Goodbye Olive Knolls! It's been a good couple of weeks, but alas! We're getting replaced by sisters! And I'll be headed off to Oaks ward in South Bakersfield (thus came the name of the email. shout out to my mom for singing that song.) My new companion will be Elder Tasi, from New Zealand. He's going home. This sounds familiar :P Oaks is a rich area. Like I thought this area was pretty affluent, but Oaks ward has a gated community within a gated community. Why??
The fourth of July was uneventful for us. Pretty much the same as every other day, except we had to come back to the apartment early. The US is a cool thing at least. Grateful for freedom.
It was so nice Wednesday morning. And by nice I mean it was like 95 degrees with a slight breeze. Even if it doesn't get that much hotter later in the day, somehow it still is more stifling at 3 than at 11.
We did have an interesting experience that morning, actually. We were out tracting, and a guy answered the door. We explained who we were and why we were there, and he told us that he already had a relationship with Christ. I guess he did recognize we had something though, because he kept talking with us, then asked if he could pray with us for a friend of his. He'd been having a hard time, but was focused on helping his friend and asking for blessings for them! That's a little bit of true Christian living. He mentioned in his prayer his gratitude for God sending us to him when he was sorrowful and building his faith through a sign like us. Hopefully he'll listen another day, but today we were just there to tell him that God was mindful. I can't complain, especially with all the times the same has been done for me.
After we planned on Thursday, I started to pump up one of the tires on my bike, and as I took the pump off, the tube burst right at the bottom of the valve stem. So I need a new tube. On the bright side, it's the only one I've needed in six months, which is pretty good in my opinion for a stock tube from Target. Still a great way to start the workday though ;P
After district meeting we ran by the bike shop to get a new tube for my bike and to make sure it fit. Since they didn't have a normal one of the right size with an ordinary valve, they gave me a puncture-resistant one for cheaper. Bike shop people are some of the nicest people ever, seriously. Then we met lots more people who "weren't interested" or "had a church." How many churchs are there that all ya'll can already have one? Pretty sure there are too many people too fill the churches in this area, some of them must be lying ;P
I don't know what else to write about this week. I mean, we're being scattered to the four winds.
The Book of Mormon really is written for our day. I've always heard that and seen it at times, but it's become very evident this week. There was an article in the new Ensign by Elder Bednar about Zion's camp, and how one of our potential challenges is peace and prosperity. That happens more times than I can count in the Book of Mormon. More than any other sin, I feel like the ancient prophets warned against pride. The Nephites prospered and then grew prideful, which meant the Lord could no longer bless and protect them- they were slowly led away by a flaxen cord to destruction. While many of us have our own trials that help us be humble (believe me, I know!), it's still a potential danger. Never has it been so easy to retreat from the world into our own little bubbles, where we are seemingly free of obligation. Unfortunately, the peace and prosperity experienced by the Nephites could only be achieved by actively seeking out and ministering to the less-fortunate, and continually calling upon God to protect and help them to be humble.
On the bright side, the many worldly comforts we enjoy enable us to do work on a magnitude never seen before! A single message shared on facebook by a teenage member may reach more people in the course of several hours than we do in a week. The ancient prophets knew that the churches they helped build up would eventually fall into apostasy, but they tried their best, their very very best anyway. They knew that besides the souls they could help save then, their experiences would help us, those living in this great and last dispensation, and that knowledge gave them great joy. I know the Book of Mormon was written to help us know our Redeemer, no matter our situation, and I am grateful for this wonderful church and our modern-day prophets and apostles that invite us to come unto Christ.
Thank you for your support!
Elder Adams
No comments:
Post a Comment