The Label Of Doubt Yielded To The Label Of Faith!

¡Hola!

This past week we had a Family Home Evening for the branch and it was the most amount of people that came since I've been in Santiago de María.

This week we had interviews with President Glazier and I asked him how we can have more success in our area. His counsel was that we need to change our attitude, double our efforts each week, and most importantly increase our faith. Elder Frey and I need to change a lot of things, and I know that as we do, we'll improve drastically. In his email this week, he told us about the area of Kingston in President Monson's mission:

"No one baptized in Kingston. Just ask any missionary who labored there. Time in Kingston was marked on the calendar like days in prison. A missionary transfer to another place—any place—would be uppermost in thoughts, even in dreams."While I was praying about and pondering this sad dilemma, for my responsibility then as a mission president required that I pray and ponder about such things, my wife called to my attention an excerpt from the book A Child's Story of the Prophet Brigham Young. She read aloud that Brigham Young entered Kingston, Ontario, on a cold and snow-filled day. He labored there about 30 days and baptized 45 souls. Here was the answer. If the missionary Brigham Young could accomplish this harvest, so could the missionaries of today."Without providing an explanation, I withdrew the missionaries from Kingston, that the cycle of defeat might be broken. Then the carefully circulated word: 'Soon a new city will be opened for missionary work, even the city where Brigham Young proselyted and baptized 45 persons in 30 days.' The missionaries speculated as to the location. Their weekly letters pleaded for the assignment to this Shangri-la. More time passed. Then four carefully selected missionaries—two of them new, two of them experienced—were chosen for this high adventure. The members of the small branch pledged their support. The missionaries pledged their lives. The Lord honored both. "In the space of three months, Kingston became the most productive city of the Canadian Mission. The grey limestone buildings still stood; the city had not altered its appearance; the population remained constant. The change was one of attitude. The label of doubt yielded to the label of faith."

This story really inspired me, and I know that we can do exactly what those missionaries did. Elder Frey and I were frustrated one day and when we got home, we prayed. After, Elder Frey felt impressed to open to Alma 32:2 which says: "And it came to pass that after much labor among them, they began to have success among the poor class of the people; for behold, they were cast out of the synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel." When I heard that, I thought maybe we need to look in the most unlikely places to find those who are prepared. I know that things are going to change and we're going to be the ones to do it along with the members!

¡Levantate! ¡Podemos hacerlo ahora!

Love,

Elder San Diego

Restaurant in Alegría