Family and Friends!
Good week. Had a very productive mini cambio and we were able to help some sisters overcome some testimony and stress difficulties. It is all about little plans, people. We, as latter day saints and as children of God, are born with a grand vision, but let me just tell you how necessary it is that we make ourselves little goals to get there. GOALS! Not even just soccer kind, but the kind that helps us accept ourselves and the Atonement, the kind that helps us really be saved by grace, that helps us progress and change day by day.
We had a great companionship experience this weekend- we're teaching a 23 year old and she is great. I knew her before, actually, but she was still in her partying, insincere phase when I first met her, and now she is really ready to change. She had the night shift in her bar job on Saturday, which went until 5 in the morning. She said she'd do everything she could to wake up and come to church, but we were worried for her, and decided to fast. We added another family to the fast, because we also reeeeally wanted them to come to church and keep progressing. (This family is the first complete family that I've ever taught in my mission. They are so funny and the dad is so hungry for the word of God! If we can only keep his two sons entertained.... Oh boy, that 8 year old is a crazy one, and the little one has waaaaay more energy than any other 2 year old I've seen. We're trying to help the mom balance between caring for the kids and listening to the lessons. Hard one.) We fasted together for them and they all came to church!! It was so great, and we felt so blessed.
I was also really impressed by something that Hermana P said- she is the Gospel Principles teacher, and our lesson was about the Atonement this week. She studied so much, and said she was so anxious to teach it well that she fasted in preparation for her class. How many of you teachers out there do that every once in a while? We never quite know when the words that we say, the scriptures we share, the testimony we give, will have an effect on someone's eternity. I can't even tell you how many times that I've been touched by a humble teacher, shaped by the Spirit they helped me feel.
Sunday ended a little harder than usual. We visited a family that I really love here, and found the Dad on one of his grumpy days. As we talked, he basically unloaded on us all the bitterness and disappointment and hurt that he's saved up from all his years in the church. That isn't a really new occurrence- I've jokingly come to think that part of our callings as missionaries is to take the poisonous barbs that people sometimes have to spit as part of their spiritual healing process. His issue was based on several experiences with leaders in the church, and he went so far as to say that he can no longer feel the Spirit in church and doubts if it is the environment in which he wants to raise his daughter.
I can take that, I've seen it before. What really affected me was listening to his heartbroken spouse, a cheerful, lovely, faithful, covenant keeping returned missionary. She just sobbed as she said to him "You can't let that keep you down. You think I haven`t seen those things? You think I didn't see that every day as a missionary? I do not go to church for leaders or for callings, nor do I even go for you or our daughter. I go because I believe in Christ, because I know He lives and I know He leads the church even when His tools are imperfect men. Why can`t you see that?"
I don't think I've been so bold in calling someone to repentance in quite a while. We did what we could, but he was en-caged in his bitterness and wasn't about to let it go in that short hour with us. Walking away from that lesson, I felt a deep sorrow that I haven't felt in a long time. Let me just promise each one of you, as I know I have before, there is NOTHING worth distancing yourself from the church. This man goes every Sunday out of sincere love for his spouse, but he does not feel the Spirit, and he fails to see that his self-righteous stubbornness is causing her a type of suffering that no faithful woman should have to endure. There is no grudge, no swell of pride, no excuse or event that can validly excuse us from the commandments of God. That man is experiencing a living damnation- a literal damnation of personal progress, the sucking of spiritual strength. It hurt so much to see, especially because I know what kind of man he is.
That is the other hard part- knowing that he is still such a good man. So generous, so humorous and funny and intelligent, so loving and selfless, so considerate and kind. I hope that we all understand that God never stops working to save men like that, never stops working to save each one of us and salvage the divine qualities that He has placed in each one of us. There is always hope, always a way to turn ourselves around and be a little better. I believe that. I know that. I have seen and felt that, and part of me feels that I will spend my whole life preaching the reality of repentance, the real meaning of Christ's saving gift. What does it mean to you?
My heart burns as I write you about this. It has been a long time since I cried while writing a letter, but just believe in my sincerity and real, living testimony of these things. God is not just a distant figure for me- I know Him. His Only Begotten is not only a Bible story, but the foundation of my entire life and being. There is nothing else. There is no greater fount of joy, no grander place of rest. He really is the one.
I love you each so much. What I most wish is that we each might seek that Christ of which has been spoken. I pray, and preach, and work for that every day.
Yours,
Hermana Oldroyd
Erica and Hna Baturite
Good week. Had a very productive mini cambio and we were able to help some sisters overcome some testimony and stress difficulties. It is all about little plans, people. We, as latter day saints and as children of God, are born with a grand vision, but let me just tell you how necessary it is that we make ourselves little goals to get there. GOALS! Not even just soccer kind, but the kind that helps us accept ourselves and the Atonement, the kind that helps us really be saved by grace, that helps us progress and change day by day.
We had a great companionship experience this weekend- we're teaching a 23 year old and she is great. I knew her before, actually, but she was still in her partying, insincere phase when I first met her, and now she is really ready to change. She had the night shift in her bar job on Saturday, which went until 5 in the morning. She said she'd do everything she could to wake up and come to church, but we were worried for her, and decided to fast. We added another family to the fast, because we also reeeeally wanted them to come to church and keep progressing. (This family is the first complete family that I've ever taught in my mission. They are so funny and the dad is so hungry for the word of God! If we can only keep his two sons entertained.... Oh boy, that 8 year old is a crazy one, and the little one has waaaaay more energy than any other 2 year old I've seen. We're trying to help the mom balance between caring for the kids and listening to the lessons. Hard one.) We fasted together for them and they all came to church!! It was so great, and we felt so blessed.
I was also really impressed by something that Hermana P said- she is the Gospel Principles teacher, and our lesson was about the Atonement this week. She studied so much, and said she was so anxious to teach it well that she fasted in preparation for her class. How many of you teachers out there do that every once in a while? We never quite know when the words that we say, the scriptures we share, the testimony we give, will have an effect on someone's eternity. I can't even tell you how many times that I've been touched by a humble teacher, shaped by the Spirit they helped me feel.
Sunday ended a little harder than usual. We visited a family that I really love here, and found the Dad on one of his grumpy days. As we talked, he basically unloaded on us all the bitterness and disappointment and hurt that he's saved up from all his years in the church. That isn't a really new occurrence- I've jokingly come to think that part of our callings as missionaries is to take the poisonous barbs that people sometimes have to spit as part of their spiritual healing process. His issue was based on several experiences with leaders in the church, and he went so far as to say that he can no longer feel the Spirit in church and doubts if it is the environment in which he wants to raise his daughter.
I can take that, I've seen it before. What really affected me was listening to his heartbroken spouse, a cheerful, lovely, faithful, covenant keeping returned missionary. She just sobbed as she said to him "You can't let that keep you down. You think I haven`t seen those things? You think I didn't see that every day as a missionary? I do not go to church for leaders or for callings, nor do I even go for you or our daughter. I go because I believe in Christ, because I know He lives and I know He leads the church even when His tools are imperfect men. Why can`t you see that?"
I don't think I've been so bold in calling someone to repentance in quite a while. We did what we could, but he was en-caged in his bitterness and wasn't about to let it go in that short hour with us. Walking away from that lesson, I felt a deep sorrow that I haven't felt in a long time. Let me just promise each one of you, as I know I have before, there is NOTHING worth distancing yourself from the church. This man goes every Sunday out of sincere love for his spouse, but he does not feel the Spirit, and he fails to see that his self-righteous stubbornness is causing her a type of suffering that no faithful woman should have to endure. There is no grudge, no swell of pride, no excuse or event that can validly excuse us from the commandments of God. That man is experiencing a living damnation- a literal damnation of personal progress, the sucking of spiritual strength. It hurt so much to see, especially because I know what kind of man he is.
That is the other hard part- knowing that he is still such a good man. So generous, so humorous and funny and intelligent, so loving and selfless, so considerate and kind. I hope that we all understand that God never stops working to save men like that, never stops working to save each one of us and salvage the divine qualities that He has placed in each one of us. There is always hope, always a way to turn ourselves around and be a little better. I believe that. I know that. I have seen and felt that, and part of me feels that I will spend my whole life preaching the reality of repentance, the real meaning of Christ's saving gift. What does it mean to you?
My heart burns as I write you about this. It has been a long time since I cried while writing a letter, but just believe in my sincerity and real, living testimony of these things. God is not just a distant figure for me- I know Him. His Only Begotten is not only a Bible story, but the foundation of my entire life and being. There is nothing else. There is no greater fount of joy, no grander place of rest. He really is the one.
I love you each so much. What I most wish is that we each might seek that Christ of which has been spoken. I pray, and preach, and work for that every day.
Yours,
Hermana Oldroyd
Erica and Hna Baturite
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