April 26. 2012, Richmond ---Absence makes the heart grow. . . It is a very interesting point that sometimes we just have to sit back and be patient while the Lord is working his miracles on us or on those we are working with. In this case I know it has been for my sake. Months have gone by and I have not felt like writing in this blog because there were no immediate results to report. People have to have the opportunity to choose their path. That has been an important lesson for me. I cannot make-up the difference, but the Lord can!!! There are many good people living in this area that just do not recognize what they have in the Gospel and how important it is!! The insecurity we see, carries over into their daily living. They are comfortable, maybe too comfortable, in their life styles. Change comes hard, especially when they are already members and do not want to take the next step of ministering to each other. Much of what we have been doing could have been done by the members themselves. There just does not seem to be a lot of ministering going on in their daily lives. They are comfortable sitting in their complacency and indulged in their own life styles. Meanwhile their are new and "barely in the church," members who are struggling and need love and encouragement. It is difficult because we know that at some point we will be leaving, and they will need to do the ministering themselves. What to do?!! The young missionaries are sent here to teach and find new members. out job is more of a fellowshipping of the members, (which they could be doing themselves.) It is certainly a difference from our Idaho wards. The other thing is that there is a leftover attitude towards the Mormons in the beginnings of the church that has been passed on from generation to generation, an hardened attitude and disbelief in Joseph Smith and the beginings of the church. Every day is a new day and we are loving missionary work and the Lord's spirit that is with us. The Richmond Ward The Richmond ward has over 500 members on the ward list; of which maybe an average of 100 people attend on a good day. So many have fallen away. Many were baptized and never given the Priesthood. Many, many are part member families. Where oh where do we start?!!! We have offered our services as home teachers, Relief Society teaches or anything that we can help with. We do not want to step in the way, but it is so important that these people are cared for and cared about! How we love our Bishop in the Richmond Ward!!! He is an amazing man in so many ways! Because of his love and caring, he has brought individual members into the church, with the help of his wife. Robbie White is one of those people. He was their neighbor whom he had gotten to know. They just began talking about religion one day and talked for two hours. Robbie was a member of the Pentecostal church, (holy rollers.) When he was ready to be taught by the missionaries, the Bishop met with them and walked with him every step of the way. It was amazing and Robbie is an amazing member of the church! Robbie came to us and ask if he could meet with us weekly, after he was baptized. He invited us out to his home. When we went out there it was not too inviting! His wife still very strongly agrees with the pentecostal beliefs and is further influenced by her father who is a preacher for them. The wife and her friend were there and it was not a very warm atmosphere. Robbie had invited us out to have dinner with them and sit down and teach him. But dinner was not anywhere and there was not an open attitude. Rather than cause problems for him we decided that another time might be better. He walked out with us and suggested that he come to our apartment for a couple of hours every week and be taught the deeper Gospel. We have been doing this and it has been wonderful. He is definitely thirsting for the knowledge and power of the Gospel in his life. He and his wife seem to have come to a truce about it. It is so difficult for him. We continue to teach and minister to others here as well as visit ward members and take them bread, cookies, or whatever we have that will help them to feel cared about. It is enjoyable, but we are not seeing too much progress in how they minister to each other. We ask ourselves, what is going to happen when we leave? And then the other day one of the members told us that the last couple missionaries that were here two years ago, the same thing happened and then when they left, everyone went back to doing the same thing. Sad. Our Pool of People We are still working and teaching Rachel Fudge, Rick Rose, Ivy Mebane, and a couple of others. We are also helping to fellowship a family who is currently being fellowshipped by members. It is a couple who have lived together and never gotten married. He has a drinking problem and has regressed some. They have four children and a 5th on the way. They have come to church several times and the kids are enjoying their different classes and peer groups. They have a long way to go. She has not believed in God, and he, a Catholic. This week their fellowshipping family is out of town, so we have been serving and doing things they have needed. We took dinner over on Monday, and taught two of the eldest children about the priesthood, because they had been learning about it in their church classes. Yesterday we went over and helped with a garage sale they will be having this week. We are going back again today. We have been encouraging the reading of the Book of Mormon in this ward also, hoping that it will help the level of spirituality here. Even though they have been reading it in Sunday School, there are those who are less active or in our huge Gospel principles class that have not been reading it, that need to be involved too. We had a Pitch-in/pot luck on Sunday after church to celebrate their reading. We talked about it with them and passed out a FHE activity sheet they could do together in FHE this week. We just try to encourage them in all we do. Everyone loves to get together so we are planning more activities and trying to help them get together more. I have discovered something very interesting about myself in this mission. I have always loved the Book of Mormon and the principles it teaches. The more i read it, the deeper the penetrating influence of the spirit, witnessing to me of the truth that it contains. It is one thing to read it and it is another thing to know and understand and internalize the principles and concepts of truths that are presented by the Prophets who have recorded their history. It is important to know and understand the concepts that are taught there. I'm so grateful that I have discovered that knowledge for myself. Winnchester Ward The Winchester ward is a different experience for us. Their ward has been depleted to the point that there really is hardly enough members for a branch. President Soloman, is very dedicated to maintaining the branch and not combining with another unit. On a good day, they have about 20 members attend. About 3/4 of the Branch are less active. It was a busy branch at one time, but many active people moved away and left it the way it is President Soloman is a therapist and has his own agency here. He has had to accept outside work in order to keep his agency in Winchester going, so he is now currently in Alabama working for the government. All of his meetings he holds over skype. When we go into ward correlation, he is sitting on his desk and welcoming us. It is quite interesting. He will be home for a month in May and then go back to Alabama again. Under these circumstances it is difficult for us. The whole branch is dependent upon him and there is basically no leadership there. He has two counselors, one from the branch and one that has been called from the Richmond ward to serve in the Winnchester ward. He asked us, before he left, to go out and bring back a fellow who was less active. So we looked him up and and made an appointment with him. He was a good man and very open and receptive. We taught him for a few weeks and invited him to church and he was excited to come back. From there the people have done a great job as a branch, in fellowshipping him. So now he is active. President Soloman has ask us to visit a couple of other less actives, that are pretty hard and we have not taken the time to do that. We have a difficult time visiting Winnchester because we live 30 miles or so back in Richmond. There is just so much more that we can do here as opposed to working there. It has been difficult not having a leader in the area to keep us filled in. We suggested the Book of Mormon Program to them also, but President Soloman wanted the organizations to work together without us, so he kind of took our support away from it. We have just had a difficult time finding our place in that branch. I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for my Savior, I know he lives. I know that the things he has taught us through the scriptures are true. I know that this organization has been set up and administered under his influence. I know that the Gospel is true, but we as a people struggle in our daily lives to reflect this belief. I hope I can do better and cherish more the great knowledge and opportunity that I have as a missionary. I love my Savior. I hope I can grow and improve in my abilities to minister while we are here.