I wish to start my email for this week with a story that President Egbert shared with us.
God once appeared to a man and commanded him to push a large boulder. This man, being of the obedient type began, his work and pushed. He pushed and pushed for hours, days, weeks, and months, but the boulder didn't move. Notwithstanding, he continued to push. One night, the man lie awake in bed, and Satan came to him. He asked him why he continued to push so much if the boulder had not moved. Satan caused this man to think he had failed at the task God had given him and that he should simply give up. "He's right," thought the man. "I've been pushing all this time and haven't been able to move the boulder even an inch." He thought it better to simply give up given his apparent failure. Instead of simply giving up, this man turned to the Lord, asking for forgiveness for having failed Him. The Lord appeared to him and asked, "How have you failed me? Your task was to push the boulder, and you have done so. Now that you have done so, look at yourself now. Your arms are rugged and strong, your back has been strengthened and bronzed, and your legs can withstand the forces required of them. Your task was not to move the boulder, and you have therefore in no way failed me. You have accomplished your task of pushing the boulder. Now I will move it." I have come to learn over the course of the past few weeks that sometimes in life we are simply expected to push, and when we don't see the fruits of said labor, we are tempted to simply give up thinking we have failed without seeing the changes and strengthening within ourselves. We cease to wait for the Lord to move the boulder while we strengthen and fortify ourselves. In Venta de Carpio, I began to feel that way; why was I pushing if nothing was happening? Then President shared this story with us, and I learned to hold on a little longer and wait for the miracle. And said miracle came and hit me like a ton of feathers (because a ton of bricks would hurt...). I mentioned last week that there were some investigators who had come to church due to friends' invitations. One of them was named Elena. She's 20 years old and is currently renting a room in the house of a recent convert. We went to visit her for the first time last week, and from the very first lesson, she accepted the baptismal invitation as well as a date for the 6th of February. We placed a return appointment and taught her the story of the Restoration. Upon mentioning the Book of Mormon and pulling one out of my backpack, a light shone in her eyes that I really hadn't ever seen in any other investigator before. She looked at that book like it was made of pure gold and that nothing in the world could be better. She held it in her hands for a second, awestruck that we would simply give her the book, and when she accepted the fact that it was hers, she held it tightly to her chest and looked absolutely delighted. She said she couldn't wait to start reading and that she would do so upon our leaving. She absolutely was the miracle Elder Davis and I had been waiting for... and then I got changed -_- We received the email for changes yesterday afternoon, and the very first thing I saw was, "Elder Groesbeck -- Cambios". I packed up all my stuff and shipped off this morning for Pachuca to then head to Tezontepec... again. I'm now the zone leader in an area called Mixquiahuala in the zone I was in before Venta de Carpio. My other grandson, Elder Alder is still here, and I found out that he's actually training back in Presas! I have a great-grandson in the mission! My descendance is growing strong. We'll see how many generations I can come to see in this next year before I go home. Anyways, everything appears to have been going well here in Mixquiahuala thus far, so I'll see if I can not screw it up. I may not have wanted to get changed, but if the Lord tells me to simply push on a different boulder, I'll keep doing so and wait for Him to move it. Iré y haré, Elder Groesbeck
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