Nov 14, 2011

an you believe that it's mid november? Not me. Time is a paradox on the
mission. It moves so fast that I can hardly breath, but at the same time, it
crawls so slowly that sometimes I feel like I live in the same moment for
lifetimes. It's weird. One of the other elders told me yesterday exactly how
many days I have left. It's not many. That reminder, coupled with the chance
that I had to give my departing testimony at zone conference this last week has
pushed me into this weird phase of my mission. I'm still here, and working
hard, and staying focused. But at the same time, I'm also starting to look
forward to the future. Something I haven't thought of for a very long time.
It's a weird feeling. I'm sure that this doesn't make any sense, but there just
aren't words to talk about it, I guess. Sorry. :)

So I'll just tell you about my week instead. It was a tough one, as far as
the work goes. We had some setbacks with a few of our investigators which are
kind of hard to deal with, especially since they are the ones that are the
closest to baptism. I'll start with Sella. She was supposed to be baptized
yesterday... but at the suggestion of President Alston (a member of the mission
presidency who interviewed her), Sella's baptism has been postponed till at
least the 27th. :( Sella was pretty upset about it. So are we, really, but
President Alston knows best, so we'll work towards the new date with her. She's
still filled with the desire to be baptized, but it's been a long weekend,
trying to deal with the fallout of postponing the date. We're hoping that she
takes this not as a setback, but as a chance to show her continued commitment to
the gospel.

If that wasn't enough to kill a weekend, then hearing that our next best
investigator, who was supposed to be baptized on the 4th of December, wasn't
able to get her parent's permission to be baptized. Her name is Sarah. She's
16, and she's very committed to the church. She loves what we teach, and even
gives up two of her lunch periods at school every week in order to meet with
us. The problem is that she and her mom don't get along at all. So her mom
wasn't willing to sign her permission to get baptized. And she's not willing to
meet with us so that she can understand what her daughter is learning. It's
sad. So we'll keep working with Sarah, and helping her to remain committed to
the things that she's learning, but she probably won't be baptized for a couple
of years. :(

Not to worry, though. In exchange for the bad news, we did pick up two new
investigators this week. The first is a guy named Kyle. The elders in a
different ward have actually been teaching him for a couple of months. But Kyle
lives in our ward. They finally decided to let us know about him, especially
since he'll be getting baptized on Saturday. We're scrambling to build a
relationship with him and the ward so that he'll be comfortable here. But the
elders haven't made it easy by teaching him for so long. So we're working hard
there. The other investigator, Judy, we've only met with once. Time will tell
with her. :)

The only other thing I have to report is that I gave my final testimony in
zone conference this week. It was hard. It's something that you think about
for your entire mission, and then the moment arrives and you have no idea what
to say. I talked about how my mission was less about teaching investigators,
and more about teaching missionaries. I shared some of my favorite teaching
experiences, and about how, before my mission, I knew the church was true. But
I didn't understand how the atonement could be a part of me. Because of my
mission, I KNOW that the atonement is more than just how we're forgiven of our
sins. It's also how we know the Savior, and how He knows us.

Anyway. That's about all that I have to say for this week. I can't wait
till next week when I can tell you all about the next/last step of my
mission!

Love, Me