Although things are generally going better for me recently, I've still struggled at times with feeling completely incompetent and unqualified. I was comforted, however, by this quote by Elder Bednar: "The enabling power of the Atonement strengthens us to do good and be good and to serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity." That is pretty cool. It is our choice to rely on the Atonement and if we do, we will be blessed immensely. We have to choose to be happy and like Helaman 5:12 says, we have to build our foundation on Christ. And if we do, we cannot fall.
Christian Wawro
"A mission, done right, is the hardest thing you will ever do. But through it, Heavenly Father and our Savior will refine and temper us, making us stronger and more reliable. He tests our faith and hope, but builds our charity for those around us. We will be blessed, those around us will be blessed, and our families will be blessed. It's not going to be easy, but if you trust in the Lord, and do your best, he will do the rest."
Pretty catchy eh? the last part is actually a quote from Elder Wirthlin. But I wish Christian the best and I will be praying for him. He is going to be such an awesome missionary!
To end I will share some cool experiences that I have had:
- L [an investigator] in Sunday school last week talked about how he received an answer to a prayer. Once he started talking the spirit just filled the room. He started crying and talked about how much it meant to him that Bro C has reached out to him, no matter how unconventional he is. It was really powerful and ever since then he has been super friendly and excited about the gospel! This last Sunday he bore his testimony of the Gospel in testimony meeting. It was so awesome and reminded me of the work that we are doing as missionaries. This is the Lord's work.
-We hadn't seen another investigator, E, in a while and when we went to teach him, and he forgot almost all of the basics of the Gospel haha. He kept getting really confused at simple things like, there were people on the earth before Jesus Christ. That is okay though, because we will just see him more now.
-We had a really good lesson with W and D, two other investigators. We taught them the Restoration and before hand I just said a little prayer in my heart that things would go well and they did! Heavenly Father does answer even the littlest of prayers. At the end they asked us to talk a little bit about baptism next time. A lot of folks see us as "Church People" and so they come to us with religious question. But it is a good opening to talk about baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost. Woot Woot.
- I have been super tired lately from being stressed out, but I bought a soccer ball and that has helped relieve some tension.
- Testimony meeting was awesome and one of the most spiritual that I have been to.
- There is an autistic man that comes to our same library, his name is M. He asked me to pray for his mom in the middle of the library, he grabbed my hands and I began to pray quietly. Once I finished, he began to pray and he started getting really really into it. I thought he was going to start yelling and praising Jesus in the middle of the Library. I loved it and I hope that he is doing better after that. Haha sometimes I can't believe this stuff happens.
- We found a less active member this week because we went to see E and he wasn't there. This woman was sitting outside and began talking to us and it turns out it was the woman that the branch pres has been looking for. Miracles happen all the time.
-J is doing a lot better and he has been able to talk to his son that he hasn't talked to or seen in years.
It is easy to get down when things get hard, but they are hard for a reason and we have to just react to them the right way. I will admit I haven't reacted the right way everytime since I have been out here, but I am trying and learning. Missions are tough, but they do make you better. I feel better. I am finding humor in a lot of things these days and I can't wait for your next letter.
I love you guys so much!
Elder Soper
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