Tuesday, July 30, 2013

New Mission President Wants 100 Baptisms in August! (average is 25)

Dear Mom and Dad,
 
This week has been a good one. I keep realizing what a blessing it is to have been sent to Oklahoma. With so many Christians here it seems like every misconception that can be made has been made, and we have to know what we believe and why we believe it. I'm getting the basics down pretty well, but it's still tough when we teach pastors or other people who have studied religion for years. We also get some pretty interesting people. I don't know if I told you about the time when some guy was yelling at us, and told us how wrong our religion is and that King David hated handicapped people. He tried to convince us of a rapture and some weird things about Mohammed. Haha where do people get this information? Haha I've definitely heard some interesting things.
Ok so we met with an older lady this week, and we had met with her a few times before and it didn't seem like she was interested, but we love her because she's awesome so we went back. She told us about a lot of the struggles that she's been facing in her life. In the last couple of years her oldest daughter and her husband passed away. They both died of health problems, but she still blames herself because she wishes she would have done more. We watched her painfully tell us these stories. It is so hard too because we have this message that would bless her life so much, but she won't know how good it is until she tries it. I feel like so many members take for granted the knowledge and gifts we've been given. If she more fully understood the plan of salvation and had the gift of the holy ghost her burdens would be lightened. If she understood the atonement more fully she would have someone to lean on. If she came to church the relief society would have her back. I remember being in the MTC and having the feeling of how can I teach these people?  Now that I have come to love these people it becomes more of a feeling of how could I possibly not teach this person. There are so many good people here that deserve that gospel and the comfort that comes with it. I just hope that they'll be willing to accept it.
Haha sorry about that it just gets so frustrating sometimes that people won't accept and believe everything we say. I always feel like I should be doing more.
We have had a lot of success though. Investigators are coming to church, we're teaching lessons, we finally got some referrals (super exciting!!!), and the ward loves us. Hopefully someone will get baptized soon. The mission average is 25 a month, but the new mission president wants 100 baptisms in August, so we're going to have to contribute.
Anyways I love you both lots, and I definitely chose the best family ever. It's always fun to hear how things are going with the family.
Love,
Elder Hoddy


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