A Child's Hands: Two Months Three Worlds

Two months ago today, I entered the MTC. In those two months so much has changed. In matter of minutes you are taken from your family and thrown into a strange world where everyone is a missionary and every moment not spent eating or sleeping is spent at a desk studying. Right when you get comfortable there you are taken from your new family, thrown on a plane for a few hours and then you end up in the field. The people that you interact with are constantly changing. Members, investigators, other missionaries. One day they could be a part of your life and the next day gone. The opposite also occurs though and those are the amazing moments, when someone goes from a complete stranger to a best friend. It is charity that allows us to do this, charity is the motivating factor of missionary work. Charity is the pure love of Christ but that means two things. It means that we should have love like Christ, but we also need to have pure love for Christ. When we love Christ he is able to increase our ability to love those we serve.

This week we met Lamoni (once again forgive my cheesy names). Before I got here my companions had left him a Book of Mormon. We kept trying to get in contact with him but he was never at home, and the one time he was he was drunk. Finally though we found him at home and sober. We asked if he had read, expecting the typical answer of I didn't get time, but instead we heard yes. He was in 1 Nephi 13. We were stunned and thrilled and almost jumped on him. In fact we may have frightened him a little. Latter he said that he wanted us to come by everyday, so we have. I think he really enjoys seeing us giddy with joy when we visit him and learn about how well he is doing. He is so smart and is one of very few investigators who really understands and applies the scriptures. He told us that every time we come by he is busy but decides to take the time out anyway and when he goes back to what he was doing it is easier to stay focused and get everything done. He also told us that he notices a difference on the days that he reads the Book of Mormon. The miracle that lead us to him was a bucket of paint. We had a set appointment with his neighbors, who I don't have a name for yet, but when we got there they were painting their house and couldn't talk. So we crossed the street and found Lamoni.

Everyday is full of miracles and yesterday we were able to see the power of setting prayerful goals. Our weekly goal for investigators at church was three and our goal for new investigators was six so we needed two more. During the week we had met with three investigators and found rides for them on Sunday but Friday one of them canceled. Saturday night we got a call from an investigator who told us that he wanted to walk to church with us so we were back at three. Then on our way to church we got a call from Lamoni telling us that he got called into work, he is a landscaper, which meant we were back down to two investigators. We had talked with a few others but they were trying to borrow a car so we weren't sure. We waited until sacrament started but no one else showed up. Then after sacrament we were told that one of our investigators, who I have never met, was there for the meeting and sat with a family who had met them a few weeks ago. She got there late and left in a rush so we couldn't talk to her but she was there! Next goal was two new investigators. We went to a meeting with Samson and his mother, Suerte, who we had met before, but she listened and she had read a little in the Book of Mormon with her son. There was investigator number one. On the way home from that appointment we found Hansel, a previous investigator that had been dropped. We found out that after he was dropped he finally read. We got to pick him back up again! Two investigators. The Lord will help us reach our righteous goals!

The not so well set up library bike rack. Yes that is my bike.