Email 3/11/13

HELLO EVERYONE.
Thanks for the birthday wishes!
Wow I feel so old. We have been having a joke between all the missionaries in that I am just the super old fart in the mission now. Even the sister missionaries start jumping in on it but then I just have to remind them that really they are a lot older than I am haha its all fun in the end we get a few good laughs out of it. We are just moving along and having to work, work, work. I won´t really be able to rest and have fun on my birthday because we are going to have to do some divisions with the assistants and I will be going to their area, but it’s all good. I will be able to just smile away and everyone will be super confused as to how this missionary is so happy.

This week was a little bit more of a test for me and my companion. We are still struggling with finding some good people that are actually going to progress. We had a huge miracle that happened yesterday in church. We were sitting there and we were getting ready to take the sacrament and a couple walk in from outside so I grabbed my companion and pulled him out right when they were getting ready to take the sacrament. We started talking to the couple and they had come from Cuidad Del Este and they were sharing with the missionaries. They were going to get baptized but they just moved from CDE to here in Nemby. Wow. They couldn´t stay for all of the church but they were just curious and wanted to know where the new building was that they wanted to come to. The dad is from Italy and the mom is Paraguayan. They were both super super nice. I guess the dad just got mugged the night before when he was in Fernando de la Mora and he was pretty beaten up but he was smiling and just glad to see his friends the missionaries. We are going to start pàssing by for them this week and we are hoping to get them baptized the next week. We are going to have to help the dad stop smoking but he said that he has gone down from 3 to 1 pack a day. So I bet we can give him that finally push to help him stop smoking. It was a great miracle that helped us raise our spirits from the problems that we had that week.

So other news as to what had happened this week is that on Tuesday we had a meeting with all the missionaries in the zone or 28 missionaries and President Agazzani gave us a call and told us that he was going to be coming and participating in the activity with his wife. AHHHH Our main focus in the meeting was to help the missionaries understand that they need to make changes in their attitudes so that they can complete with the vision of baptizing more people. We had a sweet activity that I learned from the Leadership Academy that focused on having a vision and putting goals and plans and executing the plans to complete the vision. It was a really really good activity and all of the missionaries said it was fun and edifying. During the meeting it was a little harsh because we have the biggest zone of missionaries and we aren´t baptizing enough people. President got up and invited everyone to repent and to change how they look at their areas and their investigators. In the end it was a good meeting. A lot of the missionaries were excited to leave to have a change in their vision. We are hoping to start working more with the district leaders so that we can maintain that attitude during the whole month and not let it die out. It has proven quite the challenge trying to make sure that 28 missionaries keep on baptizing but I have learned a lot about how to be a good leader; a leader that inspires and motivates through example and love. It’s been hard to get to this point because sometimes it’s just soooo easy to just tell missionaries to work harder, and then they get frustrated with you and they don´t want to follow. Sometimes I have to meditate really what I need to do to help a specific companionship. It’s always cool in those moments because the Spirit becomes our guide.

We traveled like crazy this week because the missionaries had a ton of surprise baptisms so we are just running around like crazy doing interviews. After being here in Nemby and having to direct so many missionaries I have learned a very very powerful lesson with being a missionary. It’s not just a matter of doing missionary work and having success. In the end it’s trying to become a missionary of Christ. Loving the people as He loves, giving as He gives, teaching as He teaches, and being guided as He was. It’s been a real challenge. After I completed a year in the mission I haven´t really learned much more in aspect of doing the missionary work, but for the last 10 months I feel like I have been in a greater learning channel and that is to become a missionary like Christ. It’s hard. But in the end it is what brings more satisfaction and joy in the work. I may be having trials and other problems with the work but I feel like it’s because the Lord wants me to become more like He is. I think that that is what matters most. We will be more able to help others as we raise our own possibilities. I love the mission. I thank you all for your birthday wishes and for your prayers. I love you all and hope that you have a super awesome week.

Elder Beatty