Greetings from San Diego! I'm doing well. We've had a busy week full of meetings. We just had transfers last week and I found out that I will be the new "Sister Trainer" for the English Sisters....it's kind of a unique leadership calling. Only some missions have them. Anyway, it means that I get to go on exchanges w/ the sisters and try and help them set/reach goals and check on their overall well-being. I also get to help "coach" the sisters after our MTE (training w/ President Clayton and the Assistants) every 3 months. I get to go w/ a companionship for 24 hours and help them apply what we just learned at MTE. Then we all come back together and we share miracles! So I'll do exchanges or coaching every Friday. It should be fun but I'm a little nervous. I know it will help me be a better missionary! :) I'm excited about that and the chance to learn so much from the Sisters. To be perfectly honest, I also feel relieved to know that the Lord is satisfied enough with my efforts (despite, the difficulties we've faced in our area) that he would trust me enough to extend this calling to me. The calling to Lead is a calling to Serve. I hope I can internalize that a little bit more. I'm so excited though and I could use your prayers.
On Monday we had Zone Leader Council and we learned so much from President, the Assistants, and each other. It was so great! One of the Assistants shared an experience from his early years in Baseball. He was "a hitter" and consistently hit the ball right over the shortstops head and could always make it to first base. It was enough to get him a spot on the team but his Dad was so annoyed that he was doing more. He would always try and give him pointers and tips after each game or practice but his consistency never failed to get the ball right over the shortstop's head. Then his dad went out and bought him a nice $300 bat to help him really get into it. As his dad threw him balls, he hit the ball in the exact same spot. Frustrated, his father walked up to him, handed him the glove and took the bat. He threw balls to his father and he kept hitting them out of the park. After losing most of the balls, his Dad walked up to the pitcher's mound and said, "I've seen you play with all of your friends. You are every bit as athletic as they are. You can hit harder and farther than what you've been doing. You need to have passion. I know you can do this." His dad loved him enough to help him see his potential and disturbed his consistent complacency...even when it was "better" than the other kids. I felt so fired up after that. We can all be great hitters and swing hard. If we want others to swing hard w/ us...we have to do it first. They won't swing, if we aren't swinging. So...SWING HARDER THAN EVER BEFORE!
Another thing that really opened my eyes was a miracle that one of the zone leaders shared. 7 wks ago, a companionship re-opened an area that only had 2 investigators and the area book had been dissolved. They had a few former investigators to work with. 7 wks later, they have 2 or 3 people getting ready to be Baptized! Wow! If the Lord can do that through them, He can certainly do that through us in our area! Maybe it won't show up in Baptisms but it will show up where we need it, which is member involvement. We NEED members to go out with us and to fellowship our investigators...they cannot progress w/o a sense of peace and love from people that know what they are doing. They need to be led.
Another great thing I learned from my Zone Leaders, Elders Hansen and Johnson is that instead of just dealing with the surface, we need to find out what the root of our problem is. Are we working with a Dandelion or a Sequoya tree? That has helped tremendously! I really know that we can get things moving more rapidly and more powerfully as we assess our challenges and really dig to find those roots. Then we are free to carefully choose from our plethora of resources and use the most effective tools! We are trying to extend the invitation more often for members to come out with us...and learn to embrace "No" and not think that means "Never." I've spent way too much of my mission living in fear...or letting my thoughts get farther ahead of me. Assumption truly is the mother of all screw ups. I know that! Satan does his best to tell us that things aren't going to go well. It is our work to know the Spirit well enough to recognize a false comforter or false prompter that is Satan. Miracles have come these past 7 weeks as we have been less hesitant and more direct! I love the enabling power I feel as I put aside my fear and poor selfish grief and leave it there.
We don't drop investigators, they drop us. Yet, we need to be direct (and still our loving selves) enough to make them choose to drop us or get on board with some real intent! I know we can do this as we extend the invitation to be baptized early and often. It seems easy enough to teach the first discussion and then at least ask, "When you find out that this is true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be Baptized by someone holding the Priesthood Authority of God?" ...it seems simple enough. I've just had a hard time letting go of our investigators so I would baby them a lot. Now, I have the confidence and faith to know that if we aren't helping them and they aren't helping themselves, there will be another time for them and we will spend the time right now helping those who the Lord has prepared for this time. :)
Okay, so that is a long enough e-mail/lecture/food for thought. I'll just add that Dulce is praying about October 6th but she still hasn't made it to church yet. She needs to come 3 times but we are so excited because our Primary president really wants to come with us to teach her! :) When that happens, things will just move forward!!! We'd love more prayers in trying to make that happen!
Love you all so much! Thanks for everything that you've done for me! I truly appreciate how much you have served me and been there for me. I hope you are being blessed and seeing those blessings!
