Reunion Letters - 08/27/12

Elder "A" and I taught a decent number of lessons this week, but fell short on OYMs. We will keep trying to be better. My goal is to hit the standard of excellence in all of the key indicators by the end of next transfer. But I guess that may change if I get transferred. I still feel like there's so much to do here in Jurupa Valley! But the work will go on without me, I'm sure.

 

At the moment, I feel like I was meant to break through with "BC", and we haven't quite hooked her yet. She has a testimony of the truthfulness of the things we teach her, and we can see the progress that she's making in terms of her personal conversion. But she always backs away from us when she gets too close. I thought for sure that we had convinced her of the importance of coming to church. But on Saturday, she told us she wouldn't be coming, and that she'd talk to us about it later. I was so hurt. I know it's hard for her to change, and that sometimes things happen, but it's so hard for me to watch her stumble.

 

"BC" has a testimony of the adversary now - of her own doing, actually. She told us that it hit her when she was siphoning water out of her broken washing machine: she didn't do anything to keep herself from reading what we assigned her (Alma 32), but between her sister being hospitalized and her washer breaking and her friend staying over, she was distracted. She believes now that Satan exists, and puts roadblocks in her path to keep her from the truth. But I can't help things when she's the one stopping her progression.

Oh, and get this: at Ellis Island, her family didn't speak very good English. When they asked for his family name, he thought they were asking for his profession. "I'm a cooper," he said - someone who makes barrels. "Welcome to America, Mr. Cooper," they said. Before that, their last name was Cohen. Her family taught her that she was directly descended from Aaron. So, when she gets baptized, I'm very anxious to see what her Patriarchal blessing tells her. How cool would that be if I was friends with a literal descendant of Aaron?

I've started to really appreciate all the lessons I'm learning from my fellow missionaries. I learned an awful lot on exchanges this past week, and from a few evenings where Elder "A" and I weren't on the same page. But that just gives me more opportunities to learn how to be more Christlike. Christlike perfection is such a lofty goal. But I was reminded this week by a Mormon message that God doesn't expect perfection from us in this life. That meant a lot to me.

Another thing that meant an awful lot to me: getting a boxful of notes from my family! Everybody wrote me letters at the Tuckett Reunion and I just got a box full of them. I don't think I'll be able to respond to them all individually but I'll give a big thank-you to everybody right here and answer as many general things as I can in a big email. But it looks like I'm running out of time, so that will have to wait until next week.

I finished Jesus The Christ this week and I think I'm starting on the Old Testament and the Bible Dictionary next. I love my Savior so much and I love learning more about the scriptures and how I can apply eternal principles to my life today. Philippians 4:13. And remember to smile and remember that God loves each and every one of us!