This has been a really great week for us. We've had some rough moments where nothing is happening and we're not sure where to go, but as we have done our best to be diligent and keep working our best, good things have happened. We were able to set six baptismal dates this week, all for November. One thing that we have really been struggling with though is getting investigators to church. For the second week in a row we had zero investigators attend. We've prayed and discussed this and we believe the key to changing this is going to be working with members. We plan on setting up church tours with some of our baptismal dates and having a member family invite them into their home for a lesson. I'm certain that this will help increase our sacrament meeting attendance.
Three of those dates are for Nov 17 with M and two of her kids, J and S (17 and 20 respectively). They're the ones I wrote about last week. Maria usually works Sundays at a flea market in Madera. Yesterday, her car wasn't working, so they were going to go to church. But they needed a ride. So they tried to call us, but for some reason couldn't get a hold of us. Super sad! They're for sure coming next week though. S really wants to be baptized and it sounds like Maria is just going to stop going to the flea market on Sunday so she can go to church. I'm really excited for them!
I was studying about patience the other day and it turned into a study of diligence. I've never really thought about how closely linked those two attributes are. It seems to me that there are two types of patience: Patient diligence and patient endurance. Patient diligence has to do with consistently working on things that are in our control and patient endurance has to do with being long-suffering with the things we can't control. Diligence also has to do a lot with hope. We are much more likely to consistently work at something when we have a sure hope that the end result will be worth it. As we work hard but consistently we can patiently hope for the Lord's promises to be fulfilled. I feel that that attitude and that diligence has been key to the success we have begun to find in the last couple of weeks.
I'm excited for November. We didn't baptize in October, the first month I haven't baptized since I got to the mission field. Part of that was how I'd let discouragement weaken my faith like Preach My Gospel warns you not to do on page 10. You just don't baptize in Merced! That's how it's always been. Well, that's not how it's always going to be. My faith has been increasing as we have started inviting more and more people to be baptized right from the start. There are prepared people even in Merced! We've been finding more and more investigators and teaching more and more lessons. I really, really hope that when transfer calls come on Saturday we'll find out that Elder Moody and I are staying. I would also love to keep Elder Benson as a district leader. We have plans for this branch!
I love you all so much! I know this church is true and I know that as we patiently endure our trials and patiently work to overcome our weaknesses, we will see miracles and blessings. Don't ever lose hope!
Love,
Elder Lofthouse
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