The Average Phone Call is 2.2 Minutes

June 20, 2016

Did you know that the average phone call several years ago was 2.2 minutes? Without fail every year the data showed 2.2 minutes. That little piece of information is just one of the great things I've learned from my relationship with President Pack over the past couple of weeks. I've also been able to learn from his teachings to us, for example, this morning we were sitting around his table and Elder Doxey asked him about how to help ward leadership get involved in missionary work and he shared with us his insights. He told us that as leaders they have quite a bit of work to do with many different priorities that they need to accomplish, and most of them understand the importance of missionary work and so the best approach isn't preaching to them but instead inspiring them, the same goes for us in every aspect of our lives, nag and tell over and over again might not help but if you can inspire someone to do something for themselves they will have much greater success.

This week I wanted to focus on my favorite parts of being in the office, one of which being my relationship with President and Sister Pack. Another one of the great parts of being in the office is my companions, Elder Doxey and Kirby. We are currently in a trio which is really fun, when one of us gets down there is always someone there to crack a joke or push you into a bush or something to make you snap out of it and lighten up a little. It is great to learn from them and the way that they teach and interact with others. (It will also fun to be two Americans with a Brit on the 4th of July we are looking forward to it)

Another great part about the office is the time to learn new skills. Such as renting and getting rid of pisos, getting landlords to fix things, communicate on a business level in Spanish, keep a very organized schedule, learning to deal with emergencies, and learning to drive stick and getting my Spanish Driver´s License. I love being able to learn new things, even though it wasn't something I thought I would be doing during my time here in the mission. I am grateful to be driving. Today we had the theoretical test and we will find out the results tomorrow.

The most important thing that I love about the office is that God is still in the details. On Thursday we received a phone call from one of our landlords demanding rent for several months that he claimed we had never paid him for dating back to 2012. A whole bunch of red flags went off and we went running back to the office to get it figured out and why he hadn't been paid, or what had happened. After several more hours of searching records and looking into accounts we went home. As we got out of the car, a little disappointed for having missed our time to be missionaries we started to play, kick the empty cigarette carton through your companions legs, when a Dominican girl walked up to us and asked about who we were and what church we represented. She said that she had been to church back in the Dominican Republic and wanted to come again. It was a gift from God to literally put someone right in our path after a stressful evening.

I love being a missionary because He has a plan for me and knows what I need. The same is true for each of you.

Love,
Elder Gustafson