Tired but Moving Forward

July 8, 2013

 

Hello everyone,

It's been another great week here in Welkom/Phahameng. The work is moving forward in both of these areas and I am physically exhausted! I hope my body can keep up. I was reading through D&C 84 (oath & covenant of the priesthood) and there is a special promise the Lord gives us as we remain faithful to the priesthood. He says that as we are faithful we will be blessed with the renewal and sanctification of our bodies. I have definitely felt that which I am thankful for! As President Monson said in this past conference, missionary work is not easy! It requires long hours, selfless service and dedicated work. It is all worth it though as I feel the blessings of serving the Lord each and everyday in my life. I've never felt more peace and joy then I currently do as I am serving the Lord with all my heart, might and strength. 

 

This past week we were able to move forward with a couple of investigators we are teaching and 2 young women were interviewed for baptism. L..... and N..... (both 17 years old) were interviewed and are ready to be baptized next Sunday which is exciting. My previous companion and I started teaching them a couple of months ago. They come to church every Sunday and they are very ready to be baptized. N.......struggled a lot with English when we first started teaching her, we had to have someone translating for us at first. Now her English is great and no one has to translate anymore. It's incredible to see how the Lord has blessed her and how the gospel is changing her life. I'll report on their baptisms next week! 

 

We also are teaching a YSA girl named A....... My previous comp and I tracted into her home a couple of months ago. She has been progressing pretty well and we challenged her to baptism this past week. She said she wants to be baptized correctly because when she was baptized when she was 11 she didn't feel it was right. We have had great lessons with her and we hope she continues to move forward. 

 

We also met with bro. N....... (the one who has A LOT of questions) a couple of times this past week. He attended church the previous Sunday so he had a ton of questions about church. He loves everything about our church. The humanitarian aid, the values, the focus on families, the programs, us as missionaries, etc but he won't read the Book of Mormon! He says our church is great except for this book. We finally forced him to read with us in a lesson so he can see it's not a devils book. As we related some scriptures to him we could tell he is starting to feel the spirit. He keeps trying to get us to contradict ourselves but each time by the end he always says: "You guys just have all the answers and it's pure Christianity!" He is getting there and his wife is starting to get interested too. She was giving him fire in the lesson saying that they need to start reading the Book of Mormon. This guy is a future branch president I'm telling you if he can develop a testimony. It may take a little time but he's getting there! Bro. N...... makes me think of what I would have been like if I was an investigator. I think I would have had a lot of questions like him haha. In the end it all comes down to reading for yourself and knowing it's true by praying to God. 

 

The church is true!! 

 

Love you all,

Elder Summers