Dear Family,
Good news! We taught the least amount of lessons this week than I ever have my whole mission! Seven! Isn’t that awesome? It freaking stinks! We had transfer meeting which, even though none of us were getting transferred, we had to drive the elders in our district all the way to Kingwood to switch comps and then we had to bring a new set of elders down into a new area and help them move in. And then the weekend was gone with conference. We tried to teach people between sessions but nothing happened. We stink. I am really disappointed with where our work has been the last few weeks. We really haven’t had anyone to teach. Bertha and Yanira got baptized and after that we just hit rock bottom and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel right now.
Trial of Faith
For those of you who have been reading throughout my whole mission, you know that this has been a pattern in my mission. Areas where nothing is going and then just working your guts out until something happens and then keep going until some miracle happens. It happened for me in Broadway, Channelview, Denver Harbor, Beaumont (many times. I still think about Beaumont everyday and how much I love it there. It is one of my favorite towns in the world.), San Jacinto, and Pasadena. Dang, it’s happened in every area I’ve been in. Just crazy miracles after weeks and weeks of nothing but sweat. So, I guess the Lord wants to see if I can do it one more time before I leave. I mean, He wants me to see that He can do it one more time.
Stephanie
For anyone reading this who is wondering what they can do to be a better member missionary, listen to this story! There is a sister in our ward named Hna. Alvarenga. She is so great. She is a single mom to two young teenage boys. Feeds us every week. She prayed Saturday night after conference that God would help her find someone the very next day who was ready for the Gospel. Sunday morning it rained pretty hard and it was cold (finally the heat is gone) and she decided to take the bus to the church instead of having someone pick her up. On the bus she noticed a young girl in her pj’s crying. She had the feeling to go talk to her.
Her name was Stephanie. She is 18 years old. She came to the U.S. from El Salvador 3 years ago. Her mom was deported a year ago, leaving her alone. She met a boy and moved in with him and his mom. In her own words, all he did was use her. Saturday night, she came home tired from her and he tried to force her and she was tired and tried to stop him until eventually he beat the trash out of her and kicked her out of the house with nothing. She went to downtown where someone gave her some socks but she was out there in the cold with nothing but a tanktop and her pajama bottoms. She got on the bus not even knowing where to go. That’s when Hna. Alvarenga saw her and talked to her. She invited her to come to church with her and she agreed. In between sessions of conference, she took her back to her house, gave her the best clothes she had and fed her. After conference was over, she invited us over to have dinner and teach her. Stephanie said that she felt special while at conference and wants to learn more about the church and wants to be around the church members that made her feel so welcome. She said that she finally had hope again.
I think it is interesting that, maybe we can ask God for opportunities to be missionaries, and for any other blessing really, but then if we don’t act, nothing’s going to happen. She asked God to place someone who was prepared to hear the Gospel in her path, and he did, but she still needed to do her part and look for someone and act and go talk to her and help her. It could have just as easily not have happened. So, as you turn to the Lord for help in your missionary work and in anything else, “get on your knees and ask for help, and then get on your feet and go to work.”
That’s what I plan to keep doing out here.
Love y’all
Elder Viitanen
