Also I was online today when I got his mail and was able to respond to his frustration of church attendance and have put that response below. Our family feels very strongly that it is not about the numbers, but about truly converting the person and bringing them to Christ forever. Cheryl
Hola Madre
This week was ok. Im not going to lie it was dificult but who is supprised that I said a mission was hard. It really was yesterday that was the hardest. I was frustrated because no investigators came to church which means that the people were were hoping to baptise this month cant be baptised this month, people never want to talk to us (ok never is to strong of a word), and more things were frustrating me. So then I started thinking about maybe I am not doing something right maybe I dont know the language well enough, maybe I am not trying hard enough. I was getting really down on myself and worried that I wasnt doing a good job. I prayed a ton for help, the spirit, peace, and knowledge that I can do this and I am doing a good job. We dont like to and are not supposed to count success by numbers of baptisms but the number is still there and in reality that is part of inviting others to come unto christ. During this time we were walking around from house to house contacting different people. Every time I talked to someone and started to compartir my testimony I got a strong feeling of the spirit. Then we actually got into someones house. YAY!! We started to teach this couple about the restauracion. They are evangelical and dont really want a change. The sister started talking about these things that she "knew" about the church which of course were not correct like jose smith wrote the book of mormon and the book of mormon is about jose smith. We just told them that we want to explain the truth and answer their questions. It was really great because they actually listened. You always have the people that say all this things against you but dont listen or let you give a response so it was nice to have people that listened. After this lesson I realized that while yes baptism is part of inviting others to come unto christ there are 5 things in this process to come unto christ. Faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. So when I am bearing testamony or talking about the church of jesus christ I am trying to build their faith then that will lead them to do other things. If they chose not to have an open heart to listen to the message I cant do anything about that but I can do my job which starts with building other peoples faith. Of course I want to baptise because that is part of the goal of bringing others to christ but I know that I will have that oportunity.
Now for the answers to your questions.
Sundays we have a meeting at 8:30 with the priesthood leaders. and church is from 10-1 Yes we study the same things everyone else does. After church we go to lunch and have studies for 3 hours and then we go out and find and teach.
ANd yes the time finally came when I got my package and letters. We had zone meeting which this was my second and we got them their. I have also had one meeting with the president. I am in the zone vina west. I got dear elders from the following people, denise, carlene, val, and ryan and megan. And I got a letter from erin. So now you know that I got your letter. We only get mail one time every month.
Oh I am back to just me and my companion and just one area Elder gutierez who is from argentina has a new companion in his area.
I love you all so much
Te amo
Elder Hamilton
My response, which he was able to read- The other thing you need to remember Tynan is that baptism is a covenant which should be kept and not broken. You want people to be ready and committed to be baptized, not just someone who is interested. Them not coming to church is a sign they are not ready. They are better off not making that covenant until they are truly ready. Then they will stay active members of the church. I know it is hard, and you probably get a lot of pressure from the mission about your numbers, but just love the people and be patient with them and that is how they will be ready. Hopefully your ward will friend these people too.
His Zone
