Blog Post #24: A Happy, Busy Elder

Dear People I Love,

I love you all! I've had a great week, and I'm excited to tell you all about my new companion, Elder Herrick! He is a great Missionary, and hates being in the sun as much as I do! To combat this, we are working on booking ourselves SOLID with lessons, and we're starting to get frighteningly close! I love how busy we are some days; we almost don't have time for finding! I realized that I am living with 3 Elders who have all been out over a year, and I love the opportunity this is to chat with them and figure out what works best out here! Elder Herrick firmly believes that every lesson ought to have a member of the Church present to help us teach, and I am realizing how true that is!

If the Missionaries in your area call you and ask you to fellowship with them, please do! Even when we're all speaking our native language, it's so much more effective to have a "regular person" there; someone without a nametag who just wants to be the your friend. If you haven't received a call from the Sisters or Elders, give them a call and tell them the next time you have an hour free. They will be super appreciative, and you will understand the Gospel better by helping to share it! It really is a win-win-win situation!

Maybe I'm soapboxing a litte bit, but the biggest help you can give a Missionary is your time. Food is also great, but we've got money to buy that. What we can't buy is an honest, friendly, cheerful, and excited friend explaining why they love church, and that's what we really need in this work. You don't have to have some huge conversion story, you don't need to be a scriptorian, you don't even need to feel like you have a super great testimony of the Gospel; you just need to know how living the teachings of Christ has blessed you.

Teaching Doctrines is easy. You can go learn all of them by opening up the scriptures. They are as simple as 1+1=2.

It's the Principles that make the difference.

The Principles are how 1+1=2. They're how you can recieve help from Heavenly Father. If you know anything about God, it's that He can help you. Missionaries will tell someone that the very first time they meet them, no matter who they are. We need your help to show these people how God helps us, how our Heavenly Father gives us the answers and the guidance that we need in this crazy, crazy world we live in. We need your help to express the gratitude you have for your Heavenly Father's help in buying groceries, picking up kids from school, doing laundry, or anything else that has helped you see the love of God in your life.

The biggest question every Missionary has is "How do I keep my Recent Converts active?". It doesn't matter if you baptise 1000 people, if none of them go on to enter the Temple. Heavenly Father helped me to understand the ways I can help the 5 young people in my Ward who have recently recieved Baptism and Confirmation, and through the Book of Mormon I have understood their situations better than I ever thought I could. I know that He can do the same for you; if you will let Him. Ask in faith, and with the intention to act on the answer given.

I know that what I have written here is true, and I write them in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,
Elder O'Gara