Dear Fam,
We have an awesome group going up to Zonda with us today so
that will be way fun. Will send pictures for sure next week.
You would think that by now I would know what to write in
family letters but I got nothin.
This week I have thought a lot about agency. How Satan's
plan from the very beginning was to take away our ability to choose. As we
follow Gods plan we are given more and more choice. Perhaps it is the culture,
but I feel like the classic parenting style here is taking away freedom so the
only option is choosing good, but somehow children manage to choose wrong. The
absolute strongest families I have seen are those who have taught their
children all they could and leave them at the crossroads with the Holy Ghost.
And when I came to that realization I changed slightly how I teach. It is
crucial to ensure that investigators know how the spirit feels and then let the
gentile Spirit guide their footsteps instead of my forceful hand. I just wish
they could see the blessing that comes from living within guidelines of our
Father in Heaven.
The mission is so strange you can be so incredibly happy and
then within two hours can be filled with so much sadness. For example,
yesterday at church was Fast Sunday and we called down the blessings for our
investigators to come to church. Tons of less actives came but no one was home
when we went to pick them up (sadness). So we went to Relief Society and Sunday
School with no investigators but G. ended up coming to bless her child and
brought her whole family to come and watch.(Happiness) I was so happy as Hno.
Q. stood up to bless this precious little baby after the sacrament. The spirit
was strong and L. (the youngest of the Kim Family) got up and bore her
testimony and from the podium invited her family to get up as well. I just
couldn´t handle all the tender mercies as God showed me the progression of so
many as they stood to bare their testimonies. (pure joy) Hno. Q. left church to
pick up Emmanuel who was attending another church at the time, he is so
awesome.(bliss) I left church on a spiritual high and knew that this family too
had felt the spirit and were so prepared for the restored gospel.
Just a couple hours
later we got off a micro that we had barley caught after a controversial
birthday lunch where the newly activated member and her devout Evangelical
son-in-law didn´t see eye to eye on religion, and broke our fast eating super
vinegary cow intestines. We had a leadership meeting that wasn´t as efficient
as I would have hoped and I left frustrated and late to our next appointment.
We got to the house and we were greeted with open doors but with the sad news
that his wife had just barely left and the sad knowledge that even though we
had prepared a spirit-filled lesson we could not enter the house to teach it.
We left and decided to see if we could walk faster then the bus that only
passes once every hour and had just dropped us off. As I walked the long road
back to civilization with profound and not so profound thoughts filling my
mind. The happiness seemed to be reduced by the surrounding darkness. Each
footstep was heavy and forced and hurt from my feet who reminded me I couldn´t
keep wearing my whole-y shoes, or my back that wasn´t exactly happy with the
extra gospel principal books I was lugging around. When we finally
reached city limits and could walk side by side by my companion it was a wake
up call that I wasn´t alone nor could I assume that I was the only one who was
about ready to burst with thoughts. Hna. Barney and I had an amazing
conversation that was interrupted constantly as we talked to those around us,
but by the time we reached home I was so incredibly grateful for the infinite
and eternal truth I knew, my family that has gone before, and those I have by
my side. And in that moment I was so grateful for all those before me who in
that crucial moment at cross roads listened to the still small voice of the
Holy Ghost and amidst the darkness, chose light.
The Gospel is True.
Life is wonderful!
Hermana Hill
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