#BESTMISSION

FAMILY!!!!!!!!

 

May please don't come........... :) haha if only if only we had a button we could push to stop time a bit eh? (yes i've been practicing saying eh for ayns haha)

 

I can't believe another month has already passed. It amazes me each and every week when i sit down here to email you all. It feels like i was here yesterday.. but at the same time god has performed so many miracles that i can talk and talk about since the last time i was writing haha

 

It truly was an amazing week though. It all started with taking missionaries to the airport that have been waiting on visas. Their headed to brazil and their excited. Sad to see them leave the FFLM though #BESTMISSION (paige i did it for you)

 

Really though this week was different. It was different in many ways but the way that i would like to touch on today is the ability that our Loving God has to compensate us for our efforts and labors!! 

 

This past week in our meeting with president he addressed a few concerns with certain missionaries. He encouraged us to go on exchanges immediately with these companionships. SOOO basically what was happening is there is a district leader that isn't showing love to his district. He bags on them constantly. President was concerned and knew it needed to be resolved. WELL family needless to say i felt as though i should go with this District Leader. So i bring him on to exchange in my area. We started with a comp study. This missionary knew that he was being watched and lets just say he has a hard heart and some pride. haha so i addressed the problem with an enormous amount of love. I have never NEVER loved someone so much in my entire life. I complimented him, praised him, told him great things president mentioned about him, etc.... I was doing everything i possibly could to help this missionary repent and better his district. Lets just say (to keep it short) he took everything in what i was saying... BUT he wanted to rebel and not accept anything. He would straight up say how he hates a certain missionary or how he didn't wanna be a district leader and how president just didn't understand his situations. It was honest to say an immature site to see. I love this missionary so much though. I love this missionaries District so much as well. I wasn't going to let him suffer and be a disgrace to god. SO i continued to help him. Showing him scriptures and quotes and all sorts of things. I even related his entire problem to football because he loved football haha I WAS TRYING EVERYTHING!!! I wanted to help him! He knew what he needed to do he just didn't want to do it because he wants to be lazy and be a JR comp again. So after 2 hours of this Finally i was drained i couldn't do any more and i couldn't help but give up and let it all be in gods hands. I then had the impression, just stop helping him and have him say a prayer. So we stopped i invited him to pray and he said okay. He said a prayer, stands up and walks over to me and gives me a hug. He states "Thank you so much for caring. I was being a bum. I was giving you a hard time. I was testing you." I responded "your good no worries man i love you too" he then said once again. " No elder really, not for a long time have i felt like a leader has cared for me in my mission, but i can tell you care!"

I was extremely humbled and really confused after that all happened. I didn't know if he retained the information we had just talked about or what was happening. I decided though, lets just go out and work and we will talk as we go. So thats what we did. We worked and worked. As i drove this missionary back to his area i began asking him just simple questions. So Elder after everything we talked about today tell me 2 things you wanna try and do to help your district. His response was 1. Increase the amount of love i have for the missionaries in my district. 2. i want to be positive.

When he said those words i couldn't help but think that we had accomplished SOMETHING haha he truly was listening and he truly did care. He just had to get over himself. 

 

It was a tender mercy for sure.... BUT come to find out this was only half of the miracle.... Because of the hard work and the dedication to helping missionaries god provided just as he promises!!! I was drained from that exchange and thats when it came time to round people up for church. We went around to each investigators house knocking their doors to get them out of bed. Sadly enough NONE of them woke up and all of them slept in and missed church. HOWEVER god remember our efforts and hard work from the week sooo just as church is about to start we get a phone call from a random number. I answer and lo and behold these are the first words this guys says to me, " Hey i met some girls yesterday and they told me to call this number and you guys would be able to get me a ride for church. Can you get me a ride? Please I really really want to come and experience what your church has to offer!" Stunned and confused of course i was speechless. I looked at my watch and realized it was 9 oclock. Church was starting. I didn't know what to do. I told him "Yes we can have someone there to get you in about 45 min after the sacrament meeting is over." Happy as can be he said "okay I will be waiting!!!"

This guys name is DAMAS. He is a stud haha he loved church so much! Turns out the day before he actually contacted the sister missionaries yelling and saying "HEY GOD SENT YOU TO ME COME HERE!!!!" It was such a miracle to see. Damas accepted baptism and is currently preparing for the 11th of may! He will be ready and he will follow Jesus Christ into the waters of baptism. He wants it sooooo badly. He wants it JUST as bad as i wanted to help that missionary.... God compensated my efforts!!!!  

 

Wait it doesn't stop there.... After church we needed to go and harvest. We prayed and god directed us to a street. We were so excited to meet new people. We knocked doors we prayed with people and all was great!! Thats when our time for harvesting was over and we looked at each other and said wait... One last door. We knocked on this house and this lady answers with a baby boy in her arms. We introduce ourselves and tell her we are representatives of Jesus Christ. She then stated "no way where did you guys come from?" We told her that god directed us there to her house through his holy spirit. She then began to cry. She cried and cried and said, "This is going to sound funny but guys i was actually just barely in the back room praying with my baby boy asking god to get me outta the situation i'm in. Tell him that i needed his help!" She continued telling us how she's on house arrest and her officer is mean and how things just aren't going well in her life. We were able to testify to her letting her know that god loves her and he will cause things to get better as she does her part. She agreed and we were able to say a prayer with her. She cried and thanked us. She knew god answered her prayer through us. SHE KNEW THAT WITHOUT A DOUBT! We invited her to accept that help from god by following Christ example and by being baptized. She said without even any hesitation, "Yes i will!!!!"

God is real. God hears our Prayers. God knows us! God compensates our efforts!!

 

FAmily i love you all! It is my prayer this week that we all can go about doing GOOD EFFORTS. Good efforts done out of true love for the people and also true love for God. I know as we do this god WILL compensate for our efforts just as he did for me this past week :) I love you all and may god bless!!!! :)

 

Ovard