That'll work; haha.
So, first off, we had 10 investigators come to Church this Sunday; 8 of them had dates! It's great; they're all such wonderful people. We were jumping for joy every time we saw one of them coming up the front walkway to the Church. Two of them are families, so we're really happy about that; after all, that's what the Gospel is all about!
Most of the rest of the week was just busy, as usual. One of the highlights was when we taught Auntie Dorris about the Vision of the Tree of Life. We showed her how the tree is the Love of God, how it's the most desirable and joyous thing one could ever have in life, and how the Iron Rod - the word of God (twill safely guide us through! Haha; sorry) leads us to that Love. We then showed her how Baptism was the gate to that path (2 Ne. 31) and how, AFTER baptism, Lehi tells us that people were blinded by a mist of darkness - the temptations of the devil and the world - and fell away. That's why those who made it through clung to the rod, and then fell down at the tree. Falling down shows humility, and clinging shows how hard we have to hold to the rod. I then suddenly thought (Prompting, perhaps?) about an analogy. When we cling, we use our entire fist - all 5 fingers are wrapped around the rod. Those 5 things that help us cling to the word of God are 1) Prophet, 2) apostles, 3) Church leaders, 4) Church members, and 5) Scriptures. If we stop following any of those, we lose a finger from the Iron Rod, and can slip and fall away. It really hit home for her, and she's starting to see the need for coming to Christ's Church, and not just believe His words and stay with her church.
Friday we went on splits. I went to Elder Bills' area. We got to visit an investigator at the rock quarry here. Apparently, the place is free to the public; people go in and 'claim land' or something. They then work from sun up to sun down, breaking rocks with their hammers, and blasting a few times here and there, and then sell the rocks they break up to people who come by. That's how they feed their families; it's very hard work for such small pay, but they say they enjoy it. The rock they break is some kind of purple granite; it's deep purple, and very beautiful. I don't think we have anything like it back in the States.
The quarry looks like something out of the Planet of the Apes, with Charlton Heston. There's one spot with a pond and you can almost see the Apes riding down the hill on horses, carrying nets, and grabbing Charlton Heston. Elder Bills and I laughed while we went down, and quoted the movie a lot ("Get your hands off me you [darn], dirty apes!"); it was a lot of fun.
Anyway, we taught his investigator, and prepared her for her baptismal interview on Sunday; she passed! We also got to interview Angelina, an investigator from my area, yesterday. She passed too! So we'll have two baptisms this week, on Saturday.
We also have people who are being prepared for November; something like 10 people are preparing themselves to come unto the Lord through the waters of Baptism and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost in that month. We're really happy to see all the wonderful changes in people's lives as they accept Christ's Gospel. It truly is a blessing.
On a different note, I learned something about what it means to be a missionary. Listening to stories from other missionaries here, remembering stories from other return missionaries from before, and looking at all the stuff that's going on with me, I realized something. Often, we go out knowing the possibility that something bad is going to happen. Whether it's illness or sickness of the body, danger in the area we're traveling to, stress or anxiety from something back home, or any other variety of things that may loom overhead, we still go out. We go out knowing that that means we may be in danger of something happening. We go out to teach, knowing that something bad may happen, or something bad may be happening, or something bad may have happened. The stories are too many and too diverse to fully explain it, but, being a missionary means that you put them aside. You place the people before the self. Now, I don't mean that you go out looking for something stupid to do, or that you search for danger, or that you teach when you're too ill to go forth. But the small things - a 'runny' system from food poisoning, a back-alley street with an investigating family living there, wild dogs, muggers with machetes hiding in the bushes, etc - they're always there. But we go out to teach anyway. We may be mugged; we may get lost or in trouble; we may have a less-than-lovely 'problem' with our system. But we go out anyway, because we love the people and the Gospel so much, we would rather endure the humiliations and dissidents of the world than risk missing a chance to share the glorious truth of God. I think that that, in part, is what it means to be a missionary. Putting their needs before yours, regardless of what that means will happen to you.
Anyways, that's my ramble for the week. Don't look at something as humiliating or frightening, look at it as an opportunity to be in someone elses shoes and share compassion for them.
Welp, that's it for this week! The power went out in the middle of this, so I tried to put everything back, but that always messes up my thoughts. Sorry if I forgot anything or rambled.
This Gospel is true! Cling to the rod, and we will have greatest joy anyone can have in life! That's a promise from the Lord!
-- Elder Collings
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