Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

I woke up this morning and it was snowing again! It is still snowing
and we are supposed to get more snow this weekend. Who knew I would
get a white Christmas out in the dessert of New Mexico. And a couple
nights ago we got transfer news for the last transfer that I am in the
mission field. Any guesses for what happened to me and Elder
Davenport? Drum roll please... Yep, we are both staying! I am so
excited to spend my last six weeks in such an incredible ward with so
many people that I have absolutely fallen in love with over the past
three months.

The Lord used me in an unexpected but awesome way this past week. A
trait I am blessed with, which I have further discovered on my
mission, is the ability to be bold when needed. It is a trait I am
known for throughout the mission. Last week I went on an exchange with
my zone leaders in Panorama Heights, the area I last served in, and we
had lunch with a great man who is on the path to re-activity. He made
some of the best enchiladas I have ever had! During our conversation
he mentioned a desire he had to get a tattoo on his side that said
"Thank You God", but he had not fully made the decision yet.

Immediately I told him not to do it. He looked strait into my eyes and
asked me why he shouldn't since he wanted to show the Lord how
thankful he was. I told him that if he really loved the Lord he would
show it by following his commandments, and that if he got the tattoo
it would serve as a lifetime reminder of his disobedience to God every
time he saw it. A big smile came across his face and he said the
decision with now made and he was not going to get the tattoo. He
praised God vocally and said that he has been struggling with this
decision for a long time now and had asked many people, including
several missionaries, but had not received a clear answer other then
"pray about it". Him and I are now really good friends and we both
know he was one of the reasons I was needed in that area on that
particular day. It is so amazing how perfectly the Lord works for His
children!

Quick subject change...

A while ago Elder Davenport and I felt we needed to read through the
Book of Mormon and mark every single reference to Christ we could
find. We started the day after Thanksgiving with the goal to finish by
Christmas day and we are now in 3rd Nephi and have found over 6000
references to our Savior! I have noticed that while we have been doing
this the scriptures have been filtering through my mind all day and I
have been looking at so many things differently, including something
as simple as tracting. Last night we had 30 minutes until dinner so we
decided to knock doors around our dinner appointment. While knocking
all I could think of was Nephi and other prophets preaching to their
people and how many rejected them. Their rejection of the prophets
led to their entire destruction at the death of Christ and they were
not able to be part of the multitude who felt the prints in His hands
when He visited the Americas, nor will they be able to return to His
presence after this life.

The first door we knocked on a guy came out waving his hands saying he
does not agree with our beliefs and is not interested in our message.
I asked him what beliefs he does not agree with and he admitted he
knew very little of our beliefs and asked what they were. As I began
teaching he saw that our beliefs were not far from his own so he cut
us off and told us that he was happy with his church, Calvary. What I
taught him does not match the doctrine of his church by the way. I
bore testimony to him and told him that I was aware that within his
church they hold many anti classes directly against us and promised
him that what they taught was false and invited him to learn more. He
said no and left us on his door step.

Door after door we were rejected and each time I bore strong testimony
and did everything I could to help them see what they were missing by
turning us away, but still they would not listen to us. We got one
return appointment, which is no less successful then tracting usually
is, but this time I left each door step with tears in my eyes as I
thought of the gift they were turning away.

They said they were Christians already, were happy with their church,
were to busy, or even that the Broncos were playing and the game was
more important. Were the Sadducees not happy with their religion? Even
the apostate Zoramites thought they were a religious and highly
favored people of the Lord before they were destroyed for priest
craft. Imagine what would have happened if Peter, Christ's head
Apostle, had said he was to busy with his work to follow Christ or
listen to His message. I'm willing to bet almost every home we knock
on would say that if they had lived at the time of Moses, Noah, or
Christ they would have followed and not stoned the prophets. Yet in a
time when the gospel of Christ is more readily available then ever
before they choose football over it. I want so badly to lead them to
the tree of life where they can freely partake of greater joy then
they could ever imagine, but many of them will not even let us into
their homes and instead chase of off their door steps. I now know a
little more how Alma or Nephi must have felt, and I have tasted a very
small portion of the pain Christ must feel for His wayward children.

Give someone the best Christmas gift they could ever receive and open
your mouth to tell someone you love that the Church of Christ is again
upon the earth!

Love,
Elder Inman

Merry Christmas

Ho Ho Hola,

I have to make this a very short email. This morning we ended up going
to a play that our investigators son is in, went out to IHOP with
them, and then had to go pick up some other missionaries that do not
have a car. Now we are super behind schedule and having to cut our
emails short. Sorry!!

We had an incredible experience this week that I wanted to share
before we had to leave emails. On Tuesday we went out to work after
our studies and lunch. We had scheduled to go try by several people
and then knock doors for a little while since we did not have any set
appointments. As we were driving to our first person my companion and
I both noticed that something felt different. By the time we arrived
to his house we both knew that the Lord wanted us doing something
different then what we had planned so we turned around and drove home.
When we got home we pulled out the area book, which contains names and
information on everyone the missionaries have worked with since the
area opened, and began looking through the names very prayerfully. We
spent hours doing this.

Then I opened to a family that was taught almost three years ago and
instantly my eyes filled with tears and I knew we had to visit them. I
knew completely that they would still live there(which is rare with
records that old), that we would be able to contact them(also rare),
that they would listen to us, and that I was looking at a name
prepared by the Lord. Before dinner that night we went by their house
and no one was home so I left a note on the door saying "The Lord has
told us that we need to visit you and we will be back tomorrow".
Normally I am not quite that bold, but I was so confident in the
impression I received that I thought they should know.

We stopped by the next day and he was outside by his car in his
garage. I yelled his name, knowing it was him, and we started talking.
If anyone ever thinks God is not watching over them think again! Our
timing with stopping by was so perfect that it actually ended up
taking a good amount of time just to convince him that his mom did not
send us over, who we found out is also a member but not currently
active. The day we stopped by his wife, the only person employed in
the family, lost her job and they were very worried. Amazing isn't
it?! The exact day we stop by is the day they found out that they had
no income going into Christmas. Right away I set them up with the ward
employment specialist, took them to the library and built her a great
looking resume, and suggested places to apply with me as a reference
considering I am friends with the owners. When I shared how we found
them they were both in awe and I was powerfully able to tell them that
we were sent by God because he loves them, and that their lives will
be changed by the message that we are going to share with them.

Ahhhh, I love being a missionary so much!

Love,
Elder Inman

Let it snow...

1st- Our morning workout today consisted of blowing and shoveling snow for the man we live with :-) 2nd- David and I right before the baptism 3rd- Us after the baptism 4th- My district 5th- My district again :-)

Hola, This was an amazing week for us. On Saturday we were able to attend the baptism of one of my close friends David R. I met him a couple months ago when I first came to this area because he was friends with the family we lived with and would come over periodically. Right away my hope was that he would get baptized but I was not sure how open he was to meeting with us to take the lessons. He talked about how he liked to play ping pong and mentioned how he was pretty good at it, so I challenged him to a couple games. Before my mission I was absolutely embarrassing at the ping pong table but after having served in the singles ward in Las Cruces where we had one in the institute, and having one in the basement where we lived, I got pretty good. I won :-) After playing we had some time to talk before I needed to head upstairs and get ready for bed, and we ended up becoming pretty good friends. Not long after this he decided to attend church and that week we taught him the first lesson and asked him to be baptized. He accepted the invitation without hesitation. As we wrapped up the lesson I asked him to say the prayer and suggested that in the prayer he ask if what we taught him was true. He said he would pray but he did not need to ask if what we taught was true because he already knew it. As his date approached we decided it would be better for him to be baptized into the singles ward so we transferred over to that set of elders to finish the lessons. The week of the baptism he called me and asked if I would baptize him. I told him that I could, but asked him to pray and see if there was anyone else the Lord would prefer, which he did. Saturday evening I walked into the water with him and was able to be a part of one of my new and great friends entering into the church. The rest of the week was great and full of miracles too, but I don't have time to write about the rest of those... I wanted to thank the Horowitz family for the letters they sent me and let them know how much they uplifted and strengthened me. My weekly letter from grandma Angel was another great uplift as well. I can feel the affect of the many prayers from home and others and am so thankful for that added support and strength! I love you guys! Elder Inman

fun stuff

1st- Saturday I caught a little bug at training and was not able to make it to our dinner appointment because I didn't want to get their kids sick. We called to let the family know and assured them we were fine, but they still insisted on bringing us some food anyway. They ended up bringing us a gourmet meal in a box :-) Such a cool family! 2nd and 3rd- Elder Davenport, my new companion, and me. He is 6' 4" so I look extra short in these pictures!

Hey Everyone,

This was another amazing week! I do not have much time to write today though because our zone is getting together for a missionary Turkey Bowl game, which of course is not something I can miss. Early this week we had leadership training, which lasts for two days, so my companion stayed in our area and worked with another brand new missionary whose companion also had to be at training. It was a hard learning experience, made harder by a mistake I made the second day. Halfway through training I reached into my pocket and realized I had forgotten to leave them the keys to their car, and I had no way to fix it. They ended up borrowing bikes and helmets from a member(my companion's helmet was a girl's) and spending the majority of both their days tracting and having little success. They tracted 6 hours their second day and did not find a single promising investigator! I will be the first to admit tracting is not a very effective way of finding, but I have never knocked doors for that long and not found someone and taught a lesson. Its a great experience for a new missionary though :-)

Sunday was our stake conference and I realized a little bit more how much I love being out here and being a missionary. I have served in two wards in this stake and have been on exchanges in many of the other wards, which has given me the opportunity of meeting a lot of members here. I know so many more people, many of which I have grown close to, then I have ever known in any of the stakes I have lived in throughout my life. I look forward to being a normal member at home much less then I had anticipated... In the conference our mission president talked about the 'purple cows' of the church, meaning the parts of our church that stand out and draw attention, and are then spread through regular conversation. Things like temples, FHE, the Book of Mormon, and missionaries. I have grown to love being a 'purple cow' so much that I am not sure what I will do when people don't turn and stare as we walk into stores anymore. The things many missionaries detest like strange stares from people, random yells from people's car windows, crazy questions in Walmart, and knocking on strangers doors to share a message are what I have fallen in love with.

Well, Gotta get going...

Love,
Elder Inman

Transfers

Greetings :-)

Tomorrow is transfers and this time they are doing things a little different then usual. Usually when we get transfer news on Saturday night they tell us where we are going, who our new companion is, and really anything else we want to know. This time all they told us is who is staying and who is leaving, and we will find out all the rest when we get to the transfer site. So right now all we know is that Elder Evans is leaving, which the ward and myself are pretty sad about, and that I am training a new missionary for my last two transfers in Rivers Edge. I am sad that Elder Evans has to leave after only one transfer here, especially considering how much this ward has turned around, but am also excited to train for my last couple months in the mission. I have had some funny scenes from the Best Two Years go through my head since I have found out about transfers, lol.

Well, I need to take my computer time today to transfer pictures with Elder Evens before he is gone so I will share an experience and then call it quits for today.

- This past week we took one of our ward missionaries out to work with us, who happens to be one of the coolest people out here. His name is Oneman and he is half Japanese, half Indian, and he joined the church just over two years ago. We had planned to knock some doors with him and visit some potentials and then we were going to separate so that we could go visit a referral from a member in the ward. For some reason we changed our plans as we were about to separate and instead brought him to visit the referral with us. We spent 20 minutes on her doorstep talking about the church and family but she told us that even if we do represent the one true church she does not want to sit down with us, or read the Book of Mormon, because if she found out that it was true it would pull her away from her family, who are all staunch Catholics. Elder Evans and I testified to her that when she found out this is Christ's church she could then lead her family to it as well and they would become stronger together. We taught about eternal families and promised greater happiness in this life and the next. Again she told us that she was not interested and was done talking. We had done all we could, I thought, so I began to thank her for her time and offer any service if she needed it. All of a sudden Oneman cut me off and began teaching her about the Book of Mormon. As he taught the spirit overcame all of us and I could see him discerning all of her thoughts and feelings. He told her that both of them were Lamanites, as she was also a native, and that they are a stiff necked and stubborn people. He told her that the Book of Mormon was written by their ancestors and that as Lamanites they need to stop dragging their feet and start becoming who they are meant to be. For the next 20 minutes he testified to her in such a powerful way that both of them, and myself, were in tears and she asked us if she could read the book. We prayed with her and walked away feeling like we were floating, and then went to tell the member about our experience. As we related the visit to the member who referred her to us she told us that as we went to visit her friend she called her kids in to pray for us. In her prayer she asked that Oneman would be given the words to speak! This church has to be true!! I love being a missionary and working with such faithful and powerful people :-)

Love,
Elder Inman

Last Week of the Transfer

Hola,

Can you believe we are already at the end of the transfer, and that next time I write home I will know transfer news? I feel like I was just transferred into this ward so its a strange feeling to realize it has already been more then a month. Elder Evans and I have been so incredibly blessed as we have worked here, and this has been a transfer that I will always be thankful for. The members in this ward are absolutely amazing! Our MTC night with the young men was a lot of fun and it got me excited to work with Harrison, Tawny, and Cody for their upcoming missions. This coming Sunday, Fast and Testimony Sunday, the entire ward will be doing a special fast for missionary work and then for the following 39 days a different family will be fasting for missionary work every day. I am probably the most excited out of anyone because when this happened in Belen the work rocketed, and it has not significantly slowed down since. I will be pretty happy if this ends up being where I spent the final months of my mission. But I guess in all reality I will be happy anywhere I spend the last part of my mission because I just love being out here no matter where I am at.

Early this week we were knocking on doors and at one of the doors I noticed a little plant growing in a pot with tiny red, orange, and yellow chilies(knows as peppers outside of New Mexico). I was not sure what they were but instantly wanted to try one, which made me want them to answer the door even more so I could ask them. They didn't answer. But I didn't let this deter me, although looking back I think I probably should have. I grabbed a ripe looking one from the soil and took a bite out of it as we went to our next door(right as I begin to think that I have become more mature and smart, lol). It lit my mouth up after just a few seconds and it took a lot of effort on my part not to let tears flow as we talked to the next couple people with the burning causing my tongue to throb and my eyes to water. We went back to that home a few days later and this time they answered and the first thing I asked was what type of chili he was growing, which made him smile and begin talking right away. Turns out it is a Tia chili and is not usually eaten by itself because of its heat. He gave us a bag of them to cook with :-) Then we were able to talk to him about what we were there for and he gave us "permission to work on his soul while he works on our wallets". Turns out he knows a good amount about our church because one of his close friends is a member, and he knows a lot about missionaries and how we live while serving. He said that he would love for us to teach him and in return he will teach us ho to be successful in the business world when we finish our time as missionaries. He is going to be a really fun guy to teach.

Well, I know this is a short one but we have a pretty packed day so I need to take off. Love you guys!!

Elder Inman

Power

I was on an exchange in Panorama with Elder Willden and we stopped by a family that we were teaching before I left. We stopped in and had a great lesson and then he asked if we had time to take a spin in his toy... Of course!!! It was so much fun, and I have never sat in a more powerful feeling car. There was a lot of rubber left on the road after we were done, and I want one so badly now :-)

1st- Ericks Baptism!! It was beautiful :-)

2nd- Solo pic looking over my stewardship

3rd- Comp Unity

Hey,

This past week I was blessed to meet and receive training from one of the most powerful people I have ever met in my life. Elder Per G. Malm of the seventy came and spent the day with us! There were two missionaries called up during our conference to give talks on becoming a disciple of Christ, an assignment not given ahead of time but instead on the spot. Can you imagine giving a talk in front of more than half the mission, our mission president and his wife, three stake presidents, and a General Authority with his spouse? Well, now I can. I was the second of two called up and there are few times in my life I can remember my heart beating at a more rapid pace, and I am surprised the sound of my heart didn't travel over the microphone. I am so thankful that I was able to speak though! That is now a memory that I will be able to cherish all my life. Here are a select few things I learned from the training:

- Within this church each member is on common ground with regards to receiving salvation. None of the prophets, past or present, have more opportunity to get into heaven then anyone else.

- Power and purity come from our body yielding to the spirit, and corruption is a result of our spirit yielding to our body. As a side note he taught us that if we over eat we are less able to receive spiritual food, so he asked us to not eat to much at lunch since we had more training afterwards. This is one of the reasons fasting is such a powerful tool.

- Our missions will effect many more people then we can imagine.

- A story was told of a missionary being set apart to go on his mission with his family present. Afterwards the stake president turned to the missionary's younger brother, just a couple years away from serving his own mission, and asked what he thought about what just took place. The younger brother lifted his arm and pointing at his brother simply said "I want to be like him". This hit me in a very powerful way as I wondered if I have been the type of missionary Harrison and Tawny, both not far from serving their own missions, can point at and say they want to be like me. Tears came to my eyes as I realized how much I love my siblings and want to be an example for them.

- As missionaries we are really serving a mission within a mission if we are serving valiantly. The mission I am serving in New Mexico is making it possible for me to serve an equally important mission at home, presently and in the future.

- "And again, I say unto you that the enemy in the secret chambers seeketh your lives."- D&C 38:28... Our enemy is seeking to destroy our lives in the secret chambers of our homes, apartments, and anywhere else we feel no one is watching us. If there are things we do not feel comfortable with those we love seeing us do then we should not do them 'in secret' either. We need to search our hearts and find what we need to do, or not do, to unsure our enemy can not destroy us.

- As soon as we find someone who is willing to listen to us we are at war with Satan.

- Being a missionary is partly to help others change and come closer to Christ, but also to help me change.

- When we do something we know is wrong we are saying "Thank thee God for telling me what is wrong, but I will disregard you and openly rebel and sin". When the Holy Ghost prompts us to make a change he will also give us the strength we need to make that change.

- We need to be and look happy! We have the Gospel of Jesus Christ so why would any of us look like 'pickle suckers'???

I wish I could go on for a few more pages of what I learned but I just don't have enough time to do that right now. Out of all I learned at training what may be the most impactful is HOW he trained and taught. He is so close to the spirit that it seemed he knew all of our thoughts and feelings, and he paid attention to that while teaching us. There were so many times he would stop and say that there was someone who needed to stand and bare their testimony on what he had just taught, and then when that missionary bore their testimony it was powerful every time. There were times a missionary would raise their hand to go up front and bear their testimony after Elder Malm said someone needed to and he would say "no, you are not the one I am referring to", and then the right missionary would walk to the front. He called a sister to the front of everyone and said "I sense you are a shy person" to which she agreed (Remember, this is in front of all of us). Then he told her, "you are called on a mission to talk to people, so please bear your testimony of why that is important". She bore a wonderful testimony and then he told her that she must now become a talkative missionary and then let her sit back down. He did the same to a missionary who tends to be a little unhappy and helped him to commit to becoming the most positive missionary in the mission. I need to be that powerful at discerning and serving others!

Well, this has become a very long letter and I have not even been able to tell you anything else that happened this past week. There was so much more, but Ill have to end here...

I love you!

Elder David Inman

Awesomeness

Hey everyone,

Awesomeness is the perfect word to describe this past week! The work is going amazing right now and I feel so blessed to be a part of the miracles that are happening here. Before coming to Rivers Edge I had spent three months collecting key indicators from the zone and seeing this area consistently perform at the lowest level. The missionaries serving here had grown depressed over the lack of success and had, for the most part, given up hope of ever seeing it flourish. That is why I was so surprised that when I got the call to transfer into Rivers Edge I felt excitement and hope. Over the past 20 months of my mission I had been prepared to come here with a good attitude as I had the opportunity to see so many other wards pick up and become very success areas in the mission. However, the success we are enjoying is beyond what I had expected this early into the work, which is of course due to the Lord and this amazing ward. Our first week here we taught a total of three lessons (an improvement from zero the week before we came), and then the week after we taught nine. We were very excited about teaching nine lessons because our initial goal was to have an average of ten lessons per week in the first month, which was a high goal considering an average that high has not happened in any of the records we have of this area over the past couple of years. We were sure we could still accomplish our goal since we were starting only one under, and our ward leaders were enthusiastic about the progress. This last week we taught a total of fifteen lessons and had five new investigators, which is good for just about any area in the mission!!! With the Lord our stretching goal has become a small stepping stone in what He has planned for Rivers Edge.

The ward is recognizing our hard work and helping us in anyway they can. Last week we had members out working with us on four different occasions, sometimes for many hours at a time. One of my main focuses when it comes to working with the ward is in taking the priest age young men out to work with us. When Elder Cook came to our mission he taught that one of our responsibilities as full time missionaries is to help the upcoming missionaries prepare, which I had not been aware of prior to his visit. In this ward the young men come out working with us every week helping in about every aspect of the work. They teach, go tracting, give and visit referrals, eat at members homes, and attend baptisms with us so that they get a good feel for what their own missions will be like. In 2 weeks we will be attending Young Men's and putting on a MTC for a night to help further their readiness by showing how to use Preach My Gospel, answering questions, and role playing with them as investigators. I am so thankful for the time I was able to spend with missionaries in my own ward before coming on my mission so I hope to do the same for these great young men.

Yesterday after church, which gets out at 4pm, we took a young man out to spend the rest of the night working with us. Our first appointment fell through so we ended up showing up to dinner 20 minutes early. Since we had extra time we decided to start at the end of their block and knock our way to their door, something we do often when we are early to appointments. We went from being 20 minutes early to showing up 10 minutes late because of a great man that we met knocking. He was wearing a Vietnam hat and his cars had Marine stickers on it so right away I thought of Roy in Belen, who has become one of the most important people I know outside my family. This man walked out of his door and very kindly told us that he had lost his belief in God many years ago and had no use of what we were teaching. I asked him what had caused him to lose his faith and his reply was a very difficult one to listen to without tears rolling down my cheeks. He told me that if there was a God then what took place at Vietnam would never have happened. He told us of the memories that will never stop haunting him, and that have caused him to go through therapy for the past 40 years with little progress. Dreams that make him wake up and keep him from lying in bed for fear of what might enter into his mind so instead he leaves his wife in bed and wanders around his home in an effort to distract from his own thoughts. He has had to watch young children die in war, some of them from bullets fired from his own gun. There were times he would need to, by order, take an infant found on board a ship, wrap him in a blanket, and drop him overboard to limit the risk of catching the infants illness. And now he feels the guilt of having a family and home while so many of his fellow soldiers died horrible deaths in battle all around him, even though he knows he should not feel guilt for that. He attended his son's wedding and was overwhelmed as he thought of his friends years ago, while his son's age, that left their pregnant wives to go fight and never return home. We can not say that God is responsible for all the good in the world and not give him the same credit for the horrible things that happen as well, because that would mean that an omnipotent being watches it happen and does nothing about it. Therefore, God can not be real, and if He is why would someone worship such a being!

What was I supposed to say to this man? I have never felt a portion of his pain or seen a glimpse of the horrific things that took place all around him and still follow him through his dreams and memories. I know that Christ has felt all that he has and more, but this man had given up on Christ long ago. I felt like giving up, thanking him for his time, and walking away because it seemed impossible for me to help him, but I felt so much love for him that walking away was an even more impossible task. I bore my testimony that I knew those children were brought to a loving God. He said that he had to believe they were taken somewhere wonderful or he could not live with himself. Then I shared with him my experience with Roy a year prior and what transformation had taken place within him as he accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I asked him if I could leave a scripture for him to read and he said that he would read it. I opened the scriptures to Alma 14 and explained what had been taking place as well as the question that Amulek asked as he watched the woman and children burn in the fire, and I promised him that as he read he would feel the Spirit's promptings. I left our number and told him to call us to talk about the feelings he has while reading, and to talk about anything else that he feels would help him. All of us felt the Spirit and he said that he thinks he will call us because he feels something we have to share with him will help. I promised him that he was right and told him I was excited to here back from him. I do not know for sure if I will hear from him, but I do know that he is one of the people I was sent here to serve and I am so thankful to have found him.

Christ loves His children!

Elder Inman

New Pics

Hola,

First, an explanation of the pictures-

Yep, my good suite is no longer... I have taken great care of it, hung it up about every night and avoided rain in it, but it just was not made to handle a Mormon mission, lol. The seat was beginning to wear through to the point where I could almost see through it, but I thought I was in good shape because I had just dry cleaned the black one dad gave me. I took out the black one and as I was getting dressed I discovered the dry cleaners had ruined the zipper, which of course they are not responsible for. So instead I found a great member in the ward who offered replace the zipper for me. While repairing them said she has never seen such well made suite pants and is not surprised by how long they have lasted. She thinks they will last another mission(Harrison). I wore my blue suite the day she was working on my pants and on the way out the door after lunch Elder Evans stopped me and said I needed to change because there was a hole in my pants. I looked in the mirror and saw the pants had worn through all the way and had no hope of repair :-( I wore one of Elder Evans suites for the day instead. I was blessed to be in a ward with such an excellent seamstress, and my black suite is in great shape! It's amazing how much wear and tear a mission will give clothes. She also had to sew up a white shirt that was falling apart, my proselyting shoes are beginning to deteriorate, I am onto my second belt, and many of my ties have fallen apart. I know exactly what Harrison needs for his mission now though!

And the story behind the snake... We were knocking doors and as we approached this one I noticed something weird and stepped back to see a huge snake waiting to pounce. I pulled my companion back and we moved to the side of the house for a better view. We were horrified to knock on the door because that meant we had to walk right under it, which we thought meant a very painful death at the least. So of course the first thing I did was take a picture, and then we strategized what to do to get to the door. Our strategy was weak though... It came down to me running to the door, knocking, and then running back out so fast that the snake wouldn't know I had even been there, lol. After closer examination we have decided the snake is most likely fake, but it made for a good adrenaline rush and story!

Hope you like the pics!

This was also our first week being able to attend church in our new ward, since conference was last week. We loved it! The ward here is absolutely amazing and far surpasses my expectations for them. We stopped into priests quorum to see who was available to go out and work with us through the week and every one of them gave us their number and said they would love to go out tracting, teaching, and anything else we may need them for. We also met with our ward mission leader and ward missionaries and each of them are ready to go out working with us as well. I am very impressed with the ward here and am confident the work in this area will pick up very rapidly with their help. After just one week we are already being blessed with more lessons taught then they have in many months here and there are several people we have found that have expressed interest in learning more about the church. The excitement is quickly growing in the ward and Elder Evans and I love being here.

Love,
Elder Inman

PS. I do not need a new suite, shoes, ties, or anything else. I just wanted to show you because its good mission humor. I am doing just dandy and the Lord is taking care of me :-)

David wanted this posted: http://newsroom.lds.org/article/mormon-media-campaign-expands-across-us-australia

Reflecions

Balloon Festival

Our Ward Mission Leader and us at the temple

Home Folks,

I officially only have 4 months left until I return home... It is such an exciting, scary, and sad thing to have pointed out to me by all the missionaries I am around, and those that feel it necessary to call across the mission to remind me how close I am. Thankfully, so far, all the reminders of how close my return date is has only made me realize how precious the time remaining is and how much I still have left to do. I never thought I could love being a missionary so much, even when our teaching pool is currently extinct.

This week was a weird combination of joy and boredom rolled up in one. I love my new area and the ward seems absolutely solid, and Elder Evans, my new companion, is a great missionary and fun guy to be around. The difficult part is that there are no records at all for the last month, and very little records kept for the last year or so. As far as we can gather from meeting with ward leadership the missionaries do not have anyone they were actively teaching, which meant we have the opportunity of starting completely anew in the area. We spent many hours going through our area book and doing the best we could at organizing the names we have into geographic areas to begin visiting. The rest of our time was spent tracting, teaching active members, organizing our area, and cleaning our living quarters (which looks great now btw). My areas for the last while have become so well functioning that tracting was very rarely an option because of time restraints, but now we have all the time in the world to go out knocking doors. This last week we had some mediocre success knocking, which we are thankful for, but are earnestly searching for other more productive ways of finding the elect in this area. Over all Elder Evans and I are enjoying the work and having a lot of fun despite the lack of immediate success, and we are completely sure success is barely around the corner.

And even though I am sure you already know this I just wanted to remind everyone how amazing General Conference was this past weekend! I can not imagine a better one to have as my last in the mission field, more especially including the priesthood session. In between one of the sessions my mind began to drift to Conferences of the past that have had an impact on me. Memories of talks from just six months ago all the way back to pre-teen, when I heard President Gordon B. Hinkley relate the story of two young boys who put silver dollars into a poverty stricken man's boots, began filtering through my mind and I became even more thankful for the blessing of having a prophet on the earth. As these thoughts ran through my mind I began reflecting on my testimony and how it has changed, spurred by a district meeting a couple weeks back where we bore our testimonies about our conversion process. As I bore my testimony of my personal conversion at that meeting I related how I have always known the church is true. I continued explaining that I have grown up in a home with goodly parents who helped me gain a testimony early in life with consistent scripture study, prayer, and seeing my family live the gospel principles we professed to believe. There was not a time in my life that I can remember ever seriously questioning the validity of the Book of Mormon or the restored gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

That testimony I bore began to echo through my mind as I mentally tracked my spiritual progress over the past few years. I began to wonder what changed in my testimony since entering my mission because I knew for sure I was a different person now and my testimony had gone through a large transformation. The only thing I could come up with was that I just knew more now then I did before, but then while listening to more talks later in Conference I received the answer to my question. I realized that the difference in my conversion is that while I have always known The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's true church I have not completely understood what that can and should mean for someones life. I never comprehended what miraculous changes it can cause within any one of us, including myself, nor did I understand what applying the atonement really meant or how to do it. I know I still do not completely understand but being a missionary has changed my testimony from a strong belief to a passionate way of life that has had a great affect on many of my goals and priorities. This transition has taken place over the past 20 months and it felt great to realize it while listening to the words of a modern day prophet. It is no longer duty that pushes me to the next door after being ridiculed and yelled at, it comes now as a result of further conversion and love. I think this is the reason I have gone from enjoying my mission to loving it and holding it sacred. I cannot imagine what life would be like without this time as a missionary, and I am thrilled at what it means for the future.

Love,

Elder Inman

Out of Nowhere

Greetings,

So it turns out I am getting transferred, which was not at all expected by us. Transfer news gets faxed to us around 10pm Saturday night, so during the day it was not on our minds to much considering we thought we knew what was happening with us anyways. This made it all the more shocking when our phone showed a missed call from President Miller after we left a great lesson. When I called him back he told me that I was going to be double transferred into the Rivers Edge ward, I did not know who with yet, and explained the situation to me. I felt crushed and I realized just how much I had fallen in love with Panorama Heights, though I did know it was revelation and I had no question regarding turning the assignment down. The work is going amazing right now! We are regularly teaching 15 lessons a week, many people are preparing for baptism and will likely be entering the water within the next few weeks, I know the ward members well, and I really enjoy serving with Elder Willden. Panorama Heights has become another golden standard ward in the mission. Rivers Edge on the other hand is teaching on average 2-3 lessons per week and we will be the 5th or 6th double transfer within the past year or so. It should be understandable why I felt down when I got the call to be transferred.

I was blessed to have a very strong last Saturday, so full of teaching that we had no time to stop by our house for anymore then 3 minutes to pick up our suite jackets. We worked from 10am to 9:30pm with not time to think about the call I had received mid day. After we received the fax and distributed transfer news I laid in bed and pondered my coming transfer with the realization that Rivers Edge will likely be my last area on my mission. I said another prayer and then laid back down to listen for the answer. After a short amount of time I felt immensely calm and thoughts began to flood my mind making me realize what an amazing opportunity I had in front of me which made me suddenly really excited for the coming transfer. In stake meetings I have heard great things about the ward leadership as well as many of the members, and since it is almost bordering Panorama Heights I will be able to attend the baptisms of those I have been working with. I started to think back on when I doubled intoBelen, and 9 months before in Ventana Ranch, and I saw how much power can come from going into a new area with a new companion and leaving behind the past perceptions of what is possible there. Rivers Edge is going to be a place of many miracles!

Before I finish this weeks update I wanted to share a great experience we had, and a lesson I learned about perseverance. Elder Willden and I went into the week with great excitement because of the Spirit we felt while attending the temple on Monday. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were incredible days of work. We taught more and had greater success then any other 3 days prior in this area and were blown away by the miracles that were pouring down onto us and our area. We went out on Thursday ready for more miracles but were disappointed as things began crumbling all around us. Appointments started falling through left and right and horrible things were happening to those were were teaching. Two people had their appendix rupture and almost lost their lives, a young man in a family I have grown very close to broke his leg that morning, and without fail every other investigator we visited were not able to meet because of illness. Our day was spent fighting the urge to give up and try again later because of all that had happened. As night approached we decided to try one more person, a referral we had received that morning, before we called it a night and went in for planning and sleep. We knocked on his door and he came out saying it was a mistake to come to his home. With a look of obvious confusement I asked him if he was the man who gave some sister missionaries his information earlier that day, and he said he was and that he gave it to them because they were attractive and not out of interest in our message. Then for the next 30 minutes he lectured us about the false church we represent and how we are made slaves by it, the stench of alcohol only being matched by his foul language. Finally the Spirit told me to end it. I stopped him and told him that we had been respectful to him and that I expected the same respect in return. I felt the Spirit surge into me as I stared him into the eyes and I felt myself looking into his heart and knowing his thoughts. Stunned he stopped talking and stood there looking pathetic. I told him that I feel peace and happiness because of my strong beliefs and bore testimony of the restored gospel. Prompted by the Spirit I then told him that when I look at him all I see is a man enslaved by anger, addiction, and regret and that I felt sorry for what a miserable man he had made himself into by losing faith in Christ because of trials. With that we turned and left, a strange sense of peace resting with me.

The next day yielded similar results of little finding or teaching. Elder Willden and I began to feel very tired and wanted to quit and go home to finish up paperwork. The day had been miserable and we felt our time would be better spent preparing for upcoming meetings instead of knocking on empty homes and talking to people who didn't want us on their doorstep. We were very close to driving back home when we both felt we needed to keep working instead. We spent the rest of the day working and still had no success. There have been so many times when I worked when I didn't want to and was blessed with miracles, but this was not one of those days. We went to bed that night downtrodden but happy that we followed the promptings we received regardless of the outcome. Saturday morning we had a couple hours set apart for planning since we had several large stake meetings the next day, but we felt we needed to go out and visit people anyway. This ended up being the miracle day when we were packed with miracle teachings appointments from morning to evening. We ended up having to prepare the the stake meetings late into the night, and early in the morning, but the results of that days work will stretch far into the future. It was amazing to see once more the blessings of following when the Lord whispers.

Love,

Elder Inman

Feeling Great!

Hola,

This was such a great week that I am having a little bit of a hard time deciding where to start. About a month ago we were meeting with our Ward Mission Leader, who happens to be one of the best I have ever seen, and we felt prompted to hold a fireside for the youth in our ward(which they call a cottage meeting here). We eventually decided we wanted the theme to be temples and started spreading the word a little over a week before it happened, hoping for 15-20 youth to attend. So now here are the really amazing parts of this story... About a week before it took place we thought it would be really cool to get a member of the Temple Presidency to come and talk to the youth. It turns out that in order to get one of them at an event the request needs to be submitted a month in advance, not a week, because they cover a huge amount of area and are constantly traveling to give talks and work with stakes and wards. We were blessed and despite the very short notice they said they would be able to make it. The Sunday before the fireside Elder Willden and I stopped in on all the youth Sunday school classes and got them excited to come and bring friends, but later that night we realized we told everyone it was Saturday night when it was really the following Sunday. After some prayer and pondering we decided the best thing to do was attend each seminary class throughout the week to correct our announcement and invite the rest of the youth in the stake to attend as well. I loved going to seminary again, but getting up at 5:30 feels a lot earlier then it used to. One of our ward missionaries, who is leaving on his mission tomorrow, even made a Facebook group invite more people.

When the night finally came we were a little nervous but really excited about what we had planned. Two youth, a brother and sister, were asked to share their testimonies of temples because they were baptized only a few months ago and just attended the temple for their first time. Their testimonies powerfully invited the Spirit which continued to testify to us as we listened to the member of the Temple Presidency and his wife speak about the purpose and blessings of temples. In all there were around 50 people in attendance, much more then originally anticipated! During the closing hymn I looked around and felt so blessed to be part of organizing such a powerful and successful fireside, and I said a silent prayer and thanks and asked for a blessing on the amazing youth that filled the room. It was such a powerful experience that the next day, which was missionary temple day, it was spoken of as the Temple Presidency shared a message with us in the chapel before our session. Yesterday was my last mission temple trip and I can not imagine a better way to prepare for it!

And we are teaching some of the coolest people in the world right now! I wish I was allowed to mention more names in these emails, but I will just have to be happy with vague descriptions instead. We are teaching a father and son, and the dad is getting baptized this coming Saturday. He is one of the most prepared people I have taught on my mission, and I am confident he will be a very strong priesthood leader within the next couple years. He was not previously active in any religion, but as soon as he heard the message of the Restoration he accepted the invitation to be baptized and has not deviated from that in any degree. When we taught the Word of Wisdom he stopped smoking and was willing to give up anything else that we asked him to. When we taught the Law of Tithing he didn't have any second thoughts and that he would live it. Last night he asked me to baptize him and when I told him that it might be better if someone in the ward did it, so that he can have that connection with someone closer, he immediately agreed to pray about it. His baptism is going to be an amazing experience, and I am very excited to see the blessings that enter his home as he becomes a priesthood holder.

I will have to tell you about more of these amazing people later because we need to go and get our car fixed. Love you!

Elder Inman

Resting

Hi everyone,

Saturday evening we got a call from a set of elders living near us letting us know that their toilet was clogged and overflowing, which was even worse news considering their duplex is two story and the toilet is upstairs. We rushed over after our ward activity was finished and saw dirty water dripping from their ceiling out of air ducts in their kitchen and living room. We agreed to help clean it up, turned the toilet water off, and then went to walmart to get much needed supplies- gloves, masks, and some drinks. Its took a few hours to get it adequately clean and I may be scarred for life because of the smell... We were blessed that we got to it before permanent damage was done. To make things even more interesting we had to prepare for a Rio Ranch stake training the next morning, which involved all members of ward councils throughout the entire stake, as well as a meeting we were holding with the Santa Fe stake presidency and our mission presidency later in the day. The Lord strengthened us and we were some how able to clean everything up, take part in a powerful training, and make great progress in our other Sunday meetings in Santa Fe and Rio Rancho, all off of five hours of sleep.

There have been several other emergencies and circumstances that have taken from our sleep this week and Elder Willden and myself have felt completely drained. We have been part of three large scale trainings, one exchange, three separate and crucial stake meetings, several emergencies with other missionaries, attending a wonderful baptism, and of course our regular load of finding and teaching within our own ward boundaries, while both of us were fighting off illness. With so many late nights and early mornings with exhausting days one after another we were getting sleep deprived to the point of not being able to think clearly or function normally, which is dangerous when a single lesson could effect a persons happiness so dramatically. So today we decided to skip our trip to Santa Fe for a day of sight seeing and replace it with hours of sleeping. I feel so much better and am ready for another amazing week!

Our exchange this week took me to the UNM singles branch to work for a day, and I loved being back on campus talking to people. The elder I was working with does not have much experience on campus yet so I was able to take him and show him how to talk with college students without looking like a weirdo. I had so much fun connecting with college students again and we spent hours contacting people in the main lobby on campus. Later in the day we were able to set up a time to meet with someone who I have not been able to see since serving in Belen. I had become friends with her through a family I grew close to while serving there and a few months after I left she had an incredible experience that helped her gain a testimony that this church is true. She got baptized just weeks before coming up here for college and she is on spiritual fire right now, very excited for what comes next in the gospel of Christ. My testimony continues to grow as I look back and see how the Lord had a plan for her all along, and though my part in it was small I am still able to see that He places people in our path for very special reasons and I feel blessed to see His hand in our work.

Love,

Elder Inman

PS, I have been having a lot of fun with those goofy "nerd" glasses you sent me in the package. I wore them to dinner the first night I got them and had a great laugh as the mom kept telling her kids how rude it is to make fun of my new glasses. I kept it up for at least 20 minutes until I couldn't hold back my laughs anymore and told her that her kids were right about them being fake. Then the next day, or maybe the same(its all a blur), we were in the car of one of my favorite investigators when I pulled the glasses out, put them on casually, and told him they were my driving glasses, even though he was driving. I could tell he did not want to embarrass me because after a quick double take he turned and stared strait ahead trying not to stare. I quickly told him I was kidding because I felt bad that he was being so nice about it. Thanks for the package!!

Hecticity

Hey everyone,

Hecticity is a new word that we learned/made up this week and it means that life is moving way faster then we think it should and we are having a hard time keeping up with it. It will probably be showing up in the dictionary soon enough so keep your eyes open for it... Elder Willden and I are both blown away that we are already over half way through this transfer and even though we have accomplished a lot we still do not understand how time has run by so quickly. We had training in the stake center near my greenie, first, area today and as I walked to lunch during break there were so many flashbacks from when I was a brand new missionary, and it does not feel long ago at all. At the end of training Elder Yardley, an awesome former companion of mine, gave his departing testimony and I realized again how short my time is as a missionary. Two years feels way to short!

So now that I am done with my sad ranting Ill tell a fun story from our training that took place today and yesterday. The training is for all of the new missionary trainers, district leaders, and zone leaders in the north part of the mission, which comes out to about 30 missionaries in attendance. During the two days of training the focus was on "Revelation through the Book of Mormon", "We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up", "Teach People, Not Lessons", and "How to Begin Teaching", all of which are lessons now used in the MTC and throughout the world to help missionaries learn Peach My Gospel principles better. Three companionships were asked to prepare a training segment, Elder Willden and myself included.

As the first set of Elders did their training we were shocked that somehow their training was almost the exact same as ours. How does that happen??? So we took a short lunch and then used the rest of our break to go over what we were going to train on and tweak it just a little so that we could look somewhat original and keep the missionaries attention, and then jumped into our training. At the end of our training I pointed out that we do not collaborate together about how we are training and that our training being so similar meant that it was something God really wanted us to learn. After we finished training President Miller got up and echoed what we had said and the rest of the two days followed that same theme. I love that the Lord's hand is so evidently in this, his work!

I wish I could continue to tell you all about the miracles of this last week, but we have more to go be a part of :-)

Love You,

Elder Inman