July 1, 2013

Sanderson Family,                                                                                      July 1, 2013

Thanks for the letter haha I am glad that Megan likes her poncho. I wasn't too sure if was going to fit but I am glad everything worked out. And about the suit coat story, haha that one would be best to tell after the mission ;) but it didn't involve dogs, just some bullies haha.

This week really helped me understand what Peter was saying when he wrote to Christ's followers, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold" (1 Peter 1:7). As you know Elder Killpack and I have been really struggling to fulfill our purpose here as missionaries in Edinburg West. This lack of success has really been a great trial of Elder Sanderson's faith. It's always so discouraging to work and do all that you can to help people and yet fail to see any fruit from your labors. This discouragement led to frustration...sometimes quiet and other times not so much.  We began to lose faith in ourselves and then soon we lost faith that the Lord even cared. A horrible thing since our whole message is centered around the love that our Heavenly Father has for each and every one of his children. But last Monday, as I was interviewing one of the Zone Leader's investigators, this young woman told me of her amazing and miraculous conversion story. It sparked a small flame of hope that there was someone like this young woman in our area, someone who was eagerly awaiting to hear the Gospel message. After the interview I went into the handicap bathroom at the church, kneeled down, and began to plead with my Father in Heaven for him to pour out miracles upon our area, then I waited. Nothing came, no warmth from the spirit, no confirmation, no anything. It just didn't seem fair. I walked out of that bathroom with that small flame of hope almost at a smolder. haha I don't think I have ever been this down. Days passed and nothing was going our way. No one even answered their door or even if we contacted them on the street they would immediately state their disinterest and send us on our way. Every Wednesday the whole zone meets at the church to do what we call "coordination." Its when we meet with the leaders of the ward to coordinate our missionary efforts. Anyways a lot of our plans fell through so we decided to go to the church and since mutual was that night maybe we could get some referrals. We walked in and I started to talk to some of the members that I hadn't met yet. As I was talking to this woman, our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Sanchez, grabs my arm and introduces me to this young woman named Gladis who just was walking down the street and felt inspired to stop at the church. We quickly set up a room to teach her. She is so prepared and accepted a baptismal date for the 28th of this month. The next day we decided to go to this area that we had never been before. Its the ghetto of the city and so it was really sketchy. But as we were walking down the street a man pulled up and asked us if we were Jehovah's Witnesses, we answered no and explained that we were Christians. He got excited and said, "Really? I'm Christian too! You should come over right now and teach my family." haha well we couldn't refuse that offer so we followed him to his house just down the street. His name is Roberto and his girlfriend is Jennifer. They are an awesome family that has also been super prepared. In fact Robert came across the Bible videos that the church has been producing. He watched them all and all the movies and Mormon messages on the mormonchannel.com. How neat is that!?! They accepted a baptismal date for the 28th of July as well. They all loved church so much!  In gospel principles class Roberto stands up to introduce himself and said that he couldn't wait to get baptized (always a good sign). This past week has made me eternally grateful for those small "trials of faith" which are far more precious than any monetary substitute. We were humbled and more aware of our faults. We sought to improve ourselves and then when we had learned what the Lord has intended us to learn, He poured out blessings upon our area.

This past Friday President and Sister Trayner flew home and so now our new President is here. I haven't met the Maluenda's yet but I should in the coming weeks. So excited for this new president and the success the Great TMM will have under his direction.

con carino,

Elder Sanderson

Texas McAllen Mission