YO HOOOOO!

We had zone conferences this week and they were as good as ever. This time for President's training he stressed the importance of member missionary work. Something he told me a few weeks ago that seemed to stick is:

"Wards are designed to function and do missionary work without missionaries."

And when you think about it, it's true and honestly I'd say more effective than sending the Elders depending on where you live. There is a paradigm that needs to be set straight. When it comes to missionaries working with the ward and ward leaders it needs to be the missionaries helping with the wards work, not the ward helping the missionaries. If there is a less active family in the ward that they want to bring back, it is NOT the missionaries job to go knock on the door and bring them back. Honestly, one of the least effective ways of doing it, but it happens all the time. The members need to go and knock the door and fellowship and keep fellow-shipping and then have the Elders teach them some lessons with those members once that trust has been established. As you can tell I'm a bit heated about this, haha, because it often times feels like the ward and ward members just come to us and ask us to do things when it's not really in our jurisdiction to do so and would be better for the ward to do it. But it's all good. It's a process. They are still learning.

Jesse is progressing slowly but surely. He is the type of guy that will run if we press him too hard so we're taking it slow. Vicki is not really progressing much and we wonder how committed she is. But we'll keep seeing and encouraging her. She doesn't want to read the Book or Mormon because she says it's confusing but she reads the little lesson pamphlets we give her.

But we did have a little tender mercy yesterday. After getting kind of frustrated with the ward (in my head), in our gospel principles class we had two of the young married adult sisters bring one of their friends to the class. She was apparently active until she was about 15 and hasn't been active since but she is thinking about coming back and her husband is interested as well. He is in Denver for work until the end of the month so we can't teach her and them until then, BUT she does have some solid fellowship from her friends. This is the way it should work. Ward member fellowship first and then bring them to the missionaries. So that is my challenge. Understand the importance of the ward and member missionary work because it is SOO much more effective than just sending the Elders to knock on a door.

Also I'm becoming a lumberjack apparently. We've been splitting probably two and a half cords of knotty and green wood for a less active lady in our ward. Pic: this is how work gloves should look like.

Love to all

Elder Herd