Welcome to President & Sister Zayas

Since President Lopez was called to be a bishop, President called a new

counselor, President Zayas. He is a wonderful, humble man who will be a great

asset to the mission presidency to help us in the spanish work.

They all came to the mission home for dinner and a get to know you night.

Our Newest Group of Zone Leaders

A returning missionary

Elder Burris and his wife Whitney came to give us an update since

he left his mission a year ago. He is still the wonderful Elder Burris

that we knew and loved.

Someone Stop Time!!!!

When we came to the mission, our children gave us a little countdown calendar.

At first we thought it was a cute idea. Now I can barely bring myself to look at

it. Where has the time gone? This has become our life and oh how much we

have loved it. All I know is that we are sprinting to the finish line. Until then

there is no time to think about what is behind the corner.

Aren't they just the Best!

Sisters Burton, Kolo and Glenn enjoying the desert table!

The wonderful Relief Society Sisters always put together such wonderful

meals for our missionaries. They go above and beyond the call. You can

tell they love the missionaries. Many of them have sons and daughters on

missions themselves and feel a great connection as they serve them.

We love singing to our Birthday Missionaries each time we gather together.

I found out this particular day that we had missed calling 2 of the missionaries

on their birthdays to sing and wish them a happy birthday.

We repented of our wrong doings and we sang personally to both of them.

The Relief Society Sisters love this part of our lunch activities.

Many get tears in their eyes as we sing the thank you song to them.

Our Morning Walks

One of the highlights of our day is to take an early morning walk together!

The beauty of Arizona is unique and it has been wonderful to soak it all

in. Some mornings we take the desert trails and others we just enjoy

looking at all the desert flowers bloom in front of the houses as we

pass by. Everything is in bloom right now and it is a beautiful sight.

President is enthralled with the gamble quail that seem to be everywhere.

As our journey comes to an end, we will miss all these special

moments we have had in Arizona.

Some mornings on our walk we are able to watch the hot air balloons

rise into the sky. The most we have counted is seventeen. It is a

beautiful sight to behold. It is our secret desire to be able to go on

a hot air balloon ride someday!

The cactus is in full bloom. It is beautiful.

The clouds in the sky and the sunsets are incredible pictures in my mind!

How about those tomatoes? This has been President's therapy

on his P-days. He grows a mean tomato. He has found that

growing vegetables in the desert takes a different approach,

but we love the tomato sandwiches that come from his efforts

Good job President!

Happy Mothers Day

Everyone loves Mothers Day to come around! There are only 2 days in

the year that missionaries are able to call home. One is at Christmas and

the other on Mothers Day! I don't want to crush all the mothers, but we

have a good portion of our missionaries that find the call home a big

distraction. They enjoy talking to family but it is hard to catch up in such

a short call and it takes a while to get back on track. There is a good reason

that missionaries are not able to call home more than those 2 days.

Our foreign missionaries were able to come to the office to make their

calls to their families in the far off islands in the Pacific.

Happy Mothers Day to all the amazing mothers who raised such

wonderful missionary sons and daughters.

Elder Cava- Fiji

Sister Kolo-Tonga

Two New Assistants!

Elder Tyler Perkins is our newest English Assistant and his new

companion is Elder Jason Brase. Elder Perkins will bring much

enthusiasm and energy as our Assistant. He has been a great

example to our missionaries and is love by all.

Welcome Elder Perkins! Elder Tripp is going out to

train a new missionary his last two transfers. A big thanks to

him for his leadership in the mission.

Elder Falconer will join Elder Miles as our new Spanish Assistant. He too

will bring lots of energy and leadership to the group. We want to thank Elder

Klemme for all he did for the past 10 months. He was our thinker and always

was looking into the future to see how we could do a better job in improving

things in the mission. He was truly a diligent missionary who contributed much.

Thanks Elder Klemme!

Our Newest Arrivals from the MTC

WELCOME!

Sisters Winchell, Graves, Jeanfreau, Elders Fagersten, Alvis, Burrows & Lynn

Our newest arrivals!

President Beck doesn't waste any time teaching our new missionaries

about deportment and demeanor. Is that a surprise?

Filling out paper work before lunch!

May Departures

Sisters Ochocinski, Ayala & Lowery,

Elders Bell, Schneider, Murdock, Berry, Barker, Elkington

It just wasn't the same without Presidente Lopez's carne asada dinner that

night! Sister Beck tried to fill in for him, but we missed the special touch

he and sister Lopez brought to the evening. President Lopez was made

Bishop of the Montana del Sur Ward! We will miss them greatly but know

the Lord has called him where he is needed. He must be needed really bad

because he was our best missionary in the mission. He could convert anyone

he talked to. He had a great gift.....the spirit of conversion.

We love you!

President & Sister Lopez.

Each missionary receives a badge to replace his name tag when

they are released from their service. It is a reminder that they

will be a "Missionary for Life". This was just their mini-mission!

A little ping pong with the missionaries. I must admit, I'm getting better

and better with each group. I can at least hold my own. Right Elders!

Our missionary locker room!

Getting ready for their bedtime story!

Another Group of Level Six Missionaries

Elder Angelos, Farnsworth, Bell, Nuttal, Alling,Falconer, Giles

Sister Matsen has added scones to the menu of fruit, egg casserole & waffles. No

wonder the missionaries are so eager to reach their level six of the study guide.