I'm glad to hear everything is still going well. Sorry I didn't write you yesterday. They decided to change our P-day because of new years, so our P-day is today. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find an Internet cafe open haha. We searched this morning for about two hours and not a single one was open, then, finally they opened one of the ones by our house. Last night, we went with the same family we went with on thanksgiving and they made us a really good dinner. I'm not sure what it's called or even really what was in it, but it was delicious haha. Then some other missionaries from our district came and stayed at our house since our house is pretty big and we watched a church movie. It was great fun. One of my favorite scripture stories that you might be able to use that could help explain a little about our relationship with God is the beginning of Moses, when God appears to him and tells him that he is his son. I'll look up some more scripture stories and references and let you know next week :) So this next Tuesday, is transfers, and this last week we found out that my companion is going to train, which means that I'm going to get transferred. I'm not sure where though. It'll be fun getting to know another area and other people and everything. This last week, on Friday night, one of the ward counselors called us and asked us if we would talk Sunday. I was glad to get to talk, but I didn't really have much time to prepare my talk, so it didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. It was still alright though haha. Well, I'm downloading some pictures right now, so I'll send some in another email. I hope you have a great week. I love you :) Elder Janda
12-24-12
Feliz Navidad! Well I don't really have much time to write. I just got on to tell you that I'll call tomorrow at 1 pm here. Which, if I am not mistaken should be 12 noon there. I love you and can't wait to talk to you tomorrow :) Love, Elder Janda
Things have been going well here. We had a few people that have gotten baptized in the last couple months, but either haven`t been able to go to church or always get there late and hadn't been confirmed, but this week we got almost all of them confirmed which was really cool. I looked on LDS.org and I saw the ward list haha. And I saw who the missionaries are, but I don't remember their names haha. Our ward looks like a great ward. I know a few people in it, and it just about every other ward in the stake haha. Sounds like you guys are going to have a great Christmas. It's gonna be pretty great here too haha. I'm sure it won't be the same as being home, but there a lot of really good members that have invited us to go with them or to visit them. And of course the best present will be getting to see and talk to all of you :) We've decided we're going to call on the 25th in the morning, but I'm not sure exactly at what time. I assume you'll be home most of the day though since it's Christmas haha. I've been feeling better. I still have a slight cough and every once in a while I get a headache, but I'm getting better. I hope you all get better soon. Yeah I heard about the shooting in Connecticut. It's really sad, but just remember, God is wise and just. He let's bad things happen so that we can learn and reach our full potential as his children. Also, all children are innocent and will be saved in the Kingdom of God. When is the projected date for the temple dedication? I love you, and pray for you every day. I hope you can always remember that you are a chosen daughter of you father and that we will be able to go back and live with him. I can't wait for that day! I can hardly begin to imagine the great joy and love that we will be able to feel when we live in his presence. I love you so much and I am so grateful that God blessed me to be your son. YOU ARE AWESOME!
:)
12-10-12
Things here are going pretty well. I've been a bit sick the last week, just a cold though, nothing bad. I'm getting better though haha. I'm glad to hear everything is going well. I don't remember Leif from that ward, but I do know who he is haha If he's in the ward I'm pretty sure that the Whitlocks are too. That's awesome that Kyle is going to start his papers and everything. I can't wait to find out where he's going to go haha. This last week, we baptized someone named Everardo. He got baptized about 10 years ago, but never got confirmed and never went back to church until a few months ago we found him at one of our investigators houses. We always thought he was a member until last week when he told us that he never got confirmed. So, we did some investigating in the church records, and he didn't appear as a member and we didn't have any record of his baptism, so we baptized him again. Everything else is going well. Basically the same as usual. Today we cleaned our house for about 2 hours because it was super messy, but now it's all clean haha. So, I'm still not sure if we're going to call on the 24th or the 25th. They told us that we can call either of those two days, but we have to talk to the members that we're going to go with and see when is better for them. I didn't get to see the first presidency's Christmas address, but I heard it was really good. Everything here is going well. This week I got a package from Aunt Lisa and a letter from Papa and a letter from Bishop Rowley. It was great hearing from all of them. haha Well, I hope you have a fantastic week. I love you so much. :) Love, Elder Janda
12/3/12
Hola, sounds like you had a great week. Things here are going pretty good. We didn't baptize this week which was lame, but we did find quite a few new people to teach. So hopefully some of them will get baptized in the next couple weeks. I'm still in the same area with the same companion. Last night, we went to the house of some other missionaries that live about 30 seconds from our house and set up a little Christmas tree haha. It was pretty fun. One of the missionaries is Elder Holt, from Mesa. We were talking and found out that he actually lives pretty close to us. He used to go to a gym on Gilbert and Germann and he always used to go to AMC where I worked haha. It's pretty funny how small of a world it is. That's cool that you got to go to the US-Ireland game. Today, we went to the mall again haha. I went because I wanted to buy a sweater to wear, because it sometimes gets a bit cold here. Elder Holt and his companion went with us too. Then we went to subway and to walmart haha. It was just like going to a mall in the US except that it's a bit smaller and there weren't as many people haha. Well, I hope you have a great week. I love you and am so grateful for everything that you have done for me. Especially all the support and love that you have always shown me. YOU ARE THE BEST! :) Love, Elder Janda
11/26/12
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! :) How did you birthday go? Did you do anything fun? This week was good. A family made us a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. It was awesome. I almost didn't get to go though. On Wednesday night, the zone leaders decided that we were going to do exchanges until Thursday night, but then since I told them that the family had planned that dinner and everything for us, they ended the exchanges early. Tomorrow are transfers, but neither I nor my companion are getting changed. Which is cool because that means I'll still be in this ward for Christmas and new years and everything. I'm not sure what we're going to do for Christmas, but I'm sure it'll be great. We didn't baptize this week, which was pretty lame, but we're hoping to be able to baptize this next week. That's crazy that you are already moving everything over into the new house. I asked one of the missionaries here who is from Durango, he says he doesn't think he knows Pancho, but he might know one of his daughters. We're not sure though. Do you know what part of Mexico they're in? I know, it's crazy how fast time flies. I can't believe I've already been here nearly a whole year. It's crazy. And I can't believe it's almost Christmas. I say Court should stay on JV. She might not play against people that are as good, but she'll get to play more, which means she'll learn more and enjoy it more. Today, we had a zone activity where we went and played soccer and barbequed some meat. It was pretty fun. We made four different teams of 5 people each to play soccer, and my team won almost every time. It was a lot of fun, I'm pretty tired now though haha. I can't really think of many things specifically that I want. Just shirts and socks. And if you could send me an Arizona quarter. One of my zone leaders has a few of the state quarters, but he doesn't have one from Arizona, so if you could send me one, I'm going to give it to him for Christmas. And also if you can find the life story that Anthony Henry Janda wrote, that would be awesome. As far as ensigns go, they give us the ensigns every months, so I'm good. Thanks though :) Well, I hope you have a fantastic week, and can get everything moved into the new house and all without problems. I love you so much. You are the best! Love, Elder Janda
11/19/12
This week went pretty good. We had an activity on Saturday where the missionaries from the MTC came and we went with them to go contacting. I was with a missionary from Mexicali who is going to serve in Las Vegas. Then we spent most of the rest day trying to help one of our investigators, Jessika, get ready to get baptized. She almost decided that she was ready when her parents started telling her she should wait more time and stuff like that so she decided to wait. But then yesterday, at church, Elder Agurto, the zone leader came and so we convinced her to have the interview with him and she decided to get baptized later that day. It was pretty cool. Other than that, there's not much new going on. It doesn't really get cold here during the day. Just at night at in the morning, but I'm fine with the clothes I have. One of the missionaries here in my zone is from Durango, I'll ask him if he knows Pancho or at least knows who he is. For Thanksgiving, we're going to go eat turkey and mashed potatoes and hopefully pumpkin pie. Today, we probably going to go over to their house and help them make the pie haha. It's going to be cool though. It's crazy how fast time is going by. This transfer flew by. This week is the last week before transfers. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get transferred though because I haven't been in this area very long. Well, I hope you have a great week. I love you! Elder Janda
