A Letter to the President
This is a letter from Justin to his Mission President. Dear President, First in response to your letter this week I would like to share an experience I had just yesterday because I feel like it applies to what you where saying about finding our purpose and remembering why we are here. So, Monday night I was feeling down. We have been finding new people left and right, but all of the people we were finding were really weak. They didn’t seem to want anything. They didn’t seem to pay attention while we were talking to them. It certainly didn’t seem like they weren’t feeling the spirit. When I got home, during study time I thought about my mission, was I doing what I needed to do? Why was I not having any success? I was being obedient, I was teaching as best I knew how, and I certainly felt like we were keeping busy doing the right things. I sat and made a few goals for my mission and speculated about how I would feel if I had to go home now. I felt sad, disappointed. I felt pain; I realized that there is so much more that I can do, so much that I still have to do here. Yesterday something finally clicked. In one of our appointments with a family that we had found that seemed to be progressing well, we were teaching the first lesson and I could feel the spirit so strongly, it was clear that they could too, they were crying, and they really understood. When we invited them to visit the true church of god reestablished here on earth and they said no, I felt sad, like maybe they hadn´t understood. I felt the same pain I feel when I make a wrong choice, it’s hard to describe, but it was different than anything I’ve felt on the mission before. After that I did all I could to try and help them recognize the decision they were making. I bore my testimony about families, about how family can be together forever. For the first time I felt like I was really speaking with power. I could tell they could feel it too. I looked in their eyes and I saw something change. It was, unexplainable. They still wouldn’t be moved, it was too hard for them to change, but I know that they felt that spirit and I know they won’t be able to deny it. After that we had lunch and I felt really down. I had done all I could to try and help them and I couldn’t do anything. I sat during lunch and thought; this is why God cried when he looked down on the earth. He can give us all the signs and messages he wants, but we have to decide, he can´t decide for us. Then it hit me, what I did with my family is my purpose. It’s my purpose to bring that same spirit to everyone we visit. To bare that same testimony I have, and try and touch their spirits to help them remember the truth. Not all of them will be moved—in fact a lot of them wont. But, if I can get them to feel the spirit and help them recognize the truth, I have done my part. It’s their choice to decide to act and be baptized. After lunch I did my best to follow the spirit and at every chance I had bare my testimony to try and get them to feel the truth of the message. It made a difference. I could see people’s eyes opening. You could tell they were paying attention. It made a difference for me, every time we went to teach I felt excited to feel the spirit again, to share that spirit with the people, to try and help them remember and understand the things God has planned for us. I was excited to tell people about our message, to bare what I know. All night I dreamt about teaching people, thousands of different situations and people. Something has changed in me. It is amazing. It was exactly what I needed. I’m not worried about trying to meet goals, right now, I know that I am going to do what God wants, and more than likely that is going to surpass even what I thought possible before. In the last two days we have found 3 new families, all of them seem ready. They are feeling the truth when we bare it to them, they are progressing-I can feel it and see it. President, this battle is very unfair, we are but 150 missionaries in an area of millions of people, but we have God on our side, and no matter how bad it looks sometimes we will win in the end. Thanks for everything, Elder Maier
