Another week, another e-mail, and just like last week, I'm not really sure where to start, or what to say after I start. Oh well. Such is life. We've been working super hard to find new people to teach, and we've been putting in a lot of effort talking to people--tracting and talking to everyone. Your basic missionary stuff. Not too many takers yet, but a few nibbles here and there. Enough to keep us going. Plus, we've been blessed with quite a few referrals lately, so if anything, the Lord is giving us hints about where to focus our efforts. You still get the usual--dismissive waves goodbye after three words out of our mouths, a chorus of "not interested," and the occasional actual heckler with comments like "Your Bible doesn't count" and "We only become the children of God after we accept Christ"--but there are also tender mercies and good people amid them all. I choose to focus on them, at least when I've stopped laughing about the "bye-bye" wave from a sixty-year-old man who could not possibly be threatened by three twenty somethings knocking on his door and offering free eternal happiness through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Actually, it amazes me how lazy people think the gospel is intended to be. Simply "accept Him as your personal Savior" (which is not a work, by the way) and you can know you are going to heaven no matter what you do from that point on. It defies logic, it defies reason, it defies the Spirit, and it even defies the Bible if you really read it. But, then again, "Our Bible doesn't count." Still, I love that most of Texas still respects and honors God with their defense of morality and Christlike living, even though they don't think works count for much. I love them, and I'm sure their beliefs are going a long way in preserving and preparing the earth for the second coming.
We had a strange occurrence on Wednesday afternoon. We were watching Legacy with a member in one of the wards at her house, and then we left, got in the car, and started to drive away. There was this lady running out of one of the houses in the cul-de-sac, waving her arms for us to stop. Which we did, but only after we stopped did she recognize us as missionaries. She only spoke Spanish, but we think we deduced that she is a member from Guatemala and has been in Texas for a few months but couldn't find the church. We gave her the number of the Spanish elders and also sent her address in as a referral so they can contact her if she doesn't contact them. My Spanish has come in handy here in Houston, although its not perfect and certainly far from polished, but I can use it to communicate and I understand a basic "yes" or "no" when I ask about sending missionaries. However, the lady from Guatemala also, we think, said our Spanish was about as good as that of the elders...and we don't think she meant it as a compliment. Which is unfair. I've known many missionaries with very good Spanish speaking skills, but I guess I'm not exactly the best judge of that.
Yesterday, both of our wards had the Primary program, and because the Relief Society lesson was about baptism, we ended up singing "Come, Follow Me" three times yesterday. Great hymn, but a little much for one day. I do, however, love watching the faces of the kids as they sing, and I really like that song, "I know that my Savior loves me." Really beautiful.
Love the thoughts of Eli wondering if I will recognize him. I must admit, I've wondered the same thing myself, but I also know I would know him anywhere, along with the rest of you. As for adjusting to post-mission life, I don't have many worries about it because I think that when I'm with y'all again, we'll all have so much to say that even if its random banter, we'll be able to fill in the holes of things the other party is not understanding, either me about the happenings while I've been gone or y'all about Texas things that never quite made it into e-mails.
Happy everything from your shining Houstonian!
Sister Whitney Sorensen
PS It's my last zone conference this week, and then it'll be Thanksgiving, and then we're going to the temple, and then it'll be my last Sunday in Texas and then it'll be December, and you know what happens in December... Christmas!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment