Fire and Brimstone

To quote Brigham Young about some of his mission in England: (his spelling, not mine)
“It would be a difficult task to give a description of the country from Birmingham to Woverhampton. I never saw any thing that comes so near the description of the Lake of fire & Brimstone Spoken of by the Revelator John as several miles of that country for it is one universal mass of coal pits & Iron mines & while thousands of human beings are under ground at work in the midst of fire, Brimston, sulpher, Gas & cole &c. the whole face of the earth & heavens air & horizon men, women, & houses, are filled & Coverd with the composition of fire, cinders, Gas, sut [soot], & smooke of their miserry & labours that assended up out of their piles, firnesses, & pitts from day to day & from year to year.”

It feels that hot.

It's so hot.

So so hot.

We're melting. Crazy story, it's so hot that the high schools around here canceled their sports practices, indoor and outdoor. It's so hot that a lawyer was saying he was kinda nervous about running a 5k in the heat, and during it he collapsed and died. Just some highlights from the Bakersfield news. People give us lots of water, no need to worry about us.

Anyway, it's actually been an alright week for us. We had interviews with President Layton, and he told us that we should head out right after we wake up in the morning, so that we can spend time working before it's so hot. He also said it because people here know it's hot, and they also tend to be outside more in the mornings and evenings. We took his counsel, and the next day started walking at 6:50. While we were out, a part-member family we know stopped us and asked us to come by to teach them that evening! We knew the husband (who's a member) is kinda wacky and has been inactive for a long time, but we went by and his wife was actually really interested! So we found a new investigator the first time we did it! Obedience to the counsel of our leaders definitely brings blessings.

We also had a chance to teach a less-active family. We jumped through some hoops arranging things so that we could bring along a member, but it worked out really well! It turns out that the member we brought and the husband of the family grew up in the same ward! Crazy coincidence. We couldn't have known that was going to happen. We were about done, and the husband mentioned having some medical issues, and we asked if he'd had a blessing. He told us he'd just been thinking of that. We gave him a blessing and it was so great. I think it helped him a lot, even if he's not healed right away.

We had exchanges on Friday! I got to go with Elder Hayes and Elder Rindlisbacher in a car. I haven't proselyted in a car for so long... We worked hard, but had a lot of nothing happen. Oh well :/

The next day we got up and helped someone move. With five missionaries it went pretty fast. Normally we try to avoid that on Saturday, but it was extenuating circumstances for the poor people we were helping. After exchanges ended, we had a couple appointments that were supposed to happen, but didn't end up happening. Which stinks. But c'est la vie, that's the way the missionary cookie crumbles.

Sunday was ordinary. Unfortunately none of our investigators (or anyone else we were working with) came to church. It's hard some weeks! Like I get it, 9 seems early, but some of our ancestors crossed oceans and mountains and fought in wars for the privilege of being able to come to church. At least try it :P

I've been thinking a lot about prayer this week. I studied some in the bible about the history of prayer, and what effect it had. It's not very detailed, but there's still a lot to learn. Especially from Genesis. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are known to have inherited the Celestial Kingdom, so I feel like their attitude of talking to God is a good thing to study and possibly emulate. And it really was talking! I guess most of us don't have such clear revelations that we can record them as the ancient patriarchs did, but we still do get answers to prayers. Sometimes it takes time, and sometimes our prayers have to change a little, but bit by bit we'll gain understanding and become more like Christ by talking to our Heavenly Father in His name.

Thank you for supporting your missionaries!
Elder Adams