July 1, 2012

I think this week was even harder than the last one, but I also think I´ve learned more in the last 3 days than I have in the last 6 months about how to do this work, trust in the Lord, and listen to the Spirit. We had our zone conference on Thursday and I learned a lot, but I think I learned even more in the hours following.

We were waiting for the train to take us back to Castelar in a big group of missionaries. We were having a good time, getting to know each other better and everything, but I kept hearing in my mind the rule that we should avoid congregating in large groups of missionaries. Obviously it was the Spirit, but I ignored it. There were a ton of people waiting for the train, and obviously they were watching us and trying to listen to what we were saying. I can´t help but feel like there was somebody there, among the hundreds, that needed to be contacted and receive an invitation from one of us. The Spirit told me repeatedly to do it, and I never did.

I´ve always heard these stories about missionaries that received a prompting from the Spirit to talk to someone in specific and were able to help that person in a huge way with the message of the Gospel. I´ve thought a lot this week that I wanted to have an experience like that. I probably have and didn´t take advantage of the opportunity. I can recall countless experiences from the past weeks that I thought, "we need to do contacts" and then saw a few people coming towards us. Almost every time I rationalized why they wouldn´t listen to us or why we didn`t have to talk to them. I thought, "If the Spirit tells me to contact someone specific, I´ll do it." What I didn´t realize until last night is that the Spirit has been telling me over and over again.

I was reflecting about our week last night after our planning session about what we need to do differently and how we can have the Spirit with us more abundantly. Something President Hinckley said came to my mind. In response to the question, how can I know if the Spirit is prompting me to do something?, He said that if it persuades us to do good, it is of the Spirit. Contacting someone to invite them to hear the Gospel definitely isn`t an idea that comes from the devil....needless to say, I learned my lesson. Now I just have to apply it all. That´s the hard part.

Our investigators are doing pretty well. Andrés didn´t come to church yesterday because he was sick, but Guido came. I´m not sure what to do about him because I´m not sure if he even listens when I´m teaching. Because it´s a little more difficult for him to understand me because of my accent, it´s like he doesn´t even try. I don´t know how to help him progress if he doesn´t listen to me when I teach.

Hermana Campos is great. I´m sad we only have two weeks left together. She´s my sixth companion so far. That means I´ve had twice as many companions as I´ve had areas. But I´ve grown a lot. I do like change, because it pushes me farther than I would go on my own, but I´m not a huge fan of the changes every 6 weeks. Oh well, God knows better than me what I need.

I love you all!
Erin