Well another transfer down. And I also hit my 3 month mark this week. Tomorrow is transfer meeting and Elder Wight is getting transferred. I also will be training a new missionary for the next 2 transfers! Crazy weird. When I found out that I would be training on Tuesday it made me get really stressed out. Probably more than I have been stressed in a long long time. Mainly because I still don't know the area because it is so huge.
So this week wasn't the greatest. Our recent convert, Lili, has been making excuses to not come to our ward and to only go to sacrament meeting and not to come to activities and to go shopping on Sundays, etc. And that has been really frustrating for Elder Wight and I.
I have also gained a fear of white people. There are a lot of hispanics in my area and when you see the rare white person they are usually a basher looking for mormon missionaries.
You guys have been asking a lot of questions about how missionary work is done here so I will update you a little bit. We never tract. It is the most uneffective thing you can ever do. We contact on the street to people we pass by. We only place a Book of Mormon if the person sets up a return appointment and is willing to take it. So that is very rare. A set of the elders in our zone had this investigator that wouldn't even look at the Book of Mormon because she had been told by her "Christian" preacher that they are all cursed and you will die if you look at the Book of Mormon.
Our mission motto is "Laser beam." We only work with the elect. Drop those that aren't quite there yet. It isn't worth the time to work with somebody that isn't going to act on what we ask them to do. In this mission we find, teach, and baptize. It is all very fast pace, no lollygaging around. I don't know how to spell that. Lessons have changed from how they used to be. We are trained not to memorize anything from Preach My Gospel. We teach from our own experiences and knowledge. So that is a little background on how the work is done down here. I like it though because there is always something productive to be doing. And it is fun when we work hard. "If you don't attack the mission, the mission attacks you." - President Kendrick. Because I am in a YSA ward right now we don't use bikes we drive everywhere because our area is the size of the southern end of Salt Lake Valley.
I am glad that I decided to come on a mission. It has brought so many blessings in my life and in the life of others as well. And it is way cool to see that. Anyways I have to go now. Talk to you all next week.
Love always,
Elder Miles