Well, I found out what I'm doing for my last 4 weeks. I'm staying in Saint John with the same companions!! And I couldn't be more happy! It'll be a good way to finish out.
As far as investigators are going, Kelsey's doing well. She's looking for a new place to live closer to town (currently she lives 30 min away). We've had to move her baptismal date back to Aug. 4th, but she's actively working towards that date and she's successfully given up coffee, which is a big deal.
Yaohui, the investigator from China our mission president found, is awesome! He just soaks up everything we teach him. I think he gets the doctrine of Christ better than I do, and he's only been a Christian for a year. He's unable to go to church until next month though because of work and he's moving to Fredericton in September, so we think it might be best for him to get baptized there since that's where he plans on living long term.
This week in my studies I came across an article by President Oaks called, "Why do we do missionary work?" In it there was a quote that stood out to me. He said:
"We do not preach and teach in order to 'bring people into the Church' or to increase the membership of the Church. We do not preach and teach just to persuade people to live better lives. We honor and appreciate the many ministers and others who are involved in the kind of ministry that makes bad men good and good men better. That is important, but we offer something more. One can qualify for the terrestrial kingdom instead of the telestial kingdom without the aid of this Church. We are concerned with a higher destination."
I loved this because it helped me understand that the work I've been doing for nearly 23 months is so much more eternal than it is temporal. This quote helped me see the bigger picture for doing missionary work. The importance of the gospel goes way beyond this life. If we can maintain that perspective with our missionary work as members and full time missionaries, I think we'll all find an increased urgency and an enhanced desire to help souls come unto Christ.
I'm so incredibly blessed that I'm able to do what I do each day. I'm so very grateful for the time I've spent on my mission so far and I'm also very grateful for the precious days I have left.
Love you all! Have a great week.
Elder Haslam
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| A waterfall we walked by while knocking |
