Week 88: You Can't Always Get What You Want

So this week we have been working our butts off.  Again.  We've been trying to work our way out of a case of "investigators don't want to progress"-itis (sorry for the horrible grammar.  #Missionaryproblems).  But yeah, it's rough realizing that those people you care for so much just aren't putting in their part.  Especially when we've taught them everything we can think of and then some.  The "then some" obviously being what the Spirit inspires us to teach.  We have come to the conclusion that we have some professional investigators.  Professional investigators are people who absolutely love the missionaries.  They love having us over, invite us to dinner, and beg to have fun Family Home Evening type lessons.  But when it comes to getting them to come to church or to get serious about seeking an answer from God about the Gospel, they are total wimps.  Don't read the Book of Mormon, always say  "maybe we'll come to church, if we can," stuff like that.  Yeah, it's frustrating.

So we're going to drop them for a few weeks to see if that helps them.  This week we are pruning the trees and moving a few branches down to the lowest part of the vineyard, a.k.a. the "Former Investigators" section of our Area Book.  Yes, that is a total Jacob 5 reference.  We are also going to graft a few branches from that lower part of the vineyard back into the "teaching pool" tree, to see if they give out tame fruit (in other words, baptisms!!!)

The best part is that the Lord is totally preparing this little chunk of His vineyard for the transplanting of branches.  We've been finding a ton of awesome people just by going out tracting.  Funny story, I used to totally hate tracting.  I would suggest just about any other proselyting activity to try to get out of tracting.  Well, this week it has been working like a charm.  I've known for a while that we needed to try it, but it wasn't until this week that I finally worked up the desire to try it.  Well, I repent for not doing so sooner.  We have found a lot of people that the elders taught back in the day.  And some of them are super positive too!

Moral of the story: Don't be afraid to try new things.  Or old things that you just don't like.  You never know when the Lord has something amazing prepared for you.

Photos:

1. There was an enormous cockroach on the patio wall.

2. If you look closely, you can see how disgusting it is.  

3. Happy Birthday America!!!  We celebrated today by going to Wendy's for lunch.  And I wore my patriotic tie.

Love,

Elder Colton West

El Salvador, San Salvador East Mission

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!
We celebrated by going to Wendy's for lunch.
And I wore my patriotic tie.

Enormous cockroach on the patio wall.
If you look closely you can see how disgusting it is!
Also, it's three inches long by two wide!!! 
Why our Heavenly Father made such a beast is beyond me. 
The little ones are bad enough...