This is a small text Elder Hales shared with us, that he sent President Ostler. I believe President Ostler is having the missionaries focus on families.
This week we were really just going to every house and every investigator and asking straight off. where is your father? when will he be home? where is your mother? when is she going to come? haha it is so good! we were hoping to get at least one full family in church but we didn't see any. But the sisters in the branch they brought a full family father mother and three children, ooohhhh how i was jealous! Is that something that is okay to be jealous about? I was very happy to see their success. we had the sweetest lesson with a family this week though. The previous missionaries were teaching three boys in the home and one was about to come to the waters of baptism. when the father was gaining interest more and more in the lessons. one night we went to just address the father on some questions that he had. he and the mother wanted to just fire tons of questions at us. Well after just answering two or three my companion and I were tired. So we just went straight to the restored gospel and taught a L1 and he was blown away. After the lesson as family. the mother and father, and the four priest aged boys knelled down to pray in the front room. the father addresses the whole family before the prayer saying ''please I want all of us to focus on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, this is a serious matter and we need an answer to what we have just found" oooohhhhh I was just filled with the spirit. during the prayer tears filled my eyes and in my head all I was picturing the one son who was just got baptized holding the priesthood and baptizing the father and the mother and the brothers. aaaahhhh I love this family so much. I desire their salvation more than I have ever before in my mission. I want to thank you for putting the pressure on us missionaries more to teach families.. I wish I would have put this much effort earlier. The joy that it fills my soul is just what I wanted when I thought about a mission!!!
Really I am having the time of my life and really feeling so great about the work that I am doing. I feel like I am just running out of time too fast. Really I just feel like right now I am just understanding the principle behind the atonement and really how important it is in our lives. As I see the simplicity of the gospel I can't help but to think of all those loved ones of family and friends that I could have done more to help them see and feel what I feel about the gospel and its teachings. Its funny to think but all the time that I am writing my journal I write about the people that I want to help at home.
This week we don't really have too many cool stories. I'm just trying to again teach someone who was taught first and then taught in ways that maybe weren't just the same as I would or in the right way. haha I love walking and my companion hasn't caught the vision of walking and really thinking while we walk. Our apartment is out of our area and is about two miles away. hah so we walk a lot now!!! Its starting to rain lots and lots. Last night I woke up to a bucket in the bathroom falling down... my eyes shot open and my heart started racing.. at that moment I closed my eyes and then prayed asked the Lord to guide me in the cause that I was on in that moment. Then I grabbed my mortar pistol (like a baseball bat) and I crept out of my room... my thoughts were again I hate this... well I was out in the hall creeping down and bammm!! The window slammed shut! Just at that moment I was came to a knowledge that it was just the wind. The rains were coming down so hard! I thought it was going to penetrate our thin zinc covered roof! So much rain and so much fun!!! The gospel is true and the work is of God. I love being a missionary and pray that all my family will be a missionary in their heart and minds and actions.
Keep up the faith and the personal studies and the temple. I love hearing about that. I plan on doing some sharing of the scriptures over and over and over when I get home. The gospel is the only way and is the way that I chose to follow before coming to this earth. I know that God lives and that hears mine and your prayers
I love you dad, mom and family
ELDER HALES
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