"I'll go where God wants me to go."

Another bike week gone by. We got blessed a lot last week, but no one's been following up. I've learned, though, that sometimes hardships aren't connected with diligence. They're just hardships for us to grow. This has been a week of hardships, but I've been growing.

I'm going to quote something I wrote in my journal on August 10:

"I really love this church, to the point where I'm sad if someone ignorantly blows it off. 

"We talked to a man the other night that didn't even know what we believed or how our church functioned, but he still insisted that we missionaries were being conned into giving the church money so that the Prophet could get a check under the table. Satan is so quick to grasp hearts! 

"This man's heart was so hard that I just wanted to bike away, not even letting him continue to flap his gums about he church he only just found out about. To him, money was more important than serving God. We could have bought cars and such with our money, but we instead decided to come to Arkansas to preach the restored gospel for 2 years of our lives. 

"I'm not out here because a group of men told me to serve; I'm here because God called me to serve. I know I'm nothing special or fantastic. I'm shy, small in stature, and even make inappropriate comments at times. But I follwed God's commands because He wants me to learn and become something that only this experience can bring me to be. I'm exercising faith 100% every day becasue of my love for this divine plan God has for me. I don't want to go home, even when I feel rejected here. I don't want to give in to the discouragement I [feel]....I want to overcome all of it, through the grace of Christ, so that I can become what my Father in Heaven, and my family, and my future family want me to be. 

"I won't falter. I won't break. I won't give in, and I won't give up. Even if I'm just a bastion to be bombarded for the rest of my mission, I'll do it. Even if Satan leads away the hearts of those I love, I'll stay. I need this mission. And there are people here and back home that need me. I'm doing the best with what I have, and that's all that God asks."

None of our contacts have been following up, so that's been a bummer. Next week, though, a Seventy is coming to our little branch to speak. We're excited! His name is Elder...Parker? We also get to watch President Monson's 85th birthday celebration. AND we get our car this week. So things are looking up!

This is the last week of the transfer. I honestly have no idea if I will be moved, or if Elder Smith will be. Either way, I'll go where God wants me to go.

-Elder Staib