Week 92 - Ministering to my Fellow Missionaries

  Anyone else in survival mode, or just me? The month of May is a true test of endurance. It seems that every group that our family is involved with decides to have a final concert, game, recital, you name it, we have been sitting in the audience for it. So, our days and nights are planned out before we even wake up, and it has been exhausting, yet, rewarding. With all of this crazy going on, I couldn't find much to say to Elder Schaff this week except to recap the events and send a few photos, but here is his news from the California Fresno Mission. And, since I am counting down, 9 weeks until he is home and we are reunited as a family!

  "Hi, everything is going well. The area is still slow, and the only thing I can think to do is push myself to talk to more people, as many as possible. We talk to probably 50 people a week, but we aren't even getting an investigator out of that, so I've got to step it up. I don't want the end of my mission to just drift away at the end. I want to be fighting for someone's salvation! The emails of my friends inspire me to go and do more. I'm setting goals and hoping things will improve this coming week.

  We did have some form of success in helping our investigators see that we really do care about them. Some of them wanted to give up on the church because they felt like they couldn't effectively make the change in their lives, but we testified to them that learning the Gospel isn't an all-or-nothing deal, nor is living it in fact. We strive to do all we can, and Christ lifts us when we cannot go on.

  As usual though, my forte has been ministering to my fellow missionaries. I've been watching the missionaries in our zone more closely, seeking to understand what we can do to edify and uplift them. The zone has been faring alright, there were two baptisms this weekend in Madera for the English wards. One was by Elder C and his companion, so that's a good clincher to finish his mission on. I was able to talk with Elder M a bit, an Elder that's been here for 3 weeks now. He's passionate about maintaining his strength and physique, and restricts his diet a lot, and sometimes the other Elders don't respect that so much. I asked him how things are really going, and lifted him a bit.

  We had exchanges with the assistants on Friday. I was with Elder E. He hadn't seemed to be his usual self, but we pressed forward in the work. He was still the friend I knew though. Halfway through the evening he opened up the heart of the problem, and we discussed it together for a good 40 minutes. It was really tearing at him on the inside. I helped him see some steps to take to reduce the stress and suffering he was causing himself. I'm no psychologist, but he told me it gave him a lot of peace. My heart was filled with charity toward my fellow-man and I was glad to have helped a friend. It reminded me to what extent I'm supposed to love everyone.

  Though I've never been the stellar missionary finding the prepared people by the dozens, I press forward, knowing that I am also not incapable of finding people to teach. But I'm always glad to lift where I stand and ennoble those other missionaries nearby.

  The assistants had also caught a black widow spider in a jar. For the fun part of the exchange (yes, the fun is mandatory) we caught bugs around the property of the assistants' house and added them to the jar. The point was to see what the black widow would do. We managed to catch a moth and a second black widow. They didn't do anything while we were awake, but when we checked in the morning, the original spider, Charlotte, had consumed all. They really do like to live alone. This experience slightly reduced my fear/discomfort with spiders.

  Three friends/investigators came to church, but none of them are able to be baptized in the near future, because two of them have parents that won't allow it, and the other one is an older guy that just doesn't want to.

  Zone Conference is tomorrow, and Elder T and I are giving a training, in Spanish, about being unified with our companions, even when using technology.

  In the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 15:7-9,11 caught my attention this week. It testifies of the need for the Atonement, and how the Savior stands between us and justice, which would surely condemn and destroy us for our mistakes. It speaks powerfully of why the Savior did what he did. 

Verse 11 is the qualifier, testifying: "I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto [the] words [of the prophets], and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins,  I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God."

  Combined with Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5, it is a great testimony of why the Savior loved us so much. This I add as my witness of Him. Jesus Christ lives, and does intercede on behalf of all those who will have him to be their Savior. This decision is made not by word alone, but also by deed. It is not made once, but throughout a lifetime. It is the character difference between someone who is God-like, or likes and knows about God.

  I love this work and press on! I love you all."

--Elder Schaff