Vision of the Mission

Good Morning!

 

Dr. P

Alright...you have to forward this first part to the Parkinson's.  Megan Cutler (President and Sister Cutler's daughter) came up to me this past week during our Meet the President meeting and is like, "Are you Elder Gautavai?!" I was like "Duh! Are you Megan Cutler!?" Then she's like "Yes! Doctor P told me to come up to you and say...hey coconut!!!!" Ha ha ha I could not stop laughing.  You'll have to forward that on to the Parkinson's!

 

President and Sister Cutler are awesome! We had a Mission Leadership Council with them this past Friday, and we didn't skip a beat with the transition to President Cutler.  He was very prepared to council with us on how to lift the mission.  It was pretty apparent that we wanted to lift the mission by way of increasing the progressing investigators that we have throughout the mission, continuing to work through the members to find those who are prepared for the Gospel, and flooding the entire mission (member and non member) with the Book of Mormon.  It was awesome to be able to council with President Cutler, and really focus on the vision of our mission. 

Along with that vision we're going to be putting a huge emphasis tomorrow during Zone Training Meeting on helping our investigators to truly repent prior to baptism, finding those in the mission that will establish real growth, and establishing real growth through finding and teaching families.  A big emphasis we are going to make is working through the members of the church to find part-member families to teach, less-actives to activate, and also helping the members to share the Gospel.  Our vision is to baptize 5 people a month, and we currently have goals of 15 baptismal dates, and 20 new investigators to help us accomplish that task.  It should be a wonderful Zone Training Meeting! 

 

My current companion's name is Elder Heath, and he is from Hamilton, Montana.  He has been out for close to 22 months now, so I'll most likely be his last companion.  He has been in the Wisconsin Rapids Ward for about 3 months or so.

 

It is crazy to think this time last year I was about 6 months out, and was about to begin training Elder Xiong.  I went from being with a brand new missionary to a missionary who is just about to head home.  I've loved serving with Elder Heath as I feel everything has come to a peak for him throughout his mission.  He expressed to me in the car today his only desires were to establish real growth throughout the Wisconsin Rapids Ward, and not just to find and teach whoever.  It was awesome to see how everything that doesn't matter, literally doesn't matter to him.  It has helped us with our focus of finding those who are prepared, and really building the kingdom, and not just baptizing people just to baptize them, or even just set baptismal dates just to set baptismal dates.  We do realize with an increased vision, it's going to also take a greater measure of work! 

We had a pretty good week this past week.  It was definitely hot, humid, and sweaty! We've been doing a lot of walking lately which has added to the humidity, heat, and sweat! We've been able to talk with a lot of people through out street contacting efforts, but we're really finding the most success through working with the Ward.  We've completely eliminated tracting from any sort of option ha ha, and we're really trying to work with the members more.  We're making it a point to fill our evenings with visits with members where we can help them to share the Gospel.

 

 

One thing I've really realized lately is how thankful I am I've had the chance to completely take myself out of the world while I've been on a mission.  Sometimes when I go into member's homes I feel overwhelmed with the tv, dvds, video games, and everything else you have in a regular home.  I have really enjoyed having absolutely nothing at the apartment to entertain ourselves with other than ourselves.  It makes for my day to be more effective, and it also creates for a get-away from the world.  I've really found this as I feel more comfortable bringing food back to the apartment instead of eating out.  I didn't think I'd see the benefits of being out of the world, but it has been wonderful! 

One crazy thing is President Cutler said we're going to be getting iPad's soon, which is so nice!! I'm assuming it's going to be used for our Area Book, and other things too, which is going to be a MIRACLE! If it's one thing I have been absolutely horrible at over my mission...it is definitely updating the Area Book.  I feel with an electronic Area Book, missionaries will now be able to really update things more fully, and the records will be more accurate.  Some of the teaching records can be ridiculous! 

 

Everything else is going well.  We're working with a guy named Matt S., and he's scheduled to be baptized on July 19, and he has progressed very well! We're meeting with him tonight and we're planning on reviewing the Law of Chastity, the Word of Wisdom, and also the Law of Tithing.  We're taking a different approach and tying it all into families.

 

We're also meeting with a part-member family named the G's.  There is a 9 year old daughter in the family we plan on setting a baptismal date with as well.  We feel that with her baptism, it could really re-activate the family.

I was reading in Alma 46 this morning and Moroni says, "Surely God shall not suffer that we, who are despised because we take upon us the name of Christ, shall be trodden down and destroyed, until we bring it upon us by our own transgressions."  I liked this verse a lot as I thought as long as we do what we're supposed to do, and not do what we're not supposed to do, the Lord is bound to bless us.  He still gives us trials of faith, but he is always bound when we do what he says.

 

Love you guys! 

Elder Gautavai