18 Jan 2009

Dear Family,

This week has gone quite well. We had some choice investigators come to church, but we were expecting more. We have also been having several less-actives return to activity in the Chartwell ward. It has been good working with Elder Tugaga as he works hard and is sincere.

Thanks Dad for the email you sent, discussing the results of the meetings concerning members trusting missionaries. I've thought a lot about it and we actually talked about it in our zone conference this last week.

I feel that the Rototuna ward is starting to pick up in missionary ward. We had one of our investigators, Marie, come to church the second time, and we had several members come and introduce themselves and chat with her before church started. I've really had my vision increased as far as how necessary the ward is to doing missionary work.

I usually don't just sit down but we usually make ourselves the unofficial greeters at the entrance to the chapel. But i sometimes feel like a dud in my effectiveness as a missionary and I'm sure the members can see it. But this challenge has been something I've struggled with for a while.

President Porter said in a zone conference a little while ago that the three main building blocks for success as a missionary are faith as a principle of power, obedience, and recognizing and following the Spirit. I know that you pray for me often, but if you could specifically pray for me to have and follow these things, i know it will help.

Camille, that is great that you have been employed at Orcutt Burgers. They have some of the best food. It will be good for you to work at a fast food restaurant. Just be patient with those you are working with and remember to stand tall for what's right. Its hard sometimes, and obviously follow the Spirit, but I've had experiences (such as at Subway) where i could have dealt with situations a bit better. But, you'll do fine. It will nice to have an income for yourself.

Dad, to expand on what you shared with me in your email, is there anything that can be done to help those missionaries in our ward become more effective? I've certainly had members correct me and recently we had a counselor in the Rototuna Bishopric tell us that missionary work in the ward isn't happening. So we asked him what we could do. He told us and we've been making some changes. I don't know if that's how its supposed to be done, but its helped in the past and recently. If they haven't made a move to get to know you, one idea i have would be to invite them over for a personal meeting and to share with them what the ward could do and how they could help the ward work together to find, teach, baptize and confirm, and reactivate less-actives.

Man, our house is going to be completely different when i complete my mission. How are those lights down the driveway doing? Speaking of lights, i turned on one of the lamps in my room and it blew a circuit in the house and turned off all the power. We looked at the box inside, but couldn't figure out what to do. We had a prayer and then went outside and found the other box and pressed this button and we checked the power and it was on. I've never been too lucky or good with electrical stuff.

Well, anyway, i need to get going, We've got a busy day ahead and i have set goals to read all the standard works by the end of my mission, as well as finish the missionary library, and others.
Thank you and i love ya all.

Love, Elder Cashmore