Hi everyone!
Ok, my week wasn't as bad as the subject line would imply, I just thought it'd be a fun title. On the other hand though, this week really was a total piece of garbage. In a nutshell, everything fell through. We worked hard, made a conscious effort to improve our planning and studies, and just really tried our best. But, we only had a few lessons actually happen. We only taught 7, and only three were lessons to investigators, and only two were with a member present. Numbers-wise at least, this has been one of the worst weeks we've had since I've been in Snow Canyon. On top of that, it's been hot (but that's kinda become normal), I've been exhausted (also kinda normal by now), and one of the people we're working with got arrested (minor stuff, but still, that really stinks).
So really, this past week really has been pretty rubbish. But surprisingly, I don't feel bad about it. I worked hard. I tried my best. It just wasn't in the cards. And as long as I did what was in my power, I can have a clear conscience. Also, we still did a lot of good things. We met with a lot of leadership and potential fellowshippers, becoming more one with them, which will only help us down the road.
And as for the few lessons we had, they were quality at least, even if the quantity didn't happen. Anyway, this week was just a reminder that one can be happy and thankful even in bad circumstances. Yeah, our numbers were pretty terrible, but I did my best, and that's all I can do, so there's no point feeling bad about it all. Yeah, it's frustrating and it's stressful, but as I look back over the week, I find myself not focusing as much on that, and focusing more on the satisfaction of putting in my best effort, focusing on my own personal progress that I've made over the week, and focusing on making this week better. You can be as happy as you want to be. That's something that I've been generally bad at my whole life, but I guess I'm getting better.
The highlight of the week was probably our lesson with Ann, which was a great example of teaching by the Spirit. We had originally planned to teach her "The Gospel of Jesus Christ", which usually follows after "The Restoration" and "The Plan of Salvation". We started teaching, but then after a couple minutes, some concerns of her's surfaced, and we felt like we needed to talk about The Book of Mormon and The Holy Ghost, which was one of her concerns. So we spent most of the lesson
teaching about The Book of Mormon and bearing witness of it, also teaching/showing how it supports and is supported by the Bible (she's very into the Bible). All of that sort of Segway-ed into a discussion about baptism, and how important a step it is for her. She said she's been praying about the Book of Mormon and the church but just hasn't gotten an answer, and we suggested that maybe God is waiting for her to make the decision, and he'll confirm the decision after she's started working towards it. God often works that way. He respects our agency, and often waits for us to decide before stepping in with a yes or a no. That way, we exercise our faith more, and we learn and grow more than if we had just waited for instructions before doing anything. He wants us to be anxiously engaged in good causes, and doing things of our own free will. Agency is a central feature of His
plan for us. Anyway, we had a really fantastic discussion with Ann, that I think it really made an impact. And it was definitely led by the Holy Ghost. I had no idea we were going to talk about those
things, or have so intense of a discussion. We didn't plan for that. But the Spirit was able to step in and back us up, and get us to say what needed to be said. It's times like that where I am really humbled and thrilled to be a missionary.
Well, that's all for now. Have a great week!
-Elder Oswald
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