The Spirit and The Atonement

Betsy and Esther sent me pictures, so I hung them on the fridge! :)

I had quite the experience yesterday. I knew it would happen eventually, but holy cow. I was not prepared for it. Yeah... I had what you might call my first "Bible bash." 

I'll start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). On Thursday, we met with a sweet family that was baptized a few months ago. We so love them! They told us that a man had knocked on their door and started preaching to them. Soon, he found out they were LDS, and began "bashing" the Book of Mormon (among other things) and they couldn't get him to go away. Happily, they told us that they just kept telling him "We know it's true!" We told them that if he ever came back, they could tell him they knew two people who would be able to address his concerns. Then we had a wonderful lesson about the Book of Mormon. 

Fast forward to yesterday. The Vargas family missed church, so we decided to stop by their home to check on them. As we were knocking, a man walked up, saying loudly: "Hi!" I didn't recognize him, but I just knew. It was the man who had been bothering the Vargas family. He soon realized who we were and immediately attempted to start an argument. And immediately, I felt the Spirit leave. It was an odd feeling. Doing our best to be polite and follow the counsel of President Slaughter, we thanked him for sharing his faith and told him we needed to go... but he wouldn't let us. Just then, Brother Vargas opened the door and quickly realized what was happening... so of course he called Sister Vargas over to watch! (Haha!) Over and over again, this man attacked my beliefs. It was all I could do to smile and resist the urge to bash right back, easily proving all his points wrong. But I knew that without the Spirit, the truth would have no effect on him. We finally got inside the home and he said he'd be back to talk to the Vargas family; simultaneously contradicting everything he had just said to us (but I'm not going to go into that). Although I had resisted the urge to take the bait and argue, I still felt wrong. Almost dirty. The contention-even though very one-sided-had driven the Spirit away. (2 Nephi 11:29) It just reaffirmed to me how careful we need to be in order to keep the Spirit with us, always surrounding ourselves with things to invite it! 

Not to worry, though! Sister Gagon is a pro! We were able to leave a testimony and politely step inside the Vargas family's home. The Spirit we felt there as we talked about the importance of testimony and the Holy Ghost was so sweet to me! :) 

The view of Austin from our apartment

In other news... Geoff's baptismal date has been moved... to THIS SATURDAY! We decided that the April 18th date that the Elders from the other ward had given him was just too far away! He's excited, we're excited... it's just a whole lot of excitement! It's been so sweet to me to watch the atonement and gospel beginning to work in his life! 

The power of the Atonement is so real, but I think a lot of times we forget its full purpose. Yes, it covers the big stuff that we do wrong. If we truly repent, it's forgiven. It also covers the little things. Little changes we need to make in order to be more Christlike, or keep the commandments more fully. But that's really only part of it. Christ suffered not only for our sins, but our trials and pains and temptations and EVERYTHING (Alma 7:11-12). If we allow ourselves to be humble and ask for help and strength and forgiveness, we will receive it. Elder David A. Bednar said:

"Thus, the Savior has suffered not just for our sins and iniquities—but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and shortcomings, our fears and frustrations, our disappointments and discouragement, our regrets and remorse, our despair and desperation, the injustices and inequities we experience, and the emotional distresses that beset us.

There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.” But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (see Alma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light." 

I've seen this power work in Geoff's life. I've seen it work in my own. And it will work in your's, if you'll let it. 

Same skirt?

NOPE! ... We matched. As we do. Every time. Without fail.

Time is moving so quickly here in Texas! I feel like I blinked and it's March! I don't know how I feel about that... I'm loving it so much! I'm so glad and grateful I've been given this opportunity! 

Love you all! :) 

Sister Waite

P.S. I also want to add that I'm so grateful for the good members of both wards Geoff has attended. He's told us several times that this is the only church in which everyone has welcomed him with "the pure heart and love of Christ." And that's one of the reasons he's decided to be baptized. It's so important to always be willing to say hi and get to know a new face, especially at church. Going to a new church, especially one so different from others, can be scary. Do everything you can to make it less scary for new faces! You never know, maybe you'll be the one who helps them make that important decision in their lives! 

Plus, the missionaries will love you. ;)