The Only Opinion That Matters

Thanks for the letter!

 

I don't know what to write about in relation to all the stuff you wrote me.  I really can't wait to see Kyle and talk to him and the rest of the family, as well as see who this Alexis girl is.  That was a cool idea that Reid had.  

So, I started out this week with a division with other missionaries in my house.  This week I went with Elder Thomas and it was a really good division.  He had a lot of questions about his companionship and they were working through a few problems. Some of those things I was able to help him out with.  He was worried about what other missionaries thought of him.  I thought that was interesting and so I tried to help him know that the only opinion that mattered was his Heavenly Father's.  That seemed to help a little bit, but as you know, you actually have to internalize the Gospel to make it work and sometimes that takes time to do.  What I wasn't counting on was running into the same problem myself this week.  On the mission you generally want to make your leaders happy and sometimes the statistics don't necessarily reflect all the hard work that you actually put in during the week.  I found myself worried about what my leaders would think of the work that they see on paper.  Really, it just boiled down to me worrying more about the world and not about what my Father actually thought.  What I had not counted on was my zone leaders actually understanding my situation and helping me out with ideas to help me be better. Actually, telling me what they did to have some success, which is really what they wanted to do all along.  Something that one of my friends sent me in an email this week, he talked about Jacob 14 ;4  and how the Jews looked beyond the mark and not what they should have been focused on, which was Jesus Christ.  Basically, it boils down to going back to basics, not getting complicated.  Nephi even talked about it when he cried unto the Lord to let him walk in the plain road.  It's just that simple. It's OK to understand great things, but make sure your faith is simple and childlike be reminded of your duty.

This is something that really helped me out this week.  Also, in reference to your Activity Day thing, maybe teach a missionary lesson, have an "investigator" or in Preach My Gospel look up some of the activities they have in there.  They have companionship study ideas that are really cool.  They are in orange boxes in Preach My Gospel.  Missionary stuff that real missionaries do or challenge them to place a Book of Mormon or invite a friend to church and then show them to the missionaries.  Actually getting them to do missionary work is probably the best thing they can do.

Thank you for all the letters.  Sorry my time is short, but I love you guys.

Elder Proksch