I'm going to start this email off with the lesson God has taught me this week: there are things in life that you will have no control over. Stop stressing about those things and focus on what you can control, yourself.
When I think of Jen I think of hitting my head against a brick wall repeatedly- and I say that with all the charity I can muster. This week Jen affirmed to us that she will never be baptized because being Native and being Catholic are her families tradition and that is who she is. She said she still wants to come to church and have us over to "straighten" David (her soon to be husband) out but that baptism was not an option. At first this ate at my heart for a good 2 days. I was unmotivated and de.pressed. I love this family SO much! I know that Jen doesn't understand the eternal perspective and the blessings of baptism yet. She just thinks baptism is some sort of initiation that makes her become mormon and that's it BUT IT'S NOT! It's the only way to salvation and eternal families but it just doesn't seem to register with her when we tell her! I spent several days earnestly praying and pondering over what we should do and I was just filled with the peace. I know that this is not the end. I don't know if I will ever see them baptized but I do know that we have been able to bring the spirit into their home and that they will all remember this experience for the rest of their lives. And who knows what the future might hold for them :) As for now we are going to keep working with them to soften Jen's heart and help her to see that vision of her family at the temple.
This next experience is one for the books haha!
So besides Jen we have been teaching a girl name Charlotte for a while now. She is a very nice girl ~23 years old and her fellowship-er is Steve Redman. Steve got baptized about 8 years ago and he LOVES going out with the missionaries, so it's great having him around! However Steve is also one of those conspiracy, rebellious very opinionated kind of guys with a unique view of the gospel, so taking him teaching is sometimes a gamble. Well we were having a lesson with Charlotte and we were teaching her about the law of chastity. We hadn't had Steve participate a whole lot in the lesson so I figured I'd ask him what blessings he has seen from living the law of chastity. Right before I asked him the thought, "Careful what you wish for," flashed in my head, but I asked him anyways..... stupid! He proceeded to go on this rant about how there are no blessings from living the law of chastity and that you would have to "bang a ton of people every week" to risk getting STI's or risk getting pregnant and since not very many people do that, being clean from STI's and not getting pregnant arent real blessings. He went on and on and on- AH! If looks could kill I would have been sent home for murder. I kept it together and when he was finished calmly looked him dead in the eyes and simply said "your wrong" and testified from personal experience the blessings I have received from living this commandment and highlighted a few scriptures. That shut him up and thankfully brought the spirit back into the lesson. A couple days latter he brought up the lesson and he apologized for what he said (lol) all is well, and Charlotte seems to be doing fine too.
I had a cool experience this week of being in the right place at the right time. We dropped by a less active who wasn't home so we decided to walk around a little before we saw our next person. That's when we met Sharon. She was just about to head inside when we called out to her and started up a conversation. She was very friendly and answered all our questions but didn't seem too interested. Normally I would have just testified of the gospel and left a card to get a hold of us but something told me I needed to get her talking more so I asked her another question. I don't remember what I asked her but it somehow lead her to tell us that her 13 year old daughter had recently expressed to her that she was gay. Sharon went on to tell us about how this had really shocked her at first but that she felt she needed to support her daughter. She had gone to a few churches to talk to pastors about what she should do and checked out a few pro gay churches. I could tell that she was overwhelmed, confused, and lost and my heart just went out to her. At the end of it all I told her I didn't know if anything I say will help but that I knew God loved her daughter very much. That while he may not like some of the choices we make he will always love us and will always be there for us to help us overcome our trials and that her daughter was no different. Tears started to stream from her eyes and I just gave her a hug. She thanked us but said she wasnt ready to meet but took our card and asked us if she could call us if she needed it.
There are a lot of things about missionary work that I love, but I think one of the things I love the most are those experiences where you know that God used you to answer someones prayer.
Scripture of the Week: Romans 8: 37-39
"Nay, in all these things we are more then conquerers through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
A Haiku for you:
come what may
despite agency
and love it
Go where God wants you to go, say what he wants you to say, be what he wants you to be.
Sister Hall
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| The BATH sandwich :) Bacon, avocado, tomato, and Havarti. All organic and on home made bread... yummmmmm! |
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