So we have a completely new way of doing missionary work. I think I've probably explained this earlier, but now we don't knock on doors, we only contact in the street when prompted to by the Spirit, and we work more with members and less active members to find people to teach. So when the members don't talk to anyone, there's nobody to teach. That's what's going on here in E. But it's not going to last for too long. This week we visited a lot of members, doing exactly what we did in S to try and motivate them to work with us to find people to teach. It's going to work, but it's going to take time. The good thing is that there are more members in my area here than in all of S and they are all really willing to start talking to people. And they'll be good examples for the investigators and the ward will take care of everyone who comes to church and gets baptized
We did find two awesome investigators: M and G. M came to church last Sunday with her friend who is a member from a different stake in G. We went to teach her Tuesday and she was super interested. She is already reading the Book of Mormon, she's in 1 Nephi 9. She's 20 years old and has a 1 year old kid and works in a call center (speaking English). It was an awesome lesson. Oh, and did I mention there's a former Mission President in this ward? Powerful! We taught her in his house and it was sweet. She accepted a baptismal date for June 29th super willingly.
G was someone that Elder Q and Elder D contacted the week before I got here. We finally had an appointment with her yesterday and she's way cool. She told us that 2 years ago she had 2 different operations for brain tumors and both went really well--she seems totally normal and says she lives a normal life. And she said that since then she's realized that God has a purpose for her and that she should try and be a better person. So we taught her about the purpose God has for her and she also accepted a baptismal date for June 29th. Let's pray that she doesn't disappear.
I met a 24 year old girl the other day who is a professional soccer ref for a living. What? Awesome. She's the nursery teacher here.
This week was stake conference. The whole thing was about missionary work. President Wagner spoke and was on fire, Elder Holland style. It was amazing. He takes every opportunity to talk as a chance to call everyone to repentance. He started out by saying "You have all been really blessed to have great leaders here who have set the example in preaching the gospel. But where's their army? How many of you have visited a less active member in the last 3 weeks? How many of you have shared a Book of Mormon with someone in the last year? Imagine how embarrassing it will be to have to answer these questions in public on judgment day..." By the end everyone's hair was standing on end and they were all holding on tight to their chairs. It was exactly what we needed. He said that there are more missionaries on earth today than in any other moment in the history of the world, and that these missionaries have received new instructions: work with the members. The Lord will find a way to do His work, what's left to decide is how much you want to be a part of it. So true.
Tomorrow I have to go to another stake center for a leadership training meeting. Should be pretty fun.
I've run out of things to say this week. Things have started off slow here, but I'm enjoying it. The other missionaries in our district are super fun and the members are also way awesome. I am absolutely certain that we will have a lot of success together. Thanks for everything! I love you all!
Elder Pew
