uanao

Mauri,

The word in Kiribati this week is 'uanao" which means 'multitude". As in, there is a multitude of people that we talked with yesterday. Because we tracted/contacted referrals for about 5 hours! It was good. In district meeting each Wednesday we tell everyone our stats for the week. The week before this last Wednesday we had 0 new investigators, so Tui put a 1 in front of it and said we would have 10 new investigators by Sunday (we report our numbers Sunday night and then share them on Wednesday). So we had 5 days to find 10 people, and by Sunday we only had 4... So we were trying to get 10... Unfortunately Sunday is a family/church day for everyone so we didn't hit our goal. But I think if we hadn't had such a high goal, we would have just returned earlier to our flat and done something else because we have been kind of sick the past couple of days.

So the message here is the purpose of goal-setting. Although is is good to reach your goals, it is better just to have goals in the first place. If we don't have goals, our days are "tossed to and fro" by the winds of the trials and setbacks of the day. For example, broken bikes, missing investigators, people not being in their home for us to talk to them, etc.

That's not to say we should set absurdly high goals and say, 'hey I at least I had a goal!'  A better way to look at it is this- instead of just asking the Lord for help in life, we can ask him for help with a specific point in our lives. The Lord tells us:

“Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.”D&C 9: 7-8

When we set goals, ask for confirmation and then go forth with faith we are more likely to access the powers of heaven than when we figuratively 'float' with our plans for our life. Additionally when we have specific goals, it is easier to avoid idleness as we always have something meaningful we are working toward. This is something I need to apply more fully in my missionary service and something I invite all those who are reading to do as well.

Now that I have stepped off my soap box, this past week the investigator that told me he believed the Book of Mormon was true agreed to be baptized, and he is really looking forward to it. So that is cool.

I won two games of the Kiribati Sorry board game back to back- finally starting to get good.

Not much else, have a great week you all!

tekeraoi!

Elder Farner