Moving Miracles

Hi Everyone!

Baptism!!!! This last saturday we had the opportunity to hold the baptism of Seth Young, a 9 year old boy who was born in the covenant but because of work, procrastination, and several obstacles, he turned 9 and so we had to come teach and baptize him as a convert. It was a really good thing for the family though, which has been struggling a little bit, but the mom got up in testimony meeting and talked a little about it and the blessings God has given them as they've put the priority back on church and the Lord. The service went really well and the ward showed up to support, we couldn't ask for more.

I hardly have any time, server issues with the Presidents Letter took up most of my time, but quickly on Sunday we were out tracting and I'd been fasting for a miracle in the work. As we were going we saw a family moving into a house and so we offered to help, and they gratefully accepted. We finished up really quick what would have been a really long, hard task for them, and they were really grateful. The cool part is that the lady moving in has a bofriend who's an inactive member, and they've been praying to know what church to go to. While we were helping them, she called him up and told him that we were there, and he told her: Maybe that's a sign from God! Miracles do happen, the church is true!

We've got a third companion now, Elder Simcox, from here in Colorado, in a several week transition from Chile to Arizona, he got his call changed for medical reasons.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Damon Janis

Baptism Date Set and More Blessings

Hi Everyone!

 

I'd like to talk for a minute about the blessing of the Lord for faithful service. As me and Elder Gonzalez have been putting in everything we have to the work, we've seen some incredible things happen and I'm not sure I'll get it all in, time's a little short today. The first thing is that Trino, the investigator who's wife passed away recently and who we helped with the funeral arrangements, now has a baptismal date for March 12th! He's still been struggling with the passing of his companion, but we helped him realize that the next step to spiritual healing is his baptizm, making covenants with the Lord and progressing in his personal spiritual life!

 

This Tuesday we were at the church talking to the mutual kids and playing a little indoor soccer with them, and all of a sudden a brother in the ward came up to me and asked: i have a 9 year old son that we havn't baptized yet, and his grandparents are coming into town next weekend. When can you start teaching him and get him baptized? It was amazing, a baptism that just popped out of the woodwork, we'll be doing the service this Saturday and the kid is totally ready and prepared!

 

We've also seen an outpouring of support from the ward, bishopric, and mission, there are some big changes coming with our building situation and the referals from the ward have been pouring in. I feel so blessed to be here right now, this truly is the Lord's work and He really does bless those who serve with all their "heart, might, mind and strenght!" I love you all, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Damon Janis

Constantly Nourishing our Testimonies

iHola Familia! (iY los demas!)
 
I feel a little more Spanish today than usual, these past couple weeks I've been upping my effort to love the people and the culture I serve, I had a talk with my companion a while back that made me realize that while I've given it my mind, might and strength, I haven't given it my heart and so I can't access the trust of the people as well. It's been interesting to recognize that weakness that I have and work on loving these people, I've found that I don't have to love my own country or culture any less but to just really enjoy and appreciate the differences. It's mostly been just a shift of focus, I realize that when I pay attention when I'm in small cramped apartment with lots of people either teaching or socializing, or just out and among the people and sharing the Gospel with these amazing humble people, I really enjoy it and wouldn't trade it for the world! There's so many amazing things about the Spanish people and their culture, different foods and items of courtesy (like always offering food, fastest way to win over a Janis!), and I love being here with them, serving them.
 
So this past week was transfers, and I am now serving in the same area with Elder Gonzalez, who I actually served with before (deja vu in more than one way) in Carbondale/Aspen, and we're having a really good time! He was born in Mexico City, but moved to the states when he was less than 2 years old, and has lived in West Valley Utah for a while. He's a hard worker and we're getting a lot of good results, we're now both in the *ahem* "mature" parts of our missions (only a few months left), so we're giving everything we've got and we have the experience to be effective now.
 
For sake of a reminder, my current address for the next 5 weeks is:
1325 Garfield St. #111
Denver, CO, 80206
 
There's been some crazy changes in our area this transfer, basically they took out the Elders that covered the South of the ward and put in a pair of Sister missionaries, and we've eliminated the border so now both pairs cover the entire ward area! It's been a little stressful for all of us I think but it's already reaping huge results, the first and foremost is that we can now eat dinners separately and thus be much better in tune with the members. In the past we've had all 4 of us Elders at dinner each night, and not only is it a big burden for the family with food, but also it's hard to focus on the families because they don't eat at the table with you if there's 4. It's been working great and we'll be able to get a lot more referrals this way. Also, this frees us up to find the Less Actives in the entire ward, and it turns out that most of them lived in the south anyway, so my organizing impulses are going crazy and there's a ton for us to do finding the "lost sheep" and at the same time updating records of the people who've moved.
 
A cool thing that happened this week is when we went to find a former investigator in our records, and what we found instead was an entire part-member family! The daughter of the former investigator turned out to be a member (and was about our age and left my companion speechless in the lesson :), and had come back to live with her parents for a while! Her parents had investigated with some sister missionaries but hadn't really progressed, but we were able to talk to them and they're interested in hearing the lessons again, and accompanying their daughter at church! They didn't come yesterday, but we're hoping that with a little bit of a push they'll start going and have the entire family in the church!
 
Something else that happened is we found a less active family to teach that had been taught and baptized by Elder Gonzalez while he was here at the start of his mission, it's a couple of teenage girls and their mom who fell off the ward radar after they were baptized and without fellowship started going to a Christian church and have gotten confused. It's pretty sad, but luckily they still love the missionaries and want to learn again, so we're teaching them from scratch. I've found that the principle is true that's taught in the Book of Mormon, that when we accept God's will, we receive knowledge little by little till it becomes a fullness, and when we disobey God our knowledge is taken away little by little till we have nothing. This family at one point had a burning testimony and conviction of the truth of the Restored Gospel, but from neglect and time they hardly even remembered who Joseph Smith is. It's a testimony to me that we have to be constantly nourishing our testimonies or we lose them, there's just too much opposition in the world and the Adversary is too focused for us to ever just kick it into neutral and think that "all is well in Zion".
 
I'm so happy to be here as a missionary, I love the Gospel and I love this work! There are so many blessings the Lord has given me for my service, and the constant spiritual support and sometimes take for granted is going to be sorely missed when I go home. I'm so grateful for this opportunity right now though, the Lord has placed me in the highest potential Spanish area in the mission, and has given me the tools and companion to be able to effect "a marvelous work and a wonder" in a small way among these people. Thank you all so much for your support and prayers, have a great week!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis

Companion Transferred, plus Jorge and the Hernandez Boys

Hi Everyone!
 
The big news this week is that my companion, Elder Acevedo, is being transferred to a different area and I'll be staying! Also, the Denver 4th South Elders (we're the North Elders) are getting whitewashed (missionary jargon for both companions getting transferred at the same time), and they're putting in Sisters!

I got a call from the Mission President this morning telling me that I would be released as a District Leader, but also that with the new change in the the area I was the point man to keep him informed on the area's progress.

I'd better back up a little bit, because there's a lot going on in our ward because we're going to a really far away building, and basically we told the Zone Leaders about the problem this week (that our area has taken a huge hit with the move) and they told the stake president, and then he had a meeting with the mission president about it, so the upper leaders are now aware and informed and there could be action taken soon.

So President Maynes called me this morning to ask me to keep him posted by telephone every so often about the status of the ward and area, I'm going to basically be the medium for reporting the current progress. It's a lot of responsibility and I'm going to have to take it seriously, but I'm excited for the possibilities this next transfer has!
 
Man, I'm really not sure what to talk about! With the whole transfers going on it's been tough to be real productive and I don't have many exciting things to talk about. Actually, I just remembered, on Saturday we played indoor soccer with some kids from the ward, and they brought along their good friend Jorge with them, who's 15 and from an inactive family, but loves soccer and shows up every time we play!

I've been getting a lot closer with him, and he's asked me a lot of questions about missions and what being a missionary is like, I asked him if he wants to serve a mission and he thinks it would be really cool! I told him we'd take him with us next week to do some work, and he's down for it and excited to be a part of it!

I'm really hopeful that with some care and focus we can get him back to church and make a difference in the life of someone who has a ton of potential to do good! I'm really excited about him and will see if I have more news next week about him too!
 
Along with Jorge, we've been working with his friends, the Hernandez boys, to get them more spiritually involved and reading the Book of Mormon. They've been raised in the church but are at a point that they're starting to take it more seriously, and we're trying to focus on helping them to do it.

Our mission president gave us the challenge to read the Book of Mormon before the April Conference, and we gave the same challenge to them. We're all stuck in the Isaiah chapters right now, but enduring to the end! :)
 
I'm so happy being a missionary, I love this work and I love the Gospel! I've seen the changes and miracles in my own life and the lives of so many other people, and it's the most wonderful blessing that we have it! I hope you all have a great week, take care!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis