Hello Everyone of value in my life, and others of still
infinite value,
Today we took our car through an automatic car wash. We
decided to get a monthly pass that allows us to wash the car infinitely within
this month. It was sprinkling a little when we arrived, but we took it in to
wash anyway. We'll be able to take it again before Zone Meeting this week, to
make sure it is extra-special clean. The car wash ended, just for more rain to
dust our car and make it just a little dirty. The wash is very much on a level
endlessly lower than Christ's sacrifice. What He cleans, stays that way.
This week my iPad has spent much time in intensive care. So
I took it in again to take advantage of the warranty, as a few things were off
with it: loose home button, some dirt stuck under the screen, and a couple of
other things. I dropped it off last p-day, and got it again on Wednesday after
our district meeting. A few things were fixed, but a couple of other problems
were made. The inside of the screen wasn't clean, so it was akin to having a
double layer window with gunk stuck in between that you can't reach. So again I
dropped it off on Thursday, gave a call to the office on Saturday, and found
out it still wasn't ready. I went iPad-less for the first Sunday ever since I
got it in the first place. When we dropped by today, we found out that the man
in chard of ipad mini repairs still hadn't taken it in. Looks like I'm going to
go without it for a little more. *sigh*. Another thing that doesn't stay fixed.
A variety of successes came this week. On Saturday V came
with a member and us and toured the church building. Her little granddaughter
was in love with taking pictures -- she took pictures of paintings of Christ,
of rooms, of the hallways, and we frequently slowed down to let the little girl
catch up. V was committed to coming to church. Then the unthinkable happened.
On Sunday, Dennis, her husband, woke up not feeling too good, and that confined
her to home with him. *Luke Skywalker "no!"* So close. She is pretty
committed, but so is the adversary in giving her things to jump over. Well,
next week for sure. FOR SURE. FOR. STORMING. SURE. (When I get frustrated,
that's the word I use. "That storming traffic light!"). So we are
going to have a family home evening with her and another family in the ward,
and we are going to help her progress a little closer to baptism. It's going to
happen. The question is only, in a month, or two. Just kidding. I believe it's
soon, but I really have not the agency to say exactly when.
What else happened this week?
Saturday was a funny day. We came home and cooked ourselves
some dinner. This past week, we didn't have any ward families sign up to feed
us, so we had plenty of dinners together. Elder Aguila and Elder Smith were
also cooking, as their dinner canceled. It was actually the first dinner we
have ever shared the apartment for. Anyways, we cooked some sausage, and
whatever, and afterwards, Elder Hansen kept grabbing more foods. You should
know, Elder Hansen can eat. At first I felt it wasn't a problem, but then I
started to worry. I said, "Elder, it's not healthy to eat so fast you
can't tell when you are full." He responded we didn't have time to wait
for things like that. I continued to (overzealously) counsel him not to eat so
much, adding that the Word of Wisdom adds not only what not to take in, but
also to take in moderate amounts of food. Or at least I think. Don't quote me
on that idea. He later seemed to agree. But that isn't where it gets funny.
Please. I have a sense of humor.
So we walked down a street that we had had plenty of work to
do, and we pass by a duplex where J, a single mother lived. She had talked to
us for a little bit and pointed us to another person we could visit. That day
we had visited that person, and a few persons that that person had pointed us
to, and that was part of the purpose why we passed by on Saturday, to catch
some other people that were down that chain of referrals. We pass by the other
half of the duplex, and a lady bringing some things out of her car calls out,
"you guys seem to walk this road a lot." I silently replied in my
head that we did. She in turn invited us to her half of the backyard to have
some dinner with her and her kids, and eventually J's family showed up too. We
learned that J's neighbor was named S, and that her best friend growing up was
a Mormon. She asked us a few questions about the word of wisdom, and the
temple, and she seemed to accept the answers, not simply hear them. After a
second dinner, we taught them the restoration. S was indeed the most interested
of them, but J did stick around, distractedly joining her kids efforts to clean
the yard of leaves every once in a while, which S explained was common for J.
They accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon, though they have their
own home churches. Who would have thought we would randomly get invited to a
stranger's picnic dinner? Elder Hansen took that as a sign that maybe he did
grab too much food, but I refrained from echoing "I told you so."
Rain has entered the realm around here. I'm surprised. It's
been so hot, and now the weather is morphing. Make up your mind, Texas, what
season are you?!
I'm thinking of buying a hoodie to commemorate my time here
in Lake Travis, by buying something with the local high school logo or
whatever. But I might wait a little bit. I'm not leaving quite yet. I'm not
going home yet. I'm not going home yet.
Questions
and Answers
So, how are H and his
wife, and V , and and P and B and B, and W, Jr and D, and A?
(Apologies, my blog master will shorten
all those names to an initial.)
V: (See Above)
H: We had a successful hand-off and now he is being taught
by the Sister Missionaries. We attended a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ
with the sisters and their ward mission leader. He seems to understand baptism,
and we talked to their young son who is old enough to be baptized about baptism
too. We still haven't met his wife, and he missed church this week though he
was committed to come. Next week then.
P & OTHERS: No chance to catch them this week. He's
retired, but pretty busy. We did talk to his wife and him for a little bit when
we tried by, and he has been reading. He's still technically not investigating,
however, because we haven't been able to get another appointment scheduled. The
same family that invited V for a FHE tonight was planning on doing a
FHE-dinner-Family History thing, but they are still getting ahold of a time
that works for all of them. They'll make it to baptism eventually, they may
need more time than I anticipated.
W & D: They are reading the Book of Mormon together,
finally, as we were able to get ahold of a large print Book of Mormon in the
mission office when we visited on Tuesday. Still might be a little of a
struggle to get them to church, but they are on their way.
A: Really busy lad. Since taking his new job, they have been
putting him to work like crazy, as the business is still short on staff. He
wants to read and come to church, but he said that it will probably be several
days before he can go at a concerted effort at both.
Funny thing, when we followed up with J and S's reading, we
visited a house on the same street to ask about their neighbor, who was
supposedly a member of the church. Another J answered, and we taught the
Restoration in Spanish. It is kind of hard to see if he really understood
authority, as he took to heart, probably more than any non-member that I have
ever met before, the concept of "One faith, one Lord, one baptism."
He believes that his baptism was valid, though he wasn't sure where the
authority came from. He has the makes of a budding testimony. And what's better,
is if he progresses, then the Spanish Sister Missionaries will have another
family in the somewhat immediate area to work with. It'll make their miles a
little more worth the use, I hope.
Also, is this week
transfer week?
No. So because of the extra 7 week transfer, we get the
information in two weeks from today.
Have you noticed any
flowers on the road way?
Actually, I saw a flock of Bluebonnets grazing the freshly
fallen sunlight. I was so glad that the other elders pointed them out to me. We
were on our way to district meeting, which is in Marble Falls don't you know,
and there was some on our way into town to the side.
How is your car doing
this week?
It feels really nice and shiny, as we waxed it last week.
Softer than a baby's bottom, if a baby were made out of the same metal that a Corolla
is. By the way, we named the car Cora. I mean, who wants to waste their time
saying a three syllable word when they can shorten it? You can now call me
"Eld' 'all." Just kidding.
Don't call me that.
On Tuesday morning, we drove both Cora and
"Shelby," the Chevy Cruise, and took them to San Antonio. Seeing as
Shelby was overdue for being sold, we finally took it in. I didn't shed too
much tears, but I thought I could have gotten a cheesy picture with Shelby. I
hope "Lola," my car back home doesn't get too jealous. But wait,
she's a CAR. CARS don't get jealous.
Did you get to use
your bikes this week?
We tried SO hard to use them this week, but every day we put
them on the back of the car, either weather, timing, or logistics didn't agree
with us. Hello? Clouds? Can you cry less?
In what ways has the
Lord sent his loving Spirit to help you this week?
As for the logistics of Spirit transportation, I have no
idea how he "sends" the Spirit to us. Sorry, I'm a little bit of a
smart alec aren't I? Well, my patience bubble was about to burst on Sunday. The
natural man wanted to blame others that V couldn't make it to church. But I
paused, swallowed my pride, and said a silent prayer for D. The Spirit has
helped me in a multitude of other ways. For some reason, I just haven't been
getting enough sleep at night, and during morning studies, I frequently
almost-kind-of-fall-asleep or at least close my eyes for inordinate amounts of
time. I had this problem back in Windcrest, but it seems to be coming back. I'm
finding creative ways to stay awake (like smiling like a madman the whole time
or scratching my pinkie with my thumb), and relying on the Lord for grace and
mercy. Ugh. It's embarrassing to fall asleep in school, but on the mission, I
can just imagine God looking down and muttering under his breath, "You
have got to be kidding me, Elder Hall? Can't you stay awake reading the words
of eternal life? Fine, send a prompting to his companion to poke him in the
ribs."
___
< O-O>
\--\
A Picture of Yoda. My iPad had a bad time taking quality
pictures that day.
Best of happiness to you all,
Elder Hall
Texas San Antonio Mission
No comments:
Post a Comment