I had my first Baptism and conformation last Saturday! We have been teaching these three kids (ages 11,12, and 13) living with their grandma ever since I got here and now they're members! The oldest son is going to get the priesthood within the next two weeks so that's exiting. when we filled up the font the day before they were baptized the water came out brown so we had to empty the font and start over the next morning. By a crazy awesome miracle we were able to keep the water fairly clear and it finished filling up 5 minutes before the baptism! Two of the kids asked me to baptize them which is strange because my companion is the one who found them a week before I got here. But its cool that they liked me enough to have me do it. The next Sunday in Sacrament Meeting we gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmed them members. 10 minutes later I gave my second talk in sacrament meeting in the Many Farms Ward. Not a lot of members are active ( 40-50 every Sunday) and even fewer members will give a talk. The missionaries make the Sunday programs and teach gospel doctrine sometimes. We even take care of youth nights on Wednesdays which is super fun! The active member families here are fun to talk to. Our area is super spread out so the last couple weeks we've been track-ting in places that have probably never seen missionaries, just so we can find less actives and new investigators. We went on top of this mesa and there were a bunch of horses running around all cool like. Yesterday we went to the Snow-Flake, Az, Temple and it was spectacular! they have native american artwork and poetry in the temple. They have a huge native rug outside the dressing rooms that is just crazy beautiful! I'm having loads of fun on my mission and I cant wait to have more mud stories for you! Till next Monday, Peace!

Mud everywhere!

This place is very dry and the ground doesn't pick up moisture very well so last Tuesday it rained so much over night that the whole city was a lake. The area around the church is slightly higher than the rest of the town so we were fine, but at 7:30 in the morning while I was in the shower we got a phone call from a member whose house had started to flood. We got over to their house and the road to get there was a river. We got out of the car and walked the 1/4 mile through 3 feet of water. Me being just barely out of the shower was trying to stay dry because the water was dark red. Little did I know that there was a 5 foot hole of the side of their road, and I was lucky enough to fall into it! My companion couldn't stop laughing because I disappeared while we were running through the water. One minute I’m there and the next minute I’m completely under. After I got out of the hole I looked like I had rolled in the mud, it was gross. When we got to the house the family was running around like crazy trying to shovel dirt to stop the flow to their home. We hauled a bunch of tires they had (everyone out here collects tires for some reason) and we put them around the house and dumped dirt on top of them. After we created a dam around the house we were able to redirect the water and we saved the house. It was awesome!

I live in a trailer

(we) live in a trailer in the church parking lot .....the piping out here is so rusted that the water is red! The most popular meal out here is Fri bread and stew. When winter hits the stew will be mutton stew, I heard it was gross haha.. The ward here in Many Farms has 300 members but only 50 of them come to church because of the placement programs in the late 1900's. They have all been baptized in Utah or Idaho but after they come back to the reservation they fall of the face of the earth. Most of our efforts are tracking members down and reactivating them. Half the people down here don't work at all and drinking is a big problem. Dogs run rapid and I've seen herds of cattle lose on the side streets and dirt roads. There are only 3-4 paved roads and the rest are dirt. There are only 2 small neighborhoods and the rest of the homes are trailers or Hogan's that have been set up randomly along the main road. The homes that are real fun are the ones on top of the mesa next  to the town. People here are way different. You have to have a 30 minute casual conversation with someone before they trust you enough to hear about the Gospel. When we go up to a house we get swarmed by a dozen of their dogs. None of them have tried to eat me and their usually friendly so that's good. We wash our Pick-up every P Day and its fun to see all the brown mud fall of our white Truck. All these dirt roads are murder to any car, especially after it rains. We almost got stuck in some mud yesterday. My companion is from North Dakota but he lived in Colorado for two years. The mission Office should have sent you a picture of us the day we were made companions. He's awesome! Our Mission President is an inspired man, and God Knew who I needed as a trainer. We get along and he's helped me with my weaknesses and social skills. I'm now way more comfortable talking with people. We already committed 4 people to baptism since I've been here and we have another 2 people still on date from before I got here. If all goes well, 6 people will be baptized by the end of October. I love my mission and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! Stay Strong, and God be with you till we meet again.. sometime. yeah. K bye :)"

Im on the Navajo Indian Reservation!

I'm On The Reservation

Im on the Navajo Indian Reservation! Im in Many Farms, Arizona and its super small and spread out. We drive a truck everywhere. Everyone lives in a trailer or a Hogan, which is an octagon shaped hut! Ive been out here for only a week but this place is awesome! Its like im camping every day, haha. We sometimes have to hike a half mile up a mountain just to get to an investigators hut. My companion and I share a trailer with two other elders and we split the ward. We have a senior couple too and they feed us a lot. Peace!

MTC is Sweet!

While at the MTC I have listened to David Bednar's "Characters of Christ" talk which was awesome. Our devotional on Tuesday was AMAZING! Richard J. Mayns from the quorum of the 70 spoke and we got our whole District to sing in the choir ;) We sang an alternate tune of the classic hymn "Blessed Savior, Dear Redeemer." It's 100% cooler than the original hymn so you should look it up if you can. The member of the 70's wife, who spoke first, was so touched by our song that she had trouble starting her talk. Zone leader is fun! I get to tell people they're slaking every once and a while. our MTC mission president looks like Grandpa Teeples and drives with a lead foot every time we get a ride! he's the funniest guy I've ever met! But hes also super strait forward and knows how to lay down the law like a beast! We already had one missionary in our district decide to go home (he says he's coming back after he works out a few things back home), he left this morning but not before the mission President drilled into him about how hard it is to come back to the field after you leave. Our mission President is like our emotional and spiritual SLAP to the face! haha We also heard from Vai Sikahema last Sunday and he talked about how he's used his job in ESPN to help spread the Gospel. He played football at BYU and played professionally in the NFL so pretty much his whole talk was on sports...  the MTC has been Sweet! The next time you hear from me I'll be in Farmington, New Mexico! Peace!

Josh's White Board on Missionary Work

I'm a missionary, no touchie!

The MTC is awesome!

Dear family,

they have me on the new Westview campus. Its a bunch of BYU apartments the church bought for Missionary training less than two weeks ago. There's 8 missionaries in my district that are going on my same mission, and I have my missionary training class with all of them. Most of them are from Utah but we have a missionaries from Washington and Idaho with us. We had an interview with our Branch President last Thursday night and my companion and I are now the Zone leaders over two districts. There's our district and a district going to the Colorado springs mission! My companion is from Kamas, Utah, and played football in high school. Its a little difficult to relate but we are still getting along. He's very spiritual and we've used our knowledge of the scriptures to find a middle ground. I love how perfect my companion and district are for me. Everyone that is going to Farmington I can relate to and we all seem to have more of a connection the more we talk.The MTC is awesome! Cooler than I thought it would be at least.  Peace!

...and he's off!