No Less Nerdy

Hi Everyone!
 
I'll have to be short today, the library is packed with people so I only have a few minutes, I might not get a chance to respond individually to Taylor, Emily, and Heather, but I'll talk to y'all on Saturday!

Speaking of that, I'll do my very best to make my call in the morning sometime, we're still working to get a family finalized to help us with the call but have several options. They've asked us to try to keep the call to 40 minutes, so I'm thinking that we can do about 10 minutes of a group chat, have some questions ready for me and I'll answer them, and then I'll take about 4 minutes individually with each of the family. :) I don't think they adjusted the time limit for Mormon families....
 
This week has been fairly interesting, I'm finally feeling comfortable with the ward, the confusing streets, and the investigators that I can lead here, but with that comes the challenge of making joint decisions with my companion who is now used to being in charge.

If there's one thing I've learned on my mission about relationships, it's that you have to treat the other person's idea's with just as much value as your own, otherwise there'll be conflict and hurt feelings. It's a really tough one to put in practice, but fortunately the Lord is giving me a 2 year seminar with daily practice to get the hang of the idea.

I'm grateful though for the opportunity to serve with so many different people with so many backgrounds, interests, and even cultures, because it's broadened my perspective and I've developed a lot in my interpersonal relationship skills (and apparently haven't gotten any less nerdy looking at the way I phrased that!) The mission is a wonderful opportunity to learn.
 
We're working with Isauro, an older gentleman who is having some trouble quitting smoking, we're going to try some drastic approaches tomorrow and I don't have time to explain much, but I'll try to report on it next week and see if it works.
 
Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers, this truly is the Lord's work and even in the tough times the Lord is always close and really supports His Missionaries. Have a great week!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis

Pictures!

Elder Janis and Elder Alvarez and Jesus

Jesus on his baptism day!

Elder Janis' mom sent a wall decoration for a Halloween party if they decided to put one together for their branch. They put it on their door.:) Elder Alvarez leaving for a good days work!

Goodbye Elder Alvarez!

Hello Elder Bustos! And Happy Birthday!

Taylor said to Damon "He's in the zone!" Elder Janis replied that this was the third dinner of the evening and he is sitting next to Elder Bustos, hanging on and feeling too full for comfort!:)

Feeling grateful

Hi Everyone!

We'll see how I do on emails today, I'm under a little time pressure with a far-away dinner and 4 baptismal interviews right after, plus a companionship exchange for 24 hours with Elder Hurtado, but I'm excited to be busy, it makes missionary life a lot more fun!

I'm getting a lot more comfortable about the changes coming with our ward, we've talked to most of the active members on our side now and they're almost all committed to going to the new building.

With that at a little more rest, I'm going to try to focus on getting new investigators because our teaching pool is a little stagnant right now and my teaching skills have gotten rusty. We've got a couple investigators who are progressing well but I think we and the area can handle a lot more.

A cool thing going on is that a family being taught by the South Elders (the other side of the ward) decided last week suddenly that they wanted to get married and baptized, and do it as soon as possible. They were married by the bishop the day after they made their decision, and their baptism is scheduled for Wednesday!Those are the people I'm interviewing tonight to make sure they're ready, and I'm excited for it!

It's only the second time I'll have done a baptismal interview, the first one was for the Zone Leader's investigator last Thursday, and she was awesome and really prepared for her baptism.

The spirit really helped me out, which is good because all day I was worried and stressed that it was going to be really awkward and that the one-on-one setting would throw me off (you wonder when you've been within sight and sound of a companion for more than a year), but it went smoothly and I found out a lot by just a few inspired questions and listening.

I think it's really cool how they have missionaries do the interviews for baptisms, in a real sense it's preparation for being a bishop or branch president by being a "judge in Israel" and deciding if a person is really prepared and worthy for something. It was a very spiritual experience for me, and strengthened my testimony of the Lord lifting and supporting us when He needs us, because I was pretty sick with a mild flu and normally wouldn't have been able to do it.

The mission leadership asked us to tell our families to send any packages straight to our missionary apartments, not to the mission office, so just the normal address:

1325 Garfield St. #111
Denver, Co, 80206.

Thanks!

The Christmas season always brings a little bit of reflection about home and family as a missionary, my personal quart of eggnog doesn't replace it well and neither does actually having snow, but it's also one of the best times to be a missionary as you reflect on the spiritual blessings both you and your family have received from the Lord. I reflect on the sacrifice of our loving Heavenly Father and His Son, the things that it does for me and those I love.

Thinking about it that way I feel grateful and close to my family spiritually, if not in person, and it helps me understand the true meaning of Christmas. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis

How Tired I am From Rapid Tapping Noises and a Regular Thumping Noise

Hi Everyone!

So the thing currently on my mind is how tired I am, which has sort of a story behind it so I"ll start with that. We live on the bottom floor of an apartment in the metro Denver area, surrounded by busy streets and lots of people (homeschooler's nightmare! :) We have either a neighbor or something that at all hours of the day makes rapid tapping noises right above my bed, which can be quite loud and bothersome at times. My companion is convinced that it's our neighbor (although imagining someone tapping their floor rapidly at 3 in the morning for whatever purpose is strange) Personally I think it's just a weak spot in the building and as the weight of the building shifts it causes a really loud creaking. Also, our fan is off-balance, which makes a regular thumping noise, and last night it all culminated with another neighbor taking a shower and my companion snoring, so I didn't sleep as well as expected. Usually it's not too bad, but I'm going to be buying earplugs for the not-usual nights. :)

The work in the ward is going great! We've been helping the members dedicate themselves to attending church in the new building we're moving to, which is far away, and the attitudes have been changing gradually with our visits, testimony, and persistance. For the most part we're seeing people grow in their committment, with the exception of a few stubborn families who we're still working with. I'm really excited though, because as the people excercise their faith to follow an inspired priesthood leader, this ward is going to unite and become so much stronger!

A cool thing that happened this week was a breakthrough in working with the ward organizations. I had an idea that since almost nobody is doing home teaching, we as missionaries can be paired with home teachers and help them do their visits and at the same time motivate and train them how to do it. Instead of taking my plan to the Elder's Quorum President and trying to convince him to accept it, instead I had a chat with him and explained how the missionary effort is trying to not be so separated from the wards anymore, and that we're looking for ways to help the Elder's Quorum. With a few choice words and questions, I guided him to my idea and helped him shape and craft it as his idea, and he got really excited about it. I praised him for his plan and idea and pledged our help to do whatever he wants us to, and this week he'll be personally sitting down with us to assign us families and companions to help! It was really neat, it's a principle I learned in a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People, and because I presented it as his idea he's totally on board and motivated to make it happen! I felt inspired with the idea, and then the way to do it was "brought to my rememberance" and now we have an incredible opportunity to strenghthen our ward relationships and win the trust of the members!

We have an investigator progressing well, who loves church and wants to be baptized, but is overcoming economic problems as well as word of wisdom challenges, but hopefully we'll have him with a date soon!

I'm so grateful to be a missionary, I love the work of the Lord and I'm so happy to be here! I hope everyone is doing well, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Damon Janis

“I’ve been smoking longer than you’ve been alive!”

Hi Everyone!

This week has gone by fast, there's so much to do here in the city and we're busy all the time! I'm going to focus these next couple weeks on changing the work attitude here a little though, we're busy but we could be more productive with our time, and I've now been in the area long enough to observe what's going on and I'll probably start doing more change from now on.

Our top investigator is a man named Isauro, he's in his late 50's and is so solid! He's completely changing his life, and is totally committed to the gospel! He's come to church the past 3 weeks, and he participates and strives to really understand what's going on!

His one holdup is smoking, which he's had for more than 40 years and is struggling to drop. He constantly reminds us that he's been smoking for longer than we've been alive. :) He's really dedicated though and because of that we've been able to help him overcome little by little, and will continue to do so. He quit coffee cold turkey once he found out that it was against the Word of Wisdom, and he's really focused on getting himself ready for baptism.

He understands, better than any other investigator I've had, the importance of baptism as a covenant and as a rebirth, he's always talking about making that change in his life and becoming a part of the church family! I'm hoping that he'll get baptized this transfer, I'd be really excited if he decides to!

This last week the stake president visited our ward and announced that the ward will be moving to a different chapel. He said that while the new building would be a lot closer to many people, there would also be many who it will be a lot further away. He asked us to make the sacrifice and stay united as a ward, and we'd receive blessings.

We've been talking to a lot of the members about the change and it's alarming what we've been hearing. A lot of people are upset because the church is so far away (it's about 8-12 miles further for most members) and they're talking about going to other Spanish and English wards that are a lot closer.

Some of the strongest, most active families in the ward have been insinuating that they might not make it because of transportation challenges and might go partially or fully inactive. Of course as a missionary that's the last thing you want to hear and we've been doing all we can to support the members and give them the strength to dedicate themselves to the change.

It's tough, but the Lord has promised us that he will "give no commandment unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way that they may accomplish the thing which he hath commanded them". It takes faith. Sometimes it takes a few steps into the darkness, like Nephi wandering around Jerusalem at night not knowing beforehand what he should do, but trusting in the spirit and the promises of God, and as a result we have the Book of Mormon.

My personal testimony of obedience has been growing as I've studied the topic to help our members and I know that if we follow our spiritual leaders we truly will be blessed and God will provide a way.

I'm so grateful to be a missionary, to have this chance to help my fellow brethren to understand the wonder of the Gospel, it's truly the greatest work in the world and I love it! I hope you all have a great week, take care!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis

New address, new companion

Hi Everyone!

Sorry to email early again, they threw another weird p-day at us on a Monday, and actually from now on they've changed our p-day officially to Monday. So, this will be a usual thing now.

I'm writing this email from the Denver Public Library in the downtown of the city, i got transferred to Denver 4th ward, the east side of our mission which includes downtown! The directions here are killing me, it's a foreign world here and I'm having a hard time keeping up, but I'm super excited to be here and to be in a full Spanish ward! At church yesterday we had a few investigators show up, and the fellowship and the atmosphere were amazing, I'm really excited because we'll be able to do so much work here!

My new address is:
1325 Garfield St. apt 111
Denver, CO, 80206

Sleeping has been kinda fun here, we have someone upstairs who somehow makes loud rapid tapping noises that come through the ceiling, and the fan has a wobble that sounds almost like a drum-beat, and you can hear car traffic. :) I'm adjusting, but it's pretty different from quiet Carbondale!
 
Hmm, just had a conversation with the guy at the computer next to me, talking about Joseph Smith and stuff, he was more interested though in talking about how great the bible was than anything else. :)
 
Anyway, I'm really excited to be here in the city, to be serving the Lord, speaking Spanish, and helping people come unto Christ! It's the best possible thing I could be doing, and I love the gospel. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support, have a great week!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis
 
P.S. My companion is Elder Bustos, a great guy from Utah, who's pretty new in the mission but is doing a great job of showing me around and leading the area.

After seven months, a transfer!

Hi Everyone!

I'm getting transferred tomorrow although I still don't know where! I'm really really excited, I love this area I'm in and I'm sad to leave but I feel like I've accomplished the work I was sent to do.

It's a strange feeling to realize that the Lord wanted me to come here the Rocky Mountains and serve the people in Spanish, that this is the place He's prepared and this is my specific mission, and although I never would have though of that possibility I would never trade it or give up the experiences now.

In this area especially I feel like I've been trained and developed by the Lord more than any other time in my life, I feel much more capable and confident to take on anything the Lord asks of me and I'm comfortable with myself and my standing with the Lord. It's a wonderful feeling, I hope to continue serving in that strain.
 
I'll be continuing to serve as a district leader, this time going to a new district where I might not know many of the Elders, it'll be an interesting experience but I'm excited to see what I can do to help out.

Because of so many big changes going on in the mission right now it's becoming more and more important that the district leaders step up and really lead and train the missionaries because in the midst of change missionaries either become stronger, better, and more obedient, or they get discouraged and become idle and problems develop.

I've been seeing that in my own area and district over the past month or so, it's challenging because of increased opposition, the key is understanding that increased blessings are gained as we overcome that opposition and move forward in faith. I think that'll be a focus of my trainings and leadership this next transfer.
 
This past week we came across a 19 year old youth who's been inactive for a long time but is starting to meet with the missionaries after getting into some trouble, but he's got his heart in the right place and it's been really fun to see the beginnings of the big changes he'll make in his life!

We're teaching him the Book of Mormon and helping him receive the power of reading the book and living by it's precepts. He's eating it all up, you can see the spiritual hunger he has and the way the spirit comes and touches him as he reads the words of the prophets. We'll be inviting him to play basketball with us and the other missionaries to fellowship him, it'll be fun. (As a side note, I haven't gotten much better at basketball, I much prefer soccer and other sports but with the snow pushing us indoors I've been forced to try again. :)
 
I'm so grateful for the opportunity of a mission! This is the best decision I've ever made, I love serving the Lord and serving His children! I've discovered that it's also the hardest thing I've ever done and in reflection I agree with the pioneer from the Martin handcart company who declared that the hardships they endured were the price to know God, and that he'd never trade that for anything. I'm so grateful to be here, we'll see what the Lord has in store for me during the next couple months!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis