What did I learn this week? The scripture included above just about says it all. Learning to deal with difficulties and hardships is a life long pursuit. I think we as missionaries learn in 2 years what would take about 20 when it comes to "endurance". I feel like I really am reaching my peak as a missionary....I've never felt so "lost" in the work....don't get me wrong, the distractions still exist, but I can really feel that my whole body, mind, and soul are consumed by this work. Everything else seems to take a back seat.
We had some interesting events this week. Our biggest prospect for this week was a girl named Iza. She's 17 years old. We found her and family about a month ago while passing on their street. We stopped, turned back, and knocked her door to follow a spiritual prompting. We started teaching her, her mom, and her sister. They always have a ton of people in their house....it reminded me of "Seinfeld". Every 5 minutes, someone new enters into their house (we got a lot of new investigators from them). Iza went to church 3 weeks in a row. She was well received and liked it a lot, but had a lot doubt as to whether or not she wanted to stay and become a member. We worked a lot with her...the Lord blessed this young woman quite a bit for her to be able to feel the spirit and know that what we were teaching her was true.
We offered countless prayers in her behalf. On the day of her baptismal interview, she wanted to give up. She said that she didn't feel "ready". We were able to convince that she knew absolutely everything necessary to be baptized and to follow Christ. She calmed down a bit, and said that she would be baptized. When Saturday came around, we started to worry if she would actually show up when the time came around. We had to travel to a few other cities to do baptismal interviews, and it was a little bit out of our hands. We got to the chapel, waited, prayed, waited a little longer, called her, waited a little longer, prayed, and decided to go after her to try and see what was going on....when we got to her house, no one was there....I thought "great, there goes our baptism for this week". Instead of complaining and getting depressed and upset about it, those words offered by the Lord to Joseph Smith passed through my head, "If thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high". I gave it a try, and kept my head up. When we got back to the chapel about 15 minutes later, we were shocked to see Iza, her sister, and her mom there waiting for us! We baptized her and had an incredibly special experience doing it!
The Lord really did come through for us! I felt grateful for having kept my head up and not "murmured" against the Lord my dark hour of despair. What a difference it makes to not only be grateful and loving towards the Lord in our hour of peace and tranquility, but also in our dark hour of despair. My testimony grows each and every day, mainly because I choose to want it to grow. If we sulk and wine and complain, having a hard heart every time that storm cloud comes our way, it would be a lot harder for the Lord to bless us with special, spiritual experiences. Keep a smile on folks. The Gospel is true.
Until next time,
-Elder McKinley
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