Week 31

Hello Everyone!

This week has been great!  Elder Fiala and I have really felt blessed and are excited for all of our investigators that are progressing in the gospel.  We had 5 investigators at church this past week!  We were varying from 1-2, sometimes 0 a week, but something must have touched our investigators hearts and motivated them to come.  Hope for more this next week!  Also, it is crazy - once an investigator comes to church, they seem to jump on the progressing scale.  Yay for them!

We met a man from Uruguay this past week and has a very humbling story.  The only thing that I think could be stopping him from progressing in the gospel is that he is homeless.  He is trying to find a job, but his situation reminds me of what the stake president of Shoreline said (the stake under Lynnwood, which is my area), "You cannot teach someone spiritually if their temporal needs are greater than their spiritual needs."  We have taught him 3 times now, and he is accepting the gospel, reading, etc., but I don't know if now is the time for him to have the gospel in his life, or if I am here to just plant the seed.  We'll see what happens.

Elder Fiala and I have set a goal to make mini goals each day.  Depending on what is happening that day, we vary what our goal is.  It has really helped us with the work!  For example, one day we had a goal to "Share the commitment, pray, and LEAVE!"  Since then, instead of continuing to talk to our investigator and drive the spirit away, we leave while the spirit is still strong in their home - it's great!  The mini goal idea has been helping us become more effective missionaries in our eyes, and I think that it will help us progress even more.

Elder Henson (my district leader) and I went on exchanges this past Friday and it went great.  I can't remember if I have explained what an exchange is, but it is when I go out with the district leader or his companion for the day.  It's a great day to learn and grow.  I learned a lot from him and I can see him progressing and becoming a more effective missionary each day.  He is becoming a great district leader!

Love you all, keep being awesome!

Love,

Elder Alexander J Annand