This week has been a solid work week with no interruption! Actually, I guess there was one interruption, but it wasn't that big and was pretty productive. But I like getting out to work a lot. :)
I can't wait to tell you all about Ismael Ramirez! He's progressed beautifully this week! He just didn't go to Church. :(
We've had a few lessons, and he's been reading the Book of Mormon and all of the pamphlets. He learns very well, but he's a really humble learner, and that's what I love the most about teaching him. I've been trying to ask him lots of questions when we verify the commitments we extend, because he'd been pretty shy with us, but he's opened up so much this week. On Saturday, when we visited him, I asked him how he feels about his preparation for his baptismal date (which was the 4th of July but is now changed to be the 11th). He told us out of nowhere that since he started to share with us, he's quit drugs, alcohol, and is almost done quitting cigarettes (he's down to one a day instead of a pack a day). We didn't even know he had problems with any of those things! That was so cool! At the end of that lesson, we were walking out, and he asked us if he'd be eligible to someday serve a mission (he's 19 years old). We told him yes and explained the process of becoming a missionary, and he's excited for it! This guy is soooo great!
He wasn't in Church for something exceptional. But he says he will be there for certain next Sunday.
Other than that, we're still on the hunt for new investigators and looking out for unexpected inactive members. We've kept much more unified this week as a companionship and though we still hit turbulence every once in a while, we're doing a lot better. I think that my companion is feeling stronger now.
We had our first big Ward Night Activity on Wednesday this week! I called up some contacts I have from the office days and we scrambled together some popcorn and juice and had a movie night! We had a big projector and got someone in the Ward to bring 17 Miracles (which I had never seen before). We had a good turn out for a first time deal, and there were two investigators present (from the other side of the Ward), so it was a good success. I love that movie so much! It really is so sad and just rends your soul at some points, but has a wonderful message and ends really beautifully. I recommend it to everyone. Just watch it trying to get something out of it though, and you will.
So, the week was a success in most respects. There's still so much to learn though, and I know that up until my very last day on the mission, I'll still have more to learn about how to find, teach, baptize, reactivate, and retain people. The beauty of this work is in the constant progress we give.
I was thinking about that, and I realized that even when I feel good about myself, I still view my situation or my area as dire in many ways, and that's pretty much always been true. I started to think about why and what I feel I could change about my outside circumstances to feel better about things and not feel like I'm hanging on a precipice, and I realized that so much is out of my control. I think the key to having a right perspective about our lives and situations is a work of salvation by degrees. Little by little, as we study the scirptures, the words of living prophets, as we pray and look to other resources our Father has given us, we adjust our perspective, and we humbly change. Little by little, we also take hold of our situation and change the things that we can. If we work with faith, never desparing, we'll see and be sure that what we have is not a desperate situation, but rather a blessing and an opportunity, that God planned out our success and progress in it and through it and over it. I'm grateful for the challenges I experience, but I must recognize that I'm not in dire straits nor failing, but that there is work to be done, responsibility to assume, and blessings to be poured out upon those around me. If there were no pressure, no capacity to fail, none of those things would come to fruition. I cannot let my fear of failure chase me into corners or dead-ends in the laberynth of daily decision making, and that's something that I've been changing bit by bit. I love this Gospel because it teaches me how to learn these lessons.
Thank you all for your wonderful emails! You uplift and strengthen me. Pray for Ismael!
I love you so much!
Sincerely.
Elder Harris
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