This was a great week! After General Conference and the excitement of a new transfer, everything is starting to come together. There was nothing too crazy at the beginning of the week, but this Saturday was crazy! We had our lesson with Marisol, the mother with two kids and a very rough past. We brought a young couple named the Stephensons with us, and they were amazing. As she slowly opened up, Marisol began to cry and just let everything out. We got to our simple message of the life of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, I shared a scripture in Spanish to her, Alma 36:21. After reading I looked up and the spirit just continued to build. Elder Berry then read her a letter that his mom had written to Marisol. As he read, Marisol's countenance slowly began to build, and she absolutely loved it. A story his mom shared exactly matched an experience Marisol had had. I have had few experiences in my life where the spirit is burning up the room that I'm in, but this was one of those times. She came to church the next day and loved it. After that great experience, we had a dinner with a nonmember family we had met and offered to help with their Eagle project. Before dinner, we knocked around their neighborhood a little bit, and I got the worst door retaliation I'd ever had. After we knocked, I saw someone check through the blinds before banging on the door for a solid five seconds. As we walked away I heard him banging on the window, making a specific hand sign at us through the blinds. It's incredibly difficult for me to understand why people are so aggressive, and it truly makes me feel for them and want to do whatever I can to improve their situation by any means. Opposition is real. Then we had our dinner, which was really sweet. Apparently, it's a pretty rare experience to eat with people who aren't members of the church, but I definitely enjoyed it. Sunday we had Don Smith, the preacher/doctorate in theology man we're teaching, at church with us. He's an incredibly happy man and truly enjoyed our Elder quorum meeting which was awesome. My simple studies this week have been very spirit filled as I read my scriptures. It's as simple as that sometimes. Just read with a starting and ending prayer each day as possible, and the simple moments will come. Though, as great weeks always do, I had a really tough moment. Spanish has been really tough for me, and as I sat down with Elder Clayton to study, he just asked how I was doing and I broke down. Crying can be good, that's for sure, but I didn't even realize that I'd been so frustrated with myself lately. Luckily, after that long time to rededicate myself to improving myself, I went out and had long conversations with about ten Spanish people. Something I've truly learned is that sometimes the Lord blesses us with the things we want with opportunities to excessive those gifts, then it's our job to step up and act. If there's one thing I love now, it's studying the scriptures. I find so much joy in doing so even if it's just simple little things.
A couple of talks I heard and really liked this week are as follows:
1. Why 1820?
2. 17 Points of the True Church
"By small and simple things are great things brought to pass" Alma 37:6
This must be true, especially if the Lord trusts me in any way, so if you're feeling down or dont feel that you measure up, realize that you are perfect for the Lord to work through.
Elder Shepherd
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