Title: In the Desert on a Horse with No Name

Well, I've been ridiculously bad at writing these blog posts. I hope that what I do write is interesting enough for the people who read!

Let's see, where did I last leave off? Probably with Elder Kawano? Okay, so after the whole appendix fiasco, I got better. Getting to drive a car has been really nice, and I don't think I've done too many things that would make my mom uncomfortable with that. Elder Kawano got transferred to Scottsdale, and so I got an American companion for the first time in 6 months. Elder Francis from Portland, Oregon, came to my area, and we had a great transfer together. In our time in the Mesa Central Stake we saw a ton of miracles. Many people came out of nowhere who wanted to learn about the gospel, and it was exciting to see them and learn from them. Everything seemed to go incredibly fast, and we always had somebody new to teach or to help out.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. I finally got transferred out of Mesa! (That sounds like being in Mesa was a bad thing, but I just had been in the same area of town for a year or so...longer than most missionaries!) I went way out to the eastern border of the mission to a town called Apache Junction. This place is awesome! It's everything you think of when you think of Arizona. The sunsets are unreal, there's cacti everywhere, and lots of desert wildlife. I have a black light that I use to hunt for scorpions. (If anybody wants one, just write me and I'll send one to you :) People here are really nice. Not quite as nice as North Dakotans, but those folks are pretty hard to beat.

My new companion is another foreigner! Elder Moala is from Aukland, New Zealand. He loves to play rugby, and has a dream of one day playing for the All Blacks. He's also about a foot taller than me. This guy is huge. I guess he's Tongan, so what can you expect? We're both new to the area, so we're having to work extra hard. But it's been so much fun. God has blessed us very much. One of the great people who we get to work with is named Lee. He's an incredibly nice guy. He cooked us a humongous Texas BBQ the other night, and it was amazing. Anyway, Lee's a great example of sacrifice. He wants to get baptized, and in order to do that, he needs to live the word of wisdom, which is the health code that members of the church follow. We don't drink coffee, which has been something that Lee has wanted to stop doing for a while. He's tried lots of times, and has't been able to. But last week, he tried one more time and just gave it all up. He still hasn't had any coffee, and he's struggled a bit from withdrawals, but has pressed through. It helps me realize how important sacrifice is and how all of us have something that we can give up that'll make us a little stronger and will help us get a little closer to God.

So that's pretty much what's cooking right now. This whole mission thing was a really good idea. I was excited as I'm sure many of you were, at the news that the minumum age of missionaries has dropped. I for one, have loved my mission, and it's been the best thing for me. I hope that the additional groups of men and women who decide to go on missions are as blessed as I've been.

Peace out!

Ammon

Elder Moala and Elder Miller