We continue to help Hermana Allen as much as possible. I can´t tell you how many times I have been grateful for my training at Sunrise and the practice I had talking with people and helping them solve their concerns. I think it´s just an accomplishment that she´s still here on the mission. She cried for 30 minutes a few days ago because one of her bug bites was oozing (pretty normal here) and she was really scared. She is scared of a lot of things. But I´m definitely gaining more patience and trying to have a lot more love for her. I had an interview with President this week and asked him how we could help her more. He also is surprised to see her still here and just told us to keep being patient and that sometimes missions are to help the person and not necessarily for them to be a great missionary. It was a very interesting conversation and I really like his outlook on the work. He always emphasizes love for others and the Savior and I think that is a very big reason why this mission is doing so well. We all obey out of love for the Savior and teach out of love for the people. We are never obligated to do anything, solely asked to continue in faith.
Alex continues to be our golden investigator. His baptism is set for August 24 and I honestly have no idea what more we´re going to teach him for the next few weeks. He is SO prepared! But when we asked him if he wanted to move the date closer he told us he wanted to make sure he was ready and so we have a few more weeks. This week we taught him about the temple and baptisms for the dead. He asked if he´d ever know if the people accept those baptisms and we told him he would see them in the next life. He was really excited about that. Both of his parents live in the states and don´t talk to him as far as we know. He lives with his aunt and uncle but they are not a very big part of his life either. So our goal right now is to try and find as many LDS friends for him as we can so that he´ll have support after baptism. It´s a little tricky in our tiny ward but there´s at least 2 other single men that have been helping us teach him.
We also taught about the temple to a recent convert this week but the reception was the opposite. He has a lot of problems with the idea of baptism for the dead and came with a lesson planned and a long list of scriptures about the baptism to try and prove us wrong. We went along with it for a few minutes and then felt like the spirit wasn´t there. So we explained about faith and how sometimes we may not understand everything or have a perfect testimony all at first but we need to walk by faith and be receptive to the spirit and then later the understanding will come. In the end he thanked us for the lesson and agreed to go with the ward to the next temple trip to try and feel the spirit of the work. He is really really smart and I know that once he opens his heart, and not only his mind, he will gain a strong testimony of the temple and the spirit there.
We have started doing exercise with Nicaudi in the mornings to help her with her addiction. We put a plan into place for when she wants to drink with specific step by step instructions and then in addition to this we´ve been walking with her and having that daily contact. So we get up and run to her house to be there by 7 so that we can exercise a bit more and then run back home. I think it´s going to be good. She probably will never be baptized but we just hope that maybe we can help the family a little bit and help her overcome her addiction and live a better life.
This week was actually pretty good. We had 4 investigators in church, a less active, and an entire less active family this week. The family asked us to stop by about 20 minutes before church to make sure they were coming so we did. And none of them were awake. So Hermana Ozuna and I quickly readied the 5 kids while the mom got ready herself. We were about 10 minutes late to church but we got them there! We also had a family home evening with them on Monday and I absolutely love this family and their sweet spirits.
My pain this week stemmed from the ward. We still have yet to meet with the bishop (he never has time or cancels on us), the Relief Society President asked us not to invite investigators to the activities (we do anyway), and then on Sunday they had a separate class during Relief Society/Priesthood for the investigators. I was ticked. How is anyone ever supposed to feel welcome if they are always being separated out? When I talked with one of the assistants about things we could do to try and get some support from the members he told me that regretably this is the best ward he´s been in yet. The church is so young here and no one really understands how things should run so that´s always a challenge.
Every week in church there are about 50 or 60 members and then a few more if we bring investigators. We asked for a directory from the secretary and it contains almost 300 or 400 names. I used to wonder why there were so many inactives here...now I know it´s because the wards don´t support any new members. So we´re just going to continue with faith and do everything in our power to try and help our new converts stay active in the church. In the mean time I am literally begging each and every one of you to find out the mission plan in your ward and figure out a way to help. It is not only a blessing to share this gospel, it is an obligation. It is a covenant that each of us made at baptism. The missionaries need your help, the leaders need your help, and most importantly your friends and neighbors and all the people around you need this gospel. I know that every missionary starts to ask their family to share the gospel and it becomes cliché. But it is only because we see the great joy that comes in this work and start to finally realize the absolute necessity to do it. You have the key to happiness in this life and the next life. The way to live with a family forever. To have purpose and peace. Please share it with those around you. Don´t be scared about being rejected. If you approach the conversation in a manner of love and respect, everything will be ok regardless of the outcome.
Well everybody, the church is true. This really is the way to find true happiness now and in the life to come. We find true purpose in helping others. As always, I love my mission and I´m so grateful to be here! Hope that all is good in the USA.
Much Love,
Hermana Ewell
No comments:
Post a Comment