This week has been a busy one as usual! President Hicken was
gone for the week at a Mission Presidents' Seminar, so that caused a bit more
busyness. The weeks are flying by..
We were able to go to our proselyting area twice this week. We currently have some really great investigators. One in Particular is a man
named Alan, he is probably in his early 20s, and has friends and family that
are members, but he has a great desire to learn the Gospel and be Baptized. I
have learned something about most people, including myself, we can have
wonderful and worthy desires, but we must act upon them, if we don't act upon
them then they begin to fade away. I have seen this many times in myself and in
those we have taught. Alan has a great desire to know everything he can about
the Gospel, but putting that to action and keeping commitments and doing what
it takes to meet that desire is more difficult. We were initially teaching him
in a pretty ordinary way in which you teach them using the pamphlet, then have
them go home and finish reading it or reread it, but as we were teaching that
didn't feel right, he didn't seem to be grasping what we were trying to teach, so
we changed our teaching style and had him go home with the pamphlet, read it
through and through, then in our next lesson, he will be the one to teach us.
This helps many investigators to take seriously what they are learning and they
don't forget it so easily by learning this way. So we will be meeting with him
on Sunday and he will be teaching us about the Restoration of the Gospel.
Anywhere we can tell he is not understanding or where we feel prompted, we will
teach and help him to understand.
The Riruta Ward is really Powerful, we arrived Sunday
morning for PEC and were welcomed by the Bishop and the 1st Councilor, they
informed us of the dynamics of the Ward and how Missionary work is well
ingrained in the Ward. During Sacrament Meeting we had 8 investigators which
was good. The chapel was almost completely filled. After Church we had Ward
Council where we were able to meet all the leaders of the Ward and hear them
Counsel together on matters pertaining to the Growth and nourishment of the
Ward. They all seemed to enjoy being together, you could easily see that
everyone felt love for one another, there were no hard feelings. There is an
incredible respect that can be felt by the Ward for the Bishop, he truly tries
to serve and lead with Love. He has only been Bishop for 1 year, but the ward
loves him and everyone seeks to accomplish what the Bishop feels inspired to
put in place. With it being Fast sunday, another really impressive thing they
do in Riruta is all those who will be in Ward Council begin fasting Saturday at
1:00pm, then after Ward Council on Sunday, they break their fast together. It
allows all sorts of revelation to flow!
We talked with the Ward Mission Leader after the council to
get a feel for the work that is to be done and how we can coordinate together
for the missionary work to blossom. This is the first ward I have been in, in
which the Ward Mission Leader and Branch Missionaries will go and teach
investigators or Recent Converts when we are unavailable, then report back to
us on how the lesson went... Wow!
We were only able to proselyte a little bit this week
because we were taking care of other office and missionary tasks. We had our
first DDM with Upper Hill this week. It's a good zone, slightly bigger than the
other zones, but 10 people really isn't that large. Sister Asamoah, a sister
from Ghana trained, she did a good job at teaching us about helping people make
and keep commitments.
Thursday we were in the office, working on preparations for
the Upcoming MLC this next week.
Throughout the course of this week, we had to sit down and
counsel with some missionaries, its amazing what counseling can do. It melted
away hard feelings and fear that comes when small miscommunications become
misunderstandings and eventually snowball into something much larger. Everything
worked out though, When in leadership I have learned it's so important to love
those we lead, and I have pled with the Lord to help me to feel that love and
charity, and I was able to feel it as we spoke with these missionaries. No
unrighteous judgements, just a desire to help and strength them .
We also had the privilege to pick up Elder Van Reenen, an
Area Seventy from South Africa who has come for a District Conference. A really
nice man, knew both mine and my companions names before he even got in the
car.. He was asking us many questions as we drove him to his hotel, and when we
arrived, he took a picture with us. The lesson he taught us as he walked into
the Hotel was "If you want to Marry Well, Inquire Well" quoted from
Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Powerful counsel.
Well as things continue to wind up, I can hardly tell that
this is my final transfer, it hasn't set in yet, and I'm glad it hasn't, I still
feel like I have a long time to serve. I have loved my service here, and grown
to truly Love Kenya.
Thank you all for the support, prayers, and all that you
have done as i have been serving,
Love Always,Elder Rushton Jay Hiltbrand
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