I thought I'd share the letter from the Assistants this week. It's pretty cool.
"We had a record breaking week all around as our key indicators were all time highs! We had only three key indicators that were not all time records and they were baptized, with a date and at sacrament but even in these three categories we hit a VERY close 2nd to the all time high. With baptisms we only hit one less than the best we have done and with a date and at sacrament are within 10 of our best. We had 330 new investigators, 399 member presents, 608 other lessons, 1923 quality lessons, 270 progressing investigators, and 280 contacted referrals. It really was a great week and we must continue on this track of hard work and following the Spirit! We hope under our new focus and system of accountability and leadership that you personally feel more liberty to do as you are directed by the Spirit for YOUR area and with that liberty an added sense of urgency and pressure to work hard and be in tune with God. We know we can do it because we are doing it right now!!! Keep it up Elders and Sisters and DO NOT let up now. We can FAR surpass these numbers as a mission and more importantly we can far increase the amount of individuals we bring to Christ in His true church. WE CAN DO BETTER!!!! We love you and pray for you, keep it up!"
In that special zone conference we had a few weeks ago, we got rid of zone and district standards and put all the responsibility for our areas on our shoulders. We are to seek revelation for our areas, use the finding techniques we feel inspired to use, come up with inspired plans to reach our inspired goals, and really do things the way our area needs them done. We account to our district (or in my companionship's case, zone) leaders and are working closer with them than ever before. As you can see, the results are showing. I am so thankful for Presdient Gelwix. He is such an inspired person who truly has the gift of discernment. We have zone conference again this week, and I'm so excited! We are always so uplifted by it. And my zone is singing the EFY medley, with me accompanying. I love that song!
So, my camera didn't complete survive. Sorry if none of the pictures I sent are very good quality. But we went to Yosemite yesterday, and I got a bunch of good pictures! It was so much fun! There are some really cool waterfalls there. On one trail, we were hiking up stone steps through a bunch of mist through the waterfall. I thought I was in Peru or somewhere else in South America. It was awesome!
V and her kids were baptized on Saturday. They were 20 minutes late, but they came! Yay! It was a good baptism and a lot of people showed up and the members were all very friendly to her and welcoming her to the branch. I'm so happy!
I've been having some rough times. There are days when I don't feel like talking to anyone and I don't see how I'm going to be able to teach with the Spirit. On one of these days, we went riding to go see someone and talked to everyone on the way. The second or third person we talked to turned around with a big smile and a big handshake and said, "Why hello! I want to thank God for sending these two nice young men to say hi to me. Thank you!" We asked him if he'd ever talked to missionaries before. He said, "I've been talking to people like you for 65 years, and I'm going to tell you what I tell all of them. Thank you for what you do. Thank you for what your church does. This world is getting bad and we all know what that means. In not too long, Christ, or God, or whatever you call Him is going to come. And there are demons around you trying to keep you from going out and talking to everyone about the word. Don't stop! Don't stop! You keep going, and one day you will receive a reward you can't even imagine."
The Spirit filled my heart as God let me know that those words were from Him. This man Jesse, was very in tune with the Spirit. He even said, as he was talking about something, "And He's telling me right now that I need to shut up and give 10 or 15 minutes to these two young men because they know more than I do." We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he'd read it. I'm kind of hoping that when the English Elders go to the address he gave us it won't exist and that that was really an angel that God sent to me. I guess whether he's mortal or not, he was an angel and an answer to my prayers. I know that God speaks to us today as He always has and that your prayers will always be answered.
Well, thank you for all your love and support. I got Tiffany's and Grandma and Grandpa's package, and if you sent me one I'll probably be getting it at zone conference. And just so you know, it seems to take 10 days for letters to get from you to me. I love getting letters though, so go ahead and keep writing! But e-mail is definitely more effective.
Sorry I can only share with you a fraction of all the wonderful things that happen in my mission. I am loving it here. Thank you again for all you do for me!
Love you!
-Elder Lofthouse
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