Less active miracles and the Year of My Mission

For those of you who have been reading this blog, you might have noticed a common problem during my mission:  People here just simply don't care to hear about the gospel.  Of course, plenty do, but I haven't had any investigators my whole mission that have truly converted and expressed their desire to join the church.  Instead, we've been doing all we can to help our investigators change their minds and come to want the church

...yeah, sort of a hard thing to do...

Anyway, this week, that all changed - allow me to explain.  Before Christmas, Elder Otterson and I were doing everything we could to invite everyone to the Branch Christmas Party.  Among the people we visited to invite, we found a less active family that lived far out in the countryside.  Because they live so far away, they have literally gone unnoticed by missionaries, members, and anything church related for nearly 10 years of inactivity.  We decided to give them a visit, invite them to the Christmas party, and told them about our goals for not only the area, but for their family to become active again.  They expressed to us that they no longer believed in God, but they would "think about attending the party".

Well, we tried.  

Then, on the day of the party, we, from out of nowhere, got a call from them asking for the address of the church.  Cool, huh!?  The whole family made the hour plus drive and came out to the party.  The members welcomed them with open arms and it was a really good experience for everyone.  In fact, it was such a good experience that the family ended up coming to all three hours of church the very next day.

Fast forward to yesterday, Fast Sunday, the whole family attended again.  The son bore his testimony about his growing faith and belief in God.  Then, the mom bore her testimony as well.  After church, we taught the first lesson to the family, and the daughter (who still hasn't been baptized) committed to be baptized on January 19th.  Just two weeks ago, the family had no thought of church on their mind, and now they are embracing it with all of their hearts and making a 360 change.

Miracle!  How awesome is that?  Here we've been working so hard with all of our investigators, and this wonderful family just needed a simple visit out of love and support.  Now, we're in the process of reactivating the whole family and baptizing their daughter.  I can already feel that this year is going to be much better than the last as far as missionary work and success goes....

...Which brings me to my next point.  I am dubbing 2014 as the "Year of My Mission."  2013 was wonderful.  It was full of many new, growing, trying, difficult, strengthening, and learning experiences.  Through all those experiences, I came to a better understanding about who I am and the goals that I have for the rest of my time here and afterwards.  Now, as I enter 2014, I am much more prepared to go forward with those goals in mind.  I now can speak more Korean, I've become a senior companion, and I'm ready to really just transform my mission and the whole year of 2014 into something, well, incredible.  So onward to 2014 - the year of my mission!

Elder Graf