Flight Plans!

Hello, one and all!

A couple of things occured this week, so lets jump right in!

To start off...

Last P-day (an eternity ago lol.)

My zone all played kickball! And, for all of my fans at home, you know what that means! I was A. Outside and B. intending to have fun, so that means only one possible thing could have happened.

Yep, that right. I got injured. Thats all I'm gonna say for that (I'm fine now... and I was told this week that I am a bit over dramatic so I'm working on that...)

I got to have 2 separate exchanges this week, and in each one I got to witness some tender mercies and I got to see God's hand in my day. 

These past weeks, me and my companions have been doing our best to talk to everyone and hoping for a new. We have had little to no success for the past transfer and a half. Well, it seems like that luck may be turning! One of my companions found someone on Facebook that is interested in reading the Book of Mormon with him, and we found someone during an exchange that was willing to listen! Hard work pays off!

Also... 

I finally have my flight plans! I'll be leaving Arizona on the 14th of December! 3 flights later, I'll be landing in Peru on the 15th of December! The time has come!!!

Kinda. I still have 3 weeks in the states!

Something else really awesome happened as well this week. For the past transfer and a half, on Wednesdays me and my companions have gone over to this one families house as our last visit of the night, and this family has a really cool thing they do every night where they write down one thing they are grateful for in a gratitude journal. The mom of this family gave us a journal for us this week! It's been really cool to start a gratitude journal, and it honestly makes me feel better about my day when I reflect on it to find something that I am grateful for. My invitation for the week is to start one yourself, or with your family, and see how God has blessed your lives!

Photos for the week are in my google photos!

Shouldn't you be in PERU?!?

Coming to you live from... Tucson Arizona?!?

So... apparently even if you get your visa, there is still the possibility that something goes wrong. And... it did.

I never got a plane ticket.

BRUH

So, the last day that I theoretically could have gone to Peru this transfer cycle was last Friday/Saturday. Reason being, they don't want to send missionaries mid cycle, and cause problems for the receiving missionaries. So... Tucson hasn't seen the last of Elder Bahnmiller! At least for the next couple of weeks.

(Although... now that this is on paper, don't be surprised if next week is titled "I'm in Peru!" or something of the sorts. It seems like Heavenly Father has an amazing sense of humor)

So... more from Tucson!

What happened this week?

(Other than no plane ticket)

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges this last week with the Spanish Elders! I always love an opportunity to practice my Espanol!

'Twas really awesome! I had the opportunity to help teach the first vision to a man in Spanish! (Although... he also understood english... lets leave it at that 😅) 

Also. Last week I started telling people that I had received my Visa. When they asked when I was gonna leave, I would say "Sometime this upcoming week, most likely"

Heres the problem. When you don't leave, you start to receive confused looks and goofy stares. Not only that, but now my companions joke whenever I say something they don't like, they say "Just go to Peru already!" or "Why aren't you in Peru?"

I've had so many people from the ward be like "Didn't think we'd see you again!"

Same with the missionaries in my zone. They all got their goodbyes in last week, so now they are all annoyed at me.

I'm getting the impression that I'm not necessarily... wanted in Arizona right now 😆😥

Also! I got the opportunity to participate in 3 separate services! I got to help out with setting up El Tour De Tucson (which is essentially a bike race), I got to help some one move! And I got to help out with the Giving Machine! It was really funny because a whole bunch of guys were saying they had to go through this one specific door, but all of the girls said a different door because the one they were taking it through was to small 😂. Turns out they were right 😒 but after that we helped set it up! It was really cool because I had always wanted to help out with these machines after my first encounter with them,  and here we are!

Lets see... I think I'm gonna set up a Google Photos, so ya"ll can receive "live" updates. Be forewarned, most will most likely be of clouds and sunsets/sunrises. Plus, I suck at taking pictures. Can't say I didn't warn ya!

*20 minutes later*

This google photos is being extremely painful. I had to add all of my photos like 5 times and it says its still updating. We'll see if I can add the link soon...

*3 hours later...*

I'm done. Here it is!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zMFicdiJw1MUPPj4A

THE news

Hello one and all!

Just like all weeks, this week had several ups and downs! However, I'll be sharing 3 of them with you today.

First of all...

The biggest news of all...

I've got my Visa!

I'M HEADED TO PERU BABYYYYYY!!!!

My time in Tucson has been a blast! I feel like I have made a lot of life time friends, and I have grown so much because of my time here. After my explanation of the week, I'll go over some of my highlights of my time here in Tucson!

Anyways...

This week on Elder Bahnmiller's mission!

One of the first families that I met here in Tucson are seriously awesome. I'd say that they are mission legends. (For sake of privacy I'm not going to say their names. I'll just say they are the B's)

Mrs. B has a book where she places the pictures of missionaries that come and administer to her. It was really cool to get to look through that book and see all of the missionaries! And, I am now in that book as well. It's really cool that I have technically been "immortalized" in this book.

What I wasn't expecting was Mrs. B gives all of the leaving missionaries a T-shirt. I now have a seriously cool shirt that says: "FedUp? God Delivers!"

It seriously looks like the FedEx logo, so its quite funny to me.

Secondly...

Some missionaries put in our zone chat that they needed some Elders to help out with a service project; moving some furniture. Before my companionship responded, one other companionship said they would. We still offered to help, as we thought that if they were moving furniture then they would most likely have quite a bit to move. So, we pulled up.

Whats funny is that we had planned to be there to help out for an hour and a half.

When we got there there was already 3 companionships (including those that put in the call for help). So, I thought something along the lines of: "Lets go! They must need a lot to be moved if they've called in this many missionaries!" 

Nope.

Turns out there were 3 pieces of furniture that needed to be moved. We all laughed it off, and the missionaries that called all of us must have felt bad because they gave us pizza! (In hind sight I feel kinda bad for them myself, but I still find it kinda funny. Just a goofy situation all around lol)

I guess the highlight of the situation was that we got to be in our service clothes for like 45 minutes. It was really good to take a short little break. But, the work moves on!

Alright... highlights of Tucson!

Arriving in the mission field! It is so awesome that I finally get the chance to serve a mission, and to help and serve other people!

I have had some seriously awesome companions! All three of them are spiritual giants, and they are all examples to me of what it means to be a missionary!

FRISBEE! Like, almost every other day! That is one thing that I will sure miss about Tucson. The sports here are crazy! Plus, MOST people try there best at sports, so we get to have a lot of fun! 

Side note, lets count my injuries that occurred during sports (in general)

- Tripped over my companion. My leg got cot between him and another missionary. That hurt for the rest of the day.

- Had a missionary crash into me during frisbee, caused my legs to hurt for 2 days.

- That same missionary kicked a Soccer ball at my head, and DANG did that hurt. I had a headache for a couple of hours. My glasses didn't break, though! Knock on wood!

- 2 kinda bad slides. One I fell on my knees and got grass burn. The other I slid and scraped my thigh raw. Those sucked.

- My pride. Somehow thought I could catch every frisbee that came my way. Yeah....

- My ENTIRE BODY AFTER EVERY GAME. I think I must play too hard because I'm always wheezing and seriously tired after frisbee.

The people here are amazing! During my time here in Tucson, I didn't go a single day without food, so that was awesome! The wards here are insane! The people here love the missionaries, and they always wanted to talk to us or feed us. The one time that there was a new person at church, so many people welcomed them, and we somehow were late to the party to greet them lol. 

I have seriously learned how to recognize the spirit, and have grown my testimony exponentially. I have had some experiences that have seriously tested my faith and rattled me, but I came out stronger. I am so happy that God has put me through these trials, because I think that I'll be a greater missionary for it!

SPANISH. My Spanish... may not be the best currently, but I did enjoy both my exchanges and my practices with the Spanish missionaries. 

Highlights of my Spanish:

- I got to play a fun game with a member family that ended up with a plate of flour in my face. That was quite fun! In the same visit, I also tried a (Sabrano?) pepper that made my face burn. My spice tolerance is so low. :( I need to grow my spice tolerance.

- I got several opportunities to use my Spanish! On one such instance, a man who actually spoke Spanish absolutely obliterated me for not being able to speak the language. Could I get some barbecue sauce for that roast?

- I feel like my Spanish has grown quite a bit. I can talk... kinda. I do little practices in my head and I am surprised by how much I can say. It's insane. The gift of tongues is real!

Then, on the flip side... ENGLISH. I am quite happy that my first transfer of training happened in English. I feel like I may not have learned quite as much had I gone straight to Peru, but I am pretty excited to get there!

I got to teach a lesson! It may have only been 3 principles of the lesson, but I am quite happy that I at least have one under my belt. I have also got to do several door approaches and I have given some spiritual thoughts. I had been terrified of this part of missionary work, but now I am quite excited for sharing my testimony!

Through all of the trials and the struggles... through all of the strange stuff that I have seen and experienced... I have grown to seriously love God and his gospel. I have seen somethings that are on the weird side, and experienced some stuff that I didn't expect to experience here on the mission. But I am so grateful for what I have seen and done here in Tucson. I love it here, and the people here are amazing. I am so grateful for my time here in Tucson, and I can't wait to experience the next chapter of my mission!

I've made some amazing friends among both the missionaries and the wards here. I am quite sad to be leaving these people. I love all of the people I met here.

But, God is calling. I will (most likely) be in Peru the next time one of these comes out. I can't wait to experience this next chapter!

Adios, amigos! I'll see you on the other side!

- Elder Bahnmiller

1. Pizza after a service project!

2. My "FedUp" Shirt

3. The Moon and Mars

The Great Architect

Alright! We are taking auditions now! Could candidate numero uno please come to the stand!

Me?

Yes you! Give your reason for why you should write this email!

Umm.... probably because I lived it...?

Too boring! Our readers deserve a story like no other! We need pizzaz, wonder! Milagros!!!

You're out. Next audition pleeeeease!

Yo, I gotchu.

Alright, now we're getting somewhere. Give him a script! Scene one, please. When you are ready, sir.

Alright, bet. So, you see, it was a day that seemed oh so similar to our hero, yet today would be different.

Ok... keep going

This... is the story . . . of how I died.

BUT ITS NOT HIS STORY!!! ITS MIIIIINE!

Who let him back in? SECURITY! Keep going, sir!

No! He's gonna ruin the story! I worked so hard this week!!! I can't have a nobody who didn't even live it tell a crude rendition of it!

*Shocked silence*

Alright then... impress me boy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elder Bahnmiller's week: The Great Architect

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Act 1

This week started with quite possibly the greatest of all miracles... I finally got to teach someone!

That actually sounds terrible, but let me explain. 

My trainers keep telling me that this is quite possibly the hardest area in the whole mission. (I'm sure other missionaries would beg to differ, but they don't get a say mwahaha >:) this is my email >:D)

Because of this, we have been working our behinds of to find some one to teach.

Our hard work finally paid off! We found a lady who doesn't know much about our faith, so we get to start square one!

Whats crazy is that my two trainers didn't really tell me that it was a legit lesson, so we go in and sit down, and one trainer starts with principle one of lesson one (God is our loving Heavenly Father). I leaned over to Elder Bunkall and asked "Is this lesson legit?" and he gives a subtle nod. Oh crap. All of my training has led up to this moment. 

My trainers walked the woman through God is our loving Heavenly father, He has sent prophets to us through out every dispensation, Jesus was the greatest of these prophets, Christs Earthly ministry and his Atonement, and the falling away. They then both look to me.

For those of you that don't know the next principle is the first vision. Quite possibly the hardest one to teach.  - - -_ _ _- - - (Morse code for all of you nerds out there)

So, I opened my mouth. And... It wasn't... a complete train wreck? I mean, sentences came out, so...

In any case, I taught THREE principles!!! Each, I feel like, came out a little bit better than the last one, I feel. I felt on a high cloud after that lesson!

End Act 1

Not bad, not bad... lets see how he handles the next act

Act 2

Temple day! My mission had 2 days where we were able to go to the temple, and my zones fell on this week! I was so pumped! I absolutely LOOOOVE the temple. The temple is one of the few places that I feel absolute peace and joy. Not only that, but I came with a very deep question, that I was hoping God would answer for me. As I sat in the Celestial room, I felt like I talked with God. It was amazing! My question was answered, and I was on an even higher cloud than before! I exited the temple the happiest I had been in quite a while.

End Act 2

I could have done that better, dog.

I'm... not so sure about that. Next Act!

Act 3

All good things must come to an end, however. During a Spanish study this week, I was faced with a crisis of not just my language, but some things quite deeper. (Don't be alarmed! It gets better! I'm looking at you, Mom )

The car ride to our next appointment had me shaking. I was questioning a lot of things (And, looking back, I'm like what the crap me! Why did this shake you so much! I dunno. Probably because I had been so high and then fell so hard. Whiplash, maybe?)

My companions noticed, and we pulled over to say a prayer. Thing was, we hadn't even said it, when a person walked in front of our car and we tried to talk to her. She said she couldn't and ran off. Great. I was feeling even worse.

That was when Elder Swift (we were on exchanges... sorry for not saying that earlier lol) turned to me and said "Alright Elder Bahnmiller. Which house do we knock on?"

I looked at him stunned and said "But, I'm the one struggling here. You pick."

But then he said, "The best way to build your faith is to use it"

Bet.

I prayed right then and said "Let me prove you, God. Point me to where we need to be."

And, wouldn't you know. I began walking, and I went back and forth a little, but I pulled up to a random house. After we knocked, a girl answered and I led the conversation! We asked about her faith, and other such missionary questions. Quite a contact, honestly. After words Elder Swift gave me a hug, and Elder Knight said "I'd call that a miracle"

But I wasn't done yet. I wasn't completely convinced. "One more", I said.

Now, for reference, I have yet to have back to back good contacts. Not once my entire transfer.

We knocked on this mans door, and he answered. Behind him we hear a barking dog and a screaming child, so we realize we have maybe 20 seconds before he slams the door. I begin talking, and, miraculously, he steps outside. We just gained maybe a minute.

My companions ask him some questions, and we have a good conversation. I can tell he is about to leave, so I asked him to tell me about his belief. He stops and we chat about his beliefs. That good conversation became a great one, and I walked away feeling way better.

End Act 3

Two more Acts to go! Lets see where this goes...

Act 4

I have a little story that I would like to tell, that is related to my past experience. 

A long time ago, a man was given a plot of land, tools, and materials to build a home for himself. He was told that while he built this house another man would stop by check up on him.

So, the man got to work.

He worked for many years, laying a foundation, building up walls, laying the roof with straw. By the end, he had a quaint little beach side villa that he was quite proud of. He determined he didn't need the help of any realtor; this home was perfect for him.

Then, one day, a different man knocks on his door. The man answers, and beams at him.

"This home is perfect for me. I am sad to say I don't think I necessarily need your help, but you are free to look around."

The other man nods his head and steps inside. As he does, the man who built the home notices that this new man has a name tag which reads: God.

God looks around, and nods his head. He looks at the roof, whistles, and looks outside at the pile of left over materials. He then examines the flooring, the foundation, and comes back to the man.

He looks him in the eyes and says: "You have quite the fine establishment here."

The man beams again

God leans in closer "But you can do better."

God walks over and pushes over a wall. The wall falls down, and the roof sags.

The man notices that there are water marks all along that wall. If it had remained standing, it would have rotted through. 

God pushes on the low hanging roof, pauses, then begins to tear it down. The man realizes that the roof had been leaking.

The man then looks around and begins to see. Many of his walls are slanted, about to fall over. Several of the doors in said walls are missing hinges. He looks down and realizes that there is no floor; he has been walking on dirt this entire time.

The man looks out side and sees God taking measurements. He pulls some materials from the left over pile and begins to hammer together a new framework.

The man walks up to him and notices some blueprints, and when he sees them he is truly astonished.

How could this be my home? Its a mansion! I could never have built this!

So. How does this relate to my experience?

In this story, I am the man who built the little beach side villa. I thought that my home was perfect for me. But God had other plans.

This week God saw that I had a shaky foundation, and he came in and tore it up, through the help of another missionaries questions during my Spanish practice. God saw where I was shaky, and tore it up. He dug a little bit deeper and placed a far more secure foundation beneath me.

I feel that, through this experience, I have learned that it is healthy to have a little bit of doubt. To realize that you may not have the strongest foundation, or the straightest walls. To realize that your roof is leaking.

In this story, that little villa is my heart, my testimony. Pre mission, I thought that I had the greatest house of my life.

But then God knocked on my door.

This mission has already shown me so much. And I am only a transfer in! I can't wait to see how God changes my heart throughout this amazing experience. I am grateful for the trials that I have been placed through. For, after this is all said and through, I will be as strong as God knows that I can be.

The story I referenced I didn't come up with, I merely expanded oni t. I don't know which one, but I am pretty sure it is from a conference talk

End Act 4

I cant believe that we still have another act to get through. We're on over time people! Move!

Act 5

Transfers! Also known as Cheese day here in the ATM! (Arizona Tucson Mission)  

Well... Nothing really changed. A couple of my zone members moved... but I am stuck with my companions! YEE HAW!!

I am quite excited, actually. I've got a lit zone.

The biggest take away from this email, that y'all should have, is this: doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. But, a little bit of questions can be healthy, and lead to a stronger base. 

Know that God is at the wheel. He is the master carpenter. The Grand Architect.

Trust God.

End Act 5

End Show

Thanks for the patience to read this email! I know that it was long, but I hope y'all can see why.

This was the best first transfer that I could have asked for.

With all of the love and happiness in the world,

Elder Bahnmiller