Mon, September 9, 2019
Seeing Strengths in Struggles... (Week 101)
Hello everyone!
Wow, I am already in the last month of my mission... Time goes by crazy fast. My one sister is already off to college (before me!) and I heard one of my friends is going to graduate in this next semester! So I guess time doesn't stand still. Well, I may have only one month left, but things are still happening and I am still growing. I am going to forward you all a part of my email to President Chiles this week.
"This has been a good week overall. Definitely not an
easy one, and it had some dissapointments, but we learned a lot and feel like
things are going in the right direction... for our area, we have been getting
better on contacting (thanks to our exchange with Elder Chinh), and are working
to see more results from that this coming week. Some of the struggles we have
been seeing is getting people to church and progressing. They are probably
interconnected. We only have one person progressing, and he is border line not
progressing (he is meeting, but has not come to church the last two weeks. He
keeps other commitments though.). We only had one person come to church despite
quite a few confirming. We tried to do our CHURCH list better this week, but
did not see much outward results from it. The other companionships here felt
the same way. So I guess we will council more on what it would take to get
people to sacrament. It was a bit disappointing, but we will try harder and
rely on the Lord to see the miracles this next week. If we try to do all that
is in our power, then the Lord can help direct the rest. We did get one new
investigator this week, Co Huong. Her lesson was really interesting. It didn't
seem to be going anywhere, but Elder Chinh Tam decided to give her a Book of
Mormon, and she got really excited and said she would read the whole thing, and
would read for an hour or two every day! She said she is looking for a belief
that suits her. So that was cool. And her sister, Chi Hien, is investigating
with the west sisters. Anh Dap is our one who is progressing. He is great in
lessons, but we are not sure why he has not come to church the last two weeks.
He did give reasons afterwards, but before with each call confirmed he was
coming. Hopefully he was just legitimately busy the last two weeks. We will
teach the importance of the Sabbath this week though to help him see how coming
to church will bless his life. And we will now meet Chi Vien and Em Quoc this
week, so that is cool. We had not seen them since the transfer started, but
they both have come back and seem really cool. And that is about it for our
investigators. This area needs some new energy, I think we will need to find
more, as there is not much to flow with. We will help those we have, but should
definitely have time to find. Also, something I will focus on with the district
is setting a vision, not only for the transfer, but also long term. Elder Chinh
talked to Elder Chinh Tam and I about this. We don't have a lot of time left,
and yes we want to do all we can now, but we also want to help set things up so
they can go even higher once we are gone. This district could use a vision, and
if they have a plan to reach it, then this area will keep growing even after
Elder Chinh Tam and I go. So, we will be coming up with plans to help our
investigators come to church, and will also focus on strengthening the members.
For truths, I have seen God help us grow in all
circumstances. I have learned things in this area that I had not learned
before. I am still not perfect at talking to 10 people a day, but now that we
have the need to find, I am working harder at it and my faith in the results is
growing. And I am seeing it is not as hard as I have always thought it to be.
So that is one hidden blessing in that our area does not yet have a lot of
investigators. I am also seeing how to truly help the branch members. And so
much more. This is definitely not a cool down period, but a period of continued
growth. We have hit setbacks, but I have faith that as we keep working through
them, we will see the Lord's promised blessings.
For scriptures, I have reflected a bit on humility and how the Lord helps us. This is partially inspired by Anh Vuong's (member of the mission presidency) training in branch council. He quoted Ether 12:27. It is so interesting. We all question why we have weaknesses. Some of us try to deny them. Others wonder why God would allow us to have them, and see it as hopeless to try to change. But God's promise is if we come unto him, he will help us work through our weaknesses and make them strengths. He wants us to be humble and have faith. It is only when we humble ourselves to become like the Savior that we can truly be successful. As we teach in His way, we will see it is the best way, and the way he can truly help us grow."
Well, hopefully that gives you a glimpse into how this week has gone. We have all been a little discouraged at having difficulty getting people to church, and we are not sure why, but we have faith that as we do what we know, testify of blessings, and seek revelation to help those in our area, that revelation will come. The Lord will direct us in how to best help these people. As he knows them far better than we do. We also are trying to improve our finding efforts and saw some good success this last week and hope to meet some of those people again this week to help them come closer to God and Christ.
These last few weeks have been tough and tiring, but I know
the gospel is true and has been restored in these latter days through a prophet
of God. I know that my struggles and challenges are so small compared to what
Jesus Christ did for me. And I know that because of what He did for me, I have
the responsibility and privilege to share it with those I meet here in Vietnam.
Keep following Him and He will make more of you than you could possibly
imagine.
Elder Watson/ Nghiem
P.S. Elder Quoc requested I send a photo of me with my
companions. Here it is! Here we are visiting with another member named Huy. It
is the first photo I found with my whole companionship in it...
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