James letter 11-07-11

This last week was not the best. Monday was a waste of time. We had P-day until five, and then we had to spend the rest of the night inside because of Halloween. No costumes, no haunting, no fun. Sunday night a member gave us two bags of candy, which we were not able to give out, so this last week I ate almost three pounds worth of candy by myself. It is sickening to think about.

The work is grinding to a halt. Our golden investigator is not so golden. He won't come to church, and he keeps wanting the deep doctrine before the basics. He's looking so far past the mark that he's missing the truth thats in front of him. Our second solid investigator has also not been to church, and we have been unable to contact her all week. Things with her are not looking good. Our third investigator that is so close, is still stuck on the desire. If she would ask with the intent to know she would be there. It would help if she would come to church. The last two lessons with her have been short and powerful. The Spirit was there so much it was almost palpable. I know she felt it. Its sad to see them get so close and not go anywhere. We are still working really hard, and we did get one investigator to come to church yesterday, we will talk with her today, hopefully she will start progressing.

We have done a lot of tracting this week, as our investigator pool is shrinking. People are not very pleasant sometimes, although Sunday morning we did leave a family with a Book of Mormon. That was probably the most exciting thing that happened all week. Its hard when nothing seems to be working, but I know that as long as we're trying our best thats all that matters. We will give our hearts soley to the work, and the rest will fall into place. As we trust in the Lord, and he tests our faith, he will reward us with success.

The Book of Mormon is amazing. It changes lives. I have seen it work. Dive into it. Read it everyday.

It's crazy that you mentioned that video about the lightning and the blessing, I had just watched that on Thursday. Wierd. It's cool to see the power that each of us can have if we just believe in two things: the Lord, and ourselves. As always put the Lord first. Believe that He is. Believe that He can do all things. Moroni 7:33. But it is also important to believe in ourselves, for if we have no confidence in ourselves, the Lord's creation, how can we expect to have confidence in the Lord? We can do marvelous things with the Lord, but only if we believe we can. Have faith, and the rest will come.

Hopefully my next email will bring better news of the work. Theres always ups and downs and right now we just happen to be in a down. we won't be there for long if we can do anything about it. I love you both.

Elder Schultz