Couple interesting and eventful things have transpired in the
past few days. First, the zone leaders' car accident. They were on their way to
do an exchange with me and Elder Garcia when a car blasted through a red light
and flipped their car. Hanging upside down by their seat belts they looked out
the smashed window and there, lying perfectly together, was one of
the elder's nametags, the phone, and a picture of Jesus :) Car was totaled but
the missionaries left the incident with hardly a scratch and a couple
minor headaches.
Well, they must have passed some sort of accident germ on
to us because at the end of that day Elder Garcia wrecked his bike and broke
his wrist. Naturally it all happened when we found ourselves in yet
another hot pursuit of the bus, as this is how all stories in Norwood begin...
It was Saturday night and the buses don't pass that often and we didn't want to
be late. So we were flying downhill at top speed and just as I reached the bus
a guy in a truck behind me says, "hey your buddy is trying to flag you
down." I turn around and see that Elder Garcia wrecked his bike. All his
stuff was a yard sale, just completely scattered everywhere. When I got to him
it was easy to see that his wrist didn't feel good and his back had a
giant stain that at first glance looked like a mixture of mud and blood and
grass. As he was going downhill and making a transition from the road
to the sidewalk the lip of the curb of a driveway threw him out of balance and
all the way into and then over a 4-foot cement pillar. Fortunately, after
colliding with this very solid cement obstacle, he managed to fly over his
handlebars and land squarely on the only nearby patch of grass. And in the
grass I discovered an innocently smeared bowl of UDF chocolate ice cream
with cherries. So the stain on his back wasn't him bleeding profusely,
rather it was just someone's left over ice cream. He has pretty good about the
whole situation. We made some calls and with the help of a member we made
it to a nearby ER where they confirmed the break. So now he can't ride a bike
and we walk everywhere but it really could have been worse. But regardless, his
back is still sore and his wrist still broken.
With all of these ER trips with many of my companions I
sometimes wonder if God is trying to tell me something. But until I figure that
out I will be content with the fact that the worst thing that happened to me
this last week was the bird that pooped on my head while running this morning,
that's at least an easy fix.
Anyways, on a more important note, we had some really good
things happen within the ward and with investigators. The Ward bishopric was
changed and it made for a very emotional sacrament meeting. Your ward really is
your family and people are so close knit. There was lots of love to be felt
from the Bishop who was released and from the newly called Bishop and their
wives. Unfortunately no investigators were there this week to experience that,
but good things are still in progress. The G… family invited us to play soccer
with them one night and it was the most fun I've ever had with investigators.
We invited some members and J… and V… also know the G…'s so they came to. We
just played for an hour in light rain but it was a blast. I just
thought to myself "I love where I am right now. I love these
people." I don't care much for soccer but the fact that they thought
to invite us to a family outing was a real mark to us that they trust and love
us. We just have to help them get to church!!! Kind of frustrating but I have
complete confidence that it's going to happen soon.
Random side note is that this guy in the library has his phone
to his ear but he doesn't realize that it's on speaker and we can all hear it....
awkward....
Friday night we had a sweet lesson with J… and V…. We met at the
church and taught them the apostasy and restoration from the scriptures.
They've already been taught these principles various times before but the cool
thing is that the spirit will testify of it every time. What better way to
invite the spirit than to teach the restoration of the gospel using the Lord's
words in the Lord's house? Well sure enough the spirit came and we testified
that God and Jesus Christ really have restored their true church to the earth
and that they have called living prophets to guide it. We
extended baptism and J… said "Absolutamente. Yo se que tienen la
autoridad y por eso les permiti que me dieran una bendicion,"
which means "Absolutely. I know that you have the authority and that's
why I let you give me a blessing." (The visit before we gave him a
blessing for his cancer). He still is waiting for his hospital visits to end
before he can come to church but it was neat to see and feel and experience the
spirit of that moment. It's neat to see the conviction that this good humble
man has to follow Jesus Christ by being baptized as soon as the opportunity
presents itself. I love this gospel and I love the light that it brings to
people's lives. The Atonement is so real and it's amazing to me how much our
Father in Heaven will always be there to love us, protect us, comfort and guide
us. I know we have a prophet today and that the keys of apostleship
are active and on the earth. There is nothing sweeter than this
work and I just love it. It's not easy going all the time but I trust
in my Savior that He'll help me, as he always has in the past. Love you
guys!
Enjoy the trip to Wyoming! Tell Grandma and Grandpa I love them
tons!
Elder
Graf
