Honored Guests

We had a good week. It was dry and sunny weather for the most part. It has turned very cool though. We need to bundle up nicely to survive the arctic 10 degress out there. xD We had some great experiences this week. We met with some nice new investigators that we hope will start to progress soon. We also had a special training with the area president Elder Teixeira. It was very inspirational.

I saw the hand of the Lord in my life this week in many things. I was blessed by specific and clear answers to my prayers and questions through the training with Elder Teixeira. The days coming up to the training I had been praying for a specific and clear instruction from the Lord on some matters concerning my effectiveness in missionary work. I'd been asking for a way to be a more effective and a especially a more spiritually led missionary. As we started the Leadership training with Elder Teixeira he was soon already addressing that very topic and issue. I'm so very glad that the Lord uses other to answer our prayers.

The main meeting with Elder Teixeira was great and I felt encouraged to improve. I'm sorry to say that at first I felt a little overwhelmed by all the things he told us and I was starting to get a feeling of inadequacy and fear. However, after the meeting I was blessed by the Lord with respect to that fear. We had an appointment fall through and then we decided then to to contacting until we had the next lesson at the end of the evening without returning to the apartment to drop off our books and packages. It was heaving loading but we were blessed for our dedication. The Lord blessed me with a great love for the people at that time and I was able to cheerfully and openly approach people. We gave out many books in little more than an hour and I was blessed with an outpouring of the Spirit encouraging me that the things which Elder Teixeira had said were possible.

Our investigator Ahmed from Sierra Leone had his baptismal interview this weekend and he's going to be baptized on Saturday! This is super exciting. He is very special as he had some difficulty with meeting us regularly and keeping his commitments in the beginning. But after a week where we didn't manage to meet him he'd changed by the next time we saw him and he's been giving 100%. I'm so proud of him.

Also, Richard, who got baptized in our second/third week here in Athens passed the Sacrament for the first time this Sunday. He also showed up in a suit that was nicer than anyone else's including the missionaries. He looked absolutely brilliant and he did such a great job of passing the Sacrament. It was really wonderful to see.

After District Meeting with Elder Bernskov (Denmark)

This is where the true joy of missionary work comes from. Teaching lessons is nice and you get some satisfaction from it, but to see someone progress in his Gospel understanding, make covenants and move forward in his service to others (in the Priesthood) is great. The scripture in D&C 18:10-15 rings true in my ears!

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