his week was kinda long, because it was one day longer than usual.
Yesterday with had a multi-zone conference with Elder Clark from the
70's. It was incredible! He's the third general authority I've met on
the mission, but this conference was different. We always get great
training, and are taught new things to try and ways to be better. But
Elder Clark was different. He told us that we need to change before
anyone else is going to change, and at the end he had us wrote down 5
things we will change. He talked about how we complain about the ward
and leadership, but do we ever pray for them? How many referrals have
we given to missionaries? How have we been taking care of His people
so that He'll take care of ours? How have we been answering the
prayers of the thousands and millions of people praying for us
everyday? What do we do with our name badges we wear everyday? And
lots of other stuff! I just loved every bit of it! I learned so much,
and am totally ready to put it into action! He focused a lot on
planning in order to get success. He's a business man, and he related
it to the business world. Really, missionary organization is the same
as a business, CEO-Mission President, Managers- Zone leaders, and
employees - missionaries. President Cusick, also a businessman, told
us how he was explaining this one day to a ex business partner, and
his friend kept askin how it works? Especially with 18, 19, 20, 21
year olds. President told is that even with older, more experienced
people in the business world, it doesn't work. This has to be the work
of God. There's no other way this work would function like it does. He
also told us that the only zero days are the days we change zero
lives. Oh! He told us as well that we are only allowed 5 minutes every
6 weeks to be discouraged. And that we have to get permission for it.
Haha! And! President talked about being bold with the members, telling
them that we left our homes, friends, and family so that we could come
here to teach their friends and family in their homes. Elder Clark
told us to never forget what we gave up, and make sure others don't
either!
We had a hard couple of days this week, days where NONE of our plans
worked out. That was discouraging. I felt bad especially for Hna.
Melchor. But I remember days like that earlier in the mission, and
I've learned that they usually end with a HUGE miracle! And it
happened again :) One of the days a man stopped us to tell us he sees
is all the time, but doesn't know what we do. He came to church on
Sunday and has agreed to be baptized! Next lesson he'll get the Book
of Mormon and a date for baptism! The other night we found a boy and
his step-mom in the street, they again came up to us. He's a member!
He just moved here from Bolivia and didn't know where the church was!
His family are less active members and his step-mom's a non member. He
and she came to sacrament meeting, and I'm excited to work with them!
Oh! We also had interviews with President on Tuesday (that just seems
so long ago!). They were good! He's such an inspired man. He talked
about focusing on the 5mile radius of the church building. Knock on
the doors and invite people to church. We haven't done that yet,
mostly because that's all the elders do, and we didn't wanna take
their work... But! We're for sure gonna start if that's what President
wants!
My little greenie is hardly a greenie anymore! She's growing up so
fast! It's crazy, but I love it. It's so fun to go back to the basics
and focus and relearn and help her be the missionary God needs her to
be right now. Basically, I can't imagine doing anything else with my
life right now. I know that I am here to bring souls to Christ. I know
this is the true church, that was restored to the earth. I know the
Christ is our leader today, and that only by following in His way will
we reach our full potencial and fill in the holes we find in life.
It's hard, but it's totally worth it. I would trade a single day for
anything. I'll be with you all sooner than you realize! Which I heard
is actually really soon, almost a month early! The new estimated date
of return is December 17 :( Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see you
all again. But I know I'm gonna miss doing this work. There's only
about 6 months left then, and I've got a lot of work to to! Ah! I've
been a missionary for 11 months! That's so crazy! Where did the time
go? Ok, I'm done, I'll let you all get back to your silly lives ;)
Les quiero, mucho!
Hermana Despain
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