Family,
Well! It looks like there were some fun times had in Florida this past week. Ha ha... the car made me laugh.
There
were 3 experiences that we had in the 'Mat that made me ponder a bit
over the past week that I want to share. The first was with a
front-toothless man named Aloyes (probably Portuguese) in his fifties
and who apparently has a chest and aorta full of tumors. I'm sure that
Dad would have understood whatever condition he's in, but apparently
they aren't malignant, but he still doesn't have too much longer to
live. (As a sidenote, because of the healthcare system, he doesn't have
the option of paying for treatment. All he gets are some painkillers.)
The JW's ripped him off of his life savings when his wife died, and so
he is very skeptical of organized religion, and he's done some research
and has questions about if the Bible is legitimate. But at the same
time, religion and spirituality has been an issue that's pressed on his
mind lately because, well, for him, death is kind of imminent. We've
taught him a few times about the Plan of Salvation. He admits that he
loves talking with us, but he has a really big barrier to developing any
kind of faith. But we'll see. We have high hopes for Aloyes.
The
second was with a 20 year old native named Fred. It was pretty cool how
we managed to find him, but long story short we were led to his door
and he let us in. We taught the message of the Restoration, and the
Spirit was very strong. At one point he was in tears. BUT, wouldn't you
know it, right as he was about to say a closing prayer, the rest of his
family walked in the front door. And it became very apparent that his
family wasn't too big a fan of walking in and seeing some Mormons on
their couch. We wrapped it up pretty quickly and left. We were given his
cell phone number, but it's been a few days and he hasn't responded to
calls or texts. But he knows it's true! It's interesting the trials of
faith that each of us are called to go through. For some people, it
seems to be a challenge acting on the witness that they have received,
and for others, it's a challenge to receive a witness in the first
place.
Finally,
I don't remember if you guys remember Norma. I'm not sure if I talked
about her too much. She's the toothless, 300+ pound, 5
foot tall old First Nations lady from Vancouver that literally is almost
dead. Every week she would have stories about how doctors wanted her to
take surgeries that would give her a 50% chance of survival and how she
didn't want to take them. In any case, at some point much earlier in
her life, she had met with missionaries and was going to be baptized in
Vancouver, but the police required her to move because her abusive
boyfriend was out to get her, and so she never got baptized. Many years
down the road, Elder Smith and I talked to her as we were waiting
for our bus to come, and then Elder Holtby and I taught her all of the
lessons. We had lots of cool experiences, like a priesthood blessing
that healed her of an addiction to coffee, etc... And then, the week
before her baptism, her landlord gave her the boot and she had to move
to Surrey. We just gave her teaching record to the missionaries there
and they managed to get in contact with her, and just this past week she
got baptized there! A senior couple missionary called and gave me the
chance to talk to her, and she just kept on saying how happy she was. It
was a miracle. The church is true.
It's
cool to see how the Lord has a plan for each one of us! Our walk on
this earth isn't supposed to be an easy one, but it's certainly a
worthwhile one, and it's very cool to see how everything works out in
the end. But life is good in Kitimat! There's a lot of stuff going on,
which is the way that we like it. I hope that you all have a great week
this week! And Jacey can have that old iPod. I wondered where on Earth
that thing went. I knew it fell down there somewhere, but I never could
find it. Ha ha...
Elder Blotter
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