BEEP! ....
BEEP! ....
BEEP!.....
BEEP!.....
Thankfully Cody can wake up better than I can and turned the alarm off at 5 in the morning. I kicked myself out of bed to get ready for another one of those freezing missionary showers haha (the Lord knows he's gotta wake you up somehow so he has his ways....) So we got ourselves awake and ready as fast as our tired bodies would let us and began to venture out the door at 6 in the morning to embark on one of the longest awaited exchanges in the Texas Dallas Mission!!!
As we started the day out, Cody and I decided that we'd put a new definition with the phrase "work your life out in the service of the Lord" and matching one of the mission songs, go find, especially from 6 to 9. The song says:
"Oh it's fun to find, all the time! Yes it's fun to find especially from 6 to 9! It's getting kind of late, and your appointments all fell through...you're feeling kind of down because you've got nothing to do...start knocking on doors, and talking in the streets! You'll be surprised at how many families you'll meet!..."
And it keeps going on from there, but as you can tell it references the 6pm to 9pm hours...but we thought we'd give the song a run for it's money and go find people from 6am to 9pm...because it's fun to find...all the time!!!
So we got out the door by 6 and while we were without the car that had gotten hit earlier on in the week, we walked our way on over to Wal Mart while contacting people at the gas stations on the way. We for real got the weirdest looks as people saw us going around and teaching about Jesus Christ so early in the morning and it was pretty awesome to contact those Mexican baptists...so groggy as they had just got outta bed to go to the store and buy some milk haha oh just too classic. The worst part was just how cold it was-- never been anywhere colder in my life. Period. But a special thanks to all those who sent me all the Winter clothes to help me battle just another one of those days that never got above freezing haha. It was killer and we just about froze our faces off as we realized we could barely talk to anyone, but as time went on we went tracting and then it started to snow. Overall I've just gotta say that I miss the city or more populated areas because of how much fun tracting is! We froze our butts off. We found 11 new investigators in one day!!!! (I've never seen anyone get a day higher than that in my whole mission !!!!) As crazy as it was and as cold as it was and as tired as we were, the 15 hours of straight work were so much more than worth it...gives us the right to chime in with President Spencer W. Kimball in saying "My life is like my shoes, worn out by service."
We could barely believe that we were working together for the longest time and it seemed like every few minutes a reality check would come in and we'd realize that we were hanging out together not as just friends like so many times before, but this time as companions in the work of the Lord!!! It made me think of the time we walked and rode the bus all the way down to Valencia to watch that lame movie Hancock...and while we did just about as much traveling, this time was so much more satisfying!
So I figured I'd put in a few highlights from that day...
There was one dude who tried to sneak out his side door as we knocked the front one, but we caught him trying to sneak behind his gate, but we caught him and told him to Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!!! Yeah he definitely felt uncomfortable as he tried to wiggle his way out of the fact he was running from the Lord's servants. The good thing is he got the picture and will be called to even more Repentance later on by the Mount Pleasant Elders.
We taught the Restoration that day like it was nuthin but a G Thang....fo reals!!! But my favorite was when I was using one of my favorite examples to explain the apostasy and how you can compare the primitive Church of Jesus Christ to a Vase, held by my arm (which represents the Authority). When you take away my arm the vase falls into hundreds of pieces, and that is truly what happened as the Church of Jesus Christ fell into hundreds of thousands of pieces, just a ton of teachings that many would take and start a church around. The idea is that so many people were using so many different pieces to start what they thought was the church of Jesus Christ, but in truth, they couldn't bring it back to the vase that it looked like before. As Elder Bench, bless his heart, explained it in Spanish, he said that all the people used, (instead of pedacitos which means pieces, he used galletas which means cookies...) So in translation he said that people were picking up different cookies and building churches around all these different cookies, but all they had was just a bunch of cookies instead of what the vase looked like before. So in truth....all they had was a bunch of cookies. I knew something sounded wrong and as I translated it in my head, I just started laughing out loud in front of everyone. Haha sorry man but love you Codes!!! Was a triumphant day for sure.
And as if this past week wasn't good enough, we got the Zone Shirts made and publicized!!! We handed them on out during my last training which was crazy to think that it's the last one I was going to give...but the truths the truth and I had to accept it. As we drove back home and had the normal thrill of the day by checking mail...there they were...the trunky papers. So I opened the letter and read what I'd seen so many other missionaries read before. We would always make fun of those missionaries and how little time they had left, but this day the tables turned and it was another reality check hitting home. It's just so hard for me to believe that these two years that I'd looked forward to for all my life are almost over.
Also worthy of mention is that another accomplishment has been made...we tracted out a whole city in just one day!!! Elder Trias and I decided to set apart a day to knock every door in a whole city, and met our goal in the roaring metropolis of Rhonesboro Texas!!! Aint nuthin but a G thang.
So as you can tell, busy would be an understatement for our work out here in the Gilmer Stake, but one of the biggest blessings of this week were the lessons we were able to teach to Samantha Martin. She's a girl that used to live in Newport, Maine (within the boundaries of Dad's old mission), but was getting into all sorts of trouble like teenagers normally do. Her Mom didn't know what to do with her, so her Aunt (Hermana Robertson) decided to take her in to live the Mormon life out in the country. She had been living with the Robertsons for a few months when we got to start teaching her. We jumped on the opportunity to start teaching and got to finally get in and set a Baptismal Goal with her. She had loved all of her experiences in the Young Womens program, how she feels at church, and just living with the Robertsons who had set such a great example for her by living the high standards that we have set as members of the church of Jesus Christ. As we invited her to be baptized, she was so excited to be apart of what she had come to love and accepted the invitation for the 8th of February. We figured it would work out perfectly and she was apparently planning on staying out here in Texas until June, but as time went on, we found a bump in the road. Her family (who are not members) began to miss her, kept calling her and reminding her of how much fun doing this and that was, basically inviting her back to the old ways. Then her parents got a ticket ready for the 11th of February, and with that, Samantha, who was at first so in love with the Church and so excited to get baptized, began to rethink her decision.
I can't lie though, when she told us that she didn't want to get baptized anymore, Elder Trias and I didn't feel worried at all. I was pretty surprised since it's normally a panic moment when you see that what you've put so much into is falling right between your fingertips, but we've been out on the mission long enough to know that no matter what, anytime before a step of progression is made in any form (but especially Baptism), we won't be the only ones upping our game... The adversary will always come in, finding any entrance he can take, and throw a monkey wrench into the all the plans that we've set. As annoying as it is, I've seen how much the mission has blessed me personally to deal with these situations. I feel like I've seen (in the little sliver of life that I've lived) that Satan will always throw temptations and problems at us, but it's really how we deal with it that refines us and makes us who we are. So instead of panicking and giving up, we finally felt grateful for all the other obstacles that Satan had thrown at all of our converts that had prepared us to deal with this case. Her date was going to be moved to the 10th, but she told us at Church that she just wanted to call it off. She was nervous about being the only member in her family and not knowing too many members up there, but we knew there had to be someway to overcome these obstacles. So we set up a time to visit with her that night and when we went home, we created a battle plan to salvage the months of progress she had made by not only learning the things we taught, but living them with better support than she could ever ask for around her. Looking back on our visit to their house that night, I still feel like we just showed up and the spirit took over for the lesson.
It seemed to be a compilation of so many small things that I had learned on the mission taught with the Doctrine of Christ and using the chapter Alma 47. Of course it's a chapter that talks about nothing but secret combinations and all that sweet stuff, but it drives home some of the most important principles in life and helps us understand how Satans going to try to get us, and how our Heavenly Father is going to try and get us. But no matter what they do, the choice is ours and the end of the story depends on what we choose to do. At the end of such a powerful lesson, the words just fell out of my mouth, "So Sam, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized tomorrow?" Yeah, it was a little different from the memorized invitation, and after a long space of silence where she sat and thought about it...she finally accepted!
We normally have a reverent manner in everything we do, but all the kids in the family just started jumping and shouting as they were so excited for their cousin! It made me think of all the little McKeon cousins and how excited they get at family reunions when they get to be all together! So we put together the program and took off, but right before we left I thanked Hermana Robertson for letting us come over in the midst of the chaos with people moving into their home and the millions of things they had to do that day on their property. She then told me about how she saw how easy it would have been to cancel it and tell us that they were too busy and will work with Samantha in a few years or something like that, but she heard a voice in her head telling her, "Don't become a stumbling block. This is my work. This is what they are here for."
We had one of the greatest Baptismal Services yesterday and the spirit was stronger than so many I had seen before as Samantha was baptized, and let me tell y’all, there really aint nothing else like a Preparation Day baptism. It was also very special to me as I knew that Samantha was returning home and going to be a great asset to the area that Dad had served in what must be 30 years ago (sorry Dad haha but I had to put it in there.)
Yesterday, we almost had our planners full of appointments and just didn't have time to prepare for this week, and it truly has to be one of the best feelings ever. We are seeing miracles every day out here and I'm so grateful for all of y’all that are praying for me extra hard because we can see the proof of it out here. I know that this is the Lord’s work and that no mortal hand could have or even would have started what we are now actively apart of. There truly is nothing else like being a full time servant of Jesus Christ and in this short time that he's given me to do so, I've seen myself come to know him so much better and have become so much more grateful for what he's done for me. In our Ward Council this past week, Bishop put me on the spot and asked me why I thought that missions were so hard. After my answer, he talked about the refining process of a mission, and how while I may bless the lives of many people, nobody will leave what I've done more blessed than I. Every time I reflect on that, I can just hear the truthfulness of the scriptures ringing in my ears when the Savior stated, "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it."
Les Quiero Mucho Y Que Dios Da Valor,
Elder Wilson
No comments:
Post a Comment