On Friday I rode on the top level of a double-decker bus! It was so
much fun. I felt like I was on a roller coaster. It was sooo bumpy and
crazy. And the view was phenomenal! We could see out above the houses
and there was a clear view in front and I just felt on top of the world.
I am a fan of double-deckers.
I broke a woman's doorbell yesterday. We rang and as we waited
we were talking about how obnoxious her doorbell was. It just kept
going and sounded terrible. After a while, this grumpy lady in a
bathrobe opened the door, didn't want to hear what we had to say and
demanded, "What did you do to my doorbell?" I felt so bad. She probably
thought we were out there just pushing it over and over again or
something. And we just thought she had an annoying doorbell. It was
unfortunate, but kind of funny at the same time--I don't think she saw
the humor, though.
One thing I am learning is to rely more fully on my Heavenly Father for everything.
That's one of those lessons I've been pushed into as He's torn me away
from everything familiar and everyone I love. When I say something
negative, there's no Haley around to remind me that life's great and
that there's no reason to be down. When I'm lonely, there's no Mallory
to give me big hugs and paint my nails and tell me she hates me and
loves me in the same sentence. When I'm bored, there's no Bryan to sing
with me and go on adventures with me. When my heart hurts, there's no
Sarah to talk to and to figure things out with. When I'm discouraged,
there's no Katie to cheer me up and make me happy. And this list could
go on and on. I've always turned to God when I'm going through something
hard, but I've also realized how much I relied on friends and people to
help me stay happy. Adjusting to the difficulties of missionary work
without one of my best friends here to help me along and encourage me
has been hard. I've had to rely on my own strength which is only enough
when I rely on the strength of the Lord. I've thought about that
footsteps in the sand poem recently, because I feel like there have been
many moments in the past month where I've felt alone, where I've felt
that even God has left me and that I'm struggling through this on my
own. But looking back, I can see that, even in those darkest moments, I
wasn't alone. He's been carrying me the whole time. And as I keep trying
and keep enduring and just doing what I can, He will lift me higher and
make much more of me than I could ever make of myself. He is molding me
into the missionary He wants me to be. And He is molding me into the
person He knows I can be.
10 May 2012
Yesterday we went finding and it was so fun. People seemed oddly friendly and nice. No one wanted to talk to us long, but they were all very nice about it. It was even raining outside and people were still being nice! It was so beautiful. We knocked this road that had a little section called Lover's Lane (original?) and it was so picturesque. There were tall walls on either side that enclosed lovely gardens (probably enchanted) and it was so rainy and foggy and green and gorgeous and I just felt like I was in England--oh, wait. I am! If I weren't a missionary, I'd describe the world yesterday as absolutely romantic! In an Anne of Green Gables kind of a way. Then we knocked a series of houses with long sidewalks leading from their gates to the doors and each garden had a different array of beautiful flowers. Everything just felt magical. It starting raining really hard and we got soaked and came home looking like mops. But that's missionary work. That's how important this message is. Rain or shine or wind or mud these people need to know! Because the gospel is true and it changes lives. I just wish everyone could understand that!
One thing I'm learning over and over again is that the Lord is always carrying us. When we choose to do things His way, it doesn't mean that it will be easy, but it means that we will be able to succeed and accomplish whatever he requires of us. We aren't meant to see the end from the beginning. We are here to live on faith. And when we exercise faith, God will give us glimpses of the end--just enough to encourage us, comfort us, and keep us moving forward. I'm so grateful for the gospel. I'm grateful for my Savior. I'm grateful that God loves me so much and knows me so perfectly that He allows me to be cut down so that I can become so much more. I love the talk from a couple conferences ago where he told about being the gardener who cut down his currant bush so that the currant bush could then bloom more fully and then compared that to how sometimes God, as our gardener, cuts us down but He knows why and He knows what's best for us and He sees our full potential and He loves us so much that He wants us to get there and if we allow Him to mold us and cut us and lift us, He will make so much more out of our lives than we could ever make on our own. See The Will of God
11 June 2012
One funny story of the week. So there are lots of crazy people in Hastings. It sure keeps life interesting. Recently we've been working on expectation as a district--to expect people to keep commitments, to expect people to be at home, to expect to find new investigators, etc--and it's been amazing how it works. I promise these two thoughts will come together. A couple days ago, we experienced a few crazy people. After talking to another man on the street who looked normal and turned out to be weird, I said to Sister Sebald, "I'm going to stop expecting to meet crazy people. I expect that we won't see any more crazy people today. Only people that want to hear about the gospel!" At that moment, a car drove past and this little girl looked out the window and made a crazy face at us. It was so funny! So much for those expectations! I guess I should just accept that there are crazy people in Hastings and that they aren't going away any time soon.
10 May 2012
Yesterday we went finding and it was so fun. People seemed oddly friendly and nice. No one wanted to talk to us long, but they were all very nice about it. It was even raining outside and people were still being nice! It was so beautiful. We knocked this road that had a little section called Lover's Lane (original?) and it was so picturesque. There were tall walls on either side that enclosed lovely gardens (probably enchanted) and it was so rainy and foggy and green and gorgeous and I just felt like I was in England--oh, wait. I am! If I weren't a missionary, I'd describe the world yesterday as absolutely romantic! In an Anne of Green Gables kind of a way. Then we knocked a series of houses with long sidewalks leading from their gates to the doors and each garden had a different array of beautiful flowers. Everything just felt magical. It starting raining really hard and we got soaked and came home looking like mops. But that's missionary work. That's how important this message is. Rain or shine or wind or mud these people need to know! Because the gospel is true and it changes lives. I just wish everyone could understand that!
One thing I'm learning over and over again is that the Lord is always carrying us. When we choose to do things His way, it doesn't mean that it will be easy, but it means that we will be able to succeed and accomplish whatever he requires of us. We aren't meant to see the end from the beginning. We are here to live on faith. And when we exercise faith, God will give us glimpses of the end--just enough to encourage us, comfort us, and keep us moving forward. I'm so grateful for the gospel. I'm grateful for my Savior. I'm grateful that God loves me so much and knows me so perfectly that He allows me to be cut down so that I can become so much more. I love the talk from a couple conferences ago where he told about being the gardener who cut down his currant bush so that the currant bush could then bloom more fully and then compared that to how sometimes God, as our gardener, cuts us down but He knows why and He knows what's best for us and He sees our full potential and He loves us so much that He wants us to get there and if we allow Him to mold us and cut us and lift us, He will make so much more out of our lives than we could ever make on our own. See The Will of God
11 June 2012
One funny story of the week. So there are lots of crazy people in Hastings. It sure keeps life interesting. Recently we've been working on expectation as a district--to expect people to keep commitments, to expect people to be at home, to expect to find new investigators, etc--and it's been amazing how it works. I promise these two thoughts will come together. A couple days ago, we experienced a few crazy people. After talking to another man on the street who looked normal and turned out to be weird, I said to Sister Sebald, "I'm going to stop expecting to meet crazy people. I expect that we won't see any more crazy people today. Only people that want to hear about the gospel!" At that moment, a car drove past and this little girl looked out the window and made a crazy face at us. It was so funny! So much for those expectations! I guess I should just accept that there are crazy people in Hastings and that they aren't going away any time soon.
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