Sorry this is coming in late. We took a break because Brother R…
is going to quit smoking and so he wanted to spend some time with us
missionaries to help him stay away from it. So he took us all out to lunch and
we had a good time and now we're back!
It was pretty great this week because we went on two exchanges.
One with my district and the other with our zone leaders. As it worked out I
ended up leaving Norwood on both of them so I got to spend two days in a car!
Between zone conference and exchanges I felt like I was hardly in Norwood last
week. Unfortunately we didn't have anyone at church yesterday. Our
investigators are having a hard time keeping commitments so we are going to be
super bold this week. Sometimes Hispanics like to ride the fence as long as
they can and not commit to one thing nor the other. So sometimes being bold
helps.
Zone Conference. Was. Sweet! President Porter gave us round 2 of
his discourse on the Doctrine of Christ. We took lots of notes :) but all of
mine are back in the apartment so I don't have anything too specific to
share... sorry! The conference was actually a confirmation of what I had
studied the week before. It was a lot about how we follow the Savior and keep
His commandments because we love Him. He talked about how it is our choice to
exercise faith or fear. He talked about how promptings almost always come
two-fold. The spirit will influence us to do something good, while the
adversary will present us with a doubt or an excuse not to. (2 Nephi 32:8-9).
Every time we follow the spirit, our faith in Christ increases. Every time we
don't act, doubt fear and unbelief increase. This really helped us this week to
follow promptings and to talk to everybody. A simple example is when we were
on the bus Saturday. I felt prompted to talk to this lady; she seemed to have
an extra light in her face. I had this following conversation in my mind:
"I need to talk to her."
"No. There isn't time. Our bus stop is coming soon. I won't
have time to say much of anything..."
"You need to talk to her."
"I'm not even sitting by her. I'd have to get up, walk over
there and sit right in front of her and that will be awkward..."
"You were prompted to talk to her."
"It's so much easier to just be lazy and ignorant, but
fine. I'll do it. How am I going to get over there? ....... Aha!"
So I reached into my pocket and pulled out a mint and held it up
so Elder Garcia could see. He indicated with an outstretched hand that he
wanted it so I stood up, walked over and handed it to him and then sat down in
a different seat, one next to the lady and started to talk to her. Smooth as
butter right? We rode past our bus stop just long enough so that I could invite
her to learn about the church and give her a pass a long card. That was it.
Victory! No noticeable miracle of how she's going to get baptized or anything
but it was a small win that increased my faith in Christ.
I've embraced the awkward moments a million times before where I
have just gotten up and have obediently moved myself to talk to someone but for
whatever reason, in that moment, my faith was perhaps waning and I needed an
excuse to change seats. But as soon as I decided to just do it, God came in for
the save and showed me how. For Nephi it was the same. God asked him to build a
ship. Why would he ask a guy who has seen nothing but desert his whole life,
and knows nothing about boats, to build a ship? Nephi's response is awesome. He
didn't ask why, he asked how. Sometimes we need more blind faith. When God
prompts us we don't always need to know why to act, just how. That's when the
Red sea will split and the way will be made clear before you. Ask and do the
HOW and God will eventually teach you the WHY. I think there is also some
principle to be learned in how God provided the way only as soon as I committed
to act. He has done it for me many times before. Despite my weaknesses He's
helped me find excuses to talk to people when I've needed them. But the bottom line
is if the spirit prompts you to act will you act? The more you act, your
impressions from the spirit will be stronger, easier to recognize, and more
frequent. You will be able to recognize God's guidance in your life more fully.
After we got off the bus it was confirming to know that Elder Garcia also had
the impression to talk to that lady. I explained to him that that was the real
reason why I handed him a mint, not just because I think his breath smells bad
but as an excuse to nonchalantly get up and talk to her. It really is neat to
have spiritual promptings like these throughout each day in the mission. Just
another testimony that this is God's work and that he'll guide us if we focus
and listen and respond.
It was also really neat to see the way a member named Brother R…
followed the spirit yesterday. Before church he was prompted to bring two
things, an extra tie and his old missionary plaque. When he got to church he
was surprised to see a returned missionary friend that had come to pay a surprise
visit to the Norwood ward. Brother R… was prepared to welcome him back by
giving him the extra tie he had brought. Then in Elder's Quorum, the Elder's
quorum president learned just a few minutes before class that the person
teaching wasn't there. As he was walking down the hall towards the classroom he
was brainstorming ideas of what he could teach. He decided on the topic of
revelation and began leading a class discussion. He asked a question to the
class similar to, "Do any of you have an experience that you could share
about an important time where you acted on revelation?" Brother R…, as if
he expected the question, responded, "I do. I guess I somehow knew what
you were going to be talking about today." He reached into his pocket and tears
began to fill his eyes as he pulled out his old black missionary nametag. He
held it up and said, "I haven't carried this in my pocket for years but I
felt like I should bring it today. This was what was most important to
me." The Elder's Quorum president also began to cry as he bore testimony
of the reality of continuous revelation. A first time church attendee in dread
locks and baggy pants was puzzled. He didn't understand what we were all
feeling. He posed the question, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
We then proceeded to teach him for the first time about the spirit. Pretty neat
to see revelation at work.
Well this is getting too long so I've got to sign off now. We
find out if Elder Garcia needs surgery or not this Wednesday! We are also going
to go to a Cincinnati Reds game on September 8th with the entire mission! I
know nothing about baseball but it's going to be a good time!!! When we found
out we were going we ran around our apartment screaming :) We are going to buy Cincinnati
hats :D
Love you all!
Elder
Kevin Graf
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| A foggy day in Norwood. |
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| Unfortunately the no littering sign in isn't very effective. Norwood's parks are always trashed. |
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| We were walking along and I noticed the similarity between this lady's shirt and Elder Garcia's hand so we had to get a picture of the two. I always tease him about having an unchangeable "thumbs up" haha. |
