This week has been incredible. I feel like it's been 1000 weeks pressed into one. I don't have a whole lot to say, but my heart is so full of joy!
Brother Walker was baptized and confirmed this week and it was incredible. His testimony was so sweet: "This is real. This is true. This is just. This is right." I can't believe the change I've seen in Brother Walker. The atonement and love of God are so real!
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| Brother Walker's baptism |
This week, I learned that sometimes the Spirit prompts us to do or say something and we may not know the reason why. We encountered a very vocal atheist man yesterday. The contention he was trying to stir up was almost tangible, especially after he found out that we were the "Mormon missionaries". All I could think was "DIFFUSE! DIFFUSE! DIFFUSE!" and then a strange second thought "Salt!" I tried to think of some way that we could politely leave the situation, but the only thing I could think was "Ask him if he's ever tasted salt." I didn't think that would do much to diffuse the contention, so I ignored it. But I felt as though someone was shouting it at me. So I did it. I asked him to describe the taste of salt. And it was much like President Packer's experience (January 1983 Ensign, The Candle of the Lord) when he asked an atheist to describe the taste of salt. He couldn't do it... and that made him even more angry. He kept spouting words at us and then finally got so fed up that he said "It's been charming," and walked away. The only reason that I can think of that I would be prompted to ask something that made the anger worse was that he wouldn't have let us leave; it had to be him. I may never really know. But I've learned that it's okay to never know. (As a result of this experience, I also learned that it is indeed possible for me to be still when someone ridicules the gospel that is near and dear to me, instead of crying or wanting to shout at them. Just to be still. Which is hard to believe, really. But really neat, too!)
I surely love the Texas San Antonio Mission. I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I love Texas so much. It's much like the Waters of Mormon to the people of Alma (Mosiah 18:30).
Bishop Aldridge said something yesterday that really struck me. He was telling a story about taking scouts camping. He told us that their usual place was the soft, level grass of a baseball field, but they didn't feel like they were helping the scouts learn what they needed to, so they decided that instead of going back to the baseball field, they'd go camping in the woods, without even a car in sight. He told us that it was definitely harder, and not nearly as comfortable, but the scouts learned skills and leadership qualities that they wouldn't have learned otherwise. He said "What if we had only camped on the soft grass of the baseball field?" He went on: "What are you doing to make your life extraordinary? Are there goals? Are there plans?" Are you learning the things that you need to, or are you camping on the soft grass of the baseball field? There's no growth in a comfort zone, and there's no comfort in a growth zone.
May we all decide to stop camping on the baseball field! (That's not what they're for anyway!)
Love,
Sister Waite
