I Will Go and Do : Week 62: "I Must Be About My Father's Business"

Happy Labor Day! It has been another exciting week here in Springfield! One of the challenges we face in this area is that there is such a large turnover rate with our investigators. We have no problem finding people to teach, but trying to find them again for another lesson is the struggle. This week though we were able to see a lot of our investigators again and we are seeing great progress in their lives.

One of the investigators that I am particularly really excited to be seeing again is Rolline. Elder Harris and I found Rolline our first or second week together. She is a single mother of 5 who is going through many struggles to raise her children alone. We had not seen her since we taught her our first lesson, but we finally found her home this week. We explained to her again our purpose as missionaries and promised her the blessings that the Gospel would bring into her life. She agreed to start meeting with us twice a week. We are excited to see how her life will change in the coming weeks. Keep her in your prayers!

This week we had interviews with President Miller. Every interview I've ever had with him, I leave with some bit of mission changing advice. During my interview, we were discussing how the mission as a whole was doing and how I was doing personally. The advice he gave me was to follow Christ's example and always "be about my Father's business". He encouraged me saying that there will come a time when missionary work will not be my top priority, but now is not that time! I loved his advice, it reminded me how sacred and important my calling is and that sharing the Gospel should always be my top priority. With this advice, I am excited to continue to progress as a missionary.

Something that I have recently learned and focused on and has helped me improve my own life and the lives of those we are teaching is determining what our greatest desires are. Elder Oaks said, "Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming." I invite all of you to evaluate your lives and determine what your greatest desires in life are and do everything you can to change your life so that you will be able to see those desires become a reality.

Things are going well, thank you to everyone that has supported me in this work. There really is nothing I could be doing that is more important than this work at this time in my life. I love you all!!

Love,
Elder Gutierrez