A tough week

Hey Everybody,

Elder Shields and I have hit a wall. We have been so excited and so blessed this transfer. We had some amazing progressing investigators and we found so many people who wanted to come closer to Christ. This week it all seemed to fall apart. We have had a lot of trouble contacting one of our investigators with a baptismal date.  A former investigator, that we were able to contact after trying so long, canceled her appointment with us.  An investigator we found, and thought had amazing potential, has stopped progressing.  Worst of all, two of our investigators might not be able to be baptized.  Their family situation is complicated and their mother will probably not allow them to be baptized.

At this point in the transfer we feel depleted. It is hard to be a missionary sometimes, but I know, and Elder Shields knows, that those miracles we saw really were miracles.  The people we have taught this transfer have come closer to Christ and the people, especially the children, we have talked to have changed us as well.

Having General Conference has been a real blessing as this week. We both gained a lot of insight on what we can do to be more productive and have the Spirit more as missionaries. We both thought that some of the talks were directed at us as well as to some of our investigators, who we intend to share the talks with. Hope is not lost, as long as we have faith that God will provide for us a means by which we can accomplish His work. I am so thankful to be a missionary.

I have been reading Jesus the Christ a lot recently. It is crazy complicated language, but I am learning a lot from it. I have also been thinking a lot about how lucky I have been. I grew up in the true church of Jesus Christ.  I was always provided for, but I still had to work, and learned the value of it. I have been blessed with unshakable faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. I know it is real and I will never deny it. Before my mission I would often wonder what would happen if my faith was put to the test. If I was threatened for my belief in Christ. I often questioned whether I would stay strong, but now I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I will never deny my God. I know he is real.  I know he loves all his children, and I know that through obedience and His power, we can do all things. I can't remember the scripture off the top of my head, but a prophet said if God asked me to do all things I could do them.  I know this to be true. If God told me to do something, I could do it. Whether or not I would do it is a different story though, but being a missionary and the conference talks we just heard helped me see there is hope for me. I would always think there would come a point when I would be perfect and I could stop my progression.  However, now I see that I will not and cannot ever be perfect, I will always be trying to come closer to Christ.

Sorry this letter is so heavy, but this week was crazy. I learned so much. I'm still a super immature teenager. I'll let you know about all the crazy things that have happened in my other letters.

Love,
Elder Jamison