That came around REALLY fast. In 4 days it will be exactly 1 year since I was assigned to the office. And it's already been more than 6 months since I left the office. CRAZY!! Now let's get down to business (to defeat the Huns).(Mulan)
Last week I mentioned that I wanted to quote my journal from last Sunday, so here we go!
In church today we had the visit of the District Presidency. Interestingly enough, I had already worked with the District President, Julio, and one of the counselors, Moroni Monzon, when I was in the office. They area a great presidency. I especially like President Julio. During our conversation I found out he is a convert of 5 years and has been district president for the last year and a half. I thought he was a lifetime member. However, this made me realize that my 2 highschool bishops are also converts. One as an adult and the other as a young boy. All 3 of these men have risen to the call of the Lord to serve, and all 3 converts.
"These 3 men could have been like some converts and gone inactive after a few weeks, months, or years; however, they didn't. I asked myself, Why? I talked to President Julio about this and asked, "What events happend to keep you active?" He told me, "First off, I had great friends, even before being baptized. After about 2 or 3 months I began to inactiveate." He began to inactivate for work. He worked from 1 am to 7 am Sunday morning and would fall asleep. He was simply tired and for him, it was a valid excuse. His friends helped him to realize that it was just an excuse, however valid. After a few weeks or months, discouragement sets in and they need someone to lift them up and go look for them. He said that was really the biggest thing.
"Next, he was grateful to his Heavenly Father. One day he compared his future now to his future before and saw a difference he could scarcely believe. He wasn't "bad", he just didn't have a real "future" and he is grateful for the new life Heavenly Father has given him.
"The last thing was gaining a sure testimony of this church. Once he knew the Book of Mormon was true, he knew enough to keep going. He humbled himself in prayer, asked the Lord, and received an answer.
"I belive these 3 points can apply to most recent converts and compare to the 3 points of President Hinckley,1) A friend. 2) A calling. 3) To be nurtured by the good word of God. we must look at our investigators, recent converts, or less-actives and assure that these events are passing. We can look forward to what they can become and the difference they will make in the lives of others.
Sunday school was great as well. Moroni taught about Alma 43-52 and compared the reasons of the wars to what happens in real life. In the BoM the wars began because of Nephite dissenters who no longer believed in their religion. He compared it to members who go to other churches and speak negatively of the church. He later talked about being prepared for spiritual battles. Awesome class."
As for the rest of missionary work, this was a good week! We did some work in the outlying villages and were able to find an inactive member whose family knows nothing of the church, so we'll see if we can get involved there. It's really been a great week as far as missionary work goes. I am starting to get a hang of things here in Sayaxche. The only thing I HAVEN'T got a hang of, is the heat :) We went to an aldea(village) called "Las Pozas" once again, and we also find cool things. The first week we found a little stream. The second week we found a HUGE laguna. And this week we found a pet DEER. Ya... someone here in Guatemala has a pet male deer. Cool, right?
Love you all!
Elder Andrew A. LaPray
