Hi Everyone!
So the thing currently on my mind is how tired I am, which has sort of a story behind it so I"ll start with that. We live on the bottom floor of an apartment in the metro Denver area, surrounded by busy streets and lots of people (homeschooler's nightmare! :) We have either a neighbor or something that at all hours of the day makes rapid tapping noises right above my bed, which can be quite loud and bothersome at times. My companion is convinced that it's our neighbor (although imagining someone tapping their floor rapidly at 3 in the morning for whatever purpose is strange) Personally I think it's just a weak spot in the building and as the weight of the building shifts it causes a really loud creaking. Also, our fan is off-balance, which makes a regular thumping noise, and last night it all culminated with another neighbor taking a shower and my companion snoring, so I didn't sleep as well as expected. Usually it's not too bad, but I'm going to be buying earplugs for the not-usual nights. :)
The work in the ward is going great! We've been helping the members dedicate themselves to attending church in the new building we're moving to, which is far away, and the attitudes have been changing gradually with our visits, testimony, and persistance. For the most part we're seeing people grow in their committment, with the exception of a few stubborn families who we're still working with. I'm really excited though, because as the people excercise their faith to follow an inspired priesthood leader, this ward is going to unite and become so much stronger!
A cool thing that happened this week was a breakthrough in working with the ward organizations. I had an idea that since almost nobody is doing home teaching, we as missionaries can be paired with home teachers and help them do their visits and at the same time motivate and train them how to do it. Instead of taking my plan to the Elder's Quorum President and trying to convince him to accept it, instead I had a chat with him and explained how the missionary effort is trying to not be so separated from the wards anymore, and that we're looking for ways to help the Elder's Quorum. With a few choice words and questions, I guided him to my idea and helped him shape and craft it as his idea, and he got really excited about it. I praised him for his plan and idea and pledged our help to do whatever he wants us to, and this week he'll be personally sitting down with us to assign us families and companions to help! It was really neat, it's a principle I learned in a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People, and because I presented it as his idea he's totally on board and motivated to make it happen! I felt inspired with the idea, and then the way to do it was "brought to my rememberance" and now we have an incredible opportunity to strenghthen our ward relationships and win the trust of the members!
We have an investigator progressing well, who loves church and wants to be baptized, but is overcoming economic problems as well as word of wisdom challenges, but hopefully we'll have him with a date soon!
I'm so grateful to be a missionary, I love the work of the Lord and I'm so happy to be here! I hope everyone is doing well, have a great week!
Love,
Elder Damon Janis
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