Dear family and friends,
So since ive com here to south jordan i seen even another
side of missionary work that i didnt know. The stake of which i am laboring in is
the country park stake. It is a lot of fun and i really like it. im getting to
know a lot of really cool people. however the teaching pool isnt as full as i
would have liked it to be. we work really hard all day and hope for referrals
from the members. the sad part is we still have to go to them to get the
referrals. i have not had a member call me and give me a referral. i feel like
a facilitator. i find the names, i find the fellowshippers and i commit them to
do what i want them to do, like invite your friend to church! whent hey fail
then i contact them and it never is as good as if a friend does it.
ive had two companions here in south Jordan, eler lila who
is from Albania he was a lot older than me but he was still a handful. they
left us together for one transfer then i took over and trained elder heath
here. All this time they also wanted me to train the other elders around me. I
was freaked out at first. i didnt know what to do. i feel way more comfortable
with it now and i actually kinda enjoy it but i'm more tired than i use to be.
here in south jordan i had the great opportunity of teaching and baptizing
Robin Wimmer and reactivating her husband Richard. they are a cool pair and
like to go camping and hunting. he had the longest beard the whole time while i
was teaching them. He had to shave it the other day and i saw them at a store
and i didnt recognize him and almost thought she was cheating. it was that bad.
Also i had a great opportunity of teaching Scott walker. he is from mainland
china and didnt speak any English and still really doesnt. we used a translator
from temple square sister chen and her comp sister roffler then after transfers
sister snow. It was slow teaching through the translator and helping him
understand because all the other missionaries were out less than 3 months. so i
was easily the most experienced of us all. He really understand more than i
thought he would. He is a very loving kid and he will play hand games with you
all the time. Tennis, and mercy and other such games. he really loves the
interaction. he owns me at rock paper scissors. After those two we had to drop
most of our other investigators because they weren't really progressing. And
right now we are relying on the lord to help us find more.
The other day, we had 4 suits be given to elder heath and i!
and these are designer suits! man they look good and luckily they are the
perfect size. im not going to worry about buying any more. I cant believe how
nice some of these members are. he probably gave us about 3000 dollars worth in
suits or more. They all came from Nordstrom. This general conference is going
to be good i can tell. i didnt get any tickets to go. i think we got less
tickets than we normally get because i thought for sure i would go this time. Oh
well. we will watch the conference with members and our investigators when we
find some this week.
I love being a leader and having to learn to receive
revelation. It does get easier and easier. Priesthood blessings are easier and
training and teaching is so much easier. missions are truely inspired. i feel
like i had learned so much yet i see so many flaws in myself as well. The
scriptures are so valuable. i cant believe how much more i can receive from
reading them. they are a gold mine for information and especially when you have
the spirit with you. and i can see why studying them with a question is
helpful. i have come to love serving. i can genuinely ask to serve people and
mean it when i saw i want to. Charity is probably the hardest attribute to gain
and i have really learned to love people. i love those i serve. I am still
prideful but i think im less prideful. Missions are hard and they are to humble
us and im grateful for all these experiences. I have come to know for myself
that joseph smith is a true prophet and either the book of mormon was written
by god or the devil because of what is claims. and i know it is of god because
of all the good it has done for me. i love my mission and i love the gospel.
Elder
Salmon