Well family I am way out of time... I wrote a long President's letter today so I will just have to copy and paste a lot of it.
President Calderwood,
This week has been very up and down and it seems like we've finally hit the bottom. What a great place to begin, right?
To
start with this week I dedicated a good portion of my study time to
Faith, I learned a lot. I have always loved the concept of faith and
thought I understood it fairly well... I was so wrong. As I studied this
week I learned that Faith more than anything is trust and confidence in
our Lord and Savior. The best way I can think to describe it is this.
When we are little our parents guide us and teach us and set rules for
us. We don't always understand those rules or why they are in place we
just kinda obey, why? well (besides the fact that they can ground us) it
was because we trust them. We maybe can't understand when we're 4 why
we aren't allowed to play in the front yard next to the busy street but
as we get older and we start to understand that those cars are dangerous
and we are grateful we listened so we didn't get squished flat. Faith
is like that. Its believing (or having faith) in Jesus the Christ, the
son of God and because of his divinity and his calling we can then have
faith (or confidence) that whatever he has asked us to do is for the
best, therefore we obey, even and especially when we don't understand
why we just obey and when we obey we receive blessings and only then do
we really start to understand why. Faith is 100% an action word.
Well that was probably the high of the
week was coming to understand faith a little better. I am sure there is
still so much to learn but something clicked for me this week.
We had to face some pretty hard truths this week as we
realized that we needed to re-evaluate whether or not we were going to
continue teaching our one and only progressing Investigator. Elizabeth
is a Polish woman. We found her knocking doors and have been able to
teach her many many times since. We got her a Polish Book of Mormon as
well as an English one and she always does the reading in both. Its
amazing. She came to church too. The problem is that she is married to a
muslim. We have sought a lot of guidance from our District and Zone
Leaders on the matter and they really encouraged us to focus on trying
to teach the family so that Elizabeth could become Real Growth. We had
small miracles that opened the door for us to ask if we could meet with
her husband but so far it hasn't worked, and we are scared to teach her
any more for fear of dividing the family (more than it already is). We
have left the ball in her court and told her to call us to set up a time
we can meet with all of them. I really hope she calls. It broke my
heart realizing that we were going to have to walk away. Its so hard.
I am also a little concerned about the
branch. Trying to balance english and spanish is a challenge and
concerns have been expressed on both sides. Honestly it seems like
everyone wants to find a way to make it work they're just not willing to
bend or allow for the two different cultures. I know we will find a way
to make it work though. That then brings me to the next thing. We have
been trying to figure out how to continue to best work with the members
and develop and new branch mission plan. As we were talking through
ideas Elder Baker said something that really, well it struck me the same
way my study on faith did this week. He compared the mission plan and
working with the members to the parable of the fisherman. "If you give a
man a fish you feed him for a day, if you teach a man to fish you feed
him for a lifetime." He said "We need to teach them how to fish." Its an
appropriate metaphor for what we are trying to do, be fishers of men.
Its somthing I will continue to ponder on as we try to strengthen and
empower this branch (hopefully so that they can rely on the missionaries
a little less.)
Finally, one night while I was praying
this week to figure out what we need to do next to find new
investigators and work better with the members this phrase came to my
mind, "Do you have the faith Not to find?" It is a scary question
because I know what it means. It means do I have the faith to knock
doors all day every day and try to talk with EVERYONE I see and possibly
still not find anyone who is ready to hear the Gospel and yet keep
going. I don't know if I can answer that question yet, but I know I want
to have that kind of faith. I am certainly going to do all I can to be
obedient, if knocking doors all day is what He wants me to do then I
will do it. I will plant the seeds so that someone else might one day
reap.
-Sister Hale
Well
that is pretty much my week in a nut shell. It was a good thing that my
P-day was on Tuesday this week (because of memorial day and other
things) because I really needed to read ALL your letters. There were so
many good things in them. I especially learned a lot from reading
Stephanie's. Dad, it is a little hard not to be envious of her
situation but at the same time its like you always said, "this is your
story," (quoting Aslan I guess). I am happy where I am and even though
it is hard (HARD) its still worth it. I guess missions could be
described by one of our favorite quotes. "Life isn't about the number of
breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away." but
substitute life for missions and breaths for baptisms. I really like
where that could go but I don't have time to fully think it through
right now.
Mom, I am so happy that you still love me
even though I now have holes in my ears. I have to say I love it! A
whole new world of cheap earrings have just been opened up to me.
Tania... I highly recommend it. Haha.
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. 28 years is pretty impressive. Thanks for being an example for all of us to look to.
In
other news... the last 24 hours have been.... interesting... you see...
we are pretty sure we have bed bugs. YIKES! Its not been fun. We only
think that because one of the mattresses they gave us was super old.
Sister madsen slept on it and asked us one morning if we thought these
bumps on her arm her from bedbugs or just a rash... we didn't think too
much of it until Sister Sandberg got here and she is now getting the
same bumps... We expressed the concern to our branch leaders and they
freaked! So we have been trying to figure out how we're going to get rid
of the critters before it becomes unbearable. The senior couple over
housing is coming today to help us so hopefully we'll be good...
Everyone has been telling us "Good Night, Sleep Tight, Don't let
the bedbugs bite!" that phrase has whole new meaning.
I love you family! I am so proud of you
and love hearing about what is going on at home but Stephanie's letter
taught me a lot this week so I am afraid I will be joining her in her
effort to "forget about you." Sorry that does sound harsh. But Like I
said we've pretty much hit bottom and so we've got to give it all if its
going to change. Pray for us.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Maren Hale
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