"And the Lord said: Go to work"

Hello everybody! This has been just an incredible week here in
Anaheim! We had the opportunity to find and teach a lot of people, and
were able to continue working with the amazing people that we already
have. We taught a woman this week from Egypt, Emily, who was taken
advantage of financially when she came to America, and is now
struggling to support herself and her family back in Egypt. She has so
much faith! She came to church yesterday and has been reading from the
Book of Mormon!
Our investigator Carlos is doing so well and wants to be baptized, but
his wife refuses to give him permission to do so. He can't be baptized
without her consent. Please pray for Carlos and his wife, and that her
heart will be softened so that he can be baptized.
This last week I had a meeting with all of the other missionaries that
are departing at the end of this transfer. We received some training
from the mission president and some counsel for how we can prepare to
return home and to continue our discipleship after the mission. It was
good and all, but I found that after spending several hours talking
about what home would be like, thoughts about home continued to linger
with me throughout the day. In my nightly prayers, I voiced to the
Lord my concerns. I finished my prayer and remembered that I hadn't
yet read from the Book of Mormon that day, so I opened up my
scriptures and began reading where I had left off in Ether chapter 2.
I began on verse 16, and the very first words that I read were, "And
the Lord said: Go to work..." immediately after reading that I
received a prompting from the Spirit saying something like, "In case
you missed it, THAT is the answer to your prayer!"
The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is the most powerful
tool in conversion! I received a witness AGAIN that the Book of Mormon
is the word of God, and that my Father in Heaven is ever mindful of
me. I feel strongly that the Lord was telling me as I go to work and
lose myself in His service, I will find myself. I will be fully
prepared to continue my discipleship after my mission and continue to
be of service to Him as I work as hard as I can now. In the words of
President Benson, “I have often said one of the greatest secrets of
missionary work is work! If a missionary works... he will be happy.
There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all
time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the
ministry. Work, work, work--there is no satisfactory substitute,
especially in missionary work.”
And there you have it! That's my plan! Thanks so much for all of your
love and support everyone, have a beautiful week! I love you!

-Elder Francis
1) Just enough seats for all of us!