Hey everyone! Yeah, it's me again, Elder Z.S.Weber, here to give you the latest info on how this week was for me and my companion, Elder Hale. Sadly, once more the mission field has been left barren for the two of us, with only the smallest of sprouts starting to appear. We're dedicating and consecrating our time right now to planting the seeds, and getting the fields ready for the next group of missionaries to come in. It's been fun, it really has, but going out and tracting out the entire area can get a little tedious from time to time.
Luckily, Elder Hale and I were able to mix things up with some interesting activities that made the week go by a little bit more quickly. On P-day if last week, we filled our satchels with granola bars and waters and started hoofing it up the two-hour hike up Chautauqua Park. The scenery was beautiful up there—you could see the whole of Boulder County, miles and miles of beauty! Of course, the hike to get up there was a real killer. Several times I felt as though I was going to fall backwards back down the mountain. Luckily, I didn't fall—that would've definitely ruined the rest of the day.
Then, on Wednesday, we finished helping our neighbors, Jerry and Cherry, with their hay out in their fields. It was a really hot and humid day, as we'd received a lot of rain over the two days previous. Which then made for long and tiresome work. Still, it was nice to get out and serve our neighbor. Plus, it put our 'Tetris' skills to the test, as we had to fit as many of the bales into the back of Jerry's truck without them all falling off. This time was the hardest yet, as the bales kept slipping on the sides as Jerry's truck hit each pothole in the field. Luckily, no bales were too badly injured, and we were able to finish the hard work with smiles on our faces.
Sadly, the rest of the week went by slowly. Without service opportunities to make the time go by faster, and without any people on our lists that were still interested or even in town still, we were forced to resume our work in street contacting and tracting. I only have three words to explain the labor we had to face. It was rough. It seems to me that people don't like talking when we approach them at their door. Now, we have been able to start conversations with people out in their driveways or even on their front porches. But as soon as we try to bring in the gospel, they shut us down and kindly tell us to leave.
But, I guess that's the trial I'll have to face with my mission, I suppose. I was talking with Elder Hale about this trouble the other day, and he put it to me this way; "Sometimes we have to endure the dry-spells and the droughts of missionary work before God can bless us with the showers of blessings and work." I'd have to agree with him there. Not just with missionary work, but with all things in this life. Sometimes we have to endure hardships, trials, times when we feel like nothing is going for us, before we can receive the full blessings that God has in store for us.
I realize I might come off as a broken record with this, but this is the principle I feel God is trying to teach me the most through my mission. Be patient and endure to the end. Enduring hasn't exactly been the most fun experience I've had on my mission. Pretty sure hiking, laser-tag, and watching the goat-butchering were all way more fun than the constant tracting out the neighborhoods and contacting anyone and everyone we meet. But whenever I read the scriptures, and I find passages that talk about trials or hardships, it never says that they found ways around them, or ignored them until their situation got better.
No. They always endured. And that's what we have to do, as well—before we can receive the blessings God has in store for us. This I say in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
—Elder Z.S.Weber
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