Invite friends to baptismal services

Saludos!
The baptism on Saturday was one of the most spiritual and rewarding moments of my life! We had a great weekend. We took care of everything in advance so on the morning of the baptism we were relaxed and at peace and things flowed flawlessly. The husband and wife were so thrilled, and they had their Mesa member friends come participate in the program. Before the closing hymn and prayer, they each briefly shared their thoughts and feelings and both started to cry. It was such a happy moment, like almost nothing I've felt before. They have made and still are making changes in their life and feel so much happiness. And it's incredible to thing about how much this young family will be eternally blessed. This has been one of the greatest miracles and blessings of my mission.
Well we had companion exchanges twice this week with our zone leaders and the Spanish assistants. It was fun, learned some good things. We also had a transfer temple trip and interviews with President. I've got heightened vision and my companion and I are full of faith. We've got to do some serious finding to be able to keep things flowing in our area, and we're confident that the Lord will bless us for our diligent efforts. 
We want to have several non-members watch General Conference with us in two weeks so we'll be inviting everyone! For the sake of my companion we'll probably watch it in English, but I think the building that broadcasts it in Spanish also does English, so we could work something out. Invite your friends to watch conference with you for a session. Think about how strongly you feel the Spirit when you are listening to the words of prophets. They can feel it as well, only good can come from it. 
I'm sorry to hear about Dad and the sister who fell. Take your time, Dad, no worries. I'm excited for the Deckers' new home and thank you for your fun, colorful letter this week :) It's cool that you're so involved, Jessi. I'm sure it's a good experience for you. Mom, you can send it to my apartment this week, we still have 3 weeks before transfers on Oct 17. Sorry this email is a bit short, the best part of the week was the baptism by far. I'll send photos when I can upload them or something. I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Joshua Gathro

New Tongue

Family, 
I don't think my Caucasian descent has ever been questioned as much as it has this week :) My Spanish is the best I've had. Several times this week people have asked me where I learned Spanish. One day we were talking to a lady and after a few minutes she asked me, "Where are you from?" "Florida." "But your parents, are they Hispanic or gringo?" It was awesome, because I totally look gringo but I'm starting not to sound it. Again last night we were talking to some teenagers and I started speaking Spanish because they did, and then one kid said, "Are you white? Cause you don't have a white accent." It's incredibly exciting, and I know that the Lord is blessing me with a greater ability to speak the language. We're having a lot of success. This week was terrific!
My companion is pretty much my new best friend. He's hilarious and yet really committed and came to the mission well prepared. It's been a blast this week. He brings a lot of good input to the table and works hard without ever making a complaint. I've been thinking about ways to help him more and I think I just need to give him more opportunities to put into practice the things we're learning. I feel that the Lord is giving me greater abilities and I know that if I don't share my talents, I'll lose them. I want to start doing less for myself and more for others.
The couple that prayed to find us about 3-4 weeks ago will be getting baptized this Saturday! They are such a wonderful family and are so excited to be baptized. We found out this week that about 3 days before meeting us, they were at the point of separating from one another. The husband was ready to move out. And then one of their friends came over with a copy of the Book of Mormon. They found us that week and their lives have changed drastically. Now the husband is like the best dad in the world (except for my old man, of course), and their goal is to be married in the temple. They eat dinner together, read in the Book of Mormon together, pray together nightly, and are so much happier. It's the greatest miracle ever. And a blessing to be a part of. 
Another couple that we've been visiting for about 2 weeks now came to church yesterday for the first time and loved it. The husband is the more interested one and she is mostly just supporting him. But they are great people. They hit their one year anniversary this Thursday so we decorated a poster saying "Happy Anniversary" and drew stick figures of them holding hands. We brought it by the house and has just finished taping it to the door when we heard someone unlocking the door on the inside. We took off but she still saw us. She burst out laughing :) It was worth it.
Thank you Mom and Tyler for sharing those stories with me. I really appreciate it. And I hope to hear from Dad a little bit about his conversion story, if he has time. Have a great week everyone! I love you!

Elder Joshua Gathro

Que oso! = how embarassing!

Hey we got transfer calls last night...I'm staying again. The same area for going on 9 months. My greenie companion is leaving me here and I'll be with another greenie that will arrive tomorrow from the MTC. To be honest I was really disappointed that I'm staying again, but I feel a lot better this morning and am looking forward to correct all the mistakes I made as a trainer the past 3 months. I'm excited to train again. Maybe I'll get a native English-speaker :)

Sounds like life back in Florida is as busy as could be. I'm praying for you all and hope that you each have success in all that you're involved in. No I didn't know she's from Alabama, and I didn't have to write an essay for USU.

This week was super busy and miraculous as well. For starters, after visiting a potential investigator on Monday evening that wasn't home, we were walking back to the car and I looked down the street. My companion saw me and said, "You just thought about walking didn't you?" We both had the idea, so we followed it and ended up passing a house where we had talked to a kid before. He said he had been waiting for us one day and wants to meet with us, so we sat down right there and had a really spiritual lesson. It was just really neat to see how the Spirit had spoken to both of us to help bless Heavenly Father's children. And again on Friday we had a similar experience. We got out of a lesson at 5pm, when we had planned to eat dinner, but we were with some members and wanted to take advantage of their willingness to make another visit with us so we went to visit the same kid as in the previous story. We wasn't at his house, but his aunt drove us and told us that he was at her house. So we went there - no one answered. But down the road we saw a potential investigator outside and we talked to him for a few seconds and my companion asked to use the bathroom. So we went inside his house and a man was seated on the couch, so I introduced myself and asked his name. To make a long story less long, it turns out to be the same man that I had spoken to on the phone as a referral from February. We never knew his address and he never had time to meet, but I remembered his name and I felt bad that we never progressed with him. It just seemed so obvious to me that God had led us through those series of events in order to walk through the door of the house and meet this man waiting on the couch.

Those are the best two stories of the week. I'm excited for this coming transfer and excited that the summer is coming to an end. Best of luck in everything and let me know when big news comes along. I catch word when a hurricane blows through Florida. Be safe and trust in the Lord at all times. He has a plan and if we do our best, He will lead us along. I love you all!

 

Elder Joshua Gathro