Hey,
How's it going, everyone? This week has been pretty weird. Halloween-- totally awesome. We actually got to spend it at the mission home with like 20 other missionaries. It was so awesome-- played some pickleball, had some candy and rolls. It was pretty sweet. We also had a Halloween party for our ward, and we got some of our friends to come. It was actually really cool. They got to meet some of the members and just build those connections in a non-threatening environment. It was pretty sweet.
Our mission president is really focusing on helping us to bless others. He's really helping us to think of people as individuals and making plans to best support them and really focusing on them and their needs, which is really cool. It's been crazy to see how it's impacted the work.
We have "three pillars" for finding, and they are (1) own efforts like talking to people outside--knocking on doors and stuff. Then there's (2) member work-- like inactive members and members giving you referrals. And then there is (3) technology, like messaging people on Facebook and calling them. And he's big on the fourth pillar that he added, and it's service. He said, "If we're going to be like Jesus, we gotta serve people." And so we've been doing a lot of service. It's been really cool just seeing the hearts soften of those around us. And when we do service for members, we unite with them. There's a cool quote in Preach My Gospel that says something like, to the degree that you are united with local leaders and members, the Lord will magnify your efforts, something like that, and it is so true.
When the members are involved and you are working with them and touching base like a football team-- I've never played football but that's how I imagine it-- then everything works. It just works better. There are people to find, people to teach, and It's just more unified-- you're a team. So cool. So we've been really focusing on uniting with the members recently. It's been pretty cool.
And then we had interviews, and I just love President and Sister Kerr-- they give me such good advice. I had a couple of things on my mind, and they are just so wise, they just listen to the Spirit. So good. I love counseling with them-- counseling in general. There's nothing better than coming with a problem and then talking about it and then you just have a solution. So good, so good. But, if there's one thing that I've learned from this week, it's that God sees your efforts. And as long as you are giving your best to God, it doesn't matter what else happens. You're giving your best to God. That's it. That's the best that can happen. So, I've been pretty stressed-- not super stressed, just a little bit, but sometimes the numbers don't come. Sometimes we don't find a lot of people. But President Kerr's been helping me to see that if you're giving your best to God, He'll help you out. You'll need to make adjustments and continue to keep your ears open the Spirit, but He'll help you out, it'll be okay. That's pretty cool.
I invite you all to think about if you are giving your best to God. If you aren't, what is holding you back? That's my invitation for the week. Kind of introspective, but I love you all. Have a great week!
