St. Marys, OH 45885
Sent: Monday, August 12, 2013 12:00:53 PM
Subject: Working with the Savior in sight
Hey!
I can't believe it has already been another week. Time goes by so fast. Christmas is in 4 months?! That is so crazy. I am almost 1/4 of the way done with my mission? ahh. It is weird. I really am cherishing my time though. There is literally nothing in the world I would rather be doing. I occasionally have thoughts such as "Man, I miss that..." or "this person..." or whatever. But then after a few seconds I think, "Wait! I am literally serving THE SAVIOR!... I don't miss any of that." I really am so grateful for this time.
Anyways this week has been a great one. I usually say that the week was hard, but this week wasn't that hard...which I think is part of the reason we didn't have great success. But it was still good.
A couple weeks ago, I felt prompted that I need to do more in language study with Elder Mitchell. I usually just study alone during that time because I felt like it was more personally effective. So I started doing that and practicing with him more, then a week later, the Lord blessed us with Spanish speakers to teach! But since then Elder Mitchell has gotten so much better at Spanish and it has been amazing to see the progress. So our language study has been so great and we are really helping each other to grow. It was a good lesson for me that I am not just here to grow personally, but to help others and grow together.
I went up to Lima, Ohio this week on exchanges with Elder Taylor. It was really good. I loved being able to work with him. Elder Taylor came out with me as well. We were in a biking area so that was fun to bike everywhere again. We worked really hard together and I learned a lot from him. It left me with a greater desire to work hard and use the Lord's time in the best way we can. So I was grateful for that. One funny story from our exchange, we were teaching a recent convert named George, and he is a little bit slow, I think he is slightly autistic, but such a sweet guy with a great testimony. He doesn't have great volume control, so he kind of yells everything haha. I asked him what it felt like to know that he lived with Heavenly Father before this life. He responded, "It felt good! It felt great! It felt wonderful! It felt....BOOM! DYNAMITE! Oh so right!...It felt good..." It was so funny. I love Greg. I definitely agree with him. It definitely feels dynamite to know that we lived with Heavenly Father.
Then on Saturday, we had a great lesson with Domingo. He 1st talked to us, and told us he appreciated what we do, but he knows the gospel, so we should spend our time with other people who don't know Christ, like his roommates. I told him that it was so great that he knows the gospel. I said "We aren't here because we think you don't know Christ. That is so great that you do. We are here because Christ's church, the same church he established when he was here, is here on the earth again! Los cielos estan abiertos! (The heavens are opened!) and that is why we are here, because we want you to know about His true church and authority that is here on the earth." So he agreed to meet with us. It was so great to teach him. Elder Mitchell did great with Spanish and Domingo was excited to pray about what we taught. He shared with us that he had been praying to know a place he could go to church because no one spoke Spanish at the churches by his house and he hasn't been able to go since he left Mexico, but he really wants to. Then we came over and he knew we were the answer to his prayers. The only problem is he doesn't have a ride and we don't have any members who live in his city to give him a ride. So please pray for Domingo to be able to find a way to church.
This week I realized that,I think partially due to the lack of success we have been having in St. Marys, I had a couple of times finished the day with the mindset of, "Okay, after this lesson, then we will go home." It's not that I wasn't enjoying working or anything. I was just working with the end in sight. But that is not the way I should be doing it at all. I realized that I shouldn't be running with the finish line in sight, I should just be focused on running my heart out. So I tried to be better this week and I felt so much better in my standing with the Lord and in the work I did. I learned that we should never work with the end in sight, but just work with the Savior in sight. And that gives me the motivation to work as hard as I can ALL day. So I am so grateful for the spirit teaching me these things to do better. I know that this really is the work of the Savior. I love being a part of it!
Thank you for all your love and prayers! I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Heath Tenney
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