Monday, July 7, 2014

Alma 32

Holla Familia!
This week was pretty awesome! We picked up a new investigator named James and we were able to teach him the first lesson with a member present. We plan on meeting with him tomorrow for the next lesson. He didn't come to church, but the cool thing that happened was that his roommate that just moved out named Jim did come! He was there when we first met James. Jim called us up and asked us what time church was at on Sunday and he came!! We didn't get the chance after church to see how he liked it, but he stayed for all three hours! So that was pretty cool.
On the 4th of July I was surprised that we stayed busy the whole day, because so far all of the holidays that I have had so far were really hard to fill up with things to do. But this day was nice and easy! We pretty much had appointments for the whole day.
On Saturday we decided to go to Goodview and try the formers and potentials out there. Goodview rarely gets tried because it is a good 70+ mile trip. So we decided to make the sacrifice to go out there. We were able to find some pretty cool LA, PMF, and Formers. A lot of the people who live out there have moved also... so that was fun. But it was a really good day, because we planned every moment of it so we wouldn't use so many miles driving back and forth from place to place. It was a really good day.
Sunday morning we found out that a Excommunicated member that we had been working with died that morning, his wife who is a less active called us and told us. It was super sad. We had just seen him a few days prior to that. He wasn't that old either, He was barely in his 80's. Course... I guess that is kinda old. But church went really well. We had Jim and Ellie show up for church. We taught Sacrifice in our Gospel Principles class and it went pretty good. After church we had a lesson with Ellie. Trying to figure out where she was and how we can help her progress. Her Husband (they just got married recently, and he is a member) was there and asked her if there was any questions or anything she wanted to talk about. She started talking about fast Sunday, and how some people waste there time because they are just going through the motions and not really focusing on what the fast is for, and she just kept talking. I just felt that Fasting wasn't the thing she had a problem with. She was just talking about it. The words that kept jumping out to me that she kept saying was "Going through the Motions". After she talked for several more moments, I finally cut her off and asked her why she was talking so much about going through the motions and if she felt like she was going through the motions. I was super surprised because she started to cry and said yes. It was an interesting experience. She is so set on her Catholic upbringing, that she is afraid that she is going to lose her soul. She has never ever had a problem with the Catholic church, she has never doubted or thought anything was wrong with it. Her husband kept bringing things up about things he didn't like about the church, which wasn't helping, but in the end we committed her to reading everyday and praying.
It frustrates me sometimes to think of how close minded people can be sometimes. I love Ellie, but she is so stuck on the doctrine of the Catholic church that she can't turn to anything else. Of course I can't say very much because I don't really know anything about the Catholic church. I have just heard things from Mormons that used to be Catholic. But the thought of not even opening up to even experiment upon the word. She has been going through the motions for two years. Two Freaking Years. I don't think that is going through the motions, I think she is just afraid of what she will and can lose. She isn't willing to Sacrifice. I have never really had sacrifice brought up so much in one week. I have been reading about it in Ensign talks, I had to study it for our lesson on Sunday, people were talking about giving things up, and just how much we have to let go to come closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Sacrificing for something better. I don't know about you, but usually when I sacrifice something I can tell within a month or so that if it was something worth sacrificing. If I am not really sure, I keep doing it until I really find out. I am not a quitter, unless I receive the answer that it isn't for me. I still am trying to figure a few things out in my life, but I haven't given up on them, just because I don't know why things are so hard, or why things have to be a certain way. I know what God's will is on most things, and I need to continually align my will with his. But I have to be open and willing to do it. No other excuses.
 
Well that's enough of that rant. I will just share two interesting things that were said this week while trying to hand out pass along cards that are the picture of Jesus:
Conversation with a guy on the side of the road: "Know your facts before you try and go and share them with others..." "uh... what?" "Do you know who this picture is of!" "Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer" "Wrong! this is God Reincarnated!" "Uhhhhhh.... o.O what?" *hands us back the card*            Really strange... it was funny because we were talking about how we hadn't met someone yet who believed in Reincarnation.
Conversation on door step: "If it's not a perfect depiction of Christ I don't want to look at it" "Nobody can truly depict what Christ looks like. But it is more of the thought, and always remembering him, and how we feel as we..." "If it isn't him with long flowing silver hair it isn't him, and I won't accept it!"             
Two people to not accept a picture of Christ, because it isn't "the Christ they are looking for" hmm... sounds like Scribes, Pharisee, and Sadducees to me.

Well I love you all and I hope you are having a good week. Keep being awesome.
Loves,
Sister Call

"Being grateful in our circumstances is an act of faith in God. It requires that we trust God and hope for things we may not see but which are true. By being grateful, we follow the example of our beloved Savior, who said, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” True gratitude is an expression of hope and testimony. It comes from acknowledging that we do not always understand the trials of life but trusting that one day we will."
~Dieter F. Uchtdorf

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