Running and Gunning

Before I address the title of this letter. I want to talk about the Light the World service challenge for the day. "I was a stranger, and ye took me in." -Matthew 25:35. I like the suggestion that says "Has a stranger ever done something nice for you? Determine a way to pay the kind act forward." I don't believe I ever shared the following experience that happened to Sister Jacobson and I when we were in Rockwood. It was at the end of a pday and we were pulling back into the driveway after a Walmart run when we get out and here this pssssssssssh sound and see the rapidly deflating... great... much to my own discredit I had never changed a tire before so I didn't have a clue what to do... Jacobson, didn't either. Ugh. We hurried and took our groceries into the house and then looked at each other and asked "what are we going to do?" Jacobson looked at me and said, we are going to pray and then try to figure it out. So that is what we did. Luckily we weren't stranded out in some country road in the middle of no where, we were right outside of our house. And a ward member and his family were coming to pick us up for dinner and a lesson. But we were still feeling a little desperate especially after calling the priesthood leader of the family and letting him know what was going on and he seemed a little frazzled on the phone and we weren't sure if he even heard us explaint the predicament we were in. So we decided to try it on our own. We took all of the stuff out of our trunk and go the spare out and the jack, and took it around to the side and were crouched down trying to put the jack in the right place when down the street walks this guy. As he gets closer we see that he has ripped baggy jeans, shaved head, tattoo sleeves, gauges in his ears and is otherwise kind of scary. In my former life I would've thought he was creepy, but I've repented and changed the way I see people and so had my companion so as he walks by we both smile and wave and yell "Hi how are you?" and he nods and says fine thanks. Now in my mind I was pray pray prayingggg that he would come help us, I'm sure Jacobson was as well. But he didn't he walked right past us. Two girls, in dresses, trying to change a tire, faking their way through it. In my mind I was like "ah dang it, we really are on our own in this."

But then came the miracle.

The guy walked two driveways down from us and then turned around adnd sauntered up to us and said, "Y'all need any help?" We look at each other and at him and nod and say "....Yeah... we have NO idea what we are doing!" He proceeds to help us, and talk to us. He explained how to replace it, why you need to loosen and tighten the lugnuts diagonally, and that we couldn't drive on the spare for too long or at high speeds... He not only helped us, he taught us. And of course we taught him a little too, we talked to him about missionary work, he wasn't really religious but we were able to bear a simple testimony to him about Christ and he accepted a card with our info on it. He turned to us as he was finishing up and said "You know I had a feeling I needed to come back... and it's been a while since I have done something nice for someone..." That warmed our hearts. And even though when he stood up, drugs dropped out of his pockets and he snatched them up and we pretended like we didn't notice, it didn't matter. You know why? Because he added some light into our day and we added some to his. And it wouldn't have otherwise been there. You can't change people like you can change tires. No it's not possible to change people. People have to choose to change themselves. However service is the best way to inspire change. Because service makes you feel good, and it is a pure kind of good. I would bet you big bucks that the feeling of doing a good deed that our tattooed friend felt was stronger and purer than any drug that he took later that day or week. You know why? Because lasting happiness comes from service. The world offers fake man made and evil inspired happiness that doesn't last. It might make people feel "good" but it is fake good. The good that was felt on that day that he turned around and helped two sisters out, still feels good months later. Everytime I reflect on that experience it warms my heart. He was a perfect stranger, we were perfect strangers, but he stopped to help. And it was a modern day good Samaritan. The tattooed Samaritan.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to pay that exact deed forward, but I hope that I can somehow some way today, tomorrow and forever be able to stop and help a brother and sister in need, even if I seem unqualified or uninterested that I can prove them wrong and help a stranger. Because are we really all strangers anyway???

Ok real fast to wrap up... This past week is summed up in "running and gunning" it was one of those weeks where all our plans fell through. But something I have learned is that the reason we make plans is to give the Lord something to work with. Sometimes He makes it seem like all those plans get swept away but really it is Him cleaning up the slate a little so that the real plan can be seen. The way I see it is a canceled plan is the Lord saying "I have something better in mind" and He then takes the pieces of our broken plans and builds it into something better, only if we let Him. Because if you sit there in bitterness thinking "You broke my plans, that was a masterpiece of a day." Then you miss out on the real masterpiece The Master piecing together your day, your life, the way He knows best.

And that is what happened for us. We trusted Him, alllll week long. And come Sunday we had 5 investigators at church. Five. After the trial of your faith comes the miracle. It was pure chaos running around making sure one of them had a ride, one of them had a glass of water when she almost hacked up a lung coughing during sacrament meeting, guiding them to their classes, making sure they met members, making sure they didn't get lost. We were running and gunning, that's for darn sure. But even amidst the running around and craziness we were able to pause and take in the masterpiece of Christ, who all along knew this was going to be the end result of the week. Just like how he orchestrated the details of that pday months ago, He made it so we got a flat tire outside our house, and that the tatooed Samaritan walked by at that precise time, that was all Him, we did not and could not have planned it. And it really was a masterpiece. That I wish I could frame and look at always.

In all the running and gunning we do in day to day life I hope we can pause to see the needs around us and reach out and help those we know and those we don't and promise that as we do so we will see the way the Lord has prepared a work of art out of us and our lives, much more beautiful than anything we could ever make on our own.

Love y'all!

Tengan un buen semana!

Love,
Hermana Hall


Continue to LIGHT THE WORLD!!!




More Snow than we have at home!