"Fruit That Will Remain"

I remember well Sept 11. I remember sitting in my 5th grade class when all of a sudden, the teacher yells at us to keep it down. She turned on the TV and some kids got excited thinking we were going to watch a sweet action movie. But as we all came to the realization of what exactly happened, we couldn't believe it, and it was the talk around school for a long time.

One of our recent converts spent the last 4 days doing indexing, and is on her way with the neighboring ward to the Temple for the first time. She has been a member for only three weeks and has done more for the Church then most members do in a year. God bless her and her family. We will be baptizing her younger sister and about 10 others on Oct 1.

Dad, you wrote of a missionary who is struggling. I don't know how long he has been out, but the best advice I can give him is to work more with the members. They can help him a lot by introducing him to friends who will listen to our message.

I remember when we watched a video clip in the MTC from Elder Holland about the irresponsibility of some return missionaries. He wanted to ask them why they would waste 2 years, only to return home and quickly forget what they had just taught others. After gaining a testimony of something that you can't get anywhere else, some returned missionaries are throwing it all away. Maybe they were lazy on their mission and really didn't even want to be there. Some don't want to keep the rules, they hate the culture and food, and haven't tried to
learn Christlike attributes. I am grateful for this mission and the amazing experiences that I am having, learning not only how to be a missionary but how the Church needs to be run and how the Church gets started in places where it hasn't been before and so on; however, Pres Hinckley was right when he talked about how members should work hard to give the missionaries people to teach, and the missionaries should teach. No one wants to go to Church with people that they don't know. Maybe you could tell any discouraged missionary that if he really wants to enjoy his mission, I honestly believe he should work with his companion and work with the ward mission leader and members to get people to teach. If they have to lower their teaching numbers to get "fruits that will remain," it is better then wasting time walking around trying to find people that don't want to hear the Gospel. Don't get me wrong. Spirit led contacting can be very effective as we discovered in Sunyani. Anyway, it would be great if members worked more with the missionaries and weren't so worried about what their friends will say when they ask them to hear more about the Church. Blessings follow hard, EFFECTIVE work.

"Companions should prayerfully counsel together, understanding they are accountable to God for their decisions." Tonight when I have time I will pause and think more about that as well.

I am happy that everyone is doing well. Thank you for everything! Please tell Chris, Tyler and Chandler that without the example of my older brothers, I would not be the person I am today.

Love Elder Hair