At week's end ( Week 9 in Prague, Week 69 in Czech )

"Ye Elders of Israel, come join now with me and seek out the righteous where-ere they may be!" *WHACK*

The phone clattered to the floor. Elder Anderson thought for a moment that it probably isn't good to keep whacking and clattering his phone like that, but the thought pushed away as he realized there was a lot to get done that day. So, he got to work: first on his knees, and then in cleaning his apartment.

The week had been an interesting one. Elder Doxey's phone had failed completely and his address book was gone. Contact information on several key individuals had been lost, and the Elders had a lot to get done to bring things back up to speed. They'd had a wonderful conference on Friday with the zone leaders, and the missionaries had some wonderful lessons with Svetlana, who was definitely going to be baptized in a couple of weeks. She was very excited about the Gospel, was learning a lot, but you could see the changes that were happening in her life. Perhaps even she didn't see the difference, but the Elders did, and they were grateful for the influence of the Spirit working on her.

Contrary to rumor, the Elders didn't always have bright smiling weeks of pure sunshine, with miracles condensing in the dew each morning and people lining up outside the baptismal font. Indeed, the words of Elder Holland came to mind:

"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?
You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? " (Missionary work and the Atonement)

What the Elders do is true, and how they spent their week was good. The Lord, in His wisdom, had placed many prepared people on their path that week. But, missionary work is hard, and it is hard to roll the work forward time and again. However, our faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and in Him, our testimonies based on the guidance of God we experience in our lives, and our hope that things will work out all right lift us, take us forward, and help is to realize the miracles of the future.



Elder Anderson knew in his heart that things would be better, and that things were still not bad. But that feeling of satisfaction and happiness was not as omnipresent as it had been, and he missed it. He knew what he must do to make things right, and he resolved to keep things up, knowing that the next week would be better.



I love you all, hope your weeks have been good one's, and hope to hear from you all soon. :)

Elder Brent Anderson