Hello family and Friends,
I am very sorry for this week and if I donºt respond to everyone individually this week but I do want all of you to know that I read every single email and that is what keeps me going when I am tired. Hey did you guys know that missionary work never stops? hahaha. So for this week I really just want to share a few stories that have really touched my heart and I am in hopes that they also touch yours. So our zone leader had a meeting with President Kretly and Pres has asked that we get every mozambican youth to serve a mission. As we pondered that big task along with continuing our other work he also shared a story that pres shared with him. There is a young man, preparing for a mission here somewhere in mozambique. And Pres was interviewing him one day and he said how many siblings do you have? and he responded and said i am the oldest of 7. And President asked oh so what do your parents do for work? And the youth said, I dont have parents anymore. I take care of the family. And president asked well who is going to take care of your family while you are gone on your mission. And he said, I donºt know, the only family we have is my grandma and she only comes about once a month but she is always drunk. So when I leave no one will be there. President asked him if he has the clothes sufficient to serve and he said no he doesnºt. After all this, president asked him, so you are still going to serve a mission with all these trials? and the young man responded and said president, its a commandment from God isnºt it? Who am I to turn down a commandment of God. I must go and do what the Lord asks of me.... Often times we wonder why we do things, or that its too hard. We have come to find that we often have it much easier than others. And there are others who sacrifice much more than we ever have. This young man is one of them. So my point of sharing this story is to say, we all need to sacrifice in this life, never lose sight of why we do it. The other story I would like to share happened yesterday to me. We have this man in our area who is more than often very very drunk and so we always help him home and get into his little place to sleep. We have really come to be friends with this old drunk man haha. And he often is so drunk to where nothing he says makes sense and so we laugh and laugh. But yesterday as we passed by he was just sitting outside his house and so we said lets just go say goodnight to him. As we sat down, we realized that he hadnºt drank yet that day. So we talked and as we talked we came to know this man. We asked him questions about his life, where he is from, how many kids he has, why he drinks and questions like that. We came to find out, this mans life isnºt easy. But also, he wants to follow christ. But people like us always pass by and see him as just the funny drunk guy. As we came to find out, he is actually one of the sweetest old men you can possibly know. He called us his grandsons and thanked us for our friendship. We realized in that moment, that there is not one single person in this world who is too lost or not important to our Heavenly Father. He wants every single child back home. It was one of the most special moments in my life. The point of this story is to help everyone understand that each and everyone of us is a child of god and we cant judge. My last thing I want to say is I get emails from just about everyone talking about how they want and pray for missionary experiences. Something I have learned here is that after praying, we can not sit back and expect god to just do the rest. We actually have to do something. We cant wait for someone to ask us about the gospel, we have to do the work. That includes talking to people who we may not think will accept the gospel. We cant expect God to do it all. Often times we pray for missionary experiences when we should be praying for the courgage to go out and do it ourselves. The Lord understands its hard, but he also expects us to act. I love you all, and I love hearing from you! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Remember the true meaning of christmas as we come closer!
Time at the beach
We sent a balloon kit in his package - for making animals and other
shapes out of the balloons. We figured he would have a good
time with it and also enjoy sharing with these children
that he loves so much.
An adorable little boy!
So totally Justin......
Christmas ornaments from his package. The white ones
his Grandma Lynn did on her sewing machine.
Wish you could see them better! The homemade ones
were from Danen and Kimberly's kids.
Enjoying a cool drink on the hot beach. Can it really be
that warm somewhere else in this world? We have
been frozen for a week now!
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