It's a Shoe Thing

Oh Mylanta!

It has been a long week.  It seems like every time I go to write these letters all the things I wanted to say leave my head and I can never remember what I wanted to say. 

Let's start with this week.  It was tough.  Rainy and there was a lot of walking around in boots.  It was tough this week because we had to deal with elections, which weren't that bad, but that meant that no one was out on the road to talk to and then it started to rain this week... aside from being ridiculously hot.   I am learning all new lessons in love and it's an essential role in this work.  The rain can be fun, but walking around in trench boots is not.  I had to leave my boots in Maputo to make weight, so I don't have them up here right now.  I wish I did because these other boots are not meant for walking around in.  That is where the new lessons in love come in.  When you love what you do, everything else just doesn't matter.  The Spirit is conveyed better in a lesson when you say what you say out of love, not just to enlighten someone.  Here's why: charity is the pure love of Christ.   It seeketh not her own, which is important because as missionaries you have a tendency to want to say something that will show your investigator that you know how to answer or solve a problem.  The truth is that no one is impressed and the Spirit is grieved that you would rather gratify your pride than allow someone to feel the power and the love of their Father.  Kind of an in-depth lesson, I know.  So bringing the Spirit is like good music... if it's played too fast or the wrong notes are hit, it will never sound in the ears of the listener.  If you wait and play the parts and not just skip to the crescendo, people appreciate it more and it gives understanding.  Don't know if that made sense, but that's something that I understood this week.  Not a very successful week otherwise, but it was a good learning process and I have some more study to do in the Book of Mormon.  It's a little frustrating sometimes because while you're at a certain part of the Book of Mormon, someone is at another spot and they learn something that totally helped you but you're in this other part and you have to read through the rest of the Book of Mormon to get back to that part that you want to read.   It's just an endless cycle of wanting to restart the Book of Mormon.   It's a good thing, but I wish I could get more out of it than I do each time I go through because I don't feel like I get enough. 

Today or rather this morning was a lot of fun.  We played soccer again.   Oh, how I love this game!!  It was great just to get back out on the field again and realize that I need to start running again, which I am totally going to do.  It was a lot of fun to see my MTC comp and play on the field with him as well as some other elders from surrounding areas.  I had a shoe problem again.  I left those also back in Maputo to make weight and so I had to borrow some that didn't quite fit and I ended up just playing in socks on this hard wood flooring.  It was a great game except for the two blood blisters on either foot.  Not too bad, though.  The important thing was that we had fun.

Bats flying around during the day.

I just wanted to comment on what you were thinking about, Mom.  I think about that chapter in 3rd Nephi (3rd Nephi 17: 19-25).  I am sure there was singing there.  I don't think it is any coincidence that when parents have kids that the parents often times learn more than the children (Matthew 21:16).  I think the primary children have a lot to give to their parents.  I also think about the family choir in conference (stake choir).  By the way, that really made me trunky.  Someone needs to write them and tell them that they do have missionaries out in the field still.  But, yes, I say do it full steam ahead give those kids opportunities to be missionaries.  Maybe as a song suggestion... "The Armies of Helaman", but in the MTC they changed the words to  "...and we are now the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth" instead of "...and we will be the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth".  It has a powerful affect of bringing the Spirit and could really help the stake get behind the idea of missionary work.  Just a thought, definitely let the primary kids know that the purpose in this choir is missionary work as well.  Maybe even get into the service realm of things, like writing letters to people who are sick in the hospital, or even to orphans ("Give them the Lords chips, Nacho")  Sorry, I couldn't help myself.  Children have a great capacity for charity.  It only needs to be accessed.  (Mosiah 4: 14-16)  That's more or less my input on that, but I hope that helps a little.

Anyways, I think this letter is long enough so I think I will close here. 

I love you guys lots,

Elder Proksch