ELDER COLTON WEST: Week 36: 4th of July? So?

Another week gone, another change gone. It goes by so fast. But that's what happens when you work hard. Time just flies!

Yes, work. The W-word. Big scary word, I know. However, it is the secret to our success. As Ezra Taft Benson so wisely put it, "I have often said that one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. Work, work, work -- there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work."

So with that in mind, we went to work this week, with a prayer in our hearts that we would find people to teach. The previous 5 weeks of the change we had an average of 5 lesson taught per week. Completely unacceptable. We needed to change it. So we went to work. We have walked just about every street in the area searching for people to teach: references, former investigators, contacts, everyone. The hard work has paid off. This week we had 15 lessons. We have plans to set baptism dates with two of our new investigators this week. They're already ready. We found them ready. The Lord prepared them, and we get to teach them. He just needed us to show Him that He can trust us with them.

Love

Elder Colton West

El Salvador, San Salvador East Mission

Editor's Note: so I got an explanation on the burning of the clothes from last week. He said "They were the old, pit-stained beyond belief, torn clothes!"

Also, those of you that know Elder West well, know two things for sure: 1.) he is VERY patriotic and LOVES his country, and 2.) he is very sarcastic. Thus the title of his email this week. No disrespect intended. He is just fully immersed in El Salvador and that country and culture for his time there. Plus my letter to him was titled "Happy belated 4th of July". His typical sarcasm is to title his "so?" since he's in another country.