"Cometh of Faith"

Angelina passed her baptismal interview! Her baptism is scheduled for Saturday next week, 14th March, 2009. We initially had a scare last Friday, before her interview, when she expressed doubts about being baptized, due to some personal concerns. But, we were able to comfort her as we talked to her about a loving Heavenly Father who knows her problems, and who will help her through all things. We talked to her about Heavenly Father's will, and how it's not always what we want. But, if we have faith and trust in Him, if we especially obey His commandments, He will bless in ways that we never thought were possible. It has been three months of hard work, but the fruits of our labor paid off, and there is nothing sweeter than that, knowing that one more person in the world knows that Heavenly Father loves them, that He has restored His church to this Earth, and that He has a marvelous plan for them. The changes that we've seen in her are amazing. She has gone from fearing to hopeful, distressed to excited, doubting to believing. It is amazing to see the Spirit working in the hearts of Heavenly Father's children. It really is a blessing.

Other than that, we had a pretty crazy week! We shattered most of the records that we sent for our key indicators. Part of the reason why is because we had for new missionaries come in this past week. Two of them went into their areas, but we kept the other two with us for awhile because their luggage had been misplaced, and we couldn't really send them out to the jungles of Malaysia until they had their clothes and such. Elder Palfreyman took Elder Ng-Woon out while I took Elder Raja. Taking new missionaries out is always great because they are so excited to do the work. Elder Raja was fearless, just talking to everyone and anyone. That was a great motivator to me, so I followed suit. Together, we ended up teaching thirty six lessons and getting seven new investigators in a matter of a few hours! Elder Raja reminded me about what we really should be doing as a missionary, and we ended the week strong with over a hundred lessons and eighteen new investigators. We're really getting on track on having a baptismal service every two weeks so that's wonderful.

Velmurugan is continuing to progress. He has some problems coming to Church on Sunday because of work, but we're confident that through prayers, something will work out. Joe has come for two straight Sundays now, and really seems to be doing well. He'll probably be baptized two weeks after Angelina, so we can't wait for that to happen! Setting that vision has been wonderful. To have a goal is definitely important. I'm learning that as I've set up my study schedule, and also my diet and exercise schedule. The problem is more often than not, I'm not motivated to keep up with it, so I'm trying to work on that. It is so east to be frustrated with yourself. For some reason, I've been annoying myself with my handwriting, my lack of exercise, and lack of control when eating, so I'm trying to learn to be patient with myself. We all have our weaknesses, I've learned, so that's been an eye opener. :P There are certain changes that we must and we want to make, but the only true motivator is the Lord. Changes come as we try to improve ourselves, and so, we need to put our trust in the Lord who will help us to become strong.

This week has been especially busy, because the Palmers were out of town, and we had to fill in for them. We've had our hands full since Monday, but it has been very fun, with more things to do. I've had to enter in the baptisms for the week into the system, process reports for President Skelton to send off to the area headquarters, return emails and fix travel schedules, and to continue to manage office duties such as supplies. Sometimes it gets a little boring sitting in the office when there's not too much to do, so it has been a week of accomplishments, especially when we managed to do some things that we weren't too sure how to. Almost made some mistakes of consequence, but managed to avoid them, so that was good. In the process, I manged to fall sick once again, so that hasn't been too fun. Overall, we have had an amazing week, one of my best as a missionary.

Of course, we continue to have our disappointments and set backs, people cancel appointments, people are rude to us, we have disagreements among friends and family. But, all that comes to naught as we come to understand the Atonement of the Savior, about His teachings and His love, that all should be forgiven, we can come to develop a sense of inner peace. That's a very vague term, but it's something that you have to find for yourself. I'm taking the steps towards that, but I'm still far from it. But, there is hope, that "cometh of faith" (Ether 12:4) and that's all that really matters.