The Best Two Years: Good Things, Bad Things, and Spawns of Satan

October 26, 2015

Hi everyone!

This past week has been good in some ways and kinda dumb in other ways. On the one hand, we taught a lot of good lessons. We started the new member discussions with Abraham, the 10 year old kid we baptized just over a week ago. We found at least one potential investigator, who was busy watching a movie with his kids, but said we could come back. We met with two of our investigator families, one of which we've been having trouble meeting with. Rick and Denise and their kids are

having kind of a hard time, but we had a good lesson with them about the Plan of Salvation and the power of the Atonement, and then they came to church on Sunday! The other family, Justin and Bryttani and their kids, are all still golden! They'd get baptized right now if

they could, but they need to finish the lessons, and get a couple other things in order (which they are working on right now). It's very probable that they'll get baptized in November! Another cool thing

from this past week is that there was this guy named Kevin who called us up one day and basically said "I want to learn more about the church and get baptized. Can you help me with that?" Whaaat?! What do you call that? A self referral? We haven't been able to meet with him yet because he's still not sure what his work schedule is, but hopefully we'll meet with him this week! That situation is every missionary's dream!

On the other hand, it was a rather tough week as well. A lot of appointments fell through, and we fell very short of our goals. Of course, "falling short" for us is still WAY better than this area was doing when I first got to Enoch, and in most other missions in the world (especially Europe, I've heard) our numbers would be ridiculously high. But it still isn't as good as the area has been doing, and it isn't good for the people we're teaching. When they cancel, not only does it hurt our numbers, and give us less things to do (dead time is among the most hated things for missionaries), but it's kind of hurting the people who cancel as well. It gives them more time for Satan to work on them. It gives them more time to fall out of the good habits they've been building. At the very least, they'll just progress slower. Now of course, sometimes people just have to cancel. It happens and it's totally understandable. But what I'm referring to is the fact that there are a few people who have been canceling appointments for the last few weeks. We need to get back in there. Also, for me personally, I hate when appointments cancel. It's always so discouraging, for me anyways.

There was some really bad and frustrating news we got today. One of our investigator families is dropping us, or rather, Linda, the mom is dropping us. They were some of the first people I started teaching here in Enoch. One of the best Plan of Salvation lessons I've ever had was with them! They were on date to be baptized in November. It's sad to see someone throw away what is pretty much the best thing ever. Now the frustrating part is the reason why she's dropping us. Now first of all, if she'd been reading the Book of Mormon and praying, and building her testimony of the restored gospel, this little fringe issue wouldn't even be a thing. Secondly, this little fringe issue isn't even an issue! She's misinterpreted some things on the news, and because of that (and I think some of her opinions are a little extreme to begin with too), she thinks the church is pretty much the opposite of what it actually is. It's frustrating because it isn't actually an issue. She's just freaking out about things she thinks are there, instead of actually studying the gospel, or listening to what we have to say.

We did have some more good news though. Kiendle got baptized! She's a 10 year old we've been teaching for a while and she's a really solid 10 year old! She understands a lot and actually has a personal testimony. She was baptized on Saturday. That really helped brighten the week. It was just after Linda dropped us, and we'd already had a lot of appointments cancel, so it was good to be able to have a baptism to boost morale. And the Spirit is always quite strong at baptisms.

We have some rather unwelcome visitors in our apartment. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the small black widow colony we destroyed. Now, we haven't seen any more of them around our place, though we've killed a few we've found at other people's houses. However, our apartment has had some other demon spawn running around: Brown Recluse Spiders. I hate spiders anyway, but here there's all this stuff that can actually kill me, and it's really unnerving! We've killed three of them in our apartment in the last week! And one of them was huge! Well, for a spider at least. Every night before we go to bed, Elder Bright and I arm ourselves and make a pass through the apartment, smashing any if we find them. I'm probably more paranoid of spiders now than ever.

This past week was also another rainy one. And I mean really rainy! The streets were turning into streams, and there are puddles on the side of the road that are still here, several days after the rain stopped. It was a bit chilly, but worth it. First of all, rain is one of the things I miss most about Michigan. Secondly, the clouds would roll over the tops of the mountains, and it was a really pretty and relaxing sight. I have some pictures I'll send.

Well, that's about it for my week! It's been interesting. I've noticed that I get easily discouraged when things go wrong, and I'm really hard on myself. This week has taught me to be a little less hard on myself, and to be more grateful for the good things that happened. I've learned to trust in the Lord a lot more. If this were my work, I'd be in a pickle. But it isn't my work, it's the Lord's work, and He's at the helm. I just have to do my best to do my part, and if things go wrong, I can be disappointed, but I shouldn't get too discouraged, because all I can do is try, work, and trust God. In 2008 I think it was, President Uchtdorf gave a talk in General Conference in which he started by sharing a story about moving a piano. He said the only way they could move it was when they stood close together and lifted where they stood. And that's what he told us to do. When about the work of the Lord, we need to "Stand close together, and lift where you stand". All I can do is all I can do. There's no use beating

myself up over things that aren't in my control, so long as I'm doing my best to lift where I stand. I'm sure I'll still have to work on it. Being easily discouraged doesn't just go away in an instant, especially when Satan wants us to be discouraged. But at least I'm aware of it, and I can try to be better, and By relying on the Savior, He makes that possible.

Have a great week!

-Elder Oswald