He will consecrate thy performance

Hello, This week was pretty good. This whole time, my companion has been on the Instagram team for my mission, but this week, he decided to take a break from it so that we could focus more on our area. Even though we didn't use as much social media, we found a lot more people and taught a lot more lessons than we did last week when we did use social media lol, so I guess the Lord consecrated our sacrifice for our welfare this week. On Tuesday, we decided to spend the whole day in the furthest part of our area (about 30 minutes or more to bike there lol), and we ended up finding a lot of people and teaching some really good lessons. One of those lessons was with Rico and Monica. Elder Schumann-Curtis had taught them before, but he hasn't been able to contact them for a few months. Despite that time gap, Monica still remembered everything that they were taught last time, and they were totally willing and open to learning all that they could, they loved everything we shared with them. They have a lot of potential, and they could definitely be progressing towards baptism soon if we are able to regularly meet with them. The cool thing about this encounter was that both Elder Schumann-Curtis and I were prompted that morning to change our schedule so that we would spend the whole day in that area, and when we stopped by a member's house in that area, she mentioned how they had met with Rico and Monica a few days beforehand, and she said that they had a lot of good things to say about us. Because she mentioned their names, we decided to stop by, and they wanted us to teach them right there and then. It was a bunch of cool "right place, right time" miracles that led to that meeting haha, so I hope they continue to progress. We later stopped by an older gentleman's house to briefly talk with him, and as we were leaving, he told pointed to me and said, "You don't talk very much," (because it had only been he and Elder Schumann-Curtis talking) and I replied, "No sir, not much," so he said "Ok, you will talk Saturday." It probably doesn't sound as funny writing it out, but my companion and I were dying as we were leaving haha. (Spoiler alert: I didn't end up talking to him on Saturday because I was on exchanges in Gilroy lol). Wednesday was Zone Conference, which is always super fun, we learn a lot, and President Smith is just so fun to be around. Afterwards, we had dinner with Justin and Jaycci, and then we had a Bible study with a Christian group that goes to another church. It was good, but it was funny because they'd only really focus on random details that don't need to be discussed that much. For example, one of the chapters we read talked about Christ's resurrection (i.e. the free gift of immortality with a glorified body that all mankind will receive at some point....which is something that's pretty cool haha), and they instead chose to focus on the one or two verses that mention circumcision for some reason lol. The practice of circumcision vs the awesome gift of resurrection 🤷‍♂️ I think I'd choose to talk about the latter haha. But it was all good, we were able to teach a little bit and have a good time. I know that sometimes members of the Church will focus on those random details as well, but it was still funny to us haha On Thursday, we made a lot of phone calls and stopbys and stopped by a couple of members' houses to have lunch or share some messages with them. We then met with Jaycci, who told us about some of the struggles she had with her testimony, namely concerning the Book of Mormon and how she just felt overwhelmed at church, and she was telling us how she was wondering if she made the right decision to be baptized (which isn't unusual or awful, that happens to a lot of members of the Church, whether they're new or had grown up in it). We helped resolve her concerns, promised to work with the ward so that she didn't feel as overwhelmed, and testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and told her that she could only find out if it's true if she actually read it (she was hesitant to do so). Justin was testifying alongside us and helping her out with her testimony, so that was cool to witness. He really is the rock of their family, which is awesome. She was feeling much better by the end of the discussion (so were we lol), and she even came up with the idea to read the Book of Mormon as a family, which Justin readily agreed with, so I think everything will go well with them. On Friday, we had exchanges. I led my area with an Elder from Morgan Hill (he's a brand new missionary) while Elder Schumann-Curtis took his spot in Morgan Hill. It was good; we had a full day, so even though we only talked to about three people, we were successful because we stayed diligent (like I talked about last week haha). We started by doing some service for Helen (who will be progressing towards baptism soon), and we gave her a blessing for some nerve pain she was going through. Afterwards, we met Max, who wasn't really interested but talked A LOT about the gemstones he had carved and his gold digging experiences haha. After several attempted contacts, we ran into Mike and Justin/Jaycci outside Mike's house, so we talked to them. Jaycci told us that she had been feeling better after her own studies about some verses we had recommended to her, and Mike told us to stop by again next Friday since he and Justin's family were about to do something together. Mike really wants to talk with us, he just never has time haha. We then had dinner with some members and ended the exchange. On Saturday, we had exchanges for the second time in a row, this time with the Zone Leaders. I went to Gilroy for the day, af the Zone Leaders are Spanish missionaries, so I basically just sat back and listened to Spanish lessons the whole day haha. Much different from Friday's exchange when I had to lead every interaction for the day lol. Anyways, that was fun. I actually understood a lot more than I thought I would (though I didn't really speak in the lessons), and we had a Thanksgiving party with the Spanish branch there. While I was in Gilroy, Elder Schumann-Curtis finally ran into Eduardo (we haven't been in contact for nearly two weeks). Unfortunately, over those past two weeks, he had decided that he doesn't want to be baptized anymore and he just wants to stick with his old lifestyle. Even though he recognized the blessings that came as he prayed and read the Book of Mormon before, he didn't seem to realize that all of the bad things in his life started happening after he stopped doing those things, so that's unfortunate. Sunday, however, had some miracles that counteracted Eduardo's decision to not be baptized anymore. For one, Tyler (someone Elder Schumann-Curtis hadn't taught for a while but had been coming to church for the past few weeks) essentially came up to us and asked us to be baptized after church. My companion's face was hilarious, he was so confused by how abrupt it was haha. We then scheduled his baptism for a week from Saturday, so we'll be meeting with him again to prepare him for that day. For another, a guy named Eric showed up at church (we don't know who he is) and just told us that he wanted to go to church, so he came to ours, so....that was pretty neat lol. Later, we just made some contacts and had dinner with some members, but those were some pretty cool miracles. The power of prayer and sacrifice really is powerful and enables to access the blessings that God has in store for us. I really like this principle as it is outlined in 2 Nephi 32:9 (which I quoted in the title and alluded to in the beginning paragraph): "But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul." Although prayer seems like such a small thing, it is through prayer---that direct communication with God---that miracles can occur, that we can receive answers and solutions to our problems, and that we can more fully align our will with God's so that everything "may be for the welfare of [our souls]". Always make sure to pray everyday and have the communication with God. Hope everything is going well and you can continue to turn to God everyday; whether it be through prayer or simple service for those around you, the Lord will bless you for it. See you all next week, Elder Enger