Montese 21-10-2013

Dear Family,

Your letters today made me more trunky than usual. :S Im pretty much forgetting when the holidays are, cause we cant do a whole lot about them. Ah well. :)

So, this week was a bit rough. We had to continue to look for a house, and we walked in a zig-zag to hit all the streets. I think we only found 2 new ones in 5 or 6 streets. :/ We make a few contacts, and most of them are people who live outside our area. The rest are not interested or too busy, so theres not a lot of success in this area of work. I have to admit, I was starting to get pretty discouraged, when the only contacts that have potential are ones you cant teach.

That was the start of our week, but happily the end was much better. It went like this:

I was doing a role-play/practice with Elder Phillips on the Sabbath Day, and he was giving the textbook answers, so I dug a little deeper. Paused the practice, asked him what it means to him, and he started to explain to me. That little inspired question led to a revelation. As he explained, I went back to the investigator role, and asked a question in that sense. Immediately the tone of the practice changed, the Spirit of the Lord entered the room, and I found what Preach My Gospel really does. Yes, it has the doctrines and stuff that we need to teach, but its not asking us to recite pieces of information that we learned from it.
Preach My Gospel works like this: It teaches us the principles so that we can recognize them in our lives, and then drawing on that, which is our own experience, we can share what the Gospel is to us. That is our testimony which is completely true, and to which the Spirit can bear testimony. Ive been reciting and applying the doctrine from Preach my Gospel my whole mission, and its given results. But using this method it will be many times more effective.

I learned that by accident, just trying to train my new son. I had an experience actually using it not too long after. We started teaching this elderly lady, talking about faith and repentence, because its something that Christians believe and would benefit her, despite her refusal to change from being Caltholic. Her adult daughter walked in after starting, and she participated in the discussion. (she too is catholic and has a teenage daughter who is a member) We taught what faith is to us, and what repentence has done in our lives. After that, Father had another idea, and we completed the Gospel by talking about baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. We invited them to baptism, and the younger mom accepted. I dont remember her name. D:

That experience changed our whole week. Even though the rest of the day wasnt too successful, that one lesson changed everything. It rekindled my flame for the Work, and Im much happier now. :)

Mom, my feet are doing great! Im going to Aldeota for my last checkup today. Theres no swelling, so I think Im all good to go! :) The tunnel has ended.

Dad, thank you for telling me about Cassidy Arch! Sounds like everyone had a pretty good time this week.

Im really sorry that this letter is short on notes to you guys, but know that I love you all! Follow the counsels of the Prophets and Quorum of the Twelve, they are inspired and are what Father wants us to know in these last days. The Ensign is scripture too, it helps resolve our daily challenges. Until next time.

~Elder Wille