Where There Is No Vision, the People Perish

This email is from March 13, 2017

Whelp, we are already at week 5 of the transfer with no signs of time slowing down anytime soon. Elder Blackford and I are looking to stay together for another 6 weeks, but if not, it's been a good run. We've accomplished a lot and had lots of fun in the process.

To start, on Tuesday we tried to set a baptismal date with the Rivera family. They told us that they felt it was a little too quick, and that they wanted to be more sure that this was something they would commit to 100 percent before accepting a baptismal date. Fortunately we've been able to get back in with them 3 times since then and answered a lot of their questions and reassured them. Which was nice because they were very open with us. Usually it's hard to get those we're teaching to open up and express their concerns, but that hasn't been the case thus far with the Riveras. What's helped more than anything is the testimony of the members we've brought to the lessons to help reassure them. As missionaries we can try to reassure people until we're blue in the face, but nothing we say really helps until members step in and share a similar experience.

On Monday we started teaching a new guy named Wilson. He's dating a recent convert here in the branch and has now come to church the last 3 weeks. He shared with us his story about how he came to the United States 9 years ago from Guatemala, and got in with the wrong crowd. He developed some bad habits, but he's at the point where he wants to change his life so that he can live a happier life. So he's been very humble and more than willing to keep commitments, so we'll keep teaching him and maybe even set a baptismal date with him this week.

On Saturday and Sunday Elder Blackford got sick, so it was hard not being able to do as much as I wanted, but we still got out and knocked doors for a couple of hours on Sunday night.

Elder Barrus

THM