Whoa ..... what a week!
Holy cow!!!!! (as
grandpa would say) This week has been great and just full of blessings.
It's nuts. Just when I think there couldn't possibly be any more,
we get another one.
This week, no crazy
animal experiences, but there are some pretty sweet investigators. We started
out this week with the usual contacts and other mumbo jumbo. We wound up
finding two families and doing something Ididn't think we could. The
first amazing thing was a lesson with a family that we have been
teaching for a while. My companion (Elder Cummings, who is also amazing)
had the idea to bring a member with us to this lesson. This family had been
having trouble going to church and we were trying to get them married. We
can't do the second without the first so we brought a member over and
basically stepped on a land mine. When we walked in the house the father
was extremely tense and had a worried look on his face. We started off
with a prayer. After that we asked him how his scripture reading was going and
everything else. That's when it started. He quickly answered
our question and then he started to talk about how the family of his wife were
creating problems with the marriage. I didn't understand it all
because when they talk about family stuff, they speak Portuguese but
then they don't. They go into this tribal language. It's
really hard to follow. That's when our member came in.
Other missionaries bring this guy in when they have marriage problems and
this guy has a gift. I watched, literallywatched the situation go
from tense to rough to smooth in like thirty minutes, it was amazing!!!!!!
From what I understood of the conversation, the father and the mother
were from two different peoples or tribes. That's where
the problems were. One of the uncles didn't approve of the
marriage and that's when our member helped out big time. It was
something he understood and something he went through himself when the
missionaries helped him (it was crazy, I have never seen something so cool).
Anyways, the investigator totally decided, by himself, to go to church
and start reading again and he showed up at church with his wife. Blessing number one!!!!!!
The next experience, we
had contacted this family some nights before and we had set up a lesson with
them. My companion and I had an idea to start using activities and
examples in our lessons. This activity is how we explain the priesthood
authority in our lessons: we take two candles and a match. First, we say
that the first candle represents Jesus Christ and we say that
the fire, after we light the candle, is the authority he had (light of the
world kinda thing, it's super cool and brings the Spirit so much!!!!).
Next, we say he called twelve apostles to his church and gave them the
authority too and light the other candle. Then, we hold the two
candles apart and say that in between them is the strait and narrow
path back to Heavenly Father. Without this path and the candles to light
the way, we could get lost and not make it back to our desired goal. Then
we ask them what happen toJesus at the end of his life, he died.
That's when we blow the candle out. Then the apostles, and we blow
that candle out. Then we explain the great apostasy. It's
super nuts, I love it. Well, back to the family. When we
started explaining these things, they were extremely attentive and
then my companion gave the first vision. As I was watching the family
during this, I noticed that the Spirit was there really strong. It
was ridiculousness! Itliterally filled up the room.
At that moment I could see the father's eyes start to tear up.
He didn't cry, but I could tell that the Spirit was testifying
to him that these things were true. They have accepted baptism and came to
church this past Sunday (he totally has a car too! It's
awesome.) Blessing number
two!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally, Saturday night
we went to an apartment building to find a family that we had planned to visit,
but when we got there the husband said that the wife had left to go
run an errand and we had got there late. So we went to go to our next
last lesson in another building. I'll stop here and give a
little info about the family or where they live: fifteenth floor of the tallest
building in Beria. By the way... no elevators here. Yes, I
still have big biker legsbecause of this. My area is a
stair-climber's nightmare. So we had descended to the bottom
floor and the guy we just visited calls us and says, "Hey, my wife just
got home. You passed her on the way down." We said we would
call them back. We stopped there for a second because we had another
family to teach right at that time and we tried to call them, but right then
our most intelligent phone decided to stop working, grrrrrrrr.
We totallycouldn't call either of them and
we weren't sure where to go. Right then we decided to pray. We
prayed to know whether we should go. When the prayer was over I
was a little confused. I had a good feeling about both families and so
did my companion. So we decided to act and teach the closest family.
What a great lesson it was,! They accepted baptism and came to
church the following day. The other family wasn't home when we
got there. Blessing number three!!!!!!!
Many more blessing
have followed, but those were the biggest ones I can remember.
It's just proof that we are being severely blessed every day we
are here. Thank you for all the prayers! It was
an awesome week and
it was so great to hear
about all the new advancements in the ward and at home. By the way,
thanks for all the pictures. Congrats Reid on the driver's license...
that is so sick!
That is great news that
you are getting released from your calling as Relief Society President, mom.
I bet that is a lot of stress off of your shoulders and it’s good to know
you are going to get at least a little down time before you start something
else because I know my mom, she can’t stay still for very long and that is
something I like a lot about you . You are always doing something worthwhile
and making a difference in someone else’s life. With this time you are probably
going to have more time to devote to this genealogy thing and that is great I
really want to get back into that and help you once I get back. I am just
trying to create as many reasons for me to go back to the temple as I can.
I can only guess at what
is going through your head right now and how you can feel a lack of purpose and
I won’t pretend to know how to deal with that, but I think that the genealogy
thing will help with that and maybe some volunteer time at the temple. I also
read an article in the Liahona a while ago and it talks about someone getting
released from the very call you just had. She didn’t exactly have bitter
feeling but she loved her calling like you and it was difficult to let it go.
She said she was sitting in sacrament right after they had called her
replacement to the calling and they decided that they would sing the sacrament
hymn. But the bishop stopped the chorister and announced that they would sing
the same song but just with a different melody. The lady sat there and though
what is wrong with the old one and why can’t we just sing that one but once the
music started she immediately saw the difference. The music fit beautifully
into the words and there was a different spirit brought to the room. This song
also had a different affect on the lady. She likened the different music to the
person that was just called to her calling, although the music is different the
job and the work aren’t, and that means someone with new ideas and a fresh mind
can have a crack at it. This brought peace and comfort to her soul as she
thought about all the new good that that person could do, in fact the song
became a new favorite for her.
I'm glad that you will
find it easy to support the new presidency. It's not only rough to start
new, but it's also rough to let go. I know sometimes it’s hard to let
something go of that you have worked so hard to get going. As a missionary,
it happens a lot and you get a little selfish in the process, but I also know
that the Lord knows more than I do and he can see further in front than I can.
I just need to have the faith to trust that he knows what he is doing. It
actually takes a lot of faith, but it’s kind of the final test at the end of
all your hard work, are you humble enough to offer it up unto the Lord or are
you going to give it willingly, can you charitably give someone else a chance
to grow the way you did? It’s definitely difficult and I don’t think it
was meant to be easy but I know that the Lord has a plan in mind for the ward
and it’s always a good one. I have already seen it many times here in the
mission and what a wonderful experience it is. It never ceases to amaze me how
God can control the width and breathe of His kingdom with such precision and
majesty knowing exactly what needs to happen and when. He’s perfect Mom and I
know this, this should be a testament to you on the fact that He does exist and
that He does know you and He is always mindful of you. This is His will and
this is His church that means if you feel the need to help or want to help in
anyway all you have to do is ask. There is a phone line open 24/7 365 a year
with no holidays and no phone bills. He waits for you to call and He delights
in it, He wants you to progress and He knows that the next calling/challenge
will help you get there. Mom this is my testimony that I know God lives and so
does His son Jesus Christ, He is the head of this church and men do receive
revelation by Him for you. We both know that Sister Brooks will do
an awesome job. She's got the right stuff to be Relief Society
President and so do her counselors and I can't wait to hear about the advances.
I love you all and hope
you guys have a great week,
eLdEr pRoKsCh
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