Hey family!
How is everyone? Sounds like
a little busy but that’s good. I can’t believe its thanksgiving this week. It doesn’t
seem as weird to me as it did last year. I won’t be celebrating it but it’s the
last one I will miss. It doesn’t actually feel like thanksgiving to me either.
And I am seeing tons of Christmas stuff but it hasn’t quite hit me yet that is
almost Christmastime. I think part of me doesn’t want to admit that the year is
going to end; it’s my only full year in the mission. And in the next one I have
to come home.
I got to go on splits this
week to my old ward here in Irapuato. I was a little bummed because only one of
my converts was there, but he told me his family is doing well and I saw the
family of one of the other ones and she is doing good too. But I did get to see
a lot of the people that we worked with while I was in the area. It was super
fun to see them again. The funny part was when I arrived at their houses one of
the first things they asked was how much time I had left to go home. I told
them I still had a lot left but the more I thought about it the time is really
flying. And it kind of scares me, the thought of going home. I think it’s going
to be more or less the same as leaving. Exciting, but really scary, and I won’t
really know what to expect. But the good part is that I don’t have to worry
about that as long as I am here. And it’s helped me stay motivated to finish
out strong the more that people tell me that “voy de salida”, or I’m "on
the downhill".
Today we went to OfficeMax
and we saw some people from the States. It was really funny because I was
actually kind of nervous that they would talk to me because I know my English
is suffering and they spoke it normally. My comp was definitely making fun of
me.
Anyway this week went pretty
well. We still didn’t get the people we thought were going to church to go. But
we have one investigator that just showed up by himself last week and went this
week too, whose name is Jorge. He is really awesome, he has gone through some
super rough stuff in his life and he is trying to put it back in order again. I
think he has like 45 years. He has a baptismal date for the 21 of December. It
was kind of cool to see that even in the people we really wanted to go didn’t
that the Lord was blessing us. But I am not content because I’m sick of just
having 1 or 2 people that are preparing for baptism. I want to have more, and families
preparing. And the frustrating part is that we are teaching 3 really good families,
we just haven’t got them to church yet. So we are looking at things we can
change so that our circumstances change. But meanwhile I think we are learning
a good deal of patience.
Anyway we are working hard
and I am happy to be working with Jorge. He is really humble and willing to
change and be a better and different person. It inspires me when people are
willing to make that change in their life, and motivates me to find more people
like that.
Well I have been thinking a lot
this week about our role as missionaries, as I read the articles about
hastening the work and watch the videos they have given to us as missionaries.
The more I read the more I realize the work has so much less to do with us (the
full time missionaries) than the members, and even we, think. We are only a
tool given to the ward to teach the people they find and prepare. But so many
times it works the other way around. The members think that they are a tool the
missionaries use to help the investigators. I know it’s not like that. The part
the members play is the most important and sometimes the hardest. But the
church will not progress only by the pure incentive on the missionaries’ part,
the members have to take incentive.
So I want to invite each one
of you who reads my letter this week to find someone or a family and prepare
them, and invite them to hear the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Most of the
time we complicate our job. But in Doctrine and Covenants 100 verse 5 it says
"Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people;
speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be
confounded before men;" All we have to do is open our mouth, and we have
the promise that we will not be confounded. It’s so much easier than we make
it, we just have to trust in the lord and speak the thoughts he will put in to
our mind in the precise moment.
So I challenge you to open
your mouth and speak. To share the gospel with at least one person before this
year ends.
I love and miss you all
Elder Utley
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