This week would've been loads better if we didn't lose water for three
days. We just had our water tanks cleaned-that's where we get all our water-
and the water doesn't refill until Saturday. So, after they were cleaned
we just went without, we had to fill up buckets to bathe etc. and
mostly had to eat out and we had to pour buckets of water to flush
toilets etc… it wasn't too bad though:) We also had a power surge that blew up nearly all our light bulbs in the house, our microwave, our fridge, and our toaster. But, fear not
because we saved our oven so we're still cooking big with what
resources we still have...Blessed are those who endure:) However, it
did not hinder the work, because Elder Dowdle and I were able to have a
great week.
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| House Water Pump |
At Zone Conference, Sister Chatfield encouraged us to focus on a new
Christlike Attribute and work on developing it for the next few
months. The attribute I'm focusing on now is Patience. Since I've
begun to do that, and pray for more patience in my daily prayers, I've
seen many blessings. First of all, I've become more patient with the
people. This has allowed me to express more love to them which
motivates me to share the gospel more by stopping people to talk to
them while moving from appointment to appointment. It also has allowed
me to be more calm when things don't go as planned. As I've studied
the scriptures in Preach My Gospel about Patience, I've realized that
Patience isn't only being calm when people annoy you. It's trusting in
the Lord's will for you and his timing when you ask for things you
need and for blessings in the work. As I am submissive and trust in
the Lord and his plan, I know everything is going to work out and I
realize that more and more every day.
We were able to go on exchanges with our Zone Leaders, Elder Robinson,
and Elder Empey on Friday as well. Elder Empey was assigned to work
with us for the day and because he is only a few weeks from going
home, I tried to apply the things he was teaching Elder Dowdle and I
throughout the day. I've realized that you can never fine tune or
practice skills in proselyting enough and there's always something
that can be improved. He gave us a lot of advice for how we can
improve and strengthen the branch and our area.
Currently, we only have 3 investigators with baptism dates- Reegan,
Alfred, and Addison. Reegan and Addison are brothers and are both
Blind David's sons. I had the opportunity to baptize Reegan who is 9 years old
yesterday in the pouring rain which was quite an experience. The
rain filled up the font behind the church completely full so I had to
hold Reegan up during the performance of the baptism because he was
too short to stand. I'm very excited for David and his family. He was
very emotional and was elated that another one of his children
received the blessings of baptism. Another one of his sons, Isaac,
lives in another city and is being taught by the missionaries as well
and is being baptized within the next few weeks.
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| Completely Filled Up Babtismal Font |
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| Rain Filled up the Font to the Top! |
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| Reegan and Elder Hazen |
now, but we haven't had the opportunity to teach her yet because she's
been in the hospital. We were able to go give her a blessing Thursday
evening and she gave birth to a healthy baby boy Friday. We are hoping
they will all be able to progress towards baptism together when she
gets home.
As we have been trying to replenish our teaching pool, it's been
difficult but I know our efforts aren't wasted and things will begin
to improve in the area this week due to the fact we received 8
referrals last week.
I'd like to share a small thought from what I learned in my studies
from 1 Nephi 16. In this chapter, Nephi and his family continue
through the wilderness and he describes his experiences as they were
directed by the Liahona where to hunt for food for the family. One
day, Nephi's steel bow broke and they were unable to obtain food to
feed their family. As the circumstances grew more difficult, more and
more people in the family began to murmur until Lehi himself was
murmuring. However, Nephi shows a lot of his character by submitting
to the Lord in his time of trial and relies on the Lord on where to go
after he fashions a bow and arrow out of wood. From this we can learn
that attitude determines the outcome of situations. All of Nephi's
family was going through the same circumstance but Nephi looked at the
situation with an optimistic point of view and acted, and with the
help of the Lord he was able to accomplish his task. I look at it the
same way with Elder Dowdle and I's situation with replenishing our teaching
pool. Many missionaries have gone through trials like this before, but
it's all about how we view the situation. I have been trying to be
optimistic and I know that as I'm patient with the Lord's timing, he
will help us find new families to teach.
I love you all!
Love, Elder Hazen
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