Hello mother and father!!
This week was...just incredible. I
think it’s the SECOND most hard working week I have had on my mission....I've
gotten a lot more used to being in charge of 22 missionaries, I really love
each and every one of them. It still is kind of stressful from time to time ;)
BUT!!! I got a new companion...and
we are pretty much are going to give Alma and Amulek a run for their money.
Elder Campbell!! He is from Alamosa, Colorado. He is an amazing missionary.
Like I said...we worked HARD this
week...we found 10 potential investigators that are really promising and at
least twice as many other nonmembers who aren't ready now but can go in the
area book. It has been interesting working with what is now 1/2 of my old
area...there really was not much happening in this stake at the end of last
week. At the beginning of this week my attitude was "Well, I will just
trust in the Lord and my companion, and we will work hard and see what
happens" It seems like every single plan we made just turned to gold this
week :)
There was some opposition though.
We had three people call us on Saturday and tell us they weren't ready for all
of the lessons or for baptism...that was super hard. I evaluated my love for
the people, and the way I was working or teaching, and decided that they just
weren't ready yet. It was just hard that all three decided to pause on the same
day.
However there were tons of miracles
for us on Sunday, because we decided to keep working hard and fast as well. We
had no investigators show up to any of the wards we were in until 1 pm, and
that ward (the YSA ward) had started without any investigators showing up and I
was not really hopeful. Then out of the blue we see one of our potential
investigator's C, a 19 year old, walk through the door. He said "I was
going to come with K (a young man who is going on a mission) but he overslept,
so I came any way." We sat with C through the sacrament meeting and it
turns out he is REALLY interested...he has been going to church for the past
few weeks, and we have an appointment with him later today. I am just glad that
our hard work has paid off and that we are still blessing other people's lives.
The big miracles came yesterday
evening though. We got to the Stake Center early for our Stake Coordination
meeting, and I had a prompting to go and see one of the Bishops (he is pretty
much Superman, he is going to be stake president someday...plus I see eye to
eye with him...literally!!). I have learned to follow these promptings right
when I get them, and so we went to the opposite side of the building from our
meeting to talk with the Bishop. He saw us coming down the hall and
says, "Elders, I am so glad to see you! I have someone for you to teach
and baptize!" It turns out that a lady (Sister D B, who is one of Elder
Eccles' converts when he was serving in Richfield) has custody of some of her
grandkids now, and they have all been coming to church together for a few
months. We were so excited, that right after our meeting, we contacted the
family, D explained to her son C that "They are here to help you get baptized"
and C told us "I want to be baptized to be a full member of Christ's
church". We just thanked Heavenly Father afterwards for him hearing our
prayers and blessing us for our hard work. This is what it’s all about :)
So, we were up to two miracles yesterday:
two new investigators who came to church and a new pingüino to teach and
baptize =) Then we went to the Native American "dorm" branch, and our
good friend S was not there. We were sad, but right after they finished with
the sacrament we hustled up to the Residence Hall, and there we found S waiting
in his new white shirt, tie, slacks, and dress shoes (courtesy of President
Allen Christensen, of Christensens) . Apparently S had just missed the ride
with the rest of the Native American students! So, we got a Ward Mission Leader
to give him a ride down there, and he stayed the whole time :)
Whew...lots of miracles. I am just
really happy right now. I could stay in the Richfield Stake for the rest of my
mission if they let me :-) I know all of the bishops and ward mission leaders
in each ward, but since I know only have 8 wards to worry about, I think I will
go ahead and meet the whole ward council of every ward ;)
I just feel like right now in my mission, I am flying in one of the
"F-16s" of the church (See the talk by President Uchtdorf in the Priesthood
Session of the October 2012 general conference).
I know right now our teaching pool
is smaller than I would like it, but we are building it back up step by step. I
know Heavenly Father is helping us to do this every day.
I love you all so much!! This
church is so true, and I know that we have the priesthood and the gift of the
Holy Ghost with us. It’s all about helping other people come into the fold and
helping heavenly father gather scattered Israel. Take care! And share the
gospel with your friends and family :)
Con amorcito,
Elder Michael George Stewart
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