So with Vanessa, we thought we were going to have to pause her this week but we do not have to for two reasons. First, at MLC, President said that if people are keeping all their commitments (church, prayer, reading, appointments), then we can keep working with them towards a baptismal date, but if they stop doing any of those things, it's time to pause them and give them a little more time to be prepared. Secondly, General Conference made a huge difference for her. We went over there on Wednesday and she was like a completely different person again, or at least more like how she was before her dad made her doubt her decision. So Elder Patterson interviewed her on Wednesday and he said she is ready, she just needs to help her dad understand why she wants to be baptized. So on Friday we helped her to answer some of the questions her dad has. We explained about the apostasy and gave her some scriptures she can read with her dad to help him understand.
MLC was this week and a lot of it was based on talks from General Conference and how we can use them to get referrals from members. Basically it's how to effectively use General Conference as a conversation topic to navigate towards missionary work. We also talked about how to work with the Ward Council. So it wasn't very much about how to become a better missionary personally, but I think it covered some things that most missionaries struggle with. We'll see how it works out as we share it with our Zone.
This week we did have a lot more success in our finding though. We've kind of been in a lull for finding new people, since we've been coasting based off of the investigators we already have, and not really looking for new people. But this week we really went out seeking with faith and with real intent to find people to teach, and finally on Sunday we had some success. We went out around 6:30 and it was already kind of dark, so we were wondering if anybody would even be out. But we decided to do our best to be diligent anyway, and we were able to find a lady outside with her 3 children and we were able to share a short message with her and schedule a time to go back on Wednesday. She seems to be very open and she has a really cool family. It's always nice to find those people that you feel are prepared, rather than just talking to people for the sake of talking to people. I think the Lord knew that Elder Hagler and I needed a little boost to motivate us to work hard through the rest of the transfer. I don't know if I'll be staying or not, but if I do get transferred, I want to leave the area in as good a shape as I found it. When I came in, there were 2 really prepared people and plenty of potentials to work with.
Unfortunately this week had a lot of meetings, which gives you a bit of a break, but then the rest of the time you really have to prioritize carefully and sometimes it's hard to accomplish everything that you want to do. But we are doing good and Elder Hagler and I still get along just fine.
Today is Columbus day, so we're trying to be brief with our e-mailing so everyone else has a chance at the family history center because all the libraries are closed.
Hope things are going well back at home.
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby
This week we did have a lot more success in our finding though. We've kind of been in a lull for finding new people, since we've been coasting based off of the investigators we already have, and not really looking for new people. But this week we really went out seeking with faith and with real intent to find people to teach, and finally on Sunday we had some success. We went out around 6:30 and it was already kind of dark, so we were wondering if anybody would even be out. But we decided to do our best to be diligent anyway, and we were able to find a lady outside with her 3 children and we were able to share a short message with her and schedule a time to go back on Wednesday. She seems to be very open and she has a really cool family. It's always nice to find those people that you feel are prepared, rather than just talking to people for the sake of talking to people. I think the Lord knew that Elder Hagler and I needed a little boost to motivate us to work hard through the rest of the transfer. I don't know if I'll be staying or not, but if I do get transferred, I want to leave the area in as good a shape as I found it. When I came in, there were 2 really prepared people and plenty of potentials to work with.
Unfortunately this week had a lot of meetings, which gives you a bit of a break, but then the rest of the time you really have to prioritize carefully and sometimes it's hard to accomplish everything that you want to do. But we are doing good and Elder Hagler and I still get along just fine.
Today is Columbus day, so we're trying to be brief with our e-mailing so everyone else has a chance at the family history center because all the libraries are closed.
Hope things are going well back at home.
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby