Things are going good here. I am very excited for the upcoming mission tour with Elder Evans from the Seventies. Elder Esteves and I are doing great. We are having so much fun together and to be honest, neither of us want transfer day to come! However, that is part of the job description. I am so thankful that President Lopez was inspired to put us together. He is the exact person I needed to help me with my transition phase.
This week we had very good lessons. A few of our lessons seemed like marathon ones, but they were great opportunities to feel the spirit and some very big concerns were taken care of. Also, this Sunday we had 10/16 recent converts at church--including all 5 of ours! That is something our ward has been struggling with (retention of converts), but we are working closely with the leaders to try and solve that issue.
We moved into our new apartment on Saturday. It is amazing! After the renovations that Brother Menoza made, the house is definitely a "Celestial" apartment.
This week I studied about Captain Moroni. He has always been my favorite scripture hero and now is no different. He has all the charaacterstics that I hope to possess as a leader and as a man of the priesthood.
Like I said in my last email, that week was rough because we lost two of our investigators. I was especially close to them because I thought I would finally start fulfilling the blessing President Bangerter gave me when he said I would especially help fathers and older men. Well, these were both fathers and potential leaders. When they decided to drop us, Satan took that opportunity to destroy my confidence in just about everything. I felt incredibly lost and felt like it was pointless to have me be here. He was winning at that point. Then at Family Home Evening on Monday night, Elder Esteves answered my prayers with a story he told. I would like to share it now, and then I will explain what I got from it.
The King and The Rock
Once upon a time there was a mighty king. This king had the biggeset kingdom in the entire land and his subjects did everything he asked them to do and they did it without delay. This type of obedience was due to the fact that anyone who disobeyed the king's orders was killed immediately. Because of that, the kingdom ran smoothly and the king had absolute dominion. One time the king had to go to a neighboring kingdom. He called a particular servant into the chamber and gave him an assignment that was to be completed before the king returned in one week's time. There was a rock in front of the castle. This rock was much too big for any man to move and everone in the land knew it. The king commanded this particular servant, who was one of the smaller servants, to push this rock for him and the king would have him account for this task when he returned from his trip.
The king left and the servant got up every morning at dawn and pushed this rock. The rock would not move, and at night the servant would return to his house very troubled because of his inability to move the rock. This took place every day for the whole week. The night before the king was to return, the servant was still pushing this rock and it had not moved. The servant knew in the morning he would be put to death because he hadn't succeeded in the king's task.
The next morning he went to the castle and reported to the king that he had not moved the rock. The king replied, "I never told you to move the rock. All I asked you to do was push it. Because you pushed it all week, I know I can trust you. When I leave this kingdom, it will be yours to rule."
So, because of this servant's obedience, he received the kingdom.
Now what I got out of this story, and what I am slowly realizing, is that Heavenly Father never told me to baptize everyone I see or talk to. He only asked me to try. I am here and I am trying. Being a missioanry is tough and nothing I could have done would have prepared me for this. However, I know I am a better person right now, and I know the lessons I am learning will help my future family. If I am every pouty on here, I am sorry. Satan doesn't give missionaries a break--ever! Sometimes it is the most discouraging thing ever, but I am trying hard! I love you guys so much. Hope you all have a great week!
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