Week 21 (Week 4 in Michigan)

 

 Carrying my fancy new pen
that my girlfriend Maggie got me!

Hello everyone! I hope you have all had a good week this past week! I have to say, its crazy how quickly the time is passing here. I've now officially been here in Michigan for a month, and I also reached my 8-month mark of my mission, meaning I'm a third of the way through. Can you believe that?! I sure can't. It's reminded me of how short a mission really is, and how I should cherish these moments.

This week started off really well! We met up with Karen, a self referral we had received last week. My companion was a little skeptical with how eager she seemed over the phone to meet with us, but I had a good feeling about her. When we got to a park over in Harbor Beach to meet, she pulled up and greeted us. It turns out that Karen loves the Bible, and said she considers herself a "seeker of truth". After she said that I just remember thinking "Karen, just you wait. We can help you find exactly that, the truth!!". It turns out that she had been given a Book of Mormon years ago, but never really read it. I guess a couple of times her family tried to throw it away, but she wouldn't let them. But recently she stumbled across a link on social media to set up a meeting with missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and that's how we got her information. Of course, she has some concerns, but she is very open to the idea that God inspired and directed other people around the world, commanding them to make records just as the prophets of the Middle East were commanded to. We have plans to continue to meet with her to talk about the Book of Mormon, but also the Plan of Salvation, as she had a very inspired comment that she believes that we don't just go straight to heaven after we die, but that there is a space between. Anyways, Karen is super cool, and we are looking forward to meeting with her further.

We also met with our investigator Noah this week who came to church last Sunday. It was a very brief meeting, but Noah had some questions about the testimonies given at Church, about baptism in particular, and seemed to like the idea of it. Tomorrow we actually have another lesson scheduled with him and his brother, and we are super excited to get to know them better, and answer any questions they have. 

On Sunday, I also had the privilege to give a talk. My topic was about the 1st Article of Faith from the 13 Articles of Faith that simply summarize our beliefs. This first article says "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in his son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." When I was preparing my talk, I was being careful to keep it simple, in case Noah was able to make it to church again. Unfortunately, he didn't, yet I have faith that my simple message touched someone's heart. I never used to do much preparation for my talks at church, just kind of jumbling it together last minute, but it was super cool this time around to really prepare and to gear my studies each day towards my talk.

We also had in-person exchanges this week!!!! Before Phase 1 we were only allowed to do virtual exchanges which consisted of switching companionships virtually for a couple of hours, but we actually got to do it in person this week! We drove down to Caro and met with the 3 Elders serving there, Elder Gams, Elder Moray, and Elder Hughes. As missionaries we oftentimes establish "family trees" amongst ourselves where if you train somebody they are your son etc. etc. but interestingly enough, Elder Moray was trained by the elder that my companion, Elder Christiansen trained, and Elder Moray is training Elder Hughes, making Elder Moray the grandson, and Elder Hughes the great grandson of my companion. Crazy huh?! Well, on exchanges Elder Christiansen went with his "family" and I went with Elder Gams, our district leader. Elder Gams and I went to the park, did some studies, and called up a few people. All the while the weather was perfect, and it was so quiet and peaceful. Well, after several numbers that didn't work, or didn't answer, we called Cheyenne. She was awesome and was talking with missionaries quite a bit in the past, but moved and lost contact. She had some really inspired questions, and we had a very wholesome talk with her about faith, prayer, and prophets. I'm honestly a little sad she's not in my area because she is super cool. A little later, we decided to make a video to eventually post on Facebook. At the park there was a cute little wooden train meant for kids, but we thought it would be perfect for a video about the gospel. So hopefully, we can edit that and get it out soon, but I'll attach a couple pictures from the filming anyways. Overall, the exchange was really fun!

A snapshot of the beginning
of a video I made with Elder Gams.

On Sunday, after our devotional, Elder Huntsman, one of the elders living down the street, played an audio clip of an LDS speaker named Hank Smith. He's hilarious, yet also had a powerful spiritual message in this clip. Basically, he shared a story of his high school years, of a girl that glowed and that seemed to love and serve everyone, the cool kids, the band nerds, all of them. For his last 2 years of high school Hank tried his best to be like this girl, to talk to everyone, no matter how cool or popular they were. Hank eventually met another girl named Suzy, starting his junior year, who never talked to anyone, and always walked the halls dragging her bags along, staring down at the floor. For that whole year, every time he saw Suzy he would say hi, yet she never looked at him, or responded. Eventually she might say hi back, or how are you doing Hank?, but that was about it. A milestone for there friendship came when Hank heard this from his teacher, "Hank and Suzy, can you please quiet down.". After his senior year ended, on the last day of school he caught Suzy just before she got on the bus, and traded yearbooks to sign them. Eventually Hank read what Suzy wrote, and it was simply "thank you for being so nice to me.  -Suzy". Hank never saw or talked to Suzy again, yet that was perhaps the first time in his life he had felt true and pure charity for another person. It was just such a powerful story to me, of true Christ-like love. Who knows where Suzy is now, or what happened to her, but what we do know is that she will never forget her sweet friend Hank, who saw her for who she truly is, a daughter of God. 

We never know how much our actions can impact others. Sometimes the smallest acts of love can change someone, and can mean everything to them. This is exactly what Christ taught, to love all, yet especially to reach out to the poor, the low of heart, and even to those that offend us. I'd just like to share a scripture that Hank shared which I absolutely loved, and invite you to take this to heart.

 "...succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." Doctrine and Covenants 81:5

I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, and week. Until next time! 

~Elder Lightheart

Us and the Elders down the street making silly faces.

Macaroni is the best!

Me wearing the new Bad Axe
shirt my companion and I bought