WHAT I DO EACH DAY
It's often hard to decide what I should highlight from the week. For me, I feel like the days are very similar. There are new developments and new people, but it is simply what I do each day. Then I hear families talk about how their son or daughter never tells them about what it's like to be a missionary wherever they serve, and I try my best to bring out what I felt was interesting with the week. Overall the week was normal. We walked the streets of Handen, taught some people, and tried to help as many people as we could.
"IS THE GOSPEL WORKING FOR YOU?"
On Friday, we had a Specialized Zone training. This is a time where we receive extra instruction from President and Sister Beckstrand, and the assistants as to how we can improve our work. Our training was focused towards what it means to be converted. It's a word I hadn't considered all that much. But it carries a lot of meaning. One can be converted to the church, a missionary, or a principal, but our goal is to be converted to the Lord. They talked about the importance of each member in the work we do. It's interesting really. I have almost always seen missionaries and members as separate in their work, conduct, and everything really. However, we (missionaries) are meant to go in to strengthen a ward and build it up. The base is the ward, and we as missionaries, are a type of catalyst. It's the work of God, the work that we strive to accomplish as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And we do it because we believe it will help people. A question I like to ask myself is one I heard in General Conference. "Is the Gospel working for you?" I think it's an important question, because when it is, why wouldn't we share it? And if it doesn't work for us, is there a reason? It's not always easy to answer the question, but it's quite simple.
UNITED IN OUR DESIRE
After the Zone training, we headed to the ferry to travel to Gotland. We had the opportunity to work with some other missionaries in the district. The island is historic and beautiful, but it was a crazy weekend. Most of what we saw was through the car window, as we went to our different appointments. Most of my time was spent inside the 5th floor where the branch meets on Sundays, and we got the opportunity to speak for them as well. The branch is made up of 12 active members, but there is a lot of growth going on right now. People from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Africa, Sweden, and the USA, made up the congregation on Sunday. There were more people, who were not members vs. members of the church in the meeting. It's interesting to see this kind of growth. A small group of people trying to improve their relationship with God and follow the example of Jesus Christ. Each of us there with different seeds of faith, but we were united in our desire. It was a new experience for me.
OUR BOAT
CASTLE WALLS
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| Downtown Visby (on Gotland) is surrounded by castle walls. |
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