A beautiful cloudy day

Date: August 12, 2013 at 10:53:03 AM PDT

¡Hey familia!

It´s a beautiful day here in Juarez. And by beautiful I mean that it´s not unbearably hot or sunny. We´ve had some pretty heavy rain for the past few days so it´s cooled down the ¨Canicula¨ which is the name they have here for the hottest month of the year. It´s about 80 here right now and much better than the 100´s that we´ve been having for the past week. The weather´s a bit loco down here. We had no idea it was going to rain two days ago nor yesterday, so we were a bit surprised when out of nowhere we were assaulted by buckets of rain. We got wet. It was fun.

Also, as I was writing this, we received a call from a sister in the Church asking for help moving some stuff out of her home, and it´s a symbol of a problem we have in the Church here in Mexico. The Handbook specifically states that our service shouldn´t replace the efforts of the ward especially when it comes to the welfare of members. Also that we shouldn´t do service projects in our Day of Preparation. 

... Ah. Problem solved. I talked with my District Leader and he told me to tell the Bishopric, which I did. But it really is a problem here in our ward in that we have a gigantic ward of about 280 active members and 600 inactive (yup). We´re (read: I´m) trying to get the ward more involved with, well, the ward. I think Elder Baez is a bit angry at me, but it´s best that we not carry this ward as it only weakens it.

Anyways, that last paragraph took about fifteen minutes to write and quite a bit of amonestation and exhortation on my part. It´s the part of the Work that I like the least - our responsibility to inform people of their responsibilities. I´m trying to live by D&C 121:41-44 and the words of President Kimball:

 41 No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;

 42 By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—

 43 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;

 44 That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.

  ¨Jesus was not afraid to make demands of those he led. His leadership was not condescending or soft. He had the courage to call Peter and others to leave their fishing nets and to follow him, not after the fishing season or after the next catch, but now! today! Jesus let people know that he believed in them and in their possibilities, and thus he was free to help them stretch their souls in fresh achievement. So much secular leadership is condescending and, in many ways, contemptuous of mankind because it treats people as if they were to be coddled and cocooned forever. Jesus believed in his followers, not alone for what they were, but for what they had the possibilities to become. While others would have seen Peter as a fisherman, Jesus could see him as a powerful religious leader—courageous, strong—who would leave his mark upon much of mankind. In loving others, we can help them to grow by making reasonable but real demands of them.¨ http://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/08/jesus-the-perfect-leader?lang=eng

That´s a pretty tall order, but I´m working on it. The particularly difficult part is ¨reproving betimes with sharpness¨ because there have been times where I´ve been prompted to reprove but ignored it because I wanted...the person...to like me more than I wanted him to do what his calling requires. I need to remember to not be afraid to make demands that stretch the possibilities of those who are under my stewardship. Elder Baez won´t grow, the less active members I teach won´t return, and my investigators won´t progress if I´m afraid to invite them to be more than they are. Likewise, I need to be more than I am if I expect anybody else who I´m serving to do likewise.

Also, on a more positive note, Nestor, one of our investigators, is attending Church and is truly converting to the Gospel. He´s the boyfriend of a less active member of the church who´s pregnant with his child (problems), but, thankfully, they aren´t living together. He´s sincerely interested in the church and his prayers are some of the most powerful and simple prayers that I´ve ever heard in my entire life. He talks to his Heavenly Father as if he was face to face with Him, and it´s pretty dang powerful. I´m pretty confident that he´ll continue progressing and will be able to be baptized at the end of the month, though I could use some prayers for him and the others whom I´m teaching.

More good news, they´re going to put two more missionaries here in Barrio Juarez, so we´ll have three companionships working together for the progress of this ward. Even though I may not be here after the next transfer, it really is gratifying to see the progression of the ward I´ve come to love. They just need to step it up a little and within ten years this ward will be a stake.

And it would be great if Serph was the one to invite Brett to listen to the discussions. Something clear in missionary work is that there´s always more success when there´s a friend in the church who does the inviting.

Well that about wraps it up. I´m still communicating with the Ward leadership to send some help to this sister. Problemas... I love ya´ll and am praying for you every day. Say your prayers, read the scriptures, go to church, and help Mom and Dad.

Love ya!

-Elder Brayden Decker