Family,
Well,
what an amazing week it's been! We've seen lots of miracles and had
lots of unique experiences in the past few days. But first off, here is a
monumental thank you to all of those involved in making the fall
schedule happen! It sounds like it was a headache and a half. It sounds
like my dreams of spending the first day waking up early and then going
on a run quite out of sight and sound of a companion and then sleeping
will be replaced by chemistry. Great. It looks like it all fits just
great! If ever I get slightly trunky, I'll just have to remember that
there is physics, calculus, organic chemistry, and others all waiting to
ambush at the same time, and then tracting in the rain will seem just
perfect. But thanks to Dad, Ness, and Mom (who stayed up til' 1...)!
So!
In the past weeks, we've been working with Eric. Awesome kid, we love
him to death. He's all over going running and playing basketball, and
was very keen on getting baptized, and very excited to meet President
Tilleman, who was a stellar basketball player. But, in the past weeks,
people have just been working away on him and telling him he wouldn't be
able to live the standards, and he kind of lost faith in himself and
has been slipping. It's always hard to see. So, we've been praying about
how to help him, and we had also been praying a lot about who it was
that we're here to baptize. There are a lot of people in the teaching
pool, but a lot of them are slow movers, who like to think about
everything they do, or people who have a lot of changes that they still
need to make. And we are all about planting seeds, don't get me wrong,
but we're here to harvest! The field is already white! We're here to
baptize! We've found a lot of cool people this week, however, and
so we're excited to see what happens.
Some
of our prayers as to who we're supposed to be working with were
answered in the past week, when a legal miracle happened. One of the
awesome recent converts on the island here has been involved in a
custody battle with her 2 children, both of them are about 10 years old.
The other party that was seeking for custody was mostly fueled by the
kids' grandparents, who are prominent members of another faith that
didn't want them involved with us. For legal reasons, we've had to steer
clear of the kids. In the past week, even though the legal proceedings
were supposed to be delayed for a lot longer and a lot more complicated,
Leslie got full custody of her children, including giving the kids the
freedom to choose whatever religion they would like to! So, now they
have the chance to be taught, (and possibly could be able to be
baptized). Miracle!
The rest of the
work has been great, too! Being on the islands is just great. BC is kind
of famous in Canada as being the province famous for laid back people
who like lots of vacation time and just aren't too rushed about
anything. Haida Gwaii sort of amplifies that culture, and then on top of
that, when you add Mormon standard timing into the mix, church that is
supposed to start at 11... doesn't start at 11. So, in the time while
we're waiting for people to show up, we'll walk along the beach that
the building we use for church is built on. I found a sand dollar before
church this week. Up in Masset, the building that is supposed to have
been renovated (the renovations still haven't started yet, other than
the heat being shut off) is pretty cold, and so we held church inside of
the small kitchen inside of the building and turned the ovens on for
heat. Nice and cozy.
Some of the flavorful people we talked to this week...
-Clint
the Born Again from Oklahoma- He said God moved him to come up the
Haida Gwaii and start a youth group on the islands. Currently, 12 kids
have been born again! He had the Bible belt accent and everything.
-Natania the wood mason- We
talked to a lady who has spent the last 25 years pioneering wood
masonry, where you take chunks of wood and glass bottles and things like
that and make houses and walls and sheds and things like that with
mortar. Yep. Still hasn't really caught on.
-We talked to this one guy in Tow Hill that didn't want to hear
about the gospel, but wanted to compel us to fight him and his son with
homemade swords. It was weird.
In
general though, we've absolutely been blessed, and the work has been
moving forward. Yesterday we were let inside by this man who didn't
really look twice at us before inviting us inside to talk with him and
his family. We were almost on edge just because it's never "that easy",
but we ended up having a great discussion about Easter and the role of
Jesus Christ, and explaining the role of Him as our Savior. It was a
really powerful discussion, and even though it wasn't some massive
display of a miracle, it was just one of those simple experiences that
make up a mission. They invited us back, and so we'll see them later
this week.
In
closing, as it's getting closer to the season that we celebrate the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, I would love to bear my testimony of the
same. Jesus Christ lives! He was resurrected, and because of that, each
one of us will live again as well if we come unto Him through living His
doctrine. What a beautiful message to be sharing!
I hope that you all have a great week!
Elder Blotter
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