The Only Thing That Will Matter

Well it's been yet another week of adventure.

M continues to be awesome. She passed her baptismal interview on Saturday. Earlier in the day she finally allowed us to do some service for her--we helped clean up her garden. Her husband seems to really respond to that. He continues to be unsupportive, but she is determined. She told him that she will be baptized on November 29 (to give him some time to come around). If he really doesn't want her to join, then she won't, but we are pretty confident that it'll work out.

T and J were also able to make it to church. She also came to the relief society activity on Thursday, so it was nice she was able to meet some people. Earlier in the week we were able to have a lesson with them in the home of a member of the stake presidency--that was really nice. T is just so excited to be baptized next month.

H also continues to do well. She loved general conference, her family has been doing family home evening, and her little first grade boy loved coming to church (he had been kinda nervous). She is looking forward to getting baptized in December :)

Another miracle of the week: a member of the branch told us she met a man who is on our roster, but hadn't been involved with the church since he was a kid. She said they had a nice family and were looking for a church. We stopped by and met his wife, who seemed happy to see us. They have been living there for three years and missionaries have never stopped by (which is kinda crazy 'cause Lebanon is such a small town, and e'rybody knows the missionaries. In fact, earlier in the week a nice looking lady offered us a ride home while we were walking in the rain. We hopped in the car and she asked, "It's the house on Jameson, right?") We texted her later in the week to invite her to church and she said that she couldn't make it that week, but requested we keep her in the loop. Good things to come :)

On Tuesday we had a mini zone conference at which we watched "Meet the Mormons" It was very good. It highlighted the lives of 6 individuals with their families. It was cool to see evidence of the Atonement active in their lives, and just a really good movie if you want to feel good.

It is the last week of the transfer, and we're gettin' a little nervous 'cause anything could happen. On Tuesday I asked President Cleveland what was happening. He told me it'd be good for me. So I'll probably have some sort of terrifying adventure for my last transfer O_o

But it was kinda cool: he talked about a talk that a current general authority had given to his missionaries when he was a mission president. It was about the difference between missionaries who let themselves be changed by their missions, and those who stay the same. Both types of missionaries might be obedient and have lots of success, but the one will be putting off happiness for success, while the other will find happiness through success. The first type will likely find more satisfaction from measurable success and leadership positions, while the other will know their success comes from willfully doing what Heavenly Father would have them do. That doesn't mean it comes without struggle. But when we use our stumbling blocks as stepping stones, we find the greatest progression. When all is said and done, it is just us and God. It won't matter what we've done, what positions we've had, the only thing that will matter is what we've become.

So I really liked those thoughts.

I hope e'rybody has the most fantastic of weeks. It's going to be a rough one over here 'cause we only get a partial preparation day today, 'cause Sister Mercer and I are going to the temple on Saturday. That part will be great, it'll just be hard until then O_o

Picture! The only decent picture I've taken in like the last two months...Last Monday was a day the elders had been looking forward for awhile 'cause I agreed to do the gallon challenge. Even the zone leaders came down for this grand event--they even provided the milk for me. For those who don't know what the gallon challenge is...I'm not going to say.

Here are the participants after the grand event: Elder Cronin, Elder Foster, and me.