I don’t even know how to write!!!! I have no time and so many thoughts. I feel as if I have digressed to about a third grade level of writing. Bear with me please as I try and get my head and this paper in line.
WOW. I have never done so much in one week before. We taught 34 lessons…..That is insane for this area. We literally tripled most areas in our zone. And it is not because of me, don’t misunderstand me I am not saying that. I think it is because the ward is great and we work hard. That is what it takes.
We picked up 4 new investigators and set 4 baptismal dates! Pretty good oddsJ
I went on back to back exchanges. So 48 hours of solid training, but I guess all my hours are training technically because I am literally training as well. It was exciting stuff because I completely ran my area and tried to train/do all the things my mission president asked me to do. I think I was being pushed on by some divine force. On the first exchange we contacted into 3 people on the pacific coast highway. We set up a time to meet with them the next day, or exchange two. So with a new companion the next day I taught Cameron, the other two didn’t show. We set a date with him and heard his story. Turns out he had given up drugs two days earlier and was trying to change his life. Timing my friends, timing. The next day we meet with another of the three, Katie. She is adorable! Her story in so unbelievable I can’t even write it all down. 67 days ago she quite the drug Heroin cold turkey-that is a nearly impossible thing to do. She described the pain to us and said it was as if someone was ripping her bones out of her body. She said she would pray 3 times a day to see if there was a God because she didn’t know. On the 5th day of this pain she got on her knees and suddenly the pain was completely gone. Gone. She then promised God she would find and follow a spiritual path. Fast forward to us on the 101(coast highway), when we asked her to learn about the peace God can give and she said yes. When I told her the first vision we both started crying. She said she could feel the emotions in my voice and the way I said it. She said the words had entered my heart. That touched me because it is always good to hear from someone else that you believe. I asked her if she believed it could happen and she said yes because she had been encircled in a light that one day. She said that when she heard how he described his experience it was just like how she remembers hers. She said the radiant and glowing light was something she felt. She asked the most insightful and beautiful questions. Literally all her questions where the 5 lessons we teach. We could have taught her everything if we had time! She came to church on Sunday and just loved it. Gah it is so good. When we asked her about being baptized she said she would pick a date to pray about. We said September 6th and she countered by saying that was too far away…. Haha I have never heard that before. So August 30th it is!
We taught this investigator and he is trying to figure out if he believes in God. He is way too philosophical for his own good. He counters everything! When we keep talking about the Book of Mormon he said something that was so powerful to me. He said, “every time you open that book and read from it, your eyes light up.” What a powerful reminder to us all. The Book of Mormon must be opened and read in order for it to light up our lives. Read it.
Robert. Oh my dear Robert. I know God is teaching me things with him. I have never cared for someone so much. We had a talk this week and said that we can meet once a week and discuss his questions but that was it. He said ok and then we left. Normally we invite him to everything that is happening but we stopped. We get this text form him Saturday night and it says we need to come over to the gas station and see him. We drive over and go inside. Turns out he took himself down to the stake center in Del Mar for a baptism. He then tells us that something changed. He has not been getting answers to his prayers. We keep having him ask if the Book of Mormon is true because that is what everyone tells us to have him ask but apparently that is not the right question for him. He said that he couldn’t sleep so he started praying and he asked God hid question. He said he asked God why he was scared of a bunch of Mormons and why he felt so alone. He said in that moment he didn’t feel alone anymore. How beautiful is that? He threw his hands in the air and said “if you had told me a few months ago I was scared of a bunch of Mormons I would have laughed at you! But I am!” He said he was much closer to baptism now. We then talked about God’s plan and answers that He has been giving him. Right before I was leaving Encinitas, Robert prayed and told God that if I didn’t leave he would get baptized. Robert told me that he knew without a doubt that God sent me to him. I was a gift from God to him. He said when I got transferred to the YSA ward he knew God heard him. God didn’t let me leave Robert. That is something to think about. I have been turning it over in my head for a while. He said no other person/missionary understands him but me. Maybe Robert needs me as much as I have needed him. I have learned endless amounts of things from my friend Robert (including patience). Oh what a conversation that was- just chilling in the mobile across the counter from Robert looking at the cigarettes behind his head and the wine on the shelf next to me.
Thoughts and inspiration and revelation that I received this week:
We don’t earn grace, we accept grace. Grace is already there in full force we just have to be willing to allow it to access our hearts and change our lives. We choose if grace has power over us.
I was teaching someone who talked about how he was struggling with an addiction and didn’t know how to give it up. He said that being in a low place helped him feel Christ and find Him. He talked of how Christ was in very low places and how we are supposed to follow Christ. He thought that maybe going to low dark places was one of the ways he could follow Christ and understand Him. I had this overwhelming thought and idea as he talked and I opened my mouth and said “Christ didn’t go to low places so that we could follow Him; He went to low places so that He could follow us.” That hit me as I said it and it hit him. We both just sat there and let it sink in. It is so true; I hope you can feel the truth of it as well. Christ descended below us all so that He could help us rise above anything- any addiction, sadness, trial or sickness. He went there for us. For you. I know it is true.
I LOVE YOU ALL! Sis Huber
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