Abandonment part 2
Hey friends and family!
This past few weeks have been crazy and fun! Well I finished up my
week of Spanish work on Sunday night when my companion, Sister Hess,
got back to the valley from the area in the mountains of Arizona.
At first I wasn't so sure how well this week would go adjusting to a
new companion again and then having her leave. But this week was
really fun! We get along so well and clicked so fast! It will be sad
to see another friend leaving me so soon :( But her family is excited
to have her back home in Austin, Texas. Before coming to be my
companion she was serving in the Apache Reservation and she was there
for 10 MONTHS!!! That's like more than half of her mission! She told
me that most of the missionaries that serve on one reservation serve
on the other as well so she thinks that my next area will be in the
mountains! I guess we will have to see about that! As far as the work
goes here, it is going, but very slowly... It seems like all of our
investigators are in a pact to avoid us, and our recent converts all
got sick at the same time. So as for actually having teaching
appointments this week, that was a negatory. On the bright side
though, our bishop has asked us to go through the ward list and find
less active and part member families to teach so we have worked on
those lists quite a bit this week. Sister Hess and I have also spent A
TON OF TIME, I mean like hours, putting paper records into our virtual
area book on the iPad. That has been such a blessing. We found some
former investigators and recent convert- part member families that we
contacted and want to meet with us again! I guess when the Lord closes
one door, he opens another. The most amazing lesson we had this week
was that we put Nicole on date to go through the temple for January!
She was wanting to wait until the end of next summer when we first
started meeting, but she feels she is now ready! We are so excited for
her! She is such an amazing lady and she really is trying to do all
she can to bing herself and her family closer to Christ and what he
has planned for them.
For our P-Day today, Sister Hess and I decided to go to the Visitor's
center at the Mesa temple. They just finished remodeling it last week
and it is amazing! There are so many more displays and resources for
members and nonmembers to learn more about the church and what we
believe1 I was so amazed at every new station! Also I am super duper
excited for the Christmas lights at the temple that come on the day
after Thanksgiving. That will be a great opportunity for our
investigators to go to the temple and feel the amazing spirit on the
grounds.
We finally got to see Erica this past week. It had been a while since
we had talked with her and it was so nice to see her. She says that
she might move in with her sister and I think that may help her out a
bit. She always says that it is hard to be the only one that is trying
to do good things at home so if she gets the job she applied fro and
moves in with her sister it will get her away from that a little bit
and she can have the opportunity to recognize the difference that will
make in her life. We brought a member, Briana Charlie, with us to the
lesson and it was so good! We have brought her to lessons before and
she usually is good about talking if we ask her questions but never
really jumps in on her own. But she has been taking a seminary class
at school and learning a lot about the gospel so she feels more
comfortable chiming in whenever she feels prompted and not just when
we ask her. It has been really amazing to see her grow. She told us
after the lesson that she is thinking about going on a mission and I
think that would be so amazing for her and her family. Right now she
is the only member of her family that is active in the church, but she
knows it is true and comes on her own. what an amazing young lady.
So I have been studying the parable of the good samaritan this week
and I had the greatest experience with that story. So I had always
thought of it as the priest and the Levite are the bad guys, don't be
like them. Be like the samaritan who took the time to help the
suffering man. And that is good, but I thought about it a little
different. So in the story, what if we are the man left by the wayside
who FELL into the band of robbers just like we FELL from the presence
of God. In the ancient Judaic practices the priest and the levite
represent the Mosaic Law. They were workers of the temple. they didn't
help the fallen man because they couldn't. The Law of Moses alone
cannot save us. It is only the Good Samaritan (Christ) who can truly
save us completely and fully. If they had stopped to help, they would
not be clean to work in the temple, therefore, they were not
necessarily bad men who had no compassion but in order for everything
to typify of Christ they could not help just as the Law of Moses
cannot save. Mosiah 4:8 says that there is no other means by which
salvation can come, only by and through Jesus Christ.
I love you guys! Feel free to relpy to these emails, I love love love
hearing from you and what is going on in your lives! Thanks for all
the support and early birthday wishes, you make being away form home
like I haven't gone too far :) Keep being amazing like I know you are.
And remember, the still small voice is still small. he won't shout
back or cause a bush to burn of write a message for all of us in a
stone with his finger, but that doesn't mean that he isn't there and
that he doesn't love you. His timing is much different than the world
of instant gratification that we live in today. So be patient, the
answers you seek will come, but only if you are listening.
Love and prayers,
Sister Welch
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