Pants or No Pants

Things have been going well this week. The ward is starting to trust us and we are making family and friends while being here. It’s been really good to see how we can help the work progress here. It feels good. This area reminds me so much of home it’s crazy. It’s really quite a different area from anywhere else I have been. It’s really unusual to be so normal. It’s got its fair share of quirks and oddities but for the most part it’s actually very much like home. I think the Lord is preparing me for missionary work back home. I like it! Granted that missionary work at home is a little bit different than anywhere else. Missionary work thrives on the poor in spirit and in wealth. Because there is stability here, repentance or change is hard to come by. There is still hope though! We are teaching several people who want to change and we are really excited.

Spiritual: This morning we were studding to the sounds of the couple next door arguing. They were just going all out at each other. Yelling, screaming and making snide remarks about each other. There were several times where we wanted to lean out the window and tell them to grow up. When you are yelling about your Facebook page, something just isn't right in your relationship. It was very hard to study and we ended up reading the same page of scripture over and over getting nothing out of it. Finally the ex-husband left and it was just the woman and her roommate left. Then they started to argue and scream at each other. We were concerned about her safety at this point and we were having the dialogue of "should we go over and talk to them?" "No way man! It sounds like she just threw something!" "All right. Let’s wait awhile." We waited about half an hour then we decided to ask Heavenly Father if we should go over and visit her. This was a tense situation because we didn't know how she would react or if it was a hostile place we were going into. Yikes! So we went down on our knees and humbly asked if we needed to go visit our neighbor. The answer was a reassuring yes. So we hitched up our britches and headed over. She answered the door and the feeling was that she was a wreck. She was crying, and short of breath and just not having a good morning. We talked to her a little and offered her a blessing. She accepted and so we went in, shared a few scriptures and then were able to give her a blessing. We ended by giving her a Book of Mormon and telling her to read it and pray about it. She was super open and very interested in learning more. We set up times throughout the week that we could go and see her and she was very receptive. I wish you could have seen the change that happened in her. When we first came in she couldn't breathe because she had been yelling so much and crying so much. Even the first part of the lesson she was still making stabs at her ex and her room-mate. After the blessing though we asked her what she had felt as we had been talking to her. She described the spirit perfectly. We emphasized that she could have that same spirit to be with her always through the ordinance of baptism. She accepted! We are so excited to teach her and share more of what we know to be true with her. Now, it would have been so easy to ignore the arguing and just leave it as someone else’s problem. Forget that we had made covenants to comfort those that stand in need of comfort and move on with our day. It would have been so much less frightening to just leave and ignore that. I have noticed that God does not want us to walk in easy paths. It takes a great amount of courage to do the right thing. It takes a great amount of Faith to believe and follow the promptings that you are given but because you have been given the gift of constant revelation, the path that you covenanted to walk is not easy. It’s full of awkward situations and strange encounters and even some times when you are not sure. The path though is right. By following those promptings and honoring the covenants you make at baptism you are fulfilling your commission to be a disciple of Jesus Christ! It is the best way.

Funny: Visiting less active members is fun. We are going through the ward list and finding out who is active and who we can work with. We were finding new people to teach this week through the ward list and we went over to this one member’s house. I unfortunately got the address wrong and we went up to the door, knocked and waited. A man came walking up to the door with the biggest grin on his face. We were a little taken aback because that is a bit unusual for the city at 8:00 at night. All was well till we looked down and realized that he in fact did not have any pants on. "Oh! Well, we have to be going. DO you know where the _____ Family lives? Right next door! Thank you so much. Have a good night!" Yikes.

Where I am at: As you can tell from my long winded miracle this morning things are going well. We are teaching some interesting people. It’s always an adventure being in the city! I think that the ward trusts us and we are learning to love this place. There are great things happening here and we are excited to be a part of them. We are having a General Authority come tour the mission on Tuesday and we are pumped for that. Things are going well. I love you all!