Some may not know this, but the immediate fruits of the missionaries' work for the week can be seen on Sundays by the amount of people that they have invited to church who show up. This is the immediate measurable fuit of their work. A missionary will never truly know the impact that he or she has on the people that he or she talks with every day. The real fruits of a missionary's work are much, much more than just the one Sunday after the week.
But for us, when anybody shows up to church who we invited, whether it be an investigator, a recent convert, or a less-active member, it is a win for us. This is why it is so important that members work with missionaries in felllow-shipping those whom the missionaries are teaching. We promise blessings up and down, but people still have difficulty waking up in time to make it to any meeting on Sunday.
This past Sunday, all we had was one recent convert show up to church. We must have invited hundreds of people, maybe committing twenty of them to come to church (when I say "commiting," I mean that we asked them if they would come the following Sunday and they said "yes"). And the immediate fruits of our labor? One recent convert. Not even Honorio! It was frustrating. But we also worked probably the hardest we have ever worked in one week before. We did everything by the Spirit and honestly, I have no regrets. But, just because someone completes the will of the Lord does not mean that he or she never gets frustrated. We must rejoice in the work that we have done.
After all, what do you think Abindadi felt like? He preached for years and was burned at the stake before he could even see the one convert that he had. But Abinadi converted Alma. And Alma converted thousands. I am not saying that I talked to somebody this week that will one day baptize a nation of people, (but my fingers are crossed that it happened anyway), but I do know that I did everything I could have done. And at the end of the week, I was still frustrated. A missionary's frustration can be comforted, though! Never fear! Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all things can be made whole and perfect. Even me, despite what everyone thinks!!
I think that as a missionary, I get to learn about the necessity of every basic principle of the gospel--principles like agency or the Atonement. I also get to testify of these things every day. I love it more than any other work I have ever participated in. This life is not easy. Missionary work is work for those who are willing to give themselves to the Lord. Through giving myself to the Lord, I have become more happy than I could have ever imagined. It is such a blessing. Yeah, it's difficult, but I testify that it is the best there is. Everybody should serve a mission! (If that's what God wants, anyway.)
We have still been working with Honorio, who is beginning to have doubts about marriage. We expected this to happen. What-- did you think conversion was easy? There's somebody out there named Satan and he wants to make you miserable! He'll do anything he can to get you to make the choices that will make you miserable! So we, Elder Sevilla and I, are working against the forces of the devil so that we can help Honorio either make the choice to separate or get married. Because living the commandments will bring him great happiness. But he is gaining a testimony of the Restoration (and I kid you not when I say that there is nothing that brings greater joy to than being a part of someone's conversion process--even if you don't get to see the end results) and such a testimony will fortify him against the armies of the adversary.
This week wasn't slow, but we did a lot of door-knocking and were faced with mostly rejection (such is the life of a missionary; rejection has never been something that has bothered me), but we have started teaching a family and they seem really interested! The Tabeira family. Y'know something about these Urugayans? There is a fad of getting divorced, then building a house right next to the existing house and the ex-spouses live next to each other. I don't know how they make it work, but somehow, TONS of them do it. Either way, the Tabeira family is one of these cases. We are teaching the mother and her several children, one of which just had a baby this week. Hooray! Felicitaciones! We'll see how well they progress this week. There's not much more to report, so I'll leave you all with my witness that the church that I represent is the true church of Jesus Christ. I must now go and serve the beloved children of God.
LOVE,
Elder Plautz
The picture is me with Oscar Baez. He is my hero.
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