Monday, May 23, 2016

May 16th–May 22nd: Some Ups and Downs

Never a dull moment is it? This week has been pretty busy despite it all.

Monday—Went and taught Henry and had the most frustrating lesson ever. I think I have a small insight about how it was teaching the Jews who were looking so far beyond the mark they couldn't even see Christ. Henry has come up with a breath theory about how there is no good or bad. There is only God's plan. What is bad to man may be for his own benefit and so it's good to God. Satan and Jesus Christ are both opposites and equals and so they are both neither good nor bad because it's all part of God's plan. He explained the doctrine of the Plan of Salvation perfectly before he came out with this idea of his.  He is looking for some kind of point to argue about. He knows the Plan of Salvation is true, but he likes to philosophize things and look too deeply for reason. It's like starring at the Mona Lisa through a microscope. It just doesn't work.

Tuesday—We helped the Smiths paint their fence as I wasn't really feeling up to walking much. It was good though because they don't ever accept help but they let us help them—breaking down social doors is the best feeling. Then in the evening I made s'mores to take around to people.

Wednesday—We delivered the s'mores to thank people for their help with Maggi's almost baptism. We then went and saw Gabriel and Ana. That was a pretty good lesson, we followed up a bit on some things we had talked about before but when we invited them to church Gabriel was all for it but Ana seemed to be the brakes. That concerns us because we can't figure out why. She won't tell us anything, they both just nod their heads.  They understand and can't teach us back it's just that they have a concern somewhere that they won't voice.

Thursday—Mission historical tour. That was a lot of walking and I was not ready for it. It's also a lot of hills and uneven ground so I thought I was going to die again. But it was really fun. I think the best part was this old chapel in Downham. Last year we sang silent night with Elder Jolley and some others. This year we did it again and me and Elder Singsam made the connection that we had both sung.  Super funny cuz there was only like 6 of us that sang both times and neither of us had realized it before. President was in a very singing mood so every place we went we would stop and sing a song.  That was nice cuz it gave me time to catch up haha. We did get to sing in the middle of a Church of England church which was epic, we sang "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet."  That was right before their service as well. Then we gave out Mormon.org cards to everyone in the building. So funny. President was so happy after he went and introduced himself and us to a bunch of Jehovah's witnesses. He's a funny man.

Friday—I was feeling super down in the morning but my companion got me going and we ended up having a good day. We basically got fed breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The downside was that one of my favourite families who had been coming back from being less active had been blanking us for a while. We got ahold of them and they told us that they weren't active in the church and it would be better if we didn't come around anymore. That really stunk. So not happy, but what can you do. I did finally get my service clothes back from them though which is nice haha

Saturday—We helped two people move and then we went and visited the Gerrards and Ethan cut all of our hair. He did a pretty decent job considering the tools he had. I had a fantastic chat with his mother while she taught me how she makes her Mac and Cheese (Dad, you have competition now, it's not baked but it's super nice). She is just a mother to everyone and it was nice, she has definitely warmed to us. I think that making sure that she is never left with any dirty dishes helps. 

Sunday—Really, really good church meeting. The Elder's Quorum was about being sensitive to the needs around you. The gospel teaches a straight line and we need to stick to that, but no matter what, we need to extend love to everyone, especially the people who might be on the wrong side of that line. So good.

Love you all lots!

Elder Tarbet

Sent from the iPad

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