A Very Small Box

More adventures!! A little less culturally diverse this week though....

One of our investigators--a 19 year old gal, who struggles to be mature, completely disappeared on Saturday...we typically communicate with her everyday, but nobody knows where she is now O_o

Relief Society yesterday was an adventure. The lesson was about Elder Hales' talk about obedience...and one lady goes off about how (before she found the church) her sister was murdered so she started worshiping Satan even though she knew it was wrong. Another lady chimed in about how she understands 'cause there was a triple homicide in her family. And then our investigator, A, (she is an older southern black lady) gives a miniature sermon about Adam and Eve which ended in, "Because men will do whatever women tell them to!" The poor RS teacher! Soo funny though. Even funnier 'cause there were a couple ladies who just moved into the ward, and a couple gals who just moved up from Young Womens. Welcome to Relief Society!

Miracle of the week is a man named R. We took him on our first official church tour (something that the whole mission has been practicing for a few months now) and it was awesome. The tour goes around to pictures in the building talking about Christ's love, His gospel, the chapel (where we talk about the sacrament), Priesthood authority given to apostles, Christ's visit to the Americas, and ends at the baptismal font with a picture of Christ being baptized. We then share "the most important part of the tour" which is an abbreviated Restoration lesson. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted! Needless to say, we're purdy excited to give more church tours.

Yesterday was our 13 month mark. How weird! Sometimes I feel like being a missionary is like volunteering to spend a really long time in a very small box--most of the time it's fine, but sometimes you just really want to stretch your legs. But you also know that the small box is a very safe, happy place to be, and as soon as you get out, you'll probably want to get back in. 

Final thoughts for today. The gospel is so exciting! I read a devotional from Elder Hugh B. Brown this morning--the one in which he talks about preparing an in depth brief about the prophet Joseph Smith to have an intellectual discussion with a friend--here are the concluding thoughts of his friend: 

"Perhaps some of you are wondering how the judge reacted to our discussion. He listened intently; he asked some very pointed and searching questions; and, at the end of the period, he said, “Mr. Brown, I wonder if your people appreciate the import of your message. Do you?” He said, “If what you have told me is true, it is the greatest message that has come to this earth since the angels announced the birth of Christ.”

"This was a judge speaking—a great statesman, an intelligent man. He threw out the challenge: “Do you appreciate the import of what you say?” He added, “I wish it were true. I hope it may be true. God knows it ought to be true. I would to God,” he said, and he wept as he said it, “that some man could appear on earth and authoritatively say, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’”

I have the great opportunity to devote all my efforts to sharing the "greatest message that has come to this earth since the angels announced the birth of Christ." How humbling, inspiring, and true!

Much love,

Sister Bowen