It has been a pretty good week! Lo and behold, we were able to get back in touch with Herr Seidl, and we have an appointment with him tonight with a member. I don't know what exactly happened to cause us to lose contact and be shut down in a phone call, but we are back on track. In addition, we have come in contact with another great investigator, Tensor, who we dropped as a result of losing contact. He finally texted us after about five weeks of no contact and we will be meeting him tonight as well. We got two of our baptismal dates back and had to unfortunately drop the rest, or get dropped by them. It is okay though. The one we dropped has not been making progress and has told us that he wants to become Christian because it is more "liberal" than other faiths (I mean that in the true sense of the word, not politically. I try to avoid that in my emails lol). Not having the best intent hindered his progress, and we tried to help him form it anew, but he was not willing in the end to sacrifice. Unfortunately, we had to give him the hammer, but he might come around in the future.
This week has been filled with splits and zone conference as well. We had a power split last weekend with the Mannheim Elders, Elders Deus and Dutson. Elder Dutson, my split partner, was in my group in the MTC, so it was nice to catch up a little, even though we didn't get to know each other all too well. It was a fun split, though--both of the Elders are pretty cool. After having zone conference, we went on another split with the Heidelberg Elders, Elders Domingues and Kumpf. That was also fun and it is always a pleasure to work in Heidelberg. Those are also two really cool missionaries. Heck, my entire zone is pretty cool, so shout out to all of them.
By the way, splits = exchanges. I don't know how often either one is used in America, and I am pretty sure you know both of the terms, but I'm just checking.
Zone Conference went well. I talked about the importance of us showing our appreciation to God and Christ through our efforts to share His gospel. We truly are blessed to be among the relative few
on Earth who have been able to partake of the Living Water, and so we should theoretically be happy to share it will as many other people as possible. Granted, it is easier said than done, but it is something all can work towards. We then practiced contacting run-throughs and discussed what we can do to overcome obstacles preventing us from talking to all we can. I think it went well and it is always fun to share trainings with people. Also makes me more willing and excited to practice what I preach, haha.
A few pretty cool things happened this week. I have noticed lately that I have become somehow less effective with my finding. Although we have been much busier with other things now than I ever have been on my mission, I noticed that it still has been harder for me to be effective at finding when I do have time, even though I feel I am pouring about as much if not more effort in than usual. I realized that it had been a somewhat decent chunk of time since I had started my contacting sessions of with a sincere prayer to find someone who would have promise and interest. One day this week, on Tuesday, as I felt confused when I wasn't making any progress with people on the street, I remembered this and decided to say a prayer asking God for guidance to find someone who was ready for the restored gospel. I continued contacting, and got denied a few more times, until I met an
American man who told me he was having a difficult time in his family and felt that he needed help. We were able to teach him The Restoration there and he enjoyed it a lot, and then we set a return
appointment with him. That solidified a powerful lesson to me in multiple regards. I think that I often times try to "take over" for the Lord in His work, where I begin to think, whether consciously or
not, that I can do parts of this on my own. Of course, that is really presumptuous of me. I realize how much more effective, and fun, missionary work is, when we seek the direction and help of the Lord, and to be the tool in His hands rather than the hands themselves. I think that this goes for other aspects of life aside from missionary work, too. I can't remember now who said it, I believe it was Ezra T. Benson, but I agree with the statement that the Lord can do far more with our lives than we will ever be able to if we allow Him to work through us.
Also, I find it interesting how I never got a strong spiritual impression after the prayer to go in any particular direction. I decided to just continue my work in a similar fashion, and that is when I met that man. Spiritual guidance has been one of the most difficult things for me to grasp as a missionary in the form of promptings and how they come. However, I have learned that we can be guided to people, and people can be guided to us, without us even knowing. I think that the trick is that we place ourselves in a position of worthiness to be guided, and we show God we desire by our prayers and actions. If we then move forward, working diligently, keeping our ears open, we will find that God will use us to move His work forward. Sometimes, He doesn't need to shove or push us. But He
will guide us in ways we may not even realize were possible.
Thank you for all you guys do!
Love,
Elder Wallentine
On a split with Elder Dutson:
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