Hola!! Otra buena semana aquí en Florida. ¿Cómo están todos?
Let's just get into it.
Things I Have Learned This Week:
- Lizards can just detach their tails when they feel like it will get them out of danger??? The tails can move on their own (they actually go ham, maybe Google it, it's crazy) and then they start growing a new one?? True.
- Missionaries do not care if it is dumping rain. We're going to do what we're going to do no matter what. (Peep the grasshopper pic for reference. Just doing service in a storm, no biggie) True
- Once again, Florida's bugs. What's with the size of that grasshopper?????? And why is it so majestic?? Utah grasshoppers are babies and just brown or green. True
- You've probably heard this but when you're on a mission and you're happy, you're just sooooo happy. Like an undescribable happy. But when you're sad/frustrated you're really really just deeply sad and frustrated. Hahaha true, now I'm just numb. 3 weeks in and I've felt the happiest I've ever felt in my life and the most frustrated I've ever felt too. My dad gave me a "Word of the Month" and it was Temporary. The hard is temporary, always. Even if it's a long temporary. :) "it's not forever, it's just for now" -The Emmy Donaldson ;)
This got me through a lot. I highly suggest having this mindset to be able to do cool things. Things that are hard but worth it.
I bet you couldn't guess but this week was pretty hard. Because I'm so new, I don't really feel the pressure of the "numbers" part of a mission yet. We are teaching a LOT of inactive/returning members. To me, if we're still helping people come to Christ, that's all that matters. But that's not how most missionaries feel including my comp. She's frustrated that we haven't taught the restoration to anyone new. That there are no baptisms. That she's being as obedient as she possibly can but isn't seeing success.
I am an extreeemely empathetic person. I feel everyone's feelings with them. So even though I wasn't understanding why helping inactives and returning members wasn't enough, I was feeling the sadness and frustration that my companion was feeling. We still don't have answers, and it's still been weighing on us. But there's a quote from Jeffrey R Holland that I think applies to everyone, not just missionaries, that gets me through those moments of sadness and discouragement.
"Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Christ? It seems to me that missionaries have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane"
Anyway, I just really love that.
The elders gave my comp a blessing and then asked if I wanted one. I was a little hesitant because I didn't think that I was struggling in the same way that she was but I got one anyway and the line that stood out most to me in the blessing was: You are walking the same road that the Savior walked. You are exactly where you need to be.
That surprised me. If you think about it, the Savior wasn't constantly baptizing people. But he was constantly blessing people, helping people, and serving people. I've been thinking of the lepers that Jesus healed. Out of all of them, only one came back and thanked Him. I think that's how missionary work is. You teach and serve all these people but there may only be one that comes back to Him and it very well could be yourself. The road Jesus walked was not an easy one. Because salvation is not a cheap experience!! Okay, I LOVE this. The story of the ten lepers is probably my all-time favorite parable of the bible. I get so much from it. I wish so hard that I kept this point of view my entire mission but unfortunately, I did lose sight of the grand scheme of things sometimes and I focused on numbers a little more over time which I didn't appreciate of myself. This insight is fire though. I think it goes on to apply for a lot more than just missionary work too. I think it applies to any calling you may have. Just serve and love people. You don't always have to see the fruits even though it would be nice.
Okay, I'll step off my soap box now ;) back to our regularly scheduled program.
So we do this thing called "cold texting" where we just text a bunch of different numbers in our zip code saying who we are and what church we belong to and then ask if we can share a scripture with them. We get a lot of swearing and "Take me off your list, I know I'm saved" type messages back. But this week we got a guy named Rocky who is part Jewish part Christian ... his words. And he calls us to talk and he's explaining his beliefs and me and my comp are like, oh yeah. We're gonna get him for suuure. He's "golden". And then all of a sudden he says: "So anyway I believe in all that but I know that Jesus was a misprint or in other words a misinterpretation in the translation process. They did not translate that into English correctly. There is no Jesus."
How on earth do you respond to "Jesus is a misprint"?? And how do you consider yourself a Christian when you don't believe in Christ?😂😂😂 I know Heavenly Father and Jesus know all/see all/hear all but I am really hoping that they did not catch that one. I nearly got on my knees and prayed right there and asked for forgiveness for just hearing that. Feels wrong. Insights to that are welcome. I have no clue what to say to him. This is so funny. I remember him saying that and I genuinely was like "what the??" I had never heard that one before and I never heard it again. Pretty sure we never heard from that guy again.
I saw an alligator!!!!!!! This morning we went on a 7-mile "hike" (it was a walk, Florida is flat). I saw wild boars, an owl, raccoons, snakes, weird birds, and alligators!! God knew what he was doing when he reassigned me to Florida. Even though it's stupid hot/humid I am just enjoying myself because of how beautiful it is. I have embraced the sweat. (As much as you can). I am very happy to be here :) Once again, I love Florida.
Shoutout to my sister Emmy!! Her birthday was on Friday. And her baby's birthday was yesterday!!! I have a niece keep them in your prayers!!! How crazy is this? My little baby niece was 16 months when I came home. A full-on toddler.
Anyway, this week was a little more chill.
Love you guys! Hope you have a really great week!
- Sista Beck
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