Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Adventures in FLMTH Week 14: "They Stuck Us In The Boonies With A Subaru, What Did They Expect Us To Do?"

Previously on Adventures In FLMTH .....

*cue highlight reel of various activities from last email*

*cue theme song, opening credits*

For the first time in awhile, I actually have a lot to talk about! This has been a fantastic week for us over here in the good old Philomath Ward. Not only did we see a lot of miracles and success, but we also had a ton of fun doing it.

So, funny story. Our vehicle coordinator, Elder Mabey, sent us a text that said our car was in for an oil change and a tire rotation. So we being the prompt Elders we are, drove into Corvallis to get everything checked out. We waited for a good hour for everything to get done, but they had free popcorn so all was well. The man at Les Schwab said he couldn't do a tire rotation at all because our tread was so worn. We called our vehicle coordinator again to get approval for an alignment adjustment and a new set of tires. Keep this all in the back of your head.

On a more missionary minded side of things, we had a number of awesome lessons this week. And I'm talking like actual sit-down doctrinal PMG discussions with a good portion of our investigators. If you remember Kay, the former investigator we talked to off the street last week, then you'll be excited to hear that we taught her the first half of the restoration. The spirit was super strong and we were able to help answer most of her questions. We talked about how Christ, through his Atonement, has felt all of our pains and trials. Kay seemed to really connect with that; getting emotional even.

We also had some good lessons with our usual bunch, and a few others. We found this guy named Steve who's really seeking to turn his life around. We promised and testified to him that the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon will help him through anything and everything.

We also were able to see Mark a few times this week. He had been extremely upset about something and actually fasted from cigarettes for a whole day; the longest he's gone without smoking in years. He even came to church this week! Baby steps.

One of the things Elder Searcy really wanted to try this week was getting out to some of the nethermost parts of our area and find people to teach out there. So, we drove out about 10 or so minutes to this little blink-and-you'll-miss-it "town" called Wren. We decided to travel down this road a bit to see what the door knocking scene would look like round these parts, so off we went. We thought that, eventually, the road would circle back around into Wren and we could get back to work, but it just kept going and going and going and going and going for MILES. After much confusion, picture taking, and driving, we end up in a place where we could finally identify where the heck we were. Turns out, we were in the city of Burnt Woods, which is roughly 20 miles outside of Philomath and out of our area. Whoops. This week's title is a quote from Elder Searcy about the whole escapade.

Speaking of Elder Searcy, it was his birthday on the 29th. Everyone wish him a happy birthday!

So, back to our car story. We go back into Les Schwab to get our stuff all sorted out, and somehow they take even longer this time. But again, free popcorn so it's all good. After everything is said and done, the guy says to us that the tires we were driving on were SUPER unsafe and they were practically showing wire and ready to give out pretty much whenever. That would have been nice to know before we, you know, drove out into the middle of where-the-freak-are-we nowhere. But, we survived to tell the tale.

Finishing out our week was actually really special. We had interviews with President Russell on Monday. Now, one of the things that I've been struggling with as of late is knowing whether or not I've been making a difference out here. I've felt like the lack of success, or whatever it is you want to call it, is based off of me and what I'm doing or not doing that's wrong. I spent a lot of this week praying about it, asking Heavenly Father if I'm really doing what I'm supposed to and if I'm making a difference. In my interview with President Russell he said something to me out of the blue, completely out of context. "I see a new light in you."

The spirit confirmed to me very quickly that that was my answer. Showing the light of Christ through our examples isn't something we can fake; there's no counterfeit to being a vessel of the spirit. My testimony of God being able to work through us, no matter how small or insignificant we may feel, has been something I've treasured on my mission thus far. If you're struggling with thoughts of self doubt or questions of whether or not you're doing what the Lord wants of you, know that you're doing great! Far more than you think or can even see. So, let your light shine forth!

I love you all so much! Good luck in school for all those who are back in action. I'm praying for you all! Thank you for all that you're doing.

Give 'Em Heaven,

Elder Jensen

I have no idea where I am

He has no idea where we are

No comments:

Post a Comment