It's been a good week.
Mormon Messages are like
the most cool.
Not much to report.
MONDAY! We taught a man
about the Book of Mormon. It went well. You could tell that he liked it and
wanted to learn more but his wife was not interested at all and she like shut
him down. We couldn't even pray at the end of the lesson. I've never had
anything happen like that before. We planted some good seeds. We prayed with a
man right after. He was crying at the end. I don't get it (but I mean I do) why
people feel the Spirit and then don’t/won’t do anything about it. They don't
keep their appointments or commitments. Maybe it's because they can’t see past
the moment. I think that spiritual shortsightedness is super prevalent. I've
been guilty of it often. We can fuel the fire, but we can’t start it for them.
We went to the Tobler’s and had an FHE with Melissa. She asked a ton of random
questions. It was good that she's getting her questions answered, but I feel
there is more to her concerns than obscure doctrinal doubts. It seems to me she
is scared of what other people will think of her. It's sad that it is holding
her back. Fear. It's debilitating. Then we went and taught Robert another new
member lesson. It was such juxtaposition, someone who is in a rut and someone
who is taking great spiritual strides each day. He bore his testimony of the
influence of the Holy Ghost. It was touching to listen to. He's a great man and
a good example to me.
TUESDAY! We started the
day off with a doctor’s appointment in Henderson for EW. While there, Sister Martinez
called and asked us if we could give her a blessing. I was so happy to. It's nice
when you get a chance to serve someone you respect so much. I was super happy
to help her. I guess I'd be a much more faithful servant if I loved and
respected everyone that much. Hmm. I guess I should probably work on that
hahaha. Not saying I don’t like serving others, I love to. But I am especially
happy to help someone who does so much for others and does it so selflessly. We
did comp study with Rigdon. We had a lesson with Nick and talked to him about
church. He wants to come but he can’t leave the mother-in-law there by herself
for that long. It's a super complex situation. We read Moroni: 6 with him and
he loved it. We saw an inactive sister. That was interesting. She told us her
conversion story. She went to Gladys Knight thing ten years ago and then he
took the lessons for six or so weeks. She never prayed about the Book of Mormon
or baptism or Joseph Smith or anything. Her missionary went inactive right
after coming home. She got sick a little while later and while in her bed she
started reading anti-Mormon material and then ended up being atheist. After
years she has regained her faith in God but still doesn’t believe in Jesus or
anything else. It was sad. She said that she wants to come back but she just
doesn’t believe in anything anymore. We saw Tyrone. He's doing well but he hasn’t
been coming to church recently. It's tough. No one has really fellowshipped him
and his wife has cancer so he doesn’t have too much support. We saw Sassidy and
Marcus. Sassy is freaking out because her daughter, Promise, is going to have
surgery next week and she said that her worry is consuming her life. She can’t
do anything but sit and worry. We tried to help her and give her hope but it
didn’t really work. She just got frustrated at her boyfriend for not expressing
as much worry as she does. Then we saw the S's. They fed us and it was
awesome. Usually the disobedience of parents affects the children but in their
case the crazy life their children lead has left them with a bunch of grandkids
to watch that drains them of like all their life. It's keeping them from coming
to church and keeping Sister S. from getting baptized.
WEDNESDAY! We had a good
DM this morning. We talked about creating an environment where the Spirit can
bear witness through testimony. It's an interesting phrase that is mentioned
two times in PMG [Preach My Gospel]. We discussed and practiced it. We ate a
ton of pizza on Wednesday. Everywhere we went people gave us pizza. It was kinda
gross haha. We talked to a guy on the street about prophets. It was cool. He
was getting kinda frustrated and said, "WHY ISNT THERE A PROPHET
TODAY???" Boom! We taught him about how there is one. We visited some old
people in the wards. We played basketball with one of our investigators. All
our lessons cancelled that night. All these people cancelling have been a huge
lesson in my patience. We started an exchange that night with Desert Sage.
THURSDAY! We visited an
old member in the morning and he tried to set us up with his daughter who is
currently serving a mission. He kept saying things like, "She's
cute!" "She has a great testimony." "Would you like to meet
her?" "Would you like to be on her email list?" "She might
like to hear that story too!" trying to get us to start emailing her or
something, it was kinda weird. We had a lesson with Toni. She's doing well. We
saw Barbara who has cancer. She found out this week that the chemo hasn’t been
doing as much as they’d hoped and so now they're going to do radiation as well.
She's still so positive. Her doctor told her that she should get her affairs in
order in case she doesn’t make it through the treatments. It was a good day
with Elder Mederios. He's a very humble missionary. It's a pleasure to serve
around him and with him.
FRIDAY! We had eight
appointments cancel today. We saw some huge dogs. Like HUGE dogs. Sorry I don’t
have any pictures. Brother Odulio taught us about the Atonement. We started an
exchange with the ZLs so I was with Elder Smith in his area.
SATURDAY! We taught a young
boy who has zero interest in the gospel and really just wanted us there to show
us his parkour. He was pretty dece for a 12 year old. We taught a lesson to a
family where the only son is dying of cancer, like bedridden. The Spirit was so
strong in there. You could feel that God is right there sustaining and
supporting this family because of their faith. In some cases when people will
turn to God, as they have turned to him, they've found relief.
SUNDAY! Jessie decided
to get baptized! He's finally committed and so in two weeks we should have four
baptisms, two different sets of brothers. It's pretty cool. I'm excited for
that. Deshon and his family didn’t come to church. :( that was sad, but we had
some good lessons on Sunday. Not too much super exciting though.
Sorry for the crappy
email
Sparknotes: I'm happy,
I'm being purified. Elder Wendt is awesome. We have a ton of fun.
Life is good.
I love you all so much!
Sam
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