I Love Missionary Work

2/6/11
Well, this week wasn't as good as we were hoping, but we did do really well. As mom said, the Tilanas family is turning quite golden, they didn't start that way and they aren't perfect but they are amazing. This week the Tilanas family gave us a bunch of referrals, they just keep bringing them in! So we got 6 new investigators, all male, which is what the branch really needs. They are really good, didn't come to church this week, but they will next week. They all ask good questions, simple but good. They understand well too.
Elder Reidhead and I are doing great. We are rather different, but we still are great together, we do have much in common too. He is really funny and can be really spiritual too. He likes to work hard and really likes the area.

Agency makes things hard sometimes. You want this so bad for the investigator. You pray for them, you plan for them, you encourage them, promise them blessings, and they still might choose to not do it. Those are really sad moments. But there are also others that are the exact opposite. You do all of that and they do choose to change their lives and follow Christ. Those certainly outweigh the other ones. Even though the rejection and the investigators not progressing are more often, the other is just so much better that you forget about the rest.

There was an experience we had yesterday that I think you all will like...
We stopped by at the Tilanas family and only Raffy (22) was home, we were looking through our list of all the members and trying to find them so we were asking Raffy if he knew any that are in the area around their house. Then I asked him how to get to one of the other areas and he told me. Then he said that his basketball team had a game there right then, but he wasnt there because it was Sunday. I love Raffy! Him saying that made me so happy. I'm not sure he knows it, but he has a great testimony. He and his "wife" are filling the papers for their marriage so that they can get baptized.

I love missionary work. I is the toughest thing I have ever done, but it is so worth it. I wish so bad that you all could meet the people I have met here. I know we'll all see each other sometime, it will just probably be in the millennium. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I have seen the effect of the gospel on investigators, members (active and inactive), missionaries, and most importantly myself. This is amazing and I wouldn't trade the experiences I have had here for anything in this world. Hopefully there are many more to come.

Elder Phelps