Week 88...The Power of NOT Knowing

September 12, 2016

The Power of Not Knowing

What up,

So another stressful week has come and gone in the great city of San Antonio. I can't stress enough how much I love this sector. It's so big and I feel like I could work here for 2 years straight and never get bored... too bad I'm finishing my mission here. We have 4 fechas to end the month. Pray for Kamila, Nicole, Josefa, and Marta! They are all great! They just need a little help committing with the all the commandments. 

So, why did I use the phrase "The Power of Not Knowing"...? The reason is that I have been praying a ton in order to get some guidance on how I can be a better leader and really help people reach their full potential. I talked a little bit about love and charity last week, but I still have wanted something more. Mom's package got to me this week (it was amazing) and I read the talk that she gave me from a BYU devotional. The lady talked a lot about being a leader and how we actually have more power as leaders when we go into a project and have no idea as to how we are actually going to do it. Sometimes the lack of knowledge actually helps us find better and more productive ways to do things, and we are forced to look for better way to do things on our own. I really like the part where she talked about her kids and how crazy they get at night when they get ready for bed. She changed her approach one night and simply did the bedtime routine but with questions "What are we going to do now?" The kids respond, "Brush our teeth!" "What book would you like to read tonight?" The kids respond and pick out a book and sit still in their beds and listen... The best way we can really lead is by just asking questions and letting people exercise their agency. I really have been trying to apply the good ol' phrase "It's better to teach a man to fish than fish for him and let him starve the rest of his life." I also love Joseph Smith's phrase that my Dad loves, "Teach people correct principles and let them act for themselves." I really want to do this as a leader and as a Dad one day. I want to teach people correct principles and then allow them to learn and grow so that they can come up with even better approaches and so that they challenge themselves to reach their potential. This doesn't mean that we have to stop motivating and inspiring, or guiding and directing. But it does mean that sometimes backing off is the best solution.

The zone is basically a hospital. We have 3 compañerismos that are super sick and can't even work. It's a miracle that we're still going to finish the month with a solid amount of baptisms! 

Yesterday we went to a stake bishop meeting where we were asked to talk a little about recent converts and how we can retain more. This is a huge problem in San Antonio, but it's a problem in all of Chile. It all comes down to the fact that the wards don’t always work as well with us as we would like, and the leaders blame the missionaries for the quality of our converts. We have the pressure of finding, teaching and baptizing, and some times people aren’t super, super, super prepared before being baptized, but they don’t need to be… they just need to have the desire and show signs of repentance D&C 20:34. Elder Holland has an amazing talk about this exact thing. The issue usually becomes they never have home teachers or visiting teachers after their baptism and nobody ever actually tries to get to know them... their friends are the missionaries. Every convert needs a friend, a calling, and to be nurtured by the word of God. The last step in this process is fellowshipping and missionaries do the best they can with this, but ultimately it is the wards responsibility to make this happen. We basically focused on that, and talked about the lack of humility. Needless to say we took a lot of grief. I'm a Weaver though and I definitely said, what they needed to hear from us as well. It’s never good to play the blame game! We all just need to do your part and stop complaining!

The week was solid. Pray for our investigators. Elder Montero and I get along amazing and I've learned a ton from him. We talk a lot which keeps the stress out of things. Key to a good relationship... good communication.

The church is true the book is blue! 

Love ya’ll!

Elder Weaver