Staying in Chula Vista

This is last week's email (January 7, 2014):

As far as transfers go, I'm staying in Chula Vista for another 6 weeks, unless something comes up. And I'm actually quite happy about it. I was thinking to myself last night that I wouldn't want to leave Chula Vista on a bad note, (bad note being rough times finding investigators). We actually have three elderly members in the hospital right now, one of which is M L. She has arrhythmia as well as diabetes, which is a bad combo, especially with her age. We spent around 2 hours in the hospital visiting people yesterday. The other two are J and M C. J has pneumonia, and has been in the hospital for around a month. His wife has been there by his side for that entire month. So right now isn't the best time for people. On top of that, Hna. G has influenza, and A C (M L's daughter) has influenza as well.

The other day, we went to a less active member's house to have a lesson with him. His name's G, and he's been less active because of his parents. Apparently, when he was 13, his mom just decided that they didn't need to go to church anymore. But he's been wanting to attend church, and serve a mission. And so the other day, we went over to have a lesson with him, and his friend C was there. C was actually really curious about what we believed as Mormons, and asked us quite bluntly about what a Mormon is. We taught the Restoration, and talked about how Jesus Christ is the core and foundation of the Church, and that through Joseph Smith, the authority that Christ gave to His Apostles was restored to the earth. After we'd taught the lesson, he said,"No offense, but to be honest, I had no idea that this is what you believed. I took you guys for granted. I had no idea that you were Christians." He then asked us some good questions, and after that, we planned on coming back to see G during the week. So hopefully C will be there as well.

But I guess the thing that has got me down the most, is that I'm afraid of wasting the Lord's time that He's given me. When we're walking around on the streets hoping that someone will be there for us to find, I feel that I'm wasting the opportunity that He's given me to be a missionary. I feel as though I'm using His time well when I'm teaching lessons and following through on appointments. And so as we've had an investigator drought, I've just been down on myself because I feel like I'm failing Him. But as I've looked back on the numbers, I realized that our lessons with less active members, as well as less actives at church, has been exponentially higher than when I was with Elder W. We've had three less active members come back to church consecutively for the last month, and so I guess that I've still been able to fulfill the Lord's will. I hope and pray that the Lord will guide me and bless me with His wisdom.

Well, that's about all I had for this week. Sorry if it's a bit short. Thank you for sending the hoodies! They were sorely needed (for morning studies in a cold apartment). I hope you all have a great week! Until next Tuesday,

Oh yeah. And tell my sisters that I found "Where the Sidewalk Ends".

-Love, Elder Crook