"Missionary work with members is so much more effective."

January 26, 2015

Dear family,

Well, first off, I didn't have changes. And neither did Elder G. So we'll have at least another six weeks together. And we're excited. It's going to be good.

In other news, we finished listening to all the talks you sent me for my birthday! Thanks for sending me those. We really enjoyed listening to them.

More about M. He's so eager to share the gospel, he just doesn't really know how. He's apparently going to other churches so that he can befriend them, "soften their hearts," and invite them to church. I'm not entirely sure if that's ok, but he's trying so hard. We're trying to work with him more so that he has a more positive outlet for his desire to share the gospel. His desire to share the gospel is soooo strong. He reminds me of Alma. He really has had an Alma-like experience. M describes himself as being a great sinner before. He said that he felt really burdened down. Now, he describes the joy that he has, joy he never knew before. And now he is truly doing everything he can to share the gospel. I know that if I wasn't a full time missionary, I would not be doing all that he's doing. I think of the quote from Preach My Gospel that says something like, "As your own understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase." (I still haven't gotten around to learning that in English). But anyways, he's a really good example of that principle. By the way, M's real name is M. The first time we talked to him, we were having trouble hearing is name so he just told us M, and that name kind of stuck.

We're starting to work more with the members. Right now we're teaching the father and the sister of President M. Both of them have accepted baptismal dates and have come to church two times now. 

Missionary work with members is so much more effective. Right now we mainly just find new investigators by talking to people in the street. But almost all of the baptisms result from references from members. So the mission is going to try something different, starting in our zone. Starting this week, we're not allowed to talk to people in the street, unless we're really prompted by the spirit to do so. We will just be working through the members. It's going to be different. I'm not really sure how we'll do it. We have very few members that live close. But, we're going to do it. And it's going to be good.

Well, I love you all!

Elder Hilton