Email sent October 7, 2013: "General Conference Yo!!!"

 

I am going to write another day by day account of how my week went.  It was both a good and bad week.

 

MONDAY:

We had a Zone wide P-Day. We played soccer and Ultimate Frisbee for about two hours.   It was a grand ol' time!  But then I lost my planner so that's been kind of hard to deal with. It had all of the numbers and addresses we had, but luckily Elder Galvez is really good at remembering all of that.

 

TUESDAY:

We had our usual District meeting which went fine. I really like my District, but I just fear they're a little lazy sometimes. hahaha. Then we had a lesson with Familia S. I really love this family and they invited us for dinner and a lesson. We got there a little late and ate dinner and talked the whole time about our lives as missionaries. They were so interested about how we live and what our responsibilities are.  When we started the lesson and were about 5 minutes into it, the wife stopped us and told us that she felt uncomfortable changing her Catholic faith and that she didn't want to take lessons from us anymore. We asked her if she had read the chapters we had left for her and she said no. Neither of them had read. The week before they'd read all of the chapters and their hearts were so open and receptive. But when they didn't.... We tried our best to convince them, but they didn't want to hear it. They asked us to come back another day and talk, but they don't want to talk about the Gospel.

 

WEDNESDAY:

We had the trainer follow-up meeting with all of the elders and sisters who came with me and our trainers. It was really nice to see Elder Young and  Elder Chilcote who came with me out here and to the MTC.  We ate some lunch and we received a new book about how to handle being a new missionary and how to handle some things. I've read out of that book every day this week. It is greatly needed by missionaries. We also had a new investigator who's dating a girl member of the branch. He's Pilipino and he says he wants to join so that the girl, will marry him.  I an glad she's sticking to her faith and putting it first, but I am worried he's joining just for that. We'll do our missionary work like we do. He doesn't speak Spanish so that'll be interesting.

 

THURSDAY:

Thursday was hard. I didn't have the spirit with me all day on Wednesday.  I wasn't happy with my mission.  The next day I was reading in Ether 12:27. It talks about how through coming to the Lord in humility, our weaknesses will be made strong. I loved it and have tried to be as humble and as thankful to the lord as I can. That day I prayed for the Lord to help me with tracting since President Wolfert has asked us to tract for 2 hours each day.  The first 12 houses didn't answer or they slammed the door. I was feeling pretty down. I asked "Why aren't we having success?"  Then I realized that the Lord was testing me. If I truly want his help, I need to be humble and endure with patience. After this thought we had much more success and set up two return appointments.

We also taught a lesson to Familia M, our only progressing investigators at the time. We taught them about the Law of Chastity since when they came to church they weren't immodest, just not the most modest. Elder Galvez showed them a really easy and funny way to check if your clothes are modest. Sing the song Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. If you reach up and your shirt comes up and shows skin, nope.  If you can see your shoulders, nope. If you kneel down and your skirt doesn't touch the floor, nope and if you touch your toes and you can see your back, nope. It was a really good lesson and afterwards we talked about how our bodies are temples. One of the daughters really took it to heart and I could tell she respected herself much more after the lesson. They agreed to be baptized and watched General Conference at their house on Sunday.

 

FRIDAY:

We had the chance to show some real service today.  A couple of days ago we talked to a non-progressing investigator and at the end of our conversation he said, "When are you guys coming over to mow my lawn?" He meant it as a joke, but we told him Friday at 4 pm. He just laughed and walked inside. I wish you could've seen his face when he came home and Elder Galvez and I were mowing and weeding his yard. He was so thankful and he was nearly speechless. I hope that he can feel the desire to read and feel God's love for him like we love him.

 

SATURDAY:
GENERAL CONFERENCE YO!!!!!!!!!!

 

I loved conference. It was amazing. I loved the talk given by Edward Dube of the 70. it was great. We watched conference in the chapel with all of the missionaries that attend that church with their wards. It was really great, but not many members came. We totally understand since the Spanish translation on TV is super awful and you can hardly see a thing.  Lots of members were watching from their homes and we loved it.  After the first session we went over to a sister's house and ate pancakes with her. Her son just left on a mission and we think she wanted to somehow feel close to him. She's also asked if she could come on lessons with us. (Sounds a bit like you mom).

 

SUNDAY:

We continued to watch conference and loved every minute of it. After conference we went and taught an investigator.  She's a tiny little woman with two sons and was recently divorced. After a lesson on the Plan of Salvation she accepted to be baptized!! She said she was going to come to conference, but felt that her dress wouldn't be good in the Lord's eyes.... Wow that was cool. She's feeling the desire to be modest and we haven't even taught her. Man she's Elect!

 

Sincerely,
Elder Rodabough the second.