November 12, 2009

Our Branch President didn't show up to church for the 4th week in a row. So we decided that we were going to go visit him. So we asked the clerk where he lived, and we have come to find out he doesn't even live in our branch. Actually, he lives kind of far from our branch. And his wife just had their kid. And the kid is sick. So we want to go meet him and tell him he has our support, but we can't even go to his house.

We're preparing people for baptism. Only 3 are going to get baptized next Sunday. The holidays through off our schedule so the others are a bit behind. But we'll get them baptized soon as well.

The problem with our branch is there is no leadership, and there isn't even enough leadership to call leadership. So it just continues to suffer. And all the inactive leaderships just hide behind the excuses of being offended. They're all offended. But they're like offended at no one. It’s ridiculous. So they're just offended for no reason. They say they're offended, so you ask them who. But they don't know who. They're just offended. I think it’s an excuse. And all the inactive leaders from the earlier branch presidency don't really like the new ones, so when they come they just bag on the others. It’s really frustrating. I don't know what to do. We spend so much time trying to help the branch leaders that we have no time to spend trying to get new investigators. We haven't gotten new investigators in forever. But when we bring the investigators into church they see that the members aren't good examples so they don't progress as well either. It’s a struggle.

Our family getting baptized on the 22nd is awesome. The mom and 2 girls are just so awesome. They just don't have a consistent ride to and from church. But we always seem to get them there and back. So hopefully God keeps providing in that regard.

Yesterday we had zone conference because the Presiding Bishop came to visit and teach us. So that was cool. It was about the Book of Mormon. I realized I got to get them reading and learning from the Book of Mormon more. So now I'm really going to do that. My companion, the zone leader, Elder Fisher, taught an amazing lesson comparing chapter 59-62 of Alma to the missionaries and the branch. You should read that and see if you can pull out any parallels as well.