Hey Family!
I'm so excited to get my conference ensign!! I'm actually excited to get any mail. I guess it is good to start out my mission only getting mail from my family, because then I won't be disappointed later when no one writes. I will take a picture with the A and see if there is another way to get it to you. If all else fails, I will mail it to you next week. sorry.
Mom, I've been thinking a lot about truth this week, too, but for different reasons. Something that we face a lot is people that say, "what I have is true, what you have is true, and as long as we know Jesus, we're good to go." They don't like the idea of there being one true church. To them it sounds self righteous and judgemental. It's frustrating to have people believe in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and think they don't have to do anything about it. People love to talk to us about Jesus and bless us for "spreading the good word". I've been studying how to answer that with the Bible to show them that there is one true church.
I mean, think about it. If the point of this life is to come to know Christ, we show that we know him by following Him. Following Him is very important, as everyone agrees. But if everyone has different ideas of how best to follow Him, it doesn't make sense that all roads are equally valid. If we are all doing different things to follow Christ, we aren't following the same person at all! We also lose our agency because if all choices are right, then there is no real choice.
Anyway, I'm still stewing about it, and I can't write all of my thoughts here. If you have any ideas for me, that would be great. How can we show that there is absolute truth, and that truth isn't relative? How can I show that authority does matter, and that church organization is important? We can have a personal relationship with God, but church does matter!
This morning we were doing laundry, and this man came up and attacked us, basically. At first he was surprised - he didn't know that there were sister missionaries. Then started attacking us. He said, "It's obvious I know more than the average Joe about you guys. You think I don't know? I've studied you." He was so full of hatred it really surprised me. He would come over and say something rude and horrible -- refusing to let us say anything -- and then walk away to do laundry. He came back 3 different times, saying things like, "If the veil was rent in the temple of Jerusalem, why did Christ appear behind a veil in the Kirtland Temple?" Mom, don't be afraid. I held my tongue. We were nice to him. He kept saying that he was a Christian, but it isn't very Christian to attack anyone else for their beliefs. It was pretty bad, because after he walked away I got the giggles a little bit. It was just so funny! I hear this will happen to me a lot, but it is alright. Everyone else in the laundrymat was on our side. After he walked away one of the times, this guy near us twirled his finger around his ear. Another guy came and talked to us just because that guy attacked us. He was like, "what did you sisters do to him?" and chuckled. He said he would read the Book of Mormon. I just wonder how anyone could have that kind of hate. It makes me sick to think about it. Anyone that thinks that kind of hatred is from God doesn't know Him very well. God is love. When he left, he said he would pray for us so that we would stop preaching blasphamy. Sister Caudel said we would do the same for him. *shrug*
This week we experienced a miracle! Recently I've felt pretty stupid. I keep doing dumb things when I know better. Sometimes I think I must drive Sister Dodd crazy. I'm trying so hard, and then I do stupid things. I get frustrated with myself. a lot. Well, this week we got back to the VC from our area, and realized we didn't have the phone. We searched the car for it, and just couldn't find it. It wasn't there. The phone is my responsibilty because Sister Dodd drives. I was so mad at myself. I couldn't remember what I had done with it. We had only been 3 places, so we decided to go back to those 3 places the next day to look for it. Sister Dodd had the impression that we should go to the first place, which I thought didn't make sense because we had rung the doorbell, and no one had answered. But I agreed to go there first. Then I had a mental image of it falling out of the car when we go there. So it did make sense.
So we drove for a half an hour to Lee's Summit. The whole way I just felt SO stupid. We didn't talk much. And as we pulled up to the house, I could see it. I saw it before the car even stopped. It was sitting there, in the dirt on the side of the road, untouched. Prayers are answered! It must have been on my lap when I got out of the car. It is amazing that we or someone else didn't run over it, and that no one picked it up. It was so obvious! and I'm sure our alarm went off for a long time that morning, but no one heard it or saw it, and we found it! what a relief. Now I just need to find my apartment key and extra name tag.... :)
On Sunday, two of our extremely less actives came to church!!! YAAAYYY!! It is nice to see that something I am doing is working. We did service at one of their homes, and dropped by to visit the other one this week. She didn't answer the door, and her roommate told us to go away, but she came to church and apollogized -- she didn't know it was us that came, and she wanted to meet with us this week! I know that the small things we did for them this week are part of the reason they came. And the ward is so wonderful. I'm sure they felt welcome.
We also met with my favorite of our investigators (the only one that hasn't dropped us, or visa verse). Her name is Lyric, and she is an older African American woman. She loves us a lot. :) She is so funny!! She will tease us about something, wait for our expressions, then burst out laughing, lean back, and kick her feet a little bit. She is wonderful. We are moving slowly with her, because that is what she wants, "baby steps". I think she knows what we are talking about it important, and she wants a better relationship with God, it will just take time. This week we are working on prayer. She has had a hard time with doing it in the past, but I think what we said this time finally clicked with her. She really liked it. "That makes sense. Man, I hate it when you make sense!" haha. She agreed to pray everyday, and asked us to call her everyday to check up and see if she is praying, which is wonderful! We will call her every day. :)
I gave a tour yesterday that was intimidating. Two families that are best friends came in. One of the husbands is not a member, and I think they brought him so that he would feel the spirit. Intimidating!! I think it went well. Young families are hard to herd through the VC, but it was good.
This last week some people came from Utah to help train President Keyes because he's pretty new. There are going to be a lot of changes in how our mission is run, and it is going to be good. Our mission is one of the best missions at finding people and now they want us to translate that into baptisms. One of the trianers named Brother Tanner came through the VC on his way home and talked to us for a while. He basically trained us on how to use planning and goal setting more effectively. He also talked to us about being in the Missouri Independence Mission. He said that usually when they come out after 3 months to see how the mission president is doing, they find him in a panic just trying to survive with a million questions. Not so with President Keyes. His list of questions for them was short and exactly what they had come to talk to him about. He's on top of things, and very much in control. Brother Tanner says that all of the indicators are that our mission is about to explode, and it is not a coincidence that President Keyes is here, and it is not a coincidence that we are here. With the temple being dedicated next year, the work here is going to go crazy. We are all here for a reason -- to be a part of it. I'm so excited!!
On a sadder note, I've noticed a few things while I've been here. It seems that everyone, at some time or another, has tried hard core drugs, and it has permanently damaged them. Our country would be way smarter without drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. They fry people's brains. There are some people that it is nearly pointless to teach because they are so fried that they don't understand what we are saying. They can't really think. Their brains are ruined. They will never be normal again. The sisters here say that there is an unusually high number of people here in Independence with mental disorders that aren't genetic. The kind that happen through drug use, a hard life, or neglect. It makes me think of the poem "What happens to a dream deferred?" That is in the front of the play, A Raisin in the Sun. I've seen it. I think Satan must be working extra hard here because he knows this will be the New Jerusalem someday. But he won't win and the work will still go forward.
Anyway... Sorry for the scatterbrained email. All in all, it hasn't been that eventful of a week, but it has been good.
Thank you for being such a supportive family! Mail makes a huge difference. I love hearing from you.
I love you all!
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister April Atkin
No comments:
Post a Comment