¡Buenas!
Doctrina y Convenios 18-10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!
Last week of the change. At the beginning of the change, Elder M and I set the goal to have 6 baptisms, or on average 1 per week. We both knew that it was a goal that we could achieve. About the second or third week, we had 11 investigators with very high chances of getting baptized by the end of the month, but little by little - lacking one church attendance, two fallen wedding plans, etc - we had just one baptism. Her name is R. She is a single mom with three sons (AKA, future missionaries). Two are going to be baptized next month when one of the sons turns 8 (the older son who is 11 is going to wait to be baptized together with his brother).
Finding her was not was not a coincidence. In the middle of July, Elder M and I were working when a lot of citas fell. We didn´t know what to do, so we went to a less active´s house who has 3 ill children (I don´t know what it is, but I would describe it as down syndrome mixed with muscular dystrophe). Anyways, while we were visiting with Hna B, her friend (Y) was over at the same time and we talked about the gospel together and she accepted the invitation for us to come by her house and teach her the gospel. Elder M at the beginning of the change went over to the house and started teaching the Plan of Salvation a few days after. Before teaching, Y´s friend R was spending time at the house before we came. She stayed for the lesson, listened intently, and felt the spirit. Within a few appointments, she knew we were representatives of Christ and knew the message of the Restoration was true. When we taught her the commandments, she gave up café and was open to paying tithing. Everything we taught her she accepted because she already had that spiritual witness that it was true. She is a bit on the quiet side, and she was really nervous before her interview and subsequent baptism, but the baptismal service went great. She asked me to perform the baptismal ordinance. It was a great experience. I´ll just say that my testimony of DyC 84:17-21 has been strengthened. As missionaries in Honduras, sometimes we focus on verse 16 of DyC 18, but I learned this week that we can find peace and joy in verse 15 as long as we give our all. Just a thought, some missionaries in the past have left with 100+ baptisms, but hardly any (10 or lower) are active. A former AP is going home with "just" 26, but is content with the work he´s done. I have thought a lot, and I´d personally rather have 1 convert who stays strong, whose influence benefits others - family, friends, children serving missions, etc - and who makes it back to the kingdom of our Heavenly Father than 100 inactive members who never truly converted. I´m not saying I wil not work hard, Elder M Russell Ballard said "we want quality, and we want quantity. The two are not mutually exclusive." I´m just saying my patience has developed little by little with my time here in Ocotillo. (I still have a long long ways to go for being patient, trust me jaja).
We had a multi-zone conference with Elder Alonso of the 70. It was a great conference and I learned a lot. We were macheteado a bit, but we learned a lot. From what I´ve heard from the Zone Leaders and former AP, the leaders (APs, ZLs, and Sister Training Leaders) had a seperate session on Friday and got macheted a bit for the low baptism numbers, but that´s how we learn sometimes. My favorite thing I learned came from Sister Dester. She told of a story about her old Stake President from her youth who she looked up to. At the funeral, one of the Apostles attended and said that he was a "High Yield, Low Maintenance" member of the church. She then questioned us if we are "High Yield, Low Maintanence" missionaries or "Low Yield, High Maintenance" missionaries. You can apply this principle to just about any aspect of your life.
Well, that´s all I have this week. I think I have changes this Wednesday, but we will see. Oh, this past Wednesday I completed 8 months in the mission. Time is flying by.
Cheque!
16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!
Last week of the change. At the beginning of the change, Elder M and I set the goal to have 6 baptisms, or on average 1 per week. We both knew that it was a goal that we could achieve. About the second or third week, we had 11 investigators with very high chances of getting baptized by the end of the month, but little by little - lacking one church attendance, two fallen wedding plans, etc - we had just one baptism. Her name is R. She is a single mom with three sons (AKA, future missionaries). Two are going to be baptized next month when one of the sons turns 8 (the older son who is 11 is going to wait to be baptized together with his brother).
Finding her was not was not a coincidence. In the middle of July, Elder M and I were working when a lot of citas fell. We didn´t know what to do, so we went to a less active´s house who has 3 ill children (I don´t know what it is, but I would describe it as down syndrome mixed with muscular dystrophe). Anyways, while we were visiting with Hna B, her friend (Y) was over at the same time and we talked about the gospel together and she accepted the invitation for us to come by her house and teach her the gospel. Elder M at the beginning of the change went over to the house and started teaching the Plan of Salvation a few days after. Before teaching, Y´s friend R was spending time at the house before we came. She stayed for the lesson, listened intently, and felt the spirit. Within a few appointments, she knew we were representatives of Christ and knew the message of the Restoration was true. When we taught her the commandments, she gave up café and was open to paying tithing. Everything we taught her she accepted because she already had that spiritual witness that it was true. She is a bit on the quiet side, and she was really nervous before her interview and subsequent baptism, but the baptismal service went great. She asked me to perform the baptismal ordinance. It was a great experience. I´ll just say that my testimony of DyC 84:17-21 has been strengthened. As missionaries in Honduras, sometimes we focus on verse 16 of DyC 18, but I learned this week that we can find peace and joy in verse 15 as long as we give our all. Just a thought, some missionaries in the past have left with 100+ baptisms, but hardly any (10 or lower) are active. A former AP is going home with "just" 26, but is content with the work he´s done. I have thought a lot, and I´d personally rather have 1 convert who stays strong, whose influence benefits others - family, friends, children serving missions, etc - and who makes it back to the kingdom of our Heavenly Father than 100 inactive members who never truly converted. I´m not saying I wil not work hard, Elder M Russell Ballard said "we want quality, and we want quantity. The two are not mutually exclusive." I´m just saying my patience has developed little by little with my time here in Ocotillo. (I still have a long long ways to go for being patient, trust me jaja).
We had a multi-zone conference with Elder Alonso of the 70. It was a great conference and I learned a lot. We were macheteado a bit, but we learned a lot. From what I´ve heard from the Zone Leaders and former AP, the leaders (APs, ZLs, and Sister Training Leaders) had a seperate session on Friday and got macheted a bit for the low baptism numbers, but that´s how we learn sometimes. My favorite thing I learned came from Sister Dester. She told of a story about her old Stake President from her youth who she looked up to. At the funeral, one of the Apostles attended and said that he was a "High Yield, Low Maintenance" member of the church. She then questioned us if we are "High Yield, Low Maintanence" missionaries or "Low Yield, High Maintenance" missionaries. You can apply this principle to just about any aspect of your life.
Well, that´s all I have this week. I think I have changes this Wednesday, but we will see. Oh, this past Wednesday I completed 8 months in the mission. Time is flying by.
Cheque!
-Elder Lund
Ocotillo, El Carmen, SPS 8/26/14 - 9/1/14
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