I don't know how many of you knew this, but Saturday the 26th was
Australia Day. I celebrated by eating two traditional Australian
desserts with my Cole Canyon ward mission leader: lambington and
pavlova. Then they sang God Save the Queen really loudly while I was in
the bathroom. We also looked at his photo albums of his mission in
Australia where he biked everywhere and was basically far less of a wimp
than I am.
My companion and I enjoyed our
week together. Our car is still at the shop and will probably stay there
for another week. Our fleet coordinator didn't think it was fair for us
to bike 3 weeks straight because of an accident that wasn't our fault,
so he found a loaner car for us to use. I'm pretty happy that we can
drive now. But since this car is so nice and new, it makes me nervous
about what would happen if it got messed up. I guess I'm just really not
used to that new car smell and it weirds me out.
We
managed to pick up some straggling investigators and less actives this
week. I'm confident that some of them will continue to progress towards
baptism. We are working with a young married couple. The husband is an inactive member, his wife was once a pretty solid investigator but
they haven't been very reliable recently. On Tuesday, we taught them a
lesson, and the wife made her husband turn off the tv, get off the couch,
and participate in the lesson. And we now have a standing appointment to
teach them and hopefully prepare him for baptism.
Another sister has
two kids, 8 and 9 years old, who are both unbaptized. They recently
found out that the 8 year old may have throat cancer. The ward is
offering lots of help, and we now have a standing appointment to teach
them. The kids love hearing scripture stories and I pray that we might
be able to soften the heart of the father and ex-husband to get them
baptised.
The real miracle of this week was "EA"'s friend. We taught him three times this week. On Wednesday, after
we finished the plan of salvation, he handed over his cigarettes and
lighter and committed to quit smoking right then and there. He hasn't
smoked since. We didn't think he would make it to church on Sunday,
because he was out of town with family, but he got home at 12:30 and
made it to church at 1. Good thing, too, because it was the first time
that "EA" got to help bless the sacrament, and it brought a tear
to my eye to see my friend progress in the gospel like that. The friend also
walked up to us and told us that he had a profound experience this
weekend, and that he's made the decision to get baptised. I couldn't be
happier! I will have to get him an interview with the Mission President,
who wants to talk to our bishop first before he does anything. We will
see how it pans out, but it sounds like he is finding the same deep
conversion that "EA" has found. They both contribute a lot in our
lessons and in the sunday school class. They really get it and they
really love it. It's so cool to watch.
I also really enjoyed a
multizone conference this week. I've found a conference talk that I love
as a result. The Love of God, Dieter F Uchtdorf, October 2009.
"Why
Should We Love God? God the Eternal Father did not give that first
great commandment because He needs us to love Him. His power and glory
are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name.
His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of
our acceptance, approval, or admiration. No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God! For
what we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we
think and do. What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will
become.
We are created in the image of our heavenly parents; we
are God’s spirit children. Therefore, we have a vast capacity for
love—it is part of our spiritual heritage. What and how we love not only
defines us as individuals; it also defines us as a church. Love is the
defining characteristic of a disciple of Christ."
We spent a lot of time tracting in the rain this week. I got really,
really dejected the first day we tried biking in the rain and I ended up
with mud splattered all over the back of my white shirt before we even
got to our first house. We decided to go home and clean up instead of
get mud everywhere. I took pictures of it, then made myself a cup of hot
chocolate and tried not to let my depression rub off too much on my
companion. We did get some good work done, and I thoroughly enjoyed
wearing my trench coat that my grandpa Tuckett gave me. One of our
recent convert families told me it makes me look like Sherlock
Holmes from the new BBC series. I know of at least a couple friends at
home that would just squeal at that idea. I'll have to take pictures
sometime.
The work continues to roll forward. We sat down with
both of our Relief Society presidents recently and went over the ward
lists. I made lots of notes and I think we have a good idea of who in
the wards need our help the most, and who can help us the most. From
here on out, we are going to try and be more organized and more
efficient. I want to train my companion as best I can. I want to be the
very best, like no one ever was.
No comments:
Post a Comment