Bolivia Bound

If we are one, we are His

April 28, 2014

Well, this has been a good week here in Central 2, a week where we have truly seen miracles. Hermana Ence and I came to the conclusion, after half a transfer of working hard but not seeing many results, that even though we were working hard, maybe we weren’t working very smart. We started trying to think about the counsel from President Monson: that now is the moment when we need to unite with the ward members and work together to bring about the work of salvation. The scriptures explain that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are united perfectly in all that they do. In the same way, we as missionaries and members need to be united in our purposes and in all that we do. If we are one, we show to the Lord that we are His. We started to think about what more things we could do to strengthen the ward, things that maybe aren’t specifically missionary lessons, but that can strengthen the ward and address the ward’s needs. As I mentioned last week, the bishop really wants us to organize an activity that can increase ward unity, so we got going with those plans. We also went up to the area of the elders to visit the Primary president, Hermana Singrid, who we hadn’t visited up til that point, and asked how we can help her. She asked us to come to a meeting where they were going to organize a Primary activity they were planning, once again, with the goal to increase ward unity. We went and were able to give a few suggestions for the activity, and then she gave us a list of less-actives to visit and invite to the activity, and gave us a referral of a friend she wanted us to teach. It was exciting to see how as we spent an hour helping in something that would generally be considered "ward work" instead of "missionary work," the Lord blessed us with additional opportunities of more people to visit and helped us gain the confidence of Hermana Singrid.

As we continued with these ideas, and went to visit menos activos the bishop asked us to visit, we have started to see results! We had three people accept baptism dates, and one of the three went to church, while the other two couldn’t come but have shown sincere interest in baptism. We have also had more success with the less actives in our area - we have definitely learned that with less-active members, a visit from a member does a lot more good than a visit from the missionaries, because they usually just need to know that someone in the ward cares about them. So, we worked with an active member, Andrea, to be a friend to a less active member, Masiel, and they came to church together this Sunday! We also saw miracles with several other less-actives, one that has never wanted to receive us before but that opened her heart to some inspired questions and now says she wants to meet with us, another who wants to go to church with his son and wants his son to get baptized, and another who we had never even met but that came to church this past Sunday! We also were able to teach more lessons this week than any other week in this area. I truly believe that comes from an effort to unite more fully with the ward, including in things that aren’t generally considered "missionary work," combined with diligence, prayer, and fasting.

I know that if we are patient and work hard, trusting in the Lord’s timing, AND try to do things His way, we will see miracles, big and small. I know this is the Lord’s work and I’m so grateful to be a part of it! I just always pray that I will be able to do all that He hopes of me in this time that I am serving as a missionary. I love you all and invite you all to feel the joy that comes with going to the rescue, visiting the less-active members, and extending a loving hand and invitation to them to come unto Christ once again.

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Faulk