Training Again

Well this week was.... an experience.

It was slow, tiring, full of dull moments and the entire week I was lacking motivation.

So last week Monday I was with Elder Robertson. We went and saw Bosker and Christiana E. (recent converts). Bosker asked me to give the closing prayer and I had the thought to put my phone on silent just in case it goes off. Sure enough as I was praying the phone was going off. Luckily I had listened to the small and subtle prompting of the spirit.

It was President Hill calling. I was really nervous because I thought it was about some stuff that's been going on in the District. I called back after the prayer and he had just a casual conversation with me. I was really confused. At the end of the conversation, he asked me to train a new missionary! That's exciting, this will be my 3rd time in a row. Well technically 2nd and a half. Still that's going to be almost 8 months of training in a row when I finish. President Hill was very confident in me. He is very good at seeing people as they may be, not as we are. I like it!

So Tuesday, after our District Council Meeting, my back was really hurting so I laid down for a few minutes and rested. It was really hot and all our appointments failed. We saw one guy named Jershon. He's pretty cool but has a little bit of repentance he needs to do. He came to church on Sunday (we had Atsu pick him which was a HUGE blessing for us). We came back in the afternoon and I was very tired and hungry. We got some food and ate once back at the apartment.

We went and saw a referral up by the market area - about a 15 minute walk from the apartment. His name is Ebeneezer T. He's super cool! He went to church in another ward last week. He said he just wants to find the truth and from what he's seen, the Church is the truth and he wants him and his family to be in it. 

Wednesday was another tough day. Motivation was down, energy was down, I don't really know what was going on. We saw a few people in the afternoon. We contacted a few cool people. Walked a TON under the hot sun. 

Thursday was Trainer's Council. We got up at 5 AM and went to the Area Office. That was interesting. President Hill is very cool. He's so bluntly bold about most things and just says it how it is. I like it that way. He told us how the group that is training is going to be his "observance leaders" where we are perfect in some key topics that we discussed. (i.e. emailing for only 2 hours, not having romantic relationships, not listening to music, not watching movies, etc.) He doesn't want to have to talk about obedience so his theory is that if we train the new missionaries to be perfect in those things, they will also train other missionaries to be perfect in those things. 

It makes sense!

Friday was a bit better. I realized I had been a bit homesick/trunky all week. We took Atsu with us to see Jershon, it was a nice lesson.

Saturday we had the All-African service project in the morning. We went to the market and swept and cleaned up trash. We all had the "Mormon Helping Hands" vests. I think it made an impact on the area. A lot of people saw us and made comments. A lot of people asked who we were. We came back and had to take a nap, we were so tired. We bathed and prepared and then we went to the church for a recent convert/investigator activity. We got there at about 3:30 in the afternoon, they said it would start at 4. Atsu was there by 4 and apart from him there was NO one else - it was embarassing!

We started the activity an hour or more late. We watched "finding faith in Christ" and it was alright. By the time it ended, it was too late to see anyone so we came back and prepared for church. 

Before church, we had to pick up an investigator named Rosina B. Now we've tried picking up Rosina 3 weeks in a row previous. Each time something small came up. We decided that we had to wait for her to bath and bath the children and dress them and walk with her. She has never been and didn't know where the church was. The last 3 weeks her excuses were the same almost. One time she was cooking (I think she really forgot) another she said she was sick (again, I think she just forgot) and another she wasn't around. Anyway we were 30 minutes late for church but we brought her. She loved it so much. 

This month I don't think we'll have any more baptisms. Next month however it's looking very, very good. We have like 3 or 4 lined up for the first week if all goes well. I'm excited for that. We've been in a rut where we spend the month preparing people for that month and not looking forward, when the next month comes we have nobody who's been to church to work with. Now we're preparing people for next month and when next month comes we'll prepare people for October. So on and so forth.

I'm learning a lot! My studies this week have been as I read the Book of Helaman. Now in Helaman chapter 5, some form of the word 'remember' is used 15 times. Throughout all the Book of Mormon it is used 240 times. It's one of the most important words in the English language. Mostly because we need to remember our testimony!

Now In verse 40 and 41 of chapter 5, I noticed how it says "cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ." Now what happened here in the Book of Mormon was Nephi and Lehi were imprisoned and as they were in prison they were inflamed. All the people in the prison had a cloud of darkness put over them but they could still see Nephi and Lehi. They asked Aminadab (a less-active member) what to do. He told them pray until ye have faith. As they did that, not only was the cloud of darkness removed but they were also inflamed with fire. So whatever our "darkness" may be in life, pray until your faith increases and not only will your burdens be lightened but you will see miracles. Keep praying! 

Well this week is looking very good. Tomorrow I might be going on companion exchanges with Elder Robertson. I'm not even too sure about that yet. But my motivation is back, the spirit is back and I'm ready to roll again! We're starting to work with many less active members. President Hill is having us collect 3-5 names of less active members each week from the Bishop and we go visit them and teach a message that Bishop prayerfully selects for them. We haven't really been able to visit them yet but we sure will this week. I'm excited to start bringing them back and if we do it right, they'll bring their friends.

Here goes another week.

-Elder Jordan Schmeltzer