Buenas Tardes!
It has been quite the week - we are super excited for this new year and keep making big plans for the area, ward, and stakes around here. We're not going to be here the whole year with the Liahona 5, but we're hoping to get somewhere around 50 baptisms for the year. We had about 40 this last year, but they had a super late start so we're thinking big things are in store. That stake is shooting for 100 baptisms and we had a huge stake-wide fast and prayer yesterday for their yearly goals. Our area authority Elder Wright has had all the stakes set goals for converts, # of people at church, temple recommend holders, melchizedek priesthood holders, and young people serving missions. So as missionaries our primary focus is raising the spirituality of the wards and stakes and helping them to reach all of these goals. We had some way good training in Zone Leader Council about unity - our unity with the wards and members. We're not working separately in any way, and we definitely don't want to have different goals than our ward does. We're here for them, and we're going to help them be missionaries and help them to reach their goals.
We also had interviews with our mission president, and mine was short as normal. He always asks what he can do to help me and I can't think of a whole lot so for whatever reason they're always way short. Anyway, my companion talked with President Howes about how we struggle to really find people to teach through members (how basically all missionaries do), and he said the problem is that we're asking for referrals. When we ask for people to teach like that, they're thinking about people that are ready to get baptized. Instead of doing that, now we're asking people if they know their members and if there is anyone they have felt prompted to share the gospel with. Missionary work is something so incredibly important and it's so important that we're all a part of it. We've started to go and visit members with our ward missionaries and start making family mission plans with them. We talk about getting to know the people around them and taking small steps to invite them to things. We are making lists and everyone is praying for not only to have missionary opportunities with these people (we pray as well for each one of those people by name) but also for our investigators. We're beginning to see the great power in praying specifically for people by name and we're spreading it to all of the people we work with.
Ooooh, and this last week we had one of the best lessons of my entire life! So we just barely started teaching Jeff and Kendra Wilber, friends of the McKendrick family in the Dobson Ward. I guess they knew each other all growing up (Sister McKendrick even gave Kendra a BOM when they were in middle school) but Kendra was never terribly interested. Recently some tough things happened in her life that prepared her and she's come to church on a little bit for the past few months! We were over there at a barbecue type thing a couple weeks ago and quickly taught them about the BOM and committed them to read it. They actually both did and we found out they had a way uplifting spiritual experience as they did so. We taught the entire Restoration this last week and everything just went so smoothly. Everyone was involved and participating, and we were just testifying about everything we were teaching. We invited them to be baptized and they said yes!! We totally weren't expecting such a solid response - the McKendrick's looked like it took everything they had to keep them on the couch. They both came to church yesterday and absolutely loved it. We're going to go over there tonight and invite them to be baptized on January 21st, so we've been asking everyone to join with us in praying for them that they will accept this invitation. So anyone who reads this before our lesson tonight, please pray specifically for Jeff and Kendra Wilber that they will say yes :)
Oh yeah, and we also have some exciting news - we have a baptism this weekend! Karen Saldana is going to be getting baptized, and it has been quite the experience teaching her family. Her mom hadn't been able to go to church because of work and we were just continuing to pass by over and over again to try and get ahold of her (she was super hard to contact - people in the area had tried for months). We did finally get in contact and they're coming to church now! It's so good to see people come back to church and see how much happier they are. It is always interesting teaching 9 or 10 year olds because they don't always retain incredible amounts of what we teach, but at the same time it's fun teaching way simple. One of the blessings of being a Spanish missionary... you really learn how to simplify things, especially when you're just learning the language.
We're excited to get all of the missionaries pumped up this week - we've got some sweet trainings lined up and especially trainings on working with members. That is going to be how we really see the success we want to see. I keep learning all these things I wish I had known my whole mission...asi pasa la vida. I love it though.
Well I think that's about it for the week. We're expecting lots of miracles!!
hasta la proxima,
Elder Carlson
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