Missionary Work-They Need Help From the Members

Letter from Ben on April 27, 2015

Hola Familia,

Congrats Justin on getting your braces off. 

I've been doing well this week. My companion and I have been asked to do a presentation/workshop on how to work with the members that we're going to present to the mission leaders in the leadership council tomorrow, so that's exciting. 

We are going to talk about how we as missionaries can strengthen the members. There are lots of ways we can find people to teach as missionaries. We normally rely on talking with people in the street or knocking doors (not that talking with people is a bad thing, it's just one of the many ways we can work); but everyone knows that there is a much better way to work. In Chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel, it says:

"Work with members of the Church to find people to teach. The ideal situation is when members invite others to be taught and are present for the teaching. When members do this, more people are baptized and remain active in the Church. The process of bringing new people into the Church is not the responsibility alone of the missionaries. They succeed best when members become the source from which new investigators are found."

It's nothing new that we're inventing, it's just something that we don't do as a mission. Our trainers didn't do it, nor did their trainers nor their trainers trainers. And it has never been a focus for us as a mission. It's just another resource we aren't using. The members are also not very accustomed and we're trying to help them understand that we expect them to participate even more in their ward's missionary work. It's a little slow but there is a progress.

I'm doing fine health wise and loving my zone. The missionaries are doing great, getting along well with their companions, working hard, and being obedient. And that's what makes me extremely happy.

Next week I am going to need to put plans for Skype for Mothers Day. Just let me what hours you are going to be together so I can start planning.

Take care,

Elder Benjamin Taylor

Missionary Work-Would Like You to Answer Some Questions

Letter from Ben on April 20, 2015

He has a list of questions about missionary work in this letter. Please email Ben with answers to these questions. His email is benjamint@myldsmail.net and I know he would love to get your answers!

Hola familia,

¿Como estáis? Espero que cada uno de vosotros esté bien.

This week was wonderful. Lots of work. We ended the week dead tired, which we are happy about. We continue working with the members trying to strengthen them: Build their faith, teach them how to share the gospel, and invite them to act. It has been a wonderful experience and has been absolutely beautiful to see the desires so many of them have to share the gospel. The biggest obstacle that we're finding is that many simply don't know how to share the gospel or they're just afraid of how their friends will react, which makes it difficult to get references and take it from just a spiritual experience with the members to a productive finding activity. 

I wanted to ask you (as a family/ward) to answer a few questions I have been thinking about. If you want to talk to other members and have them respond that would also be awesome.

1) What is the biggest obstacle that keeps you from sharing the gospel with your friends and family?

2) Do you make an effort to invite non member or less active friends to your home the same time the missionaries are going to pass by? (maybe the night you have dinner with the missionaries, or in family home evenings, or in birthday parties or other important events like graduation/going away parties)

3) Are you working on Élder Ballard´s  challenges of inviting at least one person every quarter of the year to listen to the missionaries and of reading, studying and applying the teachings of Preach My Gospel?

"...we can all be more consistently involved in missionary work by replacing our fear with real faith, inviting someone at least once a quarter—or four times everyyear—to be taught by the full-time missionaries. They are prepared to teach by the Spirit, with sincere and heartfelt inspiration from the Lord. Together we can follow up on our invitations, take others by the hand, lift them up, and walk with them on their spiritual journey.
To help you in this process, I invite all members,regardless of your current calling or level of activity in the Church, to obtain a copy of Preach My Gospel. It is available through our distribution centers and also online. The online version can be read or downloaded at no cost. It is a guidebook for missionary work—whichmeans it is a guidebook for all of us. Read it, study it,and then apply what you learn to help you understand how to bring souls to Christ through invitation and follow-up. As President Thomas S. Monson has said,“Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord’svineyard to bring souls unto Him.”  Elder M. Russell Ballard "Following up" 

4) Do you know of anyone that need the blessings of living the restored gospel in their lives? Now of these people that you have in mind, what actions will you take to introduce the gospel to them, and by when?

5) Do you have a deep desire to share the gospel? If no, what will you do to develop that desire?

6) Do you pray frequently to the Lord asking him to indicate to you who those people are that are prepared to receive the gospel? Are the references that I give to the missionaries received through inspiration, or are the the same people that I always say just to get the missionaries off my back?

I would appreciate the honest answers to whatever questions you feel comfortable answering. I want to know how to better help the members here in my ward, so any suggestions and opinions would be wonderful.

Love you all very much. Please take care.

Élder Benjamin Taylor

Exciting Week & Disappointing Week All At Once

Letter from Ben on April 13, 2015

Hola Familia,

How are all of you doing? Good, I hope. I am doing much better; I'm being diligent with my inhaler and am taking allergy medicine to keep from getting anything again.

It's good to hear everything is going well. So the secretaries are ordering my tickets now . That means that I only have THIS MUCH TIME left. ¡So that's crazy!

This week was amazing in a few ways and a real downer in other ways.

My companion and I had many amazing charlas and met quite a few amazing people. We felt more and more the company of the Spirit, but when Sunday arrived almost everyone fell through and either couldn't or didn't want to go to church. Investigators, Less Actives, and Recent Converts alike. 

We didn´t have any of the 5 investigators we had planned on, only 2 of the 12 less actives that had promised to come came, and only 4 of 9 recent converts were able to make it (as opposed to the normal 6 or 7).

I was thinking a lot about our work and I was thinking of what more my companion and I could have done. Sometimes it rains, hails, is hot, is cold: but the thing that frustrates me more than anything is when people aren't completely honest with us and they tell us "Si, si, si." but when it comes down to it they really meant "No, no, no."  I understand that it can be for various reasons, maybe a doubt that they might have, or fear to offend us, or even just straight up laziness. I just wish I was better at discerning that, and also helping them with that.

Regardless, I'm doing well. I hope everyone is taking care and is participating actively in the ward's missionary work. De no ser así, no hay porque tener misioneros en nuestro barrio. (Otherwise , there is no reason to have missionaries in our neighborhood.)

Love you all alot,

Take care,

Élder Benjamin Taylor

General Conference-God Answers Our Prayers

The letter from Ben on April 6, 2015

Hola Familia,

I hope everything is going well back home. General conference was amazing, right?

This week was amazing and ended even better when we had General Conference. We got the daughter of Clara (our recent convert), Paola, to go to General Conference. We had left after the first session to go look for people to invite to General Conference. We had passed by 3 other less actives and 1 other investigator to try to get them to go to General Conference. Those all fell through. My companion and I both felt like we needed to go to Clara´s house to go invite her daughter Paola, who earlier had denied to go. (Clara was already at the church watching the re-transmission of the General Women's Session). 

We weren´t anywhere near her house, in fact we were rather far from her. But we went already having had every other person fall through. We got there and told her at the door that we had felt that she needed to go the church with us and that we would pass by in 20 min to pick her up. She was shocked, and didn't respond anything. We were sure that that her silence meant NO. We weren´t even exactly sure why we were there we just felt like we need to go.

When we had told her that I am sure that she could hear the sincerity in our voice and hear the spirit testifying to her that she needed to go. So, after a few seconds of silence told us to give her those 20 min and she would get ready to go. We came back and she was waiting to go to church. I know that you don´t know her, but keep in mind that simply looking at her, she looks like a rebellious punk and has never been interested in going to a church. I had noticed that something had changed in her since the last time we had seen her.

Anyways, I'm going to omit the details and just say she went to the session. The young women of the ward took control and took her to a bench where they all sat next to each other. She really enjoyed her time and said that the talks answered some of the questions she had.

Now, when I was talking with Clara after the conference she told me: "The Lord listens to our prayers" she said crying. "Last night my daughter and I had a big fight. She was going to go out to the street and leave again." (she has had a history of leaving and leaving for weeks at a time staying in the street or with other kids in the street doing who knows what). "The fight escalated and she decided to leave. I immediately knelt down and prayed for her to return, for her safety. I then would read a few verses of the book of Mormon, then return to praying. You don´t know the fear I have when I know she is out in the street and I can´t go out and look for her."  

You must remember that Clara is confined to a wheel chair. She continued, "I had been on my knees praying like I never had before. When after about 25 min Paola walked in and knelt down with me and prayed with me. I know that God hears our prayers. If it weren't for what I've learned in these weeks I probably wouldn't have thought to pray. I probably would have called one of my sons to go look for her, which would have given the same results it always had of more rebellion and her running off for weeks at a time."

I am convinced that this is the change that she has had. It wasn't me or my companions words, nor the telephone calls we had made to invite her. It was God answering the prayers of this faithful mother. It made me think if I am really relying on the power of prayer like I should.

Love you all lots, take care!

Élder Benjamin Taylor

Stressed Out-Keep Calm

This is Ben's letter from March 30, 2015

Hola familia,

I'm doing a lot better. Still having a little of a hard time breathing, but I'm getting better every day. I unfortunately wasn't able to rest like I should have at the beginning of the week. I've been out of function for a week straight. I'm super sick of being stuck in the house.  I'm taking the medicine  they have given me, but the asthma is way out of whack. 

I had my first serious asthma/stress attack where I had to go to the hospital. I was in a meeting with the Stake President and the High Council and I started to loose my breath then my hands and feet started to go numb. I had one of the members drive me to the hospital when I couldn't get it under control. By the time we got to the hospital, I had completely lost all feeling in my hands and from my knees down and the cramped up all weird as if I had palsy. They hooked me up to oxygen for about an hour and it got a lot better. I was still a little numb when I left the hospital but they changed my inhaler and I haven´t had a problem since.

They told me that it wouldn't have been so bad if I wouldn't have gotten so stressed out. It had been a mildly stressful week since my companion had gotten called to be the new assistant and I was alone to take care of everything before the changes (and deal with a few disobedient missionaries and other various problems). So now I just need to control my stress a little better and keep taking my inhaler frequently and it should all regulate out.

I only got to leave this week to go to church and for district meetings. It was so nice to see the recent converts and less actives we've been working with and I can't wait to get back out to go visit.

The zone is quite new. There are quite a few missionaries that have very little time in the mission and who have recently arrived to the zone. I'm extremely excited to see what we can do as a Zone. We are going to work even more with the members than we have in these last two changes. And we are going to try to be even more consecrated than ever before. It's awesome, lots of the less obedient/ less motivated missionaries are no longer in the zone and we have receive alot of newer missionaries who are completely willing to work as hard as it takes. So we are extremely blessed as far as the zone goes.

The house has 3 new missionaries. Elder Hobbs, Elder Massey and Elder Álverez. Elder Hobbs (Idaho) was my zone leader when I was in La Paloma, Elder Massey (California) was a Zone leader in a zone called Durazno last change and is now training Elder Álverez who recently arrived a few days ago from Bolivia. I don't have any pictures of them this week, but next week I'll be sure to send some.

To answer your questions:
How is your new companion?He is doing well, super excited to work here in Belloni. He is finishing his mission this change so that's crazy. They put me with a Valiente. We're going to the temple in a few weeks with some his converts.

How are things going?Well. With lots of mucus and shortness of breath, but well.

 We love hearing all about you and what is happening. Did you get some new shoes? I got new shoes and I hope on using them more this week.

Anything you need? Prayers and for everyone to give each other a big ol´ hug from me.

Anything you need us to do? Keep being awesome. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel and act upon the opportunities that the Lord will give you. And if it doesn´t seem like He's giving you opportunities, that means he's waiting on you to make your own.

Love you all so much,

Élder Benjamin Taylor

Don't Freak Out-never the way a letter should start!

This is the letter from Ben on March 24, 2015
Hola Familia,

Lots of changes over in the Plainfield Ward. Congrats to Ashley Gootee for her mission call. Everything here is doing great. We're enjoying wonderful chilly weather here.

Now, don´t freak out, but I got a little sick about a week and a half ago and it spread to my lungs (sort of like what happened about 6 months ago). I went to the doctor yesterday and they did some breathing tests and an ultra sound thing and they told me that I have Pneumonia and Asthma (which makes me more susceptible in the future according to them). Thankfully they caught the pneumonia pretty early on, so they gave me a treatment with some medicated oxygen mask and some medicine. It should be better in a few days. I feel way better today, but regardless I'm only leaving the house to write you guys and to cut my hair. They got me an inhaler for the future.

I'm way better so don't worry please. The medicine is working really well.

So the changes are...

I am staying and my old companion Elder Gutiérrez is the new Assistant to the President. My new companion is Elder Hobbs. He was my zone leader back in Rocha. He is coming here and he will be finishing his mission here in Maroñas because this is his last transfer cycle. There are quite a few missionaries going this change. We will have 3 new district leaders and 1 new district leader in the zone. I am the only one who is familiar with the plans and issues of the zone so we're going to have to do a lot of training with new leaders. I'm really excited about this new transfer cycle, It's going to be great!

I love you all lots. That's a sweet bike dad. Congrats, You completely deserve it. Drive safe please! (John got a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle)

Sorry I didn't write more but I just want to go back home to lay down. Love you lots!!!

Élder Benjamin Taylor

Temple Days-Lots of Family History Accomplished

This is Ben's letter from March 16, 2015

Hola Familia,

Good to hear that everyone is doing so well. Everything is doing well here in Maroñas. This week we got to go to the temple as a Zone. We had interviews with President Cook and some workshops by the assistants. It was an awesome experience. Obviously going to the temple is something we get to do every day, so it was even more special. 

I got to do baptisms and confirmations for 5 family members and two sisters were able to do from baptism to endowment for two family names. Everyone else in the zone was either able to bring their own family names or was able to do family names for other missionaries. There was a wonderful spirit that day. It was amazing to "re-live" every covenant we've made from baptism to endowment.

This month for the ward mission activity, we went to the temple with the recent converts and the members that we've activated. We were able to go with 4 recent converts and with 3 less active families we've been working with. We were in the temple for about 2 hours and were able to do lots of family names (from the family history we'd been doing with them. =) 

I was the recorder in the confirmation room. We got a lot of names in the temple and over 20 were names from Indiana, and like 40 from the Netherlands (the two places where we have quite a few ancestors), so that was really cool. It was a great activity and even cooler because we got permission to enter in the temple with them. (The established standard in the mission is that you can only go to the temple when we have conferences where the zone is planned to go, or when you are accompanying a convert to get their endowment or to be sealed).

I got to go to Libia (my first area) on an interchange and got to 

visit my two converts there. One is going through a hard time and the other is doing fine. It was super awesome to see them. I hope they can both continue strong. They both have testimonies and know that the church is true, but some of the trials they've gone through have been pretty difficult.

The week has been amazing. We're having a lot of blessing by way of finding less-active members that are wanting to progress and return to the church. It's also been a wonderful opportunity to find new people to teach. I'm really enjoying my time here with Elder Gutiérrez. We're working really well together. Changes are coming up next week. I will probably be writing on Tuesday.

Love you all lots!

Élder Benjamin Taylor