Alright, not going to lie, this was kinda a disappointing week. Not necessarily teaching wise, but just the expectations that we had with our investigators. I was very devastated when we had a solid 5 investigators that said they were going to get to church no matter what happens and then, not one of them show up. And it only gets better. We go to follow up with them to see what happened and sorry to be frank, they were the lamest excuses that I have ever heard in my life. Some of them we didn't get to see so I can only imagine that they have at least a pretty good reason for not showing up, but still. When you pull up to their house and they are sitting there doing nothing or when you call them and they say that they decided to go somewhere else for the day can be really frustrating.
This week we are going to focus on widening our teaching pool, having enough investigators and potential investigators that we can actually have back up plans that will be worth our time. We are trying our best to use the members and this week we did pretty well, at least with the members that we have. We want to be able to involve them enough that they can really teach the lessons and that we follow up with questions for understanding. That way we work side by side. The Savanna La Mar branch has the best welcoming that I have seen so far in the areas that I have served. They are very open and accepting. That is what we have loved working with. Now it is just to get them more involved with those that we are teaching and with the council we got from Elder Cornish and Elder Gammeit we should be able to do that. We are trying to get the leaders of the quorums and auxiliaries to accompany us to see those on our less active list. We hope that as we do this they recognize the faces that they see all the time while also having the feeling that they felt as the missionaries taught them with us there. Our plan is really to have times set where we can go with the presidents and see the people on their list so we can do it according to their schedule so they see that we work with them, not for them.
Elder Wignal and I are having a blast!!! We have been really trying just to get our teaching in order. I feel that as I have been trying to attain knowledge that I have been spitting out the hard stuff rather than the milk that investigators need. It has been good to get back to the simplicity of things so that we are not confusing people with everything we know. Although I really like learning all this stuff so that when the time calls for it, I can use it against those who only think they know their bible. :)
I have been doing really good this past week. My main point that I am focusing on is the positive that happens throughout the day, rather than focusing on the bad things that happen like appointments falling through. I am also just trying to talk to everybody as if they were a good friend. This is really effective when they don't think you're going to try shoving just the Gospel down their throat. (We are just doing it in a nicer way.) It has been really awesome to see how reading the scriptures has helped to apply things to peoples lives.
This week as I was reading Mosiah 7 I noticed something really cool that I had never thought of before. In verse 12 & 13, after Ammon and his brethren were bound and brought before the king, Ammon had the patience to still treat the king as a king, not harshly or rudely after they had just been put into prison. But he acknowledged his purpose of why he was there and what he came to do. I have found myself explaining the very same things. As we get called over and chastised by those who know absolutely nothing about us, we calmly and lovingly explain our reason for being here. I have seen so many hearts softened as we simply testify of our purpose and the joy that our message brings.
Have a great week!
-Elder Christensen
