Hello everyone,
I´m sorry but this email is looking to be a short one. Not because I want it to
be, but mostly because of the content. The last few weeks we really have been
struggling in our area. Sometimes it’s a little hard for me to accept. Being a
Zone leader and having so much experience as a missionary, you would think that
it should be easy for me to baptize every week and to be consistent. I don´t
know why and I haven´t found the source as to our trouble here in our area, but
we just can´t seem to get any progress out of anyone. Every week we go out and
work and coordinate with the members and find people and put them with a
baptismal date and all that jazz, but in the end, really no one wants to
change. It was really hitting my companion hard this last week because he felt
that we weren’t doing anything, that we were just wasting our time. I told him
that we weren´t wasting our time. That we were doing the right thing in
inviting others to come unto Christ and that we just have to learn that
everyone has their agency. I feel that now in my mission I am progressing the
most because I am learning to become more like Christ is. There is always that
classic saying that in trials and pain one comes to know a man of angustia and
pain. I have made a promise to myself to make these last 2 months the happiest
that I can possibly make them. The Zone is doing awesome. This month we have
baptized 25 in total and we have tons of people lined up to get baptized this
next month. All of the missionaries are happy and they just love the work. We
are leading them in every way and helping them become the best that they can
be. I feel that the Lord is guiding me and that He is helping me become better
through all my experiences.
This Sunday I was sitting during the sacrament and really had an experience that
fortified my faith. There was a youth that was talking about being more humble.
She really is just a simple 16 year old girl that has great intentions to do
the will of God. She isn´t super super profound in her talk but it helped me
come to realize the power that the Lord has in our lives. She talked about that
we ought less to pay attention to our own knowledge and capability and
recognize more the greatness of God and our dependence on him. Every single
person in the world from the smartest to the poorest, from the more popular to
the hermit, from the leader to the follower, we all have a great reliance on
him. In his eyes we are all equal. I think that is why I love the temple so
much. Sitting in the Celestial Room; I can´t see who is rich, smart, poor, or
famous. Everyone has been made one in His eyes. I pray that the Lord can give
me those eyes to see things in His way, to be able to see all our brothers and
sisters the same. That is also how we need to see ourselves. We often times
beat up ourselves for not being the best or that we aren´t as capable as others
are, so we have the desire to be like someone else. I often times have experiences
with people here in Paraguay when I tell them that I want to be a musician.
They very very rapidly ask me who I want to be like, who I want to sing like
and questions regarding that. I usually ponder and then decide to answer them.
That really I don´t want to be like anyone. I want to be me. The Lord has given
me a talent and I want to use it how he wants me to. We all have a destiny to
follow. As we stay focused on the things that are more important we find true
happiness that come through being established on principles of good and truth.
Another sweet spiritual experience that I had was after a lesson when we taught
a guy that didn´t understand hardly any Spanish at all and we struggled to
teach him in Guaraní, we invited him to
be baptized and he just slammed us and so in the end we kind of left a little
bummed. After being able to reflect on the lesson I felt a sweet feeling of
happiness knowing that I have the truth in my life. A lot of the times we
always try to focus on what we know, or how much knowledge we have. We ought
less to focus on how much we know, and more on how we feel about it. So often
after being a member for a good amount of time we often forget really how
amazing the restored gospel principles are. Our soul really rejoices in the
knowledge of the truth.
We are having some problems with a few missionaries in our zone; more in the aspect that they really aren´t
willing to invite people to be baptized. I think that this has been a constant
fight for many many missionaries. They are always afraid to invite people. They
think that they aren´t really ready or that they aren´t going to say yes. We
talked to them about not being the judges. There is a scripture in Doctrine and
Covenants that talks about how every man, women and child that is old enough,
must be baptized. We told them that we as missionaries are not here to judge
people if they are capable of enduring to the end, or if they shouldn´t be
baptized. We have been commanded by the Lord that we must invite ALL our
brothers and sisters to take this step. I think that the meeting that we had
with them went very well. We will see how their week goes out the next week.
I´m happy!! I´m so tired, but I’m so happy. Reading some of the events in my journal
from the last year I have really come to see how much I have been growing and
how much I have come to be a soldier of the Lord in proclaiming His gospel. I
love it. I love you all.
--
Elder Beatty
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