I'm moving to the Naples English area. My new companion is Elder Lee. I am Senior Companion already! He came out one transfer after me so I am "Greenie Breaking" him, which is weird. Most people don't greenie break until they have a bit more experience, so send me some extra prayers. I am staying in the same city and zone, but just in a different area now.
Thanks for all of the ideas and such about staying happy. I have found much more joy this last week as I have really prayed for it. My companion came to me last night and just let loose a whole bunch he has been thinking about and how he feels, and it gave me a really new perspective on things. I was able to give him some advice... no... the Lord was able to give him some advice through me, as I just kinda kept talking. It was a learning experience for us both I would think. I told him things that I never knew that I knew. It was weird, but I learned a lot from it about relying on the Lord and than no matter how much we can give to the Lord, as long as we give it ALL, for two WHOLE years, that He will finish our work for us. We both learned a lot that night and I feel like this last week has really changed me as a person and as a missionary.
Something else that really changed me this week was that I was able to truly feel the comfort that comes through knowing about the Plan of Salvation. My investigator, J. P., from Tamarac, who ended up in the hospital the day of his baptism, passed away this last week in the hospital. It was sad and hard and I didn't understand why God would let him die so shortly after accepting our invitation to be baptized and why this all had to work out this way. I was able to come to a couple of conclusions. The first being that J.P. would be able to more quickly accept the gospel in the spirit world and get everything taken care of that way, and the second being that it was going to strengthen one of our members in that ward. The member who would always come with us to teach J suffers from extreme anxiety and doesn't come to church too often because of how severe it is, but he loved coming teaching with us and is working on getting the Melchizedek priesthood right now. He made a goal to be able to go to the temple in a year and do all of J's work for him. The Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes, but I have realized that He has a plan for all of us and that we, a lot of the time, have zero clue why He does what He does... but that it is always going to be for our good.
I am excited to go to Naples English. I hear its an amazing area and I have seen Elder Lee at other zone stuff before and he seems super great and humble. He comes from Hawaii which is going to be awesome! Being with a Hawaiian all the time will remind me of home :P
I love the Lord with all of my heart. I know that this church is true and that Joseph Smith really did see what he saw. God is still a God of Miracles and we see them every day in our lives as we live according to His Gospel. I have seen it bless my life in many many ways both before and during my mission and have seen it bless so many other people's lives as well. T, the man I baptized in my last area, went to the temple a little bit ago and I can talk with him every week and it rekindles the joy I felt when I got to baptize him and how I truly have such amazing joy that I have "brought save it be one soul" into the waters of baptism.
Love you mom... and the rest of you guys too ;)
Elder Foster
Thanks for all of the ideas and such about staying happy. I have found much more joy this last week as I have really prayed for it. My companion came to me last night and just let loose a whole bunch he has been thinking about and how he feels, and it gave me a really new perspective on things. I was able to give him some advice... no... the Lord was able to give him some advice through me, as I just kinda kept talking. It was a learning experience for us both I would think. I told him things that I never knew that I knew. It was weird, but I learned a lot from it about relying on the Lord and than no matter how much we can give to the Lord, as long as we give it ALL, for two WHOLE years, that He will finish our work for us. We both learned a lot that night and I feel like this last week has really changed me as a person and as a missionary.
Something else that really changed me this week was that I was able to truly feel the comfort that comes through knowing about the Plan of Salvation. My investigator, J. P., from Tamarac, who ended up in the hospital the day of his baptism, passed away this last week in the hospital. It was sad and hard and I didn't understand why God would let him die so shortly after accepting our invitation to be baptized and why this all had to work out this way. I was able to come to a couple of conclusions. The first being that J.P. would be able to more quickly accept the gospel in the spirit world and get everything taken care of that way, and the second being that it was going to strengthen one of our members in that ward. The member who would always come with us to teach J suffers from extreme anxiety and doesn't come to church too often because of how severe it is, but he loved coming teaching with us and is working on getting the Melchizedek priesthood right now. He made a goal to be able to go to the temple in a year and do all of J's work for him. The Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes, but I have realized that He has a plan for all of us and that we, a lot of the time, have zero clue why He does what He does... but that it is always going to be for our good.
I am excited to go to Naples English. I hear its an amazing area and I have seen Elder Lee at other zone stuff before and he seems super great and humble. He comes from Hawaii which is going to be awesome! Being with a Hawaiian all the time will remind me of home :P
I love the Lord with all of my heart. I know that this church is true and that Joseph Smith really did see what he saw. God is still a God of Miracles and we see them every day in our lives as we live according to His Gospel. I have seen it bless my life in many many ways both before and during my mission and have seen it bless so many other people's lives as well. T, the man I baptized in my last area, went to the temple a little bit ago and I can talk with him every week and it rekindles the joy I felt when I got to baptize him and how I truly have such amazing joy that I have "brought save it be one soul" into the waters of baptism.
Love you mom... and the rest of you guys too ;)
Elder Foster