gorgeous

I don't know if you are still getting a lot of snow in Utah, but I wanted to mention that we are loving the weather right now of a pretty consistent 75 degrees. This is why people live in Arizona. Already, there are bunches of people out enjoying the sunshine and warm breeze. People don't go outside in Utah like they do here. Every park is full of people almost all the time, it's pretty fun.

Not that we get a whole lot of time to just enjoy the weather. As our area is, we spend a lot of time in a car. Occasionally we find time to ride around on our bikes and catch some fresh air. We spend most of our time searching out people called "potentials." These are people who have in the past, met missionaries, and consented to having them back, but not at a specific appointment. It is the most productive way to find new investigators, or that's what I hear. We are finding that a lot of our potentials have very little potential. In fact, most have moved and have very nice American families living in their houses. As far as teaching, we work a lot with recent converts. One of the recent converts is someone I could just sit and learn from all day long. She is the kind of lady who thinks about things and knows how she feels about everything. I think living in a country where you didn't understand the language would give you a great deal of valuable thinking time.

In our world, we go so fast that we don't take time to think about things. I remember talking with Becca years ago and she told me about this very thing, how the pioneers must have discovered great faith in themselves as they spent quiet hours churning butter or bailing hay or other equally important, but thoughtless tasks. I wonder how much of people's problems could be worked out by themselves if they took good, prayerful time to ponder and meditate on life. Or even better, pondered and meditated on ways to serve others. In the case of my Spanish friend, she thinks about how needy other people are and worries herself about their needs. How can I lift this person's life? I know they have been struggling. Or, what would make the new family feel more comfortable in the Ward? I should invite them over for dinner and get to know them. How much opportunity do we miss to receive guidance from the Spirit, or answers to our prayers because we don't give quiet time to listen? I hope my feelings came across.

I miss you all, and hope you are well. I want you to know that I do think about you, my family and friends. I do not distract myself with your problems, but I do think about your needs and your lives. I wish there were direct ways in which I could help you when you are in need, but I trust that others will be placed to do what I would hope to do. And I trust that you all know that the Savior has given so much for us already. He, too, thinks about our needs, and is merciful and good to us in our weaknesses. Have faith in Him, come unto Him, and be saved.

I love you all, and continually pray for you. Take care. Do good things.

-Elder Sam Bostwick

sad to report nothing much

I wish I knew how to work harder to produce more success in this area. Little success means little to report.

But my testimony is still burning stronger. I love reading from the scriptures. I love how the Bible and the Book of Mormon work so well together. When Christ is visiting the Americas, I think it is amazing that He teaches virtually nothing that He didn't already teach in the Bible. His Gospel is the same, and always has been.

I am working hard, don't get the idea that I am not. We pray for the Lord's help to magnify our efforts. I'll keep you posted. I'm sorry that I take so long to write back to individual letters, especially Becca, I'm sorry.

I love you all, keep being good examples around and pray for opportunities to share the Gospel with others. Have a good week.

-Elder Sam Bostwick

another week

Work in this area is so much different than what I had gotten used to. It is somewhat discouraging because I feel as though we don't accomplish very much. There is only one couple that we are really working with, and of course we hope for the best, but other than their progress, there is very little to show any results for our efforts.

We had Zone Conference this week and Elder Wood and I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I learned a lot of things I can do better to be a better missionary and to be more faithful and effective. One is prayer. As much as I have increased the amount I pray during the day, I came to the realization that it still isn't enough. Prayer is a simple way to direct thoughts and purposes toward the Savior. Without prayer, it is easy to forget the goal and aim of your work. And real prayer is hard work. I keep learning step by step.

On exchanges it was strange doing English missionary work. We even taught a very good lesson, and every time we started talking about the gospel, I almost spoke Spanish. The Spanish work is so different from what the English missionaries do, and it is hard to say which is better. It's good to know what the English work is like, because at some point of my mission, I may lose the Spanish Elder status depending on the needs of the President. For the sake of learning Spanish, I hope the day doesn't come too soon, if at all. I am gaining a lot more confidence in Spanish, even though I still have bunches to learn. I really enjoy getting to know about different Latin countries and their differences from the others. Accents from South America are so great to listen to, and I think I have a natural tendency to get along with South Americans more than Central Americans, though all are just wonderful. I continue to learn a lot of Spanish from Elder Wood and I continue to help keep him concentrated in the last few months of his mission.

We have been getting ready for the weather to get warmer. Just today I heard that most places of the country are going through unusually cold spells right now. It seems far away when Arizona temperatures are about as perfect as you could ever expect. However, the beauty proceeds the pain in this case. Other missionaries have been giving tips on how to stay cool and healthy, and I am planning on following those tips. There is a man named Terry Cannon (ring any bells Dad?) who sells Camelbacks on discount to missionaries and he came to our apartment and sold me a backpack. It is nice and I bought it at good price. Other missionaries are also saying that you will stay healthier if your clothes are dry, so they suggest upping my number of shirts and underclothing. Mom and Dad, I hope we can work something out to do that.

That's really all I have to say for now. I hope you are all well and happy. In our Zone Conference we talked a lot about the ideal members for missionary work. I would just like to add in a plug to be the kind of members that missionaries pray for. I know especially in Utah it is hard, I don't even remember seeing missionaries in our Ward--ever. But I hope building the Kingdom is on your minds. As we talked about in Zone Conference and adding to the Leadership Training from Sunday, the two ways to build the membership of the kingdom are missionary work and having children. Remember to pray for opportunities and then act on the answers you receive. The missionaries are there to help you, even if you never see them, just call them--we always call back.

Love you and miss you,

-Elder Sam Bostwick

short

I sadly have very little to report on this last week. I have been doing a lot of organizing, a necessary evil when an area has not been kept up very well. I get satisfaction from working hard to make paperwork accurate and all up to date, even though it is tedious and sometimes feels hardly worth doing.

Learning a new area has made time slow down very much. It has been a long week, but things will start picking up. I am enjoying the blessings of living in a single companionship apartment, but do see the down sides. Elder Wood is funny, but works too hard to make people like him. I like him, and he doesn't have to work for it. And he teaches me a lot of Spanish.

That's really all for this week, I hope I have more to say coming up.

-Elder Sam Bostwick

P.S. We did really enjoy the funeral services for President Hinckley. It is bittersweet, and the great thing is the church is still true, no matter what.