The Time The Mosquitoes Attacked

Marko September 9, 2013 0 Comments

Dear Family and Friends,

I don’t know what it is about this time of year but we are getting owned by mosquitoes so bad! It’s ridiculous! It is starting to cool down a bit which is super nice knowing I’ve finished up my last really hot time in Houston but now all the mosquitoes are out and we are all paying for it! I’ve got bites everywhere!

Yanira

Anyway, a quick investigator update. Yanira Sanchez, the girl who just got here from El Salvador who we are teaching, has been progressing well. She came to church again yesterday and loved it. She is going through a hard time right now. She doesn’t know if she wants to stay with the people she is living with now or go somewhere else in the U.S. She is a really young girl to have to be making these crazy decisions.

My teaching style has developed into a really straight and to the point, get in and get out method. We were getting commitments from her and she was interested, but I think she may have been a little bit intimidated as well. On Friday was her birthday and Elder Tatom suggested that we go over and just share a spiritual thought and maybe eat some cake with her and the family she lives with and invite her to church. So we did and I think it was good because she was able to loosen up around us a bit. She still has a date for the 28th.

Bertha Hernandez

Bertha Hernandez is this really cute nine year old girl we are teaching who has a date for the 28th also. She is so funny.

We have several other investigators it’s just all a game of helping them keep their commitments.

Inspired Finding

I just want to share a quick thought from the discussion I shared at zone meeting on Friday. I talked about Inspired Finding. Something our zone is doing really well at is finding new investigators. We find that it’s really not that hard to find people who are willing to listen. But it’s hard to find people who have really been prepared and who are going to keep commitments and progress. So I talked about how we can involve the Lord in our finding to find those who have truly been prepared and I actually learned a lot about that and also things that I can take back with me to the normal world.

There are many different ways to find new investigators. Tracting, working through members and the ward council, referrals, street contacting … whatever it is. Different things work for different people in different places. Just like the brother of Jared learned in his experience in providing his barges with light, there isn’t just “one right way.” Maybe there were 50 different things the brother of Jared could have taken to the Lord. Maybe he could have brought up 16 turtles, or birds. I don’t know. But he had a goal, he made a plan, and then he ran it by the Lord. That’s how it should be with our missionary work and with everything else. So first it starts with:

There is this sweet billboard all over Houston that features NBA center Dwight Howard aka "superman" ripping open a suit to expose a Rockets jersey underneath. So, we took the idea and ran with it.

Finding With Faith

In Alma 16: 16 – 17^[1], it talks about how the Lord is pouring out His spirit to prepare others to hear our message. So we have the promise that they are out there. The classic Book of Mormon definition of faith is things that are hoped for and true, but not seen. (Alma 32:21^[2]) So the promise in Almas 16 tells us that there are people there. That is a true promise. But we can’t SEE who they are or where they are. Maybe we have a negative attitude and we can’t SEE how we can find new, solid investigators if it hasn’t happened in the past. Maybe all we SEE is last week or the week before that. But even though we can’t see what is possible we must press forward with the faith that the Lord truly is preparing those people for us and He will lead them to us or He will lead us to them.

Mere belief is NOT faith! I can believe whatever I want. I can believe that I can become a professional football player if I hit the gym and condition and train hard. But if I never do anything about it, to what does that belief serve me? Everyday we meet people who “believe in Jesus” and “go to church already” but they don’t truly have faith.

Belief + ACTION = Faith. If we believe God can help us find new investigators but we don’t act on that belief by doing whatever it is we feel like we need to do – whether we are going to use stones or turtles or birds –  it won’t happen. We won’t qualify for the divine, miracle working help that God provides for His children who exercise faith in Him. That means, setting faith-filled goals and making the right plans necessary to obtain that goal. And as we do those things with faith we will find that we can’t do it alone, which is why we must also involve:

The Spirit

The Lord knows who is prepared and who isn’t. He knows what certain people need to hear. We don’t, so, we must use the Spirit and discernment along with our faith when we find. This could include anything such as …

• discernment to sift and distinguish between people who are ready and are in need of our time and efforts and who isn’t quite there yet.
• involving the spirit in planning and goal setting for finding and any key indicator and also in life. Making a plan and seeking the Lord’s guidance and then follow promptings while carrying out that plan.
• using the spirit’s help in finding situations; to know what to do and what to say. (D&C 100:5-8^[3])

I have seen this on my mission. For example, there have been several times when I and a companion have knelt down individually and asked the Lord to put the names of five streets in our minds that we can knock and then coming together and see if any matched. Every time I’ve done that there was at least one that did and miracles followed.

Love

Love is important in missionary work because if we love those we serve, we will be much more in tune to their needs and how are message can apply to them. It can be difficult to feel Christ-like love for those we don’t know, but it is a process that can be worked on.

Some thing that helps is remembering that we are all a part of the same spiritual family of God and as such we are all brothers and sisters.

Elder Clarke from the seventy came and spoke to our mission about a year and a half ago and he told us to imagine the people we are talking to as if they were our own mother, father, or sibling. If we do this, our love for them and desire to help them will increase drastically.

After that, I did a pretty cool little finding demonstration that I don’t have time to explain but I think it went pretty well.

Anyway, on a final note. I heard BYU pasted Texas last week. That’s pretty good news, even though I actually kind of like the Longhorns. I can’t believe it’s rivalry week back home right now. Too bad none of the Spanish speaking members out here even know BYU has a football team and won’t keep us posted haha.

Well I love y’all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Viitanen

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