Hey guys! This week was pretty great actually. Me Elder Pugsley and Elder Hess are having a good time here. I’ve really lucked out with all my companions.
Old Lady
So we went to this rest home again and played piano for the people there. It’s a lot of fun! This one old lady came up and started talking to me and Elder Hess a lot while Elder Pugsley was playing piano. She started trying to hold my hand and stuff and tried to dance with me haha. Then she asked me and Elder Hess if we had girlfriends. The answer should have been no, but we said yes out of fear. Then she was like “alright I gotta go. Bye” and left.
More Priesthood power
We had some other cool priesthood experiences this week. One member has had some really bad back pains. We gave him a blessing and when we saw him the next week he said that his back was fine the next morning. Pretty neat!
We had another member who was going into a surgery that was supposed to be pretty serious. All of her family and the doctors were telling her she shouldn’t do it because there was good chance she would die during it. But she decided to go through with it anyway, only after getting a priesthood blessing. We blessed her that her body would be able to be strong during the surgery and that it would work out. It was a bit nerve racking to hear those words when everything else was saying otherwise. But it worked out! She got through the surgery okay.
Church!
The biggest miracle of the week was that we had four of our friends come to church in person this week! Mark, Chuck, Heavanah, and Jennifer. Jennifer is still good for her baptismal date. During the entire church service she was crying. Especially during the sacrament. It’s so fulfilling as a missionary to see someone feel the joy that comes from living the gospel.
And it was so great to see our friend Heavanah at church!! We’ve had someone ready to give her a ride the past two weeks but when we show up at 8:30 in the morning she never comes to the door. So during one of our lessons this week we asked what we could do to help her wake up. She mentioned that the window on the west side of the house is where her bed is. So we were like “if you don’t come to the door again on Sunday morning, can we come to the window and blow our bike horn?”.
Flashback - a couple weeks ago we were doing service at this place and Elder Pugsley found a bike horn thing and kept scaring me with it. So I bought it and we’ve been using it to scare each other when we least expect it. So we thought it would be a perfect incentive to help Heavanah wake up on time for church.
Anyways, Sunday came, and before we could even knock she texted us saying that she was ready. We talked to her a little more later and she said that the fear of the horn going off is what got her up. Pretty good stuff!
But yea church was so great. Me and Elder Pugsley both gave talks and it was just super fulfilling to see all of these friends we’ve been working with there together. I’m going to miss Litchfield.
Elder Christofferson
Yesterday we had a devotional with Elder D. Todd Christofferson and our mission. It was great. Especially since he used to live in my home ward. He is really an apostle of the Lord. I remember in elementary school after I had sprained my foot and was walking home on crutches, he was outside of his house on the phone. When he saw me walking he told the person he was talking to to hang on for a sec and then he asked me how I was doing. It was forever ago but I still remember that.
One of the things he said last night that really hit me was about the people we teach. He said “they may not be baptized, but they can at least know that your message is true”.
I loved that so much. I’ve seen this pattern several times on my mission where we teach someone and I know that they know the message we’re sharing is true. The spirit touches these people and they start to change their lives through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then, after so many spiritual moments and the confirmation of the spirit telling them that this is the path God wants them to take, they choose to walk away from it all. It absolutely breaks my heart. But at least they know that what I taught them is true!
There was another cool story Elder Christofferson shared about a returned missionary. Following his mission, he gradually stopped doing things like reading his scriptures daily, going to church, praying, etc., and eventually he was filled with doubts about the church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He went to his former mission president (Apostle M. Russel Ballard) with a list of questions that he wanted answers too. Elder Ballard said-
“When was the last time you read the Book of Mormon? When was the last time you went to church? When was the last time that you prayed? I want you to come back into my office in two weeks. I will have answers to all of your questions, but I want you to read from the Book of Mormon every day until then.”
So the returned missionary came back two weeks later after having studied from the Book of Mormon every day. Elder Ballard had answers to his questions and was ready to talk about them, but the guy said “just forget about all of those questions. They don’t matter.”. He had gotten his testimony back.
Just another cool testament of the power of the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It is true!
So that’s basically it for this week! I hope you’re all doing wonderfully and are having good lives. Love and miss you all. Never hesitate to email me if you’re bored
See ya!
- Elder Wride
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