How Gentle God’s Commands…

Morning sun

Oct 23

Sometimes life is super busy and sometimes it comes to a screeching halt. Last two posts were about the busy days. Today not so much. Bill has been under the weather. We have been to the doctor though and he is on medication and will soon be good as new. In the meantime things slowed way down. Friday last week was a rest day. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday not much to report.

This past weekend was buzzing along however! Saturday we were asked to conduct a Preach My Gospel workshop for the Bristol Stake Youth Conference. In 40 minutes we were to teach them how to teach, go over the Restoration discussion and actually have them prepare a lesson to teach each other! I must say that I was quite skeptical that such a task could be done in the time allotted. Four of the missionaries from our Zone assisted, two elders and two sisters. We taught the workshop four times. It was actually amazing that as we used some of the methods practiced in the MTC it worked! They prayed about their lesson and for the most part took the job seriously. Most of them did a great job. There were a couple of goof balls but what do you expect. 

Elder Kirk, Elder Davis, Sister Polidario and Sister Torvinen, her new companion from Finland, were fantastic. They took the role of mentors. They just made suggestions and encouraged each companionship during their preparation. One little girl was a nonmember. The elder helping her picked up on that right away and actually taught her about the restoration as he helped her prepare her lesson!

I was so happy that I had been wrong with my assumptions! Through all of this Bill did not feel at all well, but with prayer and a Priesthood blessing it was very successful!

Saturday evening we had been invited to a get acquainted social in our apartment building. Now I have to admit I was kind of dreading this, especially when I realized that I would have to attend alone. I did bake brownies for it, so when we got home I sucked it up and took them upstairs. I am naturally shy! But because I put forth the effort in a situation that was important not only for us but for other missionaries that will replace us, I was able to greet and chat with everyone. I now know a lot more of my neighbors by face and name. I am so thankful for the blessings of Saturday!!!

Bill had an important responsibility on Sunday too. Medea (Yzing Zhang) from The People’s Republic of China, had asked him to confirm her a member of the church and give her the Holy Ghost. We have been involved with teaching Medea for a long time. She has been investigating for over a year and a half. She called last week and asked if he would baptize her but because we had the Youth Conference assignment he could not. She then asked him to perform the confirmation during Sacrament meeting in her ward on Sunday.

There are a lot of things that are difficult to describe in words. Greeting this good person again after not seeing her for a while, and feeling of her spirit and commitment was overwhelming. She knows that she is a child of God and that she wants Him and the Savior to be a part of her life. She had to make many changes and sacrifices in order to be baptized. Monday she left to return home to China for a month. Thank goodness we will still be here when she returns. She is going to go on line to check out the ward nearest her home. It will take her 9 hours by train to go, so she may just have internet contact with them. She really wants to know how the Church works in her country.

The meeting at Downend ward was great. We were sad we did not get to see our friends in Southmead. Two of our sweet YSA women spoke and for a rest song we sang: “Onward Christian Soldiers”. Which in and of itself is fun to sing, even more enjoyable were the three brothers on the front row signing the song in unison. They have a deaf brother in the ward and one or two members sign to him and with him every week!

Sometimes when we are in the middle of living life we forget to see how remarkable it really is. I am so thankful for these experiences. I am thankful that I can write them down and share them. The best part about this blog is that I can save these moments forever!

A typical Wed meal. This was a couple of weeks ago

We have one more week until Lindsey and Jared come to visit. I am so excited! It will be great to share this wonderful country with them but also to share them with the people we love here!

We have lost two dear friends while we have been serving. I knew we would probably miss some births, but it never occurred to me that we would miss some funerals… Love to the Oscarson family.

As always thank you all for your prayers and support! Sometimes you all seem very far away. Thank goodness for SKYPE, Facebook and the Internet!

You can tell by my cork board that I have been here a long time. Can you detect a theme?