I am left with very little time. I have been pushing back all of the going home stuff as long as i could, but i have run out of room to run, so i had a good long reading session. Trunky. Bah.
Alright, on to the real stuff.
The Lord is really being merciful and letting us be really busy this week. It is helping so much. There are wierd moments, but it is super easy to get rid of those since this is a strict contacting mission. Just stop someone and talk. It is really easy to get rid of sucky feelings when focusing on helping someone else feel something. Sadly, when we are in the apartment there are no people to stop, and since everyone is sick of listening to me i decided to come up with something to distract me. Honestly you would think it would be like a journal or scriptures or something like that, but i will be honest, its not. Not at all. I found an EFY song i like so i am coreographing a dance for it and we are going to do it as an apartment boy band on the last day and record it... No buts about it.
Hmm, probably didnt need to share that, but whats done is done.
Oh, interesting thing happened. A man from the Mormon Channel podcast thing came to the temple to interview people about it. He interviewed Elder Middleton and me and it should come out in november. I doubt we will get a part in it since he said he has over 30 hours of audio for a 30 minute segment with narrative, but it was a cool 13 minute experience so no worries.
Alright, couple of things. We have seen a miracle in the life of a guy we started teaching last week. Mostly just the total turn around in his life. He came to us with scars on his arms from his depression and cutting saying his life was a wreck and he didnt know what to do. We got to explain and it pretty much came down to the fact that he got here a while ago and fell in love with a prostitute and his relationship with here was destroying his life...... Duh. That was a no brainer. We got to have some really good spiritual throw downs with him and in just a week it has been incredible to see the change. Kind of interesting point- the things he likes the most about the church is the hymn book. (sorry this is all so jumpy, i am way out of time) He is done with her, going back to his country to try to fix things in his life and get back with his family, and when he gets back he is going to be baptized. One thing that really hit me was when he was explaining the first meeting we set up with him he had fallen asleep right before. While he was asleep he says he felt his bed shaking as if somebody was trying to get him to wake up and when he woke up there was nobody but he suddenly remembered the appointment and came running. The rest has changed his life.
The next thing was with Alvaro, the young man we have been working with toward a baptismal date. We sat down with him last night because he has been having hard time and we needed to have a heart to heart. We have been wondering if he was really ready to be baptized because we didnt just want him to join the church because of our friendship and have him fall when we leave. We wanted to have our own confirmation before setting up the interview. We started casually asking hte baptismal interview questions and it was really sketchy at first. We asked if he believed God was his Father. He said that he didnt really know what that meant. We asked if he believed in Jesus Christ and he said that he didnt really understand how it worked. We asked if he believed in Pres Monson as the living prophet and he said he didnt know enough to say honestly, but that he did like how when he read anything by him it made him want to be better. Then we asked if he believed the church had been restored and he said that what he felt and saw really made him believe it was, but that he was really trying to be sure. HE then reminded us of something we taught him in the beginning. He said that when we told him that as he read the book of mormon his testimony would grow he knew it was true and he has seen it happen. Better but not quite there. We decided to ask why he even wanted to be baptised. HE said that he wanted to be clean, he wanted to be a new person and start again. We asked what that meant for him and he said that he would get to live every moment of his life trying to progress towards God so that he could get to know him better. When he said that we both felt it. He was doing everything right and he was really seeing miracles in his life.
I wish i had time to be cheesy and come up with a good ending for this, but i will leave that for the sleepy homecoming.
Quick note: i think the most powerful random feeling right now is that of gratitude. I just keep thinking about how many incredible things i have seen, done and learned and cannot believe i got the chance to be a part of it all.
Its true. All of it.
Love,
Elder Carr
Defender of the Faith
185 lbs.
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