Hello hope everybody doing well.
This week was a slower one.
My last companion had a teaching style where he tried to make friends with the people (which is great) but wouldn't really teach the important information that is unique to our church and doctrine. So the past couple weeks but this week especially we had a lot of lessons where we kinda just sit down with the person and ask why they are meeting with the missionaries and then teach them about the Restoration through Joseph Smith as well as the background of the Book of Mormon because basically none of them remembered anything. One was with our friend Afram (old Syrian guy) with a main focus on authority and fulness of truth. Not a lot to say about it, but Afram is just an super happy guy. I hope he gets an answer praying about the church. None of the other lessons are really worth mentioning as they were all pretty similiar.
Our Romanian member who got baptized within the last year has been stuck at home the past 6 weeks with a broken leg. Finally her leg was well enough where she could go to work (not even close to fully healed though) and her first day back at work this week she slipped and broke her other leg. Feel so bad for her. She lives on the 8th floor of her apartment and there is no elevator. So she is stuck in her apartment for the next month and can barely move around. So on Saturday we went and swept and mopped her floors and went up and down the stairs a few times getting her groceries and other things. Was the least that we could do so was glad to help.
That's honestly everything notable to say about the week, but I did have a moment of appreciation this week for some smaller interactions I had so because I haven't written much I'll mention the ones I thought about:
-There is a young couple in our ward that has now begun to feed us dinner every week. They decide to start with this right after we heard from another member that they are struggling with money. We feel really bad now that they are feeding us, but obviously we aren't going to deny them the opportunity to help us. We concluded that they would be blessed for sacrificing to feed us, and then this week as we were leaving town to go to their apartment for dinner there was a 29 dollars of cash just sitting on the ground. There is no shops close to the parking lot so we couldn't really turn the money in anywhere and we figured if we left it someone else would take it so we decided to take it and hide it in the apartment of this couple. Just a cool direct way that Lord prepared for us to help bless this couple for feeding us.
-Because we use the same street to every day to go out and talk to people, I'm always running into people I have talked to before. And it is becoming more and more now that I have been in this area for nearly 4 months. In probably my first month here I met a Jehovah's Witness lady that was so nice to me that I have kept her JW.org card in my bag to remember her kindness. I have run into her 1 other time where I went out of my way to say hi to her. This week, she went out of her way to say hi to me when I was walking by and didn't see her, which may seem small but meant a lot to me.
-There is a lady named Doreen from Ghana that I have talked to probably 3 or 4 times in my time here. She is always so so kind to me. This week when I saw her again I went up and shook her hand to greet her. She remarked that my hands are always cold but I am warm in heart. The fact that she remembered a small detail about me like my hands always being cold as well as complimenting my warm heart was meaningful to me.
-We taught this guy Efrem from Ethiopia a few months ago, but since have stopped teaching him because he there was a language barrier and he didn't seem too interested. We always greet each other when we see each other though. This week I saw him in the distance and decided to run so that I could catch up to him. I came up from behind and put my hand on his shoulder and when he turned and saw it was me he happily exclaimed "Oh, Cole!" and gave me a hug and we talked for a few minutes. Though there is a language barrier and he is not interested I have still been able to make good friends with this guy in the few interactions that we have had. Again, something small, but to me very meaningful.
I know I have talked about pride/humility in a few of my emails, but it is something that I think about a lot in relation to the gospel and specifically my life and the interactions I have. This week I was pondering about humility, and the more I thought about it the more I realized the different levels of humility towards God's will that are attainable. In my time as a missionary, I feel I have drastically increased in knowledge and faith to the gospel, which in turn has helped me become more humble in the sense that I trust the Lord's will and timing. But this week as I was thinking, I began to think how much pride still remains in me. Pride is manifested in so many different ways, and many of them began to run through my mind. I still have so much improvement that needs to be made.
I think we can all feel like this sometimes. That we are inadequate and will never measure up or become the people we ought to be. I love however the encouragement that Elder Utchdorf has given. Though we are all in different places in our spiritual progression to become more like Jesus Christ, we can all "start where we are". Here's what he said:
"Sometimes we feel discouraged because we are not 'more' of something—more spiritual, respected, intelligent, healthy, rich, friendly, or capable. Naturally, there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve. God created us to grow and progress. But remember, our weaknesses can help us to be humble and turn us to Christ, who will 'make weak things become strong.' Satan, on the other hand, uses our weaknesses to the point that we are discouraged from even trying. I learned in my life that we don't need to be 'more' of anything to start to become the person God intended us to become. God will take you as you are at this very moment and begin to work with you. All you need is a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord."
God has given us weakness in order to humble us, as Moroni teaches in the well known Ether 12:27. We can choose to be discouraged and unmotivated by our weaknesses, or we can choose to be humbled by them and turn to the Lord. He is the way that we can improve. Of course Satan wants us to think otherwise, making us feel ashamed and discouraged because of our weaknesses, like we aren't worthy to accept Christ's help. As I felt discouraged this week about how prideful I still may be, this is a good reminder to me that Christ will always be by our side helping us improve. He was with me 14 months ago at the beginning of my mission when I was a lot more weak and prideful than I am now, and he remains with me as I continue to stumble along the path to perfection. The same goes for us all as we turn to Him in times of weakness.
Isaiah 10:15 - "Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood."
Ha en bra vecka
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