Dear Family,
Holy Cow!!!!! One year down already!?! It honestly doesn't seem like I have been out this long. Looking back at all the things that have happened over this past year you would think that it would have drug on and felt like it was forever long.Well that was not the case at all and to think that I am about to start the downward slide back to Mesa is actually really scary for me. I have been absolutely LOVING my mission here in California! I know that I said that I would go anywhere then Cali at first but I know that there is no other place in this world that I am supposed to be. I love this work so much and have grown soooo much in the past year and even more then that in the past 6 months here in this mission. I have really learned how to set goals and make plans to better myself and to better my life! I am a completely different person then I was a year ago and I am loving it! Being hump day I expect to get a ton of letters here this week with thoughts and quotes and fun things ok? ok! AWESOME!
This week has been a week to remember!!! We have always had the goal to teach 20 lessons a week because that is the mission standard of excellence and that had never happened in this area from the records that we have and the places that we have looked. We taught 20 last transfer and that was definitely a blessing because we didn't think that it was going to happen. Well this week things were looking really really good! We taught a ton of lessons by Thursday and had even had dinners with less active families that usually don't like us to come over and share messages. The Lord blessed us and we were able to teach 23 lessons this week!!! I went on exchanges with one of the zone leaders this week and was looking at the board of the zone. I asked him what it meant when I saw our arearepeatedly written across the top of the board under each month. He told me that that was the missionaries that have been leading the zone in total lessons taught!!! I had absolutely no idea, but me and Elder Makaya have been leading the Antioch zone since 2 weeks after I got here!! We had no idea and that is how I like it. I told him not to tell me that anymore because pride is what has brought people down even since the bible and book of Mormon times. We have been praying and thanking Heavenly Father every single day, multiple times a day so that we keep humble and just work hard. The Lord is obviously the one that has set fire to this area not either of us! We are just his tools and we have just been trying to fit perfectly in his hands so that the best work can be accomplished!!!
Jon has not been doing so hot. He has gotten more and more deep into doctrine and has been doing everything that he can to prove to me that the Book of Mormon is not needed for our salvation. He has brought up some really "good" Scriptures and has been reading a lot of anti Mormon stuff. We think that we are going to be dropping him here in the next week or so if he doesn't decide to open up to the spirit and to allow it to be the one that really teaches him! The interesting part about teaching him is that I have really been studying the scriptures more and more so that I can support what we are teaching with scriptures. Last lesson there was not a question that he asked that I couldn't find a scripture to answer or to support my thoughts. It has been really fun to watch the Lord try so hard through us to help this kid come to know the truth, but as we know, you have to be taught by the spirit or you will not be taught at all. It's ok, maybe it is just not his time. We will keep praying for him and loving him.
So Reina and Dina are daughter and mom. Dina is the mom and Reina is the daughter. They are doing pretty well. Dina has excepted a baptismal date but is struggling to live the word of wisdom. She is still really working at it, but is having a little bit harder time then she thought she would. Reina is still having a hard time with some of the doctrine that we teach, but is still keeping her mind open and is praying about the things we share. She is really great and we are sure that it is just a matter of time till the spirit answers her questions and she receives a witness of the Gospel!
Thank you so much for getting me pants! I am sure they will work fine. There is an elder here that fits into the ones I have now and needs some pants, so I think I am just going to give him mine if these new ones fit. He is a great guy and comes from a family that just has a hard time so I would like to just help him out. I gave him a few of my shirts and a few to another elder from Samoa! hahaha I still cry a little bit inside when I see pictures of myself a year ago! I don't look anything like that and will never look like that again! We had stake conference this past Sunday, and it gave me some great advice. Elder Perry of the 12 talked about being self reliant. He told us that to be self reliant we must first become spiritually self reliant! I had never thought about that before! I have been really focusing on trying to get healthy and in shape for the past few months. Me and Elder Makaya have seen such growth in ourselves the past few months spiritually and physically and sat down and made some goals to become more and more spiritually self reliant so that that way the Lord will allow us to become self reliant in general. We have really been enjoying the work here together and am afraid that we will be going our separate ways here in two weeks. I have really come to love Elder Makaya even through the hard times and the good times! Now if I could just get him to stop snoring life would be perfect!!!! I swear it sounds like brother Schnepf and brother Burnett are in the bed next to me at scout camp all over again!!! I finally broke down and bought ear plugs a few weeks ago but they were super cheap so I can still hear him! I need my rifle ear covers!hahaha
Well family it is time to say good bye for another week. I hope you can feel my love for all of you through my letters! I try not to think about you through out the week but Pday is my day that I get to think back and think forward to all the good times and to the even better times to come! I have become a much better person and I truly hope that that shows when I get home. I feel like I was a little better after the Philippines but not really. I have really honestly changed this time and have become converted to the Lord and to his work. It has been really fun to see missionaries that are new or even been out for a while come up to me and ask more for advice on making plans and goals for themselves. I have really come to love setting goals lately. I feel like if there are no goals set or no plans made then that is where we just sit around and waste this very short life. Please continue to plan out your lives and make appropriate goals to become the people and members that our Heavenly Father wants us to be! I know that our savior lives! I know he loves us! He stands at the head of this perfect church and will never allow us to fall. He loves us more then we will ever know and is standing there with his hands always stretched out like it says in the book of Mormon! Please just reach out and hold on to him. Let him pull you up and stand in your presence! I love the Book of Mormon. I love how it has blessed my life this year and can't wait to continue reading it. I have been so blessed. I have read it cover to cover three times this past year and plan on three more times before I come home! Thanks again for all the support and for the blessings that you send my way. The priesthood is real! It has been restored through Joseph Smith and we know that it will never be taken away from the earth again! Love you all with all my heart! Talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Mackay Dale Shelley
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