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| Elder Graham and I from our exchange last week. |
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We recently went on an exchange with Elder Mitton (left of Elder John) and Elder Cook (Right of Elder John). This was at the end of it.
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In Skyway there are tons of people to talk to and many people will let you come back and teach them once, but second and third appointments are very rare here! Elder John and I are working hard and are helping the Zone to work hard on achieving more second lessons with the same person. We did that this week with Duane! He is a wonderful soul and about 60 years old. He has had a couple of strokes and is operating at 90% of his former self (that's what he shared with us) in terms of function. He has a lot more trials, especially with his health, but I wont share them all. During our first lesson we didnt really teach anything because whenever we would ask him a question he would give us a brief answer and then go on for at least 5 or 10 minutes on a life story about one of those hard aspects of his life. Our second lesson went tons better as we were able to share more about Heavenly Father and Prophets. We need to go very slow because he doesn't retain everything so a few concepts a lesson will be ideal for him. We didnt ask almost any questions (which usually is very very bad in teaching situations) during the lesson and it turned out very well. We were so happy when we asked him as a review at the end "What is a Prophet?" He made a joke (he is very very funny. He isnt a stand up comedian, he is a "sit down" comedian) and then told us that they are called of God. Progress will be slow for Duane, but as time goes on it will show.
Elder John and I have a strong desire to bring many souls unto Christ by helping them repent and be baptized in March, so we have a goal this week to do a lot more contacting and tracting than we usually do. We have the goal of helping at least 2, so we are going to be doing something different than we would normally to achieve it. (p.s. if you are ever wondering if something is a good goal, one of the best ways to find out is if it motivates you to do something that you wouldn't have done otherwise. This goal is good because Elder John and I are doing a lot of things different than we would otherwise to achieve this goal.)
If you were to ask me "What is your favorite thing about serving a mission?" I would reply something like "First off thats a very absolute question and I dont have an absolute answer for you." Then I would say, "One of my favorite things though is personal progression and becoming more like Christ." One of the goals of a mission is not simply to act differently for 2 years and go back to doing the same things you did before, but tobecome something different. Read Elder Oaks' seminal talk about becoming to understand more about what I am saying. As a result of my mission experience I am not simply acting more like Christ for 2 years, I am becoming more like Him which is such an amazing gift! I need a lot of work done on me and its been amazing how Christ has been able to shape me one step at a time while I have been serving "with all my heart might mind and strength."
"The Challenge to Become"
One personal struggle I have is working with my companion in unity and trying out ideas and things that are shared. This isnt specific to Elder John, but I would say to all of my past companions. This week has been a great week of further progression on my personal goal to better yield to their ideas and love my companion. I am not perfect, but I am becoming much better at recognizing and stopping my self from being so narrow minded all of the time. I have a bad tendency to not support or use the ideas that my companion suggests, but as I have been striving to constantly humble myself by listening, thinking, and supporting them, it has worked out! One way this is helped is I have changed the way I look at my opinions and what I call them. I used to look and think about my opinions as stone hard objects that didnt change under normal circumstances, but only under huge events like a sledgehammer to it or being melted in lava or something of the sort. Now I look at them more like "Jello." Jello is great because it has shape and form, but it also can be molded or brought back to liquid and reshaped. I am striving to be much more open to other concerns, recognize when I need to be more supporting (aka all of the time), and I will often say to Elder John "Now this is my Jello opinion about that..." to let him know that I really am not dead set in doing it a certain way. Christ can help me overcome these personal struggles and I am grateful for it!
I love you all so much! I invite you to read that talk/listen to it and consider what you can do to become more Christlike this week and follow through with it! If you would like me to keep you accountable, email me your goal and I will follow up!
Love you so much!
Elder Sumsion
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