I think that this has been one of the most jam-packed weeks in my whole mission. We had a ton of things that got in the way of doing the actual missionary work, but we still managed to do everything that we needed, and the Lord blessed us for our efforts with a really important success.
On Monday we went to Iguaçu Falls, the big waterfall in Indiana Jones, which was really stressful because President del Castillo wasn’t really excited about the idea. He wanted to be sure that everyone went out to work on time after p-day. It turned out to be really inspired though, because we contacted a huge family that a member had given us as a reference and five of them ended up coming to church on Sunday. It was a real miracle because we'd been really worried about how we were going to get a good number of investigators to show up. In the end, it turned out really well.
This week we were blessed to baptize Claudia, a single mom with two kids. Her children are going to get baptized next week. Claudia is really special because she’s had a lot of things happen in her life that helped to prepare her for the Gospel, but she doesn’t wear her problems out on her sleeve. She’s very focused in what she wants and has had to make some life-changes to get to this point. I'm really happy for her. She's also done very well at making friends with the ward members, which is going to help her to stay active in the church.
Elder Taylor and I are really excited for the rest of this month. I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to have the kind of success that we’re having in our area right now. I feel like this is by far the best time that I’ve ever had in my life. It’s so wonderful.
I’ve been putting a lot of thought into something that a Senior Missionary taught us in a Zone Conference a little while ago. He said that lots of people don’t accomplish what they want in life because they don’t have plans. That’s pretty much commonly known in the church. What he went on to say, however, was very interesting. He explained that if we are going to have success, we need to know why we’re here. He suggested making a life’s mission statement. Our Heavenly Father has one: “For this is my work and my glory...” A big part of why he’s so successful is that He’s completely dedicated to one thing, and all of His resources go towards that. The Elder that gave the lecture said that we should base our life’s mission statement on our patriarchal blessing.
I really liked the idea and have been trying to put together my mission statement. It’s a little bit elusive, because there’s a lot of information to consider, and because there is a certain practical limit to how much one can say. Every time that I start writing I end up with a whole paragraph of information. I must say, that it is a really useful meditative exercise. Every time that I find myself thinking about my purpose, I notice certain behaviors that I should eliminate. I highly recommend it.
I have a Christmas-related assignment for you guys. You should take a copy of the Book of Mormon or two, each one of you, put your testimony in it, mark a favorite passage, and commit to give it for Christmas to one of the people that matter to you. If you do, you will be able to see the people that you love in the celestial kingdom.
I’m glad to hear that you guys are doing so well. I miss you all a lot.
Love, Elder Rasband
