Dear Mom, etc,
I don't even know where to start! Actually I don't even
think I remember anything that has happened in the past week, it was such a
blur! My new companion is Hermana Akre and she is originally from Canada but
her family moved around a lot so she has lived in six other states as well. She
was in Canada the longest though, so that's what she claims as home. I love her
so much! We have worked so hard and laughed so much in the past week. Every
night we come home and it feels like the events of the morning happened a month
ago and not a few hours ago. One blessing I have been given is to work with
companions who are "old" (according to the other 19 year-old
missionaries) and they teach me so much. Hermana Hamblin was almost 24 and
Hermana Akre is 22, and I love their wisdom and maturity. I know that the age
requirement was changed for a reason and that it is all in Heavenly Father's
plan, but I must say that working with the two of them is helping me become a
better 19 year-old missionary.
So, on a fun side note, our investigator disappeared...
(sorry, but his name isn't Waldo) He was going to be baptized on June
27th and I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen (we know have no clue where
he is), but oddly enough I'm not worried about it. He is one of the most
amazing people I have ever met and he motivates me to be a better person.
Examples: he walks miles to get to the church in the unbearable heat carrying a
large print copy of a triple combination (if you've never seen one, they're
gigantic) and even stays to sing with the ward choir. All the years growing up
when I complained about church lasting for three hours, and now he has only
been coming for a few weeks and he is always happy and cheerful and stays for
four hours! Not even the ward members here are willing to do that. And he
always arranges his schedule to make sure he can meet with us. When one of his
friends starting sitting in on the discussions, he bore his testimony about the
Book of Mormon and how things are changing in his life once he started making
an effort to recognize God in his life, and even his friend started talking
about the changes he has seen in him already since he started meeting with us.
We went over to the trailer park where he lives to see if he had come back yet,
and we met with some of his friends and neighbors who we started teaching and
they told us about how he keeps telling them about us and the church and how he
is committed to joining and making changes in his life. And such humility! He
is a single man in his 50s with no connections really with his family, and he
is turning everything around. He taught himself how to read in his 20s and has
been devouring literature ever since. He is now going back to college and
devoting himself to church and activity attendance. So yes, we have no idea
where he is at this moment, but no, I'm not worried about him. We will see him
again, and I can't wait! He truly helps me improve and realize how much I have
been given.
We also had the opportunity to do a lot of service this
week, which was so fun! We went to the Senior Center and painted nails for the
elderly women there, and I couldn't believe how happy they were and grateful
for such a simple service. They have taught me a lot too.
Well, that's all for now! I hope everything is going well
with everyone!
Hermana Burton
No comments:
Post a Comment