Christ will increase what we bring to Him

Arrived Feb 10, 2016
Love you more than.... Ice cream!!!! Last p-day after the mountain adventure we got some ice cream and it was soooo good! We have this place nearby that is pretty cheap and after a good long week of working, ice cream is like manna from heaven. 

 

A picture from our hike last week

This was a good week. It has been kind of a standstill with investigators, which can be frustrating, but it is the process. We have been trying to get more lessons with the people we have contacted but they never seem to be home. Everyone says “oh yea just come back at night or on Saturdays and Sundays”, but that means there’s still five days of the week that we are looking for lessons. The more effort you put into finding new people the better the result, but it has been a little frustrating that we haven’t found people yet and we haven’t been able to share with them hardly at all. We spend the days walking a lot in between lessons. Here, with the go with the flow Caribbean feel, we don’t really have set lessons. We just tell them what time we will return then they say yeah come back whenever we are normally home. It’s hard since there isn’t a lot we can do about it and if we just keep contacting we have lessons but not conversions. 

We have a really good mission leader in the branch, I think but I only have experience with one other haha, and he has been working hard to get the branch leaders and member more involved. We are trying to focus on getting references from members. It’s like a focus on quality not quantity. He always says “excitement elder we have to work hard”. It kind of whips me into shape because I feel like I have excitement but now I have to prove it.

 

My really bad tan lines; collared shirt line and t-shirt line

Elder Bouwhuis and I get along really well. We spend probably more time than we should talking about people and places from home we both know. We joke around a lot and still work hard. It’s nice working with new missionaries because they have such great faith and expectations. They still feel like they can conquer the world and that everyone is our next target for lack of a better term. I would say that I still have that excitement and hope but I think the more time you have in the mission you kinda’ forget it because you try not to get your hopes up to high in case people stop wanting to improve.

We have a handful of people really close to baptism like Cristofer and Heydi and a lady named Daisy and a guy named Leo, but there are just little barriers that make it so things aren’t progressing. Its like we are so close and yet we are just waiting ah!!!!

 

For all the teenagers, Dominican Zeppies (Italian Ice)

I really want to make these 12 weeks like amazing so Elder Bouwhuis can continue with it and have a good start. Sometimes it still feels like I do my best, but things could go better if others were here. But I think this is a good time for us to learn more about how we will be guided to people and the spirit will teach people if we have trust in the Lord and do what we are supposed to do. 

I just restarted the Book of Mormon and I also got into the New Testament and I’m in Juan haha, I mean john. I still am learning how to mark the scriptures because all my pages are just filled since I have the habit of underlining just about everything. 

Each time I read the story of the 5 loaves of bread and two fishes it hits me how significant it really is. I think it is important how Christ doesn’t turn stones into bread here or water into wine, but he increases what the people had, 5 small loafs and two small fish. (I start singing the scripture scouts song every time I think about this) Christ will increase what we bring to him, it isn’t what we ask to receive but what we offer and ask for improvement. There is also a Liahona article about gaining light, that just came out. It talks about how every good thing we do allows us to gain light, but the back things or our lack of obedience causes us to lose light.  If we will work to get rid of our faults and offer up what we have, we will increase. Line upon line, immediately and after the trial of our faith we grow as we walk shoulder to shoulder with the greatest person to ever live, Jesus Christ. 

The big red letter stands for the sheffield family oh..!!!

One year older and (hopefully) wiser 

Elder Sheffield