I also am grateful for this area I'm serving in. These people... my goodness... they are truly one of a kind and I love them for it. So what if Sunday meetings have me on the edge of my seat in anticipation of the next tangent (this week it was "getting hit upside the head with a skillet by your wife" and Einstein)? So what if we get fed rabbit at dinner... (not horrible but not great either)? So what if we sweep up piles of dead termites at the local American Legion Hall (sure hope they were dead)? I love Rockwood. I love the people here. I love my mission. I love my Savior. I'm happy to have spent 6 months trying each day to become a better disciple of His. I told President in my last interview with him, after being asked what I want to become by end of next May when I head for home, I told him I don't want my mission to end. I've heard many times you have an eternity to prepare, 18 months to live it and an eternity to look back on it. It's true that I'll only have 18 months to be a set apart missionary but that doesn't mean it ends after that, (I know there are some reading this who might shake their heads or roll their eyes at my "missionary fire" desire and I realize life comes up and things change) maybe I won't be out knocking on doors but I want to keep studying everyday... keep praying everyday... keep striving for the temple... keep visiting those in need... keep standing up for what I believe... keep waking up early... keep working hard and enduring to the end... keep learning about and trusting my Savior... keep studying conference talks and words of modern day prophets... Ultimately I want to be able to implement my mission into my life so that my life becomes my mission. I want to continue increasing my knowledge of the gospel and then share that knowledge with others. Because the gospel is so good and so true and there is SO much to learn and SO much to share. So I would love to take a minute and share with y'all something I've learned and then some experiences of sharing light and knowledge with others this week.
I was working on some Personal Progress (we've started working on it with a less active young woman in the ward who is super sweet... more to come on her later) anyway it took me in the scriptures to Ether 2 and 3. Which is all about the Brother of Jared. Now... there are SO many lessons to be learned from his story SO many... but what pricked my heart and opened my eyes were his efforts and the way they were multiplied. When asked how they were going to have light in the barges the Lord didn't say "Oh leave it to me I'll take care of it." Because He would, and He did. No he asked the Brother of Jared, "What wilt ye that I should do?" He asked him to come up with a proposal to bring to the table. He asked him to go find, bring, and give Him something to work with. And what did he bring? Rocks. 16 of them to be exact. Sure they were clear and smooth and "molten out of the mountain" but they were rocks... yet he brought them anyway and recognizing their nothingness and his own nothingness the Brother of Jared cried unto the Lord in humility saying,
O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.
He then recognized the Lord's hand in preserving his people and said:
Behold, O Lord, thou hast smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been merciful unto us. O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these things which I have molten out of the rock.
Finally he acted in faith and told Him his plan.
And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea.
Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of men.
And the rest of the story goes something like this: the Lord put forth his finger and touched the stones one by one. The Brother of Jared not only saw the Lord's finger but because of his immense faith he saw the Lord and spoke with him face to face. The Lord blessed him with light, with more comfort, more knowledge, more vision, more understanding, more trust, more than he could have ever imagined. And at no point did the Lord ever look at him and say "Really? Rocks? That's all that you could come up with?" No He took those 16 stones and He turned them into a source of light. That's what Christ does, He takes whatever we have to offer and He multiplies it into more than we ever thought possible (same goes for the 5 loaves and 2 fishes parable). So let's apply the Brother of Jared to ourselves. When we approach the Lord in humility, when we recognize His hand in making our lives possible, and when we set forth our faith and show Him our plan, or give Him our will... He takes it and makes it a source of light. He gives us more comfort, knowledge, vision, understanding, trust, more than we can ever imagine. He never looks at us and says "that's all you can come up with?" Never. He takes whatever we've got and one by one touches and molds it with His hands making it more than we thought it could be. I hope and I pray that as I am humbled and grateful and planning with faith He will take my 18 months and make me a source of light.
Ah you guys I just love the scriptures! I just adore them! They are so true! How else could a 19 year old girl relate to an ancient man building barges and carrying stones?!?!
Ok onto sharing time!
So we were in the southern part of our area and stopped in the local "Piggly Wiggly" grocery store (straight up that is its name) because an investigator works there. While there we saw a couple Latinos and we walked past two of them, my mind haunting me saying "there's a reason your call says Spanish..." We pass one more and I was like alright that's enough! Made a walking u-turn and we went around and started talking to a guy in total broken Spanish and gave him a pass-along card. Fast forward a few days and we were sitting planning at the kitchen table and a call comes in and it's the guy from the Pig! He was super hard to understand but we scheduled a time to meet at the Piggly Wiggly again the next day. What ended up happening is he wasn't there, but we kept waiting and a different Latino came by and we talked to him and gave him a Book of Mormon and will talk to him more this next week. We don't know what will result, apparently there are a lot of men that come and work on the farms for anywhere from 3-6 months and then go back to their homes and families... but at the very least we can use our Spanish and testify of Christ. Doesn't get much better than that!
Oof, taught the law of chastity to our investigator on date for baptism. She was actually scheduled to be baptized this past Saturday but it didn't happen for several reasons. They (her and her fiancee who is a member) are currently praying for a new date that they feel they can work towards. We too are praying like crazy for them. Agency always plays a critical role though, we chose to have it and no amount of faith or prayer can take away that from someone. We do love her though and want what is best for her and hope and pray that she will realize the forever best thing for their family is this gospel. Also shout out to role playing during companionship study, even though it is beyond awkward to pretend to teach you are able to get a really bad lesson out of the way without other people there and then you can go into the actual lesson more prepared and confident than you otherwise might've been. Definitely recommend. And it works for all aspects of life I had Hermana Jacobson role play a phone call with me she needed to make and sometimes I'll have her read my drafts of some emails and we role play/ talk about possible scenarios and responses. I've always hated acting but Iquite like role playing... It's all about enhancing communication and increasing charity, which everyone could use a little more of both, charity and communication. But enough of that, apologies for going all preachy missionary on y'all.
SPEAKING OF PREACHY the last story I'll share from the week happened on Sunday after church we went to the long-term care facility across from the church. We had visited two less actives there two weeks before... One of which was asleep the other was very deteriorated and otherwise incoherent. We decided to return back this week to see if we could visit them again and maybe sing some hymns to them. (I love that missionary work involves things like this showing up to an old folks home to sing to them, it reminds me of my CNA job back home, aw, I just have such a special place in my heart for the elderly and the seemingly neglected) but anyway it turns out that the sweet deteriorated sister we had visited passed away within days after we had met her. The other sister that had been asleep was attending the church services they hold there. We decided we'd go say hello to her before they began services. We did so but ended up getting caught and welcomed by the preacher who then began his sermon. So we had no choice but to sit and listen in. Not that I was complaining though... my curiosity was piqued. But oh my heavens above I was not expecting what we experienced. He first began by asking for an opening prayer, one man began giving it and the preacher joined in with his own prayer talking on top of the other guy. That was a new one, apparently it happens a lot though... then the preacher opens his hymnal and starts singing Amazing Grace. I know some of those words but not all 4 verses, and since we were with a bunch of elderly people he was essentially the only one singing and continued to sing and sing and sing. Four hymns and 20 minutes later he opens his Bible and begins reading and shouting his sermon. It was almost like something you'd see in a movie. The only catch was every third or fourth word he would say some weird word/sound that I can only try to spell like this: "hubm" for example he would say "Dear Lord I am grateful hubm for the life you gave hubm, for the sacrifice hubm you made hubm and the blood hubm you shed hubm for a sinner hubm like me hubm" it was quite interesting. It felt so impersonal and so flashy. I'll admit I am becoming converted to praise I think it has its place and I will definitely be listening to some gospel music when I get home (watch out fam;) but at the same time there is nothing like the sweet spirit that I feel during those 15 minutes of prayerful pondering when I am contemplating the Savior as I take
the sacrament. Each church has its truths, how blessed we are though to attend one that has all truth, perfect truth.
"Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me."
I hope y'all have a wonderful week and give your stones to the Lord and see Him and His hand in your life. He can and will show you sources of light and knowledge and help you become a source of that for others.
I know this to be true and Thank you again for all you do for me.
Love y'all!
Love,
Hermana Hall
(0r 182 days................)
Six month celebration dinner!!!
 |
They've been found.... in Tennessee!!!!  Must still have some cold mornings, layer up!!! Thinking of the dad and bro this weekend.....     |
No comments:
Post a Comment