8.31.15 - Panico Esencio

I may have botched the spelling there, but I was just trying to say "stage fright!" The Vargas baptism is this saturday. Everyone came to the baptismal interviews last saturday except for the second to youngest daughter. She's 11 and not loving jumping into primary right before the primary program. All is well, we think we can work with the primary presidency to help her feel more comfortable in this upcoming week, but we know that God has a purpose in this and it will work out for the betterment of their family. We've got lots of ideas we're going to keep trying in the meantime to help her feel receptive toward the church again. No fear! The oldest and youngest daughters and doing great, and one of the oldest daughters who was baptized 14 years ago also came back to church yesterday.

My dad made a comment a few weeks ago that as a missionary I may be becoming better at working through awkward situations. I had a chance to put that to the test this week. It wasn't flawless, but our overarching objective was accomplished. It was 6:30, we had a lesson scheduled for 6:30 and 7. On the way to our 6:30 we met a mom with 3 sons who were interested in hearing our message. It was in a neighborhood where we didn't want to risk not being able to find this person at home again so we tried to take advantage of the opportunity to teach immediately. We also never want to miss a teaching appointment, so we told the lady we met on the way, we're about to share this message with your neighbor, do you think we could share it to both of you together? She said she had no idea who her neighbor was, so we just told how nice her neighbor was and this and that and she finally agreed. So we ran over to the neighbors, who we've talked to once before and said, hey, it's great to see you, we're excited to share this message with you, and we just met your neighbor, she's so great, do you think you'd want to hear it over at her house while we explain this to her family too? She was quite a bit more open to the idea. So we walked with neighbor over to the Mom and 3 sons house, knocked on the door and said, Hello! Neighbor, meet your neighbor, we can't wait to share this with everyone.. so can we come in? Haha, we're going back tonight and hopefully the good neighborly vibe is still there.

We went to MLC on Tuesday, and on Wednesday and Thursday Elder Masters and I trained the companions to the district leaders. We did a a good hour of roleplaying. We practiced listening. Listening not only to the words the people say, but also what they're trying to express, the idea behind their words. Most importantly we have to listen to the thoughts and impressions the spirit puts into our mind and heart. If you're not a little tired after talking to someone you probably weren't listening very close, it does take effort. I've been surprised at how much people are just wiling to tell you. They love to be heard and even more to be understood. The more they feel that their thoughts are being considered and valued the more we're willing to share. If I can help them see how much the restoration has to do with what their living right then, then they're in. They are instantly 100 times (I don't have any real numbers to back that number up with) to listen and consider what we have to say, because we've taken 30 seconds to understand that they are trying to gear up for the challenge of a new school year, or they feel like they have found all of the truth there is to find in this world.

This church is true.

I love you!
Stay Salty!

Elder Tyler Meidell