Good to hear from you! I'm excited for the license plate updates! They're issuing out YYC? You know Scott's car's license plate is a ZYC! South Salt Lake was issued out ZYC, ZYD, and ZYE in about October-December 2011. Anyway, be prepared for a lengthy email, it's been a rather interesting week... The good, the bad, and the ugly. It's all there. Good to hear about the many events that have taken place with the relatives. Hey, did you ever send a package with my two pairs of sunglasses and the bandana and the other stuff? If not, just send me my blue-lensed sunglasses, my silver-lensed aviator sunglasses (both should be in my room), and the lime-green bandana in the basement dresser by the storage room. I just LOVE your packages!
What an interesting road this past week has taken me... My good friend, Abbey, was faced with a tragic accident in her family where her father passed away. What would my reaction be if mom or dad passed away? I am certain it would be the only thing consuming my thoughts. This certainly isn't something I need right now. This week was full of unanswered mysteries and floating thoughts mingling in my mind. July 5th was when Madelyn underwent surgery. I remembered it on Friday. For the first time in months, I even read the entry I wrote down for July 5th, 2011. Man, I sure thought about her a lot! I was surprised by how much compassion and charity I had towards her and that situation. If I haven't stated this before, being a missionary has brought out emotions I never knew existed.
This week was another replay of that statement. Carol, one of our investigators, is an elderly lady who's scheduled to be baptized this Saturday, July 13th. She's a widow who lives from paycheck to paycheck. She's currently facing a situation with social security, and to make a long story short, her social security check was given to the wrong person, and the check wasn't supposed to be transferred back to her for about three weeks. In the meantime, she had no money with which to buy groceries, gas, and pay her other bills. She asked a member of the ward to loan her $300. The member--with good reason--felt uncomfortable and was left in an awkward situation. On Tuesday we went to visit her with a different member named Thayne. She lost the light we see in her all the time over this one trial. She was frightened of what was to come, and she had no idea how she was going to make ends meet. She didn't even want to talk to the bishop because she didn't want him to get involved. Thayne, our member, was with us during this discussion with her. We were about to leave, and out of nowhere, Thayne whipped out three Benjamin Franklins and planted them right on her lap. Her reaction was beyond humble and grateful. It put me to tears. Carol and I, crying together... My respect for Thayne increased just as much Carol's gratitude for the Lord increased. I was so grateful for Thayne and his generosity. To say the least, it was the highlight of my week. I'm so looking forward to baptizing this investigator this Saturdayand to see what blessings the gospel will bring to her.
The 4th of July was a difficult day... Very few people were available to do anything, and it was hard to get any work done. Luckily we were assigned to help move in the second set of missionaries we're getting in our area. That took up most of the morning and afternoon along with our studies. My companion was very distracted later that night when the fireworks were going off. We were in the midst of planning and couldn't watch them. He's been struggling with homesickness...
At the present moment, transfers are almost over. I was assigned another transfer with Elder Evans, and I'm remaining in the Purcell area. We have sisters coming into the ward!! Sister Phister and Sister Burnham are their names. It's exciting news! Plus we'll still be able to work with our investigators! It's good stuff...
I FINALLY HAVE PICTURES FOR YOU! The first one is of the Tornado on May 30--that was my third day in Oklahoma! The rest of them are at one of tornado cleanup sites near Newalla, Oklahoma. See how horrendous it looks?! I promise I'll send you more pictures soon :)
No comments:
Post a Comment