New Update

Dear Family,

Well this has been a roller coaster week to say the least. Many ups, and many downs. We had a lesson planned for Marvella on Monday, she called and had to change it to Tuesday night, then again to Wednesday night. Well Wednesday morning we got a call from her saying her husband heard anti-Mormon things from his friends, and would no longer allow her to be baptized, or to meet with us. This was really hard on us. Marvella said she still wanted to be baptized, and still believed. She had progressed so much from the first time we met with her. She had been praying, reading, and building her faith in Jesus Christ. Luckily the Lord blessed us with an amazing lesson that day with Tiffany, and meeting with some less actives. They really opened up to us, and told us why they hadn't come to church for so long. We were able to talk to them, and hopefully plant that seed and let them see how important church is. Karen our other investigator wasn't able to meet with us this week so we scheduled another appointed for tomorrow.

Well then Friday rolls around. We were out doing service and Elder Frost says "Elder Shurtz the phone is for you it is the assistants." I thought they would want to talk to me about how many lessons i had passed off, or how being trained for the first 6 weeks was going. Well instead they say "Elder Shurtz you have been considered as a potential trainer, and need to come to the trainer meeting tomorrow in Independence." Well this through me for a loop. I was out of it that whole day wondering why i was being called to possibly train. I was only half way through being trained and didn't feel i would be ready to train someone else. Well i went to the meeting on Saturday up in Independence which calmed a lot of my fears. The whole time the quote "the lord doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called" was running through my head. I am not qualified to train, i have only been out one transfer. I find out tomorrow for sure if i am training or not so we'll see what happens. I came to a conclusion while pondering this though. That i may not be the best teacher, or the best missionary out there, but there is one thing i know i can do... That is be obedient. Well anyways that is my up and down week. I have been safe and protected by the Lord once again this week. I have loved this first transfer as a missionary, to be serving the Lord. It is a very humbling thing to see people make changes in their lives for our savior. I am so grateful for this chance to be here, and know that this is where i am supposed to be.

Love, Elder Daniel Shurtz