G'day!
As the title may have implied, I have yet to hear from my family! This is a rare occurrence indeed, and I hope to hear from them soon! I'm sure something very worthwhile has temporarily kept them, and that's okay!
[It was simply a matter of Elder Schomburg now writing much earlier than he has been. I was in mid-email when his message arrived in my inbox.] :)
This week was an average week- Elder Taylor and I are stuck in some kind of rut and I'm trying to be the one who acts first and gets us out of this rut. He's been in the area for 3 transfers and is therefore becoming a bit less excited for going out and doing the work. Unfortunately I haven't contributed very well to the situation because I, too, am feeling a bit more... apathetic. This is not good. The scriptures teach us that bad things happen to those who are apathetic in the work. I am aware of this, and have been feeling very uncomfortable in my state of apathy, which is why I am striving intensely to repent. I suppose I was just hit by a wave of thoughts that went somewhat like this: "Wow, it's almost been a year... that was a long year... you've got one more year... it'll probably be a long year (despite popular belief that it goes fast- a 24 hour day is 24 hours no matter how you look at it)... I'm kind of tired... this routine is getting old..." and things of the sort. However, I've been trying to remind myself of my conversion, the blessings I have seen in the work, the blessings the gospel has brought to me and my family, and how much of a happier person I am because I have what I do. I have then taken these thoughts and tried to use them as a motive for preaching the gospel more intensely than I have been. As I expressed my feelings to Elder Taylor, he agreed with me and has committed to help change things and spice it up a bit. The mission -as we've learned through various trainings and musings during our studies- is much like a miniature life experience. You're born, have no idea what's going on, don't know anything about anything, but you have the gospel (something very few are blessed with)! Then you get a bit older (6 months) and you start to figure things out and start to find your stride and are working pretty well. You're pretty strong in the Church at this point.
This is where I'm at: almost a year, which puts me at halfway through my life, and I'm less-active. I'm getting kind of anxious with doing the same things, I'm starting to become a bit more rebellious because I have at least an idea of what the mission is like and there are things that I'm finding that I don't like that I think should be done differently (so this would be experiencing more pride than usual), I don't really like the idea of having to repeat that which was just done one more time (because it was hard and difficult and it took a long time), and I've already experienced some success (which makes it easy to rationalize and say "Yep, my two mites are in there!"). None of this is very good, and it makes me pretty mournful to be in such a situation because I don't want to be where I am currently in my spiritual life as a missionary. I want to be the hard-working, never-failing, can-do, the-man type of missionary who everyone knows can get it done. The worst part is that the other missionaries know that I can be exactly that when I'm in the mood, which makes it look pretty bad when you're not doing all of the things that you are capable of doing. I feel really bad. I feel really really bad, because I know that I can do better than that which I have been doing in recent weeks. I know that I am a better missionary than this; I know that the Lord called me to be here for a reason that was divinely inspired, and that reason is more than likely to find, teach, and baptize those whom He has prepared to enter His Church. I know that I have not been doing my part in re-exciting my companion to do the work in an area that he has been in for some time. I know that the Lord is probably not smiling at my performance right now, because He knows more than anyone that there is a very large gap between what I have put out this past week and what I am capable of putting out. I just need to square my shoulders and work.
Aside from that, I don't have very much to report. We had a solid Member Missionary Lesson with a family that's not in our area. As it turns out, most of the members we work with are not in our area, but are actually in the Assistant's area- I think this may be due to the Assistants always having administrative things to do within the mission, which makes it a bit more difficult to do missionary work. Regardless, most of the members that like to have us over for meals are in their area, so -with permission from the Assistants- we've started working with them on a missionary level. This has fed us twice now, and we have a really good relationship built with them! They love to have us over and love to talk with us in church and all the rest of it, which is really cool! When we shared the MML (Member Missionary Lesson) with them, they were open about who they were working with personally, and they even felt comfortable enough that they were willing to discuss their fears and apprehensions about doing further missionary work with their friends, or rather, taking their missionary work to the next level. We were able to uplift them spiritually and give them the encouragement they needed in the moment. The Lord's Spirit prompted Elder Taylor and I to extend the promised blessings the Lord had in mind for their family if they continued doing their missionary work, and in the end, the three of them committed to inviting their friends over for tea the next time we came. Elder Taylor and myself are eager to see what happens- the Restoration is a great lesson to discuss over the table, and we'd love to have a few strangers over to listen in on it ;D
That's about all I have to share this week. I love you all heaps!
-Elder Schomburg
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