¡bienvenido!

Spencer Michael Henze served a 2 year, full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints among the people of Oaxaca, Mexico (pronounced wa-ha-ka). This is the week-by-week account of his service. Elder Henze returned with honor March 21, 2012.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Every Member a Missionary

hey!
Thats sooo cool that Carrington got baptized. With all your help those missionaries had it EASY!!! I just gave a talk in church yesterday about how important the members are in missionary work and explained how they could smoothly share things about the church with their friends using the methods they teach us now which is start by talking about Christ first and his doctrine. then that brings up interest about the authority and the ordinances and the restoration and is a perfect time to invite the missionaries to join. however, the members seemed very unreceptive to the message and that depressed me for a while yesterday but who knows, maybe one of them will be animated about the work as a result of the talk. from the pulpit they all just looked soo like... ¨oh here we go... stupid elder wants us to do his work for him¨ and it effected me a lot. for a couple minutes the spirit left me as I was speaking when I realized the general reaction of the audience and was shocked. my Spanish went out the window for a few moments and I just felt weird. however, with a prayer in my heart the spirit returned and so did my Spanish. I held onto the hope that maybe someone would be touched by my talk. I have faith that it will result in if not references, maybe at least someday down the road someone will hear the gospel because of the way I explained to them how to start talking about it. anyway so for a little bit yesterday I was a little down but like always with prayer and faith my spirits were lifted again and I feel great!
We´ve been working hard out here. I always thought that once I was senior comp and could do things my way I would see more success. I was sure of it, but the success has been very hard to see. Its there, I just have to look for it. Miracles still happen every day even though they´re small, but thats what helps me keep the faith and desire to walk 10 miles each day talking to people until I almost don´t have a voice at night and exerting myself physically, mentally and emotionally until I wonder how much longer I can do this having almost nothing to show for it. I think my time in this area has just been mostly planting seeds and strengthening the members even though a lot of them don´t like me a whole lot because I can´t speak super well and they don´t understand my personality. Don´t get me wrong, I´m not unhappy, in fact I´m very happy. Its just hard to keep up the spirits at all times when It appears that my efforts have almost no effect. I know that amidst the grim appearance, though, the success is there. and even though I don´t see it I have been helping people a lot more than I probably realize. The spirit has confirmed that to me and thats what keeps me going. It helps me to realize that I DO see these little miracles every day. we´ve been able to make progress with some VERY difficult inactive members. when the members hear about some of the in-actives we´ve been visiting they are shocked that they are letting us visit them. so things like that are cool but don´t produce much in the way of numbers. I´m not concerned about the numbers though. You all in the fam talking to you on Christmas and from the letters from Dad have helped me to realize that the numbers aren´t important. they´re just guidelines. and that the real success is how I work to serve the lord. and there is a lot more to the lord´s work than just baptizing people. Obviously thats way important, but you know what I mean. So thats been my thoughts lately as I reflect on this change seeing as how it is coming to a close very quickly. It looks like there aren´t going to be many changes this change because nobody is coming into the mission so i´m most likely going to be here another change. I´m gonna complete a year in the mission with 2 areas!! haha. oh well :) I´m gonna know the city really well if you guys come back with me afterwards so I guess thats a plus!
on a more positive note, we figured out we have this little pueblo in our area called San Felipe Tejalapa in which we knocked 7 doors on Saturday and found 7 new investigators!!! (2 families) the only problem is they live about an hour away from the chapel and there isn´t much in the way of transportation out there. who cares though. we´re gonna teach them the gospel! BOOYAH!
well, I´m doing good. its just been a little more difficult mentally lately but i´m busting it out! haha. thanks to you guys and your support and council :)
I love you!!!
-Elder Spencer Henze