Why so Hard?...Because it was hard for Him!

I love being a Missionary Mom! I love to watch the growth that even a mother can't teach. All of those things that Alex is hating right now, he will learn to love. They will make him a better person and one to get along with easily. I think every missionary has to get through the really bad things and then be able to work on the really good things. But not until they have gone through the really bad things, sometimes with a fine tooth comb. Keep your chin up Alex, you are doing great and becoming even greater!


Fetch. This week was ridiculous. I have done more contacts since last Monday than the four weeks before that.

Our mission's "Standard of Excellence", which is to say, the amount we´d ideally do for contacts is 77 a week. That´s not terrible; it's only 11 a day. A goal came down from even higher up of 140... 20 a day. These aren't quotas; there's no obligation involved, but even so, to think that they expect it made us think, "Is this possible?" So Elder Silva and I, feeling faithy, decided to do it. 20 a day until the next Monday.

The first day we did 17 ... in two hours of doing nothing but contacting in the street. We had to go on to our appointments, so that´s where it ended. It was hard, hard work. We had crazy rejections, girls hitting on us, and drunks yelling at us while we talked to other people.

The last contact was a lady with a stroller. We starting talking about families. Elder Silva said something like, "And with all this, we can be together with our families forever - not until death do you part." She looked up from her stroller suddenly. He continued, "Did you know that?" She said she hadn´t. We told her about it a little more, and she invited us to come over the next day.

We went, and we taught a short Plan of Salvation. Being Catholic, the clarity of the things we taught struck her. It turns out she'd come to my chapel once on an assignment from school and found it very beautiful, perhaps even the best she'd seen. She asked us about resurrection - something she´s never understood. We gave her a chapter in the Book of Mormon, and we return Thursday.

Something interesting about all this, though. In the past, the ratio of contacts to "new"s, or new investigators has been about 9:1. I expected that. The interesting thing, though, was that of the 17, four will very likely be "new"s.

There's a part in the fifth chapter of Jacob (*see below after*) that talks about the laborers in a vineyard. The Lord of the vineyard tells them to go work, and they start working. But the Lord doesn´t just watch them. He goes and He works with them, and they save as much of the vineyard as was possible.

Are you seeing the connection here?

But there´s something I´ve asked myself a few times - "Why is it so hard?" The mission is back-breakingly difficult. It's good to keep an opinion of the mission as being really spiritual and happy, which it is, but don´t let anyone tell you it's an easy thing. Every weakness, no matter how small, will become painfully obvious at some point. The things you´ve been able to avoid doing that you hate, or that you´re terrible at doing you will have to do. I am not a natural contacter. Every contact is like a repetition of some exercise I´m doing that doesn´t get any easier with time. I've heard from members that there are several women in the ward who think I´m a jerk. My companion has something to say every night about something I shouldn´t do or did badly. What´s more, my house is half-without electricity, which means no heating during studies, and our tap sprung a leak in the drain, so we can´t really use it.

So why is it so hard? Because it was hard for Him.

It´s pretty hard to live a sinless life, as far as I know. What He asks of us is "squishy," depending on how much we can put in. He could say "Do everything perfect," wait for the judgement, and watch us all go down. He would be completely in His rights - only He did (or didn´t do) it all. But that´s not how it is, is it?

Sorry for being preachy. I´m kind of becoming a preach, it seems.

Maybe next time, if you´re really good, I´ll talk about not-the-gospel.

Love, and condolences that Annie ended,
Elder A Conrad Crist, annoying preacher





***Has it occured to Jake that there is a Book of Jacob - like Book of Eli? Just saying.
***Speaking of things like that, are there more of those Dragonball Z movies?
***Speaking of other things like that, are there more V?

Maybe receipdees... I´m just going phonetic here - resipees of good things, like brownies and cookies printed out? I left the last ones because Mónica wanted them.

100 pushups on one page (I swear there´s printout of it together)
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