The Road to No Where

I feel like I have not been very creative with my subject lines in the past, so here is my attempt to get a few more reads from this week's email. "The road to no where" is kind of vague, but it is in response to an experience that we had when we tried to visit some less active members this week. We got over to the flat complex (kind of like apartments) a little after 7:00 so it was already getting dark. We had a list of 9 families who were listed to live in this complex, and every door we knocked on was either empty, or housing a family that did not know the people we were searching for. Those kinds of flats are definitely the sketchiest type of places I have been in, especially at night when you are walking in the dark and you don't really know what you will find around the corner.

So that was pretty big disappointment that we were not able to find them. Also, it seems that our active members don't really know too much about them...which is a problem (all of the families we tried to visit are Iban, Malay-speaking people. Our branch is almost exclusively Chinese speaking). But, we have hope that things will work out, and we did have success in meeting with a few other of our other less active members

One great part of our week came from contacting a former Investigator who had used to be really solid, and then suddenly was out of contact with the missionaries. Her name is Florence, and she went to New Zealand for 6 weeks, so every time Elder Gould tried to call her over the last transfer, the call never went through. We called her again as we were calling through our Former Investigator sheets, and she answered! She then came to church and we had a lesson with her. It was wonderful to see the strong relationship that she already has with the members, and to see her really searching to see if this church is true. 

We also had a branch New Years party this week that was really fun. We were able to see the members have fun together, and also saw some of our less active young adults get involved and have a good time. I attempted to draw some characters, and I think that my calligraphy still definitely needs some work. As we promise with God that we will follow him, he blesses us with the spirit, which brings increased capacity to do good, and also brings feelings such as comfort, peace, and love. I know that everything that God does is because he loves us, and when we do what he asks, we will be happy. 

Other than that, our week was pretty normal. We struggled a little bit earlier in the week with contacting, but we had a good day on Sunday. One thing that I am working in is keeping people engaged in the conversation, teaching according to their needs, and then relating our message to the Restoration.

Lastly, I want to bring up one of the concerns of our Investigator Florence this week. She asked if it would be ok for her to just try to follow the teachings of the church without committing to them so strongly as to be baptized. Alma, as he teaches his followers in the land of Mormon, near the waters of Mormon, addresses this question. In Mosiah 18: 8-10 he talks about some of the things we promise when we are baptized. He says: Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?   As we promise with God that we will follow him, he blesses us with the spirit, which brings increased capacity to do good, and also brings feelings such as comfort, peace, and love. I know that everything that God does is because he loves us, and when we do what he asks, we will be happy.