Eventful week....a baptism, a storm, and Light the World Concert!
Elder Rose was in good spirits today with quite an eventful week!
One of the highlights this week was is an event called Light the World. Our church hosted many other churches in the area and it was a night of musical performances. President Reber gathered the missionaries and they all sang "Silent Night." Luke said it was awesome and really brought in the Spirit! And then Sister Reber played the piano and sang and again the Spirit was so strong. And then the other churches had some fun upbeat songs. Luke laughed as he told us that one church had a song that sounded a lot like Justin Timerlake or something. He cringed as they set up their DJ equipment on the sacrament table! One of the AP's, Elder Rodriguez, leaned over and said "They're desecrating our church!" ha ha ha! The event started at 7:00 and most of the missionaries had to leave part way through to get home on time but Luke and Elder Pretti were there with one of their investigators that needed an interview with President Reber and so they got to stay until 10:30! And then Luke's taxi friend Victor was there and took them home. What a fun and memorable night!!
It was a busy week and Luke got to go on 2 different exchanges. One was with a newer Elder named Elder Brown from Beaver, UT. Luke loved this kid! He said he was so humble and had such a desire to be a great missionary. He is new so his Spanish is still coming along but Luke has no doubt it will be awesome in no time because during the whole exchange Elder Brown wouldn't speak any English! Luke said it was so refreshing to be with a missionary with such drive who loves the work. Lately he has run into a lot of missionaries that don't even want to be there. So it was a great day. Luke told him that they were heading to an appointment to teach the first lesson on the Restoration and Elder Brown said "I love teaching the Restoration! It's like a Christmas gift everytime I teach it!" Later Luke called Elder Brown so they could do an inventory about how they felt the exchange went and Luke asked him "How's your testimony and how are you feeling spiritually?" Elder Brown responded with bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it has changed his life. He was in tears as he shared with Luke. Wow! What a great kid!
Luke also got to go out with one of the AP's named Elder Rodriguez. This is the missionary that my friend down the street knows! Such a small world!
Another exciting part of the week is that Luke's friends Ellie and Leo got baptized on Sunday!!!! Ellie is the sweetest lady who lost her husband and a son a little while back. Her friend from work invited her to come and take the discussions and on their very first lesson she already wanted to get baptized! And since that lesson she has kept every commitment they have given her! Luke said their baptism was amazing. At first they were worried that people wouldn't attend because it was right after church and usually people go home for siesta, to eat and nap. But they had a great turn out! Luke said Ellie treated her baptism like it was the most important event of her life (which really it is!) She was in tears even before it started. He said Ellie and Leo were both just beaming and looked so happy! She told Leo that they just made a covenant and they are going to keep their commitment and go to church every week. What a beautiful day!
There were some hard parts of the week too...they went to visit a member and for some reason he didn't like Luke and everything Luke would say the member felt like he had to correct him or teach him some lesson. I'm so proud of Luke for keeping his cool. The old Luke probably would have dished it right back to this guy. But obviously Luke came out of there kind of low and bugged and not really feeling the Spirit. As they were walking down the street a guy stopped them. They went and talked to him and he expressed that he wanted to stop drinking and change his life. So they started to teach him a lesson but Luke was still feeling upset from their previous visit and also there were about 20 people a house or two away kind of mocking them and they just didn't have the Spirit. He kept thinking of how he could get the Spirit and it came to him to sing a hymn. When he asked if that would be ok his companion looked at Luke like he was crazy! But they guy said yes and so Luke and his companion sang "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" and Luke said the Spirit was so strong! So they had a great lesson with this guy named Pedro! Looking forward to hearing more about him as they continue to meet with him.
Another day they were working hard but things just weren't falling into place. Plans just kept falling through. They were a little frustrated because at their Zone meeting they had talked about setting goals and then doing everything they could to achieve those goals. They had a goal to find someone new to teach that day but it was already 9:45 and they had had no luck. Luke said out loud that he was bummed that they wouldn't reach their goal that day. But as they were walking they passed a lady and as they passed she said goodnight to them. Luke stopped a little ways away and had the thought to go back. So they went back and started to talk to her. She said she had seem them a couple of days ago and wished they would stop. She had taken the lessons before but had a lot going on in her life. She has just recently lost her husband and a son and she told Luke he looked like her son. She told them she was so grateful they had stopped! What a tender mercy! Luke said it was as if Heavenly Father heard his doubts when he said he was bummed they didn't reach their goal and then he sent them a miracle! He and Elder Pretti just hugged after their meeting with this new friend named Virginia! What a tender mercy!
So great things are happening! Not only in his current area, but he heard that in his old area Formosa that a guy that had once told the missionaries they were false prophets, now has changed his tune and he got baptized! And two other kids that Luke had taught got baptized too! The work is going forth!!!
What an enjoyable post! It would be so easy to want to quit when things don't go well, but not Elder Rose! Love your drive and desire which is fed by your firm testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
ReplyDeleteLuke, so glad you were prompted to sing a hymn, and that one in particular, as a way to regain the spirit. Interesting that it WAS the spirit that prompted you to do it, but it came strong enough with the singing of the hymn that you could have such a sweet teaching experience with Pedro. Music can be so very powerful!
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