Well Hello there,
This weekend has been a very emotionally trying one. It is very hard to explain but within the last few days I have been very happy and then very upset as well. I told you about Zack, I don't know if I told you that he is not in our area, he lives just outside but we got permission to teach him. We have one guy in our ward who is on the stake high council who is making a huge stink about the fact that he doesn't live in our bounderies and therefore wants him to be baptized in the other ward. We told him that we would talk to zack and ask his oppinion on what he wanted to happen and he said that he doesn't want to go over to the other ward right now, he has friends that he has made and he feels like he was supposed to walk into our church building and become a part of the ward. So we explained all of that to brother Adams, who is the one fighting against that, and he got really mouthy and told us that he CANNOT be baptized into our ward which is completely untrue. We were also told by one of the other high councilman who is over our ward that the goal is to first get them baptized where ever the are and then make the transition to the other ward and it works best doing it like that. So we talked with Bishop Saulls (our bishop) and he said to plan on going ahead with the baptism and then he is going to talk with the stake president and he will let us know if the decision is different.
It is very frustrating. Brother Adams has been very frustrating since I got here. He is very controlling and tries to tell us what to do on a regular basis. He complained and made up stories when we were bringing investigators to play basketball and get fellowshipped and now because of that the entire mission is not allowed to play basketball on any other day than p day. He felt like it was a waste of our time. I am still pretty upset about it but I am dealing with it but he is really affecting the work. He is so worried about these little rules he is not focusing on helping the actual person. We have been told repeatedly that we are to focus on teaching people not lesson's and meeting the investigators needs before anything.
So we did not get Zack baptized this past week and it had to be moved back a week so he is going to baptized this week for sure. I have prayed very hard about and I feel that the will of the lord will be done and whatever is best for him will happen. I was most upset because I thought that Elder Mildenhall wasn't going to be able to baptize him but he still will be able to if it happens before he leaves. He only has about 2 weeks left its crazy. I'm going to miss him, he and I get a long really well.
We have zone conference down in medford this week which should be pretty fun. I love getting to see all the elders that I haven't seen in a while and learning how to do the work better. I feel that I am becoming a better teacher and I am finally getting the hang of how to do this. There is a lot to improve on still but I have the rest of my life to get better at sharing the gospel.
Has anyone had any experiences lately where they were able to share the gospel? I would love to hear about it. Our ward mission leader ask's in priesthood opening exercises every week if anyone has had a missionary moment and it is cool to see how often people get to share the gospel. I have learned the members make the biggest affect on people when they think about the church, whether for good or for bad. The people who are willing to listen most times its because they know someone who is a member and have seen that good example. We are teaching a guy named Victor who has many members in his life that have been a good example to him and now he wants to be that kind of a father so he is looking into the church.
The greatest way to share the gospel is by being an example of Christ. We all took that upon ourselves when we were baptized. Even you Melinda, Matthew and Maggie can be a force for good by being a good example. 1 Timothy 4:12 says "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity". Well I love you all very much. Anyone else made a mormon.org profile yet? I haven't heard from anyone in a while.
Love,
eLdEr ErIcKsOn
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