Hello there,

This week has been one of the hardest weeks of my mission, at least until now.
Right now I am living in a house of four missionaries. Elder Lourenço and his companion Elder Moulton, and Elder Wilson and I. Elder Lourenço has become unmotivated about the work and he is staying at home a lot, sleeping during study, not planning, and other things. His companion thus, has become infected with the same illness, saying often ´´I´m a terrible missionary... I don´t know how to teach... there is no way I can have success here.`` He is an awesome missionary and he has the desire to what he needs to do, but he is new in the field and lacks the courage to take a hold of things.
When we arrived here it took only the first day to see that my companion was lacking confidence and that he doesn´t think he is a very good missionary, which is also a lie, he is an awesome humble missionary and he tries his hardest and that is all that that the Lord wants from us. Yet, when things start to go wrong during the day he starts to get unmotivated and down in the dumps. That is hard for me, because I am used to guys like Alex Baker, who when things get crummy he just starts to smile and do ridiculous stuff and you can´t help but laugh and realize how great life is. I hadn´t realized until today how my friends in life have always been people who were joyful in any type of situation, those are the kind of people that I like to be around, people who are naturally happy, people that you don´t need to make them happy every other second.
So, we have so many great people that we are teaching right now. Hugo e Jordana: a young couple from Chile who have one daughter named Martina and a son, Mateus, who was born last week. Roberio, Ivana, Livia, and Luiza: A reference from a sister in our ward. They are great and at the end of the very first lesson, Ivana was crying because of the prayer that her 16 year old rebelious daughter offered. André: A 21 year old with a band that he compares to U2. He understood so clearly the douctrine of the first lesson and saw the need for a modern a day prophet, he accepted to baptized and has read and prayed about the Book of Mormon. Valeria and José: An older couple with an autistic son. They have been to church two time and they are liking it a lot.
So now you are asking: ´´Elder Nothum, you have all of these great people to teach, how was this one of the hardest weeks of your mission, with so many great people to teach.``
Good question faithful email reader.
Well, we love these people and we have seen the progress they are making and we want so badly to continue to teaching them, yet... We passed by each and everyone of their houses time and time againn this week and we didn´t teach a single one of them. People who have already visited the church. People who have already eight chapters of the Book of Mormon. People who have received testimonies of it´s divinity. ZERO. Normally, I can keep myself motivated and I can keep pushing on joyfully until the promised blessings come, but this week has been a long and rough one. I know the Lord is the head of this work and that if I give my all that he will bless us with success.
The house is a spiritual abiss it seems, due to the state of the Elders that live there and I am trying to show love and turn things around, but things just seem to be getting worse. This is my trial of faith and one scripture today during my study made me ponder the purpose of all that is happening Mosiah 7:29-33. I invite you all to read this and think about what your trials are and the christlike attributes that whose fault is the result of this trial. Think of what has become your block of stumbling. If are not walking in accordinance with the statutes and covenants of the Lord, it does not matter how hard we work, our work will be a stumbling block and we will have no true success. God gives us punishments in this life as a proof of our transgressions, if it were not so we would sin, everything would stay perfect and we would just keep sinning until the last day when we will be judged. Yet because of our loving Heavenly Father´s plan, there is a temporal punishment linked with every sin, so that we can notice sin and try our hardest to abandon it. The universal punishment of all sins is the exit of the Spirit. The universal result of true repentence is the returning of the Spirit. True happiness and success in this life as well as the next can only be received through humbly following the will of Him who created all, even when you don´t understand why. Humilty is the fruit of obedience, and it is the greatest invitaiton to the Holy spirit to enter into our mortal temples. The spirit of the Lord will not be the prideful, because he knows that even if he gave them a spiritual prompting, they would ignore it. I invite all of you to prayfully read Alma Chapter 5 and afterwards Mosiah 7:29-33 and think about what you have power to change in your life. I promise that if you prayerfully read these scriptures and apply them to your life, you will receive revelations for your betterment and that you will have a greater abiity to understand the mission of the Holy Ghost in your life.
The Lord will bless us in our aflictions if we are faithful. But those who ignore His will, those will be ignored in their moment of suffering. Why will people go to Spirit Prison? Alma 40:13.
Search the scriptures daily, please. If I didn´t, I could not survive these two years. Don´t lull yourselves into carnal security saying that daily scripture study isn´t a must. Concercrate at least fifteen minutes to earnest, prayerful, scripture study. If you open them with your desires and questions in your mind and prayerfully search, you will find that all you need is written or can be given through the Holy Ghost, but, scripture study is the guide to revealtion. If you are not reading your scriptures daily I invite you to stop pushing away the Spirit of the Lord and to open your arms to him through study and prayer.

-Elder Nothum