Droughts

Greetings, all!

I'll have you know I've officially had fried okra, and I love it! Just about all the local places around here serve it, so it's kind of a thing you have to try. I haven't found a thing I don't like yet! 

I won't lie: this week has been pretty challenging. We meet a lot of people in Flowood, but very few of them meet us at their appointments, even when we leave them voicemails and send them texts reminding them. It can be a little disheartening when you've snagged a member to come with you and you knock on the door and nobody answers. That's happened consistently for the past couple of weeks, and some people have stopped contacting us completely, so Sister Harrison and I have been trying our hardest to do our best and find those who are truly ready to receive this message we have to share. 

On one particular day where we'd gone out with a member, Sister Mullin (who is THE BEST) to visit a less active and they didn't show up, Sister Harrison and I were apologizing like crazy when Sister Mullin just gave us a big smile and said, "Everything happens for a reason, ladies." 

We just blinked at her, and we weren't totally sure how to respond to that kind of patient enthusiasm. She shrugged and said, "You know when you're in traffic, and you're hitting every red light and you're late, and all you want to do is get angry and frustrated? Just think -- Heavenly Father probably saved you from some horrible accident! Maybe you would've been speeding because you were late and caused trouble or got pulled over. Heavenly Father always has things a certain way for a reason!" 

Sister Mullin is an endless fountain of love and kindness for her fellowmen, and she's taught me a wonderful lesson since that day. Now, any time someone slams the door on us or doesn't show up, I just smile to myself and think, "Everything happens for a reason." 

I'm glad I was taught this lesson since the last half of this week was pretty challenging, But, through those challenges, we have some amazing experiences that we've learned from! 

For instance, every Thursday we go to the Mustardseed to play games and read books with mentally challenged adults. (Best place ever. I love it!) All went as usual this Thursday, but afterwards, we felt like we should go try someone we'd met in our area a couple weeks ago named Ed. 

When we first met Ed, he was housesitting for his daughter. He was very nice when he answered the door, and simply said he was Baptist and chose not to read from the Book of Mormon. We respected that, and Sister Harrison asked if he was into family history. Turned out he was super into it and we told him about FamilySearch (if you don't know what that is, GO USE IT) and gave him a card with the website on it. He said he'd go to it, and he then began talking about how important family was. So I brought up The Family: A Proclamation to the World (which is a document the Church put out about 20 years ago, and it talks about the importance of the family), and Ed said he'd go read it! We gave him a pass-along card since it has a link to mormon.org on it and our phone number. He then gave us his address and said to stop by whenever and he'd feed us dinner. 

Well, it wasn't dinner time, but we wanted to see how he was doing. We made our way to his house (which took forever to find...) and when we knocked, his wife answered. She was very nice, and they invited us inside. Ed was very excited to see us! He said he'd been reading on mormon.org about Joseph Smith, and he had many, many questions about the whole thing. "I ordered a Book of Mormon this morning," he'd said. "Are you here to deliver it?" 

No, we weren't, but we had one on hand, so we gave it to him. He was so excited about it! We said a prayer and began talking about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He said he thought it was fascinating how Joseph Smith had a vision, and he looked to his wife (who was focusing on the muted television with her back to us) and said, "He saw a vision, honey!" When she didn't reply, he smiled and said, "Can you hear them?"

"I can, but I don't feel like listening," she said. Ed looked disheartened, so we tried to lift his spirits by answering his questions and continuing to talk about the Book of Mormon. 

We bore our testimonies on the Book, and I said that I hoped he would pray about it and know for himself that it was true. He smiled and me and happily chimed, "Oh, I already know it's true." 

WHAT?! OH MY GOODNESS! What a wonderful spirit this man had! We were about to continue when suddenly his wife slammed her drink onto the table, turned to us, and said, "What is your purpose here?"

We told her it was to invite others to come unto Christ, and she very plainly said that they were a Baptist household and they do not abide by Mormon beliefs, and we were intruding on their beliefs. 

Shocked and a little afraid, we apologized. Ed said he was the one who'd invited us, and that he just wanted to know some more and do some studying. His wife told him to do it on the computer, and we were very hurriedly ushered out. 

We were confused, to say the least, as we dropped into our car and tried to fathom what had just conspired. The Spirit had been so strong there, and we weren't sure why it had ended that way. 

"Everything happens for a reason," came Sister Mullin's voice to me. I sighed and thought about that, and a thought came to me: Ed wasn't lost. He's seeking the truth, and the road to the truth is uphill; it is rocky and difficult because everything will always try and stop one of God's children from remembering their divine potential. Even so, I knew that if Ed was not to accept the gospel in this life, he would have the opportunity to accept it in the next. A sense of peace came over me, and I knew that one day Ed would accept the gospel. 

People in the south mean well, as all people do. They believe there isn't more they need to know, but there's always more to know! We just want to help and invite. That is what we do. We love this gospel, and we want to share the eternal love Heavenly Father has for His children with all that we meet. It'll just take some time, as things do. 

Heavenly Father is mindful of His children. I know He's been very aware of me and my companion. I know He knows our struggles, and I know He's been trying to tell us how we can fix them -- and one of them is to have patience. 

He's also been telling me to stay calm, as I tend to overthink what I do when I teach, even though I love teaching. Just yesterday, we had an appointment with Javier and Jose. Sister Harrison met them with Sister Poulson (her companion before me) and they didn't speak a lot of English, so they gave them a Spanish Book of Mormon and have been trying to set up a return appointment since. And this was that return appointment! 

We took the Mullins with us. Sister Mullin is from El Salvador and Brother Mullin served a Spanish-speaking mission in New York City, so they promised to help us translate. Javier and Jose also preferred this; they wanted to understand the doctrine we were teaching, and they could do that better in Spanish. 

The lesson wasn't perfect, as most lessons aren't. I wasn't sure how he was receiving everything since I didn't speak Spanish, but Brother Mullin did a fantastic job at teaching and translating. Part of me was terrified of what was happening. You see, I have an anxiety disorder. That isn't a secret, and it won't be, because that's just how I am. It's been part of me for quite a while, and I knew it would be a struggle for me on a mission, but that is how it is. Heavenly Father wouldn't have given it to me if He didn't think it could benefit me somehow, and now that I think about it, having a sudden bout of anxiety hit me like a mack truck during a lesson taught me how to truly listen to the Spirit and trust in the Lord. 

And so, I did. 

I said a silent prayer that Javier and Jose would truly feel the Spirit as we were teaching and testifying. I asked that he would sincerely want to know more, and that we weren't overloading him. And as we taught, Javier was smiling and nodding; he happily read the scriptures we asked him to, and at the end of the lesson, he said a prayer and promised that he would pray about Joseph Smith. 

There are things that we don't understand, brothers and sisters. We may not understand why one person understands the gospel and another doesn't; we may not know when someone will accept the gospel; we don't know what Heavenly Father has in store for his individual children -- but I know this: Heavenly Father wants  what is best for all of His sons and daughters (and yes, that includes you). He sees things from an eternal perspective, not our limited, temporal one. We are loved children of God who have the greatest potential than all His other creations -- and what a blessing it is to know that we have a Savior who is here to help us, a Spirit who can help comfort us, and a Father in Heaven who smiles down at us as we strive to make those decisions that will finally lead us back to Him one day. 

Have a beautiful week, everyone! Godspeed!

Sister Rose 

The reservoir! (Or "the rez")

This is hanging in the Mustardseed's bathroom. I really liked it!