I is havin’ to lern me english agin

Hi Everyone!
 
Well, I'm now in Rifle Colorado, which was a surprise to everyone, since Rifle hasn't had a Spanish zone leader for more than half a year and we all thought I'd be in the city! I is sure glad to be here though with all them country folk, I is havin’ to learn english again and I is teaching a bunch and getting’ real familiarized with all that right there! We is in a pretty small town, I bet there ain’t more than a few thousand folk here and I is havin’ a hard time gettin’ used to it all.
 
In all seriousness, I'm actually having a little bit of culture shock from not speaking Spanish much anymore, and also working in an English area and ward. The people out here aren't as hick as I was fearing, they're really good people and there's a mix of just about everything here. The town is literally tiny, it can't be more than 4-5 miles long and not very wide, and most of it is the "downtown" section which reminds you of the wild west. All the shops have the name of a gun company on them, up to and including the "Winchester Hotel"! I'm really excited to be here though and back in the Meeker zone, really close to my old beloved area in Carbondale/Aspen. I love being out here in the mountains and country, it makes you appreciate God and His amazing creations, you loose that sense of nature when you're in Denver too long.
 
It's been cool learning how to be a Zone Leader and see how the mission works from the inside, it's a little challenging at times and a little stressful but I'm learning a ton from it and wouldn't have it any other way. I'm really grateful the Lord giving me this opportunity here at the end of my mission, it's a gentle reminder to keep going strong till the end and not slow down, the Lord still has plenty to teach me and I'm trying to soak it all up. We've got a lot of people here progressing towards baptism and we're working hard, it's actually harder for me to teach in English now but I'm slowly getting the gift of tongues in reverse, it's a weird feeling to be trying to learn English better but it's fun! :) I can't wait till Ethan comes back and he'll be desperate to talk in Spanish, I'll help him with the transition as he gets massive culture shock! I can't even imagine coming home from a foreign country, I speak English most of the day and it's hard even for me in my own country!
 
I love you all so much, I hope all is well at home and that everyone is doing well! I hope you all have a great week!
 
Love,
Damon

Called to be Zone Leader and Impressions of the Spirit

Hi Everyone!

 

Well, I'm not really sure what to say today, I'm kind of in shock because I got a call from my mission president on Sunday telling me that he's calling me to be a Zone Leader, and I'm going to be transfered. It was the futhest thing from my mind when I was thinking about transfers, I was set that I was going to stay in Denver 4th, possibly till I ended my mission. It took me off guard pretty well, and I'm just trying to pull myself together to be ready for the challenges it'll present. We're fairly confident I'm going to go to Barnum Park, a small english area inside of the Denver 1st area (so I'm already familiar with the area), because almost all of the spanish Zone Leaders serve there. I don't really know what to think but I'm excited for it, there's a lot of opportunities especially to help other missionaries and I'm looking forward to that. Sometimes I feel like I'm almost better at helping missionaries than investigators, maybe I just relate to them a little better.

 

Something interesting we've been doing with the kids of a family in the ward that kind of came out of the blue is helping them use better language by having them read a verse out loud in the Book of Mormon for every swear word they say, it's pretty funny to watch and it's actually helped a lot! The 13 year old girl, Rachel, has actually seen a lot of improvement and her friends have noticed, it's a cool thing and she's setting an example for her friends! Creative ideas usually work good in missionary work I'm finding, we were able to get a couple less-active kids to church because I promised I'd do a dumb-looking tie knot if they came, it's called the "waterfall" and basically you just don't put the tie through the last loop so it's just flapped over, and it looks pretty bad! It's funny though because it actually worked!

 

I'd like to share a little about a couple experiences I've had recently that have taught me about the power of the Holy Ghost in giving us messages, the first is back in Carbondale where I spent 8 months, at the end of it one day (before I even knew I was leaving) I had the thought to get down on my knees and ask the Lord if He was pleased with my efforts in the area and if my offering was acceptable to Him. It surprized me how fast the answer came, I felt this incredible feeling of warmth, love, and peace come over me and I knew at that moment that God Loved me and was pleased with me. I can't even describe how amazing that feeling is, there's nothing in the world that can bring you down when you feel that acceptance, because you know you're doing the Lord's will and He's happy with you. Again, yesterday after I got the call that I was being transfered, we were sharing a lesson with a couple members where we talk about the atonement, play a hymn while we close our eyes, then ask for referals, and during the hymn I got the same impression: ask. So I sent up the mental petition and got my answer back just as fast, I felt the Lord communicate to me that I'd accomplished the purpose for which He's sent me here. I love this Gospel so much and I know that it's true, it really doesn't matter what anyone else says or does becuase I have a true relationship with my Heavenly Father and as long as I know I'm right with Him, there's nothing that can shake me. I'm so grateful for these experiences, I'm so grateful to be a missionary as well. It's the most incredible thing I've ever done, that's ever happened to me!

 

These next few weeks should be full of new experiences, new people and new cultures, I'm excited for it and hope I can get down some of the stories and write them here in the email! I hope you all have a great week, I love you all!

 

Love,

Elder Damon Janis

To Cousins, Brothers, and Friends Who Are Preparing for a Mission

Hi Everyone!

 

I'd like to address this email primarily to my younger cousins, brothers, and friends who are preparing for a mission, or would like to serve a mission some day. First off, I'd like you all to know that a mission is the most wonderful and amazing thing you could ever do at this time in your life, and it's worth it to go no matter what the sacrifice is. There are so many people in this world that need the blessings of the Gospel, and God is preparing them to know the missionaries and the church, and He knows which people you can help specifically. When you're sent to your mission you find those people, you love them and you teach them, and when they progress and accept the Gospel, and live the way that makes them happy, you're happy with them and it's an incredible feeling!

 

A mission can completely change your life, because you really come to know God and Jesus Christ, through prayer and study, and seeing people's lives change. You don't have to focus very much on money or things, you can focus on people and see them how God sees them, and you have the spirit with you all the time. I'm so grateful for my mission, now I understand why the prophets in the Book of Mormon were so excited about sharing the Gospel with people, it makes them so much happier and it makes you so much happier! I love the Gospel, I know that the church is true and that we have living Prophets and Apostles! I hope that all of you who are thinking about serving a mission will decide to do it, it's the best thing you'll ever do!

 

I love you all, I hope the week goes great! Sorry I don't have a lot of time to write today, but I hope you can feel my testimony of the missionary work, I really love it and I don't want anyone to miss out on it!

 

Love,

Elder Damon Janis

Someone needs a lesson on the Word of Wisdom

Hi Everyone!

 

Yesterday, Sunday, was pretty crazy. As we were heading to Stake Conference in our car, we passed by a guy in the streets, and recognized him as Adan, one of our current investigators, and he looked pretty beat up and dirty. We pulled over and talked to him, he asked for a ride while jumping in the car and we didn't have much choice but to give him a ride back to his house. He told us something about how he was working in downtown (like half an hour from his house) and his friend who took him had to leave early so he had to start walking home, but we didn't really believe him because we could smell alcohol and he was limping, it looked like he'd been in a bar-fight or something. It was pretty sad, we dropped him off at his house so he could get cleaned up, he didn't end up coming to the conference and was already asleep at 7:00 that night when we passed by. It was probably a good thing that we passed by when we did, he looked drunk and still had like an hour walk across big streets to get home, and it could have been a lot worse. We'll have to teach a really good Word of Wisdom lesson soon. :)

 

On Saturday we had a weird experience trying to teach some people from Nepal, I don't even know where that is but they looked Indian, and our translation between us and the family was the 15 year old daughter who my companions informed me later was totally staring at me the entire time, and her English wasn't very good so we didn't get anywhere. We tried to go to Mormon.org as a last resort, but they didn't have it in Nepalese or whatever they speak, so the lesson fell flat and we were out of options because of the language barrier. What's weird is that the next day we found the same family coming out of a pentecostal church right as we dropped of Adan at his house, there was actually a whole swarm of Nepalese people that were walking down the middle of the street and we couldn't move for a couple minutes. :) It made me glad to be a Spanish missionary, people and a culture I can understand! :)

 

I'm so happy to be a missionary right now, we've got a bunch of great things going on, including a baptism on Saturday! Trino's ready and it's going to be great! I hope you all have a great week, I love you all!

 

Love,

Elder Damon Janis

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