For Elizabeth, Mom, Erik,
or whoever else is helping me to register for schooling after my
mission, President Eaton gave me permission to get on there and I did
it. I got as much information as I could and sent to Elizabeth with 30
minutes to spare to write all of you.
This week kind of started as just another week. In
fact a terrible week numbers wise. By thursday we had 1 person comitted
to baptism, 1 member present, and zero other lessons. We worked hard for
the rest of the week and made great daily paths using very little gas
and were super efficient and within three days we went from 1 to 5
member presents, but only 1 other, and 2 new investigators. We're
cranking it up down here. I was rebuked by the Zone Leader pretty badly
for the poor numbers, and I apologized, but then he said "You know what
you did well Elder?" and I said, "Not really, sorry." he said "You
taught 5 Member Presents! I taught one!" The mission is struggling
because President Eaton put a more specific rubric for what you can and
cannot count as a lesson.
To teach a lesson you must
Begin with a prayer (unless its a first contact.)
Teach one or more gospel principle.
Close with a prayer.
That is always how I have done it so my
numbers can be much lower from other missionaries who teach a small
gospel principle and end with a prayer and count it as a lesson. So this
week a lot more of the mission had numbers that looked like mine. But
there's still a lot more room for improvement, so it's natural to get
chewed out.
Miracle for the week, I went on Exchange with Elder
Cairo in my district (a brand new greenie) and also asked the zone
leaders if I could take Elder Richards (Also a brand new greenie, Brazil
visa-waiter and close friend) with us. While we were going throughout
the day, I got lost and so we ended up in a neighborhood that I kind of
recognized and we began tracting.
We came to a door in paticular that Elder Richards
said "Ok, Elder, this is going to be a family waiting for the Gospel and
they're going to let us in and we're going to baptize them!" Suddenly, a
young woman, Rachel openned the door. Rachel is easy to remember! Ha!
Anyway, we began teaching her the Restoration. Elder Cairo recited the
First Vision and I asked her "How did you feel Rachel?" she said "Well
the information is kind of overwhelming." and I said "but how did you feel."
she said "Well, I felt like I was sitting in front of a warm campfire.
It was peaceful." My jaw dropped. Elder Richards said "I like that! I'm
going to have to steal that phrase!" To which she replied, "its all
yours..." Then we told her that the evidence is in the Book of Mormon to
which she said "I am currently reading that! I was also thinking about
how much I love the focus your church has on family! By the way, I've
gone there with the Molens in your ward!" (Paraphrased) So her mom gets
home and tells us, "I like you guys but I am sick so you'll need to come
back later." she was somewhat cold about it. So that made us nervous.
So the next day, (yesterday) we returned and came with a member to ask
her parents for permission to teach and baptize her. Her father, Jeremy,
Ha! answers the door. I think he really liked how we spoke to him about
teaching her, he was very very friendly. I said "She will be invited to
be baptized, is that ok?" He said "Yes of course, thats fine if thats
what she wants to do. I can't force her to be Mormon, in fact I would
hope she joins the Mormon church, but if she doesn't I won't force her."
(Jaw Drop) So we're going to stop by again this week!
Anyway, I need to go pick up the other missionaries
to go shopping. I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and love and
support!
Love you!!!!!!
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