Hi everyone!!
Oh the small world that we live in! There were a lot of great experiences this week. The first of which was on Tuesday night when I went out to dinner with the Elder's Quorum President, Blaine Southam. His wife was busy doing stuff so he took us out to Buffalo Wild Wings. He paid with a First Tech Fed card (that company used to be part of HP, but then broke off) which is the card I have because my mom works for HP! After attempting to describe what part of HP my mom works in and what she does (I should really know that better), he said... "Campbell... the only one I know is Carolyn." I was like... that's my mom!!! Craziness. In the church people LOVE to play the, "who do you know game." Though the world is small, it is not too regular that people actually know someone you know. It was exciting that out of a 300k company they knew each other!
Oh the small world that we live in! There were a lot of great experiences this week. The first of which was on Tuesday night when I went out to dinner with the Elder's Quorum President, Blaine Southam. His wife was busy doing stuff so he took us out to Buffalo Wild Wings. He paid with a First Tech Fed card (that company used to be part of HP, but then broke off) which is the card I have because my mom works for HP! After attempting to describe what part of HP my mom works in and what she does (I should really know that better), he said... "Campbell... the only one I know is Carolyn." I was like... that's my mom!!! Craziness. In the church people LOVE to play the, "who do you know game." Though the world is small, it is not too regular that people actually know someone you know. It was exciting that out of a 300k company they knew each other!
As for missionary work, there were a couple worth-sharing experiences. On Wednesday we visited Vince and invited him to live the Word of Wisdom. For the first 30+ mins we talked about it and shared stories/experiences about it and tried to inspire him to quit drinking. Ultimately, I was more bold than I really had ever been before telling him that he needs to quit for himself, his family, and God. I know that is true. Drinking has not helped anything in his life and has created substantial problems with the law. This was one of the first times I had been bold, yet loving at the same time. I really love Vince. And it was awesome to know that I wasn't inviting him to do something for me or because I was supposed to, but because I care and it is something he really needs to do.
Thursday afternoon we met with a single lady in the ward who has been struggling hard in her life. It is really sad to know people who genuinely believe that God doesn't care for them and doesn't love them. We have met with her a couple times before and the Bishop counseled us to stop counseling her - that isn't our job. Instead we are to testify of the restored Gospel and teach from Preach My Gospel. Sooooo we decided to go for it and share the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him - even though she was raised in the church and served a mission teaching this to people. I could not believe how powerful that lesson was. For a bit I thought we were in REAL trouble, it was silent after she made a comment about being seriously depressed and whatnot due to not feeling the love of God. She then left the room. We were like.... what do we do/say?!?! And being with a brand new missionary, he really doesn't know what to say. Sooooo I just tried to follow the Spirit the best I could and it ended up being one of the best lessons I had taught before. I could really feel the Spirit guiding me to share the aspects of the Gospel in a way that addressed her need to feel God's love.
Some highlights of that lesson: I talked about how our loving Heavenly Father is emotionally attached to us (Moses 7:28-29 accounts God weeping for the bad choices of his children, the people on Earth), Heavenly Father calls prophets because he loves us and wants us to know how to get back to Him! They teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ was on the earth he performed miracles. For healings, he never got a mass together and "waved a wand" and healed everyone. We he healed, raised from the dead, gave sight to the blind, cast out devils, or more it was always about that one person. He cared for them individually and healed them by their faith. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Christ and that God loves us today by calling a prophet to help us know what to do in this world.
It is just a real treat to be out here. There are always a bunch of unique exciting experiences to report. At the end of July, we made our 3 month rolling goals (your goals for baptisms for each of the next 3 months). It was so weird... the 3 months were: August, September, and October! I can't believe October is so close to now! The time is sure flying by. I LOVE being a missionary, attempting to train my new companion, and just reaching out in loving service to people (at least trying to!). I have a lot to improve on, but it is awesome to see changes in others and in myself.
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