"So this week was just about the same as last week but with a few new experiances. From disappointments to weddings to good personal studies. It was just a fun week to say the least.
As you all know we have a couple that we have been working with. Hermana Marisol and Hermano Ricardo. Well the hermano is a returned missionary that got home and started fornicating. He got his girlfriend pregnant and then they never got married. It is a mess to say the least. Well, we have been working to get them married, him reactivated and her baptized. This week we accomplished one of those goals. They got married! We went to the wedding and before we had taught them the Word of Wisdom. Hermana Marisol was going to get married on Friday and baptized on Saturday but we told her that if she drank at her wedding she would not be baptized. After they were married the tradition is to do a toast... non religious weddings are so dumb... I am going to get married in the temple. Well, they made the toast and we were anxious to see what was going to happen. The hermano did not drink but the hermana took a sip. You should have seen the look her husband gave her when she did it and you should have seen her face when she realized what she had done. In that moment her chance of getting baptized disappeared. We were sad, but hey there was nothing we could do. We are just going to work extra hard with them this week and be a little more direct when we teach.
This week I was still a little bummed. As zone leader all the pressure to have baptisms in the zone fall on your shoulders. Well, this month the zone did not do too well and for the second time in all my time in Peru I had a month without a single baptism. It has been so hard. We cannot find people and the people we do have are not progressing. I have just felt inadequet.However as I was studying the scriptures I came across a parable that I really loved. In Luke 17 Christ gives the parable of the inprofitalbe servant. He talks about a servant who works all day and at the end of the day is ready to rest, but when he gets to the house his lord tells him that he must serve the dinner. The man has worked all day and feels he deserves a rest, but he cannot because of his duties to his lord. He also feels like he is not capable of doing all that he has to do and that he does not profit his lord. The parable reminded me of a talk by Elder Eyring. He spoke about Priesthood duties. He said that when he feels the desire to rest but has more to do for the Lord he knows he must do it. At times he feels like he cannot or that he is not profitable to the Lord, yet he still does what he is asked to his best ability. I thought about that a lot. That is how I have felt a lot lately. I sometimes do not know why I am here if I am not a profitable servant of the Lord. I feel like I cannot have the success that the Lord wants me to have and at times I am tired and just want a break. Then I began to the of the only true and perfect servant of our Heavenly Father... the Lord Jesus Christ. He did everything he was suppossed to do even when He was tired and He did it perfectly... He was a profitalbe servant of His Father. I then thought about how that could help me. Christ did all that He was asked because He knew that at times we would not be able to do all we are asked to do. He makes up for what I cannot do. Though I may feel at times as a unprofitable servant of the Lord I know that if I do all that I can to do all that I am asked and if I do it with our looking for some recompense from the Lord (like a good rest) Christ will make up for what I cannot do and I will be a profitable servant of the Lord.
I am greatful for the Atonement. I am greatful for all it does for me. I am greatful that although I am not perfect I can be made perfect through Christ. I a greatful that Christ came to be the only true profitable servant because He knew that we would not be. I am greatful for my disabilities which teach me how to become better. I am greatful for the hard times we have in the mission that teach us what Christ suffered for everyone of us. I am greatful for the success I have had so far in the mission that was given to me by the grace of my Heavenly Father. I am greatful for a family that loves and supports me. I am greatful for the mission that has taught me how to truly love the Lord, my family, the Gospel, and my neighbor. But most of all, today I am greatful for being an unprofitable servant.
I love you all and I love being a missionary. We will talk very soon. And thanks Mom for sending the package we will see if it gets here. Also Taytum we almost never meet with the other missions so it is very unlikely that I will ever see Elder Frazier. Until next week"