Shake My Vanilla: Loyalty and Small Miracles

Another week is gone. I realized the other day that I have about 32 weeks left before I'm home again. That's really crazy and seems so soon....I've gotta make the most of it while I can!

I'll start with a quote this week which come from Thomas S. Monson: "The crowning characteristic of love is loyalty."

That can apply to a lot of things; It could mean love for our family and spouse, it can be love for our neighbor or friend, one of the most important is our love for the Savior. If we truly love Him, we will be loyal to Him and His teachings. We won't forsake Him or forget what He has done (as still does) for us. We will hold fast to the iron rod and if we stumble, we repent and hold on tighter this time. Loyalty come from trust, trust builds loyalty. Without loyalty, love is either dead or is only lust, selfishness, or pride in disguise. Loyalty is part of what makes love so "blind". Loyalty is dedication, meekness, humility and standing firm by another's side no matter what. If you are loyal, there are no exceptions or boundaries to how far you will go for them. Loyalty, in it's strongest sense, is willing to give everything for someone else when they need it; even if it be your life. Loyalty to another comes when we realize that the person in front of us is a wonderful gift from our Father in Heaven and knowing that He trusts us with them; We can show our loyalty to God by being loyal and faithful to what (or who) He gives us. There are countless ways to be disloyal, but only one way to be loyal.

Now a small miracle:

Remember the investigator from last week that came to church for the first time even though he seemed uninterested before? He came again this week completely on his own! We're going to talk to him about baptism this week!

The week after is when M is getting baptized! The week after that is when A is (probably) getting baptized! Yay!

Another small miracle (though it doesn't really involve us too much): Another area in the mission (the small island beside this one called MaGong) has an investigator with a baptismal date for this Saturday, but he's moving to our area on Friday. So...we have a baptism this week for someone we've never met; He be counted as MaGong's baptism, but as our Recent Convert (since we take over once he's baptized).

My district is doing amazing! We have 15 baptismal goals, over 60% of our Recent Converts attend each week, we have an average of 23+ lessons each week and everybody is really trying to do their best. I'm so lucky to be their district leader -- they make me look better! ;)

We decided that from now on, we're going to rotate the teachers in English class every week so we have a chance to help our investigators and find some new ones if they attend a different class. We also combine the English class in GuiRen (the one I taught every week last transfer) with ours so we don't have to waste an hour traveling every week.

The Sisters and us did a little project this week; we took a picture of us and printed a ton of them with a little note glued to the back thanking our ward for their love and help and offering service, etc. etc. in hopes to start working with them a lot more. We handed them out before Sacrament meeting and this week we're going to deliver them to some people who didn't make it yesterday and to some Less-Active members. I'll send one of the photos home so people can see if they want; we have a few extras. It's nothing exciting though :)

The last thing I have to write about is that we sang in a small choir at a funeral on Saturday. We sang 'The Lord is My Shepherd' (I sang tenor) and everyone there seemed to enjoy it. The funeral was for our Ward Mission Leader's father (also a member). Yesterday his wife, who has been less-active for years, came to church and really seemed to like it. Maybe she'll come back soon! She hasn't been willing to meet with missionaries, but she was very sweet to us yesterday. We'll see what happens.

Well, I guess that's it! I love you all and I hope everyone has a great week!

Shake my Vanilla!

- Elder Christopher Wolf