Tuesday, March 10, 2015

March 9, 2015

Hi everyone,

Well we had a very busy, successful week and I am glad today was P-Day. Like it says in the subject line this week was full of meetings which took up a lot of our work time. However, with the time we had to work, it was all full of success and being effective. I really feel like this week was a growing week for both my companion and I.

To start the week, I had leadership training on Tuesday with the other mission leaders. President gave the trainings about how to hold effective exchanges. It was actually really good because, like I said in past emails about exchanges, it helped me realize how important exchanges are and how to have effective exchanges. So this transfer I will have a better idea how to hold an effective exchange and learn with the other Elders in my district.

Thursday was our Zone Conference. As always the trainings were very good and I learned a lot while receiving personal revelation for the work in our area. Two trainings that stuck out to me:
1) Helping investigators progress by getting back to the basics. I realized that I have strayed a little bit away from the basic missionary skills, especially how to simply teach the Doctrine of Christ. So that was something that really stuck out to me.
2) Helping Investigators progress by helping them feel something. President Tew gave this training and reviewed ways that we can bring the Spirit into any lesson using simple methods such as using scriptures and testimony. It helped me realize that "..by small means the Lord can bring about great things' (1 Ne. 16:29). So this week we are hoping to put into practice the trainings we received and the guidance we received through personal revelation.

On Friday we had Zone Meeting. We talked a lot about specific plans we can do as a zone to help our investigators progress. We decided that we needed to involve the members more and gain more trust from them. We set some really good plans on how we can visit the members more effectively during dinner appointments, at church, or throughout the day. Our zone has been doing a lot of great things the past few months and it is really exciting. So this transfer we are super excited for what we can accomplish.

All day Saturday I was on exchanges with my Zone Leader, Elder Humphreys. We set some pretty solid goals to put into practice the plans we had set earlier in Zone Meeting. Then we just hit it hard and worked effectively and diligently. It was such a great exchange and we talked a lot about the goals we set and how the missionaries in our district can accomplish them. It felt good to just to just get out and hit it hard.

As a mission we are making some big strides and helping the work hasten. During Zone Conference President Tew shared some pretty impressive stats with us. The past 8 weeks, as a mission, we have taught over 1000 totals lessons with only 181 missionaries. We have never been able to accomplish that ever since President Tew begun his service as our mission president. It is impressive because we have the lowest number of missionaries ever in this mission and we are teaching and finding like crazy. Definitely a good indicator that the Lord is hastening His work in the Great California Long Beach Mission.

This week we had a pretty cool miracle with one of our investigators. Her name is Eduarda and she has been learning about the church for almost 5 years now. She knows the church is true and really wants to be baptized. However she is living with another guys to whom she isn't married. On Tuesday we had a lesson with her at the church and helped her understand more why she can't be baptized. She had one of those "Ah Ha" moments and said she is going to do everything possible to talk with the guy she is living with and see what he says. Wellon Wednesday we got a call from her saying she talked with the guy and she was asking us what she has to do get married. So she is starting to make those changes to get baptized which is awesome. We are hoping tomorrow we can have the bishop talk with her and help her as well.

So that was what happened this week. It was a good successful week even with all the meetings. Tomorrow Elder Obray and I have another training with the other new missionaries, then it should be home free of meetings this transfer. Even though I did realize that this Zone Conference might have been my last one which made me super sad. But now it is time to apply all the trainings I have received from the past Zone Conferences and work super hard.

Have a good week!!

Elder Roberts

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