Dear everyone,
Before addressing my general email bulk covering a full week
of last, I wanted to take some time to address a tragedy. Last Friday evening a
youth couple that was going on a group date with others in the ward was
involved in a horrible traffic accident. I won't mention them by name or more
details to keep their privacy and avoid putting too much attention on them. I
hope y'all might be able to pray for their families. The ward has already done
much to support the families. We missionaries only stood back, wept and prayed
from them as the others served. It made for a somber Saturday when we learned
the news that day.
Seems that sometimes, and by sometimes I mean nearly daily,
we encounter trials. Some of common place, some world shaking like this
accident I mentioned. Easter helps me to remember that Christ's life and trials
born for us are a whole lot "eastier" than the things we have to deal
with. I mean not that our trials are not insignificant or important -- they are
-- rather when we remember His role in God's plan for us, it makes it a whole
lot easier to bare our burdens with patience, and then at our strength to
others as we help bare their loads.
This last week I had a bit of nausea through out the week.
It was likely because I forgot to take a medicine the night of the exchange
with Elder Greene, which medicine caused nausea as I first got used to it. My
body likely had to re-adjust to it, as if I was starting the medication again.
This trial, insignificant to what Christ did for us, helped me to put things
into prospective. Do I pick a life as a mortal with regular let downs and
trials, or do I suffer for all of my sins alone, instead of putting them on
Christ through repentance? Not even to mention that he paid for every life, and
every sin ever committed, -- well know or committed in secret. We are ever in
the debt of our Savior.
Otherwise, we had a good week. We tried multiple times to
get ahold of J and S. We called S, and she hung up on us, and we gave her the
benefit of the doubt. But when J did the same thing, saying "Wait just a
second. . ." after picking up the phone and introducing ourselves, we
figured they weren't too interested anymore. We finally texted S asking if it
would still be ok for us to visit on a particular day, and she pretty much said
they were both comfortable in their churches. Shoot. Well, it happens. They'll
have an opportunity to listen again some other time.
Daylight savings needs to be tried for treason. Well, just
kidding there. I'm just letting out a little bit of my yearly frustration. I
really do enjoy the extra light that we get as a missionary. But back home,
that hour of sleep lost would often set me off for a couple of weeks, and
wouldn't be worth the cost. Here's another reason for frustration:
V missed church once again. Yes, we have been spelling her
name wrong this whole time. We visited for a short minute Saturday night with a
member couple, and only re-invited her to church -- that is all she had time
for. But then we discovered from those same members that daylight savings was
happening. Before we could alert her sufficiently, we tried to send a text of
warning to her the morning of church, and got a text later that she would have
arrived at 10 if we hadn't told her. Family was over, so she could no longer
make it to other parts of the meeting. Next week, for sure!
But the good news with what happened, is on Wednesday when
Elder Greene exchanged into the area, we went on splits and I visited V at a
member's home for a family home evening. It was funny, because Elder Greene
headed a split in an area that didn't belong to him. But really, since he was
with the ward mission leader, he didn't need to lead too much. That was his
first split (split meaning one missionary goes with one member, and the other
with another), and it wasn't even his ward either. But anyway, we taught the
Word of Wisdom and a few other things, and while she had some concerns with the
WoW, she is ready to live it. We're going to do our best to help her do so.
Please pray that she will make it to church this week, and be willing and ready
to follow the commandments that we will teach her.
J and his wife met with us this week, and towards the end of
testifying of the Book of Mormon, they admitted that they liked talking to us,
but they base their beliefs on the Bible, and weren't really looking for a
different faith. *Tear drop*. We responded and testified of the role of the
Book of Mormon in our lives, and how they can truly come to know it is a true
book if they read it and pray, ready to act on any answer they may receive. We
might meet with them again, but it isn't likely. Sometimes it is better to move
on with faith, knowing that they may search again in the future, than to get
down on yourself. While I widely consider this era of missionary work (the
digital one) to be a time of mainly harvesting, less planting, there is still
some planting to be done. I'd be silly to think I was just going to snack on
bread all my mission.
But great, and a redeeming source of blessings, was when we
finally caught S and his daughter, T. So S's family member, J, was referred to
us by their neighbor a while ago, that neighbor being a member. We had tried SO
many times to set up an appointment, and S in deed was willing, but a bunch of
things kept coming up -- for both of us. We decided to do the random drop by on
Sunday, and we caught S doing yard work, and his daughter T (late teens, early
twenties, not sure) and her (probably) boyfriend, B. They have very ranging
beliefs, from a belief in God like we believe, to another religious belief, to
more of an agnostic view about God. We taught them the Restoration. We asked
them questions as we could, trying to channel a training we received a couple
weeks ago about asking appropriate questions, and shared Joseph's vision of God
and Jesus Christ. B seemed touched by it in particular, but when we introduce
the Book of Mormon as the evidence, they all were for reading and praying about
it. B lives in another ward, closer to Cedar Park area, and we probably won't
teach him again, but we are definitely going to work with S and T, hopefully
catching J, who wasn't home at the time.
Questions
and Answers
Do you have any
special approaches in your teaching as Easter draws nearer?
Well, just like every special and sacred Easter or Christmas
season, we have a wonderful video prepared for us that we are trying to flood
the Lake Travis area with -- but not the lake, that's already full.
Watch www.FollowHim.mormon.org
and share it with everyone! Share it on
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Myspace, Snapchat, wherever y'all go online to
digitally socialize nowadays.
We're using the video to help give people a sense for why we
follow Christ in the first place. He can take away our sins, clean our past,
and lay out before us our future. He can give us new life. If you haven't seen
the video, watch it. If you have, share it! #Hallelujah
With the bluebonnets
around, have you encountered any foraging Indian Paintbrushes?
I haven't seen any Indians painting anything no. Jaja
(haha), if I had a picture, I'd probably know what to look for. Maybe I'll ask
the other elders for help to identify it.
How has the Spirit
helped you this week?
While not personally affected by the tragedy in the ward to
any notable degree, I felt a profound sadness for the families involved. I
wished I could have done more. So I prayed. All of my prayers to this point
have included them to some point. I want them to recover as best as they can,
no matter how well the youth injured in the crash were damaged.
Plus, I felt a little hurt when Jamie and Shana ignored us.
In Texas, generally, we don't even get door slams. People like their doors and
are too nice to do that. While some people may say they aren't interested, it
can hurt a little if they don't tell us directly. Plus, it takes a little more
time. And some advice to you dating people back home, just be direct if you
don't want to date someone. I think it hurts when we give mixed signals to one
another. But back to the real world (Texas missionary work), I felt peace as I
asked for it in both occasions.
BYE.
--
-Elder Hall
Texas San Antonio Mission
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