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

Trials and Blessings of our Investigator

Hi Everyone!
 
Before I start, transfers is coming up next week and we're not sure who's going or staying, so it would be good if everyone just sent mail to the mission office address : 999 E. Tufts Ave., Cherry Hills Village, CO, 80113. It'll save a lot of forwarding hassle if I do get transferred. Thanks!
 
This has been one of the craziest weeks of my mission, I've had to do things I never would have imagined! We're teaching a man by the name of Trino, who was found by the missionaries about a year ago and has been coming to church ever since, his 14 year old daughter even got baptized.

He hasn't been able to get baptized because he technically wasn't married to his partner, even though they'd been together for 19 years and had 4 children. For one reason or another they didn't want to get married, so he became sort of a "dry member", and life continued. We had been focusing on him recently, visiting the family more and seeing what we could do to encourage and help him, reading the Book of Mormon etc.

This Monday we went on companionship exchanges with some English missionaries, and while there my companion found someone that could quickly marry the couple, which was exciting news. Unfortunately, me and the other Elder were eating dinner at the bishop's house when he got a phone call that Sandra (Trino's wife) had passed away unexpectedly during dialysis, just from too much stress on her sick and weakened body. It was a shock to everyone, she left behind 4 kids from ages 18 to 7, and suddenly the family had to support the huge burden of the funeral costs and emotional shock.
 
When we visited Trino the next day, he was beside himself thinking about the cost of the funeral ($2500) which he couldn't pay for because he's jobless and doesn't have enough saved up, and that added to the emotional suffering from his wife's passing. Elder Acevedo had actually lived in a funeral home for a few months in his last area, and had become somewhat familiar with all the processes and costs associated.

After praying he had called his friend who owns the funeral home in his last area, and had gotten a contact for someone here in Denver who could do everything for only a few hundred dollars, so we told Trino we'd go over and talk to the funeral home that currently had the body. We found the place and started talking to the mortitionist, and discovered he was a total salesman, complete with gold chains and rings and stuff! We started asking about the costs involved and how we could help out Trino, and he wasn't being very helpful till we pulled out our leverage and said we were considering switching funeral homes.

He got a little defensive and told us that it would be about $700 we'd owe them if we switched right now because of work they'd already done, and when that didn't phase us he started to scramble and lowered the cost to $2000, then to $1500. He also "remembered" a government program that helps out people in Trino's situation in Denver County, and they pledged $800 for him.

The Bishop came too and said that he'd help with the rest, about $700 so Trino wouldn't have to worry about it! It was really a miracle, somehow we were able to beat a salesman at his own game and negotiate a funeral from $2500 to $677, and won Trino's thanks. He was overwhelmed when we came back to his house and reported what we'd been able to do for him, through his tears he looked up and thanked the Lord vocally!
 
Now that he's free to be baptized, we're hoping that Trino can set a date soon and prepare himself, he expressed his desire to us that he wants to once things settle down a little bit, we're excited to see him progress. I'm so grateful to be a missionary, and for the wonderful opportunities I've been given! I love the mission and I love all of you! Thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis

Sharing the Gospel Works When We Really Care About People

Hi Everyone!
 
Things are going well here in the Denver 4th ward, our recent convert Isauro just got the Aaronic priesthood this week, and he's still on fire for the gospel and is learning and progressing! It was actually a little surprising that it happened that quickly, because it was only 1 week after his confirmation and we hadn't really taught him a whole lot about the priesthood, but the Bishop took the initiative to pull him in for an interview before church and found him worthy and willing to hold the priesthood!

We'll probably try to have him bless the sacrament next week, it's always a great step in the progress of a new convert when they get more responsibility and are serving others! There's still a lot to do, like getting the ward focused on a re-activation plan instead of the missionaries working independently to find and baptize people, and we need some ward missionaries, but for the most part things are progressing nicely and we have lots of things to do!
 
This last week we realized the importance of salt in our food, because we didn't have any and the chicken quesadillas we made were severely lacking. Several verses of scripture came to mind about salt and savor, and as we forced down the tasteless food I thought about how great of a Sunday School example it could be, of how we're the salt of the earth and if we don't share the gospel (our savor) with people than their lives are bland and boring like a tasteless quesadilla.

Often we don't recognize how important the Gospel message is to us and those we care about, how much it can really bless people's lives and help them. I've realized that sharing the gospel naturally is a really hard thing to do, but it's possible when we really care about people.

In D&C 4, the Missionary Chapter of the D&C, the Lord tells us that "faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualifies [us] for the work", and so when we share the gospel out of obligation instead of out of love, it's not natural and we lose friends.

One of the things our mission has been pushing is that we invite the members to think about someone either less active or non member who they know who could really benefit from having the Gospel in their lives, and then to pray for that person every day and pray for the opportunity to share the gospel with them. As we do that, it helps us love the person and have the correct motive for sharing the gospel with them, and when you do talk about it they'll feel that you're genuine and it won't damage the relationship even if they don't want to accept our message!
 
I'm so grateful to be a missionary, the Lord is teaching me so much and helping me become a better person. Sometimes I think back to my first few days in the MTC, or with my trainer, and think about how far I've come and how much more capable in the hands of the Lord I am now! The amazing thing about the Gospel is that we can always keep growing and progressing, learning from our mistakes as we repent and align our lives with God, I love the message we teach and I love being a messenger of the Lord on His errand! I love you all, I hope you have a great week!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis

Isauro was baptized!

Hi Everyone!

This week the highlight was definitely the baptism of Isauro Torrez, who finally got to those waters after a struggle to quit smoking, but the service was great and he was warmly welcomed into the ward, with the Bishop himself performing the confirmation!

I feel really good about the work we've done helping Isauro get baptized, because we did all we could to get the ward involved in the teaching and fellowshipping and I don't think he'll have a problem once we get transferred.

Retention is one of the hardest things here in the Spanish part of our mission, there are usually lots of baptisms if the missionaries work hard but the wards don't know how to fellowship the people and we lose a lot of them. It makes me happy though to see someone get baptized where I can have confidence that he'll stay active and have the support he needs as he learns more about the Gospel and continues in his journey!
 
Now with the baptism done, our attention is switching to other things like how to work effectively in our area when the church is 40 minutes away, and how to work better with the ward to reactivate and fill the chapel. We had a really good conversation with the Bishop about how when we get the current building full, we can divide the ward and have a new one closer to the downtown area. I'm motivated to make that happen, I think all the potential is there and we just need to tap into it, by working closely with the ward and using our time wisely and efficiently. I'm excited for what the future months hold, and I hope the Lord leaves me in the area long enough to see some of it come to pass!
 
One of the interesting challenges I've been learning from recently is leading my District, because the mission has had a lot of changes and we're doing things differently now, and a lot of the missionaries are having difficulties that we haven't had much of before.

The amazing thing about it is that as a district leader I'm entitled to revelation for my district, and that came this past week as I was on splits with the Zone Leaders. In my personal study I was reading Preach My Gospel and pondering on how to best help the 8 missionaries in the District, and I didn't get much until 10 minutes before my study ended, and when it came it came so fast that I had to scramble to get it all on paper before I ran out of time!

My mind was opened and I realized a couple things, one is that the district needs the right motives for doing the work (love) and the other that we need practical applications for how to find and teach effectively, because we've been getting a lot of good principles from the mission leadership but not much on the execution side.

I felt impressed to talk about ten different groups of people and things that we can use to better find, such as part-member families and recent converts who can give us referrals, and so we'll talk about those in detail in the District Meeting. I also felt impressed that I needed to involve my companion, Elder Acevedo, in preparing and giving the training to the district, I think to help him and also for the District to benefit from his experience.

It's an incredible feeling when you're trying your best to get the inspiration you need to help others, and the spirit comes and shows you what you need to do, then testifies that it's right! I love the Gospel, it really is the truth and God is still performing miracles in our times!
 
I hope you all have a great week, and enjoy yourselves as much as I am here in Colorado, doing the work of the Lord!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis

Baptism this Saturday!

Hi Everyone!
 
We're having a baptism on Saturday!!! I'm really really excited, it's Isauro (ee-sow-ro, with the "r" being soft like a "d"), who we've been working with for several months and has finally quit smoking, been taught all the lessons, and prepared physically and spiritually for this amazing step in his life!

It's going to be a crazy week leading up to the baptism, as always there's a bunch of paperwork, preparing, teaching and interviewing, but we're mostly organized and I'm getting more comfortable with the process.

We're planning daily contact with him up till the actual baptism, these days leading up are always full of opposition and struggle, but with some effort and care there shouldn't be any problems!

Baptizing people feels so great, as a missionary it's really one of the highlights of everything you do and makes up for the long days of tracting, visits, and activities we do as missionaries, the drudgery part of the work. But a really good baptism puts you on an incredible level spiritually, and helps you get the fire in your bones again and really work hard for these people to give them the Gospel!
 
Yesterday morning we woke up and it was snowing pretty hard, there was already 5-6 inches on the ground and the streets were slick, but we still had to drive in the low-visibility and slippery conditions for 15 miles to get to our church building, because we couldn't find a ride with members. It was a crazy experience, it felt like one of those racing video games where you're sliding and drifting all over the place, except with real cars and people and higher stakes! (It's like people that cross the middle of busy streets, who play Ultimate Frogger with 1 life and no repeats!)

Luckily my companion grew up in Utah and is very familiar with driving in the snow, so he coached me through it and I learned a lot of things that will keep me out of ditches for many years to come! Sometimes the Lord uses a mission to teach you things you never would have thought of, who knows why He's preparing me in that way but if nothing else it was a cool trip!

At one point we were going up a hill and the car in front of us got stuck on a slick part, and was spinning it's wheels, and a couple cars stopped to help and caused a big jam. We ended up stopped for so long that when we started again our car couldn't get traction (btw, Mazda3's were not built for snow driving), and in the nick of time someone just ran up and pushed our car till we got our footing, right before we started to slide!
 
Me and my companion have started running in the mornings, we found 2 pairs of spandex base-layer thermals rummaging through the stuff old missionaries have left in the apartment, and so we can actually go out into the cold and have some good runs! This apartment is nice too because it has some weights and a bench, so we're working out and getting in shape! It feels good, and helps me be more alert and capable during the day.
 
Things are going great here in the ward and area, I'm really glad to be a missionary and can testify that this is the Lord's work! I love serving the people here and love the chance to represent the Savior and teach His Gospel. The Church is true, and we really are engaged in a "marvelous work and a wonder". I hope all of you are well this winter, have a great week!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis

Baptism for Isauro on Jan 15th

Hi Everyone!
 
This Sunday we had our first meeting in the Stake Center where they decided to move our ward, and I was really pleased with the attendance, most of the members decided to be obedient to our leaders and made the switch.

The Lord has helped a lot with that, and has helped us as we've visited and encouraged the members. After the block of meetings this Sunday, we had a lesson with our investigator Isauro, and we set a baptismal date for the 15th with him!

We're really excited, he's wanted to be baptized for a long time now but hasn't managed to quit smoking, but with the help of the Lord, some wonderful members and hard work he finally kicked the habit and is ready!

We'll be planning and preparing to make sure it's a spiritual highlight for him and he has the full support of the ward. It's been quite an experience for me personally to see how someone can be helped so much by the gospel and the atonement, breaking addictions he's had for 40 years and the change it's made in him, he's a completely different person now and radiates the spirit and the love of Christ!

It makes me happy to be a missionary and be able to witness that first hand, I've always heard stories but now it's something a little closer and personal!
 
Things are going great with my companion, since we already served together we know each other, so there hasn't been much of a transition or adjustment, and I've found that in the 9 months or so since I served with him we've both done some maturing and we have a lot more respect for each other and it makes for a really good working relationship.

I'm really excited for the potential this area has, and the things we can do in the next few weeks as we really put our minds to the task and dig into the work, nothing feels better as a missionary than working hard and productive and seeing the fruits of your labors, according to people's agency and God's will of course. I think we're going to see some miracles though in the next few weeks, I hope to have some good stories to tell soon. :)
 
On Thursday it finally decided to snow in Denver, and it dumped about 8 inches on us and brought a terrible cold front, with temperatures hovering around zero for a couple days. Unfortunately with the snow we couldn't drive the car, which for a Spanish missionary here basically means that the work goes on hold for a while, but we made the best of our situation and just walked the streets of Denver talking to people who would listen (mostly English people though, we don't have a high Spanish concentration), and made about 1 appointment and our dinner before it got too cold and dark to keep going.

Friday we went out to the car, the roads were a little more clear and I was more confident that my Houston driving habits wouldn't put us in a ditch, but we realized that the car battery had died because our lights were on! We couldn't find anyone with cables, so we had another long day on foot doing the same thing, and after our dinner appointment we had the Denver 4th South Elders give us a ride back with some cables and we spent about a half and hour getting it going, but it didn't work because their engine was so small.

I nearly froze my hands off in the snow as we were trying to get our car into an inclined parking spot, and wouldn't have made it except for a really nice college student who came at just the right time to give us a hand, a miracle sent from the Lord.
 
I'm so grateful to be a missionary, I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis

Isauro has quit smoking!

Hi Everyone!
 
First off, I'd like to thank everyone for making my Christmas wonderful, I received lots of gifts, cards, letters, etc., and of course talking to my family on the phone! Christmas as a missionary can be great, even away from home, thank you!
 
The exciting news is that I'm staying in my area, my companion is leaving and I'll be serving with Elder Acevedo, who I served with about 9 months ago in the other Denver Spanish ward! It's going to be great, since we already know each other there won't be so much of a transition period of getting acquainted, and he's a good missionary and will work hard. So at the beginning of the new year both sets of missionaries in the ward are having the companion with more time transferred out, and me and the other Elder (who's pretty new, only a couple months in the mission) will have to lead everything! I'm really excited for the challenge, I think the Lord's going to work some miracles here and help us have a lot of success!
 
Another really exciting thing is that Isauro, our top investigator, has successfully quit smoking and is ready to be baptized! He was hesitant to make the commitment, but with encouragement from us and members and then daily support through the first few days, he's made it through and is a completely different person! He looks self confident and has an amazing spirit about him, he's helping and doing service at every opportunity and is loving the Gospel! He's going to be a very strong and committed member, he has everything in place with fellowship, responsibilities, and being nourished by the good word of God and we don't have to worry about retaining him! That's one of the hard parts about a Spanish mission, but I've found that by devoting more time and thought to the individuals and preparing them well, retention isn't a problem even if you don't baptize quite as many.
 
I'm so grateful for the gospel, it's a wonderful blessing we have and I know that the Lord's hand is in our work! I love the church and I love being a missionary, I'm deeply humbled and grateful for this opportunity, the Lord has been teaching me so much and it's amazing!
 
Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis