Hi Everyone!
This week I had an opportunity to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders for a day. It was pretty interesting. I was not looking forward to it as much because the Zone Leaders have had a third companion who was sent there in the middle of the transfer basically so they could babysit him before he finishes his mission. I heard not the best reviews about him, but when I was with them, he was AWESOME! I decided to ask him why he had such a bad reputation. He said that he makes a lot of really terrible decisions... haha. And he also has a sense of humor that some people don't appreciate very much. And I share this to illustrate a point that it is so easy to judge people. I am always surprised how much that happens - that I negatively judge others. Usually (not 100% of the time), after getting to know them better I am pleasantly surprised by how awesome they are! After the exchange I took a picture with him since I might never see him again as he finishes his mission tomorrow. But ya, that was a great experience this week. Even the zone leader I got to spend time with told me he loves him a lot. He did mention a couple of the bad decisions (and they definitely were bad decisions), but he still is a good guy that I like and respect a lot more now than before I even spent time with him!
Other exciting things... one of the most awesome people we are working with (he joined the church over the summer) is going through some hard times. We found out on Friday that he had been trying to tell us he doesn't want to be a part of the church anymore. AND his mom called us telling us that if we tried anything that she'd call the cops. So that was extremely disheartening. However, the next day he spent time with a guy from church that he really likes and then yesterday he went again with him to have dinner. We later saw him visiting a less-active guy from church too with his friend. Today while on the computer, my companion talked to him on the phone and he apologized. So I have no idea what is happening with him right now. Haha. He does have seasonal depression type stuff so maybe it was just mental issues. But ya, it is an adventure working with people sometimes because at the drop of a hat they can disappear or cancel everything! (And now... he is here in the library with us and everything seems to be going well).
Lastly, we had an awesome experience last week on Monday night. The couple we met last Sunday, Camden and Amanda, came with us to dinner at the Hartzog's house! It is awesome because they are all about the same age (my age actually - 22, 23, 23, and 24). Both couples have a young child and are living in Estes with primarily older friends. The best part was talking about "small and simple things bring to pass that which is great." Amanda shared part of her story of how she ended up in Estes and end up with her son (it's actually her younger brother's son). And how she has seen the hand of God in her life. She talked about being in the flood last year and all the miracles that happened to help her and her family make it through. They didn't have any way of communicating with the outside world during the flood since there was no service at their house. The day of the flood she was in pajamas, with her son, and Camden going to his work. On their way, roads were closed and they were driving through roads covered in water still not realizing anything. They weren't able to get back to their house for 3 months. Miraculously Camden brought his wallet with him and they were able to get a place to stay and some clothes. But they didn't have enough money. Miraculously money came through and so much more. She didn't really care at all about religion when she moved to Estes a few years ago because her family wasn't the best and were "Christian." She thought, if this is what it means to be Christian, I don't want to be a part of it! But now, she has a testimony of God in her life. That He knows her and cares about her personally.
One last thing that I learned this week... I have been thinking about my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I have been thinking about it because I read the other day some extremely persuasive stuff a historian wrote about the likelihood of stuff in the Bible happening. One thing that I came to the conclusion about is that no one can disprove or prove in a way that is satisfying to everyone that Jesus is the Christ or that the New Testament is the Word of God. Similarly no one can do that for the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. There is no way to REALLY prove without a shadow of a doubt either of those. People can write or say whatever they feel can be proved or studied or whatever, but no one alive now can really know what actually happened, they can only speculate from the best resources available. In order to know satisfactorily, we can't rely solely on physical researched proof. The only proof is from God. And I do know that we can know things from God. I have a testimony of a lot of things - I can feel the Spirit as I share that testimony with people and I know in my heart that it is true. I really do. And that's the truth that we can rely on.
Have an awesome week!
Elder Jeff Campbell
Once again it is 20 degrees colder on Monday than the rest of the week, except today it is snowing pretty solidly right now too. Looks like Winter has finally come to Estes Park after holding off a good amount of time (it was in the mid 50s most of the week).
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