"A White Weekend"

Jack Knight & President Beck

It has been an amazing week in the Arizona Phoenix Mission, and the Lord has blessed us with a great harvest of baptisms. There wasn't anywhere I would have rather been then going from baptism to baptism and feeling the words "How great shall be your Joy! President Beck and I had to decide which of the 35 baptisms we would attend unfortunately we couldn't attend all of them. The ones we did go to filled our hearts! The first one on Saturday Morning was Jack Knight who had been investigating the church ( his wife was a member) for the past 3 years. He had many a sister missionary teach him the gospel but did not gain his testimony right off. Today he was baptized and there were many who came to see the long awaited event. Because so many of the previous sister missionaries were involved, they were all able to come to the baptism, including Sisters Solomon, Clark, Eustice and Willardson who came back to the mission to be a part of this wonderful day. They all had a special place in their hearts for this man they had taught for so long. All the sister who taught him sang at the baptism and it was very touching.

Sister Solomon, Clark, Eustice, Fleener, Willardson, Brobst, Kolo, Hudson, Freeman
all taught Jack through the years .

The day did not stop there, we attended many other baptisms, two of which were completions of families who had entered the straight and narrow gate to return to their Heavenly Father. Now their focus would be to prepare to go to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity as a family.

Elders Wesche, Johnson, Schafer, and Kennington were part of this family baptism.

It was a beautiful weekend as we shared in the baptisms of so many who entered the waters of baptism and became members of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Interview Week Car Inspections

During Interviews the missionaries are responsible for cleaning their car and making sure everything is working. Elder Skonnard is responsible for the car inspections. They are graded by how well they do and the winners are given a "clean car certificate". When they receive three of them they are able to turn it in for an extra 100 miles on their monthly car allowance.

Elders Hone & Evans

Elders Johnston & Smith showing how to back up a missionary car

Elder Trussells & Davenport celebrating their "Clean Car Award"

The Elders of the Cottonwood/Prescott Zone celebrate the joy of being a Missionary!

Welcome Visa Waiters

Occasionally we received missionaries who have been called to serve out of the country to serve in our mission until their Visas come through. Some have come for just a few months, and others have ended up serving their whole mission here. We have been fortunate to have 7 come into our mission in the last month. We are excited to have them part of the Arizona Phoenix Mission Army.

Elder Riggin

Elder Barnes

Elder Anderson

Elder Pontsler

Elders Myers, Ross, Neubert

A trip to Wickenburg

Elder Falconer
President Beck and I drove to Wittenberg for a special evening witht he ward to teach them how to become betters missionaries. The missionaries did a great job in this training. The members came as if they were going to the MTC and were sent to different rooms to practice sharing the gospel with their friends.

Sisters Hartvigsen & Keelin welcoming members to the MTC

Group discussions

Before the meeting, we went to President Hancock's house where we cooked a dutch oven dinner. President used his fathers recipes to cook the chicken with cornmeal and it turned our wonderful. After President Hancock gave us a tour of his barn where he showed us his collection of dutch ovens and other old cooking items he has collected over the years. I've never seen so many dutch ovens in one place. It was amazing!

A Spiritual Weekend

Mission President's Seminar

"Our Graduating Class"
We look forward every September to attending the Southwest Mission President's Seminar. We feast at the words of the brethren as they instruct us on how we can become better instruments in the hands of the Lord in directing our missions, and how we can better meet the needs of our missionaries in our missions. This year we all gathered in San Antonio. This a a treat for me as I have always wanted to see the River Walk. Elder Costa, of the first Quorum of the Seventy, along with Elder Richard G. Hinckley, who is director of the missionary department, were there to instruct us. We litterally drank from a fire hose of spiritual information for three days as we were instructed by the brethren.
When we were called to serve as mission president, there were also 6 others that were called to run missions in the Southwest Area at the same time. This would be the last time we would all meet together as a group, as our calling to serve will end on July lst. These are great men and women, who we admire greatly. It has been a privilege getting to know them and learn from them when we meet together. It has been a journey of a life time which has changed us forever and which we will never forget.

Elder & Sister Claudio Costa



We were all able to attend a session in the beautiful San Antonio Temple

Mexican Dancers on the River Walk

It was a hot humid night when we took a boat tour of the River Walk.