Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Holy Duct Tape and the Burning South

Good morning! (Afternoon?) It's a lovely, hot, humid day on the coast! (I seriously say that every week, don't I?) It's supposed to rain all this week, which you'd think would cool things off, right?

No.

Southern rain only makes things even more humid! I better have awesome skin when I come home, with all the sweating I'm doing. Sister Jones and I have decided that it's character building. Thanks, Heavenly Father.

It's been another one of those weird weeks, y'know. This whole transfer has been quite odd, but I think that just comes with being Sister Jones and Sister Rose. We attract the weird.

This Tuesday, we dropped our car off at a collision repair place. As I've mentioned before, between three companionships, we share three cars. Our car was involved in an accident last transfer, and, well, y'all know about the other one getting into a wreck last week. Oops!

This has allowed us to be creative with our finding efforts, as well as be more reliant on members of the Biloxi ward. We've been doing our best to endure the heat and the impending storms that are predicted for the gulf coast, but in times of trouble (like when we can't get to district meeting), we are able to rely upon our faithful Zone Leaders, Elder Smith and Elder Bennett.

We had a blast with them on Wednesday as we hitched a ride with them in their van named Karen. These Zone Leaders are a good balance of love, hard work, fun, and using the Spirit. I always enjoy having them in our district meetings; they always have wonderful insights and suggestions for our investigators, which is exactly what we need sometimes.

When we aren't partying it up with the Zone Leaders, we are walking all over Biloxi. This gives Heavenly Father the opportunity to place us and others in our path at just the right place, at just the right time so that they can be exposed to the message of the restored gospel.

Now, we always come across the occasional archaeology buff who tells us the Book of Mormon's falsehoods, the person who merely sees the missionaries' appearance at their doorstep an inconvenience, and many others who simply put their walls up. When this happens, we bear testimony, hope and pray they one day feel the Spirit, and walk away.

People are prepared everywhere. The people that you least expect to be prepared are usually the ones who are just waiting for you to share the message.

I have one small story from tracting this week. It's small, but I know that this reaffirmed my testimony of Alma 37, which reads, "Now, ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass" (6).

Sweat was pouring down my face (and that isn't an exaggeration). We'd had very little success knocking on doors. We'd gained a rather impressive collection of bug bites and tan lines. The people we'd talked to were kind, and one old woman told us to talk to her next door neighbor whose husband was enduring stage four cancer.

Something clutched my heart. We smiled, thanked her, and went to knock.

A short woman stepped out, a smile on her face. Her eyes read stress and hurt, but as she talked, she did her best to hide it.

She'd been taking care of her husband for quite sometime. He'd apparently identified as agnostic for most of his life, but this trial was softening his heart to God. They hadn't gone to church since he'd gotten sick. She was stressed, unsure of the future, and clinging to her faith.

I felt a very strong impression to say a prayer with her. We offered to say one, her smile grew wider, and she allowed us to do just that.

We didn't teach a lesson. We didn't talk about the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith or anything. She asked where our church was, so we gave her our number and the address. Maybe she'll come one day. Maybe she won't. I don't know.

All I know is that Heavenly Father had us knock on her door right then for a reason. There were tears in her eyes as we walked away. I felt the Spirit's love and energy as we continued onto other doors, blessed with newfound motivation. The heat didn't matter. My profuse sweating didn't matter. We were able to bless a child of God, even if it was just with a simple prayer.

When Jesus Christ was ministering in Jerusalem, He accomplished many miracles. He ministered to the sick, the poor, the needy -- those who would listen and accept His teachings. He took every opportunity to teach the true doctrine; and most of all, He took every opportunity to make someone feel loved.

This is about spreading the love of Christ. I am blessed to be serving in a place full of people who know Jesus Christ. I'm here to show them more. I'm here to show them their greatest potential, through the Savior that they already know and love.

Emulate Him, brothers and sisters, and the light that shines from you will be far brighter than anything you've ever imagined. Engrave His image upon your countenance, and that light will show from the inside out; you will have greater peace, greater love, greater joy than you ever thought was possible.

Have a good week.

Godspeed!

Sincerely,

Sister Rose

We went to the doctor this week! Yay!

If you ever wanted to know what missionary work does to shoes...



Rainy skies!

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