It's All Worth It

Landon said he didn't have a fishing pole so he just watched what the other Elders were doing and copied them!  What a goofball!

July 14, 2014

Hello Family and Friends!

I hope all is will wherever you may be reading this. I had another excellent week as a missionary. We were able to have a lot of success and I can tell you right now that August will be the month for baptisms in the Pinehurst ward. I'm getting excited. More on that later.

So on Tuesday we started by doing service for a man named Tony. He's the man that I contacted while helping with the U.S. Open. He has a property out in Jackson Springs that he bought for 5 thousand dollars. Let me tell you. That property may not even be worth that much. When we got there, there was garbage everywhere, everything was overgrown, and the mosquitoes were having a party. But we got started and we were actually able to do a lot. I'll send some pictures so yo can see what we worked on. Needless to say, we are going to help Tony again tomorrow and will share a lesson with him. Later that day, we went out to contact a referral, yes a referral, that we received. It was a house full of Mexicans! There were so many that we couldn't keep up with them all! So we decided to talk with one who was interested to know how we learned Spanish. His name is Oscar. He's up here for a month working construction, from Panama City, Florida. We taught him the Restoration and he just loved it. He speaks English, but we're gonna keep him because he lives in a house with a bunch of people who don't. Later that night, we went to see what the deal was with A. He didn't come to church on Sunday and we wanted to know why. Turns out he went to a Spanish Pentecostal church. He says it's really hard to go to a church where he can't understand things. The worst part about this is he doesn't even pick up the interpretation devices! So we actually ended up giving him a blessing and he said he would come to church.

Wednesday we went and contacted some formers out in Aberdeen with a little success. We did, however, contact a former and he said he's interested and that we could come back. Then we knocked on a door and some lady came to the door and was like "I don't want any arguments so ya'll can leave." Then we just offered service and she was like "No I'm fine. Let me tell you what I believe. Christ was born, Christ died for our sins and then rose on the third day." And I was like well that's exactly what we believe and then she just kind of closed the door on us. Oh well haha. Some people just fear the truth I guess. Then our English class cancelled at the church so we just talked to members until eight, then we played basketball. Let me tell you how fun it is playing with a bunch of old guys. Very.

Thursday was Zone Conference down in Fayetteville. I thought it was fantastic. Something that stood out to me is that we need to make sure to help our investigators want to be baptized for themselves, rather than us just trying to convince them. Then I learned some good scriptures to help with that. So hopefully I can apply it well in the future.

Friday we did weekly planning and then headed up to Robbins for English class. And guess what.....not a single person came. So we waited a little longer and then just sulked for a second. I wasn't really surprised. We'll get the word out a little better. It was funny. We were in the English classroom and some girl came in and the first thing she said to me was "How old are you?" So I told her I was 19. Then she pulled out her ID and handed it to me. She was like "I'm not a minor I promise." So then we explained a little bit about what we do as missionaries and then she started talking about how she saw a documentary about NORMANS on TV about how we enslave children and have multiple wives. So we quickly defused that. And then she proceeded to hit on me. Whaaaaaaaaaaat? She was like "Well maybe when you get done with your mission we can date or something. I mean I'm 28 and your 19 but maybe it would work. And all this was in missionary character. So awkward. So I gave her a card and we walked out. I don't really know. Just awkward haha. And funny of course. I live for that.

Saturday we went and had a lesson with a man named Raul and his wife. So we talked about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration and his wife just wasn't having it. She didn't want to listen. So we poured our hearts out in testimony and nothing. We left with the Spirit but she didn't get anything out of it. Raul might have been touched, but not here. That's missionary work for ya. You do as much as you can and people still have agency. I hate agency sometimes. It just gets in the way. But hey, that's how we learn and we have to respect everyone's agency. I'm not really disappointed. I did my part and it's in the Lord's hands now.

So Sunday we were expecting a bunch of people at church, but once again, people had their agency. Antonio didn't show for some reason. Neither did Oscar. But we did have Max there! He wore a suit this time so that's good. Alberto, his brother, couldn't come because he was sick. Max said he loved it and we plan to teach them on Saturday.

So overall it was a good week. Good stuff. We did a lot of work and it payed off. Even though some people didn't come to church or accept like we had imagined, I'm grateful for every experience that I have on my mission. I do love the mission. I love the successes, the failures, the bad times, and the good. It's all worth it. It's the Lord's work. It's the most important work going on in the world and I'm a part of it.

I love you all. Thanks for the prayers and emails.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Landon Carroll

These are more pictures that Landon sent of the US Open that he helped with: