Yesterday (June 22) was a crazy day at church. We had
about 10 non-members there, which made up about a third of our
congregation! Maybe a fourth. Didn’t count. We planned on having 5
lessons before and after church, we were even gonna do splits with
members, but it didn’t work out quite like we planned. When does it ever
work out like we plan though? The second hour we did young women’s with
our new adopted 12 year old and invited two 20-something non-members to
join us too. I was leading the lesson and it was, again, nothing like I
had planned. We’re using the new come follow me curriculum and there
are lots of great short videos that go with the lessons. I had picked a
video of Elder Holland explaining who Christ is with videos of Christ’s
life, but when we got to the lesson I accidentally played the wrong
video. It turned out to be the video of the atonement, which is a bit
gruesome (someone’s ear gets chopped off), and I absolutely had not
prepped the class for it. Kinda weird to just sit down at a new church
and watch a video of someone suffering and dying. I felt pretty stupid,
but we watched it anyway and had a good talk about the atonement and
watched another short video about how we can forgive people because of
the atonement. Craziness. I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but I
thought for sure that was the end of those investigators. We called one
of the girls later and she said she liked it a lot and was really
interested in meeting again so maybe that video was just what she
needed?
This week was a heavy week for me. Our investigator pool
is growing and we just had a baptism and have one coming up on July 6,
but even so I feel discouraged from time to time. Just goes to show that
numbers don’t matter! I’m learning that if I don’t take care of myself
spiritually, I won’t be prepared for the challenges of the day. In my
personal study I’ve been spending most of my time learning how to teach
the lessons (which is great and necessary) but very little time finding
answers to my own questions and strengthening my own spiritual reserves.
Today I read Romans 8 and 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
My grace is sufficient for
thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ
may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s
sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
and it really helped me refocus and feel peace about what
I’m doing as a missionary. I love the idea that weaknesses give us an
opportunity to better understand Christ and for his grace to work in our
lives. It’s super hard for me to own up to my weaknesses because I’m
prideful, but I’m trying to be humble so that I can feel Christ’s help
more in my own life. Sometimes I forget when I pray for strength that I
have to work for it. Learning to be spiritually/emotionally/mentally
strong is basically the same as becoming physically strong; you don’t
get stronger by lifting a tiny weight over and over again! Gotta add on
the weights and then drink some nasty muscle milk and be sore for a
while!
The important thing this week is that Olga was baptized! As
the day approached, we realized that Saturday mornings at the beach in
Sochi are crawling with people…and that can be kinda awkward for a
baptism. Sister McGhie told me that at another baptism a man literally
chased the Elders around because they were wearing their white baptismal
clothes and it drew a lot of attention. So the whole week we prayed
that the weather would be good but not too good. I put in an order for
clouds and a bit of rain in the morning but then clear skies by 11. The
morning of the baptism came and it was raining pretty hard. We were
nervous that it would keep raining and she wouldn’t want to be baptized.
The weather really affects old ladies here and they don’t leave their
houses when it rains if they can help it. But we prayed and prayed and
prayed that it would stop raining in time for the baptism and it cleared
up by about 10!
What we didn’t know is that the sea gets pretty tumultuous
when it storms, and the waves were “gnarly” for an 83 year old (in the
words of Elder Goodwin). We decided to have two elders go out with her.
The waves were coming in too fast to get her past where they break and I
irreverently kept yelling at them “JUST PICK HER UP!!!” It wasn’t one
of my finer moments, but they weren’t making any progess. They picked
her up and got her out farther but had to baptize her twice because it
was still rough and hard to get her completely immersed.
Sister Nicholas
Sister Nicholas is serving from the Westridge Ward. For more information about her mission, you can visit her blog HERE.
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