Ware, Josh P

Ok so stuff's getting serious here in Bela Vista. Our Stake President got word from the area seventy, sat our ward lidership down, and told us that we have until August to raise the weekly attendance up to 100 or we're shutting down. Some members are in despair, others have faith, and we're just going to keep doing our work.  To accomodate the needs of our work, we've been amping up our inactive member efforts, and it's been paying off! The ward is going crazy visiting people with us and giving us the names of every inactive member they know. This Sunday, we were able to increase the attendance from 70 to 89. The ward was so happy! This Saturday, we are going to have the first baptism that this ward has seen in five months. So it's safe to say that everyone is super excited. The members are making cakes, throwing an activity, and inviting all of their friends. I've never seen a ward more excited for a baptism. Please pray for Evillyn! On Thursday, we held a ...

This week was tough. It seems like it was the hardest I've pushed myself on my entire mission, and we saw no results. It seems like everyone in this new area either smokes, drinks, isn't married, or hates the "mormons". But we did see some miracles yesterday that brighten up the week.  This week we had five different people tell us that they never want us to come back to their house, one day after being marked for baptism. Satan is super annoying. We got to church yesterday, and I was feeling super down. We had barely anyone show up, and I kinda just felt like a failure. There out of nowhere, Micael, our recent convert from my last area shows up, and he helped me out. He agreed to do some visits after church, and we ended up doing visits with him til 9pm. And we saw so many miracles!  First we met Carmelita. She is an older woman who lives with her sister. She said that our visit was the happiest moment of her life. She cried during the first vision, and felt strong t...

We are about to have our big mission soccer pday, so I'm gonna keep this one short, but we saw a ton of change this week! (that pday just ended) First off, we had transfers this week, and I finally left the office! You don't even know how much joy I have being on the road the entire day talking to people! I literally have a constant smile on my face.  I got transfered to Bela Vista. It's the closest area to my old area, so it kinda feels like I'm working in the same area, but it's whatever. The ward is needing a ton of help, and if we don't raise the weekly attendance to 100, the ward will have to combine with another. (There were about 60 people on Sunday)  I'm also training for the first time on my mission, and it has been the coolest experience! I'm training Elder Gómez, from Uruguay, and I love him so much! He's super ready to learn and give everything he has. Plus, I'm going to be coming out of my mission fluent in Spanish too.  Before trans...

Ok, I'm sick again, so I'm going to keep this one a little short. But what's up guys! I hope you all had a fantastic week, and let's get into this.  monday: I finished the Book of Mormon in Portuguese (that was special). I also played soccer, ping pong, and had an interview with my Mission President! The interview was amazing, and he got me super excited for my last two transfers! tuesday: I got to work in the street all day! This is like the best feeling ever. I worked with one of my good friends, Elder Sorensen. At one point, I had to use the bathroom pretty badly, so we knocked on a bunch of doors, asking people if we could use their bathrooms. After about five rejections, we finally got let it!  wednesday: This was an eventful day. We started by waking up early, and running to a member's house to help them with a move. After I lost in a fight to a screwdriver, we ran back home and got ready for zone conference. Zone conference was amazing, and we learned about h...