This past week has been a harder one but things are still going good and I'm so excited for this coming week!
Monday night we met with the part-member families and had an awesome lesson about the doctrine of Christ. We committed them to baptism and it was really cool :)
Tuesday we got a solid new investigator named Ladonna. We taught her the restoration and committed her to CPR (Church, Prayer, Reading) and set a baptismal date with her. We also tried talking to an old lady out picking up Pecans. She wasn't very nice and basically told us we were going to hell. She kept on trying to tell us what we believe and she wouldn't listen to us. People like that make me so mad. I said goodbye and walked away to stop myself from bashing and yelling at her.
Wednesday we met with a less-active and got in a discussion about daily scripture study. He kept on trying to tell me that reading the scriptures everyday is not a commandment from God. I know that it's a commandment and God knows that I know that it's a commandment so I can't deny it. Resisting the urge to bash is so hard but it's the right thing to do. Haha we ran into another lady out picking Pecans and she told us that our church is wrong. Moral of the story is: Watch out for the old ladies out picking up Pecans. Unless you're a missionary and you're obligated to talk to everyone even if you don't want to ;)
Thursday we biked out to the Indian Independent Living Center and committed a less-active to come to church.
Friday we had interviews with President Walkenhorst which was awesome! My bike also got a flat tire which was obnoxious. We stopped by the part-member family and committed them to come to church on Sunday. We had a super spiritual lesson with one of our more solid investigators named Cesar which was cool.
Saturday we went around and committed as many people as we could to go to church. We even got Carl to commit to church which was a miracle because when we first got there he told us he wasn't going to come #PowerOfTheSpirit
Sunday was a struggle. The guy who usually plays piano in sacrament meeting hurt his back and called me on Saturday to ask if I could play piano in sacrament meeting. So I spent an hour Saturday night practicing piano. At church I played piano in sacrament meeting (and I messed up a lot which was frustrating) and in Primary and in Priesthood. I'm more than happy to use my talents it's just kind of stressful at times but whatever :) We had 1 investigator at church which was devastating. It's a lot harder to enjoy church when you're sad because your friends won't use their agency and come to church. But as the natural question of "What did we do wrong?" entered my mind, the spirit assured me that I had done all that I could to help them come to church. I'm so grateful for the spirit. That's the ultimate measure of how pleased God is with us. Whenever I feel like a failure as a missionary because people aren't progressing and keeping commitments, the spirit reassures me and gives me the peace I need. We succeed when we invite and follow the spirit. Submitting our will to God's is not easy but we have to do it. We can't control others and this is God's work, not ours. Just have to keep on working hard and staying positive; motivated by the hope of a single conversion that may or may not come. God's will not mine be done.
Hopefully this next week will be better :) I'm so excited for Thanksgiving and I hope you all have a wonderful week! If I had to pick one thing I'm most grateful for it would definitely by my testimony. Without my testimony and conversion I would be so lost. My greatest desire is to endure to the end and never lose my faith. The gospel is so true and I don't know what I would do without my Savior's love. Happy Thanksgiving!!
Love, Elder Larsen
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