gathro