Raining Mud

Well this was a pretty interesting week. It was rough saying goodbye to everyone in Maryvale. There are a lot of good friends there that I will definitely miss. Even just leaving that side of town will be tough. I got transferred this week to the east side of Chandler, close to Gilbert. So now I am about as far east as you can go in our mission! Which means I have hit almost every far corner of the mission, from the farthest southwest in Yuma, the far north in Phoenix, and now the most east in Gilbert. So that has been pretty cool getting to see all around the area.

 

 This area is quite a bit different than the areas I have been before. It is infinitely more wealthy than where I was on the west side, which makes finding people to teach a little more interesting. It also makes serving people a little different than before because the people that can't do things themselves can pay people to have it done. So you rarely see people outside (especially in the summer time), rarely see open garages, and rarely have opportunities to talk to just random people on the street. But the members in the wards here are awesome. They are definitely the key to missionary work here in an area as reserved and closed off from us as this is. So that is what we have been focusing on; trying to really strengthen the members so that they will be able to reach out to those around them. Which really is the importance of the gospel right? Find the truth for yourself, gain your own testimony to begin living it, and then help others find out the truth also. So yeah, things are going pretty good.

 

 Monsoon season is here and that brings on the dust storms. Those things can get pretty crazy sometimes. The first one of the season rolled through the valley this week and it was intense! It got to where you couldn't see even 20 or 30 feet in front of you because of all the dust in the air. We got to see it rolling towards town over the reservation and it looked exactly like the dust storms you see in the movies, just a giant wall of brown moving towards you going super high. Then the rain started, and it was basically like it was raining mud. It got over everything and the cars that weren't in garages got filthy from the mix of water and dirt falling from the sky. But that is about all the excitement from this week! I'm glad to hear things are going well back home! Take care and God bless.

Elder Hiatt