Hello all,
Heartbreak hotel this week.... but also definite good things going down!
So Mark, one of our great African investigators, left for Denmark yesterday. It was sad, but we had him commit to a baptismal date in Denmark and he's still reading in the Book of Mormon. We pray that we'll be able to get him in touch with the missionaries up there soon. I think I would be a very happy missionary to find an investigator who had already read to Jacob and had promised to God that they would get baptized on May 27. We were sad to see him go, though, but we know it's all part of a plan.
Also, I had probably one of the most depressing moments of my mission when we went to visit Elvira and found out that we're just another religion on a shelf to her. She spoke about how she's be receiving visits/invites from Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims, not to mention that her children attend Catholic catetcism -- and to her, our visits and invites were just more assignments. She said, "I don't have time to study all these religions!" I felt horrible, like I'd just tried to sell my religion to her. All I wanted for her to do was to learn how to receive answers from God and to be able to take these questions to Him. We invite people to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it because it's the start of this process -- if we really want to know it's true, God will let us know through the Holy Ghost it's true. And then we can use this process for EVERY SINGLE OTHER QUESTION in our LIVES. Whether it's about our family, our jobs, our direction, our peace of mind, ANYTHING. God will listen and answer ANYTHING (as long as it's for our good... and most of the time, it is!)
And... and... it just made me so very sad that she'd never understood that. I don't know how much of it was us and our teaching. I don't know how much of it was her just wanting to throw up her hands and say, "It's too hard, I can't figure it out!" Either way, it was a real downer.
However, I do know that this is not the end of the story and there will be more to come. Even if this is the end of my visits with Elvira (which hasn't necessarily been determined), I know that one day someone will be able to help Elvira make this connection with her Heavenly Father.
Okay, other stuff. Easter was great. I made a whole heapin of Easter Bread, a recipe I stole from my Russian friend and has absolutely nothing to do with Italy, but was delicious and fed us for 7 DAYS. Now that's the loaves and the fishes for ya.
I've switched the English course I'm teaching. Instead of teaching fancy pants advnaced, where I just get to pick a random subject to talk about, I'm now teaching intermediate where I actually have to KNOW English CONCEPTS. WHAT!? (For example.. I just learned two days ago what present perfect means). The good news is that when I come home, I will now know all of the past participles for every verb ever! Take that drink/drank/have drunk!
We have done a lot of finding in the past week and it has resulted in a lot of appointments with new friends! All is well. All is well.
Spiritual thought? I really love Heavenly Father! My favorite hymn (LDS church song) on the mission is Praise to the Lord, The Almighty. Favorite verse:
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy way and defend thee.
Surely his goodness and mercy shall ever attend thee.
Ponder anew
What the Almighty can do,
Who with his love doth befriend thee.
I'm grateful the Lord is on our side. Never forget that. Never doubt, God is preeeeeeetty powerful. I'm very grateful for all the wonderful blessings he's given me. Especially for my new companion, Sorella Bradford. I really like her.
Ponder anew.
Sorella Fuller
So Mark, one of our great African investigators, left for Denmark yesterday. It was sad, but we had him commit to a baptismal date in Denmark and he's still reading in the Book of Mormon. We pray that we'll be able to get him in touch with the missionaries up there soon. I think I would be a very happy missionary to find an investigator who had already read to Jacob and had promised to God that they would get baptized on May 27. We were sad to see him go, though, but we know it's all part of a plan.
Also, I had probably one of the most depressing moments of my mission when we went to visit Elvira and found out that we're just another religion on a shelf to her. She spoke about how she's be receiving visits/invites from Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims, not to mention that her children attend Catholic catetcism -- and to her, our visits and invites were just more assignments. She said, "I don't have time to study all these religions!" I felt horrible, like I'd just tried to sell my religion to her. All I wanted for her to do was to learn how to receive answers from God and to be able to take these questions to Him. We invite people to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it because it's the start of this process -- if we really want to know it's true, God will let us know through the Holy Ghost it's true. And then we can use this process for EVERY SINGLE OTHER QUESTION in our LIVES. Whether it's about our family, our jobs, our direction, our peace of mind, ANYTHING. God will listen and answer ANYTHING (as long as it's for our good... and most of the time, it is!)
And... and... it just made me so very sad that she'd never understood that. I don't know how much of it was us and our teaching. I don't know how much of it was her just wanting to throw up her hands and say, "It's too hard, I can't figure it out!" Either way, it was a real downer.
However, I do know that this is not the end of the story and there will be more to come. Even if this is the end of my visits with Elvira (which hasn't necessarily been determined), I know that one day someone will be able to help Elvira make this connection with her Heavenly Father.
Okay, other stuff. Easter was great. I made a whole heapin of Easter Bread, a recipe I stole from my Russian friend and has absolutely nothing to do with Italy, but was delicious and fed us for 7 DAYS. Now that's the loaves and the fishes for ya.
I've switched the English course I'm teaching. Instead of teaching fancy pants advnaced, where I just get to pick a random subject to talk about, I'm now teaching intermediate where I actually have to KNOW English CONCEPTS. WHAT!? (For example.. I just learned two days ago what present perfect means). The good news is that when I come home, I will now know all of the past participles for every verb ever! Take that drink/drank/have drunk!
We have done a lot of finding in the past week and it has resulted in a lot of appointments with new friends! All is well. All is well.
Spiritual thought? I really love Heavenly Father! My favorite hymn (LDS church song) on the mission is Praise to the Lord, The Almighty. Favorite verse:
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy way and defend thee.
Surely his goodness and mercy shall ever attend thee.
Ponder anew
What the Almighty can do,
Who with his love doth befriend thee.
I'm grateful the Lord is on our side. Never forget that. Never doubt, God is preeeeeeetty powerful. I'm very grateful for all the wonderful blessings he's given me. Especially for my new companion, Sorella Bradford. I really like her.
Ponder anew.
Sorella Fuller
Pictures.
MARK!
EASTER BREAD! Thank you so much TATY for the recipe!!
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