This week nothing terribly exciting happened. We have changes next week. I will most likely stay here which is what I want. There is a lot of work to do still. I am excited to continue. This week one of the part member families we have been working with came to church. The dad has really decided to change. He wants an eternal family. The spirit has worked in him and he is being converted. If I do get changed I know he will get baptized and sealed in the temple, which makes me happy. We've had a few other good lessons as well. The branch here will grow. This week during the branch counsel they decided that the work will go forward here in Tena. We've been working hard for a long time without much success, but things are going to pick up. This week we had seven less actives in church as well. As missionaries, we want the branch to grow and flourish, but baptizing anybody we can get into the water hasn't worked here in the past. We have been fighting so that not just the missionaries, but members have the desire to help the branch grow. And for getting good missionaries that will convert people to the Lord and not to the name tag.
One important lesson that I have been learning here in Tena is that the Lord is much more interested in the Soul being saved than the instrument he uses to save it. Maybe we wont see a ton of fruits here in Tena but the Lord called us here when it was time to dig and nurture around the tree, and when it's time for the harvest he will call other servants to labor in the vineyard. What's interesting about missionary work is that it's not important when you labor in the vineyard, it's how you labor. I think something like that was said in the last conference. Something I read in, Jesus the Christ says. "Let the seed be sown, even though the sower be straightway called to other fields or other duties; in the gladsome harvest he shall find his recompense." I feel I've been called away to other duties a lot of times and that I didn't get to see the fruits and that because I wasn't there in the baptism or to watch a family get reactivated like I didn't also have joy in the fruits. But now I realize it doesn't matter. That whether we see the fruits of our labors or not we can be happy knowing that we did our part when the Lord asked it of us. The truth is they were never our fruits anyways, they are the Lords.
The church is true. I'm not sure how many times I will say those four words in this life, but I know I will never stop saying them. The Lord is a great Shepherd, and he loves His sheep. "Therefore, dearly beloved bretheren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed." D&C 123:17.
Love and miss you all. Have a great week!
Elder Peterson
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