So this was a marginally frustrating week. I didn't talk much about last week, but we started making some real progress with Ally. The resemblance between her situation and Amanda's (from back in Freedom) was glaringly obvious. So, I talked with Amanda about it (Which was awesome!!! She recently moved, and hadn't gone to church for a bit, but the day I'd talked to her was her first Sunday going to the new ward, and I don't think I've heard her sound so happy in months!!) and she got all excited about helping Ally. I think wheels were really starting to turn in Ally's head...... and then she moved to Lancaster, just outside of Buffalo, to live with her mom again. It's sooo aggrevating. I finally thought we'd found someone in a situation that they would actually accept the gospel, and then it all crashes in one day. That is the selfish reasoning for me being upset, but even more, it's going to be REALLY rough for her. Living with her parents, from what she's told us, is not a good situation for her. Saturday night, when we heard about it, I could only find solace in Jacob 5:21-22, when the Lord of the vineyard and his servant come to a branch in the crappiest part of the whole vineyard, seemingly dooming it to fail. It reads:
And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: How comest thou hither to plant this tree, or this branch of the tree? For behold, it was the poorest spot in all the land of thy vineyard.
And the Lord of the vineyard said unto him: Counsel me not; I knew that it was a poor spot of ground; wherefore, I said unto thee, I have nourished it this long time, and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit.
So, I am trying to stop counseling the Lord, and let Him do His thing.... but it's still frustrating haha.
I'm trying to think of good stories to tell about any of the people we're actually teaching right now, but I'm not coming up with a whole bunch. I swear, my strength is in finding people and helping them see that the gospel is something they want in their life. When it comes to actually helping them get it into their life, I struggle... Elder Inkley and Elder Thueson were both really good at that. Elder Westwood.... just doesn't really talk. Haha he's from a town of 130 people, so even though he's as nice and easy-going as they come, he is perfectly fine not saying a word haha. So, it looks like I have to figure out how to help people progress longer than three weeks at a time.
Yesterday we sat down and laid out what we thought each of the people we're working with need. Pretty much, we decided we need to be a little bolder. We have sort of allowed our investigators to accept where they were at, which we definitely shouldn't. We pretty much let people plateau. So, hopefully we'll have some more exciting stories in the near future.
We do have a whole bunch of potential investigators who make me pretty excited, though. We have had more luck getting to be friends with part-member families than I have had my whole mission. We have four right now who I think have tons of potential. It's just tough with them, because they are relationships that we don't want to ruin at all. I guess we don't want to ruinany relationships, ever. But it's easier to be bold with someone you tracted into or met on the street. But when you're with a family who is already a part of the church, we're always super nervous about offending anyone, because you kind of realize that if they don't gain a testimony now, they'll have another opportunity down the line. We also have a couple referrals where the member who referred them is doing most of the coordinating, which always works better.
I don't know. This is a kind of lame email, I guess. But good things are coming, I think!
I love you, but I don't miss you!
Elder Allen
P.S. This is my 50th weekly email home :)
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