Wow. WOOWWWW...can't believe how time flies. End of October? When did that happen? Almost Halloween, and where will I be on Halloween? Bundled up in our little apartment, temple Jack-o-lantern glowing out front, playing a board game. Just watch. ;) (we come in early that night if you didn't know; don't want to confuse a missionary knock with little trick or treaters (or maybe we do...;) ))
Kay. But! It's been a good week. Kind of a crazy one, with some ups and downs...but here goes:
AN UPDATE:
The work is still going, though not as rapidly as I'd like it (of course). I hear it's a little tricky as the holidays come closer, so I guess we'll come to see if that's true. Clearview is BEAUTIFUL though (especially when you actually have a clear view of what's going on; not common in this cloudy/foggy weather), and we enjoyed it as we were driving to the Library today. The Ward is getting behind us though, and getting more enthused about missionary work...now we just have to get people from the streets to CHURCH.
AN EXPERIENCE:
I'm copy-pasting from my letter to President because time is short.
Svetlana, who is the recently married wife of a less active member in our ward. Brother McGrath is awesome; a cop, returned missionary...seems to still have strong claim on his testimony even though he hasn't been to church in a while (work schedule/family tension he says). Svetlana is from Bella Rouse, and also has a powerful relationship with Christ; seems very happy in that, but is open to learning more about her husband's church. He seems eager for her to learn as well. We brought a rock-star member from our ward to our lesson yesterday, and it went very well. May be a little tricky to see them consistently because they both work a lot...but it was a great lesson, and there's really great potential for growth here.
Had a great lesson with her yesterday though, potential for a really solid investigator (which is what we need), and a real answer to prayer.
A PROFILE (this is new. came to me as we met some crazy crazy people this week):
Name: Ken Green
Approximate Age: late 50s/early 60s, but in a David Hasselhoff kinda way
Profession: Mmm...computer techie something. Has an RV filled with computers in his yard.
Reason why they're not in the church: He did everything right, stayed a virgin, baptized 38 people on his mission, was in the bishopric, but then was saddled with this crazy depressive wife who he doted on, but it got to be too much and no amount of scriptures would solve it. Plus everyone in the church would think he was a creep for divorcing her if he went back. Plus he doesn't want to waste 4 hours of his life every Sunday sitting under fluorescent lights in church. Plus life on the other side is way more fun, especially with Laurie, his sporty girlfriend from California.
Scripture they reminded me of (Oh I shouldn't...but it's too good): 2 Nephi 28:8 (only because he said that 'if he was wrong, he would take his stripes...')
Accessory of Choice: Cloth hat, folded up above the ears, which we later learned he bought in Australia.
Personal Oddity: Thinks the Sister Missionaries are manipulating him when they tell him he should come to church because they have no friends
A SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:
So this was cycling around in my head yesterday, but...one of the lessons I learned as I grew from teen-hood to adult-hood (or something close to it) was that (and this may sound dumb) everything comes from something. If a building is there, it's there because someone built it, it didn't just crop up on it's own. If there's a beautiful knitted sweater lying on the couch, it's there because someone knitted it (or some awesome machine did the job), and it's on the couch because someone put it there. This is all obvious and makes sense. BUT...what sparked my attention this week is when I recognized that this is also true of the most glorious things around; the earth and our bodies. The earth is incredibly complex; awesome, functioning, designed. But lots of people believe that it's just kinda cropped up, that it just emerged from nothing, and we're some happy accident sitting upon it. That the sweater knitted itself and laid itself on the couch. This concept makes sense in the micro-view (dinner didn't make dinner, Mom made dinner), but lots of people reject it in the macro-view (that God, {or 'something'} created the earth and the stuff that's on it. Alma's testimony in Alma 40:44 is enough for me though; that in addition to the words of the prophets (the scriptures), "All things denote that there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it..yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." Of course it comes back to faith...but that concept just became real to me this week, and I wanted to share it.
I love you all! Do missionary work. Read the Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton Christensen. It'll give you the tools and make you want to get more involved.
LOVE LOVE LOVE
Sister Hale
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