Missionary Wednesday

Every Wednesday is my brother's P-day in the Chicago South Mission, and so excerpts of his weekly e-mails are posted here.

Hello Family and Friends,

Last Wednesday, Elder Rd. and I went to the aquarium. It was pretty cool except for the lame "fantasia" show they had. The aquarium handlers told us that instead of the animals doing tricks and us getting a chance to learn about the the animals, they would do this slightly different show where they animals do what comes naturally to them. Supposedly in the beginning they were going to make someone’s dream come true by letting an audience member get up close and personal with the animals. But the little girl they chose seemed to be too well behaved and her actions seemed scripted. When were were leaving we heard another audience member say that they used the same little girl from before, which completely ruined what little magic the show had. Other than that, the animals in the show really didn’t do anything at all. They just sat there most of the time while the people did the performance, and some of the promised animals weren’t even there. The best part of the show was when the dolphins actually did something when none of the other animals did. Other then that the aquarium was very good. I’m going back with Elder Rt. today because he didn’t get to go.

In regards to the work, last Wednesday night we met with Steve and Hannah again. Both Elder Rt. and I felt completely and utterly useless. Steve and Hannah had so many deep and probing questions that we had such a difficult time answering,and were it not for their friends from north Chicago, Rich and Jennifer, we would have accomplished nothing that night. I left feeling terrible. Not only did we have so much trouble in the lesson, but they told us before the lesson started about the challenges in their life that have been building up dramatically. Which, again, there is nothing we could do about that. I felt hopeless until Elder Rt. explained to me that those challenges is just Satan doing everything in his power to stop them from progressing, which means that Steve and Hannah are progressing and our work with them is worth something after all.(Editor's note: Steve and Hannah have some legal issues that they need to take care of before they can be married an baptized) I think they will be baptized, but with the ever increasing pressures of their life; getting them a testimony may just be the easy part. The real difficulty will be getting around the adversaries tricks and into the waters of baptism.

Anyways, this week Elder Rt. has been pulling the “New Guy Card” to get us in the door with the members in the area. It’s been working really well. We’ve scored lots of lessons and dinner appointments with him just trying to get to know the people in the area. Let’s hope this continues to work.

I also can’t believe how fast this transfer has gone by! Due to Thanksgiving, this transfer ends early so the departing missionaries can enjoy Thanksgiving with their families. So this transfer is just about up, We get transfer calls Saturday and transfers are on Monday. I sincerely hope that I will stay here through the holidays. Because, if I leave now, I really don’t feel like I’ve accomplished enough right now to be leaving the area happy.

Anyways, Happy holidays to you all, enjoy Thanksgiving

Love Elder Fields