November 11, 2013

Elder Holland is coming to visit this next saturday and I am so excited. HE is gonna look into our souls and know exactly what it is that we need to do to become better missionaries! 

Sounds like things are pretty crazy there in Moab, I was almost in tears when I read that part about JAcob and his Dad. IT is so true. He is such a stud. Tell him I love him for me next time you see him. And Take State! haha

You have my letter to president so you know kind of what I am going through right now. I have an incrdible amount of patience somehow and I love my companion to death, so I want the best for him. HE is such a great kid, he just is really straightforward and sometimes it doesn´t feel like he loves you at all...so that is that. We had like 13 people that had dates to get baptized because he like chastized them and then when we called them to make another appointment they would tell us that they didn´t want to talk to us anymore. IT is very hard because I am used to Loving people so much that they want to change, and the way he works is basically opposite. So yeah, that is that. IT is a bit frustrating because I want to be succesful and help people but we can´t even talk to them long enough to let them nknow how much we care. I have learned the importance of being bold however. The people won´t ever follow through with the committments if we just tell them things as if it isn´t a big deal. Repentance is a big deal. IT DOES matter. So yeah. 

In church on Sunday, one of the sisters in my branch spoke about the importance of the scriptures. She talked about how there are so many books in the world today that talk about how to be a good parent or how to be more confident in yourself, but that those books can only do so much and that the scriptures and the guidance of the prophets is the best way. I got to thinking about the difference and how those books are like the churches that don´t have the preisthood. They teach good things, and the pastors are such good people, but when they miss out on that one important thing...they miss our on everything. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of the scriptures and that I can have the help and guidance of prophets and apostles in my life.

Oh, more things I am grateful for!

-Prophets and Apostles

-The Scriptures

-Water (a lot of people here don´t have water at all)

-Good examples in my life

- Good medical care

There is a sad story with the last one. We visited a recent convert yesterday that lives in a little shack house in the back of the prperty of his kids. he is 84 and is so awesome however he is struggling more and more because the medical is bad. Also, his great great grand daughter is 2 and has a hernea. I don´t know how to spell it but yeah, her intestines are literally out of her stomach. Like you can see them. They only thing she has covering it is this clear plasctic bag that is taped on to catch the juices from inside of her...her family was all outside drinking and smoking and she was just sitting there looking so very sad :( I was in tears as we walked past and I just wanted to pick her up and carry her to a hoppistal and pay whatever it took to have surgery. The government here is very corrupt so it is hard, but the hardest part is that the people are even more corrupt. IT is n´t their fault. Satan has worked harder and harder throughout all the generations but now they are all so used to a certain style of living that it just is in their blood. They ae all living co inhabitated and don´t want to get married because they don´t want to pay for a divorce if they sperate. their kids all live in the street all day and get into drugs early, and there are 13 year old girls that are having babies because they don´t know any better. IT is very sad, but it makes me so happy to see the random few members that are living there as a light of hope. you can see an obvious diference in them and I don´t know hwy people can´t see it too. They don´t want change, and they don´t want to be any better :(

Anyway, I lvoe you momma. And miss you a ton, but I know that you are receiving blessings for what JEd and I are doing, and more importantly, the people here are being blessed with the knowledge of how they can be more happy and live with their familes forever!

Have an awesome week and I look forward to hearing from you! :)

With Love,

~Elder Hazlett

President Carter,

First of all, thank you for the message in the sol this week. I have seen how important the key indicators are throughout my mission, but I have also seen how destructive they can be when used to "appear" better than the other missionaries in the Sol. I feared that the missionaries in this mission were beginning to focus more on the numbers and less on the quality. Your message helped to strengthen my testimony of Lidership in the mission field and how you really do receive revelation for the benefit of us.

I do however have a couple concerns about our district here in Lujan. As you can see, they are struggling a bit. WE are struggling a bit. I have been praying fervently since the first couple days that I have been here to be able to know "why" I am here in General Rodriguez, and "what" it is that I am supposed to do. After only 1 District meeting and talking to the Elders in our district, I have received my answer that it is to help re-motivate the elders that are here. To help them feel the Love of Christ so that it is easier to have desires to work hard. They are very very frustrated. It is a very hard subject because it is never the fault of just one person, and almost always the blame falls on the Leadership but it is something that I have tried my best over these last 2 weeks to fix or atleast improve. This is the problem...None of the Elders in our district have any respect for Elder Eraso. I have a more respect and a better relationship with him because he is my companion and I know how he works, and I know that he has the desire to be the best he can. I also have a better understanding of how the other Elders feel because I feel the same frustrations. Basically, Elder Eraso has taken the "Ser directo" to a whole new level. Every night without fail, he succesfully chastizes and demoralizes both companionships. Calling them to repentance and to humble themselves because they lost the confidence of the Lord. It is true that that is what they need to do, but it is very wrong the way that he does it. I consider myself a pretty patient and a very loving person and I am finding it hard to love him when he is destroying the faith of the other companionships. We had a companionship inventory last night and he told me that what he wanted to do this next week was be more direct. I asked him what his reasoning for that was and he said that it was because he felt like he wasn´t fulfilling his calling of inviting people to repent. We have 3 investigators as of now and we have found 20 new people in the last 2 weeks. You can see that the numbers there dn´t really match up. That is because he has succesfully called them to repentance and also succesfully offended them to the pint of them calling US and telling US that they don´t want us to visit them. I know that being bold is good, but the amount of Love that you have has to be stronger than how bold you are. He always tells me to be humble so that I can have more of the lords confidence and he can help me to change, and he comitted me to talk to everyone and knock on doors even when I don´t feel the spirit (which is fine with me) but then he asked me what it was that he could change and I said, "Love the people more. Love the other Elders. Help them to know that they are loved and that because they are loved so much, they have been given the gift of repentance." He then sat there for a few seconds and said, "ok what else can we do better this next week?"

I am getting along fine with him, as I have been blessed more and more with patience and Love, but I am thinking more in the well0being of our district and I know that they are struggling. I don´t know what to do and I would love it if you could help me. I am continuing to pray for help and serch the scriptures, but I haven´t yet found an answer.

I know this is more then you want to read but it is a concern that I feel is very important. Lidership changes missionaries, and one bad situation with leadership can change a whole mission. I don´t want that to happen to the missionaries in our district as I am seeing it start to happen.

They have told me that their motivation is to do better than Elder Eraso so that when he "calls them out nad drops the cane" they can say that they did better. To me, that is the worst motivation that you can possibly have in the mission and I hate to see that happening! 

Thank you for your time president, your example as a humble and obedient leader, and especially the love that you have for all the missionaries. We really can see it and it makes the difference.

Elder Hazlett