Hello Family!
Well this week has surely gone by quick! and yes it has been 5 months of being out in the field! By the 19th it will be 6 months away from home officially! Boy it has been going by quick. Something that I have been thinking about very carefully is not flipping that cruise control switch to the on position. I have certainly gotten use to missionary life. The days don't seem as long now, and certain things about the mission have become much less tedious or taxing. However I don't wan't to get comfortable and settle down. Elder Pearson told us that we must always be learning and growing on the mission. We have over 700 hours of study time and we should be using every hour it to study the scriptures and become more knowledgeable in the gospel, so that's something I want to make sure happens. I have been able to read through the Book of Mormon once all ready, now I am going through it marking up all the Prophecies of Christ and the principles that are taught within it again(I am about 3/4 the way). It's pretty cool, because people can ask me questions about it or ask about where things are and I can just about find anything in it now, or anything on a certain subject to. Now I am reading a bit in D&C and pulling that apart, and I am looking forwards to reading through the New Testament. Not so sure about the Old Testament because it is very big and their isn't to much to really gain form reading while on the mission. That's based on what I have heard form other Elders that have read it through.I while study the stories that are in it though so I can be familiar with it. But overall, I am always striving to improve as a missionary. I have to say being a mission has been a wonderful blessing. Both spiritually and secularly. My knowledge of the gospel has been expanded vastly, especially with the Book of Mormon, and my testimony of the gospel has grown as I have continued to study it and other standards works diligently. My reading, and writing (including penmanship) has really improved also, which has been a wonderful blessing considering that they where not really any of my strong areas back at home.
So this week was another tough week... We had to drop a few people because they where really going no where, or we simply had to be bold with them and ask them if they where truly interested in learning about the Book of Mormon. However we did pick up a few new investigators.
Brother Shepard we saw again this past week. He felt really entitled in showing us some of the material on the Islamic anti-christ stuff in the Book of Revelations. We tried to talk him away from it however he insisted, and out of fear of offending him we let him show us some. Needless to say it was nothing worth our time. Or should I say it was complete rubbish. Elder Rogers and I decided that we needed to go and see another appointment. I then asked Brother Grey
"Our visits are a predicated on your willingness to learn about the Book of Mormon" Brother Grey then explained that he would like us to come to his home as friends to share "Knowledge", and not as Elders. After that "lesson" Elder Rogers and decided that we wouldn't be returning.
Samantha we have been having trouble with contacting. They have been very busy so it has been hard to contact them. We will certainly be teaching about our father in heaven though. As I said in the last e-mail, no one can progress with there learning until they get that first principle down. I do hope that I can help her feel his love Mom!
Bhenhilda has unfortunately stopped progressing. We had a real good lesson with her the other day. We where also able to get one of the Ward Missionaries out with us to help us teach. We taught it as simply as we could. Her 3 year ol daughter helped out a lot in the lesson to! She is struggling with the idea that their could only be one true church. We taught her the apostasy however she is still struggling to understand how there could be one true church. The language barrier is difficult, we will continue to teach her and invite her to come to church. At the moment though she isn't progressing to well.
This week we where able to make contact with Lee again. A very friendly, loud laughing Samoan Lady, wait she may be Tongon, it can be difficult to tell sometimes because they can have both in them. They are often referred to as "Half Casts". She has been reading the Book of Mormon, which is awesome, and we are going to see her tomorrow with our Ward mission Leader. We where able to teach a little about the Word of Wisdom also so she is all good with that now.
We also made contact and set up a time to see a lady named Nari who has 2 young rambunctious little boys, she has met with missionaries in the past however she is ready to start learning again! We are also going to be seeing her tomorrow, with our Ward mission Leader. Nari is a Cook Islander, and has seems to be really keen and earnestly seeking to see if the Book of Mormon is true.
Matthew Tia we have continued to fellowship. It's a bit tough being locked up in your own home for 10 months straight. He likes our visits, because it does ive him more spiritual strength. Last week Elder Rogers and I didn't get around to teaching the restoration unfortunately, however today we are going to hit home hard with it. Elder Rogers and I have also been getting the felling that he isn't to interested in learning about the Book of Mormon. So tonight is the night to be bold with him and give him a strong invite to Learn of the Book of Mormon and find out if it is true. It is interesting though because he has been to LDS services before, I think we will be learning of his real stance today.
Other than Elder Rogers and I have been working hard to find new people to teach. Whether it is through members or talking with people on the street. Often in our companionship studies we do role plays and try to figure out how we can be a more effective when we approach people to talk to on the street. We have improved on so much, but yet there is still so much to improve on.
All good I can't think of anything else that I need to let you guys know about. I don't have to many pictures to send home it turns out so this week I will try to get a few for sure.
It's great to hear from you guys, love you so much!
Love,
Elder Ward
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