This
week was gorgeous. We spent just about every day on bikes and we saw
miracles. Street contacting is one of the best ways to find people here.
It is amazing who the Lord will place in our path. We found another
part member family this week who is not on our ward roster! Gold mine!
This
week has also been extremely difficult in that no one came to church. I
don't know what the problem is but it has never been harder for me to
get my investigators to church. We do everything it seems to get them
there but it just doesn't pan out. This week we had an awesome family
lined up to come, so we contacted every auxiliary organization (relief
society, primary, young women's, etc.) to notify them that they would be
there and make sure to welcome them. And then they did not show. I have
found that the longer I am a missionary the harder it gets, and I think
the reason for that is because my capacity to love others increases, and
then it becomes almost unbearable to watch as my people will not accept
the gospel as they should. And the longer I am on my mission the more I
have come to understand how great a sacrifice it must have been to have
Christ come and sacrifice for our mistakes. I look forward to fixing
the problem this week by inviting all to attend church starting today.
If nobody comes to church, then nobody will, or at least should, be
baptized.
I have been doing a bit of family
history lately and have found lots of ancestors from this area of Ohio! I
am amazed at how many are from the Mansfield and Mount Vernon area
(right next to Danville). I really hope to find some graves that I can
take pictures of and put on family search but it has not been easy. The
Ancestors I am looking for were from the early 1800s and most the
cemeteries were founded much later than that. I continue searching,
knowing that it is a very rare opportunity I have to live here in Ohio. I
hope to go grave searching on one of the next couple of preparation
days. Some of the members here have been very helpful in helping me find
people. I am so grateful to be serving in Mansfield in this the end of
my mission! So many opportunities here that could not exist anywhere
else!
Love y'all
Elder Beutler
