Hey!
I hope you and mom are doing well in Peru! Suerteros...
Well, I'm here in Citrus Heights, which is basically just
northern Sacramento. Much more urban than Chico was. We actually drive down the
border of the California Roseville and Sacramento missions every day. Some of
the Sacramento missionaries have permission to go to the Walmart on our side of
the street. Things here are ok. We don't have an overabundance of
investigators, and finding seems to be the greatest challenge. The members are
fantastic. We have dinner every night!
My companion is interesting (he’s autistic)... But I'm
growing to love him. You can tell upon meeting him that he has some challenges.
He's a good missionary though. Another missionary told me this when I asked him
what my new comp was like:
"Well, he's funny, if only because he's a complete
idiot".
That really bothers me. Firstly, because it runs through my
head involuntarily every time my companion messes up, and makes it harder to
have patience with him. Secondly, because it's completely untrue. He speaks
excellent English all things considered. He's certainly got his heart in the
right place. There's not a single ounce of guile or cynicism in him. And I have
to say I'm thankful for the chance I have to be his companion because it's
teaching me a lot about being Christ like and generally just more easygoing. So
moral of the story: be kind.
This week I had a really spiritual experience reading in
Ether 3. I don't think another verse of scripture has even impacted me more
than when I read about the brother of Jared asking The Lord for help:
2 O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about
by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because
of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the
heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures
have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a
commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive
according to our desires.
3 Behold, O Lord, thou hast smitten us because of our
iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in
the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been merciful unto us. O Lord, look
upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not
that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these
things which I have molten out of the rock.
And then the record goes on. But just that first line
"thou has said that we must be encompassed about by the floods" and
later "suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in
darkness" really hit me. I can just imagine the brother of Jared looking
out at the ocean, and then looking at the tiny boats he's just made and
thinking: "who do we think we're kidding? how are we going to do
this?" He must have been scared. And it was probably all the worse because
there was no other way. Plus he was painfully aware of his own unworthiness.
I've applied that to myself a lot this week. I have to serve
a mission. Since I got to C Heights I've been feeling really inadequate, and at
times I would look at the calendar and say "how am I going to do
this?" Like the brother of Jared, there really isn't any way around what I
have to do. So this week the biggest lesson for me has been learning to rely on
Heavenly Father to help me through the harder points of my mission.
So yeah. That's really just about everything for this week.
I hope your trip was a blast and that everyone is doing
well. Love you guys!
Jake
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