Well, I finished week 5 of my second transfer as an office elder and we were able to end it with 2 new investigators and 6 lessons. That's really great for us. :) we even contacted 4 referrals.
Cool story:
We had worked all day in the office and because of the nature of the day didn't end up going out because we helped the APs with one of their projects giving us only 1/2 an hour before we had to be home. Well, I was thinking to myself, "lets just go home a half an hour early" (I know slothful right!?) well as I was thinking this McFarlane said, "lets go fearless some people before we go in" I made some noises that said "I don't really want to but OK". I put on my back pack and got a great feeling, Suddenly I was excited to do what is right and then let the consequence follow (hymn reference). Well we went out and I saw a lady on the other side of the street preparing to cross the street. The spirit filled me with a motivation beyond any natural motivation that I normally posses to chase her down and ask an inspired question! Well, I caught up to her half way through the cross walk got her attention and opened my mouth. The question that came out was "Do you ever wonder what God expects of you?". To my should-be-non-existent astonishment she blurted with raised eye brows "YES!". We then walked her home saying only what things we felt we were supposed to and most importantly listening. She asked us the question that basically said why do I have so many trials? you would think God would see that I am doing my best and doing many great and worthy things and give me a break and some blessings! I remembered Our Savior, "Well, Jesus Christ was perfect and lived all of Gods laws and he had more trials than anyone else plus all of our trials." She had a light bulb turn on and she responded in a way to good to be true, "So what your telling me is that God sent us here to Earth to experience trials so that we could learn from them and grow closer to him?", "... ummm... yes! Ha-ha" it went on in this manner and every time we would answer a question she would respond with a summary explanation and then we would teach a more in depth yet still concise version of the principal. Well eventually she asked us why there were so many religions and we explained it to her and then told her that we represented the true church led by Christ with his legitimate authority. She then told us she used to meet with missionaries and that she was so happy she listened to the spirit because God told her to walk a way home she usually doesn't, and McFarlane was inspired to go out and I was inspired to talk to her. This is the lords work. Well we came for our return appointment the following day and there she was, waiting outside for us! then for our next appointment where we met her at the church she was waiting for us at the church gate! here is the tough part. She is Muslim and is afraid if she converts her husband who is a devout and strict Muslim she will be kicked out of the house or worse. :S She has been to church enough times she could be baptized this Sunday. She was dropped before because the ward and missionaries didn't want her to be killed or homeless or without family for joining. She asked me what she thought I should do and I told her to do what she felt was right and what the spirit whispered for her to do and then trust in and have faith in God and Christ for things to work out in a way that is best for her. Her name is Dilshad. She is Indian.
Um this week I had an awesome exchange with Elder Swain (who came out with me) because it was on the one year mark of being in New York.
Well the Adolphsons left back to alpine this week. I was sad though cause they didn't say goodbye to me.
A man gave me a tract that said that God is actually a woman, Aris to be exact and that it is actually a good thing to have discord and disorder and confusion in the world. Also it said that every man woman and child on the planet is a Pope. So there is a little cut out card that says "The holder of this card is an official POPE and should be treated with all respect. Right and Good." or something like that. It was funny.
This morning we had breakfast with John Gadd. It was great as usual. He was sad that I would soon be leaving. Also a punk girl saw me as we were walking back toward the subway and said, "AW-W-W! Your suspenders are SO SEXY!".
Yes, my office elder-ship will soon come to a close. I am so thankful it will end with a greenie pick up to pick me up. Then I shall once again preach full time. I'm a little scared to readjust to the old calling/assignment. I have no Idea where I'll go, but I sure will miss Elder Swain and Aldridge the fun opportunities to sing and the ability to drive anywhere in the mission whenever I need to.
This week I also took an elder to the air port to pick up his parents and family. That was an odd thing to wittiness; seeing an Elder see his mom again for the first time in 2 years is a weird thing when you are still a missionary. Anyway, his dad is a member of the 70 so he came to pick up his son and then was invited to speak to the leadership of the mission. We were allowed to be in the meeting because we were apart of the musical number. It was really good (the fireside and our music. haha).
Today we went to a modern Art museum called PS1. it used to be a public school and is now a gallery. Ha-ha-ha-ha. it was really odd. We had lots of fun and i'm glad I went but we all concluded that much modern art is.... well just an excuse to not learn art conventions. There was some really great stuff there. There was some really weird stuff to that left you feeling yucky. ha. One cool one was video feed of places in NY during 2001 and 2010 side by side. Its really crazy the difference in not only the buildings but the patriotism! It seems many have forgotten 9/11. The title of the piece was great "lost tribes, and promised lands". There was another video piece that made me laugh hysterically and really creeped me out at the same time. It was paper cut out cars covering the torsos of guys' legs wearing women's high heals that were too small and therefore taped to stay on. They were walking around in a rocky waste land and going up lattes and stuff. The sound was amplified so every movement was heard. the funniest part was when the car crouched down and pulled out packaging tape and picked up plastic googly eyes on the grown and then wadded it up in a ball and put it in its purse. I haven't laughed so hard in a while! anyway.
Well to bring things to a close I will say that every part of our life is orchestrated. I love it. I am so glad I chose this life. I know I am learning the things I need to for my eternal progression. Satan is trying harder to destroy me then he ever has before but God is also sustaining me more than I have ever felt before. Often the thing I fear the most or what I would have least likely guessed happening to me is what I experience and it stretches me and helps me to grow. It hurts, But I like it. (that sounds creepy! Ha ha). I know that my Savior Lives and loves me and atoned for me. I know that this test is more fair than we suspect, so don't give in to Satan's trap of comparison. I often fall into that trap, but I'm learning to avoid it. I love the gospel. It rocks.
love,
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment