"For whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me."
I shared this with Morg and Elijah and talked about how that is what they are committing to each other, going where the other goes, staying where the other stays, being and accepting each other's people, throughout this life and into eternity. (Can I get an AWWWWHHH, from anyone;) ok but as sweet as that is, it actually isn't just applicable to marriage. After all this is spoken by Ruth to her mother-in-law and shows her commitment to family and to the broken, downtrodden, the underdog. This can be applied to anyone, any relationship, but it can also be applied to our commitment to follow our Savior. Which is why it is one of my favorite verses, I want to be able to say each day to the Savior and say that where He goes I will go ("all paths to salvation go through Gethsemane" Jeffrey R. Holland) where He stays I'll stay ("stand as a witness at all times in all things in all places" Mosiah 18:9) His people will be my people (my deaf sweet Tennesseans) where thou diest will I die (lose my life in the service of others just like He did Matthew 16:25) whatever may come, come what may.
Hope that makes sense... our primary children reminded us at the program on Sunday that we need to Choose The Right, I wear a ring that is CTR backwards RTC meaning Return To Christ. I think that it is so fitting that CTR is dual meaning forwards and backwards Choose The Right by Returning to Christ. Return To Christ by Choosing The Right.
Ok so let me share by example of how this week we showed the Lord we would follow Him and help ourselves and others return to Him with a story about a mail lady, a cookie prompting, a leaf adventure, and a running man.
Mail lady: so I gave our address out to some people at home and abroad and I forgot to write the apartment number, sooo I was really concerned what that meant in regards to receiving letters if it came to the apartment complex without a specific number. We pulled in to the complex one morning to find our mail lady delivering to the shared slotted box, (side note many mail carriers in Tennessee are through the postal service but are actual cars that may or may not be equipped to be mail trucks. It's kind of like a newspaper route but a mail route, to illustrate one time when I was in Rockwood Jacboson and I drove past a guy in a mini vin sitting in the passenger side of his car delivering mail and steering across the side, don't ask me how he was using the pedals, it was the oddest thing!!!!) Ok but anyway we pull up and I hop out to ask her what would happen if I didn't specify the apartment number, she said she would just return it to sender (even if it is international, yikes) but she asked for my name and said she would watch for it and if she happened to see it she would put it in our box. Pheuf ok so as I got back in the car I was wishing that I had a card or pamphet to give her. It was nagging and so we parked and I turned to Sister See and said we needed to go back and talk to her more. So we did, we followed the Lord, followed a prompting, heard about her life and her preemie, we did give her a pamphlet and then she drove away. We didn't get any of her info but I have confidence that if and when we talk to her again that she will be open and willing to talk to us more. One of my mission buddies in NYC talks about being a "u-turn"missionary" in order to follow a prompting, return to Christ and go where He would go. I love that!!!! I WILL GO back and talk to someone in order to follow Him.
Cookie prompting: we had a linger longer after church where there was a potluck lunch after which all the remaining food and desserts got handed off to us. Which we bagged up and made deliveries to investigators and a recent convert. There was one investigator that is so prepared and ready, she is just so amazing but her temporary management position at work while they wait for the new person to take the position is keeping her from church every week and it makes us so sad every time. To make matters worse she has had to cancel her lesson appointments with us both times the past two weeks because she had to go pick up a shift someone didn't get someone to cover them for. But we decided we would drop by some cookies regardless of whether or not she was there, AND SHE WAS. She didn't end up having to go into work so we were able to have an impromptu lesson with her that was SO amazing. The spirit is always thick when we meet with her, she still wants to be baptized and said she will be there at church this upcoming week, work pending of course. It was so exciting to see how following a prompting and reaching out to her the way Christ would resulted in blessings for all of us. I WILL GO and find someone and deliver cookies in order to follow Him.
Leaf adventure: we were out tracting and following up with people and no one was answering, so we decided to take this random road and gather some leaves and see where it took us. As we looked behind us we saw a high school aged kid approaching us on his way home from school, we turned the corner and the first house in front of us looked kind of dilapidated and possibly abandoned. But we decided to knock on the door anyway, turns out it was the high schooler's house he came up and started talking to us, told us that he and his gma have been looking for a church to go to and that we could come back and share more. SUPER COOL!!! I WILL GO and knock on any door because His people are my people and He knows where they are.
Running man: So we tracted into a man and woman who were very kind and worked with another one of our investigators, so we gave them a pamphlet and an overview of the restoration and they said we could come back that next week and share more with them. We left and kept tracting the "trialerhood" where they lived all of the sudden we hear "HEY LADIES!!!" and we see the guy we had talked to running toward us, we stop and turn and walk toward him and he says "do you think you'uns could come teach us right now instead of next week?" Uhhhhh OF COURSE! we had an appt a street over to get to but we asked if we could come back after that and he said yes so we did! And they were so awesome, totally smoked in our faces, we left reeking of cigarettes but they both said that if they came to know these things were true of course they would want to be a part of It! The guy was really excited to look up lds.org and listen to the prophet. They are way cool. We are excited to continue working with them. I WILL GO and RETURN to talk to people right then and help them return to Christ.
That's really the goal isn't it? To return to Christ? Isn't that what we all are striving for? And helping others do the same? YES! And we know that the best way to do so is to Choose The Right and follow Christ's example. All day, every day.
Keep trying, keep living, keep on choosing the right.
Love y'all!!!!
Love,
Hermana Hall
Went to a Mall... First time in 11 months, Go figure... a UTE shirt in Tennessee
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