The Lord gave and the Lord hath taketh away - 12/03/12

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Sorry for being such a downer in my last letter. I was upset and spoke from the "bitterness of my soul". (Job 10:1) I've since come to a greater trust that "all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things" (2 Nephi 2:24)

 

The first few days in Murrieta were a bit slow. Every single one of our appointments canceled the first day, and all but one canceled the second and third days. I found that as long as we were trying our best to do missionary work, I was given the strength physically and emotionally to smile and bear testimony and teach with the spirit. But once we made it back to the homeshare, I fell apart. I was totally exhausted. But I still put my trust in the Lord and tried my hardest the next day to be a good missionary.

We cover two wards, the Cole Canyon ward and the Murrieta Hills ward. The Cole Canyon ward was just organized in March and it's still pretty new. Geographically speaking, it's absolutely tiny. I've never seen a ward this small except in Utah. Murrieta Hills is a bit bigger, because it covers the mansions that all sit on their own hills five miles apart out in the country. I'm told we'll be eating at the home of a billionaire next week. I feel so out of place with all these rich white folks. I'm always afraid that I'll come off as a classless country kid. Luckily for me, I have the promise of the Lord, so I will be "strong and of a good courage", like in Joshua 1:9.

The downside of being in such a wealthy area is that it's awfully darn hard to tract. Nobody is ever home. We tracted for 3 hours one morning and only talked to 4 people. That's a huge difference from Jurupa Valley. Granted, it was from 10AM to 1PM, which is a poor time to tract anyways, but there's not much else we could have been doing, either. I'm going to have to get used to this kind of stuff. The best way for us to do our work, our ward mission leaders have told us, is to support and strengthen the members so that they trust us to teach their friends. I think I can do that. I have to learn two wards worth of people, but as much as I love people, surely I can rise to the challenge.

I sat through a ward council and 2 3-hour church blocks yesterday while fasting. That was an adventure, especially since we split up for part of it and Elder "C" didn't tell me where to go. Somewhere between bearing my testimony in the first ward and bearing my testimony in the next ward, I felt the spirit tell me that I would be able to do my job here and do it well. I folded my arms and said in my mind, "Challenge Accepted." I want to be able to look God in the eye and say that I gave it my best shot.

And I think I've done it, so far. I helped build a manger for a live nativity. I met a bunch of members, many of which enjoyed my testimony in testimony meeting. And I think I'm starting to get used to my companion. All will be fine. I trust in the Lord.