Hope you are all healthy and happy back home or wherever you are. It's been another crazy week! As I write this, I look back at a week full of even more opposition...loads of it. Yet there have been so many blessings and miracles--it's sunny again today! The weather has been so good here lately, but it's still hard to predict. I feel bad for the weather man here.
So we had a bunch of teaches lined up for the week, but unfortunately every single one of them flogged (ditched) us. It was really hard, because I had super high hopes for all of them! However, we were able to make contact with Louise, who is currently our most solid investigator. We were supposed to meet with her on Monday, but we learned that she got a nasty case of tonsillitis and was in the hospital. No worries though, she lived! Hopefully we can line up some more solid teaches for this next week. Go Witney!
Lots of work with the members this week! We got to do service at the Suttons' on Saturday. I got to hit wood with a hammer--not because I missed the nail, but because we were literally destroying all sorts to use as firewood to give to the ward. It was so fun! I managed to escape with no major injuries. On Friday we visited the Matthews family. They are in a place called Shillingford and they live on the River Themes. Not by it, on it! They've got a river boat just like Candace. Really nice boat, too.
Friday was actually a really interesting day. We were just about to leave the flat when we got a call from ASDA (grocery store), telling us that they were outside with a bunch of food for us. It was from Elder Reynolds's family! Since they live in the UK, they can order food to be delivered directly to our flat. It was great! Pretty good birthday present for E Reynolds (turned 19 last week!). It feels really good to have a fridge full of food! Sometimes I just open it just to admire it for a bit.
We've been visiting Candace lately at the shop where she works, but she's been backing off from the Church a bit. It breaks my heart, but we may have to let her go for a while. We're not dropping her, just giving her some space for now so she can ponder about things. But sure enough, a miracle followed! While contacting we bumped into a lady called Irene from Uganda. She told us that she was a member of the Church, but I thought she was taking the mick out of us (pulling our leg). Turns out she got baptized in Uganda 20 years ago and she is now living in Witney. We found another member here that nobody even knew about! How many more are there? We are excited to work with Irene and she's excited to come to church again.
We did loads of tracting and street contacting this week. Hours and hours and hours! I enjoyed it though because it was pretty warm. One day we were speed walking to catch up to an elderly couple--who were surprisingly quick. After we talked to them, a police officer approached us and asked us a whole bunch of interrogating questions like who we were and what we do and loads of other stuff. We were really startled. First of all the police here are pretty intense, and second of all we've never had anybody actually come up to us! I guess there've been some complaints/concerns about us lately from the residents here because we chase people down. The officer told us to stop doing that, got all of our information, and then left! I didn't really know what to think, but if that's not opposition then I don't know what is! We were talking afterwards and reckoned that it would have been really cool to go to jail for the day, Alma and Amulek style. It's comforting to know that either way the Lord's work will move forward. Nobody can stop it!
In my reading of the Book of Mormon I'm in the story of Alma the younger. What a guy! I'm fascinated with the heavenly visitation that was shown to Alma and the sons of Mosiah, particularly what the Angel said. His last words struck me: "Go, and remember..." For some reason I just dwelled on that! But I feel like these words are very significant for everybody. Countless times in our lives we have been told to, and even covenanted to remember. We remember who we are, who He is, and why we are here. Every Sunday we promise to always remember Him, and in return we are promised the Holy Ghost as our constant companion. I think we should also remember the spiritual experiences we've had so we can go back to them when the path gets dark in the midst of trials. To act on this I would emphasize the importance of recognising and recording personal revelation and miracles. This shows that we love God and cherish His mighty miracles. I promise you that if you do this, you will have happier days and a more peaceful mind. I know that miracles are valuable and come from God, who will always be there for us.
Love you all so much! Thank you for the emails, it makes me so happy to hear from you guys. Good things to come here in Witney! Cheers, and have a good week!
Love, Elder Thomas
ELSM
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| Hiding books everywhere we go! :D |
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| Ping pong in the flat! |
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