Another Week

This week for me has been an interesting one. I thought it would be a little harder for me to get back into the swing of things in the field, but surprisingly it hasn't been hard at all, in all reality I feel like I was never really an Assistant. Unfortunately that feeling comes with some pros and some cons, but overall it has been good to be back in the field. I am currently in the city of Waldorf/White Plains in a ward that's pretty cool, a lot like our ward at home, and with lots of potential. Also being with Elder Sanchez has been good. Haha we're already back to having those revelatory conversations that we always seem to have. Still, we've seen some awesome miracles in the zone as well as in our area. We've met people talking to them at their door that "love the Book of Mormon because it just seems to clarify so much stuff that must have been taken out of the Bible". Yep! We met a lady that had that had already read some of it and just loved it before we spoke with her. Then we had leadership meeting, a trip to the National Mall and to the Arlington Cemetery with a bunch of sweet pictures that I'll be sure to send you some time, as well as a lot of other cool things that have been going on. The Lord continues to work and I continue to be amazed at how much He can use us. I'll share briefly with you an experience that happened just yesterday and was an extremely powerful experience for me. I was on exchange, and the long of the short of it is that God's plan is perfect. We randomly were in the right place at the right time to have a member come with us to an appointment, which wasn't going to happen if God hadn't orchestrated it, and then the appointment wasn't there and we went to check on a potential investigator that they had and this lady needed to hear from us! She started out asking us about what made our church different than the rest, we of course told her of prophets and modern revelation, and then she proceeded to say she had a serious question to ask us. So we were able to go in, and she unloaded her entire life story on us... She said she was amazed at the fact that she was unloading all of this stuff on us because she only ever told her husband these things and for her whole life had never trusted or loved hardly anybody. Yet she said that she trusted us and that she could see Christ in our eyes and in our countenances and that she wanted the peace and happiness that we had.... It was one of the most gratifying moments of the mission because it was just so real. We were unable to do anything really, we have no experience, the scriptures we read only do so much, but the spirit that the Lord blesses us with to accompany us is real, and that's what mattered. We honestly said almost nothing, we just listened and shared our love, concern, faith, and hope, and that made all of the difference. It reminded me once again of the "why" behind missionary work. After and during that lesson all peripherals fall away. You're not worried about your teaching skills, you're not worried about numbers, goals, or being extremely effective, it all just falls away and you remember that the reason why we're really here is to be representatives of the Lord no matter what, and in whatever place we may be in. It was a reminder that this stuff is so real, so necessary, and that it's only by the grace of God that we are able to accomplish anything. All you're thinking about when you're in that lesson is that you're just praying that she can feel something because you have no idea what to say or do. It was a powerful experience, and I direct this next part to Rachel and to Jared and to Jonathan as they think about serving missions. Really all missionary work is is being real. It teaches you how to be real, not just the "real you" but the real Christ. It teaches you what He would do, what He would say, and then it shows you how to best do it in order to help other people. It's amazing how real the changes are in these people's lives as well. We are blessed with the knowledge of the Atonement, and not only the knowledge, but the power to activate it in the lives of the people we meet. This lady knew all about Jesus Christ, she had faith in Him, but she needs the Atonement to be activated in her life and we are the only ones that are able to do it. It is probably the biggest blessing we could ever ask for. That's about all I have to write about though. I hope you all could feel a little bit of what I felt in that lesson, it was a special moment, and a special blessing and I share it with you all in hopes that it can maybe show you a little bit more what we're really doing out here in the mission field, because the mission field makes no sense until you're there and have experienced it for yourself. So little siblings hopefully that's been of benefit for you :)