This week we got transfer news and I found out my companion and I are staying together another transfer. After this next one that will be six months together for us. Our mission president was going to split us up, but because we were getting so many lessons he said he didn't want to. They're also condensing our branch from two sets of missionaries to just us. So we just inherited another area and now cover the whole island of Oahu. We're expected to be getting forty lessons a week, so we've got a lot of work ahead of us. But that means there's also a lot of potential in our area! At church we had one of our investigators who we haven't seen for 3 months randomly show up at church. Plus we found out three kids who have been coming to church every week that everyone thought were members aren't baptized yet, so we're gonna be teaching them. Things are really looking good. It's gonna be crazy trying to manage everything and we'll be busier than heck, but I know it'll all be worth it, because in the end the Lord's work always is!
I also wanted to share something interesting that I heard this week. I went on an exchange and we were talking to this lady in a different ward. She talked to us about how she didn't think that most people understood hastening the work of salvation like she thinks they should. She's running for political office and as part of that goes to a different church before attending her ward every week. She says that most people who have heard of our church have a lot of respect for us, but she was amazed at how many people have never talked to a Mormon before. Even people that lived on her same street. She said that in her opinion, hastening the work of salvation doesn't mean finally working up the courage to talk to one person about the gospel, then giving up when it doesn't go so well. It means talking to everyone you can and contacting as many people as possible. You don't even have to approach them about the gospel at first, but just be nice and be an example, and eventually something about the gospel will come up. Elder Holland said that everything in any person's life relates in one way or another to some aspect of the gospel.
This lady talked about how there's lots of people in our church who don't realize that other churches are good too. Just because they don't have the fullness of the truth doesn't mean they're not good people. She said in her opinion, people in other Christian churches are a lot more christian than people in our church a lot of the time. Sure our church has service projects, but it's mostly to help other people in our church. She said these other churches plan projects to go out and just help the community, regardless of their faith. She said on the contrast it seems like many people in our church are just too busy to do the Lord's work. She'll ask ward members if they want to help out with her campaign and meet plenty of people, or if they want to come help with a community service project, but nearly every time the reply is they're just too busy or don't have the time right now.
I hope all of you aren't too busy to help the Lord. Because he's made us the promise that if we seek His kingdom first, everything else will fall into place.
Love you guys!
-Elder Merrill
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