God has a work for us to do

I'm not sure if I should apologize or not for not speaking as much about my personal missionary work or not. Sometimes it is hard to speak about people you aren't sure are going to be progressing the next week or not, and then all of a sudden I'm mentioning a baptism on my blog about someone you've never really heard of. But the longer I've been on my mission the more I'm realizing that the mission does more than allow me to be an instrument in sharing the gospel so that the spirit can convert them; it helps to convert me. So even when the work isn't all there, or when I feel like I'm not making much of a difference, I can remember that God has a work for me to do, and it isn't limited to 18 months.

Now, I want to echo the words of Gordon B Hinckley:
"President Monson has spoken on retaining the convert. I endorse what he has said and wish to speak somewhat further on this same subject. I feel very strongly about it. With the ever-increasing number of converts, we must make an increasingly substantial effort to assist them as they find their way. Every one of them needs three things: a friend, a responsibility, and nurturing with “the good word of God”. It is our duty and opportunity to provide these things."

After this he gives a heart wrenching story of a convert of his on the mission who, through an unfortunate series of mis-happenings and casual neglect, left the church. Please read the whole story at https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1997/04/converts-and-young-men?lang=eng

I don't know if you personally have ever known someone who has changed their whole life for this gospel. I know there are people in your ward that need someone to reach out to them. You might think the Bishop has it in hand, or the missionaries are taking care of it, but the responsibility is yours! The way I have come to see it is like a parent. Now, I've never been a parent, and I probably won't be one for a long while yet, but I imagine having a recent convert is a lot like that. You help them find God, you help them recognize their potential, then after a time you have to let them go. You have to trust that someone will watch over them and someone will help them and that they will use their agency to choose the right. You have to trust that they will stay close to the gospel without you there. And you pray. You pray that good people will enter their lives and that God will watch over them.

In the words of Jeffrey R Holland:
"If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.” I can hardly read those words without weeping. The plural pronoun us is obviously used intentionally. He is saying, in effect, “Our whole family is pleading. Our struggle never ceases. We are exhausted. Our son falls into the water. He falls into the fire. He is continually in danger, and we are continually afraid. We don’t know where else to turn. Can you help us? We will be grateful for anything—a partial blessing, a glimmer of hope, some small lifting of the burden carried by this boy’s mother every day of her life.”
“If thou canst do any thing,” spoken by the father, comes back to him “If thou canst believe,” spoken by the Master."

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/lord-i-believe?lang=eng

You know what? I believe in this church. The gospel is true. Of course the gospel is true, but this church is true. I have seen people reach out, sacrifice, give, mourn, and offer their lives for those in need. This church changes people. It calls them to a higher standard of living, a higher standard of being a neighbor. Of being a friend.

Find someone that needs you. Pray for the opportunities to lift the weary hands that hang down. And then do it.

And I know it is hard to balance. To quote my friend Sister Taylor Harman (serving in Manchester NH),
"Missionary work is like trying to lick a melty ice cream cone. You lick one side, and then you have to hurry and lick the back side because it's dripping again. You figure out how to teach, then you have to figure out how to work with the ward or the ward mission leader better. Then you need to make some personal improvements. Then if you figure that out it's probably time to find new people to teach again. But I like ice cream and I love being a missionary, so it's all good even though I still don't have everything figured out yet."

We are the miracle workers.

We are children of God, brothers and sisters in the kingdom.

Let's act like it.

Con Amor,

Hermana Fletcher

Sister Bradley and I showing off our height difference

Brother Kelly fully clothed in his pool. The lengths he will go to in order to get on my blog

That one time we taught a lesson to a Spanish speaking gentleman and he fed us each half a cantaloupe and then gave us Salvadorian cookies and a cake: