Hope of Israel

Quieridos Amigos y Familiares,

This week has been a struggle to say the least! We've probably worked harder than I ever have before on my mission but it seemed like we went backwards in progress.

We had over 5 people on date for the 29th of July and we invited another 21 people this week but one by one, they either lost interest, or didn't keep their committments. Man, it has been a struggle this week!

Saturday we started out with the goal of inviting 10 people to be baptized and dedicated an entire day to just riding our bikes around and talking to everyone that we saw. For the first 3 or so hours, we were rejected by almost every single person. After about 3 hours we found a couple walking down the road, we talked to them, invited them to be baptized and they said no. As the day progressed, we continued talking to everyone and everyone continued to say no. We found a few people with some potential and all in all, it was a very fulfilling day but we didn't see any of the success we were hoping for (I promise that this email will get better:).

Sunday we had a lesson with our investigator Christian who was by far the most solid of the bunch, but he said that he didn't feel right about being baptized. We tried talking to him, but ultimately he said that he felt more comfortable staying with his parents in the Catholic church. As you can imagine, we were pretty distraught. We were then driving to stop by a potential investigator and I felt prompted to knock this door. We parked a little ways down the street and walked up to this house. When the man answered the door, he told us pretty frankly that they weren't interested and turned us away. I'll be honest, I was pretty upset! We were walking down the block back to our car and my mood was down in the gutters; I felt like giving up! I think both Elder Wightman and I were feeling pretty down when all of a sudden, my mouth just started singing "Hope of Israel", pretty loud and in the middle of the street. I literally have no idea where it came from but it just kept getting louder and louder until Elder Wightman joined in and we were both just belting out this hymn in the middle of this neighborhood.

All feeling of depression, failure, and negativity left in an instant and we were both smiling and beaming as we continued the rest of that night.

I have such a testimony of the power of music and more important than that, the power of God over the power of Satan. I was reading in Ether this week, chapter 6 where it talks about the brother of Jared building barges and then casting off to an unknown world, "...commending themselves unto the Lord their God." (Ether 6:4). It then goes to talk about how "...when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters." (Ether 6:7) That's how we kind of felt this week: encompassed about by many waters--maybe even with our heads under the water--but I can testify that the Lord delivers us when we put our trust in Him and when we cry unto Him; even if it's only through a hymn.

I promise a more cheerful, uplifting email next week, but I want you all to know that I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. There is nothing that brings you closer to Him than struggling, and a desire to be better. I hope you all know that I love you and that I appreciate your prayers and your support.

With Love,

Elder Arkoudas

Pic. We made PAPUSAS. Mmmm...