Monday, July 21, 2014

Becoming Christlike is a process.....not an event.

Hello! (:

It has been a really good week! We had two exchanges, one with Elder Kleinman and Elder Lee, the assistants, and one with Elder Rasband and Elder De Costa. Elder Rasband is a district leader in our zone, who we actually live with. They were both really good exchanges and I really learned a lot. I really love Elder Lee, and I feel really blessed that I got to go on another exchange with him this transfer! We went on an exchange last transfer and we saw many miracles, and we saw lots of miracles this past Wednesday. I have really come to be good friends with Elder Lee! He is a really hard worker, and he is such a solid missionary. We connect a lot, and we can be open with each other. We talked to a lot of people and had a lot of success. It was a really fruitful, and productive exchange!  I went with Elder Rasband on an exchange on Saturday and it went really good. Not as productive, but I got to know Elder Rasband really well. He's a really good missionary and he is fun to be around! He doesn't like being in awkward situations, so we talked about that a lot. We are always awkward as missionaries! It's great! I have come to know how to have fun in awkward situations, but I guess some other missionaries struggle with that still. We both learned that we could have an increase of charity for those that we interact with each and every day. 

Our investigator Ben came to church yesterday with his girlfriend, Anna! That was a huge miracle! She hasn't been to fond of him coming to church and being away from her. We were really excited about that! She was hesitant to stay for the 3rd hour, since she would be separated from Ben, and she doesn't know too much English, but the members just swarmed her and loved her, and she went to relief society and had a great time.  We taught him a couple times this week, and he is still setting his sights on baptism.

We taught our investigator Luke this week as well, the one you met at Mayra Clarke's baptism. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it went really well. He is fun to teach, because we have to come up with creative ways to keep him involved, so it's definitely a growing experience for us as well.

Elder Welker is doing really good. He really is so focused, and such a consecrated missionary. I am willing to say that he is probably one of the most obedient and consecrated missionaries in this mission. He moves quite swiftly, which is a good thing, but I feel at times that it is hard for me to keep up with him sometimes. I feel as if I am burning out. I love this work, and I love the Lord, but I just feel like it's hard for me to stay motivated... I really learning how to cope with stress, and just pushing through hard times. 

In my studies I focused a lot on Christlike attributes, because I feel like I need to work on those a lot. I love chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel. I love the little green box at the end of the chapter, "remember this," which basically is a little summary of the whole chapter. It talks about how becoming like Christ is a lifelong process, and that it can't be learned all at once. It is really significant to me that it is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we CAN become Christlike, and that it is a process. It is more of a journey than a task. 

Thank you for all your love and support! You are constantly in my prayers (: Love and miss you lots! 

Love,
Elder Teeples
 
Check out my mission's new blog here:   http://thecaliforniaventuramission.blogspot.com

No comments:

Post a Comment