Developing the faith to find those who are ready

At call-ins, Elder Riendeau asked us what was the biggest thing that we learned at Zone Training on Saturday.  Ironically, what I thought of was not actually taught by any of the speakers, but it came from a side-conversation that Sister Spencer and I had with Elder Burch during a break.  

Elder Burch was talking about how it had been challenging for him to be Sister Crookston's leader in Baton Rouge because they had different definitions of success.  What I learned from the conversation is just how important it is to have balance in your key indicators.

When our mission adopted the goal to teach 20 lessons per week per companionship, I showed initial resistance (for about five minutes), and then I embraced it as a way for us to become the best teaching mission in the world.  In my mind, the primary purpose for us to teach more lessons was so that we would become better teachers.

But we teach people, not lessons!  And even though I obviously wanted all of the people here in Natchitoches to progress, I was more committed to teaching 20 lessons per week than to teaching people that were ready to receive the restored gospel.  I was great at loving people who had no one else to love them.  But I think I was giving these wonderful people too much priority.  I think that I was thinking, "a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush."

Sister Spencer has helped me realize that part of being a great missionary is having the faith that there are people in our area who are ready to progress toward Jesus Christ TODAY.  Our job as missionaries is to teach true doctrine, with love and the Holy Ghost, present people with a clear choice, and then respect their agency.  

For so long, I've hated the idea of "dropping" someone.  What I understand now, is that you never really "drop" anyone, but sometimes, it is a good thing to put someone on the back burner and allow the Holy Ghost to work on their heart while we serve those who are thirsty for our message TODAY.  Great missionaries have faith that somehow, God will make sure that these precious souls of Natchitoches are not forgotten.

At the same time, it has been really really cool to see a ten year-old girl named Angel progress.  She lives in Carter trailer park, where the trailers lack carpet and there are holes in the plywood flooring.  She and her family have a very limited understanding of who God is and who Jesus Christ is.  Sister Hartshorn and I met them before Christmas and shared a Christmas message with them.  We got a return appointment and shared "Joy to the World" with them.  We tried really hard to just jump into the message of the Restoration, but we figured out that they needed a lot of time spend on basic gospel beliefs.  When we later watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with them, they were asking us questions like, "Is that Jesus' son?" and "Is that the devil?"  (It was like watching a movie with six year-old Karen Marie.)  We have been working with some of the daughters in the family to help them improve in their reading ability.  We have sung primary songs (i.e. the catchy songs that kids in the Church sing on Sundays).  Whenever we go to Carter trailer park to visit someone else, we check up on them.  They need a lot of love.  

This last week, Sister Spencer and I got to teach Angel the full Restoration.  At the beginning, when we were talking about who God is, the importance of families, prophets, and the life of Jesus Christ, Angel was able to teach the lesson to us, using the pictures in the pamphlet as a guide.  (That's another one of the great things about pamphlets...people can teach themselves!)  The experience made me think of the first time I met with missionaries; Elder Baker and Elder Moss told me afterward that *I* pretty much taught the Restoration to *them.*  

I guess my point is that sometimes it seems like all we're doing is loving people and hoeing the ground for future missionaries, but sometimes, unexpectedly, we get to see the early summer fruit beginning to bud.  

In my last two transfers, I am going to try really hard to apply everything that I have learned from Sister Spencer.