Ammon-Based Approach: Serving and Softening Hearts

Hi Again!

Sorry this is coming a little early this week, we got a surprise zone conference that's on wednesday, our p-day, so we had the day shifted to Monday. It's a little weird, it doesn't feel like an official p-day yet.

We've decided to shift our approach in missionary work to serving the less-actives in the branch and softening hearts, sort of an Ammon based idea. We helped a family move on saturday that's been inactive for about 5 years and they've invited us to come by any time and share the gospel with them! (Apart from that they also gave us a free pair of sweet baseball shoes, they used to sell them but went out of business, but they still have a whole shed full of stock that we had to move) We're excited for them though because they're a young couple and really neat people, and if we can get them active again they could be excellent youth leaders!

This coming week we have the opportunity to help out putting in new windows, fixing a car (my companion used to work on cars a lot), putting in blinds (thank goodness for the cypress canyon rental, I'm a pro!), and doing landscaping for various people! We're actively looking for any kind of service at all. We actually went up to aspen one day and just wandered around in our p-day clothes looking for hospitals, rest homes, or anything to do service! It's exciting, it feels really good to serve and know that you're blessing the lives of these people. I hope it turns out some results and we can fill our time with teaching these people too!

Well, not too much more to report, I hope all is well with all y'all. I'm so grateful to be a missionary here in the mountains of Colorado. I love the gospel and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything! I love you all, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Damon Janis

Jesus Gonzales Baptized and Investigator Bears Testimony

Hi Everyone!

This has been a really interesting week, the highlight of course being the baptism of Jesus Gonzales, which was very spiritual, organized, attended, and a wonderful experience for a new convert!

We had to spend most of Saturday before the baptism cleaning the baptismal font, the one place in the whole building that wasn't cleaned up after the remodeling they've been doing, so we had to clean the drywall powder from off the glass, tile, and changing area.

In the end though everything went really well, Elder Alvarez did a great job performing the ordinance and the spirit was strong!

The following day he was confirmed in church, and by chance an investigator we've had who we'd found drunk showed up to church that day, and him and Jesus just happened to be from the same part of Mexico City and struck off an immediate correspondence!

It surprised the entire branch, but at the end of the fast and testimony meeting Philemon (Filemon, the investigator, biblical name!) got up and shared his own testimony, talking about how we'd found him, how he feels like it's a message from God telling him to change, and also he thanked everyone for welcoming him and asked for their support! He closed in the name of Jesus Christ, amen, and the spirit was so strong and it got the members more excited about sharing the gospel and fellowshipping people!

We're doing what we can to help Filemon stop drinking, it might be a long road but he seems dedicated and is a great guy!

Another thing that happened is that our mission president completely changed the way we do missionary work, by changing the indicators that we report. Now we're using the number system that's in Preach My Gospel and in our planners, and we received instructions that we are supposed to focus more on less-actives and helping the wards and branches that way.

I'm really excited for the changes, I've tracted out my entire area literally 3-4 times, and it produces almost no results. Now we can be more focused on getting the less-actives back, and be more creative in our missionary efforts!

So to answer a few questions Mom asked me, I have 2 other companionships in my district, 1 Spanish and 1 English. We are having weekly district meetings where we're focused on the 8 lessons the brethren have given us to make us better missionaries, and it's fun to be able to direct those. I get to follow up every night with both companionships, talk about their efforts and plans, and help inspire them to be better. It's a great opportunity!

I love being a missionary, have a great week!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis

"I know what I'm getting into and I'm committed to following this path for the rest of my life!"

Hi Everyone!

The big news this week is that I'll be staying in my same area for my 5th transfer, staying with Elder Alvarez! I'll also be serving as the district leader here, a humbling call that I'm not quite sure how to fulfill, I trust though that the Lord will magnify my efforts.

I'm really excited at the prospect of staying, even though figuring out where to tract will become tricky. I'll be tracting some of these apartments and trailers for the 5th or 6th time, now when I tract people recognize me and it's fun. :)

This last weekend we watched the conference with some of our less-active members, the family of a brother who takes care of his two sisters and another less-active family. One of the sisters brought her boyfriend to the two Sunday sessions, which led him to ask her about why she believes what she does and also brought her to tell him that she wants to raise her kids in the church and be married in the temple, which shook him up a bit but they've decided that he'll start talking to us (the missionaries) and see what happens.

I'm really excited that I'm staying and can be a part of that, because I've known the guy and have been talking to him for 3-4 months, so there's already a relationship of trust which will help a lot as we help him find his own testimony of this wonderful gospel!

Another exciting thing is that we have a baptism on Saturday, a man named Jesus Gonzalez who just walked into our sacrament meeting and liked what was taught so much that he came to stake conference, started taking the lessons, and committed to be baptized after the first lesson!

We had his baptismal interview Monday, which he came out of saying that "I know what I'm getting into, and I'm committed to following this path for the rest of my life!" We're so excited about him, he's going to be a huge strength here and I think will motivate the members, this is the first baptism in the area for a solid 6 months!

One of our most staunchly inactive families is starting to melt, their daughter who is 18 and her boyfriend who's an investigator are getting excited and motivated to get active and furthermore participate and contribute, the daughter wants to have some sort of responsibility with the Young Women so she can help reactivate, motivate, and organize activities for the many inactive young women in our area!

We're excited for her help and with that are seeing part of a general and gradual change in atmosphere at church, people are coming back and others are getting more actively involved, and despite the efforts of the adversary the Lord is working a miracle here!

I'm so glad to be a missionary serving here in the tops of the Rockies! I love this area and these people, and I'm so grateful for the inspired call to serve through a living prophet! I know the church is true, I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and that Joseph Smith was called as the prophet to restore the gospel in these last times! I pray that the Lord blesses each of us as we strive to apply the gospel in our lives, have a great week!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis

Baptismal date set for Jesus

Hi Everyone!

This has been a really exciting week, probably the highlight is that we have someone on a set baptismal date! It's Jesus Gonzalez (American guy, going to the English branch) (just kidding :), he's the one who just walked in off the street and then wanted to learn about the church and join!

He's so solid, he's reading, praying and coming to church, and he doesn't have any issues to keep him back from baptism! The service will be on the 9th of October (Happy Birthday Dad!) which is after transfers so it's likely I won't be here to witness it.

Another thing that happened is that we've had a couple more visits with a family of 5, all of the kids being boys (16, 11, and 8 years old) and the parents have decided that they don't want to force any set of beliefs on their kids, but let them decide for themselves.

The kids got really excited about the prospect of listening to a modern prophet this weekend at General Conference, and they are progressing rapidly in testimony and desire to learn more! We found out that the 16 year old is actually in a leadership class with one of the Spanish youth in the branch, and he's good friends with her so we have built-in fellowship!

I could definitely see the kids getting baptized this coming transfer, and be a huge strength to the youth and primary programs here in the branch.

We have a less-active couple (actually dead inactive for 10 years) that's starting to come back to church and meet with the members and missionaries! They're a sweet older couple that were offended several years ago by a tactless missionary, and have just been in the habit of inactivity for so long that they never came back.

We tracted into them a couple weeks ago, and after a few visits by us and one where we brought the 2nd counselor, they finally came to church and loved it!

Last night we went to see a less-active family who've recently gone through some hard times and it's softened the husband, who in the past wouldn't even speak to missionaries or have anything to do with the church. We taught a family home evening, singing hymns and having prayers, and did a lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (basically the principles and ordinances of the 4th article of faith) and used a cool object lesson to explain the Holy Ghost.

They have 3 girls, one 10, one 8 and the other 4. They loved the lesson, and afterward we were able to talk a little more to the parents. We told the husband that he could actually baptize his 8 year old daughter, which he really liked, and they committed to coming to church in spite of any obstacles that the Adversary would put in their paths. We're really excited about them, they could be a huge strength to the branch as well and would really benefit from the Gospel!

Basically things are going great here, I feel like the Lord has blessed us for being obedient and working hard, and although I might not be able to see everything come to fruition here I think I'll be content knowing I did my best in this area and was able to help in the cultivation of this field so that the real harvesting can occur!

I love the people here and I love this little Spanish branch, I'm excited about where things are going here and I know that the Lord will continue to pour out his Spirit here!

Have a great week, stay close to the Lord! I love you all, thanks so much for your prayers, love and support!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis

We’re teaching Jesus!

Hi Everyone!

This week has been crazy, we've had all kinds of scheduling hiccups that have made us frantic at some points and stuck with long hours of tracting at others.

We're being blessed immensely by the Lord, He's put several investigators in our path that could be part of a miracle in this area. One man named Jesus Gonzalez (we're teaching Jesus!) just walked into Sacrament Meeting 2 weeks ago and then actually came to the Stake Conference the following week, even bringing food for the luncheon afterwards!

We were a little concerned that he would be scared off after realizing that we're not just a typical mainstream Christian church like he was probably expecting, but he just fit right in with all the members and was quickly accepted into the social aspect.

Since he followed through with going to conference his second week, we're going to start teaching him in earnest this week and will probably try to schedule several appointments a week. We're hopeful he'll progress quickly and might even get baptized before the transfer if all things go well!

As much as I'd like that result, what's important for me is to leave this area organized and ready for the work, with my companion well-trained and the branch leaderships prepared to take the area to the next level.

I've been focusing my study time on the Book of Mormon, with an emphasis on the doctrine of the lessons in Preach My Gospel. It's been a wonderful journey for me, and it's a study program I'd recommend to anyone. I've just been going through all 5 lessons, and in all the scripture study boxes I've been looking up and pondering all the Book of Mormon references, and thinking about how I could use the principles and scriptures to explain the doctrine to investigators, less actives, and members.

The spirit has come powerfully as I've done this, and my understanding of the doctrine has deepened, especially in relation to the Atonement. The Book of Mormon is full of the Plan of Salvation, and especially the centrality of Christ's atonement. I love the Book of Mormon, it's truly the tool God has given us in these last times to accomplish His work, and it can bring the spirit into our lives better and faster than any self-help book or any other method.

I know that it's a true book, and I know that the religion and organization that rely upon it for the keystone are also true, that this is the kingdom of God on earth and that it's rolling forth, a marvelous work and a wonder.

We got to teach our Portuguese investigators the last couple of days, and introduce the Book of Mormon in their native language! It's really cool, they're great people and are progressing, keeping their commitments by reading and praying and I think will be the key to starting the work in Aspen!

Once the members can see, know, and fellowship investigators found by the missionaries tracting, I think it will do wonders to boost the energy, trust, and spirit in the area and we'll see referrals and baptisms. The Lord can do His own work, even in Aspen!

We'll be moving apartments on September 30th, and just a few days afterwards is transfers, so it would be a good idea to start sending mail to the mission office till I'm sure of what'll be happening. It'll be nice, we found a perfect apartment space that's a lot cleaner and nicer and bigger, it's a place more fit for missionaries to live and it won't have bed bugs! :)

We haven't gotten many bites lately, but we're still really excited for the move. The way we found the new apartment is a story of itself, but I'm out of time so I'll tell it later! I hope you all have a great week, thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers! The Lord truly does answer prayers!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis

Bring back DHT!

Hi Everyone!

Things are still going great here in the Rockies, we're working hard and seeing the Lord bless us in many ways. We coordinated with the mission, and we'll be changing apartments in a couple more weeks.

We've been getting bit less and less, due to moving our mattresses to the living room (I'll take a picture :)) and also repeated treatments by us and the exterminators. Things with the contract and the situation worked out nicely, we found out that if our contract hadn't expired at the end of this month we basically would have been stuck here, because bed bugs aren't a good enough reason to break the contract for medical reasons.

We're told it's because it's at an epidemic level right now in the US, and it's not anywhere near under control. Bring back DHT!

We taught the Word of Wisdom to Esteban and Lourdes, our top investigators, and they completely committed themselves to living it, even though she has a coffee habit and he likes an occasional tequila. They're really progressing and dedicating themselves to the Lord, I'm really excited for them!

It'll be a little while before they go to church and can get baptized, because Lourdes works on Sundays and right now can't get out of her contract, we'll see what the Lord has prepared but we're going to start bringing members with us so they'll be a part of the branch before the even go!

We want to get them a really easy transition, a lot of times it's hard for people to get used to such a small branch.

We're having our mission toured by one of the Seventy, that'll happen in about a month and so to prepare us, we've been instructed to only listen to hymns, MoTab style and appropriate for sacrament meetings.

We're being obedient to that, the only challenge is that we don't have any hymn CDs. We'll get our hands on some soon though, and I think it'll be really good preparation spiritually.

My trainee, Elder Alvarez, is progressing really well and is learning a lot. He's a really good missionary and wants to work hard and be obedient, he's soaking up the experience here and is becoming effective quickly.

He's 22, and comes from Bakersfield California, born to Mexican parents here in the US. His extra age and experience are making it a fast adjustment to mission life, he's a great companion and we'll be accomplishing a lot together!

I hope you're all doing well, have a great week and stay close to the Lord! He's in charge of this work and this church, and the blessings He promises for obedience are amazing and really are fulfilled!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis

P.S. My companion has latched on to the idea that I'm a Jew, it's kinda fun. :) We meet lots of my kinsmen in Aspen, so far I haven't converted any though. :)

“I’m Hungry” in Portuguese

Hi Everyone!

Things are starting to happen quickly here, with the energy and spirit that my new companion, Elder Alvarez has brought, we've been able to find some new investigators that are starting to progress, and at the same time our branches are getting more organized and structured and are gearing up for some big things!

The ward mission leader that was covering both the Glenwood ward (English) and our little Spanish branch just got released and will be able to dedicate all of his time to the Spanish, and he's getting meetings and correlation organized so we can be efficient with forms and keeping track of the reactivation/proselyting efforts!

This motivated me to spend a few hours spitting out all of the information I have in my head about the less actives and members onto the Branch directory, so there'll be a major update and we'll have current info on almost everybody.

I've been here a really long time now, I have a lot of knowledge about what's going on here and I'm starting to transfer all of that information to the area book so that if I get transferred in about a month the new companionship can keep going without missing a beat.

Records are really important, I've been starting to appreciate that aspect of the Lord's Kingdom as I've had to almost completely restructure everything organizationally in my time here! If nothing else, I think the Lord put me here to build the foundation for the area so that others in the future have a plowed, fertilized, cultivated field to harvest. I think we'll see at least the beginning of that though in these coming months, and I'm really excited about it!

3 of our investigators committed themselves to a baptismal date a couple weeks ago, and although they haven't been able to come to church because of work, they're still committed to progressing towards that as they give their 2 weeks notice and will be able to progress easier!

We'll be visiting them several times a week to keep them motivated and learning, they're starting the Book of Mormon from the beginning and you can see their lives starting to change!

It's wonderful to see people who are really committed and willing to follow the Lord's will, and as they feel the spirit directing them in their journey are becoming better people! I'm really excited to have them as part of the branch, they'll add a lot of strength and energy there I think, and their level of commitment already is something that'll help the branch a lot!

We found a new investigating couple, the husband is from Portugal and his wife is from Brazil, they both speak broken English and broken Spanish but we can communicate decently in Spanish!

It's been so cool to teach Portuguese speakers, we'll be ordering some copies of the Book of Mormon in that language so they'll understand better, and I'm hoping to take one also and learn some Portuguese from it!

The only things I remember are the words "paralalipipidu" which is "cobblestone", and "yo estoy con fome" which is "I'm hungry" if I remember right. It's been about 10 years since I learned those things, but for some reason they stuck! :)

They're amazing people and just welcomed us right into their house, where they talked for a long time and then we had a really powerful lesson! I have a lot of hope that they'll progress to baptism, we're hoping to bring them to the Aspen branch in English because they'll probably find more support there and will motivate the branch to start work in earnest to find people for us to teach.

I'm so grateful to be a missionary right now, I love the Lord and I love His work! The field really is white ready to harvest, and I feel blessed to be counted among the laborers.

My testimony of the gospel grows all the time, this really is the Lord's true church, restored through a living prophet, and led today by that same authority. Things are going great here, I hope that all of you are doing good as well wherever you are!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis