Bleh, Katelyn's going to be 18. Weird. She's going to be like making her own choices and dating and stuff. Bleh. She's still a puju though.
It's especially different to hear about Kylee getting married. I thought it wasn't going to be till June or something like that but it seems they've pushed it up. It'll be fun to see how she's changed since I've left and how everything will be going. It's quite strange to think that the world will be different than what you left it. You always have this vision of picking up right back where you started when you go home from your mission and the more and more you walk down the road you see that there's no going back to where you started. It's left you far behind and you can either dwell on the past or look towards the future. It makes me more and more apprehensive for the transition. Why can't missions just be for like ten years?
It's good that Maleah is still taking on challenges. Hard work reveals capacity and she can gauge how far she can go and grow. Help her to remember that her possibilities are endless but that reaching greater and greater heights takes time and patience. I think what held me back in school so much is that I lacked the patience to stick with something important. I fooled around with the fickle things in life and lost sight of the goal. Keep your eye on the ball and our short comings and weaknesses won't matter. Remember that when we come unto Christ, or try to do better, we are shown our weakness first. In fact the more we work at it the more aware we become of our falls and blemishes. We are promised that through Christ our weaknesses can become strengths. (Ether 12:27) Christ suffered so that we might overcome the world and have peace in him. (John 16:33) Pres. Hinckley said, "Things will work out! Be believing, be happy, don't get discouraged. Things will work out!"
That's really been one phrase that Elder Summerhays and I have been applying a lot this week. We haven't been able to find as much success as we'd hoped for with some of the people that we've been working with but we've been working our tails off, praying our hearts out, and planning our brains out! We were able to find some really awesome people this week and our one baptismal candidate for the 27th was able to overcome his addiction and he's super excited for baptism!
We've decided to focus our finding efforts in an area that we haven't really exercised any faith to find in and it turned up some amazing success. The area around our church, Journal Square, is EXTRAORDINARILY densely populated. You have thousands of people who all come from different countries and everyone has a different story. We started working there a lot and in just a few days we met some great people who are excited or have come to church already and who really have an incredible thirst for the truths of the Gospel. One we met who's been looking for the right church for a while and another is a scientist who's just been looking for a way to reconcile her belief in God with the things that seem to conflict at work. All of them are different and yet they all are tied together by their need for the gift we have. It's been really cool to see how the Lord does prepare people where ever we may be.
One in particular was amazing as we just went out of our comfort zone to talk with a child of God. One of our backups had fallen through and we were about to leave when we saw a guy about to go up the stairs with a ton of groceries. We offered to help but he declined the offer. He was one of the scariest looking guys you ever could see. He had several piercings and tattoos, three of which were large screws in his mouth right below his lower lip. He definitely looked like he's killed several people. Even so I felt that he was a child of God and I started talking with him. He struggled to talk because he kept having to adjust the piercings in his mouth but he invited us in to talk to him. After a few short minutes of meeting his wonderful wife and their two young daughters he was telling us about how he's been living a lie and he really wants to turn his life around and feel forgiven of his sins. He really felt the spirit and he committed to be baptized at the end of the month! It's wonderful what the Spirit does when we obey those promptings!
I hope that everyone looks this week for the Spirit to prompt them to do something they've never done before. Something that takes them out of their comfort zone but will do something that will help, or even potentially help, another person this week. I know that the Spirit of the Lord will lead us in to all truth and guide us in the way that is right and will bless His children.
-Elder Guinto
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