Gods Work in Paradise (as easy as it sounds, it is very hard.)
Hello my Extraordinary friend!
Well, just to start off I guess this week was a good one! Just so all of you randomly know... I am writing you in a 90 degree room wearing an FC Barcelona Jersey and some Jamma pants. Oh it is great when you get to go to the beach and all your clothes are dirty!! Gotta love it. Thankfully there is the P Day!!! woot woot!
I am doing fantasticularly awesome as of right now. Everything seems to be getting better and better. Almost as if it is normal to see progress every week. Now I just can't take it for granted. Sadly though this was a very low week in church attendance but that was honestly about it.
This week we have been working a lot with members. We have had some great meetings with the members on the vision that we share for the Provo branch and we are getting some great help. We have planned with a few of the members that are citizens of Turks to help us find their friends that are here so that we can have actual growth, not just real growth and them have someone get deported or choose to move back to their country. It is going to be a combined effort in bringing them to a better knowledge of the church and working on our inner vessel to get people to see the beauty of our outer vessel first. Want to work real closely with the two families that we have here.
So crazy story this week. We found a crazy area that looks like a scene out of one of those movies. I think to be more specific The Kingdom of Jar Head. Seriously this place looks like a village in Kazakhstan! We were trying to locate a member that lived there and while we were there we got so lost!! Scared us for a moment we were running around corners looking for this guy and it seems like we were just going around in circles. Turns out we were. There is nothing better than the feeling of being lost for a missionary. That only means you get to find newer people! :) So we finally decided to call him. He told us he would find us if we described the place we were at. We located the house of another member that he knew and told him we were there. Oh were we glad to see him. To guys that stick out like sore thumbs in the middle of a ghetto neighborhood. My white shirt and tie felt pretty tight at that moment. Luckily we met Raynald (the member) and had a great talk with him.
Next adventure was more of a spiritual one. We have been teaching a man who is not very well off. Meaning he is living in a board house that is no bigger than the stall of the average public restroom. He has loved meeting with us and has taken well to the Gospel. This past week he told us how as he feels he has been growing in faith that miracles have been happening for him. He then said as he was reading from the Book of Mormon to tell us about his situation with food, it wasn't to beg but to let us know that he has not been able to cook the little food he has had because the lady that would let him use her stove has started to lock him off from it. He then shared that as he has been meeting with us he feels that he has received more help spiritually and as he has grown things have been happening for him temporally. He then asked that if we found a small stove he could use to please tell him about it and he would try to get it. He said he felt like asking us but wasn't sure why and felt almost ashamed that he was coming to us for it. The very next day a member that we were eating with asked us if we knew anyone that could use a single burner stove!!! SHOCKING RIGHT?! We said we knew the exact person. He was so thankful the day that we brought it to him. He is getting ready to be baptized on the 29th of September so please pray for us and him that he will receive the witness he needs to know that the church has been restored.
This week in my studies I found a very interesting scripture that helped me understand the method of what we need to be doing not only as missionaries but helping converts understand the power they have directly after our conversion. Alma 22:22-25. After we see our own conversion we must help others also come to a realization of the truth. For example Lamoni's Father in verse 23, "...and the king stood forth and began to minister unto them, insomuch that his whole household were converted unto the Lord. "Our example and testimony have a great effect on the people that are around us. Especially if they are our friends. We are capable of so much and as we use what we have we will only gain more.
I hope you all have a wonderful week this week. Know that I love you and hope you have a great day.
Song of the week: Words By: Hawk Nelson
-Elder Nathan Christensen
