My greatest strengths...building relationships

October 18th, 2010




Man, being in a car area is quite the experience. I feel like I don't know how to do missionary work anymore. When you spend your whole mission in medium sized cities and then come to an area that covers a heck of a lot of ground, you have kind of remold and turn your brain on again to come up with a whole new game plan of how you're going to do the work effectively. That's what Elder Vogel and I are in the process of doing, and I think we've got a good hold on things now after the past two weeks of kinda running around with our heads cut off. Well, maybe It was just me feeling like that. Who knows?
Its really cool to be working with Daniel again. He definitely hasn't forgotten what he learned on his mission. Our ward here has a lot of the same issues, as far as missionary work is concerned, as Erlangen did, and we're taking the things we did in Erlangen that worked, modifying them a bit, and trying them out in this ward. Over the past few days, and especially in church on Sunday, I came to this realization that this ward, and the gap between them and the missionary work that needs to be bridged, may be the reason, or at least one of the main reasons, why I was sent here to Unna. I think that one of my greatest strengths as a missionary is my ability to build good relationships with the members and wards here, and maybe that's just what this ward needs in order to make some progress and heal some wounds that have been caused by fallings away.
Last night we taught a great family whom I think stand as good a chance as anyone of being baptized. They are friends of a member in our ward who has taken them to church with him a couple times before I got here. We taught them about the restoration last night, and watched the Restoration DVD with them. The children are pretty hyper-active, but extremely bright and susceptible to the spirit. One of the boys even participated in our teachings and explained to US a principle with an angelic innocence and clarity that really touched us. The father, Herr Lauderlein, is very open, and very interested in the gospel. He also has that key support system of a member friend, which is always invited. I'm really looking forward to teaching this family and ask for your prayers in their behalf.
Hope you all have a great week. Take care!

-Andy