Family and friends,
I hope everything is going well for you all! I am emailing today because Sunday night I got pretty sick and our mission president’s wife wanted me to rest all day yesterday so that is why today I am emailing. I am feeling better and know I will be back to 100% soon so please don´t worry about me!
This week was an amazing week!! This past Tuesday we had our zone meeting and to start the meeting our zone leaders had a “pastor” (a missionary in his/her last transfer) share his testimony. Elder Morrill was also assistant to the President for 5 transfers shared some thoughts and they were great! He talked about being consecrated, not only as missionaries, but for our whole lives. Doing this will help us to reach our potential and develop all of the gifts Heavenly Father has given us. Elder Morrill is such a great example of hard work, compassion, and humility. I am very grateful for the opportunity I have had to get to know him and work with him in the offices. That night I was so excited to work, especially with not being able to much the week before, and we had some very cool experiences. Right now we do not have many investigators and we are focusing on finding people to teach. Tuesday night we filled our agenda with people and especially families who had at one point in time received at least one of the missionary lessons. We had passed by almost all of them and we hadn´t had much success but that didn´t matter because with every “We´re busy right now” or “We go to another church”, we knew we were one step closer to finding someone who Heavenly Father had prepared to listen to our message. As we were walking down the street at about 8:00, my companion had just taken a call from a missionary who needed help, when I felt like we needed to knock at this door. At first I didn´t listen because my companion was talking on the phone, but the feeling came again and I knew I couldn´t keep on going. We turned around and walked back to the house. I waited for my companion to hang up and told him that we needed to contact this house. I rang the doorbell and a girl came to the window. She opened the curtain a little to see who it was, saw that it was us, and then walked away. I felt terrible that I had this prompting to stop by this house, just to be rejected without even being talked to. We were just about to leave when a women came to the door. She told us that they were super busy right now and that we would have to pass by another time so that her husband could be there as well. She continued to tell us that a few years ago the missionaries came to their house and that they had gone to church before! We are super excited to get to know their family and help them receive the blessings of baptism.
This week we were also super busy because Tuesday President told us that he would like to have a meeting with all of the missionaries who end this transfer and the transfer coming up on Friday! We were busy all week coordinating all of the travel, the food, the companionships, and all the behind the scenes work that has to be done for mission events! This was the first time we have ever done this type of meeting, but we were able to get everything planned and organized and everything turned out really great! The missionaries were able to have an amazing spiritual experience and it helped them a lot! I am so lucky that I get to be a part of all of these events because there are not very other missionaries that have those same opportunities! This meeting talked about how often times the missionaries who are close to ending their missions stop working as hard as they can and don´t finish as well as they could have or should have and then they regret that as they return home. President talked about how they are the missionaries with the most experience and ability to teach, that they should be having the most lessons, the most baptisms, and the most investigators in church every week. He explained how it is our responsibility to save souls and that if we stop giving our all as we come to an end of our missions we are failing with that responsibility. Everything that was said helped me to realize that how short two years is! This week I will have 9 months in my mission and I cannot believe it! Although I still have a lot of time left, time is going by fast and I have to make the most of every second I have here! I only have two years to sacrifice everything I have and as I do that I will be able to receive blessings for the rest of my life. Something that President said really struck me. He said “there are missionaries who do what is necessary, those that do everything possible, and those that do the impossible”. Why can´t we be those missionaries that do the impossible? We can and I know that we will be able to as we rely on the Lord, give everything we have, and show our faith. I am very lucky that I was able to be in this meeting! It changed my mission and with the things I learned I know that I am going to work harder and be a much more effective missionary!
I wanted to share another cool experience that we had on Saturday. Saturday is our only full day we have to work outside so we always are super excited and work really hard! We didn´t have a lunch with a member on Saturday so we just decided to work until we got hungry. We worked all morning really hard and up to about 3:00 in the afternoon. We ate pretty fast and then were just resting in the offices and looking at our plans for the afternoon for the rest of our lunch time. I thought I heard a knock at the door of the conference room we have in the offices that goes out to the church but I didn´t think too much of it. After a little bit, I heard the knocking again, but again said “no one is in the church and no one is usually in the offices at this time on a Saturday so why would someone be knocking”. The third time I heard it I knew I had to go see. We got up to go see and when I opened the door no one was there but when we walked to the church we saw 6 missionaries sitting down by the door. I asked them if they had knocked at the door and they said no and I knew that it was a prompting from the Holy Ghost. Now to explain the rest of the story, every Saturday the missionaries from the mtc here go out and do contacts. They receive an assigned area and work in that area trying to help the missionaries have more people to visit. These missionaries were all from the states and there assigned area was super far away but one of them had gotten sick, super lightheaded and dizzy, and somehow they had managed to make it to the church. The phone they had was dead and they had no way to contact someone to let them know what was happening. We let them use our phone and they were able to get everything figured out. I know that everything happens for a reason and that we stayed out until 3:00 so that we would be able to be in the offices to help those missionaries. I am so very grateful for experiences like these and for Heavenly Father´s hand in our lives guiding and directing us.
To end I wanted to share with you a poem. Here it is:
The Race
Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race
or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,
and each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.
The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,
to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.
One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd,
was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”
But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip,
the little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace,
and midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.
As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now.
Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.
But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”
He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
his mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.
He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”
But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face
with a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”
So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten...
but trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.
Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye.
“There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?
I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.
“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all,
for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!
You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”
So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,
and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.
Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.
They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,
head high and proud and happy -- no falling, no disgrace.
But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,
the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”
And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face,
the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”
This poem can mean something different to everyone so my challenge for this week is that you all can read it and take some time to think about what it means for you all individually. If you want to share with me your thoughts about it, I would love to hear what you all think.
I hope you all have a great week! Talk to you on Monday!
Love,
Elder
