This week has been a pretty good one. I got my birthday package from Grandma Balmforth. Spam.. Awesome.. We also have been finding some more families to teach which has been pretty cool. One of them, the Maotwe family, seems to be the most promising out of the bunch. I hope it goes well.
The area that I'm in is one of the closest townships to the mtc, so on Saturdays we have to take out the mtc missionaries to go tracting to build up their confidence and give them a sense of what missionary work is really like. I had 2 new missionaries with me for a couple of hours. It was pretty funny and kind of stressful to watch them try and contact people. It made me think of when I was still in the mtc and was taken out into a township for the first time to contact people. I don't remember exactly how it went, but I do remember being way nervous to talk to people. I probably looked just like these 2 kids did yesterday.
Sometimes it's really hard for me to think anything really positive. Sometimes I feel like I'm not progressing at all, that I'm stuck in the mud just spinning my tires, but this experience with these 2 missionaries changed my point of view a little bit. I have realized a little bit more of why Heavenly Father lets us struggle at times in our lives. If it weren't for my struggles throughout my mission, I wouldn't be the missionary I am now. President Omer told a story of a woman who, in her pursuit to understand the phrase "refiner's fire" went to a metal worker to find out the process by which metal is purified. She watched him as he took some silver full of impurities and held it over a flame. The silver melted as the impurities were burned away. Eventually, the metal worker took pulled the silver away from the flame.The woman asked the metal worker how he knew that the silver was done being purified. The metal worker replied "When I can see my reflection in it." I connected this little story to what I noticed about myself as a new missionary compared to where I am now and have come to the conclusion that this is exactly how(through trials) and why our Heavenly Father subjects us to a refiner's fire daily, until he can see his reflection in each of us.
Anyway, that's what I learned this week. I already knew it a little bit, but it was just reconfirmed to me. I love and miss you all. I hope you all have a great week.
Elder Balmforth
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