I'm still in Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, in the Moctezuma ward. Elder
Tirado, however, has "gone the way of all the earth," or rather, the
way of all the missionaries, and is currently residing in another area. And I'm
with a gringo again! Elder Lind, from Burley, Idaho, is my companion, and he
has just one transfer less than I do. He's actually from the same generation as
my other gringo companion, Elder Dawson. This transfer should be fun! I'm
excited!
This week we're going to do all we can to tie up legal
complications for the wedding. Prayers would be appreciated!
This past week we were still looking really hard for new
people to teach, and even though we were meeting a lot of people, we weren't
finding new investigators. People weren't interested, people weren't able,
people were a little crazy, the usual. Also, something that happens a lot here
is that the parents get their kids to lie for them. We knocked on a door one
day when we could see an adult man sitting on a couch with his back to the
window. We didn't knock on the window even though we had seen him because that
would be a little weird, so we pretended that we hadn't seen him and knocked on
the door. But when we knocked, I saw him stiffen. He did that
"I'm-going-to-move-real-slowly-so-the-motion-won't-catch-their-eye"
thing and slid off the couch. Keep in mind the window is really near the door.
I roll my eyes at my companion and knock again, giving him the benefit of the
doubt. Nothing. Jeffrey R. Holland tells us, knock three times. I knock again.
The window slides open a tiny bit and a kid, maybe six years old, says,
"My dad's not here!" Again, I give "the look" at my companion.
"Are you sure?" I ask him. "Uh-huh!" he says. And then,
inside, we hear another voice, maybe three, four years old, "Dad, dad!!
They want to talk to you! Dad!" Ah. The innocence of childhood. I had the
desire to do what another elder told me he had done once in that
kind of situation: tell the kid, "Tell your dad that lying's a sin!"
But in that situation, he told me, the kid said, "Ok!" and ran back
inside. And the elders left hurriedly.
Another time, we knock on a gate that has a view of the
house to the left, a shed directly in front of us, and a car in front of the
shed. There were also clothes hanging in between the car and the shed. We could
see a man standing in front of the shed, partly hidden behind the clothes, but
clearly in view. When we knocked on the gate, a girl came out of the house and
asked us what we wanted. We asked her if her parents were home. She walks
through the clothes to talk to her dad, and we clearly hear, "Diles que
nadie está." (Tell them nobody's home.) And then, what made me lose it (I
didn't burst out laughing, but I definitely snorted back a chuckle), her reply,
"¡Pero papá, me da pena!" (But dad, do I have to? It's embarrassing!)
The dad said something else, more quietly, and then the girl sticks her head
out through the clothes, yells, "No está nadie!" and then we see her
hide behind the car. Yeah. She hid behind the car.
Another one: We knock on a gate where we see a woman out
back, and a man sticks his head out of a window, sees us, and yells,
"Nobody's home!" Then he hesitates, rethinks the absurdity of that
statement, and yells, "We're busy!" And then sticks his head back
inside.
But, we keep working. There are a few promising new
investigators, and we still hope to get Néstor and Georgina married. Elder Lind
and I are going to echarle all the ganas (that's right, all of
them) this week, and we're not going to stop. I hit ten months on Friday!
This scriptural thought might be a little stronger than
usual, but it's something I was meditating earlier this week, and even though
I'm not sure why, I feel like I should share it. It's probably more for those
that are in the mission field right now, but it applies to us all. As a
mission, our president has placed some high goals for us to reach. In this
area, I was having a lot more trouble reaching them. My initial reaction
was more along the lines of, "Well, for other areas it's easier, but for
this area I don't know if we can reach those kinds of numbers." But, in
that moment, I started thinking about a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants:
29 But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned.
I hope I wasn't keeping it with slothfulness, but maybe my
heart was a little doubtful. The attitude that we often have, "I don't
know if I can do that, but I'll try," is something that weakens us from
the beginning. Maybe we're not going to succeed perfectly. But we can commit
ourselves, and if we do that the Lord will help us. If not, we will be damned.
Our progression will be halted. There won't be growth or improvement. And when
I read that scripture again, I kept on reading:
29 But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned.
30 Who am I that made man, saith the Lord, that will hold him guiltless that obeys not my commandments?
31 Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?
32 I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing.
33 Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above.
So, that's even stronger. The goals our president gives us
are to help us expand our vision and help us stretch, but they're not
impossible (1 Nephi 3:7). If we receive these commandments, like any
commandment, with a doubtful heart, we're not going to be able to receive those
blessings. For many, that's a stumblingblock: "I did this, and nothing
happened." That leads to resentment, anger, frustration, and a loss of
faith. Like Alma says, it's not because this wasn't the work of the Lord, a
"good seed," it's because we didn't take the care necessary to really
bring it to pass, or because we didn't persevere. We gave up. Don't give up.
Keep working, keep stretching, whatever the commandment may be, and you'll
receive the blessings the Lord has promised. Who is the Lord, that has promised
and has not fulfilled? Whether it be for missionaries, or members with little
time in the church, for investigators or those members with decades in the
Gospel, for whatever kind of promise He makes, He always fulfills.
I hope everybody's doing well. I am, and I love you all.
Con amor,
Élder Rob Weatherford
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