Monday, October 31, 2016

Week 50: If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail. Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance

Elder Ngoy and I enjoying Red Red and Plantain

So kind of an interesting week! It really went by really fast!

Well Tuesday we didn't do much, but we tried haha. We were trying to get some of our not serious investigators to actually keep some commitments so that they can be progressing. We did a lot of contacting on Tuesday because 3 appointments fell through. President is really stressing finding through our own efforts. So we are trying. We contacted a lot of people but nobody seems too interested in what we have to say. But we will pray for those people that we met and hope they can become new investigators!

Elder Green--HAHA
Well Wednesday, I would say was one of our best days this week! Of course Wednesday is district meeting so that is always fun. But we got to meet with our new Zone Leader Elder Herrod. He is pretty cool. He is a transfer younger than me on mission. In district meeting we talked about being more accountable to the Lord for the work that we are doing. As missionaries we tend to forget that this is the Lord's work not ours. So it is very important that we are accountable to the Lord, which means when you pray before you go to bed go over, in prayer, what you did that day- Just talk with the Lord. You will know what to do better tomorrow and you will feel good about the work you did that day, unless of course you didn't even try to teach people then that is a problem.

So right after district meeting we rushed back to our area to go see our investigator named Emmanuel. We had probably one of the most powerful lessons Elder Ngoy and I have taught together. That morning we had been discussing what do we need to talk about to strengthen this guy. W literally had no idea what we could do to help him. So we just decided that we need to just go in there and listen to the Spirit which is not always good, because I think you should at least plan for something. But I think it went well. It kinda makes me a hypocrite because the subject of my week. But oh well. So I have set a goal to do more listening so I can better discern what the investigator needs. I feel that in my mission that is what I have lacked. So in this lesson I decided it was good for my companion to start. My companion was doing very well, asking inspired questions and listening to the answers. I was very impressed. Now before it was my turn to speak, 3 things popped into my head 

1) Emmanuel is the type of person who likes to feel important. 
2) A scripture in Ether 12:6 and 
3) Being straight up with him. 

So I decided to first share the scripture. I feel that Emmanuel kinda knows it is the truth. So I told him that God wants him to show a little more faith and promised him he will know for a surety that this is the true church. I then said I know that you are a chorister in your church and your job is important but honestly your salvation is more important than your job in church. It worked! Sometimes it is good to be blunt with people here. I know you people back home are like "McFarland that was really rude. You should not have said that." I know my people hahaha! So we then invited him to do something and will follow up on Tuesday with him about it. But we told him to go to his Pastor and to tell him to give the job to somebody else, and to pray for help and understanding on the Pastor's end. Wish us luck! We are working hard to get this guy ready for baptism. Elder Ngoy and I know for a surety he will be baptized!

That awkward moment when a family pack barely feeds you and your companion...

Thursday, we spent almost all day in the mission home. President wanted to have a meeting with us. We are doing well! MY RELEASE DATE IS NOVEMBER 7TH.

Baptismal interview with the Zone Leaders


Saturday was great. We had the baptism for Joshua! This baptism totally was like one of the baptisms in my first area Oda! So we showed up to the chapel and the font was not even a quarter of the way filled.... I'm like dripping sweat running around the chapel looking for ideas to fill this font. I go outside and our poly tank in the church is empty... fake. People were at the chapel last night and they didn't even tell us that the font was not filled up all the way...fake. So we had to pull water from the ground and use a hose as well. Well eventually it filled up and we were able to have the baptism... which explains why I look tired and so done with the day already in the picture we took. Sorry Satan not this time!



After the baptism we went to go do service for a member. We fetched a lot of water for her---I mean a ton! She works at a school nearby her house and they go through a ton of water at the school and she was running low. They normally would have somebody go fetch the water everyday but they quit, putting a ton of pressure on her. So literally I was carrying these two big buckets of water one in each hand and carrying it 50 yards to the school. We did this a countless number of times. The reason why I am sharing this is not to be seen of man but because literally I still can't feel my 2 pointer fingers haha. The feeling is coming back small small. It is better than what it was on Saturday that is for sure haha.

Sunday was great. We had a good turn out at church this week. We had 5 investigators at church! I invited a bunch of missionaries over to eat some lunch. Lambson and the elder he is training and our district came. I cooked 1 kg of rice and made some stew. Jorgenson cooked some fried rice and brought it over and Green brought some drinks. It was fun just to relax and talk with everyone!



That is pretty much my week in a nutshell. Thank you all for your support and continued prayers!

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