I have to tell you the truth, I´m sorry that you had transfers Dad. There is nothing worse than seeing enthusiasm and afterwords see it go. I pray that the following missionaries will be just as excited to get to work.
Well, here in Acapulco. Where do we start. I believe first and foremost, there is a lot of work to be done. Each and every day is a life lesson. When we think that we are doing a good job, there comes an experience that teaches us that we can do so much more. Elder Ballard says it in this way ¨there are two places where we can never say that we have done everything we could: in the Church and in the home.¨ I have felt that more and more every day.
I have been very impacted recently about the importance of counsels in the Church. The work of salvation is wrought about through counsels in the church. We are trying to work so that our missionaries will be baptizing every week. It is a great endeavor. We are trying to help our Zone and our missionaries through more efficient counsels so that they can baptize weekly. We feel more and more that we can bring it about each day. I have made comments that I feel that I am in a constant learning process. I learn and learn and when I have learned, I learn more. It never ends! Its so great :)
Something I learned this week has to do with our investigators when they come to church for the first time. We tried something new this week. We always invited the families to come at 9 in the morning for the services and we made arrangements with the members so that they would have somebody to sit next to. We invited the Valencia family to come to church this week but we told them that we were going to give them a tour of the church at 8:30. It was something very small but it allowed us to familiarize them with the Church, present them with the members, and help them stay the 3 hours. If someone stays during all the hours of church Sunday, they are much more apt to progress faster and have a lasting conversion. By giving a tour before the services we were able to really help this family. They had a great experience.
We have been thinking a lot about our area and the Zone in what ways we can help the people to progress in these areas. Elder Smith and I are going to speak to our District Leaders to teach them how they can better use their meetings with their Districts as if they were counsels in a ward. We are working with the leaders in the Stake so that the missionaries in this Zone will be able to plan and have assignments from their District meetings and they will be able to bring these needs to the ward counsels and to the ward organizations. We are working so that the missionaries will be working through counsels in their Districts, Wards, and Ward organizations. We feel that it will help us to have much more faith, commitment, and results as missionaries and as a Zone. We feel that through Counsels we will be able to strengthen unity and we will be able to distribute the work in the hands of everyone. We are working a bunch and we are praying a bunch so that this process can function as we feel the Lord has revealed it unto us. We have this week as a trial run before our Counsel of Zone Leaders and another week after before Zone Conference. Send your prayers that the Lord will provide the wisdom that we need to bring this work about.
The work is true. I know that the Lord places the means so that His work can be wrought about. I love this work. It is my greatest joy. I hope and pray and change so that I can be the missionary that the Lord desires of me. Let us go forth is such a great cause!
Love,
Elder Russell
