I just got off the phone with some of the Elders who will be coming home with me. The phone call was basically a "shout hooray" that we got our flight itineraries. haha man I can't believe it myself.
I am happy to hear you and nana are getting your feet drenched in missionary work. That is one thing I will never depart from doing when the time comes, doing member missionary work. I love what the two sister missionaries shared about "opening your mouth". In the doctrine and covenants the Lord chastises the saints for not opening their mouths. Elder and Sister Horne (our senior couple in St. Lucia) really emphasized what we call "the big O" and "the little o". The big "O" stands for obedience and the little "o" stands for open your mouth. When we are sitting in a bus, standing in line at the bank, grocery shopping, etc there are always opportunities for us to open our mouths. I have learned that success doesn't really mean whether the person accepts the gospel but success is that of invitation. Had you done your duty and open your mouth they would have never known of the true gospel. So don't be discouraged if you face repudiation success comes by invitation. That's part of our missionary purpose that we state every district meeting.
"My purpose is to INVITE (not force) others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end". I have learned that we cannot force people to understand and accept the things we teach, even when we are bold and perspicuous with them. The Savior taught by way of invitation and it was Satan's plan from the beginning to force us to do what he wants. So that has always been a constant reminder for me when I teach. When I face repudiation, when I feel like I want to throw down true doctrine down people's throats I always remember to say to myself "the Savior's plan" I repeat that in my mind over and over and eventually the resentful feelings I had disperses, the tone of my voice softens, and the spirit flows in and there we invite them to act upon our message and let them use the God given gift of agency to choose to accept or reject our message.
Not too much happened this past week. We are coming to and end of the 5 week transfer this week. I made a request to President Mehr to train a new missionary here in St. Lucia to finish my mission so lets see what will happen next week!
I sure do love and miss you all!
With love,
Elder Brown
