Monday, April 8, 2013

Email 4/8/13

Ollo....

Hello family and anyone else who may be interested in what this Elder has to say. This week was such a huge progress for us in our area and I´m feeling a lot better in regards to how my attitude is towards my area.

So first things first, Tuesday, we started out with a huge capacitacion. We had all the missionaries (28) come so that we could share with them the information and spirit that we had felt from our monthly meeting that we have with President Agazzani. It started all well and all the missionaries seemed to be in good spirits. We started the meeting and we began to talk about the weekly planning, that has been the focus of President Agazzani for the last little bit. We did a really sweet example to help the missionaries understand the importance of having specific plans. I think it was a thing that I learned from Mrs. Clyde in the 1st grade. She had us all make a list of instructions on how to make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Then she told us that really she had no idea how to make one. We did the same example with the missionaries. A lot of them just took for granted that I already knew how to make a sandwich and they didn´t write down instructions very well and so the sandwich come out very very wrong. It was a funny activity and was great to show the missionaries that we need to plan better and have more specific plans so that we can leave the house and know exactly what to do.

Everything was going well until they started asking us a ton of what if and how questions. They were all creating problems with their plan session that weren´t really problems at all and they wanted us to answer them. In the end my companion was trying to answer all of the missionary’s questions and help them for every single specific situation that they would create in their minds when finally I just stood up and told them really how it was. That we aren´t here to create problems, that President has received revelation about how we need to plan, that we need to do it better and we need to start now, that we could create millions of what ifs and when’s but in the end it doesn´t change what President wants us to do. I told them to just plan better, and follow the steps. A lot of them starting giving comments about how we shouldn´t be so harsh on them and that it’s hard to plan with plans that President have given them.
I felt a lot like Nephi listening to his brother’s just whine about how hard it was to go back to Jerusalem or that it was impossible to build a ship and cross the sea. I just told them that the case was closed and that we were moving on. A lot of the missionaries got mad at us, and didn´t want to take any more notes or listen to what we had to say. I felt sad because they can´t seem to see our vision, they don´t want to open their hearts and accept the things that we have been instructed to tell them to help them complete with their purpose. It’s kind of like throwing water at a rock, no matter how much water I throw, the water isn´t going to enter into the rock.  I have come to understand the difference between being a sponge and a rock. I need to be the Sponge. I may not understand everything in how, when, or what. But I understand what is expected of me and I’m going to follow council and instructions from my leaders. So yeah, that was a great learning experience for Elder Beatty

A youth just moved to our ward about a month ago from an area a little far away called Lambare. He is about 20 years old and is preparing to go on a mission. This week we just caught our area on fire. Almost all of the people that we are teaching are progressing. We were able to visit them all many times this week and they are all having some sort of progress towards baptism. We have around 14 people that we are teaching right now. It has been a huge change from the last 3 weeks where really we have just been trying to find someone who was willing to progress. We had 2 investigators come to General conference. The rest didn´t end up coming because it was threatening to rain. We are super super pumped with some of the stuff that is going on in our area. We are going to have around 6 baptisms this month and it is just going to be awesome. My comp and I are really coming together and we are starting to get our pace going with some of the areas that we have been working in. I´m excited with how things are going. We are going to find out today if I will get changed out of the area for my last change. I hope not, we have some great stuff going on in our area right now.

So real fast, I want to just share some of the thoughts that I have about the General Conference. After being able to reflect on the conference and what I had learned and felt. I came to the conclusion that really I didn´t learn anything new. They all for the most part focused on relying on what we already know to be able to overcome our trials. I feel that I have been strengthened and raised up from the sad feelings that I had this last week. A lot of times as a missionary we have goals about what we want to become and where we want to go and accomplish. The thing that is the hardest part is to actually go out and make the change. I felt a great love and strength come from the words of the prophets to keep going towards completing my goals, to keep trying even though it’s hard. I had a feeling that God really does love me and is interested in my life and in where I want to go, what I want to do, and who I need to be. I know that the men that talked to us are special witnesses that He lives. They say that they are witnesses because they know with a perfect knowledge that He (Jesus Christ) is real. We also can come to know that He is real, by living His commandments and doing His will. That is how we will come to know Him. I love you all and hope that you have a super awesome week.

Rohaihu

Elder Beatty

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