That's what's up.

“If you go inactive after your mission, I will haunt you!  One night, you’ll be home in your bed and I’ll be there scratching at your window!”  Elder Holland (figured you could use a good Holland quote).

Yeah, ward council is interesting. It's tough, but really you need a mix of determination, patience, and optimism.  I know that sometimes there is a sense of people being rushed into the church before they are ready, and that is a valid concern. There are safeguards so that shouldn't happen. Bottom line is, no one is truly prepared for the church. We have grown up in it, we are fully ingrained in the doctrine and terminology since Primary, so imagine someone who's just discovered the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith is a prophet, and then slam them with all the rest that makes up the culture of our church. That is why a strong friend, Home Teacher, and fellow shipper is so important. 

I am doing ok this week, this one was a toughie. A lot of appointments fell through. We've been working with this guy named C, 48 years old, he's been inactive for a decade or so but really wanted to turn his life around. He's been on some hard drugs that've fried his brains a bit, but he is just really nice and wants to be active. He's been coming to church consecutively for almost 2 months. Then he went to a single adult activity and somehow got the impression there was alcohol there. Got super offended, now he won't let us in or talk to us. Plus, bashers have just been coming out of the woodwork to heckle us; there's been a lot of crap. Just one of those weeks. The biggest antidote for hard times, I’ve found, is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Something exciting though is that we are picking up a lot of momentum with getting a separate Spanish sacrament meeting every week! We've been doing it once a month for now. But one of the high councilors has been trying to get it going, our 2nd counselor working really closely with us to help the inactive and less-active members who are Hispanics, and the Stake President asked for my take on it to see if the area is ready. So we could see this happening pretty soon! I'm excited for that. 

That's what's up.

Love

Elder Wright