Greetings From San Jose

Hola Mi Amigos,

I hope I wrote that correctly, of course I don't know how to make a tilde on the keyboard and that phrase undoubtedly has one, but besides that I hope I did it correctly. And I think I'm going to give up on capitalization for this e-mail cause we're at a different library and this keyboards shift key is amazingly uncooperative. seriously my pinky hurts. well this week was pretty good. we got a new investigator from a recent convert that we teach and meet with a lot. he took to inviting a certain friend upon our challenging him to do so and now that friend has come to church twice. we have not taught him a very substantial lesson as of yet however. we were set to meet him once and he called in sick and then just an hour ago we were supposed to meet again but he had called saying essentially that he was sick again but this time it was a problem with his medication and he had to go to the doctor to get it straightened out. so the first time he called in sick and missed our appointment it was cause for concern thinking that he didn't actually enjoy attending church but then he came to church again and so this time we're not as concerned that we didn't get to meet with him assuming that his excuse is real and it's just a matter of time before we do get to teach him and really we just really want to invite him to be baptized. that invitation is always a thrill.

we still have a lady that has now come to church about 8 times and we aren't teaching her yet but i think she's becoming more comfortable with us and we always see her in the gospel principles class and there are members that she is close friends with that are helping her along and so she's just a matter of time as well. i recognize that i keep saying "matter of time" as if i can hold out forever when in reality i don't have long to go, but that doesn't really matter. it's fun to be a part of it while i'm here but if i miss out on the end that's not too upsetting. one would think it would feel diminishing to know that once you're gone nothing will really change almost that you didn't make a difference, but in the realm of missionary work it's more of a comfort knowing that it will go on unimpeded. hopefully i made a difference, or am making a difference but it's easy to recognize that it shouldn't be too difficult for someone else to come in and carry it forward. it makes me think of the princess bride. how the infamous dread pirate roberts has actually been a bunch of different men throughout the ages but all with the same name so they carry on the legacy. perhaps i shouldn't compare the work of the Lord to piracy but i think you all understand what i mean.

anyway, we also received a call from a lady that we worked with a while ago but didn't go anywhere and she wanted to meet again. there's no telling whether or not it will go anywhere this time but we're always willing to try. she is one of those investigators that seems to agree with everything in theory but actually committing to do the things required to demonstrate what you believe is where things fall apart. coming to church is very hard for her and it's evident why and i'll admit that if i were in her shoes i would not jump at the idea of the kind of preparation that would be required to make it to church, but we can't be sure if she's really very committed until she accepts that challenge. you would think that being baptized and accepting the commission to take upon oneself the name of Christ and always remember him and keep his commandments, would be a harder invitation to accept and accomplish than coming to church. i guess that is the point that this investigator is missing so we'll need to focus on that when we meet this week and see if we can't help her progress and come to church regularly.

well that's what's going on around here. it's fun. i hope you all have a great week.

sincerely, elder f. miller