October 10, 2016 – El area

So this week we spent a little bit more time exploring our

Scenery pic of Wenatchee from East Wenatchee

area. Elder Gaeta has only been here one transfer longer than I have and our area is pretty huge. We cover a portion of East Wenatchee and then three small towns on the outskirts called Entiat, Orondo, Waterville. Elder Gaeta has only been to each of those once and since our area isn't super populated with Hispanics, we did a little exploring elsewhere. The other towns are pretty small and have some scattered Mexicans there but not as many as we were hoping. Our area is pretty awesome though. It's a little more spread out than my last two areas and so we don't do a whole lot of walking. Which means I get to drive!! It's so nice to be consistently driving again. We drive a 2016 Ford Fusion, so we got a pretty nice hookup. 

The bridge pics came as we were cleaning up
the trails by the river for service.

We met this guy in Orondo named German who is honestly pretty awesome. He had a lot of really good questions and the Restoration really seemed to make sense to him. We have another lesson set up with him this coming Wednesday. We also met a really cool guy last night named Evaristo who knew specifically what a prophet does. Most people we talk to say that a prophet is someone who shares the word of God, but Evaristo understands that a prophet is much more than that. That a prophet is someone who speaks with God because he has the authority to do so. It was really cool to see that and then he asked where the prophets were, which of course led greatly into the Restoration. It was a really awesome lesson and I'm really excited to see where he goes. 

So the ward I work with covers all of Wenatchee and East

A shack in Orondo that's pretty sweet looking.

Wenatchee and there are 10 missionaries that work in the ward. The ward has about 50 active members with like 10-15 of those being white people that speak Spanish. It seems like a great ward! It's small but it's definitely powerful. Listening to some of the testimonies yesterday was pretty amazing. That's been one of my favorite parts of the mission. To have the chance to listen to the testimonies of so many converts is honestly amazing! It's helped to build my testimony so much. 

On Saturday we had a zone training meeting and the zone leaders asked if I would give a training on overcoming doubts. So I focused my training on looking at doubts as a blessing rather than as something to be ashamed of. Satan wants us to feel like our doubts make us weak, but there were two amazing things I found that shows just how important it is that we recognize those doubts. The first was a quote from Henry B Eyring in the April conference. He said "Those who are saddened by the loss of the joy they once had are the blessed ones. Some do not see the withering of faith within themselves. Satan is clever. He tells those he wishes to be miserable that the joy they once felt was childish self-delusion." Satan wants us to be miserable, so he tells us that everything we believe is a lie, but in reality struggling a little allows us to grow, and this shows that those who recognize their doubts (will be blessed) but with what are they blessed?

In Ether 12:37 it explains what the blessing is that comes from recognizing those doubts. It says "And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father." So the blessing we receive from recognizing our doubts, or our weaknesses, is that those weaknesses will become strong and we will rest in the mansions of God. I know that our doubts can be scary, but if we act on our doubts, and study and pray in faith, then we can make those doubts into strengths. 

That's it for the week! Love you all! 

-- 

Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission